When I think of Snakes in relation to the Goddess, I think of Shakti and power before I think of Desire. There's the Goddess from a Greek Island that holds two snakes in her hand which are pointing upwards, and you have Nagas, and you have serpents as jewels on Tara Maa, You also see sometimes with Durga/Bhavani and Maha Kali a serpent in her hand as Shakti or power. The mother is present in everyone as Kundalini Shakti, the "serpent" like power that is everyone's life force. This is so misunderstood by many people. In most people it lies dormant. Through Sadhana, and the power of a Skathipat, the serpent can awaken in the Muladhara. Through intense devotion of the diety that is you personal diety or Ishtadevata, this serpent power identifies and becomes that diety making it possible for the diety to speak to you, and appear before you. In some cases when the person is not properly trained and the Kundalini awakens many problems can occur including madness and death, especially if she does not have a diety to identify with and a proper Guru to help guide her. Also many people think that you can just turn your Chakras on and off like a light switch and guide your Kundalini to them. This is not really the case per se, especially with people who have not yet had their muladhara awakened through a Shaktipat. Also once Shakti reaches Shiva in the Sahasra, that is when you stop self-identifying all together with your ego, and unless God has plans for you to become a Jivan Mukti, your body will cease to function. There are 6 bodily Chakras, and 3 out of body Chakras that come with being liberated. You must lose your body in most cases for you Shakti to travel there or at least be away from your body.

To me this is what the Serpent and the Goddess represent. The Mother is also present in the Universe and manifest the Universe with desire. WIthout the desire of God to manifest through Shakti to become manifested as every form and everything there would be no Manifested existences. Shakti also has the desire to be with her Shiva, so when the serpent is active she has this desire.

And as always, this is truth for me, it may not be truth for you. I am not qualified to present anything I say as factual truth, or something that should be believed as truth for you. This is just my take and what I think of when I think of the Goddess and serpents.

~cringes~

goddess and snakes are inextricably linked... way beyond the sexy sexual and sensual, but yeah that too.

there are many roads of experience

Om Shanti

I really dont know if snakes can be called erotic...
But the tribe that i belong to by birth do bliv in "Sarpashapa" (The Curse of the Serpants) and "Pariharas(Solutions/Cure) ...

This website reflects my way of life and mutual association with serpants...
just to add, this is also the Only temple in Kerala which is ritualisticly headed by a Woman -The Head Priestess (Valiya Amma- The Big/Great Mother)

www.mannarasala.org/html/index.htm

Om Shanti

I think ultimately that snakes can be viewed as erotic externally because of their phallic nature, and internally it can represent eroticism as the form of Maya which seduces and enchants many, Shakti in the form of power which can be enchanting to some, but when abuses is destructive. But when there is purity and the inner serpent of old is looked on as emanation of Mother, there is no longer any eroticism. The Kundalini Serpent should be tamed through devotion or it will kill you when it jumps out of it's coiled position. When the erotic forces are tamed, all can be pure. The first thing to have balanced is your base desires which can help with the desire to transcend, but can be out of control in the form of insatiable sex drive as one of many problems that can be the result of untamed kundalini.