Spider Woman Medicine
A true story.
In the spring of 1993, I embarked on a journey to Santa Fe New Mexico that was freighting, life confirming, and truly magical. Life has thrown me many curve balls just to see if I could catch them, but this series of events took even me by surprise.
A long-time friend and psychotherapist, Karinn Martin, was clear she no longer wanted to live in Houston, but had instead decided on a move to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Another dear friend, Kathleen Barratt (now heading the Barratt Breath Institute) decided to come with us and the plan was to take Kathleen’s car and for Kathleen, Karinn and I to make the journey together. The three of us spent the night before departure in Austin at Kathleen’s home. That night, as I was drifting off to sleep, I saw a spider on the floor beside my bed; thinking nothing of it, I drifted off, sleeping very well until about one in the morning and that is when the nightmare started.
In my dream that night, I was under a huge tree with a massive trunk and beside the tree were three clowns. We were all playing and having great fun when suddenly everything changed. The clowns became menacing and I was starting to become frightened of them. As I was trying to get away, one of the clowns grabbed a hold of me and all three began to literally try to shove me into the trunk of the tree, as if the intent was to merge my physical body with the tree trunk. I woke in a panic, gasping for breath and unable to breathe properly for several minutes. Since I rarely have nightmares, this dream shook me badly and I found myself unable to return to any semblance of a deep sleep.
The next morning when I got up Kathleen noticed a large red round mark on the back of my leg with two tiny puncture wounds in the center. I didn’t think much of it, but did remember the spider on the floor.
We all embarked that morning in high spirits believing we were destined for a joyful trip to Santa Fe, a city I had never been to. Little did we know then what a bizarre direction that journey would take.
As the trip progressed the wound on the back of my leg got worse. It began to swell and become more inflamed. The more I tried to ignore it, the worse it got. By the third day a cone was forming and the wound was beginning to turn black. Now, I was concerned.
The job I held at that time in my life was Vice President of Marketing for the Dinnerstein Corporation, a large property management and development company based in Houston, Texas. This company owned a number of properties in Albuquerque and the plan was for Kathleen, Karinn and I to drive there and stay in a corporate apartment so I could fly out of Albuquerque and return to Houston for work.
The wound on the leg now looked so bad the choice at this point was to go to the emergency room in Albuquerque or try to get to Houston and hope it would not be too late.
While considering what to do, I happened to remember that the assistant manager on this property had told me months ago that his aunt was a curandero, a Spanish term for folk or natural healer. All of a sudden, my intuition told me this was the answer and I felt an amazing rush of energy flow through me in confirmation. I asked the young man if he could get me in to see her and he said she was always booked but he would try. Rose took me at 9:00 o’clock that night.
Rose was a very short Native American woman of medium build. The platitude “don’t let appearances fool you” certainly applied to Rose. This tiny woman was truly a powerhouse. Taking one look at my leg she immediately said “spider bite” and proceeded to explain that my body was desperately trying to protect me from the poison. Rose believed there were only two choices: one was to lance the black cone and drain it and the other was to work the poison through my body. I left it to her expertise and she chose the latter.
Over one hour later and enduring one of the most painful experiences of my life, it was finally over. A process which looked like a massage but was the equivalent of pushing something very hot and sharp through my body. When I emerged from the treatment the cone was gone, the black had disappeared and there was nothing but a bruise left on the back of my leg. I was given herbs to drink and sent out the door.
The next day, Kathleen and Karinn dropped me at the Albuquerque airport. I flew back to Houston for work commitments – an emotional wreck and unable to stop crying. The events of the night before had left me fragile and feeling like my life was somehow careening into uncharted territory. After depositing me at the airport, my two friends headed up into the mountains of New Mexico to go camping. As they proceeded with their plan, Kathleen decided she needed some Indian pottery. On a winding road in the middle of nowhere, they came across a house with a sign that said “Indian pottery sold here.” Based on a seeming whim, they stopped and went in. There they met Flo. Not really understanding why, both women began to tell Flo the story of their friend with a spider bite. When they finished Flo asked them if her name was Martha. Astonished, they confirmed her name was in fact Martha. She said “bring her to me, I have been dreaming of her and I need to talk to her. “Martha now has spider woman medicine and so do I.” Flo was the medicine woman of her tribe and inquired, “Have you not seen the spiders on all my pots.” Incredulous at the information this Native American woman had shared and now, for the first time looking around them at the pottery they had stopped to buy, Kathleen and Karinn noticed that every piece had a spider web and a spider on it.
