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05/15/2017 at 08:13

Hello dear friends!

For man, the snake has always been considered a zone heightened danger and close attention. Perhaps this is due to human, whose roots may go back to the previous ones, or her composure. But many earthlings are terrified of reptiles!

But one thing creature, and completely different - the symbol of the tailed one, which is able to work miracles! The snake is also a symbol of Feng Shui, which has an amazing and extremely versatile meaning.

Snakes have long symbolized the presence of wisdom, knowledge, but besides this, they have always been compared with longevity, eternal youth and the ability to resurrect.

What secrets does the totem sign keep in itself? What story is hidden in the guise of a beautiful creature? And moreover, how do the peoples of the world relate to the image of a snake? About this and not only in today's article!

Where can you most often find snake symbol ? The most popular images of "cold-blooded" symbols are figurines, talismans and paintings that convey the entire supply of the sign's energy potential.

They can be made from various materials: wood, metal, stone, glass, and even polymer clay! It is worth noting that this can be a handmade pillow or a children's toy that harmoniously fits into the interior space of your home.

What is the symbol of the mysterious snake capable of? Before answering this question, I suggest that you familiarize yourself with the meaning of the sign and understand the nature of its influence on space.

Meaning of different symbols

There are different forms of characters, for examplea snake swallowing its own tail.The fact is that the serpent means the eternal cycle. He has hisits ancient name Ouroboros, coiled snakeand biting his own tail. Its purpose is to show a person that being has certain cycles of its development and that everything is endlessly repeated.

There is no end as such! Creation passes to destruction, life - is replaced by death. But death on the physical plane is a birth on the subtle plane (just like a birth on the physical plane, it probably looks like death on the subtle ones...). Can't say for sure...

But Kundalini is the most powerful life energy that rises along the spine and is depicted as two intertwining snakes. These two snakes symbolize energy channels that cross. And where they intersect, there are chakras (7 main and a huge number of smaller ones).

This energy is in each of us, but only in a dormant form. But in order to awaken an avalanche of flow, you need to work on your beginning and physical shell, practicing sacred yoga, cleansing the body of toxins and methods for clearing the mind of unnecessary, I would say, false beliefs.

The serpent is a multifunctional symbol (like all symbols in general!)! He manages to combine both male and female, and androgenic beginning. Also refers to the number of male totem signs expressing strength. He is often ranked among the phallic symbols, calling him "the husband of all the fair sex."

If we consider a cold-blooded creature as a killing machine, then we can attribute it to the herald of death and extermination, but if we think of it as a skin-changing creature, we can find subtext in the form of transformation of the living, resurrection and life.

When a person uses symbolism correctly, understanding its original duality, he can count on the acquisition of certain benefits and the strongest protection. The snake can become for you both a symbol of universal good and a sign of global evil. The choice is yours, but I still advise you to choose the positive!

In medieval Christian art, the symbol of a snake nailed to cross . This frightening image is not as violent as it seems. The sign is fraught with a certain message, which contains a key meaning - the resurrection and the superiority of the spirit over primitive flesh.

Caduceus

Caduceus is a symbol of total mediation and agreement in agreement. It can be found in the form of an image, an emblem of trade. But if you look into the past, then the caduceus was an integral attribute of the messenger, which managed it for me to ensure the safety of the owner.

If we consider the symbol from the point of immersion in atm about realm of ancient traditions,then there the caduceus transformed into rod of Hermes , the messenger of the gods themselves! He could give people prophetic dreams and act as a symbol that unites the world.

At first, it looked like an olive branch, with two shoots on top, which was richly decorated with garlands. But later the sign was presented in the form 2 bound snakes that wrap their body around a rod on both sides.Over time, it was decorated with wings, to give Hermes the speed of movement with the mark "participation in heaven." The Caduceus of Hermes also symbolizes the Kunadalini energy and spiritual awakening.

It is worth noting that the caduceus has more than one interpretation. There is the staff of Aesculapius, Greek God healing, which is also crowned with a representative of the cold-blooded, wrapping around bowl . He gained universal fame, because to this day he is a symbol of the doctor and medicine.

