What do Dreams of Snakes Mean?
Below is a chapter about the history of snake dreams, using psychology and religious studies to explore their meanings. It comes from my book Spiritual Dreaming: A Cross-Cultural and Historical Journey.
If you are interested in how to interpret a dream of a snake, you might take a look at this post.
If you’d like to know what Carl Jung said about snake symbolism in The Red Book, read this post.
To learn more about actual snakes, check out the East Bay Vivarium.
Chapter 2: Snakes
Animals of various kinds appear in spiritually meaningful dreams. Birds, dogs, bears, wolves, fish, and even insects have come in people’s dreams to deliver important messages from the divine. But the animal that makes perhaps the most powerful spiritual impact in dreams is the snake. People from cultures all over the world report dreams in which they have intensely vivid encounters with snakes. Content analysis studies performed by Robert Van de Castle indicate that even in the dreams of modern Americans, who presumably have little direct contact with snakes, these animals appear with surprising frequency. [i] Many reports of snake dreams emphasize their strange, uncanny quality; the dreamer feels both attracted to and yet repelled by the serpent. As the following examples suggest, many people through history have regarded snake dreams as deeply spiritual experiences–for these dreams reveal the ambivalent nature of the sacred, its capacity to be a force of joyful creativity and violent destructiveness in human life.
1) A fifty year-old woman named Rosie Plummer, of the Paviotso people living on the Walker river reservation in Nevada, told anthropologist Willard Park of her shaman father. Rattlesnakes frequently came to him in his dreams and told him how to cure snake bites and other illnesses. Eighteen years after his death, Rosie started to dream about her father. “She dreamed that he came to her and told her to be a shaman. Then a rattlesnake came to her in dreams and told her to get eagle feathers, white paint, wild tobacco. The snake gave her the songs that she sings when she is curing. The snake appeared three or four times before she be lieved that she would be a shaman. Now she dreams about the rattlesnake quite frequently and she learns new songs and is told how to cure sick people in this way. [ii]
2) Lilias Trotter, a Christian missionary who worked in Algeria in the early part of the twentieth century, had these two dreams reported to her by Muslims who were converting to Christianity. A) Trotter says that an Algerian she knew named Boualem had been involved in an angry conflict with a neighbor. She wanted to help Boualem, but didn’t know how; then she says, “now God has dealt with the matter. Boualem told us that a dream had come. ‘I dreamed that a great snake was coiling round my foot and leg, and you [Trot ter] were there, and in horror I called to you. You said to the snake: “In the name of Jesus, let go.” It uncoiled and fell like a rope, and I woke almost dead with joy.’ And the shining of his face told that his soul had got free.” B) Trotter says, “Blind Houriya came this morning with ‘I want to tell you something that has frightened me very much. I dreamt it Saturday night, but I was too frightened to tell you yesterday. To-day my husband told me, “You must tell them.” I dreamed that a great snake was twisting round my throat and strangling me. I called to you [Trotter] but you said: “I cannot save you, for you are not following our road.” I went on calling for help, and one came up to me and loosened the snake from off my neck. I said: “And who is it that is saving me, and what is this snake?” A voice said: “I am Jesus and this snake is Ramadan [the Muslim ritual fasting period].”‘” [iii]
3) Henry Shipes was the son of an English father and a mother from the Maidu Indians of the Sierra Nevada mountains of Califor nia. He grew up at the end of the nineteenth century, during the gold rush era, when the indigenous Maidu culture was coming into conflict with white culture. Henry told anthropologist Arden King of various dreams in which he fought against native shamans who were jealous of his power. In one of these dreams, Henry “had a dream contest with a shaman who was also the headman at Quincy [a Sierra Nevada town]. In this dream Henry and the shaman were contesting with each other to see who had the most power. This was a fight to the death. The shaman acted first. He loosed a snake which pursued Henry Shipes, but was unable to catch him. Henry then tried his white power. This was stated by him to be specifically white. By ruse he caused the shaman to attempt the lifting of a bucket. The bucket exploded and the dream ended.” [iv]
