This is one of the many dreams I had during my dieta retreat in Iquitos, Peru.
Part 1:
Snakes were trying to get into my bed, and I tried to shoo them away with a stick. One was grey and the other was orange. The orange one lifted it's head, turned to me and spit a huge amount of venom all over me. I tried to run away, but kept getting more and more soaked with venom. My whole body was drenched, and I could feel tingling sensations on my lips. I was very scared and ran up to two shamans at the enthobotanical garden center that I was staying at. I ran towards them yelling "Snake venom! Snake venom!" One of the shamans immediately started to come towards me to suck any venom out from my body and to clear it away for me, but the other shaman stopped him and said "No, she is okay."
Part 2:
I was walking up the steps of my old apartment in San Francisco on Bush St. There was an old, dirty homeless man laying down on the steps, suffering from a horrible disease. He had cuts all over his body, and was bleeding all over. He reached out to me and tried to touch me and he got blood on my hand. I got scared, fearing to get infected from his blood and said "Don't touch me.....don't touch me! I promise to bring you a roll of paper towels for your cuts if you don't touch me."
He said okay, and I went upstairs and met up with some friends. I grabbed the roll of paper towels and we went down to the second floor on a balcony. I cried out to the homeless man: "Hellooo!!" The man looked up, and I dropped the roll to him. He thanked me, and proceeded to clean up his cuts and stop the bleeding.
My friends and I went downstairs, and there ended up being a large driveway in front of the apartment building where there would usually just be Bush St.
A car drove up, and a HUGE, enormous fat black woman with huge hips stepped out of the car. She was very confident in her body...she could "strut her stuff". She started to dance, and everyone around her was very turned on. She walked up to the homeless man and had sex with him, which healed him completely of his disease. Everyone else in the area started dancing, and the big goddess woman was making love with everyone there. Then she left, and everyone was trying to be like the goddess.
To come in contact with venom in your dream, represents pent-up anger and hostility you may be expressing or experiencing from others. Perhaps, your feelings of hate are beginning to show through. Alternatively, the dream is indicative of a lack of self-esteem, lack of self-love, or insecurities you have.
Coming in contact with venom in your dream, represents pent-up anger and hostility you may be expressing or experiencing from others. Your feelings of hate are beginning to show through. The dream is also indicative of a lack of self-esteem, lack of self-love, or insecurities you have.
Seeing a snake or be bitten by one in your dream means hidden fears and worries that are threatening you. Your dream may be alerting you to something in your waking life that you are not aware of or that has not yet surfaced. The snake may also be seen as phallic and thus symbolize dangerous and forbidden sexuality. The snake may also refer to a person around you who is callous, ruthless, and can't be trusted. As a positive symbol, snakes represent transformation, knowledge and wisdom. It is indicative of self-renewal and positive changes.
In some cultures snakes are highly regarded and symbolise the ability to transcend into higher levels of consciousness or into areas of knowledge that exist outside perceived time and space. In the pre-Christian days, snakes were considered symbols of fertility, healing, and nurturing (the healing serpent representing a god). Post Eden, snakes are often considered symbols of temptation and evil, anger, and envy. Snakes emerging out of the ground may represent your unconscious or repressed materials coming to your conscious mind. Most snake dreams seem to be disturbing and they leave the dreamer feeling anxious and afraid. There are no simple interpretations to the snake dreams. Sometimes snakes may be phallic symbols and other times they represent negativity in our lives that hampers our progress and constantly threatens us. In the long run the snake may be a positive symbol; it may represent difficulties that lead us to the centre of personality and result in feelings of completeness.
Snake symbolic meaning, overwhelmingly and in various cultures, deals with primordial life force and usually turns our attention to gender supremacy (both male and female).
Consequently, snakes span the symbolic bridge between lunar and solar associations as well as aspects between water and fire.