The symbol of the snake among the peoples of the Earth

For example, in Africa, snakes form the emblem of power, also symbolize the chariot of immortality and the embodiment of the dead. Among the American Indians, this creature was considered mythical, gifted with the power of creation. She was called the mistress of lightning, the mistress of the rain, the spear of the God of War himself.

The Aborigines of Australia consider the presence of a snake to be a sign from above about an upcoming pregnancy. But the Aztecs managed to combine a snake and a feathered one. For them, it is a symbol of the Sun, harmony, the movement of wind, water and the space enveloping the Earth.

The famous Wheel of Samsara, decorated inside the circle with a snake. she personifies malice, although sometimes she can be associated with the Buddha himself, taking on the form naga (snakes). And when sores, famine and devastation come into this world, it is the serpent that will heal the earthly people.

In China, the reptile is one of the five poisonous creatures. It is for this reason that she rarely differs from the dragon they are accustomed to. And if this happened, then the only thing that it can symbolize is a negative, evil and rather deceitful phenomenon.

Christianity attributed the sign to ambivalent symbols. That is, it is Christ, ascended on the Tree of Life to atone for human sins, while combining wisdom and virtue, as well as the personification of the devil!

The image of a snake can also be found in Egypt. Most often they were applied to the sarcophagus. The serpent Apol, belonging to the forces of darkness and gloom, drank water from the fertile Nile, in the hopeoppose god at Ra, who emerged victorious from battle every night.

The sign of the sacred snake Uraeus is a sacred, Egyptian symbol, considered the embodiment of the great deity Atum.It was applied to the headdresses of the pharaohs and was a symbol of their power.

But the snake symbol arose in civilizations for a reason! Already in ancient times, snakes were in great reverence. And the Atlanteans who escaped the catastrophe, 12.5 thousand years ago, spread this symbol and others among almost all the peoples of the Earth!

On this I will put an end!

See you on the blog, bye bye!

Editing: Mandrik R.A. Especially for the site: Brief Dictionaries (http://slovo.yaxy.ru/)

Alkonost (alkonos) - in Russian medieval legends, a bird of paradise with a human face (often mentioned along with another bird of paradise - the Sirin). The image of the alkonost goes back to the Greek myth of Alcyone, who was turned by the gods into a kingfisher. Alkonost carries eggs on the seashore and, plunging them into the depths of the sea, makes it calm for six days. The singing of the Alkonost is so beautiful that the one who hears it forgets about everything in the world. “Olekh’s cutter is a forest miracle, / Eyes are two geese, a rudo lip, / He raised a bird with a girl’s face, / His lips are cursed with a secret cry. / The cheeks of the tree were filled with water / And the voice was flimsy, like the splash of sedge, / The carver smelled: “I am Al-konost, / I will drink tears from the eyes of goose!” (N.A. Klyuev. "Pogorelshchina"). “The bird Sirin joyfully grins at me, / Cheers, beckons from its nests, / And on the contrary, it yearns, sad / Poisons the soul of the wonderful Alkonost” (V.S. Vysotsky. “Domes”).

Basilisk - the king-serpent, whose gaze strikes death like lightning, and whose breath makes the grass wither and the trees droop. It is born from an egg laid by a black seven-year-old rooster and buried in hot manure. The black rooster is a gloomy cloud; in the springtime after seven winter months, called years in folk legends, an egg-sun is born from it, and at the same time, a thunder serpent is born by the action of solar heat. Originating from a rooster, the Basilisk dies from it: as soon as he hears the cry of a rooster, he immediately dies, i.e. the demonic cloud serpent dies in a thunderstorm as the celestial rooster starts its thunder song.

GREAT FIRE WHALE (Eleatham serpent) - the whale on which the earth is based; thunders of fiery fire come out of his mouth, as if the case was fired; from his nostrils a spirit comes out, like a stormy wind, raising the fire of Gehenna. In the last times it will move, it will tremble - and the fiery river will flow, and the world will end. The movement and turns of the fabulous whales shake the earth.

