Spirit Lodge - Totem Animals - Page 25 - CENTIPEDE & MILLIPEDE MEDICINE

SPIRIT
LODGE

LIBRARY

Totem Animals

Page 25

(Main Links of the site are right at the bottom of the page)
Some of the links for the 197 pages in this Totem Animals section are below. For the rest please go HERE

Bear Medicine	Birth Totems	Coyote Medicine	Dragon Ranks	Dragonfly Medicine	Eagle Medicine	Four Animal Helpers	Grey Wolf Medicine	Hawk
Heron Medicine	Horse	Magpie	Raccoon	Salmon Medicine	Spider Medicine	Swan Medicine	Thunder Being Medicine	Totem Loss Disc

CENTIPEDE & MILLIPEDE MEDICINE
By CinnamonMoon

Centipede and Millipede
*Ted Andrews/Animal-Wise
Keynote: Movement into new psychic connections and relationships. Protection against psychic
deceptions.

In China, the centipede is the archenemy of the snake. Many folktales tell how the centipede
saves a person when a snake attacks or how its appearance warned individuals snakes were near.
To the Chinese, the centipede is also considered one of the five noxious creatures because large
centipedes (yan-yu) are poisonous: "If their dried seed falls into what you are eating, you will
die." Efforts to expel them from human communities were performed on the fifth day of the fifth
month, thus time of power. It was also believed the cock could destroy them, and thus should be
studied as well.

"Hundred-leggers" and "thousand-leggers" are arthropods like insects and arachnids, part of
thousands of many-legged creatures. The name means 100 legs and 1000 legs respectively, but
they do not really have that many. Most centipedes have 15-23 pairs of legs, one for each
segment of the body. Millipedes have two pairs of legs on each body segment. Young millipedes
are born with three pairs of legs, but the number of segments and legs increase with each molt.
Legs provide stability and enable forward movement. Animals with legs a predominant feature
often show us how to increase stability and move forward in our endeavors more successfully.
For those whom the millipede is a messenger, successful movement in all endeavors will come
with age. These are often "late bloomers."

Like insects but unlike spiders, centipedes and millipedes have a pair of antennae. All creatures
with antennae reflect increasing psychic sensitivities and perceptions. Because they are also
nocturnal, it will be important to pay attention to dreams when the centipede appears as a
messenger. Dreams will become increasingly prophetic and clairvoyant, providing great insight
and inspiration. Many centipedes are also blind, and this an be a reminder to trust our inner
perceptions and not outer appearances. Trusting in our higher perceptions will help us succeed in
our endeavors and activities.

When male centipedes find a female, they touch antennae, and the male then follows the female.
For those to whom the centipede appears, relationships are often based upon strong initial
psychic connections not easily explained in other ways. When the centipede appears, it is not
unusual for a strong psychic connection to occur with someone new shortly thereafter.

Both need damp environments, the millipede more than the centipede. For those to whom either
is a messenger, it is important to have their own creative environments. Damp environments are
symbolic of creative, psychic, and emotional areas. Finding an environment, supportive to their
creative and psychic sensibilities, will be necessary for their health and well-being.

Although both are many-legged creatures, there are some unique differences. Some centipedes
produce silk, usually only used during mating and to capture prey. They are active predators of
insects, spiders, and worms. Their front pair of legs acts as claws and all have poisonous glands
in their jaws used for paralyzing and killing prey. Centipedes often remind us to be careful of
what we say and how we say it.

Millipedes are found under stones and in moist soil and leaf litter. They avoid the light, feeding
upon various plant materials and soft decomposing plant tissues. They discharge strong-smelling
secretions that may be repellent and poisonous to other animals.

Centipedes and millipedes alert us to new psychic environments and connections and to new and
previously unrecognized psychic relationships. They also appear to alert us to any possible
pitfalls within those relationships. Theirs is the energy of quiet protection in psychic exploration.