4) The Egyptian Pharaoh Tanutamon is reported to have had the following dream experience in the first year of his reign, as presented by philologist A. Leo Oppenheim in his work on dreams in the ancient Near East: “His majesty saw a dream in the night: two serpents, one on his right, the other on his left. His majesty awoke, but he did not find them. His majesty said: ‘Why has this happened to me?’” His interpreters told him that the dream means that both Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt now belong to him. “Then his majesty said: “True indeed is the dream; it is beneficial to him who places his heart in it but evil for him who does not know it.” [v]
5) In Carthage in 203 A.D. Vibia Perpetua, a newly married woman of twenty-two years, and mother to an infant son, was imprisoned and sentenced to death for refusing to renounce her Christian faith. As she waited in prison for the day when she and other Christians would be cast into the arena and killed by wild beasts, her brother came and told her to ask God for a vision to reveal her fate. Perpetua agrees, and says she’ll tell him what she learns tomorrow. “And I asked for a vision, and this was shown to me: I saw a bronze ladder, marvellously long, reaching as far as heaven, and narrow too: people could climb it only one at a time. And on the sides of the ladder every kind of iron implement was fixed: there were swords, lances, hooks, cutlasses, javelins, so that if anyone went up carelessly or not looking upwards, he would be torn and his flesh caught on the sharp iron. And beneath the ladder lurked a serpent of wondrous size, who laid am bushes for those mounting, making them terrified of the ascent. But Saturs [a fellow martyr] climbed up first… And he reached the top of the ladder, and turned and said to me: ‘Perpetua, I’m waiting for you–but watch out that the serpent doesn’t bite you!’ And I said: ‘He won’t hurt me, in Christ’s name!’ And under that ladder, almost, it seemed, afraid of me, the serpent slowly thrust out its head–and, as if I were treading on the first rung, I trod on it, and I climbed. And I saw an immense space of garden, and in the middle of it a white-haired man sitting in shepherd’s garb, vast, milk ing sheep, with many thousands of people dressed in shining white standing all round. And he raised his head, looked at me, and said: ‘You are welcome, child.’ And he called me, and gave me, it seemed, a mouthful of the cheese he was milking; and I accepted it in both my hands together, and ate it, and all those standing around said: ‘Amen.’ At the sound of that word I awoke, still chewing some thing indefinable and sweet.” Perpetua tells her dream to her brother, and they both understand that she is to die for her faith. [vi]
Hi Kelly,
there are really interesting dreams here – good to read.
I had a dream just two days ago that confused me and scared me that I’m still trying to workout what it really means..
All I can recall is a very very large python snake (don’t like them) with an overly large head with a johnny Depp like hat just stared into my eyes and told me “come with me.” I hesitated but still went with this snake. It seemed to me that I was climbing the snake as we kept going higher and higher to what seemed like nothing but into the clouds and blue sky.
After that, I ended up in a desert. It was like seeing it in a movie. I saw myself in the small, sunny but windy desert covered up from head to toe with just my face revealed – like what people using wear in the desert. There were a couple of trees there. I remember feeling like “I have to get there..I *must find it”. I felt that this was my path/journey to my “treasure” or fulfillment.
Please help.
hi , i was woundern if ucan help me understand a dream that i had of a snake thta was black and brown .. it was in a sealed up bag tryn to get out but every time it would try to get out i wouldnt let it … the feeling i had in the dream was frieght can u please help me understand this dream or is some one tryn to tell me some thing thanx …. sandra!