THING - a prophetic bird (magpie): whether it chirps in the yard or on the house roof or jumps at the threshold of the hut, there will soon be guests; in which direction she will wave her tail - from there, wait for the guests; on her tail she brings all sorts of news. Witches, for the most part, like to turn forty.

VIRII-BIRDS - spring birds. Vyrey, Irey - a fabulous country where there is no winter. Ir - spring. In the Teachings of Vladimir Monomakh it is said: “And we marvel at this, how the birds of the air come from the air”. “Beyond the sea is Lukerye, there the rivers flow well, the shores are jelly there, the springs are sugary, and the birds do not stop all year round” (A.M. Remizov. “To the Sea-Ocean”).

GAGANA - a mythical bird that gives bird's milk, eider. “The bird Gagana will meet you, say hello to the bird: Gagana will give you bird's milk” (A.M. Remizov. “Tales”).

GAMAYUN - a prophetic bird. She flies to the blissful Makary Island. Lives in the sea. Usually depicted with woman's face and chest. According to legend, when the prophetic bird Gamayun cries, she prophesies happiness. “I love the crimson padun, / The falling leaves are burning and combustible, / That is why my poems are like clouds / With the distant thunder of warm strings. / So in a dream Gamayun sobs - / That a mighty bard forgotten by the tour ”(I.A. Klyuev). “It’s like seven rich moons / Stands in my way - / Then the Gamayun bird / Gives me hope!” (V.S. Vysotsky. "Domes").

GORGONIA - in Slavic book legends, a maiden with hair in the form of snakes, a modification of the ancient Gorgon Medusa. The face of Gorgonia is deadly. The magician who manages to behead her gains miraculous powers. Another transformation of the image of the Medusa-Gorgon in the Slavic apocrypha is the Gorgonian beast, guarding paradise from people after the fall. Iconography of the Gorgonian head - feature popular Byzantine and ancient Russian amulets - "serpentines".

GRIF-BIRD - a fabulous bird, with the help of which fairy-tale heroes make their air flights. In folk monuments, she appears in various images. In the fairy tale "The Mink Beast" is like a bird, which is so huge that, like clouds covering the sky, it darkened the sunlight with itself. In another tale, a storm rises from the flapping of the wings of a lioness bird or a vulture bird, which will be the size of a mountain, but flies faster than a bullet from a gun. The Greeks imagined a vulture with an eagle's head and wings, with the body, legs and claws of a lion - which idea also got into the Russian fairy tale. The vulture-bird grabs the carrion and together with it carries the youth across the wide sea.

GRIFFIN - a mighty bird-dog.

FIREBIRD - the embodiment of the thunder god, in Slavic fairy tales a wonderful bird that flies from another (thirtieth) kingdom. This kingdom is fabulously rich lands that were dreamed of in ancient times, for the color of the Firebird is golden, golden cage, beak, feathers. She eats golden apples, which give eternal youth, beauty and immortality, and in their meaning are completely identical with living water. When the Firebird sings, pearls fall from its open beak, i.e. along with the solemn sounds of thunder, brilliant sparks of lightning scatter. Sometimes in fairy tales the Firebird acts as a kidnapper. “Here at midnight sometimes / Light spilled over the mountain. / As if noon is coming: / Firebirds fly in ...” (P.P. Ershov. “Humpbacked Horse”).

BEAST-INDR (Indrik, Vyndrik, Unicorn) - a mythical beast, about which the verse about the Pigeon Book tells how the ruler of the dungeon and underground keys, and also about the savior of the universe during a worldwide drought, when he dug up the keys with his horn and let water through rivers and lakes. Indrik threatens to shake the whole earth with his turn, he, moving under the ground, digs vents and lets through streams and channels, rivers and cold pits: “Wherever the beast passes, the spring boils there.” In some versions of the verse, the legend of the Indra beast is associated with the sacred mountains: “That beast lives in the Zion mountains in Tabor or Mount Athos, he drinks and eats in the holy mountain (option: from the blue of the sea), and brings the children out in the holy mountain ; when the beast turns, all the holy mountains are shaken.” This evidence makes the beast-Indra related to the Serpent Gorynych. Tearing up cloudy mountains and dungeons with its lightning horn and making the earth tremble, the monstrous beast gives rise to rain springs and rivers.

