The Serpent - Climbing the Tree of Knowledgeby - Andrew Rutajit
Throughout history, the snake has been recognized as a regenerative power, as an evil spirit, as a god of good, as Christ (by the Gnostics), as a solar deity, as a phallic deity, and as a god of death. The snake, or serpent, is also a symbol of Satan and many other deities, including Apollo and the Egyptian god Ra. Snake worship found its way into both the Toltec and Aztec periods of prehistoric Mexican civilization as well. The Aztecs believed that a half-divine, half-human life form descended down to earth as the great teacher for all humanity; they called him the “feathered serpent,” and he was an anthropomorphism of the sun. It is said that in Egypt, each temple had an entire area set aside where snakes were kept. There is a scene in the movie “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (set in Egypt) where the characters enter an area within an Egyptian structure inundated with snakes. The Indians, Siamese, and Burmese worshiped snakes as demons with good characteristics. Ancient Hindu snake theology was incorporated into the worship of Krishna and Vishnu. Buddhist legends inform us that Buddha was given the true Buddhism by the “king of the serpents”, Buddhists have a high regard for the regenerative powers of the snake. The ancient Semites and Mesopotamians believed that the snake was immortal because it sheds its skin and reappears in a fresh guise. The symbol of the snake biting its own tail (or the Ouroboros) in medieval Alchemical artwork is said by many to be a symbol of infinity, or eternity. In China, the serpent takes the form of the dragon; here the snake has somehow become one with a fierce, fire-breathing bird (A FireBird, or Phoenix), while simultaneously remaining a protective deity. In Greek religion and mythology, the snake was commonly considered divine. The serpent indicated wisdom and was a symbol of fertility among the Greek Dionysian’s. The Greek god most closely associated with the snake was Apollo; the original name of Apollo's temple at Delphi was “Pytho”, after the snake Python. In ancient Rome, a sacred snake was kept within the city; it was believed that if the snake declined to accept food from the hand of its attendant, the attendant was no longer a virgin, and she was killed (As though the snake knew the goings on in human affairs.). Rev. George Oliver (one of the few men who has made a science of Freemasonry) in his book Signs and Symbols states, "the Ophites declared that the serpent which they worshiped was Jesus Christ". The serpent was not the tempter in the garden, but the redeemer and savior! They would let this serpent out of its cage and it would crawl up and onto the table and wrap itself around the loaves of bread. The bread was then declared the Eucharist and they would break the bread and eat it. The Christian perspective of the serpent is a naive one, and it may seem a bit odd for a Christian to consider a serpent doing good instead of evil, but that is exactly what is happening in the biblical books of Numbers and John.
Moses
had just escorted his people out of Egypt; they had been walking and
traveling for quite some time and they began to wonder what was going
to happen to them in the near future. They had no water; they had no
bread; and the food that they did have, they detested. They asked Moses
why he brought them out of Egypt just to die in the desert.
The Christian God does not approve of these doubts and complaints and sends venomous snakes to attack his chosen people; the snakes bit the people and many Israelites died. When the Israelites said that they were sorry for complaining about being in the desert with no water, God tells Moses to put a bronze snake on a poll; that anyone who looked upon it would be saved. The symbol of a snake on a poll is a very common symbol in today’s society. And it still is a symbol for healing and for medicine…or to be blunt, it represents the knowledge of drugs and the body (pharmacopoeia and anatomy). This symbol is called the caduceus. A snake (or 2 snakes) climbing a poll, with two wings and a crown (or often a simple bump) at the top. Sometimes, like in THIS picture, the wings are represented by a bird. 
You
will see the caduceus in or on hospitals and ambulances, at a
chiropractors or veterinarians, in a pharmacy or at the family
doctor...just about anywhere the practitioners have studied anatomy and
physiology, you will find the caduceus.
In Gnostic tradition, Jesus was the wise
serpent/beast who gave Adam and Eve their knowledge in the Garden of
Eden. Here, Jesus is depicted as the serpent in this sixteenth century
German coin. So it is not completely uncommon to see the serpent as a
good character. Pictured below are more crucified serpents from 2 medieval alchemical paintings. In the Garden of Eden, the serpent gave mankind knowledge that the gods had by giving Adam and Eve something to eat. This is how drugs are taken, they are eaten (ingested). At least sacred plants are, I am not referring to highly refined chemical compounds made from these plants, liquefied and injected into the bloodstream... I'm speaking of common, archaic techniques....take the plant and eat it. As represented in the images below, inside the
Garden of Eden, we find a snake wrapped around a poll - the branches
represent the wings. It is the caduceus once again representing the
knowledge of medicine. Adam and Eve ingested something that forced them
out of nature (living naked with the animals), and it turned them into
the humans that we are today (living like gods). The LORD (also known
as the "Authorities" or landlords) wanted a relationship with us like
we have with a dog - Master and Beast. Whatever was eaten in the
garden, separated us from this relationship. It opened our eyes to the
truth and in turn, it made us gods as well. In Astrotheology &
Shamanism, Jan Irvin and I show how control has been taken back over us
with a simple symbol...a "mark", if you will.
Lets Break down the symbolism in the Caduceus: : The caduceus as snakes working their way up the spinal column.
Mercury with wings on his head and he is holding the caduceus with his left hand. Wings coming out of your head...maybe something like this:
Dictionary dot com defines Kundalini this way: kun·da·li·ni
- Energy that lies dormant at the base of the spine until it is
activated, as by the practice of yoga, and channeled upward through the
chakras in the process of spiritual perfection. The wings at the top of
the Caduceus represent something that is actually in our heads. A
simple way of looking at it is to see the wings at the top as the two
hemispheres in the brain, the staff as our spinal column, the crown at
the top represents our Pineal gland, and the entwined serpents are the
Kundalini energy.
What about the wings and the bump at the top?
In our bodies, we have wings above our spinal staff. This darkened area is the ventricle system of the brain. The ventricle system in the brain is a
series of cavities and chambers that allow cerebrospinal fluid to flow
around the brain. Cerebrospinal fluid is the fluid that brain floats in
to protect itself from injury. Directly in the center of the brain (in
the middle of the ventricle system), you will find the Pineal gland.
The Pineal gland elaborates melatonin which regulates our sleep
patterns. It does this based on the light and dark patterns that we
experience via day and night. What's interesting is that a gland,
buried deep inside your brain is sensing light. This is why the Pineal
gland has been referred to as your third eye in so many cultures, it sees
the light and and knows when it is dark. When we are in the womb, when
we are babies, and just as we die, it is argued that this gland will
also excrete the most potent psychedelic substance known to man - DMT.
Theories have proliferated in the last several
years that the pineal gland sends a flood of DMT to the brain, that
this is responsible for the intense visions many people experience, as
often reported, at death. 4 LSD-like compounds exist Naturally
in the human brain! This information is not debatable. It would seem as
though this chemical compound is with us as our soul enters the body,
it floods the brain nightly with DMT as we sleep and dream, and it
ushers us thru death’s door as well. The ventricle system and pineal
gland are also your third eye chakra system. Here you can see where the
symbol for the Eye of Ra comes from. It is literally your third eye
inside your brain.
Symbols are true on many scales and each has different meanings to the different groups who employ them. It's occult (or secret) anatomy. We think that we are just discovering what the Pineal gland does but it's quite obvious that this understanding is archaic and not new at all. Never underestimate the power of information suppression...this is not new information, this has been known by man for thousands of years. |
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