Dear Kelly,
I walked in to my old catholic grade school but it wasnt the same. I was there to be in an out patient depression hospital type thing(i was in in patient last year for a month for anexioty and depression). apperantly i was 3 weeks late and that made me nervous. they gave us new seats and treated us like little kids. i saw many firmiliar faces i knew. i talked to a few saying oh i didnt relieze you were this depressed or why are you in here? many of them acted like i should have known. some were very hostial. then i didnt know some of the others and i remember judging them. we sat down in our desks but something was wrong with mine. it turned into dirt and was almost like a hole. but it was ok for me to sit in like a normal chair. the counsler was talking and i looked down near my leg. i saw a piece of toilet paper with small dots of blood all over it and behind it i could just barely make out a dark shape in a smaller hole. then a small black snake came out. i screamed and backed away farther and farther untill i thought it wouldnt come after me. this black snake almost looked like it was floating towards me then it lunged and bit me. it latched on and wouldnt let go. i screamed but felt no fear or pain. Im not sure if it was poisnous but i think it was and im not sure if i saw any blood on my leg from tthe snake bit but i remember once a counsler got it off and killed it they yelled at me and said it was my fault because i should have seen it earlier. i felt so embaresed and dumb. i stayed quiet then i woke up.
please help me with my dream. i will give you any more details or information that you need to help me figure this out. for some reason this dream really stuck out to me and i want to know what its all about.
please write back,
Kelli
I had a very strange dream last night, the one that stays with you all day the next day. First, I dreamed of being in my mother’s house (my childhood home) with my current family and watched a snake eat a rodent that was in the house. Then during the same dream, I was in my chldhood bed in the same home, and while I slept, a snake crawled inside me and when I woke up, realized it was in me and panicked, telling my husband to take me to the hospital to get it cut out. I thought it was the same snake, but learned it was not. However, before i could react, the snake left my body on its own and slithered away not harming me or anyone else. It was a long plain brown snake. I’m sure this has to do with what i am going through right now, but not sure how it relates. My mother is elderly and planning on moving and selling her home (the home in the dream). We (my family) are contemplating moving to her home and relocating our children into another school district. I don’t want to do it, but for financial reasons we may have to. I had a dysfunctional childhood w/verbal abuse and many bad memories. What is this snake telling me?
MY DREAM WAS A LITTLE DIFFERENT ! IT WAS NOT LIKE A SNAKE ATTACKING ME ! I SAW TWO DREAM ON DIFFRENT DAYS ! FIRST WAS THAT I WAS IN SOME GRAND BUT OLD PALACE TYPE PLACE,,THE WALLS WERE NOT OF CEMENT BUT OF METAL OF GOLDEN COLOUR!MAY BE OF GOLD! I WAS ROAMING ABOUT HERE N THERE N THAT PALACE WHEN I WENT TO A ROOM LITTLE DARKER THAN THE OTHER ONES! THEN I SAW THE TAIL OF A SNAKE ,,I CUDNT SEE REST OF ITS BODY BCZ OF D DARKNESS IN THAT ROOM! THEN I SAW A LITTLE GOLDEN SHIVA LINGA ( WHICH WAS EXACTLY LIKE THE GOLDEN SHIVA LINGA I HAVE AT HOME,,N WHICH I HAVE PERSONALISED AS MY OWN LINGA AS MY MOM USES ANOTHER ONE TO WORSHIP ),I SAW THEN MANY SMALL THIN SNAKES CRAWLING AROUNG THE SHIVLING N 1 COILING AROUND IT! THIS WAS WHEN IT WAS THE FIRST WEEK OF SHRAVAN i.e. lord shiva’s birth month! BUT I WAS TOTALLY UNAWARE THAT ITS SHRAVAN NOW ! MY MOTHER TOLD ME!
