Cerastes Symbolism & Meaning

Want to sharpen your psychic vision? Do you want to have more fun in life? Cerastes, as a Spirit, Totem, and Power Animal, can help! Cerastes teaches you how to tap into your intuitive skills while also showing you how to be more flexible! Delve deeply in Cerastes symbolism and meaning to find out how this Animal Spirit Guide can illuminate, awaken, and support you.

Cerastes Table of Contents

Cerastes Symbolism & Meaning

Cerastes is a large Serpent found in Greek mythology and Medieval bestiaries. The Snake’s name comes from the Greek “Kerastes” meaning “horns.” It’s an apt name considering stories depict the Serpent having one to four Ram-like horns on its head. There’s a relation between the mythological creature and the real-world Cerastes or Horned Viper: A Serpent featuring a supraorbital horn above each of its eyes.

The real-world Cerastes uses its horns to capture prey; it is a desert-dwelling creature and an ambush hunter. It buries itself in the sand, leaving only its two horns poking up through the earth to make birds and other small animals think they’ve spotted a tasty worm or caterpillar to consume. Both the real-world and mythological Cerastes symbolize strategic maneuvers, trickery, and deception.

The physical location of the antennae-like horns represents an eternal connection to the Cosmos and the psychic skill of Clairvoyance. Cerastes is also an alternative name for Zeus, the God of the Sky, and the Father of the Olympians. The Mythic Serpent is sacred to Zeus, and upon its death, Zeus’ adherents bury the Snake in the God’s temple.

Though it appears slow-moving, Cerastes’ sidewinding action lets it glide across the desert sands with grace and ease; ancient writers attribute the Snake’s sidewinder-like movement to Helen of Troy, who stepped on one of the Viper-like creatures breaking its back. Stories tell of Cerastes having no spine and impressive flexibility, signifying the non-conventionalist and nonconformist. The Serpent is adaptable, moving from the sands to trees and bushes as if it defies gravity and physics. Here, Cerastes signifies defying what you might perceive as limiting or confining.

The way the creature travels and its hunting techniques reveal how the Serpent is deliberate and decisive with every action it takes. Buried in the sand, Cerastes waits for what it desires. Here, the creature symbolizes the power of intention, strategic planning, conserving energetic resources, and a willingness to delay gratification.

A bite from Cerastes is deadly venomous, causing painful skin lesions and profuse bleeding from all orifices. Some stories tell of this Snakes bite killing a victim instantaneously, while others suggest the venom causes its victim to linger for a full nine days before dying. The Ancient Egyptians referred to the Asp as Cerastes: The same Serpent Cleopatra uses to take her own life. Cerastes’ venom causes a quick death, one resulting in the victim falling asleep before passing away. Here, the Serpent signifies defenses, wrath, and serves as a warning to avoid anything negative that can poison your life.

Cerastes Spirit Animal

Cerastes arrives as a Power Animal when you’re inflexible, or you refuse to embrace change. Serpents shed their skin, and Cerastes move with incredible ease and grace. If Cerastes comes to you, it carries an important message: “Loosen up! Live a little!”

Cerastes slithers in as a Power Animal if you’re burying your head in the sand in a real-world situation or relationship. The Serpent comes to help heighten your awareness and give you a wake-up call. When this Snake appears, it is telling to “get your head in the game,” come out from hiding, and to stop pretending the challenges ahead don’t exist. Cerastes says, “Wishing doesn’t make it so. You can’t run from your problems!”

If you are having trouble defining personal boundaries or asserting yourself, Cerastes’ Medicine helps you take a stand. Sometimes you need to draw a line in the sand and let others know about the consequences of crossing it. Cerastes shows you how to move with a supple grace all while remaining firm with your stance when necessary.

Cerastes Totem Animal

If you have Cerastes as a Birth Totem, you are resourceful, adaptable, and adjust to extreme changes in the environment or situational conditions with ease. You can move with grace from one task to the next, and you never rush through your work. You always pay close attention to the small details. Creative ideas flow best for you at night.

When Cerastes is your Totem, you have no problem expressing yourself. You’ll say whatever is on your mind, no matter how harsh your words might seem to others. If you feel others are a threat, you’ll cut them down with a fierce verbal warning.

If you’re born with this creature as a Totem, you are intuitive; you can sense surrounding energies through an array of psychic senses, including Clairolfactory, Clairgustance, Clairsentience, and Clairvoyance. You have an interest in the mysteries and all things metaphysical.

Cerastes Power Animal

Call on Cerastes when you want help adapting to volatile conditions. The creature’s adaptive skills stemming from its desert-dwelling lifestyle are part of its Sacred Medicine and Wisdom. When you’re in a relationship that’s got you going through a rollercoaster of emotions or you’re working in a chaotic environment, Cerastes lends you the energetic support you need to conquer the extreme challenges.

Invoke Cerastes as a Power Animal in situations where you can benefit from having the element of surprise or in delaying gratification for a period. As an ambush predator, the Serpent shows you how to wait until just the right moment before you spring into action. Working with the creature’s energy vibrations helps you move on opportunities as they arise and gives you an edge over others who might seek to undermine your efforts or steal your thunder.

Petition Cerastes as a Power Animal when you are looking to expand your knowledge. As an ancient symbol of wisdom, it’s the ideal Animal Guide for students and is a supportive Ally for people who want to learn the healing arts.

Global Cerastes Symbolic Meanings

Since the creature is a mythological Snake, stories of real-world and other mythical Serpents serve as a reference to the symbolism and meaning of Cerastes. Images of Serpents are in Sumerian art, with Cerastes appearing on boundary stones from the Ancient Near East and Mesopotamian Empire. In ancient Mesopotamia, the Messenger God, Nirah, has a Serpent aspect. In Abrahamic traditions, the Serpent is a deceitful Trickster responsible for tempting Eve in the Garden of Eden. Likewise, in many cultures, Serpents correspond with sacred trees, such as the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in Eden.

There are writings that compare the Milky Way Galaxy with the heavenly Serpent of Light; this links to the Cosmic Serpent being the symbol of everything or “All.” In Egyptian funerary texts and ancient Greece, the Ouroboros is a snake eating its own tail-the image represents renewal, rebirth, beginnings, and endings. Later, in alchemical writings, the Ouroboros appears with the words hen to pan meaning “the all is one.” In Norse Mythology, a similar creature appears, growing so large it encircles the entire world.

The Aborigines of Australia tell of the Rainbow Serpent or Wagyl Deity: A creature that moves from one waterhole to another-it is the creator of the earth’s rigids and mountains and represents the element of Water and the cyclical nature of the seasons.

Cerastes Dreams

If you dream of Cerastes and you see it moving like a sidewinder, the imagery urges you to consider if you are side skirting an issue instead of taking the direct approach when dealing with challenges. If the Serpent shows its fangs, it means you may deal with venomous, bitter, or jealous people, or someone may slander you.

When Cerastes hides in the sand in your dream, it’s a warning to remain alert and on guard; the dream suggests someone may do things behind your back to undermine your happiness or success. If you’re bitten by the Serpent in the dream, it foretells of a period where you may experience visions or start a vision quest. When Cerastes sheds its skin, it’s a sign you’ll soon undergo a major transformation.

Cerastes Symbolic Meanings Key

Camouflage
Clairvoyance
Danger
Deception
Divine Connection
Intuitiveness
Patience
Surprise
Trickster
Wisdom

Cerastes Symbolism & Meaning

Cerastes Table of Contents