In the long dream-lore tradition of East Asia, the dream of a snake has been counted among the foremost auspicious dreams. The snake, a mysterious creature that crosses land and water and is reborn by shedding its skin, has long been beloved as a symbol of wealth and life, wisdom and transformation. So dreaming of a snake was often welcomed as an omen of good to come. Yet a single snake dream does not always hold one meaning; its grain shifts greatly with what kind of snake appeared and in what guise.
Most widely known is the symbol of wealth. A large, glossy snake, many snakes, or a snake coiling about the body or coming to bite has long been read as a signal of great wealth or unexpected windfall coming in. A snake large and mighty as a python was held to mean fortune and wealth just as great. To catch a snake or hold it to the breast, too, was welcomed as an auspicious dream of grasping wealth and opportunity.
The snake dream is also well known as a foremost conception dream (taemong). To dream, around the time of conceiving a child, of a snake beautifully colored or large entering one’s embrace was rejoiced over of old as an omen of conceiving a precious child. Tales of divining son or daughter by the snake’s color, size, or the situation have long been handed down. Beyond this, the snake can also mean a benefactor who helps at one’s side, or wisdom, or at times a romance or temptation that stirs the heart — so the same snake was read along many branches by the dream’s mood.
Of course the snake dream was not always read brightly. A dream of being chased or bitten by a snake and feeling pain, or of a snake approaching hideous and fearsome, was also taken as a signal to look to stress or health, or a warning to beware an awkward relationship nearby. That the same symbol splits into fortune and ill shows well that a dream’s meaning is not fixed in advance but reflects differently by the dreamer’s situation and heart.
Today’s psychology sees the snake dream with somewhat different eyes. Just as a snake sheds its skin, this dream is often read as symbolizing change, rebirth, and healing — shedding an old self and renewing. At the same time the snake can represent suppressed instinct, fear, or emotion hard to face. So the snake dream may be read as a signal that something is greatly changing in one’s life now, or that a long-deferred matter of the heart is rising to the surface. The more fearsome the snake felt, the more often it is, in truth, a part of oneself one has turned away from.
So there is no need to cling too much to fortune or ill just for having dreamt of a snake. It is no omen that nails down the future, but closer to a mirror that tenderly reflects the change, the wish, and the fear stirring within right now. Herein lies FortuneLeaf’s reason for introducing the snake dream — not to elate with an “auspicious dream” or frighten with an “ill dream,” but to help you, through this vivid dream that everyone has at some point, read and soothe the grain of your heart now clearly and by your side.