IN ANOTHER DREAM JUST A WEEK AGO WHEN I WAS SLEEPING IN MY BED AND IT WAS ABOUT 9-10AM IN THE MORNING WEARING A RED NIGHT GOWN,,I DREAMT EXACTLY THE SAME SITUATIONS IN WHICH I WAS ACTUALLY SLEEPING i.e. the day time 9-10 am,.,wearing my red gown in my bedroom!I SAW A VERY THICK AND LARGE BROWN COLOUED SNAKE CRAWLING UP THE WARDROBE BEHIND MY BED! IT HAD ROUND N BIG BLACK SPOTS ALL OVER ITS BODY N LOOKED SO BEAUTIFUL! IT HAD CRAWLED HALF THE WARDROBE N NOW WASNT MOVING! SURPRISING I WASNT AT ALL SCARED TO SEE THE SNAKE! THOUGH IN REAL LIFE IM VY SCARED OF THEM ! THERE WAS A VERY DEVINE N POSITIVE FEELING ABOUT THE SNAKE IN MY DREAM! THEN I SAW THE SNAKE TURNING ITS LARGE HEAD TOWARDS ME BUT IT WASNT THREATENIING! I DECIDED TO CHANGE Y NIGHT GOWN N WEAR A GOOD DRESS N THEN GO OUT OF THE ROOM N CALL MY PARENTS TO SEE THE SNAKE! WHILE I WAS DOING SO,THE SNAKE WAS MOVING N TURNING ITS HEAD IN ALL THREE SIDES BUT WASNT ATTACKED ME ! THEN I WOKE UP! WHAT CUD BE ITS MEANING??
hi, can u plz help me solve the mystery of this dream I had only once, but it disturbed me a lot.
I saw that I was dreaming in the dream that there was a pond type in front of my building. In the center of the pond was a statue beside which was a pot of holy water. There were many huge snakes in the pond & I could see them. My mum said that I’ll go and bring the water for us. I tried to stop her but she didn’t. As she was going to lift the pot a huge snake ca,me closer to her, I warned her, but she said it’ll not harm her & she started pampering the snake. But the snake started strangling her.I was not knowing what to do, so I pick up the stone nearby & threw in the water. The snake left my mum & we went in our home. Later a mouse from the pond came in our house & it stared biting me. And because the mouse was from pond the snake surrounded our home from all sides to get the mouse. Later we consulted a pandit & he said that seeing a snake was not good for my fiance. What does this dream mean? Does this dream has anything to do with my mum or my fiance? please help me.
Thanks.
Hi Kelly, I had a dream that me and my children were in a wooden boat in some exotic place ( I am assuming) and a very big and colorful ( anacondaish) looking snake, with some orange and green I think with black spots slithered across the whole boat. I remember telling my children to sit still. I think it was kind of on my lap and it bit my left ankle and before it bit my right ankle I fed it a snack ( a cookie or something) that was packed in the boat and I don’t remember anything else after that.
i am getting frequent dreams abt snakes from past 4 days… cobra n other big one following me in my college.. in the same place [college] i had fought wit my gd friend and i hv nt so many gd friends.. i mean dey envy on me… now i jst want to ask if snake dreams and having enemies is der any relevance. as per islam….please reply
last night i saw a black flying snake in my dream,who was flying around me,my sis & bro was also there..i said to them not to kill him, just let him go from this room afterthat we opened d door to let him go from dat room..He didnt harm us and fly away fromd room.
Hi, I got a dream yesterday night..In my dream I have seen a big large black snake and it is on the side of the wall…i am sleeping on my bed..I just opened my eyes and saw a some thing on wall and I conformed it was a big large black snake..and it is coming near down slowly to come near to me..I had this in dream what does it mean..can u plzz..help me..
i want to know why im dreaming this ……….first : snakes all over the walls at my mom’s house but she didnt see them and i was so tr one long big yellow one was in the front door way …2nd: in a pool a young man show me a like granden snake and he let it go in the pool then it like broke in to lil pieces i trun away then i was falshing boy not knowing i didnt have underware,,, i’m 24 live with my babydaddy and three kids what are they trying to tell plz hlep
hi, i offtern have strange dreams all the time. but last night i had a dream about snakes and all day i cannot stop thinking about it, and its really starting to annoy me.
theres so many websites about snakes in dreams and all i would like is a straight up answer.
