World Dream Bank topic: Snakes & Snake People

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Snakes & Snake People

Dreams of snakes, nagas, lamias, and other scaly, snake-tailed people. It's a new subset of "Reptiles", below.

Snakes in dreams can have many meanings--contrary to European or Freudian myths, confining them to phallic symbols, temptation, torpor and/or evil (probably the fault of poisonous species). I grew up in the American Southwest, so to me, rattlesnakes mean courteous but firm boundaries--they warn before they'll bite. To ancients in many cultures they mean regeneration and change, as they shed their skins to grow. Many associated them with water and bringing rain; many with wisdom and secrets (they can explore places no other large animals can). And of course, as with scaly critters in general, there's the "reptile brain"--basic survival instincts below logic, social smarts, or complex emotions.

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	BALOLOKONG: by Wayan, 1984/11/13; a Hopi time-travel dream. The Ice Hotel, where all my selves are sealed. Can we thaw Einstein? Balolokong the Rainsnake says...
	BAND-AIDS: by Bagheera Pardus; c.1985, a lucid re-entered nightmare turned to joy. Giant snakes chased me. I go lucid, turn & slay one. As I woke, the snakes cried. So I re-entered... CAUTION: SNAKES, BEHEADING, REHEADING
	BASEBALL NAGA: by Wayan; 1971/7/12, a sexy snake dream. Our toy train full of nude baseball players went under the park sprinklers, so naturally our shortstop shelters her friend the outfielder snake. But in there? Isn't it just as wet in there? CAUTION: SCALY SEX
	BEAUTY'S CHALLENGE: by Brenda Ferrimani, 1997, a flying nightmare The beauty parlor on the edge of the canyon crawls with rattlesnakes. I float in the air above, but even up here, knots of levitating snakes...
	BELT-SNAKE MYOPIA: by Wayan; 1983/12/25, a dream of innocent sabotage. A shy woman's belt slowly comes alive, but like most snakes, it has weak eyes. Would glasses help?...
	BRICK AND SKIN: by Wayan; 1988/10/18, a dream of spiritual stretching. I'm analog myself, but in Tibet, I meet a digital shaman whose body's a sort of ...
	BROMAN'S DOG: by Emanuel Swedenborg, 1744/4/5, a dream of a man-serpent-dog Swedenborg fights a worldly acquaintance, then his dog, who turns into a serpent... CAUTION: FIGHTING, SCORNS MATERIALISM
	CAT-SNAKE: by Wayan; 1993/3/6, a short dream fable. I glue cat-legs on my snaky friend, despite the scare talk from Christians sure that snakes never change...
	COLLAR OF GOLD: a Welshman of Kemmeis District; 1170s? A recurring dream of treasure A rich man dreamt thrice that hidden in St Berner's Well near his house was a golden collar. He reached in and... CAUTION: OW
	THE DENUNCIATION: by Georges Perec; August 1972, a dream of war-trauma finally healing? Dream #124 1941. My dad and I are denounced to the SS. We're put in with monsters; I'm a snake or fish myself. But the Nazis become a photo album, I go to a memorial, I cry, it's 1947, peace... CAUTION: HOLOCAUST MEMORIES
	DREAMKU, JUNE 2006: by Roswila; various dates up to June 2006; thirty dream-haiku Daily dream-poems in haiku style, nonstop for a month. A flood of animals, revenant ghosts, sex changes...
	ENJOY LIFE: by Wayan; 1983/8/24 dream inspires 1990/1/31 digital painting-experiment This image is senseless, but I have an excuse: I was watching TV in my dreams. TV on another world...
	FISH INTO SNAKE: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 1994/11/4; a dream painting I'm talking to a friend while waiting in line, when a huge fish appears. It turns into an equally huge snake...
	GUNTRAM'S SNAKE by King Guntram, c.560 or '70 CE; a profitable out-of-body dream On a hunt, Guntram took a nap. His courtier saw a snake emerge from his mouth; it tried to cross a creek. The courtier lay his sword out like a bridge, and the snake crossed, climbed a hill, and went in a hole. It returned and crawled in Guntram's mouth. He woke and said "I was crossing a river on a great iron bridge..."
	HEADEGG (Black-Eyed Bird of Pain): by Wayan; 1983/10/24; acrylic painting of a headache-trance. I was cartooning with a headache. It took over and started drawing for me...
	I GOT OUT: by Wayan; 1992/1/4, a psychic dream drawn as a 9-page digital comic I flee our love triangle when Abe turns mean. He's telepathic, but I have my escape all planned: the goldfish, the snakepit, the caves... CAUTION: THREESOME, SNAKES, MOTORCYCLE FATALITY
	IN WATSONVILLE CALIFORNIA: by Jack Kerouac, early Nov. 1953, a dream warning of mooches Green snakes fly over Elkhorn Marsh. My mom says "They're just cockroaches." She's not fooled by my... friends?
