A snake wrapped around a skull is a symbolic image that has been used in art, tattoos, and other contexts for centuries. This striking icon often represents themes like life, death, venom, danger, and psychopomps or spirit guides. Read on to learn more about the origins, history, and symbolic meanings behind the image of a serpent coiled around a skull.
What is the origin and history of the snake wrapped around a skull symbol?
Images of snakes wrapping around skulls have ancient roots. This motif has been found in prehistoric art and artifacts across many cultures, including symbols from ancient Greece, India, Mesoamerica, and more. Some key examples and origins include:
- Ancient Greece – The ancient Greek titan Atlas was sometimes depicted in art with a snake coiled around his head or wrapped around the celestial sphere he carried.
- Aztec art – The Aztec deity Quetzalcoatl, a feathered serpent god of wind and learning, was often shown with skulls and skeletons to symbolize his role as a psychopomp or spirit guide between life and death.
- Kundalini yoga – In Indian yogic and tantric traditions, the coiled serpent representing the kundalini energy moving up the spine is associated with skulls and death symbolism as it rises to reach enlightenment.
- Alchemy – Historic alchemy used the ouroboros symbol of a snake biting its own tail to represent the alchemical process and primordial matter. This was sometimes combined with skull symbolism.
- Gorgons – In Greek mythology, Gorgons like Medusa were monstrous creatures depicted with snakes for hair and the ability to turn people into stone. This deadly duality was connected to the snake and skull as symbols of life and death.
Through these influential mythic and symbolic roots, the snake as a symbol of life intertwined with the skull as a symbol of death or transition became a popular icon through the ages. It continues to take on new meanings in modern culture and esoteric spiritual systems.
What does a snake wrapped around or emerging from a skull symbolize?
Because both the skull and snake carry diverse symbolic meanings, their combination as an icon can represent a range of concepts. Some common meanings include:
- Life and death/Mortality – The skull clearly symbolizes death, while the snake is both a threat of death via its venomous bite but also a symbol of life energy and fertility for its ability to shed its skin through the rebirth process and its phallic associations.
- Decadence – Memento mori art of skulls was sometimes paired with snakes to additionally represent the theme of decadence. This reminder of mortality aims to warn against vice.
- Rebirth and transformation – When the snake is shown emerging from the eye or mouth of a skull, it can represent the soul being reborn into a new life or the transformative alchemical process of spiritual and psychological growth.
- Danger and toxicity – The skull evokes human mortality, while the snake is an archetypal symbol of danger and evil across cultures. Together, they amplify the sense of threat from toxicity, death, or the unknown.
- Psychopomps and spirit guides – Psychopomps are spirit beings in mythology and religion that guide souls to the afterlife. So a snake emerging as a life force from a skull can symbolize this liminal guidance between the stages of life and death.
However, the specific meanings also depend on the symbols, artwork style, and cultural context. Common variations include:
- Multiple snakes – More than one snake amplifies concepts related to temptation, sexuality, fertility, etc.
- Ouroboros – A circular snake biting its own tail emphasizes cyclicality, unity of opposites, and eternal return.
- Flowers – Adding floral designs can represent the flowering of life from death.
- Wings – Giving the snake wings adds meaning related to transcendence, divinity, and spiritual enlightenment.
What does a snake wrapped around a skull mean in tattoo art and symbolism?
In modern tattoo culture, a snake wrapped around a skull has become an especially popular design. For ink art, some common symbolic meanings include:
- Mortality and the circle of life
- Overcoming fears or vices related to death
- Danger, especially as a badge of honor for risk-taking personalities
- Protection against venom, toxicity, or death magic
- Psychopomp guide marking a spiritual awakening or rebirth
- Conquering the fear of death through esoteric wisdom
The skull and snake tattoo appeals to many for these symbolic themes of finding power and protection in embracing mortality rather than fearing it. The design’s striking, somewhat morbid visual impact also plays a role in its edgy appeal for tattoo artwork.
Common Meanings of Skull and Snake Tattoos
Some of the most popular symbolic interpretations of the skull and snake image in tattooing include:
Venom and Danger
The snake is a clear symbol of danger across cultures, because of its venomous bite and stealthy abilities. By combining the snake with a skull, this design doubles down on the threat of mortality by literally joining the symbols of a venomous attack and human death. This can make the tattoo a bold statement of the wearer’s ability to handle danger or their philosophical view of accepting mortality.
Overcoming Fears
Both the skull and snake can represent facing fears related to death. The skull directly symbolizes human remains and mortality. While the snake is a threat of poison and death, it’s also seen as a creature that can be charmed or conquered through wisdom. Together in a tattoo, these parts of the design show facing mortality rather than fearing it.
Protection and Antivenom
Inking a snake and skull design is also sometimes understood as a protective symbol of being immune to the venomous bite of death. This meaning comes from the medieval alchemical symbol of the snake wrapped around a skull as representing control over the forces of mortality and venom.
Psychopomp Guide
As a psychopomp, the snake emerges from the skull as a spirit guide to escort souls into the afterlife. This makes it a symbol of the transition from life to death, like the guardian spirits in ancient myths that navigated the underworld. As a tattoo, this can represent a spiritual awakening or rebirth through accepting mortality.
Temptation and Vice
The snake brings meanings of temptation, vice, and seeking forbidden knowledge. Paired with the skull, this can make the tattoo a symbol of indulgent decadence, cunning, or awareness of mortality’s pleasures and vices. But it can also carry an opposite meaning of overcoming carnal temptations through spiritual wisdom.
Toxicity and Antivenom
The skull joined with the snake evokes how venom brings mortality. But shown together in tattoo art, the icon can symbolize cultivating an inner spiritual power that provides an antivenom to life’s toxins and dangers. It becomes an emblem of strength, protection, and overcoming through wisdom.
Conclusion
The striking image of a snake wrapped around a skull has been an influential symbolic motif for thousands of years and across many cultures. This icon joins the snake as an archetypal symbol of life, death, danger, and temptation with the skull as a direct representation of human mortality and the fallen nature of flesh and vice. Together, they amplify a meaning related to the dual nature of life intertwined with death. In tattoo art and esoteric spirituality, the combined snake and skull symbol is often interpreted as facing mortality rather than fearing it. The design expresses power to overcome through the cycle of spiritual death and rebirth.