All i remember in my dream is that it was at a school i use to go to, which i really didn’t enjoy being at, & i was walking thru the school with another person (that i cant remember who) and there were open cages with snakes everywhere with tree stumps and leaves in side of the cages, and the person i was walking with didn’t see the snakes and got bitten several times and i had to keep yelling out to the person to watch out for the snakes, and im really scared of snakes i have never liked them, and in the dream i wasnt scared of the snakes and i was able to dodge them and not get bitten!
this may not mean anything but if anyone thinks it might could somebody share some information about it with me! i would really appreciate it!
thanks mikki x
Last night i saw thousands of cobra in my office they were all around my office for about an hour and some of my friends were so comfortable with the snakes. But one of them nearly bit me. After an hour they all went out when one of my friend took all the snakes out.
I had a dream about a bright green snake, in my dream it tried to bite me, but I managed to kill it.
What does it mean? Does snake dreams always mean bad things are gonna happen?
I had a dream about a brown and black snake and wanted to know what it meant. It didn’t try to bite me or anything it actually came towards me and turned around. Someone caught the snake and walked pass me and as he did the snake just looked at me. What does this mean?
I am fron Nigeria. I had a dream that i and my twin brother were fighting a very big and long snake in our compound. Confronting the snake which had several times attempted to bite us, the snake changed to one of our dogs and changed back to the snake. This happened twice. After sometime the snake ran out of our compound. Determined to hunt it down, i pursued it to the street. And i saw a mighty man as of a giant caught the snake by the neck lifted it up squeezed it and brought it town to finish the kill. The snake had the head of a dog at that moment.
Waking up i decided to sell the dog cos i cant live with it again after the dream. Mum was reluctant to sell at first but changed her mind four days later because the dog had a sudden change in attitude. She thought it was about to have rabies and we sold off the dog.
It’s three days after selling the dog and i had another dream. In this dream, the dog came back to our compound with it’s body covered with blisters and sometime looking like raw meat. This dream is hunting me.
Is the dog possesed? The dog would cry and run whenever we played guitar in our house. Is it naturtal or doea this have a spiritual meaning. Please help
I have had many dreams of snakes, most unpleasant and nightmarish. I always am glad to wake up from them. I hate them.
can u tell me wat does this dream mean plz my brother in law had a dream about me that there were two snakes in my house eating from my food plz
Last night I had a dream that I was laying down on a big white ship …then suddenly someone told me” hey theres a snake inside the ship if it comes to you don’t move so it wont feel you are alive”
then it will pass by you ..as soon as she was telling me this i felt the snake on my body …i couldn’t look at it Because i didn’t wanted to move but i could feel its weight on me …when it reach to my left hand ,it bite back of my LEFT HAND and i whispered to my friend : “HELP” and she went to bring someone to help me …i was feeling dizzy and i had bruise on back of my left hand, but not so painful…
This is not my first time dreaming snake bites back of my hand …thats why i’m curious to know the meaning why always back of my left hand …what does it mean ?and it feels so real that even when i wake up i feel my left hand is hurting a little O_0
I just had a dream that I was walking down a dirt road and an old firend of mine appeared. She had two green string beans left in her hand and asked if I would like them. I said ok. She gave the two green beans to me and as I look down in the palm of my hand they are not green beans they look like two large crabs but the skin is like a snake and is green and they begin to move in my hand. I remember in my dream looking and feeling that I did not like this.
What the heck kind of dream is this?
last night i had a dream that i was being chased throughout my house by many many snakes. They varied in all sizes from huge to small. All different colors. Some were chasing me, some werent. Some actually bit me, some didnt. Then when i ran outside, they were all around me outside my yard to.
What does this dream mean????
few days ago durring day time i saw a bad dream that a black snake getting out from dustbin placed close to my bed, and my younger sister also lieing sleep next to me but she still slept and i wake up and try to kill this this attacking black snake by throwing purse found close to my bed and after hit by purse snake fell down into dustbin back and then with matchbox I burnt it off along with dustbin and of fear didnt even look into dustbin just burnt it off inside dustbin then because of fear I wake up…please help I am quite disturbed after this dream, although from past I am extremely frightened of snakes usually, even if snakes comes on movies or tv I simply change channel cant bearing watching them
I had a strange but vivid dream last night. I was wondering if anyone could help me solve he meaning. I was walking than i heard a snake hiss and ripped through my left shoulder. I could feel it moving around in my body. Then i saw it seemed like the shape of the head coming from my stomach so i got a knife and grabbed the head tightly, and, started ripping through my skin and cut off the head and took the rest of it out of my stomach. i know it sounds bad but I’ve never dream t of anything like this?
