Dream dictionary: Snake. What does a dream about a snake mean?

What does a dream about a snake mean?

The snake is one of the oldest symbols: it signifies both danger and treachery, and transformation, wisdom and healing (the staff of Asclepius).

The most common variants of the dream

• a snake bites: being wounded by someone close, or a painful truth
• a snake sheds its skin: transformation, a new stage of life
• killing a snake: you will overcome an adversary or a fear
• many snakes: tension in one's surroundings, several matters at once

What psychology says

Carl Gustav Jung saw in the snake a symbol of life energy and the unconscious, both of which demand attention.

In English-speaking tradition

In British and broader English-speaking folklore, the snake has long carried associations with deceit and hidden danger, rooted chiefly in the biblical account of the serpent in the Garden of Eden — a connection so deeply embedded in popular culture that the idiom "a snake in the grass" (drawn from Virgil but long naturalised in English) denotes a treacherous person. Classic English dream books, such as those in the nineteenth-century almanac tradition, typically warned that dreaming of a snake foretold an enemy or illness, though some allowed that killing or escaping one promised victory over adversity. In American folk tradition, particularly in the rural South, a snake crossing one's path was considered an ill omen, and this unease carried readily into dream interpretation. The snake's dual nature as both feared creature and symbol of healing (as in the medical caduceus) is also reflected in popular culture, where it appears as a motif of both menace and mysterious wisdom.

A question for yourself

What change is trying to take place within me, and what am I afraid of in it?

Write your answer down right after waking up. The dreamer understands a dream best; the dictionary is only a hint.

Other dreams in the dictionary

All entries: Dream dictionary A–Z.

Frequently asked questions

What does a dream about a snake mean?

The snake is one of the oldest symbols: it signifies both danger and treachery, and transformation, wisdom and healing (the staff of Asclepius).

Is a dream about a snake a bad sign?

The dictionary describes dreams as symbols, not predictions. The meaning depends on the emotions in the dream and on your situation; the same image can be a good sign or a warning.