By Rebecca
According to Migene Gonzalez-Wippler, in her book “Dreams and What They Mean to
You”, a snake in your dream means, “An evil omen predicting danger through enemies,
deceit, and general misfortune. If you kill the snakes, you will overcome all obstacles.”
Fortunately, I have outgrown the idea of a dream dictionary, and the idea of two
dimensional snake symbolisms. The snake has a rich and varied symbolic history, and I
would venture to guess that if right now I asked five different people what they thought of
when they heard the word “snake” I would quite possibly get five different responses.
Let’s start with evil. The poor serpent. By telling Eve about a certain tree in the Garden
of Eden, the snake will always be associated with evil, or Satan. Thanks to that, any
animal that beats up a snake seems to be associated with Christ. Both elephants and
birds of prey that stomp or claw snakes to their doom are symbolic of Christ triumphing
over the Devil, or evil. Yawnsville. Seriously, if this the only symbolism you can come up
with for the snake, put down your worn out dream dictionary and read on.
How about sex? Snakes are symbolically sensual. In Renaissance and Baroque art the
deadly sin of lust was frequently represented by snakes. They were often depicted
feeding on the breasts or genitals of women. Those Renaissance guys had a weird
relationship with women! In other purviews, snakes are related to the umbilical cord and
penis. From sexuality, it is just a short hop to fertility. The snake is a creator. Earth
mother deities are continually associated with snakes. The Cretan Earth Mother holds
the snake of death in one hand and rebirth in the other. Aboriginal art depicts the
snake, a Dreamtime ancestor, known for abundance, rainfall, fertility, and creating
mankind.
Let’s not just be fertile, let’s heal! Snakes, despite some being poisonous, are
continually linked to healing and health. There is some debate, or not depending on
what you read, but the entwined snakes on Hermes’ staff caduceus and/or the symbol of
a tree snake wrapped around a staff ala Asklepian are symbols of healing or the health
professions. But to heck with health, how about immortality? The snake’s continuous
shedding of skin makes it a perfect symbol of endless renewal. The image of a snake
swallowing, or eating, its own tail, sometime called the Ouroboros, often depicts eternity.
It is safe to say that the snake is a primordial symbol. Since the dawn of time the snake
has meant many things to many people. The Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Hindu,
Christians, Europeans, and just about every other culture and religion that has ever
been or will be on this planet has had an opinion of the snake. It is a wonderfully
complex symbol and once you start learning about its history, it becomes easy to see
why there have always been people that worship it. Let’s face it, when even the cartoon
“The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy” have a cult devoted to worshipping snakes,
you know you’ve made it to the big time.
Snakes. Why Did It Have to be Snakes?