i often see a black snake chasing me all night…… it came closer to me said hiiiii n den went away
All I can remember from my dream is that I was in my parents old house and I was blowing my nose. I looked up my nose to see if I got it all, I saw a snakes eye. I kept blowing and when I checked again I see just the snakes mouth. I stood there terrified to keep blowing but knew it couldn’t stay in there but also at no point did I feel it was in there anyway. Once I blew enough to get the full head out I start screaming for my mom and started pulling the snake out. It was very stiff. I dropped it in the sink realizing it was dead and the jaw was bent backwards. It was black w/some yellow. I was freaking out continuing to scream for my mom and then woke up. There was also no blood at any point during that dream either.
i think,its an indication for desire of sex.
is it correct???????//
i noticed it is common in young age group and during menopause.
Last 3 nights ago i dreamed of being bite by many snake climbing on the trees
I was flying but they were hunting/following me and they bite me whenever they reached me
But when i got wounded badly there is a guy who helped me and cure my wound
i cant remember his face..
Hi,
I had two dreams related to snakes that I recall offhand and would love explanations about.
First – I saw me entering a house, and recollecting that I thought it was smaller than what I wanted but a house nevertheless. But my father was not able to enter it because there were a bunch of snakes at the gate that wouldn’t let him enter. One of them was black with shiny scales and white stripes like the sea snakes. They were in a square pit just near the gate. So I was at this side of them, and my father at the other end. Felt very helpless at the situation and very sorry for papa.
Second one which I had just yesterday. I saw a not so large snake being mauled by two larger reptiles that looked like giant lizards. It was as if somebody was teaching me how to hunt down a snake in my dream.
I fear reptiles.
I dreamed I was at my parents house and a big boa was in the kitchen. It got up to strike at me and I threw a cloth across it’s face, it covered it’s eyes. I then grabbed it’s head and held his mouth shut. I was holding it very tightly because I didn’t want it to get me or get away from me. I kept calling my mom and dad to help me but they never would come. They have passed away many years ago. Finally, my husband came to help but I didn’t know how was was going to let go. The cloth slipped from it’s mouth and instead of scales, it had fur on it. I remember looking at it and thinking it looked raggedy, then I woke up.
I had a dream last night, We are in a pet store and we get this white hollow looking shell with a lizard in it, my husband, his live long best friend and I take it home and but first we have to sit and wait for some kind of show to start and I am playing around getting chairs but then I turn around and my bed is infront of me with the white hollow shell. And it has s big black and yellow snake coming out of it with baby snakes crawling out of it!
Hi Kelly,
There was a big coincidence this morning. My hubby and I dreamt of snake. He saw big cobra early morning. IN dream ,he himself bought it and kept in home then suddenly it disappeared and rounded the body of his brother. And on seeing this scene his dream broke. Where as I saw snake somewhere at 9am. I was not in deep sleep, I was simply laying down and withing seconds I got dream. That snake failed down from the roof of house on me but still I didnt frighten,rather I was thinking in dream to throw it out.
We were not knowing about each other’s dream. But in evening we shared our dreams and was quite surprised with the coincidence. How could we both see snake in dream on the same day? What kind of indication or intimation it must be? Please clarify.
Snakes are very powerful creatures in dreams. Many people have vivid snake dreams, so it could just be a coincidence that you and your husband would both dream of snakes on the same night. But maybe it is not a coincidence. Maybe there is a connection of meaning or insight. If I were you, I would ask myself about the differences between his snake and my snake. He brought his snake into the house, whereas my snake fell into our house. His snake disappears around his brother, whereas I want to throw the snake out myself. Snakes can symbolize many things–wisdom, danger, healing, aggression, male sexuality, evil–it really depends on your life context to determine what the snakes are symbolizing for you. It does seem important that you and your husband dreamed about snakes on the same night. Perhaps you share other dream themes with each other? In that sense, perhaps the snakes are inviting you and your husband to a deeper dream dialogue?
