Carl Jung on Serpents and Dragons in Dreams

Carl Jung on Serpents and Dragons in Dreams

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regarding “Snake-dreams usually occur, therefore, when the conscious mind is deviating from its instinctual basis.”

Jung said,”I have no theory” about dreams, and was adamant that each dream needed to be looked at afresh. Nevertheless, he still made some sweeping statements:

“More especially the threat to one’s inmost self from dragons and serpents points to the danger of the newly acquired consciousness being swallowed up again by the instinctive psyche, the unconscious. The lower vertebrates have from earliest times been favourite symbols of the collective psychic substratum, which is localized anatomically in the subcortical centres, the cerebellum and the spinal cord. These organs constitute the snake. Snake-dreams usually occur, therefore, when the conscious mind is deviating from its instinctual basis.” ~Carl Jung; Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious; page 166

Image courtesy of Jung Hearted.

(and thanks to Tishanne Patterson for posting this in the last comment section..)