	JOHN BROWN'S DEATH: by Harriet Tubman; 1858/4, recurring predictive dreams I saw a snake with a white-bearded man's head, and two younger heads alongside. Men attacked the snake, cutting off the younger heads. The eldest looked at me, mournful, and they cut off his head too. Soon after, I met John Brown; I knew it was him. But only on the day of Harper's Ferry did I understand...
	KLIMT'S GIRL FRIENDS: by Wayan; 1998/7/4, a short art rant Klimt did a deep portrait of a lesbian couple back when most folks hardly saw gays as human...
	LAMIA by Wayan, 1988/11/1 with a nightmare by John Ruskin, 1869/11/1 I ask my dreams about sex, and get... sex on a beach with a sea-serpent girl--a lamia. But she gets queasy-- landsick! Too hot for her up here. Help her back in the sea. What a contrast with Ruskin's lamia nightmare... CAUTION: SCALY SEX
	THE LAST JUDGMENT: by Esther Raucher, c.1950; a childhood dream grows into a big sculpture group I fled a snake by flying. I felt guilty, I knew it was cheating. Years passed. I made tiny clay figurines. Years passed. I drew a chicken lady with a halo. Years passed. I sculpted a flock of BIG... CAUTION: NUDE CHICKEN LADIES
	LAYANASHA'S DREAM: by Layanasha, laibon of the Maasai, c.1850, a prophecy spanning 65-70 years Layanasha foresaw the British would bring a great snake spanning Maasai territory, then a plague killing half the tribe, a second plague killing nearly all the cattle, and finally huge birds flying over the veldt...
	LET THERE BE LIGHT by Nancy Price; 1948, a nightmare of helplessness Snakebite! I'm hooked to a health-monitor. If a red light comes on, I'm doomed. But voices start whispering...
	LIZ: by Wayan; 1992/3/15, digital painting of a daydream. I'm not sure just where she slithered out from, but she looks like more fun than most mammals... CAUTION: LIZARD BREAST
	THE MAN WITH THE SNAKE: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2002/9/3, dream of an aborted shamanic duel I stood in the desert preparing for a contest with a man and his snake. But he cheated! Then my cat Lulu intervened...
	MOON AND FIRE RISING: by Jenny Badger Sultan; dreamed c.1994/3/10 (+ earlier dream images, one from 1969) A dragon-woman showed me a cache of art. When I painted her face I recalled seeing it in a dream decades ago in a mirror... CAUTION: DRAGON BREASTS
	THE MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCE THEORY: by Wayan; 1996/11/6, a dream on synergism. A girl and two cybersnakes are clever but murderous. But when apart, they're not mean at all! Not sin--synergy...
	ONE FRUIT REMAINS UNEATEN: by Catshall; November 1983, a journal dotted with dreams My day life as an artist and explorer of the San Francisco underground scene gets regularly commented on by my dreamlife... CAUTION: SEX, BONDAGE
	OPHIDIOPHOBIA: by Wayan; 1986/2/12, a dream on race and religion. I'm a therapist with a client diagnosed paranoid--but are his doctors racist? He's not just black, but scaly...
	PHARAOH HOOKS: by Wayan; 1989/7/31, a deadpan joke of a dream. My sister and her friend the snake-woman tell me the facts of life: the golden hooks, the piglets... CAUTION: UNRELIABLE GYNECOLOGY
	PRINCESS LILY: by Dou Xun, as told by Pu Songling; before 1679: recurring psychic dreams, or fiction? Dou dreams he marries Lily; when a monstrous snake attacks her huge family, he reluctantly hosts them all... when he wakes, they turn out to be bees driven from their hive by a (very real) snake...
	PUBLIC EVENTS vs. SNAKES FROM INDIA: by Katherine Metcalf Nelson; 1984/6-7, a dream contrasting faiths I meet a Mormon art-educator I know. We're so different! Then I get a call from India. My friend tells of an erotic Hindu bas-relief of women and snakes...
	QUEEN COBRA: by Wayan; digital painting of a 1987/1/15 dreamlet. I asked "I'm still scared to date anyone. Why? What's my next step?" That night, I was answered... CAUTION: SEXUAL IMPLICATIONS
	RACCOON MOON: by Wayan; 1993/11/22; a short psychic dream. A precognitive dream about levitating snake girls, raccoons, and lunar eclipses. CAUTION: MY SNAKE BREASTS
	RATTLER BANQUET: by Wayan; 1993/1/29, a pointed nightmare; it leaves punctures! My parents invite me out to dinner, but there's a rattlesnake under the table, and my mom chases it up my leg. I wake to find two holes in my knee...
	RATTLER BY THE CONTROLS: by Wayan; 1978/10/19, an anti-phallic-symbol dream. I dreamed I was riding a huge toy train, and a gigantic rattlesnake was at the controls...
	SEPTIC: by Steve (age 6), pre-1961, a recurring predictive nightmare For three weeks he wakened screaming in fright; he said he "fell in a hole." Then, one snowy day...
	SHE IS THE SNAKE: by Sharon Stricker, 1980, a warning dream from a censored goddess Should I try to keep Janine out of jail? But outside, she'd gotten back on drugs. That night I dreamed a huge beautiful snake bit my writing hand, and said "Don't go to court. Stay home and write"... CAUTION: JUNKIE, RESCUER
	THE SKIN SECEDES: by Wayan; 1990/1/30, an unappetizing dream. A baby's own skin secedes, forming a snake. It prepares to eat the skinned baby. Shall I intervene?
	SNAKE APOLOGY: by Wayan; 1972/6/24 or 25, a dream on solving communication problems I'm a snake being hunted by the FBI. I know English, but I can only hiss. So I need to find an indirect way to show I'm peaceable...
	SNAKE COIL: by Wayan; 2000/11/1-14, dream-sculpture. I tried to be like my classmates--use tools, control what I made. But I couldn't. It came alive, and...
	SNAKEMATE: Wayan; 1983/8/5, pencil, then ink, digital tint/shade. Nondream vision Just a couple of soulmate snakes, entwined so totally I envied them...
	SNAKE PACKAGE: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2007/5/27 I am given a dehydrated package of dried snake to insert in my vagina. Inside it will unfold and come to life... CAUTION: KIDS, DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME!
	SNAKE POD TREE: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 1989/3/16, painting of a vivid dream image In a desert, I find a tree with red purselike pods. But they all seem empty, and I know they should each contain a vivid yellow snake...
	A SNAKE PROMPT: by Rebecca Solnit; before 2005, a brief but effective warning to pay attention As I recalled what I'd dreamed the night before, a snake, I looked down and saw my foot was poised to come down on...
	SNAKE TREE: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 1989/10/31, a dream revisioning Eden A woman up a tree has white flaky stuff camouflaging her. It cracks and peels like snakeskin. What tree is this, exactly?
	THE SNAKE UNDER SOMEONE'S BED: by Miriel and Wayan, 1978/10/19, shared/telepathic dreamlets Miriel dreams of a green snake under her bed. Meanwhile her brother Wayan dreams of a green poisonous snake under his bed...
	SNAKES AND CENTIPEDES: by Russ Thornton; 2008/11/1, a shared/telepathic dream. Two snakes fight as centipedes emerge from under rocks. I tell my friend. Next day her co-worker tells her the same...
	SNAKY FAMILIARS: by Wayan; 2014/3/4, a short dream in FOAM FURS
	STUCK SNAKE: by Wayan; 2011/9/8; a set of dreams that out-Freud Freud Girls flash and strip and crawl into bed with me, but I'm blind to their interest-- till I become a snakeboy and discover the real limitations of phallic symbolism... CAUTION: NUDITY, STUPIDITY
	THE SUMMONERS: by Jim Shaw; between 1987 & Jan. 1995, a mysterious dream Two nude women (drawn Wally Wood style) dance ritually in a forest, summoning a worm-snake-dragon with a ring of fangs... CAUTION: NUDITY
	TO THE SNAKE: by Denise Levertov; 1959?; a short dream-poem I loved the feel of the green snake, and reassured my friends it wasn't poisonous, but really...
	TRIBUTE TO JOAN MIRO: by Wayan; 1984/2000. Erasable crayon, 14 x 17", nondream Nearly abstract but not quite. The snake, the quill pen, the secretary bird, and the rose.
	WERTZ!: by Wayan; 2023/10/14, a night of cartoonist-inspired dreams After seeing Julia Wertz's cartoon history of her entire dreamlife (on one big page!) I dream Wertz style all night! I don't mind the nightmares--what gets me down is comics' black & white... CAUTION: NIGHTMARES, SEX
	WHERE THE WILD THINGS PLAY: by Anonymous #45, 1996? In a jungle river, I fish for giant kite-bass, then relax and have a drink. A lot of very drunk porpoises dance on the bar. I worry their skin will dry out. Alcohol is so dehydrating!
	THE WHITE SNAKE: by Jenny Badger Sultan, 1998/4/1, a dream painting DAY: we're preparing for a trip to Malta to see ancient sites. DREAM: Hiking, I discover a gigantic white snake. It feels like a good omen...
	WILL I BE BITTEN?: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2009/3/15; a predictive dream from the Box of Dreams A friend who's fought lymphoma invites me to sleep in a cave, but I fear a rattlesnake will bite me...
	WINGED BOOBY SNAKE: by Brian Harp; 2005, a dream character A winged serpentine beast from my dreamscape... CAUTION: SNAKE BREASTS
	THE WORM: by Emily Dickinson, mid-1870s?, a nightmare-poem Emily Dickinson ties up a worm she mistrusts. Bad move! It grows into a talking snake with a score to settle...