Snake, Serpent

The serpent is a very complex symbol, but in "everyday" contexts, it is almost always linked to the dreamer's relationship with his or her instincts (more specifically, an instinct "far from consciousness"), especially when it concerns a multitude of snakes. "Snake dreams usually appear ... when consciousness deviates from its instinctive foundation," says Jung (Introduction to a Science of Mythology, p. 118). It does not necessarily represent sexuality, as is a popular belief (and sometimes a relevant association).

A nearby, general, and more spiritual view of the snake is that it represents life force, the cyclical energy that permeates our lives and our world. "The snake symbolizes ... in a word: the non-human in man." (Aion, par. 291.) Unlike warm-blooded animals, it is not possible to establish psychic rapport with snakes (or fish, crocodiles, lizards, etc.). At the same time, while the snake is "the lowest," it is "the highest," and is associated with healing, wisdom, spirituality, and so on.

Despite this detailed article, the snake can also have a more down-to-earth, immediate meaning in dreams – namely, a warning: "Watch out! Danger! Something important is about to happen." (Visions Seminar, p. 314.)

Summary

"Since the shadow ... is unconscious for most people, the snake represents what is completely unconscious and cannot be made conscious, but which, as part of the collective unconscious and as an instinct, seems to possess a knowledge that is often perceived as supernatural," writes Jung in Aion, and continues:

"It is the 'treasure' that the snake (or dragon) guards and, at the same time, the reason it stands, on one hand, for evil and darkness, and on the other hand, for wisdom. Its lack of relationship, coldness, and danger express the instinctual drive that ruthlessly and unrelentingly overrides moral and other human desires and reservations, and therefore has the same frightening and fascinating effect as the sudden sight of a dangerous poisonous snake." (Aion, par. 370.)

Personal Associations

Since the snake as a dream image is contradictory and inexhaustible, it is usually best to stick as closely as possible to the actual content of the dream and one’s own associations to the it. Especially with complex symbols, there is a risk of getting lost in mythological content that may not be relevant to the dream one had.

Development and Initiation

The terrible snake we encounter in our dreams and our retreat from it can be an expression of us facing a new step in our development; confronting the unknown that we must confront. The snake is a symbol of initiation. Just like our process of individuation, which continues throughout life, the snake grows throughout life, and both require that we regularly shed the skin we outgrow.

The snake expresses an "introverted libido" that leads to the world of shadows and/or the treasure that is difficult to find. Robert A. Johnson suggests that the snake is always "evolution," something that wants to develop. ("One-Two Man.") The snake expresses a developmental step in the individuation process.

Instinct

Lower vertebrates such as snakes symbolize the lower parts of the psyche in our dreams and anatomically belong to the spine and cerebellum (or "reptilian brain"). This is why one tends to dream about snakes when the ego, to a greater or lesser extent, loses contact with "the wisdom of the body" (see below).

"[The snake] is a suitable symbol to express the fact that our consciousness has been more or less completely separated from its instinctive foundation." (Dream Symbols of the Individuation Process, p. 273.)

In these contexts, the snake is usually perceived as negative and unpleasant – something to escape from, even though it is life-giving.

"The snake always symbolizes life coming from below; it is a chthonic symbol, an earthly symbol." (Ibid., p. 272.)

Note that in these contexts, "instincts" should not always be understood as inherited, bodily expressed behavior patterns, but can refer to unconscious drives, energies, and emotional states that drive – or want to drive – individuation forward toward greater wholeness. (Living an Examined Life.)

Unpleasant Impulses

In the dream, the snake suddenly appears as unconscious impulses and disturbs the ego’s intentions, perhaps scaring it and seeming dangerous. The snake is a frightening creature that suddenly appears – on the path ahead, in the pocket, or even in our bedroom. It is thus also a symbol for fear. Especially if the ego is afraid of the unconscious content or the unconscious impulse, the snake is depicted as scary and dangerous in dreams. What is encountered in dreams is usually presented in a way that reflects one’s attitude toward the content; but in general, the suddenly appearing snake may simply represent danger – "Watch out!"

Snakebite

The snake symbolizes, in a broad sense, both instinct and spirituality; being bitten by a snake is a warning signal that one is neglecting one's instincts. The unconscious impulse that scares us with a bite wants to draw attention to this. – To approach the symbol in a dream, it is of course important to note where on the body you were bitten.

As mentioned earlier, the snake symbolizes initiation, where the bite itself represents the pain that initiation entails.

The snake’s venomous bite is reminiscent of an arrow, like Cupid’s arrows; being shot by an arrow is similar to a bite, and just like the snake’s venom can make one ill, love can become like poison, making one feverish, weak-willed, jealous (as the expression "lovesick" illustrates).

The snakebite leads us to associate with poison, but the snake also has healing qualities, and a bite in the dream could be a kind of initiation into a spiritual aspect of life.

