Dreaming about a coral snake: what the red and black rings mean

Dreaming about a coral snake: what the scene usually points to

Dream interpretation is not prediction and not diagnosis. This article separates what sleep research observes from what popular interpretation associates with the theme, always saying which is which.

Dreaming about a coral snake does not announce that someone close to you is fake, nor does it foretell illness or misfortune. The scene usually appears when a person is facing something attractive and risky at the same time: a tempting offer, a new relationship, a change that is both exciting and scary.

The coral snake also carries a doubt that other snakes do not: whether it is dangerous or not. That is why the dream often comes with the feeling of not knowing whom or what to trust. The general meaning of snakes in dreams is covered in dreaming about snakes.

Read also: Dreaming about a black snake and Dreaming about a snake in bed.

Where the colorful rings in the dream come from

The continuity hypothesis, tested by Schredl and Hofmann in 2003, says that dreams reuse waking life. The coral snake is a familiar presence in Brazil: it turns up in backyards in the countryside, on hiking trails and in videos that circulate with the usual question, "is it a true coral or a false one?"

The doubt is well founded. The true coral snake is venomous, with a venom that acts on the nerves, but it causes few bites, because it is shy and lives hidden. Several snakes that are usually of little danger, known as false corals, imitate the same pattern. In Brazil, the colors are not enough to tell one from the other safely, and the advice of people who study snakes is simple: do not touch any of them. Antti Revonsuo proposed that dreams rehearse threats, and a threat that fools the eye is good material for that.

Sources: Schredl and Hofmann, Continuity between waking activities and dream activities, Consciousness and Cognition, 2003; Revonsuo, The reinterpretation of dreams, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2000.

Colors, disguise and faith: what Freud, Jung and tradition say

In Freud's psychoanalysis. In The Interpretation of Dreams, Freud quotes the physiologist Wilhelm Wundt, for whom the specks of light we see with our eyes closed could turn, in a dream, into colored beads, flowers and animals, which would help explain why dreams are so fond of animal figures. Freud did not accept that this explained the whole dream: the stimulus would provide the material, and the story would come from the sleeper's memories and wishes.

In Jung's psychology. Jung called the persona the mask we wear to move around in the world, which is not the whole person. The false coral, which imitates the colors of the true one to protect itself, is a curious image of this idea: the look of danger covering a harmless animal, or beauty covering a real venom. In this key, the dream may be asking what is a front and what is real, in you or around you.

In symbols and faith. A Dictionary of Symbols associates red with blood, fire and the force of life, with one side that attracts and another that warns. The snake took its name from sea coral, used in several regions of the Mediterranean as a protective amulet for children. In the Bible, Paul is bitten by a viper while gathering firewood on Malta, shakes the animal off into the fire and suffers no harm (Acts 28:3-5).

Bringing both readings together. Science reminds us that the colors in a dream can come from a video, a trail or even the lights seen with closed eyes; traditions speak of a beauty that protects and warns. Both ask, each in its own way, what looks beautiful on the outside and feels uncertain on the inside.

Sources: Freud, Die Traumdeutung, 1900; Jung (ed.), Man and His Symbols; Chevalier and Gheerbrant, A Dictionary of Symbols.

Versions of the coral snake dream

If the coral snake struck at you, also read dreaming about a snake attacking; if it was huge, see dreaming about a giant snake.

See also: Dreaming about a dead snake and Dreaming about an octopus.

When dreaming about a coral snake deserves attention

Dreaming about a coral snake, on its own, is no cause for alarm. If the scene keeps coming back as a nightmare several times a week, see a health professional: frequent nightmares can be treated. And if the doubt is real, like a coral snake spotted in the backyard, do not try to catch or kill the animal; keep people and pets away and call the fire department or your local animal control or wildlife agency. See how to have fewer nightmares.

Source: Morgenthaler and colleagues, Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 2018.

The coral snake in dream books

O Livro dos Sonhos, a Brazilian dream book by L. P. Baçan, has no entry for the coral snake. The closest one is the entry for snake: in life, problems; in love, dissatisfaction.

Jung was wary of this kind of list. For him, a symbol has no single translation: its meaning depends on the dreamer, the moment and the associations the image awakens. The coral snake of a biologist, that of a child who saw one in the backyard and that of someone who read about two-faced people are three different dreams.

Sources: L. P. Baçan, O Livro dos Sonhos, 2014; Jung (ed.), Man and His Symbols.

Folk beliefs about the coral snake

In Brazilian folk reading, the coral snake is linked to falseness and to two-faced people, precisely because of its reputation of being "true and false." Some say that seeing a coral snake without being bitten means escaping a trap, and that killing one means unmasking someone. As for the colors, red would speak of passion or anger; black, of worry; white or yellow, of calm after a scare. All of this is tradition, not prediction. See what dream meanings look like according to science and culture.