Coiled within this polarity, we clearly see symbolism of duality and the search for balance. Other snake symbolic meaning includes:
Cycles
Rebirth
Patience
Fertility
Eternity
Balance
Cunning
Intuition
Awareness
Healing
Intellect
Protection
Solemnity
Rejuvenation
Transformation
Occult (hidden) Knowledge
Male/Female, Yin-Yang, Duality
As a Native American Indian symbol (depending on the nation/tribe) the snake can be a masculine symbol, associated with the phallus of lightning which is considered a medicine staff of tremendous assertive power. Other tribes lean in the direction of feminine attribution for the snake and pair it with mothering (creation), and lunar (moon) symbolism.
Whether raising itself in masculine authority, or encircling the Earth in a motherly fashion – the snake symbol of the Native American’s was highly regarded; utilized in ritual to invoke an element of pointed focus and weighty influence.
The ancient Celts were extremely nature-wise too, and approached snake symbolism from the behavior and life cycle of this magnificent creature. From the Celtic perspective, the snake was a symbol of secret knowledge, cunning and transformation.
Further, the snake Celtic symbol comes from observations of the European viper (also known as the adder) which is the only (along with the common grass snake) species able to tolerate the colder climate of the ancient Celts.
In the keen Celtic mind, snake symbolic meaning of transformation came from the shedding of its skin. Physical evidence of leaving its form behind (casting off the old self), and emerging a sleeker, newer version made the snake a powerful symbol of rebirth and renewal.
As far as the occult (hidden) symbolic meaning in Celtic and other cultures, this can be connected to the sleuth-like ways of the snake.
Disappearing in colder months and summoned by the sun marks the snake’s connection to the shadow worlds with its successful ability to live within the dark realms for extended periods of time. Alternatively, the snake softly moves into the embrace of the sun, and so it encapsulates the ancient magician's creed of moving in perfect rhythm of natural forces.
In Eastern Indian myth the Sanskrit word for snake is naga and these are associated with the element of water. Picking up water’s symbolism of emotion, love and motion, nagas in this light are considered a feminine aspect and embody nurturing, benevolent, wise qualities.
To wit, the practice of nagayuna in Eastern Indian alchemy seeks to achieve loving harmony between the physical and ethereal. Simply put, all of us striving to better ourselves by calmly easing into places of personal balance within the cosmic balance of the whole are practicing this ancient technique.
Snake tattoo symbolism varies according to the bearer of the mark. For example, I have a back piece depicting two serpents (nagas) wrapped around the seven prime chakras down the length of my spine. This (to me) incorporates the kundalini power available to all humans.
Additionally, this entwined snake imagery hearkens to the caduceus, in which the staves of Asclepius are made of two polar (and copulating) serpents which symbolizes balance, equanimity, union and regeneration.
Double snakes are common in almost all cultural symbolic languages. Ultimately the double snake is an icon representing:
Connection between primal forces
Integration of opposites
Advanced communication
Joining together on a divine level
Making whole what was once fragmented and doing so in a magical, organic way.
Snake Double HelixCarrying this dual snake imagery a step further, we could look to the language of science. Observe the formation of DNA and how it forms a perfect, serpentine double helix (shown left). This prompts us to consider how the energetic mind is connected to the grander whole, and how it so effortlessly makes graceful connections between the basic building blocks of data with the manifestations of the natural world.
There is no doubt, the snake is a unifying force embodying infinite messages to those who are energetically available to perceive them. Alchemists understood this, and thus incorporated the philosophy of snakes in their grimoires, practices, and even their daily life.
Indeed, alchemy literature is rife with the image of the uroboros which is symbolic of conceptualizing totality – embracing the whole of consciousness and devouring it with unquenchable passion.
As an animal totem, the snake surfaces into our awareness with all the power of the symbolic attributes listed on this page (and more). Those who are drawn to the snake (and vice versa) are gifted at perceiving life through an uncommon lens. Other characteristics of those who are connected to snake energy include:
A natural ability to balance energies (you’re likely a gifted healer)
Diplomatic and eloquent in areas of speech and writing
Dynamically intuitive (often knowing other’s thoughts and emotional states without trying)
Impulsive, but not without careful consideration – this may sound paradoxical, but those with the snake totem know what I mean here.
