Snake symbol as archetypal sign of healing

An example of such an unconscious symbol is the serpent. The image of the snake plays a very vital part in primal or folk images. According to Jung, the serpent like other very basic living forms, itself represents the energy of life, in all its ambivalent and complex manifestations. The serpent is life, and its movement is itself full of vitality, but it is also poisonous, and can be fatal to those who are bitten by a poisonous snake. Of course this fundamental ambiguity in nature we also find in all elemental symbols like water, fire, air and so on. Water itself is essential for life, but it can also destroy. The same is true of fire, and the storms that we associate with the movement of air. The systems of Yoga are concerned with transforming these primal energies into life sustaining, as opposed to life destroying manifestations