ZMEY GORYNYCH (Gorynchishche) - a mountain demon, a representative of clouds, since ancient times likened to mountains and rocks. Spitting and spitting, he creates cloudy mountains and rainy abysses, in which later, while obscuring the meaning of ancient metaphors, they recognized ordinary earthly hills and swamps. The mythical snake in folk tales is mixed with Satan. Like the god of thunder, Satan also creates his associates, calling them with strong blows to the stone, i.e. carving deadly lightning bolts from the cloud-stone. Overthrown by divine power, these thunder imps fall from the sky like bright lights along with heavy rain. The universal, boundless sea, where mythical rivals meet, is the boundless sky. In fairy tales, he is depicted as a dragon with three, six, nine or twelve heads. Associated with fire and water, flies through the sky, but at the same time correlates with the bottom - with a river, a hole, a cave where treasures are hidden from him, a stolen princess, "Russian full"; there is also numerous offspring. He appears, accompanied by a formidable noise: “it rains”, “thunder rumbles”. The main weapon of the Serpent is fire. “Dobrynya raised his head and sees that the Serpent Gorynych is flying towards him, a terrible snake with three heads, seven tails, flames blaze from his nostrils, smoke pours out of his ears, copper claws on his paws shine” (Russian epic).

SNAKE FIRE WOLF (Vuk Fire) - in Slavic mythology hero. He is born from the Fire Serpent, is born in human form, "in a shirt" or with "wolf hair" - a sign of a miraculous origin. Can turn into a wolf and other animals, incl. bird; performs feats using the ability to transform (himself and his squad) into animals.

ZMIULAN is a character of East Slavic mythology, one of the continuations of the image of the Fire Serpent. In Belarusian and Russian fairy tales, King Fire and Queen Lightning burn the herds of King Zmiulan, who hides from them in the hollow of an old tree (an obvious parallel with one of the main myths of Slavic mythology, in which the enemy of Perun is a serpent, the owner of herds, who hides in the hollow of a tree ). The name of Zmiulana is used in folk spells-love spells. “... The princess sees the imminent misfortune, sends Zilant Zmeulanovich. Zilant thundered, leaving the iron nest, and it hung on twelve oaks, on twelve chains. Zilant rushes like an arrow to an eagle ... ”(“ The Tale of the Bogatyr Gol Voyansky ”. A Russian fairy tale in the retelling of B. Bronnitsin).

Kagan is a prophetic bird that brings happiness. In folk songs, it is very common to refer to the winds that ancient man recognized as divine beings. Since the winds were personified in the form of birds, similar appeals began to be referred to them. The image of the Kagan bird has not been preserved. According to popular beliefs, the one who saw her should be silent about this, or he will not see happiness. “... I had to support myself, prove that he really is a bird, and show what kind of bird. With inexpressible contempt, he squinted his eyes at his opponent, trying, for greater offense, to look at him somehow over his shoulder, from top to bottom, as if he were looking at him like a bug, and slowly and distinctly said: “Kagan!” That is, that he is a kagan bird ”(F.M. Dostoevsky.“ Notes from the Dead House ”).

KOSHCHEI IMMORTAL - as a demonic creature, the snake in folk Russian legends appears under this name. The meaning of both is completely identical: Koschey plays the same role of a miserly keeper of treasures and a dangerous thief of beauties as a snake; both of them are equally hostile to fairy-tale heroes and freely replace each other, so that in one and the same fairy tale, in one version, the serpent is the protagonist, and in the other, Koschey. The word "kosh" is also connected with the word "kosht" (bone). Many heroes of fairy tales turn for some time into stone, wood, ice and other states - they become ossified. The old Russian “blasphemers to create” means to perform actions decent to sorcerers and the devil (to blaspheme). Somehow connected with this concept "knit" - "knot". A prisoner is an enemy who has been taken prisoner. It is in this sense that the word "koshchei" is used in the Tale of Igor's Campaign and in many Russian fairy tales. The legends about death that befalls Koshchei, apparently, contradict the epithet "Immortal" constantly attached to him; but this is what testifies to his spontaneous character. Melted by the spring rays of the sun, broken by the arrows of Perun, the clouds gather again from the vapors rising to the sky, and the demon of darkness, struck to death, seems to be reborn again and challenges its winner to battle; likewise, the demon of winter mists, cold and blizzards, who perishes at the beginning of spring, comes to life again with the end of the summer half of the year and takes possession of the world. That is why Koschey was ranked among the immortal beings.

