January 24, 2010

Another snake dream

In the dream, I was at Southern Monastery. I’d gone back for some kind of retreat, and I was downstairs in a room that had long tables and folding chairs, very much like a school cafeteria. A monk chopped up a snake and was cooking it in a pan. I knew I had to eat a piece of it. Eating the snake was somehow connected to meditation practices. I gagged on the bit of snake that someone spooned into my mouth, but ended up swallowing the piece whole. Then I sat up in the folding chair because I remembered that I was supposed to open my mouth and let a live snake slither down it. I kept telling myself, “I can do this. I did it last time I was here.” Someone in the room was holding a live snake: it was thin and graceful and kept wriggling around, making shapes in the air.

When I woke up, I thought to myself, “That’s the weirdest snake dream I’ve had yet.”

5 comments:

Tie-Dye Brother-in-law said...

I'm sure this symbolizes something, but I can't imagine what. :-)

jo(e) said...

Ha! I guess I should have added the disclaimer that there was nothing sexual going on in the dream -- that wasn't the feeling at all.

Yankee, Transferred said...

OOOH I know you're not a fan of the snake dream. That is a weird one. Sounds like the eating was an act of conquering the snake. (What do I know?)

Unknown said...

That's pretty weird. I'm reminded of the ouroboros, which I understand to be all about creativity.

kim wells said...

To me, it means that you have to conquer your fears (eating them alive, even) before you can truly be centered and meditate the way you want to. You've done it before, but in little ways. Snakes ARE about creativity, and I would say if you can learn the meditation practice and literally own your own fears, your writing will improve along with that centering.