I was at a festival involved in a drum circle. I quickly went into a complete trance, where I let go control of my body with the rhythm of the drums. I was looking at myself from above, seeing visions in my mind's eye. I saw a distinctive red Mayan serpent flowing in my peripheral- it was flying around pulsing to the beats.
At this point I was going into a drumming frenzy, beating my hands against the skin of my drum so hard that my right hand started bleeding a bit... But I couldn't stop; my life depended on putting every ounce of my being into it, so I continued for an unknown amount of time. I simultaneously felt that the blood was some sort of trans-dimensional offering to this entity. I was not unsettled at this realization- I felt completely at peace. I was shown that everyone present was all part of a different familial lineage, but we were all one human family, reuniting in this circle. I could feel each person's DNA intermingling with mine, spiritually. I felt unbelievable unity and interconnectedness with everything around me.
So just today I decided to do some Google searches on bloodletting and serpent imagery, and I found what's known as the "Vision Serpent".
From Wiki:
"The Vision Serpent is thought to be the most important of the Maya serpents. During Maya bloodletting rituals, participants would experience visions in which they communicated with the ancestors or gods. These visions took the form of a giant serpent "which served as a gateway to the spirit realm." The ancestor or god who was being contacted was depicted as emerging from the serpent’s mouth. The vision serpent thus came to be the method in which ancestors or Gods manifested themselves to the Maya. Thus for them, the Vision Serpent was a direct link between the spirit realm of the gods and the physical world.
The Vision Serpent goes back to earlier Maya conceptions, and lies at the center of the world as they conceived it. "It is in the center axis atop the World Tree. Essentially the World Tree and the Vision Serpent, representing the king, created the center axis which communicates between the spiritual and the earthly worlds or planes. It is through ritual that the king could bring the center axis into existence in the temples and create a doorway to the spiritual world, and with it power."
The Vision Serpent is prevalent in Bloodletting ceremonies, in Maya religious practices, Maya jewelry, pottery and their architecture.
Once the actual bloodletting was over, the blood soaked ceremonial papers were burned, releasing a column of smoke. The smoke provided the perfect medium for the Vision Serpent to appear. Every major political or religious event involved bloodletting because it provided a medium by which the gods could be called upon to witness and actually participate in the ceremony. Sometimes the spirits of ancestors were also called upon to give guidance.
One of the most common rituals associated with the Vision serpent involved invoking ancestral sprits. Especially during coronation rites, the kings would contact the spirits for guidance and blessings. It is the Vision Serpent who provides the medium for contacting these deities."
If all symbols are really functions and signs of things
imbued with energy, then the serpent or snake is, by analogy, symbolic of energy
itself—of force pure and simple; hence its ambivalence and multivalencies. Another reason for its great variety of symbolic meaning derives from the consideration that these meanings may relate either to the serpent as a whole or to any of
its major characteristics—for example, to its sinuous movements, its common
association with the tree and its formal analogy with the roots and branches of the
tree, the way it sheds its skin, its threatening tongue, the undulating pattern of its
body, its hiss, its resemblance to a ligament, its method of attacking its victims by coiling itself round them, and so on. Still another explanation lies in its varying
habitat: there are snakes which inhabit woods, others which thrive in the desert,
aquatic serpents and those that lurk in lakes and ponds, wells and springs. In India, snake cults or cults of the spirit of the snake are connected with the
symbolism of the waters of the sea. Snakes are guardians of the springs of life and
of immortality, and also of those superior riches of the spirit that are symbolized
by hidden treasure (17). As regards the West, Bayley has suggested that the
snake, since its sinuous shape is similar to that of waves, may be a symbol of the
wisdom of the deeps (4) and of the great mysteries. Yet, in their multiplicity and
as creatures of the desert, snakes are forces of destruction, afflicting all those who
have succeeded in crossing the Red Sea and leaving Egypt (57); in this sense, they
