The Myth of Narcissus: A Mirror For Our Modern Life
The Dual Nature of Chaos
Snakes. One of the oldest and most powerful symbols in the world.
Every religion and culture in history contains a serpent in its lore. You can't escape it.
So why does this slithering creature hold such profound meanings?
Its limbless form with its slithering movements reminds us of formless waters in twisting rivers. Coupled with the way it spirals in and out of sight as it slinks through the grass, it symbolizes the primordial chaos from which life emerges at birth and to which it returns at death.
The mythological serpent is a cosmic creator, progenitor, destroyer, and sacred being. As a creature of chaos, it holds within itself the duality of life and death. We often see it depicted with the Tree of Life.
The snake hears through its skin and is sensitive to vibrations and the tremblings of the earth, linking it with secret, subterranean mysteries of knowledge.
With lidless eyes, never blinking, the serpent is an image of supernatural vigilance—the eye of the unconscious psyche that sees where consciousness cannot, or the attentive eye of a hero, or the unflinching eye of death. (One calls to mind the Great Eye of Sauron... "lidless... wreathed in flame.")
In the Garden of Eden, the serpent is the bringer of knowledge, the Hebrew equivalent of Prometheus who brought forbidden fire to humanity. This view of the serpent in Genesis was particularly held by the Gnostics.
Exemplified by its slippery nature, the serpent alludes to the Trickster archetype which pushes boundaries, challenges the created order, and calls power to account.
Later, Jesus compares himself to the bronze snake that coiled around the top of a pole, stating that he will likewise be lifted up to bring revelation and new life to mankind.
In the Enūma Eliš, Tiamat was the serpent-like goddess and the primordial Chaos, whom Marduk slew to bring forth the created order. Thus, another association between the snake and cosmic chaos.
Being a symbol of chaos and the death-dealing aspect of Nature, it's no wonder the serpent has been depicted as the arch-nemesis of mankind, the adversary all life must strive against.
St. George conquers the dragon. The Virgin steps on the serpent.
"And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
It's unmistakable phallic shape and its habit of copulating for extended periods of time has identified the snake with active, penetrating phallic energy, fertility, and potency.
The poet Stanley Kunitz, while observing an entwined pair of snakes, describes the image as "the wild braid of creation."
Remember the Orphic Egg? The incubating womb of the universe. Here we see the snake taking the role of the phallic symbol, fertilizing and bringing forth life from the egg.
It is the fiery creative spirit and initiating force to complement the passive nature of the egg.
Of course, we can't talk about snakes without mentioning the ouroboros. The serpent eats its own tail, evoking the cycle of death and rebirth. Eternity and wholeness is symbolized in the circular shape.
In the same vein, the snake's skin-shedding signifies renewal and immortality.
The venom of certain species are known to possess extraordinary medicinal properties—the same venom that can also sicken or kill.
This reinforces the snake's image as the joining of—and power over—life and death.
The snake is the ancestral spirit, a guide to the land of the dead and mediator of the hidden processes of transformation and renewal.
As you probably already realized, so much is contained within one symbol. That's the power of these archetypes that have developed over human history. Hearing a phrase like "Give me liberty or give me death!" or catching a glimpse of the "Don't tread on me" snake, both will bring to mind a whole tapestried story that holds significant meaning. These archetypes are the most ancient and persevering of these (and I mean this technically) memes.
Multi-passionate creative and cultural philosopher. I love talking psychology, culture, education, and anything else that deals with living as better people.