Dear Kelly,
Thankyou so much for replying
This is the first time we had dream on similar lines. Both of us have very strong bonding and have open dialogues. I used to have had dreams related to water, but those are also rare these days. But in his case he sees snake in dream mostly once in a year. I am thinking on all fronts,but not getting any clue.
Could it be related by any chance to our secong child, which we are plannign to have these days. But then what is it trying to tell? Please if possible give it a thought.
Ana
I had a dream about a snake that just amazes me and scares me. I was back at a old house i loved so much growing up in as a kid. The snake was one of those red and white ones but mixed like around the tip was a ugly patterned brown, this was also the color of his head. Anyway, he was out in the sunroom/poorch area and he was trying to get through the door trying to attack me and i kept fighing him and finally killed him by braking his tale and neck with the door. Later my aunt and mom came down the drive way and i told them and then my side hurt and the snake had bitten me on myside. It hurt and i believe it was poisonous. There is just something, emotion maybe that draws me to this dream any feed back would be nice. Thanks(:
That’s interesting to hear about your plans for a second child. Perhaps the snakes are symbolizing sexual creativity? The power of creating new life together?
That’s an intense dream! One question that immediately comes to mind is whether or not the dream refers to an actual childhood experience of abuse or trauma (symbolized by the poisonous serpent). Nightmares from such experiences can recur throughout the rest of one’s life. If this is not true in your case, then it seems to be a metaphorical dream about feeling vulnerable and under attack in a very personal, private space–and having the power to defend yourself successfully. The appearance of female relatives plus the male gender of the snake makes me wonder about pressure in the waking world from masculine aggression, something my female relatives can understand. I don’t know what to make of the specific colors of the snake–he just sounds like a scary one. This may not relate at all, but your dream reminds me of Queen Maya’s ancient dream in which an elephant touched her on the side with his (snake-like) trunk, and when she awoke she had conceived the child who would become the Buddha. I wonder if in your dream something was conceived when the snake bit you, some kind of insight, some kind of new potential for awareness.
Dream from last night:
I’m looking at an attractive and slightly mysterious woman who has a huge Boa wrapped around her neck – 1 foot diameter at its middle. The woman and snake are clearly benevolent toward each other. I like them, and am somewhat intrigued. The snake keeps twining and untwining itself about her neck until it finally decides to leave. When it does, it exits the scene by coming towards me. Its as if I’m on the “audience” side of the fourth wall, as in a theater, so I don’t see exactly where it goes, only that it exits the scene towards me.
Then in a next scene, a slightly rotund, middle-aged man with a small, dark moustache is going to prove that he can swallow a snake. He holds up a smaller snake – I think it’s a python or viper this time – and I see that it has a pink wound at the tiny part of its tail. He begins to swallow the snake about six inches at a time until all but the very last bit are down his throat. Then he extracts the snake by similar increments until it is entirely removed from his throat. As he takes it out, it’s very bloody. At that point, he places the snake on a table before him, cuts off its head, and quickly eats the head.
At that point in the dream, I feel ambivalent and slightly guilty about beheading the living creature, and, without consciously realizing I’m dreaming, I wonder if I shouldn’t revise the dream so that the snake doesn’t get killed.
Any responses?