are connected with the ‘temptations’ facing those who have overcome the limitations of matter and have entered into the realm of the ‘dryness’ of the spirit. This
explains why Blavatsky can say that, physically, the snake symbolizes the seduction of strength by matter (as Jason by Medea, Hercules by Omphale, Adam
by Eve), thereby providing us with a palpable illustration of the workings of the
process of involution; and of how the inferior can lurk within the superior, or the
previous within the subsequent (9). This is borne out by Diel, for whom the
snake is symbolic not of personal sin but of the principle of evil inherent in all
worldly things. The same idea is incorporated into the Nordic myth about the
serpent of Midgard (15). There is a clear connexion between the snake and the
feminine principle. Eliade observes that Gresmann (Mytische Reste in der
Paradieserzahlung, in Archiv f. Rel. X, 345) regarded Eve as an archaic Phoenician
goddess of the underworld who is personified in the serpent (although a better
interpretation would be to identify it with the allegorical figure of Lilith, the
enemy and temptress of Eve). In support of this, Eliade points to the numerous
Mediterranean deities who are represented carrying a snake in one or both of their
hands (for example, the Greek Artemis, Hecate, Persephone), and he relates these
to the finely sculpted Cretan priestesses in gold or ivory, and to mythic figures
with snakes for hair (Medusa the Gorgon, or the Erinyes). He goes on to mention
that in Central Europe there is a belief that hairs pulled out from the head of a
woman under the influence of the moon will be turned into snakes (17). The
serpent (or snake) was very common in Egypt; the hieroglyph which corresponds phonetically to the letter Z is a representation of the movement of the
snake. Like the sign of the slug, or horned snake (phonetically equivalent to F),
this hieroglyph refers to primigenial and cosmic forces. Generally speaking, the
names of the goddesses are determined by signs representing the snake—which is
tantamount to saying that it is because of Woman that the spirit has fallen into
matter and evil. The snake is also used, as are other reptiles, to refer to the
primordial—the most primitive strata of life. In the Book of the Dead (XVII), the
reptiles are the first to acclaim Ra when he appears above the surface of the waters of Nou (or Nu or Nun). The demonic implications of the serpent are
exemplified in Tuat, whose evil spirits are portrayed as snakes; however, these—
like the vanquished dragon—may also take on a beneficent form as forces which
have been mastered, controlled, sublimated and utilized for the superior purposes
of the psyche and the development of mankind, and in this sense they correspond
to the goddesses Nekhebit and Uadjit (or Buto). They also become an Uraeus—
the same thing happens in the symbolism of the Kundalini—constituting the
most precious ornament of the royal diadem (19).
As we have said, it is the basic characteristics of the snake which have
determined its symbolic significances. To quote Teillard’s definition of the snake,
it is: ‘An animal endowed with magnetic force. Because it sheds its skin, it
symbolizes resurrection. Because of its sinuous movement’ (and also because its
coils are capable of strangling) ‘it signifies strength. Because of its viciousness, it
represents the evil side of nature’ (56). Its ability to shed its skin greatly impressed ancient writers: Philo of Alexandria believed that when the snake shakes
off its skin it likewise shakes off its old age, that it can both kill and cure and that
it is therefore the symbol and attribute of the aggressive powers, positive and
negative, which rule the world. (This is a Gnostic and Manichean idea of Persian
provenance.) He decided finally that it is the ‘most spiritual of animals’. Jung has
pointed out that the Gnostics related it to the spinal cord and the spinal marrow,
an excellent image of the way the unconscious expresses itself suddenly and
unexpectedly with its peremptory and terrible incursions (31). He adds that,
psychologically, the snake is a symptom of anguish expressive of abnormal stirrings
in the unconscious, that is, of a reactivation of its destructive potentiality. This is
directly comparable to the significance of the serpent of Midgard in Norse mythology. In the Völuspa it is proclaimed that the deluge will commence when the
serpent awakens to destroy the universe (31). For Zimmer, the serpent is the
lifeforce which determines birth and rebirth and hence it is connected with the
Wheel of Life. The legend of Buddha tells how the serpent wound itself round his
body seven times (as in the effigies of the Mithraic Cronos), but, since it could
not crush him, it turned into a youth bowing low before Gautama (60).
