SERPENT & JAGUAR SYMBOLISM

universal symbolism of the core archetype of the sanctuary

SERPENT / DRAGON

an androgynous, self-created entity, closely associated with the concepts of life and death

the movement that creates space-time as well as that which slithers beneath its illusory constructs / "the wave motion of all oscillations. the essence of vibration. your spiral winding from the smallest subatomic impulse through your entire life over time, to the motion of the colossal galaxies and even space itself" 1

the primordial ocean from which all things emerge and to which all returns, the primeval undifferentiated chaos

the cyclic and spiraling nature of time / the rhythms of involution and evolution, of birth and death / renewal of life / the upsurging life-force

creator of the world, that which confers life, that which both animates and maintains

primordial, instinctual nature guardian and vehicle of immortality / resurrection / eternity

guardian of thresholds

guardian of spiritual treasures, in particular knowledge

watchfulness and wisdom

royal wisdom and power within the self

AS DUAL SERPENTS/DRAGONS

the yin-yang forces of dualism, the opposites which ultimately unite

[as wound around each other] Time and Fate, the 2 great binding powers

[as enclosed underground] forces too great to let unleashed on

AS SERPENT PILLAR OR DUAL SERPENTS ENTWINED ROUND A STAFF (CADUCEUS)

see also structural symbolism

the Cosmic Tree / the Tree of Life / the World Axis / the pillar that supports the world

the wirlpool of creation / the awakening and unwinding of the dynamic life-force / the source and channel for the passage of vital life energy / the corruption of the Life Force brought back to its proper channel

the motion of life revolving round the world, the cosmic dance around a fixed center / perpetual motion and regeneration / the spiraling cycles of nature

the balance and polarity of the Cosmic Stream / the equilibrium of opposites forces around the world axis, achieved by their integration / the manifest duality of life wound around an unifying central pillar / the clockwise male and counterclockwise female

the complementary movement of winding and unwiding, ascending and descending, centrifugal and centripetal, inbreathing and outbreathing, beginning and end

the spiritual path of transmutation (upward and inward) entwined with the physical path of manifestation (downward and outward)

the alchemical solve and coagula of the Great Work

the revelation of wisdom and the way of eternal life to humankind

AS A TETRAMORPHIC SERPENT PILLAR

the whole body of knowledge garnered from the four quarters of the Earth and from all levels of existence

the unity of Mystery and its unraveling

SERPENT EGG

birth of a new World Age

JAGUAR (FELINE)

creator and destroyer / "who rules the regions beneath the earth where life and death, light and darkness, give rise to each other" / "who, in its terrible darkness, bears the promise of rebirth for those destined to rise at dawn as Lords of Life" 2

initiation into the mysteries of one's being / the mysteries of origin / the mysteries of a dark, ancestral past

chthonic earth, the highest incarnation of the internal powers of the Earth

the master of souls

spirit world interplay with the physical dimensions of Earth / the supernatural and the transdimensional

might in both the outer realm of earth and the inner realms of the self

that which imbues with power / the capacity for self-empowerment

PRIMARY SOURCES

Jean Chevalier, Alain Gheerbrant, The Penguin Dictionary of Symbols
J. C. Cooper, The illustrated Encyclopedia of Symbols
1 John Mini, Day of Destiny
2 Douglas Gillette, The Shaman’s secret: The Lost Resurrection Teachings of the Ancient Maya

MULTIMEDIA SOURCES (video animation)

Cristóbal Vila - etereastudios outside link