myth : the serpent

"Whenever there is a strong lock used there is something extremely precious hidden. The thicker the Veil, the more valuable the jewel. A hoard of treasure is guarded by a large snake; do not dwell on the hideousness of the snake, contemplate the dazzling and the priceless things you'll discover in the treasure." - Rumi

The serpent has been a symbol of long life, healing, and knowledge among almost all cultures and religions since the beginning of recorded history.

The Ouroboros, also spelled Oroborus, Uroboros or Uroborus, is an ancient symbol depicting a serpent swallowing its own tail and forming a circle. The Ouroboros is one of the oldest mystical symbols on Earth. The serpent appears in Aztec, Chinese, and Native American mythologies, among others.

The single serpent staff appears on a Sumerian vase of 2000 B.C. representing the healing god Ningishita, the prototype of the Greek god of healing Aesculapius.

The medical professions in America use the caduceus - a pole entwined with 2 snakes, which originally was a symbol of heralds and commerce. Ironically, this was the staff of Mercury (Hermes) who was the god of thieves.

The "correct" and traditional symbol of medicine is the staff of Aesculapius, Æsclepius, Asklepios, with a single serpent encircling a staff, classically a rough-hewn knotty oak tree limb. Aesculapius, an ancient Greek physician deified as the god of medicine, is traditionally depicted as a bearded man wearing a robe that leaves his chest uncovered and holding a staff with his sacred single serpent coiled around it, symbolizing renewal of youth as the serpent casts off its skin.

The power of life causes the serpent to shed its skin, just as the moon sheds its shadow.

{"The moon of true knowledge - the educator of mankind - hath been obscured." - Bahá'u'lláh}

The serpent sheds its skin to be born again,
as the moon its shadow to be born again

They are equivalent symbols.

Sometimes the serpent
is represented as a circle eating its own tail.

That's an image of life.

"Circle"

There are two of us talking in circles
and one of us who wants to leave
in a world created for only us
an empty cage that has no key
don't you know we're working with flesh and blood
carving out of jealousy

Crawling into each other it's smothering
every little part of me

What kind of compassion is this that keeps me
hanging on
despite everything it's doing to me
what is this compassion that keeps me coming
back for more
when it will only end in misery
I know too many people unhappy
in a life from which they'd compassion to flee
watching others get everything offered
they're wanton for discovery

Oh my brother my sister my mother
you're loosing your identity
can't you see that it's you in the window
shining with intensity

What kind of compassion is this that keeps me
hanging on
despite everything it's doing to me
what is this compassion that keeps me coming
back for more
when it will only end in misery...

Sarah McLachlan

Life sheds one generation after another, to be born again.

The serpent represents immortal energy and consciousness engaged in the field of time,
constantly throwing off death and being born again.

There is some things tremendously terrifying about life when you look at it that way.

The serpent carries in itself the sense of both the fascination and the terror of life.

The serpent represents the primary function of life, mainly eating.

Life consists of eating other creatures.

When you make a meal you're eating something that was recently alive.

When you look at the beauty of nature you see the birds picking around eating things.

You see the cows grazing, they're eating things.

The serpent is a traveling alimentary canal, that's about all it is.

And it gives you that primary sense of shock, of life in its most primal quality.

Life lives by killing and eating itself, casting off death and being reborn, like the moon.

The serpent in most cultures is given a positive interpretation.

In India even the most poisonous snake, the cobra, is a sacred animal
and the mythological serpent king is the next thing to the Buddha.

The serpent represents the power of life engaged in the field of time, and of death,
yet eternally alive; the world is but its shadow - the falling skin.

The serpent was revered in the American Indian traditions, too.

The serpent was thought of as a very important power to be made friends with.

Go down to the pueblos, for example, and watch the snake dance of the Hopi, where they take the snakes in their mouths and make friends with them and then send them back to the hills. The snakes are sent back to carry the human message to the hills, just as they have brought the message of the hills to the humans.

The interplay of man and nature is illustrated in this relationship with the serpent.

A serpent flows like water, but its tongue continually flashes fire.

So you have the pair of opposites together in the serpent.

wisdom is a danger to society

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