The connexion of the snake with the wheel is expressed in graphic form in the
Gnostic symbol of the Ouroboros, or serpent biting its own tail; half of this
mythic being is dark and the other half light (as in the Chinese Yang-Yin symbol),
which clearly illustrates the essential ambivalence of the snake in that it pertains
to both aspects of the cycle (the active and the passive, the affirmative and the
negative, the constructive and the destructive). Wirth comments that the ‘ancient
serpent is the prop of the world, providing it with both materials and energy, unfolding as reason and imagination, and also as a force of the darkness’ (59). The
snake was an important symbol for the Gnostics, and especially for the so-called
Naassene sect (from naas—snake). Hippolytus, criticizing this doctrine, asserted that the snake was said to live in all objects and in all beings. This brings us
to the Yoga concept of the Kundalini or the snake as an image of inner strength.
Kundalini is represented symbolically as a snake coiled up upon itself in the form
of a ring (kundala) (29), in that subtle part of the organism corresponding to the
lower extremity of the spinal column; this, at any rate, is the case with the
ordinary man. But, as a result of exercises directed towards his spiritualization—
Hatha Yoga, for instance—the snake uncoils and stretches up through wheels
(chakras) corresponding to the various plexuses of the body until it reaches the
area of the forehead corresponding to the third eye of Shiva. It is then, according
to Hindu belief, that man recovers his sense of the eternal (28). The symbolism
here probably relates to an ascending force, rising up, that is, from the area
governed by the sexual organ up to the realm of thought—an interpretation which
it is also possible to justify by simple reference to the symbolism of level, taking
the heart as central. In other words, the symbol denotes ‘sublimation of the
personality’ (Avalon, The Serpent Power). Jung has noted that the custom of
representing transformation and renovation of figures of snakes constitutes a
well-documented archetype; and he suggests that the Egyptian Uraeus is the
visible expression of the Kundalini on a higher plane (32). There are also various
rites which accord with this concept of progressive elevation. The progress through
the six chakras—there is in fact a seventh, but it is unnamed and (like the central
point of certain mandala-like patterns) is not represented visually—may be regarded as analogous to climbing up the terraces of the ziggurat or mounting the
steps pertaining to the seven metals in the Mithraic ritual (11). Apart from the
circular (and cosmic) position it tends to take up, and the quality of completeness
which this implies, the snake is frequently related to other symbols. The most
common of these is the tree, which, being unitary, may be said to correspond to
the masculine principle, in which case the ophidian would represent the feminine.
The tree and the serpent are, in mythology, prefigurations of Adam and Eve.
Furthermore, by analogy, we also have here a situation of symbolic Entanglement—the snake curled round the tree (or round the staff of Aesculapius)—and
a symbolic image of moral dualism. Diel, who tends to favour this kind of interpretation, suggests that the snake coiled round the staff or club of the god of
medicine recalls the basic, Biblical symbol of the Tree of Life encircled by the
snake and signifying the principle of evil; the pattern here points to the close
relationship between life and corruption as the source of all evil. Diel goes on to suggest that it is this subversion of the spirit that brings about the death of the
soul, and that this is what medicine must, in the first place, set out to combat (15).
