A Cobra in My Dream
Last night I woke from a vivid dream that still lingers with me. I was sitting among a group of friends, most of them Chinese photographers, when a large cobra appeared. It struck me on the chest. Strangely, I felt no fear. It was as though I had been waiting for this moment.
I remembered something my father once told me as a child: “If a snake bites you, bite it back. The poison will return to it.” So, I grabbed the cobra’s head and bit it. Then, without hesitation, I stripped off its skin, chewed the flesh, and swallowed it.
What to make of such a dream?
The cobra has always been a powerful symbol — fearsome, mysterious, and transformative. To be struck in the chest, at the very center of life, is no small thing. Yet in the dream, there was no panic, no terror, only clarity. I did not run. I acted.
And yet, there is another layer to this dream. When I was a teenager, a cobra once found its way into the kitchen of my family home in Terengganu, likely driven there by heavy monsoon rains. While the rest of the family stood frozen, I took it upon myself to act. The snake disappeared under the refrigerator, and in a rash moment, I poured boiling water onto the floor beneath it. The cobra writhed in pain, and when it emerged, I killed it with a broomstick. I can still see the scene clearly. It has stayed with me all these years, heavy with regret. When my father learned what I had done, he was not pleased.
Perhaps this dream was the cobra returning — not as a threat, but as a messenger. In my youth, I killed it mercilessly, out of fear and impulse. But in the dream, I met it differently: calmly, without fear, even to the point of integration. I did not destroy it; I absorbed it.
Maybe that is what dreams do — they give us another chance. They take the unfinished stories of our lives and let us face them again, from a place of greater understanding.
Dreams are strange messengers. They give us courage, but also caution. Every dream carries both power and warning.
#DreamReflections #Symbolism #FearlessLiving #InnerStrength #Transformation #ShadowAndLight #AlchemyOfLife
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