Snakes can symbolise devious people? Why? Because snakes sneak up on their prey and use poison. They cannot be trusted.

SNAKES IN DREAMS : Understanding dreams is not so difficult. In practice dream symbols translate into certain words within the English language. For instance a "snake" dream may simply translate into the word "blame" and the dream capture the thought "he has blamed me and intends to make a complaint". Dreams will represent little intuitions such as this.

FULL LIST OF KEYWORDS LINKED TO SNAKE DREAMS
In practice snakes have several symbolic meanings. Here is the full list.
- "liar" (Snakes can be symbolic of any devious behaviour. Do you suspect someone is telling a lie?)
- "bitter relationship" (any volatile relationship which is on your mind could trigger a snake dream)
- "nasty comments" (A snake strikes ruthlessly - did someone's comments strike you down yesterday? Did someone complain or make a direct criticism at you? Did you feel the need to make a nasty comments towards someone?)
- "negative feelings" (snakes can be symbolic of any type of negative feelings. It maybe even your minds way of expressing the word "problem". The dream could have a simple meaning as you are thinking about all the problems which seem to keep arising at work or in a relationship)
Snakes can have a sexual meaning. A snake snakes up and wraps itself around its prey. This is an excellent metaphor for a man who is not keeping his hands to himself

- "cheating" (Dreams use symbols as metaphors to describe particular thoughts and emotions. The dream mind is drawing a similarity between the way a man cheats on his girlfriend and a snake that sneaks around ready to land on its prey)
- "inability to trust" (you cannot trust a snake - you will always fear that it turns on you.)
- "bitchy behaviour" (Snakes represent all sorts of negative emotions and could be the minds way of saying "that was very bitchy behaviour" or "I used to be a complete bitch". Try to think how the word bitch appears in your thoughts right now. If you can think of something then this maybe what your snake dream symbolises)
- "blame/criticism" (Being bitten by a snake may be symbolic of someone blaming you for something. Were you blamed for something yesterday? Has something happened and are people looking for the cause of it? Where you very personally criticised yesterday?)
- "a man's hands moving over a woman's body" (In popular dream dictionaries snakes have long been linked to sex. A snake moves and slithers and its movement is very similar to a man's hands moving over a woman's body)
- "bad news striking at any time" (just like the snake strikes unexpectedly so does bad news)
- "manipulated" (Snakes can represent any kind of devious and evil behaviour. Did you try to manipulate a situation yesterday but did it fail? Has someone been trying to manipulate you?)
- "false accusations" (Has their been some back biting and bitchy behaviour at work? Has someone sneakily tried to shift the blame to you? Have you been struck by some outrageous comments which just have no basis in reality?)
- "devious and deceptive" (was someone snake like yesterday? Did they try to hide their true intentions?)
- "heated debate" (Snakes can strike at any time. If you are engaged in a debate then a snake may symbolise a comment which strikes home. Did someone get the better of the argument yesterday?)
- "confrontation" (encountering a snake is highly confrontational. Try to think of any connection with this theme. Did someone confront you yesterday? Did you used to be very confrontational but are now trying to work on it? Do you fear some situation coming up will be very confrontational? Who is very confrontational right now? Try to think of anything with this theme of confrontation. If you can think of something then it may link to that issue. Next try to look for other links to reality)
- "fear of bankruptcy" (do you fear bad news will strike? Is your )
- "suspicious activity" (you cannot trust a snake so it maybe symbolic of any suspicious activity)
- "betrayal" (You can never trust a snake so its an excellent symbol for a betrayal. Have you been thinking about a betrayal yesterday?)
- "severe phobias" (Phobic people have all sorts of imagined fears which can be symbolised by dangerous animals of all kinds. The snake is a favourite symbol of the dream mind to express dangers that lurk in your mind. Have you been thinking about your phobias? Have you been especially phobic recently?)
- "subtly control" (Snakes can symbolise your own bad behaviour. Have you been sneaky towards someone? Have you tried to manipulate a situation? Has someone been deeply devious trying to hide their own intentions?)
- "a tricky situation" (an encounter with a snake is a classic tricky situation. What tricky situation occurred yesterday? What situation do you fear could be very tricky?)
- "singled out" (Do you feel picked on? Has someone bullied you or shown prejudice towards you? Have you been thinking over your own singling out of someone yesterday?)
- "hate" (snakes can link to any deeply negative emotions? Have you been thinking about someone's deep hate?)
- "continual abuse" (Do you feel abused?)
- "everyone hating you" (snakes can link to your state of mind. Do you feel everything is against you?)
- "unable to cope" (Have you just started a new job but feel its too difficult for you?)
- "a fear of death" (Is someone close to you very ill? Do you fear their death might strike at any moment? Were you suddenly struck by the reality of death yesterday? Have you started to worry about your own health problems)
- "poisoned atmosphere" (Is the atmosphere full of tension at work right now? Are you trying to stay away from somewhere because its so fraught with tension.)
- "feeling trapped"

Its a fallacy that dreams capture unconscious thoughts - dreams represent thoughts that we are all too aware of. A typical dream would translate into the types of thoughts that we might write down in a diary or tell a best friend. Dreams represent your key thoughts which pinpoint the problems right now. Try to write down some quotes which capture your feelings right now and try to include the words and phrases above.

One dreamer had been thinking about his subtle attempts to annoy someone who he deeply disliked. These attempts went drastically wrong and he ended up winding himself up. He had a dream about trying to control a snake. This attempt fails and the snake lurches towards him. Obviously some of the keywords and phrases for the symbolism of snakes are very relevant such as "bitter relationship", "negative feelings", "bitchy behaviour", "manipulated","devious and deceptive" ,"confrontation", "subtly control" and "a tricky situation". The symbolism of snakes is obviously relevant here. Its a classic situation for snake symbolism. The dream seems to mirror reality in that the dreamer is over confident and feels he can control the situation. The dream exactly pinpoints this exact feeling - "I thought I could subtly control the situation and annoy her. But It backfired on me". By carefully analysing the dreamers situation and thinking about key thoughts on his mind we can guess the exact symbolic meaning. Here other meanings are relevant but the one that fits best is the "subtle control" meaning.

Dreams can represent very sophisticated thoughts. Take the following dream - "I dreamed about a primary school teacher. She had a rapport with her children. She managed to make them eat up all their food so as to make them healthy and strong. Then in the school I was playing some sort of game. The game involved handling a snake. I knew that this snake was not too dangerous as you could tell by looking at it. At the back of my mind I felt it could be dangerous but still I was holding it". In real life the dreamer suffered from extreme phobias and was being treated by a therapist who she had seen the day before. This session encouraged the dreamer to try to overcome some of her phobias. The dream seems to exactly mirror this situation. The teacher was symbolic of the therapist who was inspiring her and teaching her to overcome her phobias. The snake represents her phobias. The differing feelings towards this snake show how she is relating to this problem. The snake is dangerous but not too dangerous. This mirrors the feeling - "I know these phobias scare me but its not that bad. I can handle these situations".