A snake sheds its skin when its insides grow. The same is true for us in a manner of speaking. When our insides grow bigger than our outside it is time to shed our skin, time to shed our old life, to move beyond what we have outgrown; time to embrace the potential for renewal.

The Archetypal Symbolism of Snakes and Serpents

As seen in the sacred architecture, myths, and initiation rites of many cultures, snakes and serpents are revered as numinous beings with healing and regenerative powers. Their ability to shed their skin gives them qualities of renewal, and youthful vitality. They contain the archetypal power of transmutation, rebirth and immortality.

Ancient and esoteric powers of serpents
The alchemical image of the ouroboros. The snake eating its own tail informs us of the wisdom of the conjunctio, the union and wholeness of the divine marriage of the female and male principles.

• The uraeus, royal headdress of the Egyptian pharaohs with the cobra image worn at the brow, signifies a connection with divine power and protection.

• Hindu iconography includes the cobra as a symbol of awakened conscious surrounding the head of many deities. The yogic concept of Kundalini Shakti, the serpent energy rising up the spinal centers emerging from the crown chakra in divine union with pure Shiva consciousness.

• Tibetan and Chinese traditions, including feng shui theory and the wisdom of the snake, serpent and dragon as symbols of protection, good fortune and health.

• The ritual rattlesnake dance of the Hopi Snake Clan people is done as an invocation to bring the rains.

• Quetzalcoatl is worshipped as the feathered winged serpent god of Central America.

• Asclepius, the ancient Greek god of medicine, healing, and dreams is known for his staff and the single snake coiled around it. A dream with a snake (python was sacred to his cult), signaled deep healing, and a union with god.

• The caduceus symbol of modern Western medicine. Two snakes entwined around the winged wand of Hermes, messenger of the gods, implying healing, harmony and symmetry.