Sisiutl
The double-headed sea-serpent whose gaze can turn the unprepared to stone — but whose skin, won rightly, makes a warrior invulnerable.
Among the Kwakwaka'wakw and neighboring peoples of the Pacific Northwest, Sisiutl is a three-part serpent: two horned snake-heads at either end of a human-faced body at the center. To meet Sisiutl unprepared is to be paralyzed by the two mouths of the same truth; to survive is to stand still exactly in the center. The one who does, and gathers the shed skin, becomes a warrior no weapon can pierce.
The SGE Reading
The paralyzing shadow (Medusa's cousin) is disarmed by the refusal to flee to either polarity. Standing in the center between two truths is itself the medicine.
Canon Resonance
The teaching Elena needs when she stands between languages, between mother and city, between fear and the descending serpent.
A Micro-Practice
Notice one contradiction that has been paralyzing you. Instead of resolving it, breathe once slowly into the middle of your chest, and say: *I stand here.* Repeat until the paralysis loosens by a hair.
Sources & Respect
Franz Boas, *The Religion of the Kwakiutl Indians*; masks of the Umista Cultural Centre, Alert Bay.
Living Kwakwaka'wakw ceremony. The mask, when danced, is not decorative.