Snake

The snake is one of the most powerful and most ambivalent dream symbols. Hindu tradition gives us kundalini, the serpent-energy coiled at the base of the spine and rising through the chakras. Greek medicine takes its symbol — the snake-entwined staff of Asclepius — from the snake’s shedding of skin as an image of renewal. Jung considered the snake a central symbol of the Self in its transformative aspect. Dream-snakes terrify many dreamers, but the fear often obscures the symbol’s generative meaning: a transformation is underway, and the psyche is shedding something old. Notice the snake’s color, whether it strikes, and whether it leads you somewhere. A snake that simply watches you is classically the Self taking notice of a readiness.