Image Of The Snake

In dealing with the image of the snake, we should note Jung's remarks about snake symbolism. This is an excellent summary of the symbolism of the snake which is such a common dream image ( CW9.2: par. 293 ):

It fascinates

It's glance is staring, fixed, unrelated

It is blood-cold, and a stranger to man

[The serpent] appears spontaneously or comes as a surprise AL ¶ 0

It crawls over the sleeper, he finds it in a shoe or in his pocket. It expresses his fear of everything inhuman and his awe of the sublime, of what is beyond human ken. It is the lowest (devil) and the highest (son of God, Logos, Nous, Agathodaimon) AL ¶ 0

The snake's presence is frightening, one finds it in unexpected places at unexpected moments AL ¶ 0

Like the fish, it represents and personifies the dark and unfathomable, the watery deep, the forest, the night, the cave AL ¶ 0

When a primitive says “snake,” he means an experience of something extrahuman AL ¶ 0