Snake: Pagan Symbol Transmutation
Adder and Rattlesnake: Epitomes of Snake Totem
According to some traditions, snake was sinister. To the Celts and Native Americans, snake was beneficial. Snake represented rebirth, ridding the old for the better new.
Snake the Animal
The only poisonous snake that is native to Britain is the adder, vipera berus. They aren’t aggressive although their poison injection structure is the most highly developed. This is their last means of defense if stepped on or captured.
They live in the edges of forests and hibernate during winter. They normally eat small rodents and also newts, lizards and frogs. They strike quickly to inject their venom, wait for the prey to die, then swallow it whole.
Birds of prey and adult adders eat the young ones. Rodents are predators when the snakes hibernate. The law protects adders from being killed or harmed by people.
The rattlesnake is one of three poisonous species of snakes in North America. There are over thirty species and subspecies of these snakes. Like the adder, they hibernate. Although they are solitary, for the most part, hundreds of snakes will hibernate in a shared den. They are the only snake that has rattles which are made when the snake sheds its skin.
Rattlesnakes are nocturnal during the hot weather and hunt small rodents and lizards. They can bite without injecting venom. The king snake is immune to the rattler’s poison and is its predator. Rattling happens when the snake feels threatened. The rattle is also a signal to its target of the snake striking.
Humans are the primary dangers to rattlesnakes, either by intentional killing or motor vehicle accidents.
Adder and Rattlesnake Totems
Generally, Snake represents wisdom, rebirth, initiation and resurrection. Both the Celts and Native Americans believed Snake symbolizes transmutation, the ability to alter appearance nature, and form, particularly to higher ones.
To the Celts, Adder symbolized transmutation, life’s energy and healing. He signifies getting rid old the old for the better new, reincarnation, wisdom and cunning.
The English believed the skin had magickal properties. It could draw thorns from the body, hung on the chimney attracted luck and hung on the rafters, prevented fires. To see Adder near the front door was a death omen.
Native Americans also believed that snake symbolized transmutation. It is the rattlesnake that appears on the Snake card in The Medicine Cards, Jamie Sams & David Carson, (Bear & Company, 1988)
Snake totem is the power of creation and embodies immortality and psychic energy. He has fire energy which, emotionally, are charisma, intellect, power and the intellect; spiritually, connection with Spirit, wisdom, wholeness and understanding. On the physical level, they are vitality and passion.
Judeo/Christian Tradition
It was the serpent who tempted Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. The serpent is a symbol of Satan and, according to some, the serpent was he. Through the years, serpent has been a snake and the forbidden fruit, an apple. The serpent or snake came to represent evil.
There is a legend about a female missionary who was fervent in converting those whom called Pagans. She and a Native American Chief were talking and she ridiculed his belief in the bear totem. He countered by asking her why she showed no respect. He did not deride her story about the talking snake.
Sources:
Animal Magick, D. J. Conway, (Llewellyn Publications, 1996)
Animal-Speak, Ted Andrews, (Llewellyn Publications, 2002)
The Druid Animal Oracle, Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm (A Fireside Book, 1994)
