Dreaming about a snake attacking: what that dream reflects

Dreaming about a snake attacking: the short answer

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

Dreaming about a snake attacking does not announce betrayal, an enemy or illness. It is a threat dream, one of the most common, and reflects the fear snakes stir in our species and the emotional state of the sleeper.

Read also: Dream meanings: what science and culture actually say | Dreaming about spiders: what that dream reflects.

Why snakes attack in dreams

The threat simulation hypothesis proposes that dreaming rehearses dangers in safety. Snakes and spiders are among the animals that appear most in this kind of scene.

Source: Revonsuo, The reinterpretation of dreams, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2000.

Surveys show that being attacked or chased is among the most reported dream themes in the general population, which makes this dream common.

Source: Nielsen and colleagues, The Typical Dreams of Canadian University Students, Dreaming, 2003.

Psychoanalysis, symbols and faith: another look at dreaming about a snake attacking

In Freud's psychoanalysis. The first chapter of The Interpretation of Dreams gathers reports of bodily and outside disturbances that slip into dreams already transformed, like an alarm clock that becomes a ringing bell. Along those lines, a sheet wrapped around a leg or a cramp in the night could, in theory, take the shape of a snake that squeezes or bites. It helps to recall how you slept before looking for any message.

In Jung's psychology. Man and His Symbols reproduces a seventeenth century French painting in which Orpheus plays his lyre without noticing that Eurydice has just been bitten by a snake; the bite symbolizes her descent into the underworld. In Jungian psychology, the serpent carries a message from the depths. Seen through the compensatory function, the strike may draw attention to something a person avoids facing while awake.

In symbols and faith. Chevalier and Gheerbrant recount that in ancient Egypt the boat of the Sun faced the serpent Apophis, a monster of the underworld, in the seventh hour of the night. In the Vedas, the bird Garuda is the destroyer of serpents, and the eagle and serpent pair expresses the struggle of sky against earth, of angel against demon. In the Bible, Genesis 3 speaks of enmity between the serpent and the woman's offspring, and in Luke 10:19 Jesus gives his disciples authority to tread on serpents and scorpions.

Bringing both views together. Science sees the attack as a threat rehearsal; faith often sees an image of victory over evil. Both can ask the same thing on waking: what were you running from, and how did the scene end? For the side of healing and renewal, see what snakes symbolize in dreams.

Sources: Freud, Die Traumdeutung, 1900; Jung (ed.), Man and His Symbols; Chevalier and Gheerbrant, A Dictionary of Symbols; L. P. Baçan, O Livro dos Sonhos, 2014.

The most common versions of this dream

• Snake attacking suddenly: intense fright, which often wakes the person.
• Being bitten: mixes pain and fear, common in nightmares.
• Snake chasing: a chase theme, tied to a sense of fleeing.
• Snake wrapped around the body: a feeling of pressure and lack of control.
• Managing to escape or kill it: an outcome of relief.

See also: Dreaming about a monkey and Dreaming about birds.

When the dream deserves professional attention

Dreaming about a snake attacking now and then is common. It is worth seeing a health professional when the nightmare repeats several times a week, causes fear of sleeping or affects the next day. There is well-supported treatment for frequent nightmares.

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

If fear of snakes while awake limits your routine, such as avoiding trails or gardens, that has a name, specific phobia, and usually responds well to therapy with gradual exposure.

What dream dictionaries record

Livro do Sonho, a popular Brazilian dream dictionary, reads a snake bite as a warning about betrayal by friends or something new you are not paying attention to. In healing traditions, the snake also stands for transformation. For those who see the dream as a message, the useful question is: what is threatening me that I have not faced yet? The Brazilian dream book O Livro dos Sonhos, by L. P. Baçan, has two separate entries: the cobra would bring problems in life and dissatisfaction in love; the serpent, danger and betrayal.

Freud described dream books as a kind of dictionary that translates each image into another with a fixed meaning. Artemidorus of Daldis, author of the oldest complete Greek dream book that has survived, advised looking at the dreamer's life before interpreting. If you see the dream as a message, both paths suggest the same thing: ask what this image brings to mind in your life right now. See dream meanings according to science and culture.

Source: Livro do Sonho, Brazilian dream dictionary; Freud, Die Traumdeutung, 1900; L. P. Baçan, O Livro dos Sonhos, 2014.

What folk tradition links to this dream

In folk reading, the snake can stand for betrayal, but also for renewal, since it sheds its skin. In some traditions it is a symbol of healing. None of this predicts events, and readings vary by culture.

Read also: being chased, the most common dream of all.