What Do Snakes Symbolize in Tantric Art?

My big art news for December 2024 is that I’m soon opening a bricks and mortar art gallery that is dedicated to the vulva (mid-March 2025, if construction time lines go well). The name of the gallery is Yoni Mudra Art Gallery at 241 Duke Street West in Kitchener, Ontario. The space is 2900 square feet, plus a sizable basement. The art gallery, a coffee shop, and a space for community groups to hold their activities such as yoga and dance will be on the main floor. We will be hosting public talks and trainings upstairs and art workshops downstairs. 

One of the artifacts that will be exhibited is the below picture: 

A Tantric image of the vulva

This is a Tantric image of the vulva, but it is framed by two snakes and I want to explain why. Snakes are venerated in almost every culture on the planet, even in the Christian tradition despite the ubiquity of snakes being associated with evil and Satan. In the story of the Garden of Eden, the snake plays a pivotal role in bringing about the fall of humankind and their exile from paradise. It was a cunning snake after all that showed Eve, created from a male rib, how to access knowledge of right and wrong and therefore think independently of God’s instructions. In many Christian teachings, the serpent energy within should not be woken up (Choudhury, 2024).

Jesus explains, however, in Mark 16:18 that a snake’s poison can be used to heal the sick and snake iconography appears frequently in western medicine which draws upon other wisdom traditions that associate snakes with healing. Take, for example, the Caduceus symbol of a winged staff entwined by two snakes that appears on many medical logos, or the Rod of Asclepius around which one snake is coiling. The tradition of drinking snake venom/ energy for its healing properties predates Christianity by several millennia and is depicted on Sumerian artefacts from 2500 BCE. In fact, the libation cup of Gudea from Sumaria, used to access the Third Eye (2100 BCE), is a cup depicting the Caduceus. In the Mayan tradition, the serpent eats itself, tail in mouth representing cycles, or eats the darkness within, one must dissolve in order to elevate, die to be reborn. The drinking of snake venom allows the initiate to cross boundaries to access new forms of knowledge. To access the doors of wisdom, one must be in resonance with the inner serpent (Choudhury, 2024).

In many parts of the world, therefore, snakes are associated with wisdom, intelligence, and sexual energy (Choudhury, 2024; Anand, 1996). Because snakes shed their skins, they also symbolize rebirth and transformation. The snake in Tantra represents kundalini energy. Kundalini means “coiled” in Sanskrit. It is the pure, goddess energy in all people that is dormant and must be awakened and developed for people to realize their spiritual potential. Kundalini energy starts as a coil in the base chakra (Lorius, 2011). Once harnessed, it is channeled up the body tube to the Crown chakra thus blossoming enlightened awareness: “Through meditation and other ritual practices the serpent energy can be stimulated to climb through the several energy centres, leading to different levels of awakening and mystical experience. The goal is for this energy to reach the energy centre at the top of the head, which opens the human consciousness to the transcendental realms of bliss”, facilitating union with “the pure [Source] consciousness pervading the whole universe” (Lorius, 2011: 115, 200).

Since the yoni or vulva is the womb space from which all things are born (divine feminine procreative energy), it makes sense that it is framed by serpents which represent coiled or dormant kundalini energy: worship and awaken the yoni to awaken the kundalini. According to Choudhury (2024), there are two serpents coiled at the bottom of the spine which, when awakened, rise up the body as prana kundalini. Part of prana kundalini is the feminine cobra, manasa naga that takes sexuality and integrates it with the mind. When the serpent is fully open inside of the person, when the cobras or nagas within are awakened, one becomes enlightened. This image is about the enlightenment awaiting those who stir the vulva or about enlightenment being the latent power of the vulva. From the sexual magic of the yoni or vulva, women and men can reach union with Source and spiritually evolve (Choudhury, 2024).

Here is a picture of the front door of the Yoni Mudra Art Gallery that was once Big Bliss Yoga, more great details to follow:

Works Cited:

Anand, Margo (1996). The Art of Sexual Magic. New York: Tarcher/Putnam.

Choudhury, Rajada (2024). Kundalini and the Naga: Unveiling the Mind-Blowing Roots of Tantra. YouTube. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hGOuToR0c0&t=51s. 31 December, 2024.

Lorius, Cassandra (2011). The Sacred Sex Bible: A Guide to Sex and Spirit in the East and West. New York: Firefly Books.