Snake

Common Associations

Across cultures the snake has been linked to transformation, healing, hidden knowledge, sexuality, and the life force that moves close to the earth. It appears where something old is being shed or something instinctual is stirring.

The Jungian Lens

In a Jungian framework the snake often carries the chthonic — the instinctual, earth-bound, unconscious material that lies beneath the ordered self. It may represent a renewal that cannot be reached by thinking, only by shedding what no longer fits. Because it moves between the ground and the light, it can mark a passage between levels of the psyche.

The Shadow Lens

The shadow lens asks what is being avoided in the form of this image. The snake may invite you to look at what you have called dangerous, disgusting, or beneath you — and to consider whether the energy you have disowned is exactly what the next stage requires.

But What Does It Mean to You?

No symbol carries one fixed meaning. Sit with these questions; let your own association rise before you reach for an answer.

• ◇What did the snake do — approach, threaten, watch, or move away?
• ◇What was your first feeling when you saw it: fear, fascination, disgust, calm?
• ◇Where in your waking life is something being shed or changing skin?
• ◇What have you been taught to treat as dangerous that might deserve a closer look?

Integration

Consider what the snake is asking you to notice about the part of yourself you have kept close to the ground.