The Snake – Antelope ceremony is a perfect representation of the rising of the kundalini in a person. The ceremony is not done in the form of meditation to raise the kundalini in an individual but the rising of the kundalini in the entire tribe and the land by utilizing a foot race to represent the chakra system with the kundalini rising up through the chakras.

The Snake – Antelope Ceremony is all the knowledge and wisdom of kundalini, the chakras, Earth Female Fire Energy, Solar Male Fire Energy and the drawing upon the balanced energies for the betterment of the Hopi tribe and the Earth. Through the ceremony the tribe and the Earth are joined together as one being.

The Hopi Snake Antelope ceremony and the sacred marriage of the goddess are celebrations of the Sun and Moon, of sexuality and the life giving fertility of the planet.

In the Great Goddess Mysteries the Sacred Marriage of the Goddess and God occurs on Beltane, May first. It is the Sacred Marriage of the Goddess and God which brings fertility to the land.

The Snake – Antelope Ceremony of the Hopi is held every other year, alternating with the Flute Ceremony. The ceremonies are held in the lunar month of Big Feast Moon in August. The purpose of the Snake – Antelope Ceremony is to bring the rain needed for the final maturity of the Hopi corn crop and to ensure a good harvest.

The sacred marriage between the goddess and the god only lasts one day while the complete Snake-Antelope ceremony lasts 16 days. The beginning date is determined by the suns position as it rises over the Munyaoui Cliffs.

The preparation for the Snake Antelope ceremony is similar to the other Hopi ceremonies held throughout the year. It starts with the announcement, the planting of standards on both the Snake and the Antelope Kivas, the ritual smoking, the making of phaos (the prayer sticks) the confinement of society members and the creating the alters.

The ceremony is performed by the Antelope Society as the leading society with the Snake Society as the lower society. The Snake Chiefs go to the Antelope Kiva each morning and evening of the entire ceremony, the lower acknowledging the higher, to smoke and pray. kundalini lays in the lower chakra until it is raised to the highest chakra.

The Snake Society creates the Snake Society alter at night. The Antelope Society create their alter during the day. This represents the power of the sun, male, and moon, female.

The Snake Societies alter is a very simple alter consisting of two wooden images of Snake Maidens while the Antelope Societies alter is very elaborate that requires eleven days to build.

The Antelope Societies alter represents the world as it is formed by earth, air, water, plant life and mankind. The alter consists of a sand painting four foot square bordered with lines of directional colors and at each corner is a small cone of sand with a hawk feather in it representing a cloud mountain. On the sand painting is placed a Corn Mother, a perfect ear of corn, four ears of corn pointing to each of the directions, and several bowls of water from Flute Spring. The backdrop of the alter represents a house and is decorated with buzzard feathers. Leaning against the backdrop are the tiponi which are about two feet tall. The tiponi consist of eagle wing feathers with eagle down feathers tied to the tips of the eagle wing feathers tied with red buckskin thongs.

During the eleven days of construction of the Antelope alter each step of the construction is accompanied by secret songs describing the formation of the world and its occupation by the Hopi. The alter is then purified with sacred water.

Around the Snake Kiva a line of cornmeal is drawn which only a member of the Snake Society can cross. Anyone other than a Snake Society member who crosses the line would ruin that year’s crop.

On the twelfth day of the ceremony the Snake Society begins four days of gathering snakes. The snake hunt starts in the west, and then moves to the south, the east, and finally the north.

Each man carries a water jug, a sack of cornmeal, a kwdwicki consisting of two buzzard feathers tied together, a snake sack, and a snake whip. The whip is waved over a snake until it uncoils. Each snake before it is picked up is blessed with cornmeal.

Each of the four evenings of the snake gathering the Snake Chiefs go to the Antelope Kiva to smoke and concentrate. It is in the Antelope Kiva the deepest and most sacred parts of the ceremony are performed.

In the Snake Kiva on each of the four nights of the snake hunt sand is spread on the floor and smoothed out. All the members sit cross legged in a circle on the floor with each mans knee touching the next man's knee.

Inside the circle of men all the snakes are released on to the sand. The men sit quietly and sing while the snakes crawl all over them. At dawn the singing stops and the snakes are put back in their jars.

On one of the four nights of the snake hunt in the Antelope Kiva a ritual marriage between Snake Maiden and Antelope Youth is performed. The kundalini lies in the dark waiting to rise to the light.

The sacred marriage between the goddess and god occur during the day time.

The Snake Maiden is the living counterpart of the two wooden Snake Maiden images on the altar of the Snake Kiva. The Snake Maiden is a virgin who is an initiate of the Snake Women's Society. Her hair is loose and tied to it is a small eagle down feather. She carries an earthen jug containing prayer sticks and vines of corn, melon and bean plants.