Now, the opposite to the encircling (or triumphant) snake is the crucified
snake, as it is to be found among the figures included in Abraham le Juif (Paris,
Bibl. Nat. Ms. Fr. 14765, of the 16th century) (32). This figure of the reptile
nailed to a cross—or the chthonian and feminine principle vanquished by the
spirit—is also represented mythically by the victory of eagle over serpent. Heinrich
Zimmer recalls that, in the Iliad, an eagle appears to the Greeks, carrying a
wounded snake in its claws. The seer Calchas saw this as an omen portending the
triumph of the Greeks (the masculine and patriarchal order of the Aryans subduing the predominantly feminine and matriarchal principle of Asia) (60). Since all
struggle is a form of ‘conjunction’ and therefore of love, it is hardly surprising that
man should have created a synthesis of opposing powers—heaven and earth—in
the image of the ‘plumed serpent’, the most notable symbol of pre-Columbian
America. This serpent has feathers on its head, in its tail and sometimes on its
body. Quetzalcoatl is another androgynous symbol of this kind (41). The symmetrical placing of two serpents, as in the caduceus of Mercury, is indicative of an
equilibrium of forces, of the counterbalancing of the cowed serpent (or sublimated power) by the untamed serpent, so representing good balanced by evil,
health by sickness. As Jung has shrewdly observed, this much-used image is an
adumbration of homoeopathy—a cure effected by what caused the ailment. The
serpent therefore becomes the source of the healing of the wound caused by the
serpent. This is why it could serve as a symbol of St. John the Evangelist (32) and
appear in association with a chalice.
The different forms which the serpent may take are not numerous. The seaserpent seems simply to emphasize the integration of the symbolism of the
unconscious with that of the abyss (9). If it has more than one head, this merely
serves to add to the basic symbolism, the extra significance corresponding to the
particular number of heads it is given. The dragon or the serpent with seven heads
occurs often in legends, myths and folktales simply because seven represents
multiplication of unity and locates the reptile among the essential orders of the
cosmos. The seven-headed serpent partakes of the symbolism of the seven Directions of Space, the seven days of the week, and the seven planetary gods, and
has a bearing upon the seven sins (9). The three-headed serpent refers to the three
principles of the active, the passive and the neutral. In alchemy, the winged
serpent represents the volatile principle, and the wingless the fixed principle. The
crucified serpent denotes the fixation of the volatile and also sublimation (as in
the Prometheus myth). Alchemists also saw in the serpent an illustration of ‘the feminine in Man’ or his ‘humid essence’, relating the reptile to Mercury (57) as
the androgynous god who—like Shiva—was doubtless endowed with a tendency
towards both good and evil (an aspect also portrayed by the Gnostics in their
twin serpents called Agathodaemon and Kakodaemon) (9). There are also serpents of unusual aspect—the snake with a sheep’s head, for instance, in reliefs on
certain Gallo-Roman sepulchres. In view of the favourable symbolic sense of the
sheep (connected with Aries, spring, initiation and fire), this adaptation implies a
degree of spiritualization (16). Finally, according to Schneider, the sacrificed
serpent is the symbolic equivalent of the swan’s neck and of the swan itself (and
it is by the swan that the hero is wafted heavenwards, plucking away upon his
harp) (50). That is to say, the sacrifice of the serpent (as a life-force) makes it
possible to accept death gratefully (like the swan) and to soar up to higher
regions. Father Heras has suggested that the snake is symbolic of fertility and
destruction and that it is in this sense that it appears on the menhir of Kernuz
(Finistère). It appears in opposition to the arrow in the effigy of the horned god
of Cerdeña (with another head on top alluding to the symbolism of the Gemini).
To see a serpent in your dream, signifies the balance of good and evil.
To see a winged serpent in your dream, denotes wisdom. You have overcome the negativity in your life.
Seeing a serpent in your dream means high intellectual power, deception, and the balance of good and evil. Seeing a winged serpent in your dream indicates wisdom and that you've overcome negative ways.
To dream that your vision is obstructed, indicates that you are about to make an error in judgment. There is something that you are not seeing clearly.
To see visions in your dream, indicate that your mind is free from any restraint and free to wander without any inhibitions. Such dreams are said to have a different feel. Some of these vision dreams may be described as epic dreams.
Dreaming that your vision is obstructed means that you are having difficulties and errors in judgment. Seeing strange visions in your dream indicates misfortune and illness.
