The snake and dragon are often interchangeable, and in the countries of the Far East, no distinction is made between them at all. The symbolism of the snake is multifaceted. It can personify both masculine and feminine energy, life and death, destruction and resurrection.
Snakes represent light and darkness, good and evil, wisdom and blind passion, cure and poison, guardian and destroyer, spiritual and physical rebirth. In almost all Gnostic schools, the serpent was understood either as a symbol of the Upper world, or as a chaotic principle.
This duality of symbolism, forcing people to balance between fear and worship, contributed to the fact that the snake appears sometimes as the progenitor other times as an enemy, or in some cases simultaneously a symbol of good and evil.
Here are some examples of famous snakes, snake-like creatures and symbols: