What do Dreams of Snakes Mean? - Page 3
The Metaphor of the Snake is Timeless
So why snakes? Why have snakes made such a powerful impact on the human religious imagination, and what exactly is the spiritual significance of their frequent appearances in people’s dreams? What is it about this particular animal that has made it so prominent a figure not only in dreams but in myths, folklore, and art from all over the world? [xvi]
Looking at their “natural” characteristics, snakes are genuine dangers to people, posing a deadly threat either from the quick, poisonous bite of a rattlesnake or the slow, suffocating squeeze of a boa constrictor. At the same time, the capacity of snakes to shed their skins conjures up the image of regeneration, re birth, and new life. [xvii] Thus, snakes combine the threat of death with the promise of life. Another “natural” feature of serpents is their lidless eyes; humans find the unblinking gaze of snakes to be both captivating and horrifying, both transcendent and inhuman. This unnerving stare evokes in many people feelings of awe, mystery, and dread.
An obvious explanation refers to the central role that the serpent plays in the book of Genesis. Anyone who is at all familiar with the Bible knows that the serpent is the great tempter, the one whose seductive promises of power persuaded Eve to taste the fruit of the Tree of Knowl edge. The serpent brings evil into the Garden of Eden, but also brings the possibility of knowledge: “when you eat [the fruit] your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” [xviii] When God discovers what has happened, he ordains that man and serpent shall be eternal enemies.
Another, more “modern” explanation draws on the psycho analytic theory that snakes symbolize the phallus. Ernest Jones, one of Freud’s early followers, says with custom ary psychoanalytic modesty,
“The idea of a snake, which is never consciously associated with that of the phallus, is regularly so in dreams, being one of the most constant and invariable symbols: in primitive religions the two ideas are quite obviously interchangeable, so that it is often hard to distinguish between phallic from ophitic worship…very rarely can it also symbolize the intestine and its contents, but as far as I know, nothing else.” [xix]
For Jones, the snake is such a common dream symbol be cause it enables us to express our strong unconscious feelings about the phallus: the phallus is at once an object of desire and of fear, an object of proud potency and of dreaded impotency, an object that brings great pleasure but that can also bring great pain if it is cut off (as psychoanalysts say men continually fear it will be). The snake’s physical shape makes it a uniquely convenient way of representing (and yet disguising) the phallus in dreams, myths, and art.
Each of these explanations makes some sense, but none of them adequately answers the question of why snake dreams so often have such a strong spiritual impact on people. The “naturalistic” explanation does not account for the vivid dreams of people who have had little direct contact with snakes. The biblical explanation says nothing about the dreams of people who have never had any contact with the Bible. And the psycho analytic explanation merely side steps the question, rightly pointing to the symbolic connection between snakes, penises, and power but failing to relate any of this to people’s experiences of the sacred. [xx]
We gain a better understanding of snake dreams when we refer to the research of histo rians of religion like Rudolph Otto and Mircea Eliade. They have found that humans universally feel an ambivalence towards the sacred. In virtually all religious and spiritual traditions the divine is portrayed as both enchanting and terrifying; Otto says “the daemonic-divine object may appear to the mind an object of horror and dread, but at the same time it is no less something that allures with a potent charm.” [xxi] The power of the sacred is ambivalent in the true sense of the word–it is both good and evil, creative and destructive, attractive and frightening. If we consider snake dreams in this light, we see that these dreams portray the profoundly ambivalent nature of the sacred. Dream experiences involving snakes have provided people with intensely numinous manifestations of sacred powers that can appear beneficial to the dreamer but can just as often appear evil, violent, and highly destructive. Snake dreams reveal the potential of the sacred to be both a helpful and an antago nistic force in human life.
One way to appreciate the spiritual dimension of snake dreams is to contrast them with dreams of the dead. If dreams of the dead guide us into a better relationship with the sacred, dreams of snakes confront us with the raw energy, the primal potency, and the antagonistic power of the sa cred. Dreams of the dead tend to emphasize the beneficial gains that can come from con tacting the sa cred; dreams of snakes, by contrast, tend to emphasize the dangerous threats that can come from such con tact. The contrast is not absolute, of course, because some snake dreams have quite positive aspects. But on the whole, this type of dream brings the dreamer face to face with the darker, more evil aspects of the sacred.
While pursuing my graduate studies in Chicago I made a weekly visit to a small child-care center, operated by the mother of a good friend of mine. Her English was not especially good, so I helped her by reading stories to the children. Each visit I would read two or three books to them, and then ask each child to share his or her own story to the group. The kids would usual ly improvise a version of one of the books we had just read, or perhaps describe what they’d eaten that morning for breakfast. One day, however, a three-year old boy named Sam shared a dream with our little group: he said, in an even but intense voice, “I dreamed that there was a snake monster inside grandpa’s back, and it broke out and killed grand pa.” The other children were fascinated by this brief, powerful dream; after a moment of reflective silence, they all began clamoring to tell their own stories of dangerous snake monsters.
I later learned from my friend that Sam’s grandfather had indeed died recently (although she didn’t know what caused his death) and that Sam was quite upset by it. She said that Sam had told her the dream earlier in the day, with the same intensity he had expressed during story-time. I’ve often thought of Sam’s dream of the snake monster, and of the ways that death is like a snake monster–powerful, mysterious, and ferocious, tearing the people we love away from us forever.
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Notes
[i].. Van de Castle 1994, pp. 304-310.
[ii].. Park 1934, p. 101.
[iii].. Padwick 1939, pp. 208-209.
[iv].. King 1942, p. 232.
[v].. Oppenheim 1956, p. 251.
[vi].. Dronke 1984, p. 2.
[vii].. Eggan 1955, pp. 450-451.
[viii].. O’Flaherty and Greene 1989, pp. 113-114.
[ix].. Shaw 1992, p. 45.
[x].. Hosain 1932, p. 581.
[xi].. Holy 1992, pp. 93-94.
[xii].. Foster 1973, p. 111.
[xiii].. Driberg 1927, p. 142.
[xiv].. Artemidorus 1975, pp. 97, 213.
[xv].. Achmet 1991, p. 237.
[xvi].. See Mundkur 1983 for a detailed examination of snake worship around the world.
[xvii].. See Eliade 1958, pp. 164-171.
[xviii].. Genesis 3:5.
[xix].. Quoted in Mundkur 1983, pp. 263-264.
[xx].. Except, of course, in order to reduce people’s experiences of the sacred to psychoanalytic categories like “wish-fulfillment”, “illusion”, and the “cosmic narcissism”.
[xxi].. Otto 1958, p. 31.
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.