The Snake Chief accompanies her to the Antelope Kiva where they are met by the Antelope Chief and Antelope Youth. The Antelope Youth carries a tiponi and a snake. His hair is loose with a small eagle down feather in the front.

In the Antelope Kiva the Snake Maiden is sat on the south side of the altar with the Antelope Youth sits on the north side.

Between the alter and fire pit an earthen bowl is placed containing soapy water made from yucca roots. In front of the altar is placed a woven plaque full of a wide variety of seeds. The boy and girl are brought to the bowl by their chiefs and a Hopi wedding ritual is performed.

The Snake Maiden’s hair is washed by the Snake Chief while the Antelope Youth’s hair is washed by the Antelope chief. The chiefs trade places and the Antelope chief washes the Snake Maidens hair and the Snake chief washes the Antelope youths hair. The hair of the Maiden and the Youth is braided together while it is still wet to symbolize their union. The couple is then taken to a seating ledge on the north side of the alter with the Maiden being seated upon the seed plaque brought by the Antelope chief.

The seeds signify food for the birds of the air, animals of the earth and man. It is midnight before the wedding ceremony is completed. The time from midnight to dawn is a period of singing and concentration. At dawn the couple is blessed. The Maiden is taken home by her godmother and the Youth is taken home by his godfather.

The marriage of the Antelope Youth and the Snake Maiden signifies the fruitation of all life as does the sacred marriage between the goddess and god.

The Snake Maiden is a symbol of the Snake which is symbolically found in the lowest chakra as kundalini, the Female Earth Fire. The snake is a symbol of the Mother Earth from which all life is born.

The Antelope is associated with the highest chakra center in man. The antelope symbolizes for the Hopi fruitful reproduction and increase in population. The Antelopes horn is located at the crown of the head, the kopavi, which in man is the place of coming and going out of life, the open door through which man spiritually communicates with his creator.

When antelope run they make the sound of thunder whose vibration stimulates the clouds to come out of their shrine to send rain to the earth. The Serpent Maiden comes out of her Kiva to incubate the seeds of life.

The Antelope functions as the summoner, the awakener of the life bearer. The Antelope is male, associated with the head and consciousness.

The Snake is female and is associated with the generative energy of life. The ritual of the Snake Maiden's marriage is an appeal to the energies of life to come out, as she has come out, from their unawakened virginal retreat.

The Antelope is associated with the Sun. The Snake is associated with the moon. The marriage is the joining of the Solar Male Fire energy with the Lunar Female Fire energy.

The kundalini serpent dwells in the lowest chakra coiled three and a half times. The Hopi have lived in three and a half worlds with three more worlds to go.

Kundalini starts out at the lowest chakra then moves up through the chakras. As the kundalini rises it moves with the same motion of a snake.

The Wuwuchim is the sound of a low hum and a strange blowing of breath which is performed by society members in the Antelope Kiva. The sound of the Wuwuchim is the sound that awakens the kundalini and gives it the desire to rise up through the chakras. The aim of yoga is to awaken the Snake Maiden, kundalini, and bring her up the spine to full consciousness, both of herself and the spiritual nature of all things.

The Antelope Race is held on the morning of the fifteenth day and the Snake Race is held on the morning of the sixteenth day. The races are very similar with members of both societies running in both races.

The races start about four miles out from the village. An Antelope Society member, a Snake Society member and a Qalataqa (The Guardian of the People who closes the doors) draw a line of cornmeal running east along the path of the race. The runners crisscross the trail at the seven intervals marked with prayer sticks.

The races are run precisely as kundalini rises in the spine. The trail is the main channel called Sushumna. The marked intervals and crisscrossing of the trail are representation of Ida, the Lunar, female Fire Energy on the left, and Pingala, the Solar, Male Fire Energy on the right. It is the fusing together of Ida and Pingala that make man complete and whole.

An elderly Antelope priest who cannot run very fast is about midway along the path of both races. He carries a bunch of prayer sticks and a small jar of water blessed in the Antelope Kiva. A Qalataqa is with him to protect the blessed water. The Antelope priest jogs along until the fastest racer catches up with him. The elderly priest thanks and blesses the runner as the priest hands the runner the pohos and water jug. The Antelope priest then instructs the runner to carry them to their home.

After the race the winning racer is blessed in the Antelope Kiva. After the blessing he goes to his family’s field where he plants the prayer sticks and water jug in his family's field.

The Antelope Dance is to entice the clouds to form while the Snake Dance draws the rain from the clouds.

