Serpentine By Virtue

Serpentine By Virtue - Published July 2007

 
A few days ago I shook myself up from a dream. All the lights in my room were hastily flicked on as I poked around my bed to make sure nothing was hiding under there. I checked the time. It was 4:28am exactly.  Feeling too jittery to go back to sleep, I made myself a coffee, sat at my computer and turned to the massive bastion of knowledge we call the Internet, trying to look for answers. Apart from ensuring that I was wide awake, this dream had some details that were too interesting to ignore.

I dreamt that I was in a big house I didn't recognise. I was walking around trying to find my bearings and came across 3 snakes at separate intervals. One after the other.
Not just any typical run-of-the-mill slitherers either. All 3 snakes were golden coloured king cobras.

The first snake appeared, reared up, flattened it's signature hood and towered above me. I distinctly remember a strong and immediate feeling of despair and helplessness as I watched the snake rise up over me, almost as if I knew I couldn't escape and had better just deal with what was inevitably coming my way. I gave in, accepted what I thought was my fate, closed my eyes and offered my arm up in almost sacrificial obedience.

At the time of the bite, I expected it to hurt as I had predicted fangs were going to pierce the skin. But there was no pain or blood. More like a nudge or a tap to be honest. It seemed to be over with so quickly as the snake slithered off casually and nonchalantly.
I knew that the bite wasn't a proper one and that I wasn't supposed to die. I stood there watching the snake leave and felt utterly stumped and confused. Those feelings were quickly replaced with ones of relief at the realisation that I wasn't hurt.
The exact sequence of events took place with the other two snakes shortly after. I experienced the same set of emotions as well.

That dream has stuck with me more than any other I can think of. Such a strong chord it jarred me for days. Why snakes? Why three? Were the cobras symbolic of something significant in my life? A warning perhaps. Obstacles that I had to face. Treachery from a trusted loved one. Or would that be too superficial an analysis?
Now that I look back on it, perhaps the snakes weren't meant to scare but instead were trying to guide, teach or remind. A message from my inner psyche. A perplexing paradox nevertheless.

Freud states that dreams signify the correlation between ones conscious and unconscious mind. That dreams often try to tell us something through our subconscious that we, during waking hours, may not be aware of. And Merriam-Webster defines the word subconscious as "existing in the mind but not immediately available to consciousness".

How much stock do people put in their dreams? I am aware that dreams can reflect a lot of what happens in our lives on a day to day basis. Nightmares are an interesting variety. They carry with them insecurities, worries, frustrations, unhappiness and a whole heap of other negative possibilities. An unpleasant reminder of problems that we may have yet to acknowledge or are avoiding finding a solution to.

It naturally goes without saying that dreams have had an interesting effect on people for thousands of years. Dreams have even been responsible for changing the face of history. We have all heard countless stories of precognitive dreams. A form of clairvoyance. Premonitions, if you like.

Alexander The Great had many precognitive dreams prior to the outcome of a battle or siege, usually ensuring success and victory. It was such dreams that led him to build Alexandria after his conquering of Egypt, a city that was considered to hold the most amazing library in the ancient world, rivaled by none at that time.

Another famous premonition was a warning given to Julius Caesar by a soothsayer to "beware the Ides of March" before his assassination at the hands of Brutus. Caesar's wife Calpurnia had dreamt of his death the night prior and had begged him not to meet with the Senate. He was murdered that very day.

Abraham Lincoln dreamt of his own death. In his dream he had heard weeping in the East Wing of the White House. He happened upon a soldier and asked why this was. The soldier replied that people were mourning a dead president who had been shot.
Lincoln was assassinated a few short days later. His body was indeed placed in the East Wing for mourners to pay their last respects.

Paul McCartney credits waking from a dream to writing the melody for The Beatles largest hit song "Yesterday" and famed fiction writer Stephen King came about with the plot for his best selling novel "Misery" while asleep on a plane

I usually have average or pleasant dreams, be it an extention of the day's activities or something I recognise as lucid dreaming and of which I am a bit of a fan. Lucid dreaming is where you are able to control the outcome of the events as they are occurring. You are fully aware that you are dreaming while you're actually in the dreamstate, in a manner of speaking. I have personally known people who were able to manipulate (for loss of a better word) their lucid dream state with just a bit of practise.
Wish you were out fishing on a serene lake or meeting up with old friends over coffee? If you're aware of how to indulge in lucid dreaming, you're wherever you want to be.

I had a casual chat with a friend about the possible connotations of cobras. He was perplexed and concerned about the negative overtones and implications of what it meant to dream about snakes. Again, the specific type of snake came into question.

