29/04/2023
Talking about transformations of consciousness and "Snake Medicine", I found this in a Carl Jung (page) post:
The Serpent
Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves" (Matthew 10:16)
“The commonest dream symbol of transcendence is the snake" – C. G. Jung
The serpent is a widespread and versatile symbol, whose meaning varies considerably depending on the cultural, religious or mythological lens through which it is viewed. Associations of the serpent as evil and cunning present in Judeo-Christian traditions acknowledge only one aspect of the dual nature of this symbol, which signifies both good and evil, renewal and destruction, temptation and wisdom, possessing knowledge beyond our ken. Serpents are inhabitants of the underworld, the realm of the dead from which new life emerges. Often considered the familiars of the Great Goddess, they are entwined around her staff, guarding her mysteries of birth and regeneration. The enduring way in which serpents copulate, for days or even weeks at a time with their forked/split genitalia, demonstrates their potent, fertile, and active penetrating ph***ic energy. Their head is suggestive of an erect phallus or umbilical cord, linking them to primordial life force. The Sanskrit term "Kundali Shakti" translated to "Serpent Power". In ta***ic traditions, the cosmic energy of the kundalini is thought to be coiled like a serpent at the base of the spine and awakened through meditation, flowing on either side of the spinal cord and opening the chakras "to unite in the crown with Shiva in ecstasy and transcendence" (The Book of Symbols).
A serpent is coiled around the Rod of Asclepius, the god of healing and medicine, representing the physician's demon or "genius". Certain species of snakes possess remarkable medical properties in their venom, which can also poison and kill. Thus, the serpent is both a separating and unifying principle; like our shadow, it is both chthonic and divine. Jung believed that psychic transformation by means of the serpent archetype was well-substantiated, for it is a symbol of healing and regeneration. As it sheds its skin, it evades death and is born again. Thus it is immoral, a symbol of eternal life, vitality, metamorphosis, and "emblematic of the Supreme Creator, who periodically reabsorbed His universe back into Himself" (Manly Palmer Hall).
"Through the Christ crucified between two thieves, man gradually attained knowledge of his shadow and its duality. This duality had already been anticipated by the double meaning of the serpent. Just as the serpent stands for the power that heals as well as corrupts, so is one thief destined upward, the other downward, and so likewise the shadow is on one side regrettable and reprehensible weakness, on the other side healthy instinctively and prerequisite for higher consciousness." - C.G. Jung; Aion; p. 255.
Joseph Campbell speaks of the serpent as reborn each time it sheds its skin.
“The power of life causes the snake to shed its skin, just as the moon sheds its shadow. The serpent sheds its skin to be born again, as the moon its shadow to be born again. They are equivalent symbols. Sometimes the serpent is represented as a circle eating its own tail. That’s an image of life. Life sheds one generation after another, to be born again. The serpent represents immortal energy and consciousness engaged in the field of time, constantly throwing off death and being born again. There is something tremendously terrifying about life when you look at it that way. And so the serpent carries in itself the sense of both the fascination and the terror of life.”
― Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth