What Does it Mean to Dream About Snakes?

The reason snake dreams are so popular and common is this: Snakes are (deservedly or not) a universal symbol of everything evil, wrong, scary, frightening, and bad.

Thanks, Eve.

Snakes represent, to most of us anyway, great fear and uncommon anxiety.  Granted, there are those who love snakes with the same type of adoration the rest of us have for our cats, dogs, birds, guinea pigs,  rabbits, hamsters, and so on.  As a matter of fact, when a lot of people talk about their beloved pet, they’re referring to a snake.  And when these snake-lovers have dreams about snakes, they usually symbolize something entirely different.  When they dream about snakes, they’re no more alarmed that I would be if I dreamed about cats.  As someone with four cats, this is completely common for me and I never give it a second thought.

For most of us, however, snakes do represent BAD (fear, anxiety, frustration…).  Common symbol for BAD = A common dream.

Here’s something that I find to be extremely fascinating.  I’ve been a dreamologist  for over 10 years.  That’s a lot of dreams to be analyzed and studied! I’ve noticed something over the years that fascinates me.  MANY adults who work with kids, particularly teachers, frequently have a similar dream involving snakes:

They’ll confront a snake (or another representation of evil) that they’re trying valiantly to destroy.  Many will even say things like, “I know it’s going to hurt a lot of people and I want to stop it…”  However, they can’t get anyone to get on board with them and help out.  The frustration of the dream stays with these dreamers as much as the image of the snake or snakes do.  One of the reasons I believe this is so common is that teachers, undoubtedly, often feel very much “up against it.”  They love kids and sincerely want to help them.  They’ve dedicated their lives to them, so they obviously feel very strongly about young people.  However, they can’t do everything.

They feel very overwhelmed, at times, due to a lack of parental support and/or a lack of support from the school system, principal, school board, etc.  Teachers aren’t even paid as much as they deserve – no doubt the frustration sometimes gets to them. How could it not?  Although most handle it admirably and you’d never really know the lack of support they sometimes encounter, their subconscious mind ALWAYS knows.  the subconscious mind realizes just how much the individual sometimes feels as though he or she is fighting for a child or children without anyone backing them up.

Enter the snake.

Honestly, this is such a recurring theme for people involved in education and kids that books could be written.   Needless to say, the theme is actually beautiful – the thought that people who are in charge of kids care so much about “saving” them and protecting them that it carries over to their dreams.

Snakes, for most people are dream symbols for something (anything, really) that’s evil, bad, scary, or undesired in any way. When we have things on our mind during the day that are negative, to put it simply, they show up in our dreams dressed as snakes.

Appropriate attire for evil.

Whether you work with kids or not, snakes symbolize something that you are afraid of, intimidated by, anxious about, or worried about.  It may be a tiny seed of fear deep inside of you – one that you barely even know exists.  The thing is, your subconscious mind knows it’s there.  Dreams are its way of getting the fear out into the open, allowing you to confront it and deal with it.

If, like teachers, you find yourself trying to do something about the snake but can’t seem to find any support or help – your dream interpretation is similar to the teacher’s.  You feel, in your waking life, a lack of support from the people around you.  You often feel that you’re fighting a battle alone.