The serpent is a wingless dragon, and as a mythological image, it shares much symbolism with this monster; at times, they are even synonymous.

Poison

The snake’s slithering and its venom can, in some cases, refer to relationships. For example, if one dreams of being poisoned by snakes, it could refer to a toxic situation, where aggression is hidden and deceit prevails rather than sincerity, etc.

On a more archetypal level, the bite and venom reflect the initiation theme, which is frightening, painful, and transformative – as the poison in the body is an expression of the latter. Poison and healing are an opposites pair that go hand-in-hand, so the poison can also be the healing.

Spirit and Energy

Both in the Bible and within alchemy, the snake was the "Spirit of the Tree" and the "Spirit of Love." It symbolized a "principle of growth" that was inaccessible to human conscious intelligence. The Jungian therapist Ernst Aeppli (quoted in Symbollexikonet, p. 308) argues that the snake "according to all psychological experience, constitutes ... a great symbol of psychic energy." This energy can be creative, destructive, sexual, or simply instinctive. In Kundalini yoga, the connection between the snake and energy is particularly prominent.

The Wisdom of the Body

The snake is connected to our instincts and thus with the "wisdom of the body." Our body knows what is good or bad – we feel stomach pains or butterflies in our stomach, and so on; we have "spinal reflexes" and should trust our "gut feeling," etc. The snake, as a dream symbol, is associated with this primitive wisdom that has always helped humans survive.

At the same time, snake dreams are linked to our actual body, particularly our autonomic processes. According to the analyst Sauer (Drömbild: Orm, p. 23), "snake dreamers" often have psychosomatic problems, and these dreams can serve as warnings concerning one's health.

In our dreams, the serpent can represent our actual, physical reality – difficulties with tangible matters in our everyday life.

Natural-Unnatural

As with animals in general (and other images as well), one should pay attention to whether the snake in the dream is "natural" – simply an ordinary snake in its natural element – or if it behaves or appears unnaturally. The latter may indicate a "disturbance," for example, in one's relationship to one's instincts. The snake can also be "unnatural" in a more spiritual way, such as a white snake in a palace, which could indicate spiritual content rather than instinctive.

Naked and True

The snake lacks fur and feathers and shares the content of the nudity symbol: truth, authenticity, and defenselessness – the naked truth.

Contrary to Consciousness

Snake dreams occur when the conscious attitude is not natural; it may be well-adapted but still "failed." Such a situation constellates one's inner double, which appears as a snake. One fears it, but at the same time, it is, so to speak, the salvation; it is the link between the conscious and the unconscious that leads to wholeness, in contrast to the ego's one-sidedness. When snakes appear in our dreams, they represent something detached that needs to be "reconnected" or integrated into the conscious personality.

This dual nature between the conscious and the unconscious makes the serpent in mythological contexts both life-threatening and life-giving. The frightening serpent is the path to wisdom, and encountering the serpent in a dream can indicate that the light of consciousness is being lit (as when the first humans ate from the fruit the snake offered and "opened their eyes," according to Genesis 3:7). In such symbolic contexts, the snake sometimes appears with children and acts as a soul guide and oracle.

The Lowest and the Highest

The snake is therefore both a symbol of the "low," instinctive, but can simultaneously be an expression of spirituality and wisdom. In Gnosticism, the snake is a symbol of divine wisdom. The idea of the snake being "evil" is unique to the Bible, as is the prohibition against eating the fruit of wisdom; the association of wisdom-tree-snake is found, among other places, in ancient Greece and Mesopotamia, where eating from the fruit of knowledge was seen as a desirable initiation rather than a crime.

Sometimes the chthonic and the spiritual are united in an image of a winged snake. In alchemists' descriptions, for example, serpent and dragon seem to be interchangeable terms.

Fire

Like the dragon, the snake is associated with fire and is often depicted as a "fire snake." (For both Kundalini and Python, fire is an attribute, for example.) Both the snake and the dragon are common symbols of initiation and expressions of "vital force." The snake is a wingless dragon, and the crawling and flying "fire monsters" are in conflict with each other.

Deadly Healer

The snake's special ability to shed its skin—an act of renewal—has linked it to healing, transformation, and resurrection. The god of healing, Asclepius, was primarily associated with the snake, and aside from the Book of Genesis, the snake’s healing power appears again in the Bible; for the early Christians, Christ was symbolized by the snake as the resurrected healer, and so on. Especially if the snake is near or around a tree, by a spring, and so forth, it can reflect such content in dreams.

Union of Opposites

On the one hand, the snake is a healer, but on the other hand, we think of it as dangerous, poisonous, and deadly. In Christian tradition, it is an expression of the devil, the tempter, and so on; but within alchemy, it is associated with antidote, and "the principle that leads all things to maturity and perfection" (Psychology and Alchemy, par. 523).