LAMIA (lama) - a fabulous snake, among the southern Slavs a monster with a snake's body and a dog's head; it descends like a dark cloud on the fields and gardens, devouring the fruits of agricultural labor. It was also associated with a nightmare - Mara. The image goes back to the Greek Lamia, a monster, the daughter of Poseidon.

FOREST-BIRD - a mythical bird, lives in the forest, where it builds a nest, and if it starts to sing, it sings without waking up. The conspiracy for toothache “from the tooth of the day” says: “The forest-bird is silent, silence the teeth of your slave at night, midnight, daytime, midday ...” Forest-bird is a forest bird, like forest-prey is forest prey. “... There in the blue forest ... there, in the dead swamp in the red willow forest, the Lesn-bird builds a nest” (A.M. Remizov. “Tales”).

MAGUR is the bird of Indra. Mentioned in the Book of Veles.

MOTHER SVA - a sacred bird, the patroness of Russia, combines the images of many folklore birds, primarily the Gamayun bird.

SWORD-KLADENETS (self-cutting) - in Russian folklore and medieval book tradition, a wonderful weapon that ensures victory over enemies. In the legend of Babylon City, the sword-treasurer is called the "Aspid Serpent" and is endowed with the features of a werewolf (turns into a snake). The motif of searching for a sword hidden in the ground, immured in a wall, etc., is widespread, associated with the idea of ​​a treasure (hoarder) or burial (a sword under the head of a killed hero).

MOGUL is a powerful bird.

NOG (noguy, inog, natai, nogai) is the old Russian name for the griffin (in ancient manuscripts, the word “nog” translates as “vulture”). In medieval literature, the image of the foot is associated with the motif of the flight of heroes through the air (Alexander the Great, the prophet Habakkuk). Like the Nightingale the Robber, he builds a nest on twelve oaks. The Nogai bird is identical to Stratim or Strafil-bird. The Greeks represented the vulture with the head and wings of an eagle and with the body of a lion. “... So Ivan Tsarevich shot geese, swans on the seashore, put it in two vats, put one vat on Nagai-bird on right shoulder, and the other chan - on the left, he sat on her back. Nagai began to feed the bird, it rose and flies to the heights ”(A.N. Tolstoy.“ The Tale of Rejuvenating Apples and Living Water ”).

OFFENSE - a swan, a bird of sadness, resentment.

FIRE (Tsar Fire) is one of the names of the personified thunder in Russian and Belarusian fairy tales. Fire is the husband of Queen Molonya; this married couple pursues the Serpent and burns his herds in the same sequence as in the ancient burning ritual different types pets as a sacrifice to the thunder god.

EAGLE - the bird of Perun. The Thunderer can turn into an Eagle, can fly an Eagle, send him to perform various tasks.

BIRD SVYATOVIT - Western Slavs honored the rooster as a bird of Svyatovit; later, according to the consonance of the name ancient god with St. Vitus, pagan memories were transferred to this latter. As a representative of the day dawn, fire and lightning, the rooster is depicted in mythical tales as a brilliant red bird. The blazing fire is still called "red rooster". In the Voronezh province, there was such a custom: if a child screamed for a long time at night, then the mother would put him in a hem and go to the chicken coop to treat him for crying; there she bathed him under a perch, saying: “Zorya-Zorenka, red maiden! Take your krixu, give us a dream." On ancient icons, St. Vitus there is an image of a rooster, and until the past century on the day of this saint, the custom was observed to carry roosters to the church of St. Feit.

