Spirit Guide of the Day is Rattlesnake! Keep your sense alert to any warnings or signs that you may hear concerning staying clear of danger. Now is a time to cleanse your body, anything you do to heal yourself body or mind will begin the start of a new cycle for you. Expect better benefits for yourself and those around you. Sensitivity to the energy of others will grow stronger, so trust what you feel about others in the coming time. Native American tribes often viewed the Rattlesnake spirit guide as a sign of violence. Seen as both powerful and dangerous, they were associated with witchcraft. At times, the Rattlesnake was also used as a creature of divine punishment on those who did wrong and was used as a teaching method to keep children from doing wrong by saying the rattlesnake would bite them if they broke rules or customs. When this guide appears, it can be a sign to watch your behavior or those around you for danger. If something wrong is going on, consider if you must change what you are doing or to be wary of other's actions. Some Native American legends say that the Rattlesnake was the first to bring death into the world due to it's poison, however, it was said to defend itself against others or to be striking out in justice for past abuse. Consider, are you healing from wounds you gained in the past? This may be a symbol that you are ready to heal and move forward from past trauma or to be wary for anyone around you that may be dangerous to you or others. Snakes are symbols of growth, regeneration, and rebirth. Use this energy to grow better than the negative in your life that may have happened. People who connect with Rattlesnake are compassionate healers, powerful and slow to anger. These individuals have earned their healing abilities through wounds of their own and, when finally angered, will give fair warning before striking fast and hard to defend themselves. Dreams are strong for these souls, exploring lucid dreaming and being general nocturnal individuals.

Rattlesnakes are cold-blooded reptiles that inhabit a wide range of diverse habitats within the United States, Mexico, and South America. They can live in environments such as desert sand dunes, meadows, and swamplands. There are 30 species of Rattlesnake, each adapted to its own type of habitat. These snakes range in size between 1 to 7 feet long and can live up to 25 years in the wild. Rattlesnakes prefer rocky crevices, leaf litter, and old burrows as dens, some species in the colder habitats hibernating in these dens during the winter. They require sunlight and warmth to keep up the proper temperature in their body, using warm flat surfaces such as rocks or paved roads to gather heat and cooling off in shadier areas. These creatures hunt mainly at dusk, only searching for food when hungry. This means an adult rattler can go up to two weeks between meals depending on the size of the prey eaten. Preferred types of prey include rabbits, rats, mice, and ground squirrels. Younger rattlesnakes will eat more often than adults, needing a meal once a week. Hunting is aided by amazing senses and organs. A long, forked tongue picks up odor particles from the ground and pulls them into the mouth to pass over a specialized organ on the roof of the mouth called the Jacobson's organ. Heat-sensitive pits on either side of the snake's head detect the body heat of prey even in the pitch dark. These pits are connected to nerves that relay information to the same area of the brain that receives optic nerve impulses, meaning that the rattlesnake sees this heat as if with their eyes with a high level of sensitivity. Rattlesnakes possess a fast striking speed at a rate of five-tenths of a second, injecting venom quickly into the target. The potency and amount of venom varies between the species, each snake able to control the amount of venom it releases on a strike. Rattlesnakes do not lay eggs, rather the females are ovoviviparous, which means that the eggs are incubated within the mother so that the young are born fully developed. These young are nearly independent within minutes after being born and shed their first skin at one to two weeks of age. In some species, the venom of a young rattlesnake is more toxic than the adults. After the first shedding of skin, the young rattlesnakes will have grown the first segment of their rattle, growing a new segment with each shedding. These rattles are made of interlocking rings or segments of keratin, the same material our nails are made of. When vibrated, the rattle will give a hissing sound that warns off potential predators. These snakes are identified by relatively heavy bodies and iconic diamond-shaped heads. They are considered to be one of the newest evolved forms of snake in the world.