Blue-Ringed Octopus – Assertion
Keywords:
Camouflage. Defense. Warning others when necessary. Feeling suffocated. Over-enthusiasm or being clingy. Learning to trust in the universe. Assertion. Making a house into a home. Cosiness. Perception of safety.
General Description:
The blue-ringed octopus is a very small octopus that lives along the coasts along Australia. It is known for the vivid blue rings it displays across its body when threatened, however some blue-ringed octopi do not have rings, and instead may have stripes or spots. It is the world’s most poisonous octopus. It uses one poison on its prey, and its much stronger poison for defending itself. This poison is extremely strong and fast-acting and is powerful enough to kill 26 people within a short time. The blue-ringed octopus eat crab and shrimp. The male is notably enthusiastic with mating, often to the point where the female must forcibly remove him, she will die after laying and protecting her eggs, as she will not eat during this time. Blue-ringed octopus are very attached to the ground and their home, and will not leave it, defending it via display and then attack if necessary.
Lessons and Challenges:
People who have had blue-ringed octopus come into their lives tend to be experiencing a form of neediness or clinginess. It may be that they throw themselves too whole-heartedly into relationships and overwhelm their partners, it may be that they cling onto friendships until the other person never feels nourished and literally has to ‘pry’ them away.
It is of course very damaging to a needy person, to constantly drain the other people around them, so that they feel they constantly ‘need’ to replenish their resources and need for love. Blue-ringed octopus teaches a person to learn how to trust in the universe and therefore how to meet their own needs through asserting their boundaries and making a place for themselves.
One of the important lessons of blue-ringed octopus is how to make a house into a home. It is how to turn a living place from just a place where you lay your head at night, into a home that is spiritually, emotionally and physically nourishing. A place that has a sense of cosiness to it.
What is fundamental to creating a ‘home’ for oneself, is the perception of safety. How safe do you feel in your own home? What can you do to create safety? What can you change in yourself so that you feel safe inside yourself? Creating a sense of safety is hard work, but blue-ringed octopus is a master of helping you do this inside your own living space and home.
Once a sense of safety is established, people tend to find that they are less needy and more assertive. They are better able to trust in the universe, knowing that safety does not come from without, but from a state of peace within the soul and body.
On the flipside, blue-ringed octopus can come into a person’s life as a warning, or as a sign that you need to warn someone around you that harm or threat is nearby.
Watch out for feeling suffocated, particularly if this sense of suffocation is caused by yourself. You may find that you are choking yourself off from other contacts and the people around you in a desire to feel ‘safe.’ Persist in finding safety within. Even when threat is around you, you are still able to assert your desires and needs, and operate from a sense of strength and inner safety.
Remember that the power of assertion is something that you generate from within, it is not gifted to you from without. Blue-ringed octopus prefers a quiet life of safety and seclusion, but when threatened it is more capable than many other creatures in the sea of asserting itself with its sudden flashing lights and extremely toxic venom. Blue-ringed octopus does not offer you the ‘gift’ of defending yourself, it reminds you that the gift is already there.
The Shadow Aspects:
Blue-ringed octopus as a shadow aspect let’s us know that we are spending too much time within our home, and too much time trying to camouflage our presence and who we are to others. We might be avoiding seeing people, or we might simply be letting our fears of socialising overcome us. It is time to ‘get out more.’ The home will still be there when you return, and your ability to hide will not be sacrificed if you take the time to simply enjoy the presence of other’s company. Hiding doesn’t help anyone if there’s no genuine reason to hide.
Are you listening to other’s assertions, or are you ignoring them? When someone asks for space, do you respect that wish, or do you railroad them because you feel you know what’s best for them? Start trusting that others know what’s best for themselves, listen to their assertions, and respect them as you would wish to be respected.
Communion:
Like all animal helpers, this animal will only appear when right and appropriate, and cannot be forced to visit you, commune with you, or share messages with you. Blue-ringed octopus can be difficult to contact in visualisation or journeying if it hasn’t already contacted you. It’s habit of being reclusive in real life seems to reflect how it is in the otherworlds. It can also be cryptic, difficult to understand, and sometimes only seen in flashes. This is not an animal you’re likely to have a long, verbal discourse with.
This is not a bad thing, however. When seeking blue-ringed octopus, it may be that you’re seeking knowledge how to defend yourself, or learn how to create safety and inner strength; the absence of blue-ringed octopus can serve as a reminder that the inner strength and safety is already there inside you, it just needs to be resurrected and reinforced.