In the Snake Dance the plaza in the village is used. A small hole representing the place of emergence is covered with a cottonwood plank which is used as a resounding board or a resonator. Behind it the kiwi is built. The Kiwi is a bower of green cottonwood branches with the opening covered with a blanket. In the kiwi the jar of snakes is placed on the afternoon of the Snake Dance.

The Snake Dance starts with two rows of twelve men each filing into the plaza. The dancers encircle the plaza four times. As each passes in front of the kiwi the dancer with his right foot stomps hard on the cottonwood plank making a noise similar to thunder.

This is the supreme moment of mystery, the pulling together of all sixteen days of ceremony. The beings below are assured that the ceremony is still being carried out.

This is the awakening of the vibratory center of the earth resounding along the world axis. It carries to the four corners the message to the White Brother that he is not forgotten and he must come. It is a summons, a mandatory call to the creative life forces, (kundalini) coiled like a serpent in the lowest centers of Earth and Man to awaken and ascend to the throne of her Lord for the final consummation of their Mystic Marriage.

The stomping is like a pebble in a pool transmitting waves of energies.

The Antelope dancers standing in a long line extending from the kiwi sway slightly like a snake with their bodies straightening and their voices rising.

The Snake Chief stoops in front of the kiwi and arises with a snake in his mouth. With his left hand he holds the upper part of the snake’s body level with his chest. With his right hand he holds the snakes lower length level with his waist. Another Snake Priest acting as a guide to a dancer steps up with a kwawiki (feathered snake whip) in his right hand and strokes the snake’s body with it. The Snake Priest directs the dancer in a circle around the plaza. As they move away from the Kiva another dancer steps up to the kiwi with his guide. This is done until all the dancers have a snake.

After dancing around the plaza each dancer gently puts the snake on the ground and then he and his guide go back for another snake. The Snake- Gatherer picks up the snakes the dancers have put down and hands them to the Antelope Society dancers singing in the long line. The Antelopes song is describing the clouds coming from the four directions and the rain falling.

The rain that comes with the Snake Dance is the consummation of the union of the two universal polarities, the release of the mystic rain which recharges all the psychic centers of the body and renews the whole stream of life in man and earth.

After the last of the snakes are danced with a group of women make a circle of cornmeal besides the Kiva. The Antelope Society members bring their armloads of snakes and place them inside the cornmeal circle.

Each of the Snake Society members pick up as many snakes as they can carry until all the snakes are gathered. The Snake Society members take the snakes back out into the desert where the snakes are distributed to the west, the south, the east and the north where the snakes are blessed again and released to carry to the four corners of the earth the message of the renewal of life.

When the men come back they drink a bowl of strong emetic called naneyoya. They then stand on the edge of the cliff and throw up. This is so their bellies won’t swell up with the power like the clouds and burst.

The women help the dancers to clean the paint off the dancers’ bodies after which the men return to the Kiva for purification.

The Snake – Antelope is the last major ceremony in the annual cycle. The Snake – Antelope ceremony shows how the interplay of the universal forces within man can be controlled and made manifest in the physical world.

The Snake – Antelope Ceremony is the physical representation of the two universal forces that are the roots of all levels of manifestation.

The Snake is the symbol of kundalini, the Female, Earth/Lunar, Fire Energy that is hidden deep within man and earth. The kundalini must be raised through the energy centers of man and earth to join with the Male Solar Fire Energy. It is only when the two energies are joined as one that man and the earth are complete.

The Antelope is a symbol of air, freedom, action, strength of mind and heart, and represents the highest center in man and earth that the Snake must rise to.

The Mystic Marriage of the Snake Maiden and Antelope Youth is a symbol of the joining of the two universal forces.

The snake hunt symbolizes the inner search for the kundalini force. The searching for the snakes in the four directions is symbolic of the four elements, earth, air, fire and water, and of the shape of the root chakra where the serpent lies asleep coiled three and a half times. The shape of the root chakra is a circle divided into four sections.

The race shows how the Snake, the kundalini, rises up to join with the Antelope. The crisscross pattern of the race shows the pattern of kundalini as it rises up through the chakras. The racing itself is symbolic of how fast the kundalini rises. The water jug carried by the fastest racer is symbolic of the Female Lunar Fire. The dance is the climax of the ceremony where the energy that has been raised and is now usable is released to do the work assigned to it: the bringing of the rain.

The Snake – Antelope Ceremony is fascinating. It is a very graphic description of kundalini and its rise through the chakras. It is not the handiwork of a primitive people. It was developed by a people of a very high knowledge of the universe and its operation. This one ceremony alone gives credibility to their myth of coming from another world and going to another as long as they perform their ceremonies.