When you dream of snakes, you may be receiving an unusual message you can use to help heal the planet.
I realized this when Dream Triber Amy Brucker recently wrote two posts about snake dreams:
Snake Dreams and Initiation and
5 Ways of Contemplating Snake Dreams
and then invited you to share your snake dreams with us.
While reading through the comments I came across Mike Austin’s beautiful perspective. He said “snakes … provide a deep but fluid connection with Earth, with Gaia. … They remind me that consciousness never stops at the boundaries of my skin. I am because we are.”
Right then it hit me: it’s pretty likely that snake dreams are often Earth dreams that show us our profound connection with everything around us.
After all, one of the most ancient symbols out there is the spiral, a symbol connected with the shape of our galaxy, the curve of our DNA, and the ancient mystery that animates our world. Snakes are often drawn or seen in this shape, curled up next to a rock in the sun or side-winding through sand.
So my mind naturally put all this together and I had an a-ha moment: snakes in dreams are one way that Gaia speaks to us.
She may be speaking of healing, death, rebirth, or an awakening, all of which is happening on our planet right now. Could snake dreams, if viewed through this lens, give us clues for how to navigate this time of accelerating energy and rapid destruction of our environment?
Then I remembered a dream I had recently.
I’m hiking along a ridge in the Bay Area. I notice the thick smog as I look out over the Bay and it depresses me.
Next I see a strip mining operation: men are tearing down the rock into hoodoos. I think the shapes are beautiful, but the cost is too high.
After seeing the hoodoos, I look down and see a skin a snake had shed. Next to it is a red and orange snake in the process of shedding its skin.
The snake is calm, but I am afraid. I also note how vulnerable it seems.
Here is an example of Gaia speaking through snake. I see the erosion of the Bay Area environment, both as the smog clogging the air, and the hoodoos, which are normally formed through natural erosion, but here are being created by men and industry.
Contrasted with this is the image of the snake. One has already shed its skin and another is in the process of shedding. Releasing old ways, old skins, can be scary … my emotions in the dream reflect this. And it is also a vulnerable state, another emotion from the dream.
If I were to guess what Gaia is communicating to us through this dream, I’d say she’s shedding light (pun intended) on the current state of the planet while also showing us that there is another way. We can get rid of our old ways to create something new and beautiful.
I was struck by the colors of the snake as well: red and orange. Red for our root issues, our connections with money, the physical world, ancestry, and survival. Kundalini energy rises from the root chakra; it is said the snake that represents Kundalini energy is coiled here until it awakens.
Orange connects with the second chakra, the seat of our creativity, sexuality, and emotions.
With a blend of these two energies, the snake in this dream shows us how we can move through our current money- and survival-based society into one that is more creative and fluid, one more in balance with the natural world.
In this one dream, Gaia brings a message of healing and transformation. A simple, elegant message communicated through one of her most earthy and sacred animals.
So what about you?
Do you think snake dreams have a connection with the psyche and essence of the planet?
What snake dreams have you had that might be a message from Gaia?
Thank you for the great article. I was having this dream of white snake that has been bothering me.
I was at my childhood house in the room and a white snake quite big was sleeping on the bed and I was lying on top of the snake and was poking the snake with a soft bolster (I guess I was intend to play with the snake?). Suddenly the snake woke up showing its fang and tried to bite, I was scared so I grab the bolster and put in it’s mouth. I ran away outside the room and close the door hoping the snake won’t come out after me.
I got out to the dining room, on the floor there was so many tiny birds they were so tiny and filled the whole floor. As I was going back to check for the snake, I swept the tiny birds on the floor with my hands afraid that I might step on them. I swept them aside as they were so tiny and hundreds of them. I was clearing my way to the room and peeping from the room window, I could see the snake was still inside slithering finding its way to the door. So I went to see whether the door is properly shut but there was a gap underneath the door and the snake making its way eventually got out.
Now It was chasing me outside the room I grab a bolster out of nowhere this time struggling to avoid its fang, and once again I put the bolster in it’s mouth then ran away.
I ran to the dining table the snake keep chasing me. I was standing at the other side of the table and There was a dog on the other side sitting calmly like there’s nothing happen. The snake coming from the other side and I tried to distract the snake to the dog but to no avail. So i was at the other side of the table avoiding the snake fearing that it will bite, while the snake on the other end trying to get me then I woke up.
I’m trying to find what is the meaning by googling an asking people but it seems that I haven’t fid the answer and it still bothering me. The dream was so clear and real. I think it’s trying to tell me something about my personal life but I couldn’t figure out what is it.
I would ask you this question: what do snakes represent to you? That is going to give you the most information about what this dream means. But you can also read the other snake-dream related posts here to see if they give you any a-has about the dream.
Perhaps it was an initiation dream: http://thedreamtribe.com/when-are-snake-dreams-initiation-dreams/
I will also add that since the dream takes place in your childhood home, it is likely about something related to your childhood.
Further, white animals in dreams are quite auspicious. Many cultures attached high spiritual meaning to white animals.
i always have this one dream i am surrounded by snakes , some 7 or 8 cobras forming a circle around me . there is a tree nearby and when i look up i see another cobra . can u tell what this means. i cant help but feel it means something . i am from india so u know we worship snakes. we dont think its evil or anything . there is a small shrine for snakes near my home. also i have heard this place used to be full of cobras many years ago before this house was build.
Hi Ash,
With the snake in the tree, it makes me wonder if this dream is ancestral.
What, specifically, do cobras mean to you? This will hold a part of the key to the dream.
There are a couple things that come up for me when I read this dream:
*Do a dream re-entry with the dream. Put yourself back in that circle of cobras and see what they do/say. This will give you more information.
*Since you mentioned the shrine to snakes, perhaps go there and see if you can get any information about the dream while you are there. Meditate on it, look for signs.
Thank you so much for sharing this article. This website has been tremendous help to me in my spiritual journey, but I’m seeking some clarification on a reoccurring pattern of snake dreams.
I dream of snakes often, but they never bite me or come close to me. I’m always afraid at first, but then the fear resides.
Last night I had a dream about snakes. I am walking with a man, a man I do not know in waking life. It’s night and we’re holding hands. We’re at a garden like place and its when I look down on the ground I notice a snake. It’s bright color, red-orange like and coiled. It’s very fat! Then I notice more under the leaves and they all start to appear from under their leaves. I’m afraid and so is the man who is with me. We decide to head back to the greenhouse and we calmly step over the snakes. I remember questioning myself, why do I always dream about snakes and step over them. Why does this keep happening to me?
When we get to the greenhouse there are more snakes, but they uncoil themselves and turn into lizards. One snakes vomits a white substance that reminds me of baby vomit. It smells horribly and makes the whole place smell.
That is all I can remember.
A few weeks ago I dreamed of snakes that were in my door way. They were dead & flatten, but beautiful bright colors. As always, I am first afraid, but then I release the fear and become intrigued by the colors. I’d never seen snakes that looked like that before. I don’t recall anything else.
I’d appreciate any insight. Thank you!
Hi Nequan,
Sorry for my slow response here. I am intrigued that the snakes you see are brightly colored. I’d think about your associations with those colors to uncover some of the meaning of these snakes.
A doorway is a threshold…is there some new thing you’re about to step into?
I am also curious about the snakes becoming lizards…in some cultures, lizards are connected with dreaming.
One thing I might suggest is doing dream re-entry…you can find articles about that here to learn how it’s done. Basically, you return to the dreamscape and talk to the characters to find out what message they have to share. I invite you to talk to the snakes and see what they have to say.