When black snails cross your path
Black clouds much moisture hath
~Rhyme from Devon
Snails are easier to spot in late summer when they enjoy the increased humidity. To prevent bad luck when a black snail crossed their path, miners in Cornwall would offer the snail a bite of their supper. Though it is believed to be unlucky to find a snail inside one's house, tossing one over one's left shoulder will bring good luck, though it would not be appreciated by the snail.
Over the centuries, gastropods have often been used for medicinal cures, weather, and love divination. One folk remedy suggests snail soup for curing breathing problems, another advises boiling snails in barley water to cure coughs and colds.
In Scotland, a recommended divination to discover who your true love is, was to place a snail in the ashes of a hearth on Halloween. The following day, the shape of the snail’s trail will reveal the initials of your true love.
Snails are often associated with transformation, self-protection and spiritual awakening. With its spiraling shell, it calls to mind the path of spiritual development and echoes the spiraling of the mandala, a symbolic diagram in Hindu Tantrism, used for meditation on the universe. To contemplate your spiritual growth and meditate on the path you're currently on, try using an empty snail shell to create your own mandala.
Snail Shell Mandala
Materials:
Empty snail shell
Paint Pens or Acrylic Paints
Patience
Directions:
Start by making a sketch of your mandala using a basic dot pattern throughout or make the design more complex as the shell expands (see basic example below)
Begin in the center of the snail shell with your brush or pen and travel slowly, following the spiral of the snail shell, widening the pattern to cover the entire shell at the end.
To complete the spiritual spiral, once done, you might place the shell back into nature, a therapeutic and symbolic gesture of letting go.
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