After conducting a somewhat exhaustive search for snake appearances in dreams, it appears that the common consensus is that snakes can be both good or bad.
Snakes can symbolise life, death, transformation, rebirth and new beginnings.

The Dream Interpretation website clearly states that to be bitten by a cobra "carries a special warning to guard against accidents in the following few weeks". Duly noted.

It was then with great interest that I read the following paragraphs on the same website :

The Snake

1. An ancient symbol of transmutation. The dreamer will soon undergo a vast inner change that will be reflected in her outer life. If the dream is a positive and uplifting one, then good times are ahead. If the dream is a scary one, the times ahead may still be good ones, but the dreamer needs to be very careful of pitfalls along the way.

2. An even more ancient symbol for the Great Goddess. If the dreamer is a woman, then she will soon come into realisation of her power as a woman. If the dreamer is a man, especially if he is single, a very powerful and exciting woman will soon come into his life—though she may not be a potential love partner."

I had a look around at the Online Dream Dictionary and it states :"To see a cobra in your dream, represents creation, and creative energies. Some situation or relationship has you hypnotised."

I have to admit to feeling immense relief upon reading that. I suppose that, like so many of us, I have often unfairly associated snakes with evil serpents. A bad omen and an indication of difficult things to come.
I was then reminded of an interesting childhood incident at my family home. Our maid was going about her usual daily cleaning routine when she spied what she initially assumed was a plastic bag in a corner by our main door. Upon closer inspection she discovered that it was a shed snake's skin. She immediately alerted my mother and after their dual shrieks of fright had died down my mother poured some milk into a bowl and set about sprinkling it around the outer walls of our house.
I was fascinated and asked her why she did this. My mother replied that it was a way of thanking the snake for the honour of visiting our home without harming anyone and that the milk was a boon or food for it.
My mother also reminded me that for a snake to decide to shed it's skin anywhere, it would only head to a place that it wouldn't be harmed in. Somewhere it could be safe without fear of attack.
We came across another snake's skin in the exact same location approximately 8 months later. I can only assume that this was from the same snake and that it had decided to pay us one last visit. We never found any other skins after that.
It still amazes me that a snake could have made it's way into my home during daylight hours and no one spotted it's comings or goings. Someone once suggested that perhaps the snake lived in our home, possibly in our attic. I've never bought into that theory though.
It is unsurprising how many people dream about snakes in a negative light. It should not be forgotten that the snake is an animal highly revered in Asian culture and religion, most notably in Hinduism and Buddhism. In the Sanskrit language, the hooded King Cobra is known as Naga.
Nagas symbolise strength and fertility in India. The Hindu god Shiva is always depicted with a Naga draped around his neck. According to the timeless Indian epic Mahabharata, the Nagas were enemies of Garuda  - the King of Birds.

I have always had a particular fondness for the Buddhist story of Naga King Mucalinda who coiled himself around Siddhartha as the prince seeked enlightenment beneath a bodhi tree. Mucalinda, with his giant hood, hovered over Siddhartha and protected him from the rain and wind in a thunderstorm that lasted seven days.
This scene is depicted in shrines and statues at Buddhist temples and is viewed by many around the world as a strong symbol for compassion and kindness. Mucalinda is also associated as being the protector of Buddha.

Another interesting point to note is that dreaming about snakes suggests the awakening of Kundalini. Kundalini is a yogic, cosmic energy that emenates from the base of the spine. This life force is usually said to be coiled up dormant like a snake until it is stirred. Hence the term Kundalini Shakti which, loosely translated, means 'serpent power'. Once the Kundalini is awakened, this force moves along to other chakras and stimulates them, assisting immensely in spiritual, physical and the emotional healing of one's self through yoga and meditation.
While the unpleasant symbolic aspects of snakes may very well ring true for many others, I think I'd rather focus on the positive. That the snakes in my dream were a beautiful gold colour. That the bites did not hurt and I was clearly not meant for the grave just yet. And that maybe the visual images of the hooded King Cobras were meant to send me a message.
I'm happy to put it down to the possibility that my intuition and the cosmos are giving me a good, strong wake-up call to stop doubting my abilities. I am usually my own worst enemy when it comes to granting myself any decent measure of self-confidence, especially in the realm of creativity.

Interesting then, for me to come across this little snippet. In her book "Snake Symbolism", Gillian Holloway, PhD. writes on dreaming about snakes, "For whatever reason, these dreams seem involved with the psychic awareness of the transition from this life to the next...."

And not this it should have any bearing on anything, but according to the Chinese zodiac, I'm a snake as well.