I invite you to step into the calming energy of the snake, and see what this noble creature offers you in the form of messages, growth, and enlightenment.
Further, it should be understood this page is but a miniscule sampling of the diverse snake symbolic meaning s available to us. Therefore, I encourage you to slither into your own personal ruminations, research and meditation of the snake.
You will find your investment to be infinitely rewarding.
By shedding its skin, the snake symbolizes change in the cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth. It counts among its strengths the power of creation, of se xuality, of the soul, as well as of transformation and immortality. Snake-people are higher cast, because as part of their experiences they have had to come into contact with poison (physical or mental) and have been able to transform the poison in their bodies into something harmless. The snake belongs to the element of fire, which causes desire and passion in the physical realm and, in the spiritual realm, creates a connection with the Great Spirit and leads to all-encompassing wisdom. Whenever the snake appears in your dreams, it is a sign of change as you come ever closer to perfection.
This animal gives you the ability to let go of things that are worn out and no longer useful - just like the snake sheds it skin when it is no longer needed.
Rebirth, wisdom, fluidity, wholeness, transmutations, sexuality, look for transitions, changes and new opportunities. Creative forces are awakening with heightened intuition. Snake can teach about shedding what is not needed; perceptions, attitudes, ideals. Snake shows how to access vitality, ambitions and dreams along with intellect and personal power. What things are surfacing that you need to strike out and take advantage of? Perhaps a time to rest and reflect? Listen to your intuition and visions at this time. Contemplate the colors, striking ability and activity of the snake type to further understand what snake is saying.
To see a goddess in your dream, symbolizes your femininity or feminine side. For a man to dream of a goddess, indicates his fears about the female.
To dream that you are homeless, indicates that you are feeling insecure. You are unsure of yourself and where you are headed.
Dreaming that you are homeless indicates that you are feeling insecure. You are unsure of yourself and where you are headed.
This is a symbol which is very common in iconography all over the
world. It embraces the following essential ideas: ascension, gradation, and communication between different, vertical levels. In the Egyptian system of
hieroglyphs, steps constitute a determinative sign which defines the act of ascending; it forms part of one of the appellations of Osiris, who is invoked as ‘he
who stands at the top of the steps’. Ascending, then, can be understood both in
a material and in an evolutive and spiritual sense. Usually, the actual number of
steps involved in the symbol is of symbolic significance. In Egyptian images, the
number tends to be nine: the triple ternary which symbolizes the gods of the
ennead who, together with Osiris, make up the symbolic number ten which
stands for the completed cycle or the return to unity (19). A great many Egyptian
tombs have yielded up amulets in the shape of ladders. The Book of the Dead
says: ‘My steps are now in position so that I may see the gods.’ Eliade has
pointed out parallel images, such as the following: Among many primitive peoples,
mythic ascension is indicated by means of a rope, a stake, a tree or a mountain
(symbolizing the world-axis). Or, according to an Oceanian myth, the hero reaches
heaven by means of the fantastic hyperbole of a chain of arrows. And in Islamic
tradition, Mohammed saw a ladder which the just climbed up to reach God (17).