‘The lesson may be read psychologically, as applying to ourselves,
who are not gods but limited beings. The constant projection and externalization
of our specific shakti (vital energy) is our “little universe”, our restricted sphere
and immediate environment, whatever concerns and affects us. We people and
colour the indifferent, neutral screen with the movie-figures and dramas of the
inward dream of our soul, and fall prey then to its dramatic events, delights, and
calamities. The world, not as it is in itself but as we perceive it and react upon it,
is the product of our own maya or delusion. It can be described as our own more
or less blind life-energy, producing and projecting demonic or beneficent shapes
and appearances. Thus we are the captives of our own Maya-Shakti and of the
motion picture that it incessantly produces. . . . The Highest Being is the lord and
master of Maya. All the rest of us . . . are the victims of our own individual Maya.
To liberate man from such a spell . . . is the principal aim of all the great Indian . . .
philosophies.’ (60)
Symbolically, the world is the realm in which a state of existence is
unfolded (25), comprising many component parts adhering together. Used in the
plural, the term pertains, in a sense, to space-symbolism, but the ‘worlds’ are
really only different modes of the spirit (26). The explanation of the cosmic and
moral significance of the three worlds (the infernal, the terrestrial and the celestial) is to be sought in the symbolism of level. The inferior must not always be
equated with the subterranean, for, in megalithic cultures, the latter was usually
located high up, or in the hollow interior of mountains (conceived as the dwellingplace of the dead). Guénon has pointed out that references to the ‘subterranean
world’ are found in a large number of cultural traditions, in which the ‘cult of the
cavern’ or cave is linked with that of the ‘centre’. One must also bear in mind the
equation of the cavern with the cave of the heart, the latter being considered as the
Centre of being or the Egg of the World (28).
To dream that it is the end of the world, suggests that you are under a tremendous level of stress. You may be feeling vulnerable or helpless in some situation.
To dream that you are saving the world, signifies confidence in your abilities and belief in yourself. You have a positive perspective on life and in where you are headed. Don't let someone or something prevent you from progressing forward or question your abilities.
Dreaming that it is the end of the world, suggests that you are under a tremendous level of stress. You may be feeling vulnerable or helpless in some situation. Dreaming that you are saving the world means confidence in your abilities and belief in yourself. You do not let others question your intelligence or your abilities and generally have a good perspective on life and what your goals are. Don't let someone or something prevent you from progressing forward.
Planet: Saturn.
Positive associations with this tarot card:
fulfillment, completion, satisfaction, joy, wholeness, success.
Negative associations with this tarot card:
stagnation, lack of will, impatience, delays.
The World heralds the arrival of your heart's desire, whatever that may be, a time of achievement, recognition, success and triumph.
This card signals a time of enjoyment, of holidays and travel, time with loved ones, a fulfilling relationship is on offer and spoiling yourself with the material things you've been wanting.
The World also marks the end of one cycle and the beginning of another.
Negatively, The World points toward delays and that you may still need to overcome some challenges before you suceed, so don't give up so close to the finish line.
Don't be lacking in vision or feel insecure, success will soon be yours.
To dream about your ancestors, suggest that you are acknowledging your inherited traits and tradition. You may be trying to hold on to the past and preserve it.
To dream that you have a strange vision, denotes that you will be unfortunate in your dealings and sickness will unfit you for pleasant duties.
If persons appear to you in visions, it foretells uprising and strife of families or state.
If your friend is near dissolution and you are warned in a vision, he will appear suddenly before you, usually in white garments. Visions of death and trouble have such close resemblance, that they are sometimes mistaken one for the other.
To see visions of any order in your dreams, you may look for unusual developments in your business, and a different atmosphere and surroundings in private life. Things will be reversed for a while with you. You will have changes in your business and private life seemingly bad, but eventually good for all concerned.
The Supreme Will is always directed toward the ultimate good of the race.
To dream that you are at festival, symbolizes happiness, celebration and joviality. You are in a good place in your life right now. Alternatively, it suggests that you are trying to escape and blend in with the rest of the crowd.
