The Mythic Snake

The mythic Snake represents the deep, chthonic Mind-- that of Man and that of Nature.  His form evolved from that of the actual reptile to one more chimaeric, and so, numinous, otherworldly, such as the Dragon in all his forms, or as a winged were-wyrm such as is seen in the Hindu Naga, the Greek Agathos Daimon (good genius), and the Aztec Quetzalcoatl.  These winged man-snakes are symbolic of the Self, the integrated Psyche, being both of the earth and of the sky, of Nature and of Man, animal and human, primordial and modern, the unconscious and the conscious minds.  And in the Drygand, the mythic Snake has become the archetype of the Ecological Psyche in our Age of Ecology.