The snake coiled around a tree or a pillar emphasizes its association as a symbol of wholeness, which is also suggested repeatedly here: it represents both the highest and the lowest, the harmful and the healing, and so on—uniting opposites.

The snake is sometimes a feminine symbol and sometimes a masculine one. (See below.) We cannot easily determine whether a snake is male or female and experience it as both; in this way also, the snake expresses the union of opposites.

Alongside these symbolic images, the snake, with its winding motion, illustrates a tension between opposites and a means of uniting them.

Slithering Back and Forth

The snake's slithering describes a dynamic force (possibly between opposites). This movement, along with the ability to coil in circles, connects it to symbols such as the labyrinth and the spiral, and thus shares the symbolism of these images. Dances that express circular movements and labyrinthine shifts across the space are usually snake dances. The winding path and river are expressions of the same labyrinth-like journey towards the goal. While we in modern times prefer to see our personal development as a straight line, it is more about a back and forth, up and down, as the snake symbolizes.

"The right way to wholeness consists of ... fated detours and lost paths. It is a logissima via, not a straight but an oppositional, connecting meander that resembles the guiding caduceus, a path whose labyrinthine winding is not without its terrors." (Psychology and Alchemy, par. 6):

Uroboros – Circle and Spiral

The snake that bites its own tail is, for the alchemists, "the dragon that fertilizes itself"; a symbol of eternity and wholeness ("the alchemist's mandala", the integration of opposites, it swallows and gives birth to itself), but also of the undifferentiated starting point and the "circulating" process (circulatio, see Circle), as well as the stone, the goal. Psychologically, it corresponds to unconsciousness, the individuation process, and the Self. Sometimes a snake expresses the Dao in an unconscious state.

The snake's symbolic association with the cycle (death, resurrection) and its physical ability to coil in circles also links it with the spiral and its symbolism, as mentioned before.

These snake symbols are closely related to the idea of the snake's connection to time, as expressed in various mandala symbols or as the god Aion or its attributes, for example. Its segmented body slithering "through the zodiac" expresses the progression of time, while the snake biting its tail represents eternity. (Psychology of Yoga and Meditation, p. 149.)

The Feminine and Fertility

The snake belongs to the underground (see below), dark, and unknown; with qualities usually associated with the feminine and the material; yin in contrast to yang. In myths and legends, the snake is a monster in the sea, like the Midgard serpent. (Compare Dragon.) As "moist" and chthonic, it belongs to goddesses such as Hekate and Demeter. At the same time, the snake is associated with the life-giving water, and often guards a spring in symbolic language. Due to this moisture, its connection to the underworld, its ability to appear and disappear, as well as its feminine nature, the snake is also linked with the moon– both disappear in the dark and return renewed.

The Masculine and Fertility

At the same time, the snake has a phallic aspect and is considered to fertilize the feminine earth. It represents the life-giving force, the "vegetative life" with all its greenery and blossoming; it lives within the earth and seems to fertilize it.

The Underworld and Resurrection

The snake that suddenly appears on the ground in front of you and then disappears again evokes an association with the underworld and, thus, the unconscious (or more specifically, "the initial stage of the unconscious"). "Like the fish, it personifies the dark and abyssal, deep water, forest, night, and cave." (Aion, par. 293.)

Another way to experience the snake's appearance and disappearance is to associate it with the invisible-visible, making the snake a symbol of the transition between worlds. In this regard, the snake shares much of its symbolic content with the fish, such as "psychic movements or experiences" from or within the unconscious.

Earthbound

The snake is distinctly earthbound. "On your belly, you shall crawl, and dust you shall eat" (Genesis 3:14). In dreams, the snake can represent the earth, the earthly, physical, and sluggish aspects of existence.

Hero

The hero's connection to the snake is ancient; for example, he may continue to live as a snake after his death, be worshiped as a snake, possess a snake's soul, have eyes like a snake, and so on. (Compare below and see Symbols of Transformation.) The hero and the snake (or dragon) are two sides of the same coin.

Soul

It is a widely spread idea that souls and spiritual forces appear as snakes. The snake is also connected with the souls of the dead. This, along with the previously mentioned images, relates to the snake’s connection to Mother Earth, who governs over the (under)world to which we must all return. Therefore, the snake symbolizes both death, the soul, immortality, and resurrection. The symbol is tied to the earth—snake, earth, and soul are interconnected, just as are the ancestors who are buried, where the snake, so to speak, has its tail.

Transformation

When the snake sheds its skin, it leaves behind "the old self," much like we sometimes wish we could shed our own skin and appear anew. The snake can allude to the possibility of renewal.

Just as the snake is a symbol of the underworld, it is also sometimes a symbol for the unconscious itself. In this way, the snake also becomes a symbol for the prima materia that needs transformation (as well as "the spirit in the stone")—the instinctive that must be transformed into the spiritual. For alchemists, the snake can represent Mercurius, which symbolizes both the transformation process and its contents.