The serpent has been a profound symbol for hundreds of thousands of years! Ancient cave paintings show winged snakes (dragons) flying above villages, serpents slithering between worlds, and their long bodies often times encircling a scene. Temple carvings, ancient artifacts, and sacred statues have been discovered to be thousands of years old. They were often found in burial tombs, insinuating the significance and importance. These special glimpses of history often link the snake to women. Women were the embodiment of Serpent energy and of the Goddess.
We see the serpent take on a more sinister character in the Bible as the "devil in disguise" in the Garden of Eden. The Serpent tempted Eve to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge when God apparently told her not to do so. This immediately links snakes and women together as BAD. Snakes are evil, and women are disobedient. Snakes were also apart of the ancient Baal/Ashera cult that the regime was set on suppressing. Making the serpent symbolic of Lucifer did just that, so anyone practicing pagan rituals involving snakes was immediately arrested and even killed.
This story created a whole culture that has carried into today. Notice how in the Bible women are inferior - either foolish and naïve (Eve), a poor prostitute (Mary Magdalene) or an untouchable Virgin completely detached from her sexual power (Mother Mary). This is obviously not the whole story. But we can see this thread in our culture, especially in mainstream Christianity; women have had it rough! And this is just one mainstream religion. I speak to this because I grew up going to a Grace Church where women didn't have much of a role, and this always bothered me.
Notice the depictions of Mother Mary, she often seen standing on top of a serpent, insinuating she has defeated evil (because she abstained from sex) or that she is "of original sin". But what if we have it wrong? Clearly, our ancient relatives revered the snake, so what changed?
This is my theory, and I invite you to read further. If it does not resonate for you, that it okay with me, I am not here to convince you. This is how Spirit has laid it out for me.
In an effort to control a greater population, men began controlling the stories we tell ourselves and the symbols we used to tell those stories. We can see a clear shift from our ancient relatives and their depictions of the Goddess/Serpent beings to a more demonized, fearful perspective. I see this as an effort to control the amazing power of the Woman.
As Womb Carriers, Women have the immense responsibility and privilege to carry life if we so choose (we are no less of a women if we do not choose this though!). We can regenerate, we can shed, we can reclaim, we are naturally equipped with an internal ceremony, we can divinate with our blood, we can communicate with the Earth through our Wombs. When we outgrow something of ourselves, we can shed that "skin" and renew ourselves. Men simply cannot do this in the same ways. Our Womb is a sacred portal in which life can be created (in more ways than by making a human!). When we choose not to, we have a monthly flow. This is what the serpent represents. Every month, there is a part of ourselves that we out grow. When we bleed, we shed this and are reborn NEW.
The Serpent is an amazing representation of the Goddess for the same reasons, really! The Goddess is the Cosmic representation of the Feminine Principle ~ nurturing, creative, internal, receptive, Sophia Wisdom, intuition, wildness, spiral consciousness, unbounded, sensitive. Sounds very snake-like to me!
There were ancient Temples throughout the world where it was a sacred rite of passage for women to dance with Serpents. To honor the sensuality snakes also represents, women would move their bodies just as snakes do. This was an offering for the Goddess. The Serpent Dance was a ritual I was able to partake in during my Initiation into the Red Tent Lineage with Priestessing the Paradigm Shift. It was a primal, sacred, and unforgettable ceremony I shared with 21 other Sisters. I will carry it with me forever. Dancing with Eros, the Boa, led me down an ancient memory of being a devotee to a Goddess Temple long long ago.
In India, the energy known as Kundalini is often depicted as a coiled up snake at the base of the spine. It can rise spontaneously or through intentional actions. Shakti is the feminine principle of Energy that also takes on the undulating movements of the Great Serpent. "This coiled serpent has been biding its time for ages, waiting for the day when the soul would begin to take charge of its rightful domain—the personality, or the combination of the physical, astral and mental bodies.
This ‘spiritual’ force, while still asleep, is the static form of creative energy which serves to vitalise the whole body. When awakened and beginning to ‘uncoil’, this electric, fiery force proves to be of a spiral nature, and hence the symbolic description of ‘serpent power’." ~ Kundalini Explained
In Peru, a land I love and respect immensely, Sachamama is a Great Snake Mother who is often associated with potent medicines of the Mysterious Jungle. I invite you to read my dear Sister, Jessica's, online platform which discusses SachaMama in depth! Her work in the sacred lands of Peru is awe-inspiring. Take a look at this amazing art by Andrei Verner depicting a vision of the jungle serpents, super similar to the Kundalini energy!
* I will share more on the medicine of Snake at a later date. But for now, I hope this finds you well and awakens something profound in you!
So Sister, next time you bleed, I invite you to see a serpent curled up in your womb, see it leaving through your blood. What messages goes she have to ssshare with you? I'd love to hear your experiences!