To refer again to primitive belief, Schneider observes that in order to ‘reach’ the
mountain of Mars and reap its benefits, one must ascend the ladder of one’s
forebears—suggesting a biological and historical source for the mystic symbol of
the ladder. Hence steps are also one of the most notable symbols in ancestral rites
(50). Images specifically connected with the steps are the mountain, and architectural structures incorporating steps, such as the Egyptian pyramid of Sakkara,
the Mesopotamian ziggurats, or the teocallis of America of pre-Columbian days;
we have then a synthesis of two symbols—that of the ‘temple-mountain’ and
that of the steps—signifying that the entire cosmos is the path of ascension
towards the spirit. In Mithraism, the ceremonial steps were seven in number,
each step being made of a different metal (as was each different plane of the
ziggurat in a figurative sense). According to Celsus, the first step was of lead
(corresponding to Saturn). The general correspondence with the planets is selfevident. Now, this idea of gradual ascent was taken up particularly by the alchemists from the latter part of the Middle Ages onwards; they identified it sometimes with the phases of the transmutation process. In Stephan Michelspacher’s
work Die Cabala, Spiegel der Kunst und Natur (1654), the following graded scale
is given: Calcination, Sublimation, Solution, Putrefaction, Distillation, Coagulation, Tincture, leading to a kind of shrine inside a mountain (32). According to the Zohar, the ladder which Jacob is said to have seen in his dreams had seventy-two
rungs and its top disappeared into the clouds (39). Broadly speaking, in emblems
and allegories throughout the Middle Ages, it is the ascending (affirmative) aspect
of the steps which predominates, emphasized by the signs and symbols clustering round the ladder. Bayley points out that many steps are surmounted by a
cross, the figure of an angel, a star or a fleur-de-lis (4) located on the border itself.
In Romanesque art, and generally in the thought characteristic of the period, the
steps are the symbol of the ‘relationship between the worlds’ (14, 20), but it
must not be forgotten that, within the spatial symbolism of level, there are not
two grades indicating two different worlds (the terrestrial or intermediary and the
celestial or upper) but three (through the addition of a third: the infernal or lower
world). This is why Eliade (for reasons of psychology as well) states that the
steps are a vivid image of ‘breaking through’ the levels of existence in order to
open up the way from one world to another, establishing a relationship between
heaven, earth and hell (or between virtue, passivity and sin). Hence, steps located
beneath the level of the earth are always a symbol for an opening into the infernal
regions. In Bettini’s Libro del monte santo di Dio (Florence, 1477), steps are
shown superimposed upon a mountain; to emphasize the parallel—and indeed
identical—symbolism of the mountain and the ladder, the former is portrayed as
if it were terraced and the terraces are shown to be the rungs of the ladder. On
these rungs are the names of the virtues: Humility, Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude, Justice, Awe, Mercy, Science, Counsel, Understanding and Wisdom. The
steps are portrayed as if chained to the mountainside. On the peak of the mountain is a mandorla formed of angels with Christ in the centre. (Plate XXVI).
To dream that you ascend steps, denotes that fair prospects will relieve former anxiety.
To decend them, you may look for misfortune.
To fall down them, you are threatened with unexpected failure in your affairs.
To see steps in your dream, represent your efforts in achieving your goals, ambitions and material gains. The dream may be telling you to take things one at a time. Or that you need to take a chance and take that first step toward your goals or dreams. Alternatively, the dream signifies your closeness to your spirituality or religious beliefs.
To dream that you are sitting on the steps, suggests that you need to pause from life's demands and reevaluate your decisions, challenges, goals, and path before continuing on.
To dream that you are scared, indicates that you are experiencing feelings of self-doubt, incompetence, and lack of control in your waking life. Perhaps you are having second thoughts about a decision you have made. Anger often masquerades as fear, so also consider issues about which you are angry about in your waking life.
Dreaming that you are scared indicates that you are experiencing self-doubt and feelings of incompetence. You may be feeling a lack of control. Anger often masquerades as fear, so also consider issues about which you are angry about in your waking life.
To dream about an apartment, symbolizes a financial or situational state. To dream of a large, lavish apartment, indicates an increase to your financial situation or an improvement to your family life. To dream of a shabby and dark apartment, indicates misfortune and possible loss.
When you dream of an apartment, try to remember its caracteristics: the bigger and wealthier it is, the more financially and emotionally successful you will get. The smaller and darker it is, the more financially and emotionally deprived you will be.
To see a bush in your dream, symbolizes feminine emotions and desires. It may also be a reference to the female genitalia.
To dream that you are hiding behind a bush, suggests that you are keeping something a secret and are not being completely open. A literal interpretation, indicates that you are seeking protection.
To see a flowering bush, represent development and personal growth.
