What is the role of snakes in mythology?

Snakes were regularly regarded as guardians of the Underworld or messengers between the Upper and Lower worlds because they lived in cracks and holes in the ground. The Gorgons of Greek myth were snake-women (a common hybrid) whose gaze would turn flesh into stone, the most famous of them being Medusa.

What is snake worship?

Snake worship is devotion to serpent deities. The tradition is present in several ancient cultures, particularly in religion and mythology, where snakes were seen as the holders of knowledge, strength, and renewal.

What does the snake represent in Greek mythology?

Serpents symbolized fertility, but besides Dionysus, they are also associated with austere deities such as Artemis, Athena and later Cybele. But also Zeus himself (as Zeus Filios, Zeus Meilichios, or as Agathos Daimon) is often depicted with a snake next to him.

Who is the snake god?

Quetzalcóatl, Mayan name Kukulcán, (from Nahuatl quetzalli, “tail feather of the quetzal bird [Pharomachrus mocinno],” and coatl, “snake”), the Feathered Serpent, one of the major deities of the ancient Mexican pantheon.

Why is the snake a symbol of wisdom?

The Celts viewed snakes as symbols of ancient wisdom and knowledge. The Celts believed that snakes and serpents originated from under the Earth, and thus, they intimately knew the world’s secrets and had universal wisdom.

What does snakes mean spiritually?

Fertility and rebirth Historically, serpents and snakes represent fertility or a creative life force. As snakes shed their skin through sloughing, they are symbols of rebirth, transformation, immortality, and healing. The ouroboros is a symbol of eternity and continual renewal of life.

What kind of snake is the symbol of healing and medicine?

The Greek god Asclepius, closely associated with healing and medicine, carried a staff that featured a snake wrapped around it (pictured right). It has been surmised that the snake species represented in the symbol is the Aesculapian snake ( Elaphe longissima) pictured left, a nonvenomous species native to Europe.

What do snakes symbolize in the Bible?

Ever since Eve’s transgression in the Garden of Eden, snakes in Christian tradition have been associated with lies, evil and temptation. But in other cultures, as far-flung as ancient Greece and Egypt and indigenous North America, snakes symbolize fertility, rebirth, renewal and even immortality.

What does it mean when your spirit animal is the Snake?

Cultivate your friendships, because the snake symbolism is telling you that it has a possibility of growing into something romantic. When your spirit animal is the snake, you can balance your energies. You are also intuitive and effortlessly know what others are thinking or feeling.

What does it mean to dream about snakes?

In a spiritual sense, snakes represents desires. Just as those who are bitten by snakes are vulnerable to suffering and death, those who are bitten by desires suffer from the cycle of births and deaths. The suffering inherent in the phenomenal existence is compared to snake poison.