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Serpent
/ Snake
Snake is the universal
symbol of transformation. Life, death and rebirth are
represented by the shedding
of the snake’s skin. Among the Pueblo Indians snakes
and lightning are equated with rain and fertility, as are
the snake dances annually held by the Hopi.
In
Celtic mythologies the snake is the universal symbol
of the Earth Goddess, eternally dying
and being renewed,
and the sinuous, serpentine path of the life force, in
China, called “chi“. When St. Patrick “drove
the snakes out of Ireland”, it could be interpreted
as the older pagan religion, which venerated a cycle of
birth/death/rebirth, being driven out of Ireland. Almost
universally, the snake is identified with the Goddess in
ancient Sumeria, Old Europe, and Egypt. Even in early Christianity
the serpent is venerated in some Gnostic sects, among them
the “Ophites” or “Serpent People”,
who used the symbol of the serpent as an embodiment of
the wisdom transmitted by Sophia.
Animal
Spirits
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