Dreaming of a bush, symbolizes feminine emotions and desires. It may also be a reference to the female genitalia. Dreaming that you are hiding behind a bush, suggests that you are keeping something a secret. You may also be seeking protection. You are not being completely open.
In anthropology, woman corresponds to the passive principle of
nature. She has three basic aspects: first, as a siren, lamia or monstrous being who
enchants, diverts and entices men away from the path of evolution; second, as the
mother, or Magna mater (the motherland, the city or mother-nature) related in
turn to the formless aspect of the waters and of the unconscious; and third, as the
unknown damsel, the beloved or the anima in Jungian psychology. In his Symbols
of Transformation, Jung maintains that the ancients saw Woman as either Eve,
Helen, Sophia or Mary (corresponding to the impulsive, the emotional, the intellectual, and the moral) (33). One of the purest and all-embracing archetypes of
Woman as anima is Beatrice in Dante’s Commedia (32). All allegories based upon
the personification of Woman invariably retain all the implications of the three
basic aspects mentioned above. Of great interest are those symbols in which the
Woman appears in association with the figure of an animal—for example, the
swan-woman in Celtic and Germanic mythology, related to the woman with the
hoof of a goat in Hispanic folklore. In both cases the woman disappears once her
maternal mission has been completed and, similarly, the virgin qua virgin ‘dies’ in order to give way to the matron (31). In iconography it is common to find parts
of the female figure combined with that of a lion. The Egyptian goddess Sekhmet,
characterized by her destructiveness, had the body of a woman and the head (and
therefore the mind) of a lion. Conversely, a figure with a lion’s body and a
woman’s head appears in the Hieroglyphica of Valeriano as an emblem of the
hetaira (39). The inclusion of feminine, morphological elements in the composition of traditional symbols such as the sphinx always alludes to a background of
nature overlaid with the projection of a concept or of an entire complex of cosmic
intuitions. In consequence, the Woman is an archetypal image of great complexity
in which the decisive factor may be the superimposed symbolic aspects—for
example, the superior aspects of Woman as Sophia or Mary determine her function as a personification of science or of supreme virtue; and when presented as
an image of the anima, she is superior to the man because she is a reflection of the
loftiest and purest qualities of the man. In her baser forms as Eve or as Helen—
the instinctive and emotional aspects—Woman is on a lower level than the man.
It is here, perhaps, that she appears at her most characteristic—a temptress, the
Ewig Weibliche, who drags everything down with her, and a symbol comparable
with the volatile principle in alchemy, signifying all that is transitory, inconsistent, unfaithful and dissembling. See also The Loved One and Sophia.
To see a woman in your dream, represents nurturance, passivity, caring nature, and love. It refers to your own female aspects or your mother. Alternatively, a woman indicates temptation and guilt. If you know the woman, then it may reflect concerns and feelings you have about her.
To see an old woman in your dream, indicates your concerns about aging and growing old. Alternatively, the old woman may be an archetypal figure to symbolize feminine power.
To see a group of women talking in your dream, refers to some gossip.
To see a pregnant women in your dream, symbolizes abundant wealth.
Seeing a woman in your dream, represents nurturance, passivity, caring nature, and love. It refers to your own female aspects or may also represent your mother. Alternatively, it may indicate temptation and guilt. If you know the woman, then it may symbolize the concerns and feelings you have about her. Seeing an old woman in your dream indicates aging and growing old. Seeing a group of women talking in your dream, refers to some gossip. Seeing a pregnant women in your dream, symbolizes abundant wealth.
A woman or women generally represent intuition, creativity, nurturing, and love. At times they can also represent the negative attributes that are given to women and include physical and emotional weakness, gossip, martyrdom, passivity, moodiness, temptation, and guilt. The content of the dream is to be considered, as well as the emotional tone. If the dream is sexual in nature, look up sex. If the woman in your dream was a stranger and you are a man, she could be symbolic of your feminine side or your attitude about women. If you are a woman, this stranger may be symbolic of different parts of your character or personality. The woman is that force or current inside of you that nudges you on and inspires you. It is your intuition and the knowledge that in not necessarily attached to words.