Spectrum 2018 02 Reptiles

Bénédicte Echard

¦ Dendroaspis polylepis

SPECTRUM OF HOMEOPATHY

REPTILES

THE SYMBOLISM OF THE SNAKE AND ITS ASSOCIATION WITH THE GODLY

For the Hindus, the veneration of snakes has its roots in ancient beliefs. The snake lives at the border between the visible and the

invisible, the part of the shadow hidden in the depths of our unconscious. The fear of snakes is also connected to the mystery that

they represent, symbolising at the same time the feminine, due to their connection to the earth, and the masculine, due to their

phallic form. Giving life and death, it is the image of ambivalence, the primordial lack of differentiation. Its almost formless form opens

the possibility of an infinity of different manifestations. And the extreme immobility that it turns into action evokes the latent energy

ready to be used. Its moulting symbolises the liberation of the spirit and reincarnation, and the old skin that it lets go of introduces

the notion of regeneration and immortality. Connected to eternity and to cycles, one says that the Naga is the form of time, Kala

rupa. Going back through the dangers and the mysteries of time, of life and death, sexuality and knowledge, snakes and Naga are

often associated with powerful divinities that give supreme knowledge. One can see them spread out above the head of Shiva, Kali

and Buddha. They are like attributes in the hands of the crowned gods and like jewels on their bodies, symbols of protection, of

awakening, of energy and the mastery of power.