Editing Serpent symbolism (section)

===Fertility and rebirth===
Historically, serpents and snakes represent [[fertility]] or a creative life force. {{citation needed|date=April 2025}} As snakes shed their skin through [[sloughing]], they serve as symbols of rebirth, transformation, immortality, and healing.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Sa-Sp/Serpents-and-Snakes.html |title=Myths Encyclopedia: Serpents and Snakes |publisher=Mythencyclopedia.com |access-date=December 7, 2012}}</ref> The [[ouroboros]] is a symbol of [[eternity]] and continual renewal of life. {{citation needed|date=April 2025}}

In some [[Abrahamic religions|Abrahamic traditions]], the serpent represents [[sexual desire]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VD1YAAAAMAAJ |title=The American Journal of Urology and Sexology |page=72 |date=January 1, 1984 |access-date=December 7, 2012 |last1=Spooner |first1=Henry G.}}</ref> According to some interpretations of the [[Midrash]], the [[serpent in the Bible|serpent]] represents sexual passion.<ref>Barton, SO "Midrash Rabba to Genesis", sec. 20, p. 93</ref> In [[Hinduism]], [[Kundalini]] is a dormant energy lying like a coiled serpent.<ref name="MetaModernEra">Her Holiness Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi Srivastava: "Meta Modern Era", pages 233–248. Vishwa Nirmala Dharma; first edition, 1995. {{ISBN|978-81-86650-05-9}}</ref>

The [[Hopi]] people of [[North America]] performed an annual snake dance to celebrate the union of Snake Youth (a Sky spirit) and Snake Girl (an Underworld spirit) and to renew the [[fertility]] of [[Nature]]. {{citation needed|date=April 2025}} During the dance, live snakes were handled, and at the end of the dance the snakes were released into the fields to guarantee good crops. "The snake dance is a prayer to the spirits of the clouds, the thunder and the lightning, that the rain may fall on the growing crops."<ref>{{cite book |last=Monsen |first=Frederick |title=Festivals of the Hopi, and dancing and expression in all their national ceremonies |url=http://www.adwr.state.az.us/Adjudications/documents/HopiContestedCaseDisclosure/Hopi%20Initial%20Disclosure/HP1535%20-%20HP1549.pdf}}{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> To the [[Hopi]], snakes symbolized the [[umbilical cord]], joining all humans to [[Mother goddess|Mother Earth]]. {{citation needed|date=April 2025}}