The motif of a special bond between women and serpents harkens back to Eve and the serpent in the Garden of Eden. You could explore a traditional symbolic possibility (snakes + women = danger) or a gnostic interpretation (snakes + women = spiritual wisdom). The second part of the dream puts the situation at a slight distance (the man) from the dreamer’s personal situation; is it happening to the dreamer, or to someone else? or some other part of the dreamer’s psyche? Whatever the snake symbolizes, the man tries to take it inside himself, incorporate it, transform it into his own body and essence, draw power from it. The ambivalence about killing the snake may mirror the ambivalent energy of the snake itself. The dream ends on a “heady” note, far from the woman at the beginning. If I were you, I’d start with her when reflecting on the dream.
in my dream i saw me and my love was having fun..we went out for walk then i saw my love changing into snake in front of me i wasn’t scared nor frightened i was very relaxed as if i know it will not hurt me..after sometime i saw another with whom my love was playing after which the snake left and my love again changed into human …and we went away.
Hi,
I had dreams of Snakes from years,Different snakes (black and grey – multiple) they dont attack me in the dreams. But i always get scared of them and try to defend my self from them.
But I had a recent bad dream in which my house full of snakes (may be 5 or 6) Out of one is posionous snake attacking my father and I was trying to protect him from the snakebite.When i waked up from dream i visualized a coil cobra few feets away from my bed.
Can anybody help me out??? I m very scared after this dream.
ANDY
I have had many dreams of snakes. My latest one, I was at an old wooden cabin by a lake. I was down by the water when I saw this snake, it was very huge and its skin had many different colors some that were glowing, this was at night time. The snake saw me and chased me, I was very scared, I got away, then I was down by the water again and the snake went by me again I could see the colors glowing in the night, this time I was not scared, as he went by I grabbed it by its tail end and it started to coil around my hand, that’s when I woke up.
If it were me, I’d certainly tell my father about the dream, so he knows I feel concerned about him. The dream may not directly relate to him, but it might make you feel less anxious to share the dream with someone else. Plus, he may have something interesting to say about where the snakes are coming from….
Hi Kelly, last night I saw in my dream that a whitis ,brownish snake kept bitting my right ankle, I pulled that snake. Then looked at my rite ankle, 2 holes filled with blood. Then I told my mom She started to cry was praying for me and I didn’t feel and bad.
Thanks for sharing this! The fact that the snake’s bite penetrated your skin makes me wonder what the snake is giving you–poison? energy? fertility? The ankle is a vulnerable spot on our bodies. It doesn’t sound like you were too scared, is that right? Was your mother more scared than you? Depending on your religious background, snakes can be seen in positive or negative terms, so that’s definitely a factor. This is a guess, but perhaps you mother is scared you are growing up, becoming mature and independent?
Kelly,
I dreamt last night that a two headed snake was coming after me. I was in an airport terminal rushing to catch a layover, and while I was talking to the gate attendant this snake appeared. The lady toyed with the snake, saying that he was playful, but when he came toward me I had a sense of dread and awoke heart pounding and all hot and sweaty.
It was a weird snake too. It’s heads were snub-nosed (wide and flat at the mouth, not pointy like normal). He was yellow, and not too long (maybe 2-3 ft).
I’m not one to give too much significance to dreams, but this one definately congured up a feeling of certain meaning/symbolism. Something about snakes…
That’s a creepy one! Some initial thoughts: The terminal seems like a threshold between one place and another, a liminal zone of transition, change, movement; the male/female dynamic, with the masculine snake and feminine gate attendant, makes me wonder about the tension of opposites at this liminal place; The two heads, a doubling of the snake’s power or intelligence?; The weird shape of the heads perhaps suggest this is not a “real” snake, the “point” isn’t as obvious as it might be in the waking world; The fear is a natural instinct, yet if this were my dream I’d wonder if my desire to “keep moving” and make my connecting flight has been thwarted by my anxiety; Can this gate attendant be trusted? Can I (the dreamer) adopt her benevolent and friendly attitude toward the strange serpent?
Kelly,
Thanks for the response. I definitely get the transition peice you mention. I’m currently deployed to Afghanistan and am anxiously awaiting the chance to get home to my wife and daughter. My daughter is under 2 and keeps changing without me…hope she recognizes/remembers me. I hope my relationship with my wife hasn’t suffered due to the prolonged absence.
I haven’t had the snake dream again. Wish I could have the dream again and see what happens if I allow the snake near me…
Thanks again.