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4: DREAMS, SNAKES AND MYTHOLOGY
I have recently spent some considerable time researching snakes and their connection with dreams and my findings are found below.
For example, I read an interesting article in which the author compares the use of the Wand of Hermes (caduceus) and the Staff of Asklepios (Roman: Aesculapius) in their use as emblems representing medicine and the medical profession. The Wand of Hermes was, and is, often also used as a logo by organisations such as postal services and printers – the idea being that, like Hermes, they are messengers delivering information. The Egyptian messenger god, Thoth, is also depicted carrying such a staff. In the aforementioned article, the author maintains that despite similarity in appearance and often being used interchangeably, the staffs have quite different historical and mythological origins and argues that the Wand of Hermes should not be used by non-commercial medical organisations.
Rather interesting, I find that such similar emblems, each depicting a snake or snakes entwined around a wand, should be used to represent medicine as well as the sending and imparting of information. The staff is thought to represent the stamp of ‘authority’, that is, the authority of the doctor to heal or the authority of the bearer to carry messages on behalf of the gods. It has been suggested that the snakes are depicted as entwined round the staff because parasitic worms were removed from their human hosts by being wound round a stick. Actually, no one knows for sure what the origins of these emblems are but the snakes seem to cause the most difficulty.
I, however, believe that I can explain the meaning of the emblems: in particular, that snakes are a metaphor for dreams and that the staff is a metaphor for how dreams are communicated by their snake messengers.
To find the answer look to metaphor, that is, the language of dreams, with particular reference to world mythology. Snakes turn up everywhere in world mythology.
Asklepios was the Greek demi-god of medicine and at his sanctuaries, the main one being at Epidaurus, snakes were used in healing rituals. In fact, the other important point is that at these healing sanctuaries there were large dormitories where visitors slept each night. These visitors stayed at the sanctuary until they received a dream containing information about a cure for their illness. This is known as dream incubation. Epidaurus is a specific example of where snakes are associated both with dreams and with healing. Go back in the Asklepios family tree and you will find that his father was Apollo. Significant? Definitely. For Apollo, after slaying of the Python of Delphi, took over that oracle. Oracles, or dreams, once again are being associated with snakes. Even more interesting is the origin of the Python of Delphi. It was a child of Gaia. Gaia personifies the earth: heeding and understanding dreams most certainly keeps one grounded. There is much more in the metaphor of this particular mythology to unpack: for example, that the Python guarded the Castalian Spring whose vapours caused the oracle to give her prophesies. It can all be explained, but I’ll leave it at that for now.
Another part of the metaphor that has suddenly got me asking questions is this: Apollo was associated with truth, medicine, healing and prophesy. There was a negative side to him in that he reputedly brought plagues. In fact, the god who brought plagues was also invoked to end them. Is this the origin of the idea of vaccination or of taking ‘a hair of the dog’?
So, where else do snakes turn up?
Australian Aboriginal beliefs – dreamtime - include a Rainbow Serpent. An interesting link is that biblical Joseph and his rainbow coat, his coat of many colours, interpreted dreams for the pharaoh of Egypt. Quetzalcoatl – the Aztec plumed serpent (feathers of many bright colours, I might add) – is associated with knowledge and learning, with the dawn and with books. The voodoo snake spirit Danballah is the wife of the rainbow serpent Ayida Weddo. In the Garden of Eden, Eve was tempted by the serpent to taste the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, and thus she and Adam were expelled from their comfortable haven. The Gorgon had snakes as hair. Participants of rituals involving the Mayan Vision Serpent experienced visions in which they communicated with ancestors or gods. This serpent served as a gateway to the spirit realm. Like Apollo, Shiva is a god associated with both snakes (cobras are coiled on Shiva’s head) and ambiguity or opposing themes. Snakes play an important role in Norse mythology. The Nidhogg, a dragon (being a snake by another name) gnaws at the roots of the World tree, the Yggdrasill. In the video game Final Fantasy XII, for a bit of fun, fight the Nidhogg in the Lhusu Mines! The world tree appears in several world mythologies and by supporting the heavens as well as having its roots in the ground forms a link between the underworld, the earth and the heavens. Snakes are often regarded as messengers between upper and lower worlds.
As in nature, snakes, and the gods associated with them, often have opposing characteristics. Many snakes are venomous. However, venom is associated with chemicals of plants and fungi that have the power to either heal, to poison or to expand consciousness. Apollo was associated with truth, for example, yet we often talk of people speaking with ‘forked tongue’, meaning they say one thing while meaning another. The serpent in the Garden of Eden is regarded as being evil and Christianity especially does not like serpents – St Patrick expelled them from Ireland, after all.
Whatever the mythology, snakes inevitably turn up. In each instance, the meaning of snakes can be explained in terms of dreams. Each instance is like a piece of jigsaw puzzle and once you ‘see’ the overall picture, then all the pieces easily fit into place.
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