To dream of being at a festival, denotes indifference to the cold realities of life, and a love for those pleasures that make one old before his time. You will never want, but will be largely dependent on others.
Dreaming that you are at festival means indifference to the cold realities of life and you are acting to old before you time. You will never want, but will be largely dependent on others.
To dream that you are a medium, indicates that you are getting in touch with your intuitive side. You are more sensitive to your instincts and in how your perceive things. It also suggests increased knowledge of your unconscious. Alternatively, the dream may mean that you are standing in middle ground. You are non-committal about a situation. Perhaps you are being too indecisive.
Dreaming that you are a medium indicates that you are getting in touch with your intuitive side and being more sensitive to your instincts and how your perceive things. It also suggests increased knowledge of your unconscious.
Literally a channel for alleged discarnate spirits to use to communicate with the living.
-Clairaudient Medium: A medium that allegedly hears the voices of the deceased.
-Clairvoyant Medium: A medium that exhibits platform clairvoyance and reportedly see the dead.
-Direct Voice Medium: A medium that slumps into a trance so the voice of a supposed spirit can communicate with the living, seemingly out of thin air.
Healing Medium: This sort of medium “channels” healing energy and not the personalities of the deceased.
-Mental Medium: A medium that verbalizes messages from the deceased, sometimes called psychophony. Most mental mediums claim to have controls, spirits who conveyed messages from discarnate entities.
-Materialization Medium: A medium that claims to be able to conjure the image of a deceased individual as long as they were secured away in a cabinet. The apparition, looking very much like the medium, would walk out in glowing clothes, called spirit-drapery.
Mixed Medium: A medium that is in conscious control of their facilities the whole time, does not slip into a trance, and somehow acquires veridical information but is more often incorrect.
-Physical Medium: A medium that allegedly produces physical manifestations that indicate a discarnate intellect.
-Psychic Medium: A medium that seems to communicate without slipping into a trance.
-Trance Medium: A medium that slips into a liminal state of mind and allows another personality to speak through them.
-Part Trance Medium: A trance medium that is fully aware of the communication.
-Full Trance Medium: A trance medium that is completely unaware of the communication.
-Transfiguration Medium: A medium that allegedly takes on the physical appearance of the deceased.
-Trumpet Medium: A medium allegedly able to cause a trumpet to levitate to facilitate the direct voice of the deceased.
A symbol of primordial sound, and a vehicle for the word, for tradition
and for magic (60). With the aid of drums, shamans can induce a state of ecstasy.
It is not only the rhythm and the timbre which are important in the symbolism of
the primitive drum, but, since it is made of the wood of ‘the Tree of the World’,
the mystic sense of the latter also adheres to it (18). According to Schneider, the
drum is, of all musical instruments, the most pregnant with mystic ideas; In
Africa, it is associated with the heart. In the most primitive cultures, as in the
most advanced, it is equated with the sacrificial altar and hence it acts as a
mediator between heaven and earth. However, given its bowl-shape and its skin,
it corresponds more properly to the symbolism of the Element of earth. A secondary meaning turns upon the shape of the instrument, and it should be noted
that it is in this respect that there is most variation in significance. The three
essential shapes are: the drum in the form of an hour-glass, symbolizing Inversion
and the ‘relationship between the two worlds’ (the Upper and the Lower); the
round drum, as an image of the world; and the barrel-shaped, associated with
thunder and lightning (50).
To hear the muffled beating of a drum, denotes that some absent friend is in distress and calls on you for aid.
To see a drum, foretells amiability of character and a great aversion to quarrels and dissensions. It is an omen of prosperity to the sailor, the farmer and the tradesman alike.
Dreaming that you are playing the drums indicates that you progress through life by your own terms. You are strong willed and stick by the decisions you make.
Dreaming that you are talking to an unknown spirit, forewarns that someone is trying to deceive you. Generally if the spirit is known and welcomed it is a sign of great good luck and/or good fortune in business affairs.