It's All So Surreal - A Magpie Tale

Le Jardin by 

Max Ernst, dated 1962

Offered by Tess as a writing prompt for The Mag:Mag 191.

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It's All So Surreal

I've laid down the map
of things to come over you,
a blanket of sorts
to cover the snake
as it wraps you up.

Sweetie,
I don't understand
why you keep the snake.
Yes you've explained it before
but that snake crowds me.
She takes the corner
where holding our cat I like
to crouch and watch you
as you wash yourself.

October 27, 2013 11:02 AM

Concerning snake symbolism: I checked the Wiki article and it is accurate, as far as I know. The article is reasonably thorough besides. Go there if you like. There are many internet sites and whole libraries of books which can be significant resources concerning snake symbolism. Snake symbolism appears to be very old, and probably arises in man's relationship to snakes from the very beginning, from long before any recorded history.

Snakes not only represent evil but fertility, wisdom, and healing, all very good things. Snakes symbolize the union of opposites, as on the modern medical caduceus. This snake symbol is a very old symbol. The first known image of snakes coiled about an upright pole (the world axis) predates the modern symbol by four thousand years and more. In medical terms, this symbol represents the tension between actions or substances which can be used either to heal or kill.

A snake can symbolize the whole, as in the Greek vision of the Ouroboros, shown as the snake swallowing its own tail. Snakes are dangerous, potentially evil but as often are enlisted as effective guardians of the most sacred places. Snakes symbolize rebirth quite directly as they are observed to molt, to shed their skins periodically and emerge refreshed. Snakes represent the chthonic, or underground (hidden and secret) power of mother earth.

In human terms snakes can symbolize the powers which resides in the soul and have the capacity to rise up and meet God in spirit and then return to the seat of the soul, empowering all in between. In this Hindus vision, a snake becomes humanity's central spiritual power as the kundalini serpent. The serpent symbolism is worldwide, appearing on every continent and not only contains but also usually contradicts a more limited vision of the serpent as the successful tempter and subverter of woman.