A favorite motif of Angkorean sculptors from approximately the 12th century CE onward was that of the Buddha, sitting in the position of meditation, his weight supported by the coils of a multi-headed nāga that also uses its flared hood to shield him from above. Thus, they are natural guardians of treasures or sacred sites which cannot easily be moved out of harm's way.Īt Angkor in Cambodia, numerous stone sculptures present hooded multi-headed nāgas as guardians of temples or other premises. This connection may be grounded in the observation that when threatened, some snakes (such as rattlesnakes or cobras) frequently hold and defend their ground, first resorting to threatening display and then fighting, rather than retreat. Serpents are represented as potent guardians of temples and other sacred spaces. Meditating Buddha being shielded by the naga Mucalinda. In Hinduism, Kundalini is a coiled serpent. According to some interpretations of the Midrash, the serpent represents sexual passion. In some Abrahamic traditions, the serpent represents sexual desire. The ouroboros is a symbol of eternity and continual renewal of life.
Enchanted portals twining skin#
As snakes shed their skin through sloughing, they are symbols of rebirth, transformation, immortality, and healing. Historically, serpents and snakes represent fertility or a creative life force. In regards to the latter, it blocks rivers and other water sources in exchange for human sacrifices and/or material good offerings. In this Paleolithic "ophidian" myth, snakes are connected to rains and storms, and even to water sources. Using phylogenetical and statistical methods on related motifs from folklore and myth, French comparativist Julien d'Huy managed to reconstruct a possible archaic narrative about the serpent. įurthermore, the psychoanalyst Joseph Lewis Henderson and the ethnologist Maude Oakes have argued that the serpent is a symbol of initiation and rebirth precisely because it is a symbol of death. Isbell argues that for millions of years snakes were the only significant predators of primates, and that this explains why fear of snakes is one of the most common phobias worldwide and why the symbol of the serpent is so prevalent in world mythology the serpent is an innate image of danger and death. The anthropologist Lynn Isbell has argued that, as primates, the serpent as a symbol of death is built into our unconscious minds because of our evolutionary history.
During the dance, live snakes were handled, and at the end of the dance the snakes were released into the fields to guarantee good crops. For example, the Hopi people of North America performed an annual snake dance to celebrate the union of Snake Youth (a Sky spirit) and Snake Girl (an Underworld spirit) and to renew the fertility of Nature. In some cultures, snakes were fertility symbols. Snakes have been associated with some of the oldest rituals known to mankind and represent dual expression of good and evil. The word is derived from Latin serpens, a crawling animal or snake. The serpent, or snake, is one of the oldest and most widespread mythological symbols.
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