Crocodile
(see also animals)
All alligators and crocodiles inhabit the water and the land. Water was always associated with the Great Mother, the feminine principle of life and therefore birth. Water, though, can also swallow you up. Creation and destruction and then more creation. This is the primal essence reflected within these reptiles.
Birth and death in any form are initiations, events that mark the end of one period and the beginning of a new. This indicates the culmination of knowledge on one level and the seeking for newer knowledge on others. All of this is reflected within the essence of alligators and crocodiles.
They patrol the waters and the shorelines that separate land from water--birth from death, etc. In this sense they can be seen as the keepers and protectors of all knowledge. They are the primal mothers in whom all knowledge rests and waits to be born. From Animal-Speak by Ted Andrews, Llewellyn Publications, 1997
Crocodile is most closely associated with Water. It is usually a destroyer figure in most cultures. However, sometimes Crocodile is seen as a transformer; prisoners fed to crocodiles had their souls' burdens lifted. Along with Shark, Crocodile is one of the world's consumers. Crocodile magic is that of devouring, dissembling, spiritual transformation, and general destruction. Information taken from On Animals.
Songs referenced:
Beulah Land