Serpent

The serpent is an ancient symbol of wisdom and fertility, but in Christianity it became associated with evil, the Devil, and Satan. The serpent is also a favourite shape-shifted form of the Devil and the Djinn.

The serpent is one of the oldest, most universal, and most revered symbols in mythology. Although it has negative associations in some traditions, it is more often connected with wisdom, enlightenment, immortality, healing, renewal, magic, and the guardianship of hidden treasure. Many deities and spiritual beings have been linked to serpents.

The Aztec god Quetzalcoatl is the “Plumed Serpent” and is prophesied to return as a great teacher. The Rainbow Serpent in Australian mythology is a creator deity. Asklepios, the Greek god of healing, is represented by a serpent entwined around a staff. Hermes, the Greek god of learning and magic, carries the caduceus, a wand entwined by two serpents. Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, bears a serpent upon her shield. The Nagas of Vedic lore are human-serpent beings known for their deep wisdom. In yoga, kundalini, the energy of enlightenment, is symbolised as a coiled serpent sleeping at the base of the spine, rising to the crown of the head when awakened through spiritual study and discipline.

Serpent in the Bible

The Book of Genesis tells how a clever, talking serpent persuades Eve to eat the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. She then gives the fruit to Adam. God, angered by their disobedience, casts them out of the Garden of Eden and condemns the serpent to crawl upon its belly.

The appearance of the biblical serpent is controversial. Genesis does not describe it in exact physical detail. Some depictions of the serpent in Eden show a reptilian-humanoid being. The serpent speaks to Eve and displays intelligence and cunning. In some older Jewish legends, the Genesis serpent is a tall, highly intelligent creature with human arms and legs. He was created by God to be king of all creatures and to eat the same food as humans, but his envy of humanity caused him to bring about the Fall.

Genesis itself does not identify the serpent as the Devil or Satan. These associations were made later by early Church Fathers such as Justin Martyr and Tertullian. Over time, the serpent came to symbolise lies, treachery, temptation, and evil. It also inspired later images of the Devil with a forked tongue and serpent-like tail.

In Christian art and literature, the Devil often took on snakelike or reptilian features, including scaly skin, a forked tongue, and a long tail. Dragons also became symbols of evil and were frequently associated with the Devil.

Yet the serpent is not only a symbol of evil in biblical and religious tradition. At the opposite end of the spiritual hierarchy, the highest-ranking order of angels, the seraphim, also have serpent associations. Their name is thought to come from the Hebrew verb saraf, meaning “to burn,” “to incinerate,” or “to destroy.” This may refer to the ability of the seraphim to destroy by fire.

The seraphim may have evolved from the uraeus, the golden serpent, specifically a cobra, worn by Egyptian pharaohs upon their foreheads. Uraei, sometimes wingless and sometimes shown with two or four wings, appeared throughout Near Eastern iconography. They protected by spitting poison or fire. The seraphim who later became angels in religious lore may originally have had serpent forms with human qualities.

In the Old Testament, the term saraf is applied to fiery serpents. Numbers 21:6–8 tells of fiery serpents sent by the Lord to bite and kill sinful Israelites. After Moses prayed for forgiveness, he was instructed to place a fiery serpent upon a pole. Whoever was bitten and looked upon it would live. Moses made a bronze serpent, which may have represented a seraph angel. Deuteronomy 8:15 also refers to the fiery serpents and scorpions in the land of Egypt.

3 Enoch, one of the important works of the pseudepigrapha, says that the seraphim are named because they burn the tablets of Satan. Each day, Satan sits with Samael, prince of Rome, and Dubbiel, prince of Persia, writing down the sins of Israel on tablets. Satan gives the tablets to the seraphim so they may take them to God and cause God to destroy Israel. But the seraphim know that God does not wish to do so, and they burn the tablets instead.

In the New Testament, Jesus acknowledges the wisdom of the serpent when he says, “Be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves” in Matthew 10:16.

Serpent in Gnosticism

Gnosticism, a dualistic spiritual movement, viewed the serpent as the Son of Man, the Saviour himself, who awakens humanity into consciousness and lifts it out of primitive, nature-bound unconsciousness. Some Gnostic teachings identify Jesus with the serpent in Eden because both were condemned for giving humanity a more godlike status.

Serpent in Mythology

In mythology, serpents are powerful, magical, and mystical creatures. They are universal symbols of renewal and rebirth because of their ability to shed their skin. The ouroboros, the serpent that forms a circle by biting its own tail, symbolises the eternal cycle of life, death, and rebirth.

In its carnal aspect, the serpent represents the phallus and is associated with life force, sexuality, and sensuality. As a phallic symbol, the serpent is often connected to pregnancy in imagery and mythology.

Because the serpent crawls along the earth and lives in holes in the ground, it is connected to the underworld, the unconscious, and humanity’s instinctual drives. Mythical serpents guard the sleep of both the living and the dead, making them creatures of the threshold and gateways into new consciousness.

The serpent is also a universal companion of goddesses and can symbolise the feminine, the anima, the womb, darkness, intuition, emotion, and the Great Mother. Its coils represent the cycles of manifestation: life and death, good and evil, wisdom and blind passion, light and darkness, healing and poison, protection and destruction.

In kundalini yoga, the “serpent power” rests coiled near the base of the spine. During spiritual transformation, this energy rises up the spine to the crown chakra. The appearance of serpents in one’s life may accompany or foreshadow the rising of kundalini energy.

The darker aspect of serpents rules chaos, night, and death. Deities who wear serpents are often shown with crescent Moon headdresses.

Serpent in Alchemy

In alchemy, the serpent is the serpens Mercurii, the quicksilver that represents the constant movement of psychic life forces: living, dying, and being reborn. The serpent is also the prima materia, the unformed and dark chaos from which order and life arise.

Alchemical art often shows the serpent wearing a gold crown, gem, diadem, or light to represent expanded spiritual consciousness. This is another way of expressing activated kundalini or serpent power.

Serpent in Healing

The serpent is a powerful symbol of healing, which is also part of the process of transformation. Asclepius, the Greek god of healing, appears in the form of a serpent, and domesticated serpents were kept in the sacred healing temples of the classical world.

Dreams were an important part of healing therapies in these temples. To dream of serpents was considered especially favourable because it foretold healing. The healing power of serpents is also cited in Numbers 21:8, where Moses is instructed to place a fiery serpent upon a pole so that all who look upon it may live.

Serpent in Dream Symbolism

To be bitten by a serpent in a dream may represent initiation or an infusion of wisdom. It can symbolise being “bitten” by new awareness or receiving a gift from the gods. It is similar to an injection given by a doctor: something is forcibly introduced that may bring healing or spiritual awakening.

To be stalked or pursued by a serpent that intends to bite may indicate that the unconscious is trying to bring something into waking awareness.

Serpent as Archetype

The serpent represents great power, change, renewal, and transformation. Carl G. Jung considered the serpent a potent archetype of psychic energy, power, dynamism, instinctual drive, and the entire process of psychic and spiritual transformation.

When serpents appear, they may indicate that a transformative process is already underway, or they may call attention to the need to move to a new level of consciousness. Serpents are also associated with water, the symbol of the unconscious, and trees, the symbol of wisdom and knowledge.

A serpent climbing a tree represents the process of becoming conscious or moving through psychic transformation. Two serpents twine around the caduceus staff of Hermes, the classical god who guides the souls of the dead and carries messages to the gods. The caduceus is a symbol of enlightenment and healing.

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