A few months later, I was on my way to Santa Fe to do a feasibility study for the Dinnerstein Corporation. Karinn, who moved to Santa Fe full-time, picked me up at my hotel and took me to see Flo. I walked into her modest home, surveying the now famous spider pots. Flo came out of the kitchen and greeted me with an uncharacteristic Native American warmth. She wasted no time in telling me that although we were both spider medicine healers, my path was different from hers. She told me I would carry my medicine in a small bag or pouch and I would travel all over the country practicing my medicine.
A few months later I quit my job at Dinnerstein and started my practice of breathwork and intuitive coaching. A year later I began to be invited to different cities around the country to work, carrying my sacred cards then, as I do now, in a small rectangular bag or pouch.
The spider bite was an initiation, indeed a precarious walk into a group of spirit medicine workers that are destined to bring their talents to the earth. Had I ignored the universe’s invitation to go to Rose, the consequences could have been physically severe. Flo was my confirmation of passing the test and my introduction to what was to come; I am forever grateful to both of these women along with my two friends, all of whom participated in helping me complete and understand the bizarre events of that initiatory path.
After I returned from Santa Fe, I researched the spider I saw on the floor and was convinced I had been bitten by a brown recluse, a dangerous and potentially life- threatening poisonous spider.
Ten years later I would enter a silent retreat led by the great enlightened guru, Swami Satchidanand. Before we entered silence, he asked why each person was there. When it was my turn to respond, I said “I talk talk talk all the time and I am so grateful to be here and to be able to be quiet.” Swami stared intently at me for several uncomfortable seconds and then, in a very quiet voice, through an interpreter, he said, “some people talk because it is their gift.”
Home Home on La Grange
The year of 2020 overall was a very challenging period of time. Besides the world changing events of Covid 19, the stress of negative political rhetoric on both sides of the aisle was at an all time high, filling the airways and bombarding our energy fields. The need for peace and quiet was hard to achieve all year. However, in the midst of all the chaos, Jim and I found and purchased a beautiful home in La Grange Texas.
I had been looking to move back to Texas from Colorado for five years, but the time never seemed right and Jim just wasn’t ready. This past October we began to look seriously, and were about to sign on the dotted line with a builder in Brenham Texas. I woke up at 3 am on the day before we were to make a formal commitment and felt very wary of this decision. I had been working for several weeks with the affirmation “I Martha am now ready to find the perfect house in the perfect place for the perfect price, under grace in a perfect way.” My reticence led me to believe that the builder may not be the perfect situation.
Jim and I told the builder we just wanted to see what was on the market first and then we would proceed with him. I created a list of homes to look at, none of which I thought would be suitable. A deeply intuitive client and friend had suggested we look in La Grange, a place I had not thought of, so I put 2 houses on the list from there. Since we were looking all over a 75 mile radius our agent suggested we start in La Grange. The first home we looked at, we fell in love with. I did not like the photographs online and was not expecting to do anything but pay it a cursory visit. The house was stunning, it had a soul I could feel, the acre and and one half lot covered with large pin oak, stately cedar and rolling topography captured us immediately. The view was amazing. I went from wanting to build a modern Texas farmhouse to falling in love with a contemporary home, an architectural style I never thought I would consider. This was our house. Jim, who never does anything without lots of thinking time, joined me in agreeing to write an offer that day.
This story confirms for me what I am learning more and more about everyday – the true magic in life happens when you listen to your inner promptings (my bad feeling at 3 am) follow the signs ( my client suggesting La Grange) and you let life take you where you need to go. We now travel back and forth, for a while, making a slow transition and taking advantage of what both Texas and Colorado have to offer.
Jim and I did find the perfect house, in the perfect place, for the perfect price – it was a home home on La Grange.
Category : Insights Posted on April 28, 2021