BIRD'S NEST (Duck's Nest) - constellation Pleiades; name, apparently derived from the fact that in bright stars The Pleiades saw the golden eggs, which are carried by a wonderful hen or duck.

RAROG (rarig, rarashek) - a fiery spirit associated with the cult of the hearth. According to the beliefs of the southern Slavs, rarashek could be born from an egg, which a person hatched on the stove for nine days and nights. Rarog was represented in the form of a bird of prey or a dragon with a sparkling body, flaming hair and radiance escaping from the mouth (beak), as well as in the form of a fiery whirlwind. Perhaps it is genetically related to the ancient Russian Svarog and the Russian Rakh (the embodiment of a dry wind).

RIPEY MOUNTAINS - mythological mountains where the garden of Iria is located.

FISH - a variant of the snake-owner of the underworld.

SIRIN - bird of paradise-maiden. The image goes back to the ancient Greek sirens. AT Greek mythology they are half-birds, half-women, who inherited from their father a wild spontaneity, and from their mother, the muse, a divine voice. In Russian spiritual verses, Syria, descending from paradise to earth, enchants people with her singing. There is a notion that only happy man can hear the song of this bird. Sirin and Alkonost are a traditional pictorial subject in Russian art. “The bird called sirines is humanoid, existing near the holy paradise ... but they call it the bird of paradise for sweetness for the sake of its songs” (Old Russian alphabet books. XVII century). “The bird Sirin joyfully grins at me, / It cheers, calls from its nests, / And on the contrary, it yearns, it grieves / It poisons the soul of the wonderful Alkonost” (V.S. Vysotsky. “Domes”).

SKIPPER-BEAST - King of above-ground hell. The main opponent of Perun.

Nightingale the Robber - in the epic epic, a monstrous opponent of the hero, striking enemies with a terrible whistle. It is related to the Serpent - the horned Falcon (Nightingale) in the Belarusian epic. Sitting in his nest (on twelve oaks, etc.), the Nightingale the Robber blocks the road (to Kyiv), the hero (Ilya Muromets in Russian epics) strikes him in the right eye, the duel ends with the cutting of the Nightingale the Robber into parts and burning it, which recalls the myth of the duel of the Thunderer Perun with his serpentine opponent.

STREFIL (Strafil-bird, Stratim-bird) - in Russian spiritual verses about the Pigeon Book - “mother to all birds”: “Stratim-bird to all mother birds. / The Stratim-bird lives on the ocean-sea / And produces children on the ocean-sea, / By God's command. / Stratim-bird will tremble - / The ocean-sea will stir; / She drowns the living ships / With precious goods. From the blows of her mighty wings, winds are born and a storm rises. “And somewhere the Strafil-bird flew away. Strafil-bird - the mother of birds - has forgotten the light. And once she loved her light: when a formidable force found it, and the world shuddered, the Strafil-bird defeated the force, buried its light under its right wing ”(A.M. Remizov.“ To the Sea-Ocean ”).

TUGARIN (Serpent Tugarin, Serpent Tugaretin, Tugarin Zmeevich) - in Russian epics and fairy tales, the image of an evil, harmful creature of snake nature. This is a character of the ancient snake-fighting myth, related to the Serpent Gorynych, the Fire Serpent, etc. AT Kievan Rus in the era of the struggle against nomads, it became a symbol of the wild steppe, the danger emanating from it, and paganism. The very name Tugarin correlates with the Polovtsian khan Tugorkan mentioned in the annals (XI century). “... The evil enemy Tugarin, the son of the Snake, became encamped there. He is like tall. tall oak, between the shoulders a slanting sazhen, between the eyes you can put an arrow. He has a winged horse - like a fierce beast: flames burst from his nostrils, smoke pours out of his ears ”(Russian epic).

DUCK - the bird that gave birth to the world. Sometimes it splits into two and appears as a white goldeneye (which is God) and a black goldeneye - Satan.

