Not about Death and Poison but about Control and Knowledge.
Snakes
There is not a place, a religion, a culture that did or does not have some Snake Symbolism. It is blamed for Adam and Eve's banishment from Eden; is is the Symbol of Western Doctors; in Egypt they were gods and in Greek Mythology often associated with evil. Quetzalcoatl, the mythical "plumed serpent," was worshipped as the "Master of Life" by the Aztecs of Central America. Some African cultures worshipped rock pythons and considered the killing of one to be a serious crime. In Australia, the Aborigines associated a giant rainbow serpent with the creation of life.
Other cultures have associated snakes with medicinal powers or rebirth. In India, cobras were regarded as reincarnations of important people called Nagas. Our modern medical symbol of two snakes wrapped around a staff, or 'caduceus,' comes from ancient Greek mythology. According to the Greeks, the mythical figure Aesculapius discovered medicine by watching as one snake used herbs to bring another snake back to life.
To early humans, snakes must have possessed seemingly magical, almost supernatural attributes. They have the ability to move without legs over and through all types of terrain, vegetation and water. They have the ability to find, capture and eat prey without the aid of appendages, as well as to periodically shed an old skin and the ravages of time to reveal a new, brightly hued mantle. They could arise in the spring, resurrected from the ice of winter, and, in a few cases, could cause sickness or death with a single bite.
Understanding Animal Metaphors
In modern day we have many Metaphors for understanding human behaviors, understanding ourselves and our preferences. Systems such as the Jungian based Myer-Briggs Personality Type Indicator, Keirsey Temperament Indicator, Riso-Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator and many more. Professional Recruitment companies often use these in finding the right people for the right job and larger companies use this to find the right job for the right person. For their own reason they use proprietary naming methods for their indicators such as the MBTI uses abbreviations ENTJ and such.
1000 years ago the Shaolin came up with a Personality Type Indicator for much the same reason as today, a way of understanding people and themselves. It was also to help monks achieve their pre-ultimate goal of enlightenment. Understanding your self allows you to achieve and do those things that need to be done before you settle in to reach a higher level of awareness. With the knowledge of the Shaolin Animal Styles Personality (Shaolin ASP), teacher and masters were able to help students achieve that which needed to be achieved.
It is a good time to mention that Shaolin Kung Fu was a style for health and fitness, to maintain the monks well-being for mediation and search of enlightenment. It was just an after through to use practical defined motions of martial art to achieve this. Yet, it is often as a form of martial art for fighting and killing. Although it may certainly been used for that in it's long history, this is not what it is meant for.
Understanding Shaolin and the Shaolin 5 Animal System
When you look at the Snake in the 5 Animal style you need look at it from it's pure form. Discard what all the animals have in common and look at the differences and specialities; at each uniqueness and then apply them as 4 clear and ideal styles which have very little or almost nothing in common!
In a single animal style you need to expand the scope of the style to meet the needs. Styles such as Hung Gar recognized this some 700 years later and combined Tiger & Crane. Yet we in Shaolin can look at each of the 4 elements in a pure form (see the other Animal Styles on this site for detail - Tiger - Panther - Crane
Shaolin Snake Kung Fu
The Shaolin Snake teaches us the advantages of knowledge, Wisdom, Experience and Know how. It is the style above all others that values the tried and proven, the experienced that wisdom of past generations. A Snake practitioner would seek to know the Human Body like no other Animal Stylist.
The Snakes Coils
Where the Tiger practitioner seeks the key point as quickly and effectively as possible, the Panther practitioner like to play, where the Crane practitioner likes to allow the attacker to beat themselves, the Snake likes to have total physical and mental control over their opponent. It will not engage in any type of actively unless is is certain of the outcome (to it's own satisfaction).
The Snakes Stylist
To be a Snake Stylist you need to be strong and flexible, not the strength of a solid gym workout, but the strength of an enduring grappler. You also need to love knowledge, books, stored information and the usage of the experienced. You will find pleasure in confirming what you have learned more than using it. You will really like to find another bit of information that adds to your collection of Martial Knowledge. And you will like it for the fact not for what it can do for you.
Shaolin Snake Forms
Snake Forms (Patterns, Routines, Kata . . .) are very complex and have a greater depth of information in them than any other form; thus there are only a few and they are difficult to learn and even more so to master:
