What is the Serpent?

Serpent is a word of Latin origin (serpens, serpentis) that is commonly used in a specifically mythic or religious context, signifying a snake that is to be regarded not as a mundane natural phenomenon nor as an object of scientific zoology, but as the bearer of some symbolic value.
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Why did the ancients consider the serpent a symbol of wisdom, while today it is often associated with deceit and evil? - Reptilian Agenda

Why should the serpent, or the snake, have been called a ‘liar,’ ‘deceiver,’ and that pathetic figure of mediaeval theology, the Devil, be called the “Father of Lies”? Why should it have been thought that the serpent in the Garden of Eden which tempted the first human pair to evil-doing, was an imbodiment of or the symbol of Satan? Why should the serpent have become the symbol of insinuating evil, of evil doing, of deceit? Or on the other hand, why should the silent, creeping serpent with its slow sinuous progress have been taken as the symbol of Wisdom or of the Initiate, as in the expression attributed to a very lofty source in the Christian New Testament: “Be ye wise as serpents and harmless as doves”?
Serpent Symbolism Associated with Phallic Worship - Sacred Texts

We are here reminded of the passage already quoted from Clemens Alexandrinus, who tells us that the serpent was the special symbol of the worship of Bacchus. Now, this annual holds a very curious place in the religions of the civilized peoples of antiquity. Although, in consequence of the influence of later thought, it came to be treated as the personification of evil, and as such appears in the Hebrew legend of the fall, yet before this the serpent was the symbol of wisdom and healing.
Serpent Symbols and Salvation in the Ancient Near East and the Book of Mormon - Brigham Young University

The image of the serpent was tremendously significant in the ancient world. Societies and scriptures of the Near East simultaneously attributed two highly symbolic roles to serpents. One role connected serpents to the heavens by having them represent deity, creative powers, and healing. The other linked them with the underworld and associated them with evil, harm, and destructive influences. We who live in modern times have no difficulty appreciating this double symbol because, in fact, this duality persists in our own day.
The Binary Serpent - Endicott Studio

In Korean culture, the word for snake, sa, is coincidentally a homonym for the number 4 and the word for death. In Korean locker rooms, in hotel corridors, and in buildings, you often find the number 4 missing (as the number 13 is often missing in the west), and one of the most feared creatures in Korean folklore, in the same category as the fox demon, is the snake woman.
Biscione - Italian Serpent Symbolism strikingly similar to Quetzalcoatl in Mayan Mythology - Red Ice Creations

The Biscione (‘large grass snake’), also known as the Vipera (‘viper’ or in Milanese as the Bissa), is a heraldic charge showing a blue serpent in the act of swallowing a human: usually a child and sometimes described as a Moor. It has been the emblem of the Italian Visconti family for around a thousand years.

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Washington DC Planned by Masonic Founding Fathers as the Most Powerful Occult Capitol in World History - Cutting Edge

Satanists believe that a city must be built by the Serpents of Wisdom and continually receive Serpent spiritual power if that city is ever to be great. Masonic American Forefathers built Washington, D.C., to be THE capitol in world history, unparalleled in occult power and influence. Serpent symbols in our Federal Mall tell the story
The Serpent is a Symbol of Kundalini - Kundalini Teacher

Throughout the material in the Primitive, Oriental and Occidental volumes of this work, myths and rites of the serpent frequently appear, and in a remarkably consistent symbolic sense. Wherever nature is revered as self-moving, and so inherently divine, the serpent is revered as symbolic of its divine life.
Sea Serpent - Black Drago

LEGO VIKINGS Ship Challenges the Midgard Serpent (7018)
These creatures live in the waters. They can live in fresh or salt water. They are depicted as long, serpent-snakes usually without limbs but with long, steering tails. Other types include finned as well as serpents with webbed limbs. Some are depicted with wings, but they tend to be useless in the water.
Serpent Mound - mnsu.edu

Serpent mound, stretching a quarter mile long, is the largest serpent effigy (representation of an image) known to this day. There are also serpent effigies located in Scotland and Ontario that are very similar. The bottom of the mound is constructed of clay and rock and the soil covering the rock is four to five feet high. The mound was built on top of a remarkably unique cryptoexplosive structure that has caused the effigy to become misshapen through the years. _[…]
Aztec Serpent Effigy - Lithic Casting Lab

During the Late Stone Age a few societies in various locations around the world were able to expand and become culturally stable long enough to allow specialized craftsman to work and become the best at what they did, in this case flintknapping.
The Feathered Serpent - Maroic

The Return of the Feathered Serpent Shining Light of ‘First Knowledge’: Survival and Renewal at the End of an Age, 2006-2012
The Temple of the Feathered Serpent at Teotihuacan, alongside its full-colored replica at the NMAH. For the sake of convenience, the temple is often referred to as the Temple of Quetzalcoatl, though whether the main language at Teotihuacan was Nahuatl is extremely doubtful. The front face of the temple still bears many of the Feathered Serpent and Rain Lord images that together signify their complementary roles of wind and rain, of life and fertility.
The Rainbow Serpent, Symbol of Native Australian Spirituality - Buzzle

The Serpent And The Rainbow
Indigenous Australians share many religious beliefs and forms of religion that were introduced into Australia by other cultures, particularly Europe. Practices and beliefs were profoundly influenced in decades past by the impact of colonialism, and in modern times, by events taking place in the global community. Although some indigenous Australians share these beliefs, most people have derived their spirituality from a sense of belonging to the land or the sea, belonging to other people and communities, and being a part of one’s culture.