FINIST CLEAR FALCON - bird-warrior; character of a Russian fairy tale, a wonderful husband in the form of a falcon, who secretly visited his beloved. He appears in a fairy story, which is a variation of the myth of Cupid and Psyche. The name Finist is a distorted Greek "phoenix". In Russian wedding folklore, the image of a falcon-groom is often found. During the day, Finist turns into a feather, and at night into a beautiful prince. The envy and intrigues of his beloved's relatives lead to the fact that Finist flies to the Far Far Away kingdom, where, after long wanderings and hard trials of the bride, the lovers meet.

HALA - among the southern Slavs, a dragon or a huge snake (sometimes many-headed) five or six steps long, thick, like a human thigh, with wings under the knees and horse eyes, or a snake with a huge head in the clouds and a tail descending to the ground. Sometimes it takes on the appearance of an eagle. Possesses great strength and gluttony, leads black clouds, hail-bearing clouds, brings storms and hurricanes and destroys crops and orchards. The hals also fight for a magic wand and try to hit each other with ice bullets, and then lightning flashes or hail beats. Wounded challah may fall to the ground, and then it should be soldered with milk from a pail or bucket. “Khalas can attack the sun and moon, obscure them with their wings (then eclipses occur) or try to devour them (then, from the bite of Khal, the sun, bleeding, turns red, and when Hala is defeated, it turns pale and shines). Challahs can, most often on the eve of major holidays, lead a round dance (“kolo”), and then a whirlwind rises. A person, captured by such a whirlwind, can go crazy ”(N.I. Tolstoy). Hals sometimes turn into people and animals, while only a six-fingered person can see them.

KING SNAKE - the ancient metaphorical language likened the sun not only to gold, but also to a precious stone and a brilliant crown. The serpent-cloaker of the sun wears a golden crown on his head, and during a spring thunderstorm and rain that brightens the face of the sun, he throws off this crown. This myth, over time, was transferred to the earth, to earthly snakes, which, according to legend, have a king adorned with a wonderful crown, which he takes off only when he bathes.

BLACK SEA SNAKE (Chernomor) - king underwater world and the dark kingdom, the husband of the Queen Belorubitsy.

BLACK SNAKE - the embodiment of all dark forces. In the West Slavic tradition, he is Chernobog.

LIZARD (Yusha) - the serpent-owner of the underworld. The lizard is often found in folk songs, sometimes, having lost the ancient meaning of symbolism, in these songs it is called Yasha.

The nouns "serpent" and "snake" are etymologically the same. They have a common root with the word "earth" and mean "reptile crawling on the ground." It is generally accepted that the word "snake" was taboo, that is, they tried not to pronounce it, for fear of calling trouble.

Symbolic meaning in various mythological traditions

The serpent as a symbol is represented in almost all mythologies, and is associated with fertility, earth, the female productive force, water, rain, on the one hand, and the hearth, fire (especially heavenly), as well as the male fertilizing principle, on the other.

A coiled snake is identified with the cycle of phenomena. This is both the solar and lunar principles, life and death, light and darkness, good and evil, wisdom and blind passion, healing and poison, keeper and destroyer, spiritual and physical rebirth (See Ouroboros for more details). A phallic symbol, fertilizing masculine power, the husband of all women, the presence of a snake is almost always associated with pregnancy. The snake accompanies all female deities, including Great Mother, and is often depicted in their hands or coiled around them.

The chthonic serpent is a manifestation of the aggressive power of the gods of the underworld and darkness. Because the snake lives underground, it is in contact with the underworld and has access to the powers, omniscience, and magic of the dead. She is universally considered the source of initiation and rejuvenation and the mistress of the subsoil. In its chthonic incarnation, the snake is hostile to the Sun and all solar and spiritual forces, symbolizing the dark forces in man. At the same time, the positive and negative principles are in conflict, as in the case of Zeus and Typhon, Apollo and Python, Osiris and Set, the eagle and the snake, etc. It also symbolizes the original instinctive nature, the surge of vitality, uncontrolled and undifferentiated, potential energy inspiring spirit. It is a mediator between Heaven and Earth, between earth and the underworld.

In archaic mythologies, the role of the serpent connecting heaven and earth is most often dual (it is both beneficent and dangerous), but in developed mythological systems (where the serpent often has the features of a dragon, outwardly different from an ordinary snake), its negative role is often found first of all as embodiments of the lower (water, underground or otherworldly) world.

sea ​​serpent

Sea serpent is a term used in cryptozoology and mythology to designate a sea snake-like creature mentioned in myths and legends. different peoples world and eyewitness accounts. The image is presented in various mythological traditions.

In the Christian tradition

The image of a snake in literature

Serpent in folklore

The serpent is an image of world folklore that has received numerous variations at different stages of cultural development and in different national traditions. The serpent is a popular character in fairy tales and epics, most often the enemy with whom the hero will have to enter into an uncompromising struggle. In Russian fairy tales, a snake is a multi-headed creature that can fly, spewing fire. In a number of plots, the snake is the thief; he carries away the royal daughters, besieges the city demanding tribute in the form of a woman - for food or for marriage. The serpent guards the border to the "other" world, most often the bridge over the river, it devours everyone trying to cross. The fight with the snake and the victory over it is one of the main feats of the hero of fairy tales. In the epics, the theme of snake fighting can acquire a “state” coloring: Dobrynya performs his first heroic feat, defeating the snake as an enemy of Kyiv and freeing the full captured by him. Traces of mythological ideas have been preserved in the epics: the motif of the birth of a hero from a snake (Volkh Vseslavyevich), the motif of the snake protecting the kingdom of the dead (“Mikhail Potyk”). A common feature of all plots about a snake is the absence of any real descriptions of its appearance.

The mythological antipode of the snake is the horse. The snake as a zoomorphic symbol of the moon opposes the horse as a solar personification. The motif of the "Song about the prophetic Oleg" is determined by the archetype of this symbolism. A warrior on horseback slaying a snake is a very common symbolic composition among various peoples. In the symbolism of the plot about George the Victorious, the snake personified paganism. If a warrior on a horse was a sign of a squad, then a snake was a sign of the priesthood. The victory over her was interpreted as a historical triumph of the military class over the Magi

The serpent in Bazhov's tales

One of the brightest images snake in Russian literature belong the tales of Pavel Petrovich Bazhov. His snake and serpents, as well as the snake Daiko from the tale "Golden dykes" - are presented to the reader Skazov almost all the classic features of the mythical serpent:

1. Wisdom. The Great Poloz at one glance recognizes in Kostya his weakness - greed for gold, which leads the young man to death. It is noteworthy that Poloz's last parting word to Kostya and Panteley - Don't be greedy. This demonstrates that Poloz is not an inherently evil spirit (as in the Bible), but a neutral being. The same is confirmed by the old man Semenych, who introduces the guys to Poloz.
2. Temptation/duality of the snake/serpent. In the tale “The Serpent's Trail”, Poloz's daughter, the snake, initially appears before Kostya in the form of an attractive girl, from passion for which Kostka finds his death when the snake appears before him in the form of a snake. A similar creature, Lamia, can also be found among the ancient Greeks and Romans - a snake girl that destroys young men. This is the duality of the snake / snake, as the spirit of the underworld - both wealth and the restless dead come from under the earth ...
3. The connection of the snake / snake with the underworld. Not only Poloz is the owner of all the gold, but also the serpent Daiko from the tale “Golden Dykes” is a “terrible golden serpent” (a distant echo of the ancient Slavic underground god Ozem?), And he is also dual, like Poloz with his daughters. On the one hand, he endows Glafira and Perfil with gold, and on the other hand, because of the gold, the culture of the Old Believers in the Urals disappears, since the “Britous” really came running and destroyed their entire desert / hermitage. On the other hand, in the tale “Golden Hair”, the Bashkir hero Ailyp, having taken Poloz Golden Hair as his wife, is deprived of the opportunity to live with her in the world of people (Poloz’s father does not allow), and must escape with her from Poloz under the island - in another the underworld, where Poloz has no way - and also become an underground spirit. The Tale also emphasizes the inhuman beauty of the girl Golden Hair and her magical hair. (It should be noted that another “serpentine” woman, Medusa Gorgon, also had beautiful hair, until Athena, the Olympian deity, turned them into snakes and generally disfigured Medusa, making her a monster.)