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The Symbol of The Serpent

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« on: February 02, 2007, 09:27:12 am »

The serpent signifies ancient wisdom.

Attempts by Chistianity to make it a demonic creature were merely an attempt to stamp out all pagan symbols and wisdom, among them, Poseidon's trident, turned into the pitchfork of the devil and woman, earlier seen as the equal of man, then turned into the vessel for which all earthly sin entered the world.
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« Reply #1 on: February 02, 2007, 09:27:54 am »

Serpent Temples:

http://www.sacred-texts.com/etc/wos/wos09.htm

The decline of Serpent Worship:

http://www.sacred-texts.com/etc/wos/wos10.htm

The serpent's role in many of the ancient cultures:

1. BABYLON. Of Babylon we know little beyond the fact, that "they of the city worshipped

p. 420

a dragon," whom Daniel the prophet destroyed by his prayers.

2. PERSIA. Less accurate information as to circumstances, but equally certain as to the principal fact, is found in the history of Persia. How far the worship of the Host of Heaven may have superseded that of the serpent in the time of Cyrus, who governed both Babylon and Persia, is unknown.

3. HINDŰSTAN. Far different was the case in Hindűstan. There fable and history alike teem with the perpetual conflicts of the sun and serpent. Surya is ever the enemy of Budha. The latter, under the hateful form of a serpent, had carried off the daughter of the son of Manna, and stolen the sacred books of Crishna, the incarnate son of Brahma. One of his family had also seized upon a horse which the son of Ramah had designed to be sacrificed to the sun 1. The race of Budha was therefore proscribed; and the children of Surya, i.e. the worshippers of the sun, and the children of Crishna, i.e. the votaries of the incarnate Son of God, felt themselves called upon to execute the sentence. The offences imputed to the serpent Budha are remarkable. The abduction of the woman, and the stealing of the sacred books of the incarnate God,


p. 423

indicate the events in Paradise as the remote and traditional cause of the animosity.

4. CHINA, BURMAH, and SIAM. These countries retain but few impressions of their primeval superstitions.

5. In ARABIA, the worship of the serpent was very early overthrown, and gave way to the adoration of the Host of Heaven. But if any traces of this superstition lingered among the innumerable idolatries of a land which was once divided between AUR and AUB, the sword and the Koran made an equal end of all.


6. SYRIA. The Syrian Ophites when scattered by the victorious arms of Joshua 2, preferred, for the most part, to resign their country rather than forsake their creed. Those of the Hivites
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« Reply #2 on: February 02, 2007, 09:28:36 am »

p. 426

of Mount Libanus, who could not hide themselves among their native rocks (and thus fulfil the divine decree of being "left to prove" Israel), carried their religion into the islands of the Archipelago, into Thrace, into Macedonia, into Greece. Their subsequent history is to be found in the fables of mythology, in which the synchronous march of Cadmus to the Hellespont may indicate the retreat of a party of Kadmonites in that direction.

7. EGYPT. Ophiolatreia was never predominant


8. ABYSSINIA. More distinct traces of the state of serpent-worship were left in Ćthiopia. On the borders of Abyssinia the serpent is still worshipped by the Shangalla Negroes; but the glory of its overthrow in the more civilized portions of the land of Habesh, is ascribed to nine missionaries of the Christian church of Alexandria.

9. WHIDAH. Equally circumstantial is the narrative of the suppression of Ophiolatreia in Whidah. The fatal blow was given in 1726, by the Dahomeys, who destroyed all the serpents which had been kept for religious purposes.

10. The worshippers of the serpent had as little rest in Europe. The unremitting hostility of the children of the sun is indelibly stamped upon the annals of Grecian fable. The contest of Apollo and Python for the temple of Delphi, was a struggle of the sun-worshippers, for an Ophite sanctuary. One remarkable feature, however, distinguishes the fable. The promise of Paradise finds a singular parallel in the history of Apollo 2: and this very circumstance throws a light upon the cause of the hostility against the serpent. It would appear by the


p. 429

fable that the Zabeans took possession of the Dracontium of Delphi, and substituted their own rites for those of the Ophites. But whether the country was still favourably disposed towards the old religion, or whether the usurpers desired to innovate gradually without too much violence to the prejudices of the votaries of the serpent, they preserved the general form and figure of the temple, together with some of its peculiar customs. The serpentine avenue was therefore only so far disturbed as to admit a central circular temple in honour of the SUN 1; the Pythoness still gave her oracles from the dracontic tripod; and live serpents were still kept in the subterranean recesses. A similar policy was observed by the triumphant children of the sun in other parts of Europe.

11. The idolatry of the serpent lost its integrity in THRACE, MACEDONIA, and EPIRUS, in a more peaceable manner. It gradually subsided into the mysteries of Dionusus. There is a mention of an attempt to unite it with the idolatry of the sun by a reformer whom history has agreed to call "Orpheus." The real meaning


p. 430

of this word is probably, "The oracle of OR." (Or-phi.) OR was the same as the ORUS of the Egyptians, and the UR of the Chaldees; and was a title of the sun taken from his attribute of light.


http://www.sacred-texts.com/etc/wos/wos10.htm
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« Reply #3 on: February 02, 2007, 09:29:37 am »

From Boreasi & Rockessence:

SerpentGorgon info from Boreas back in Dec:

"My understanding is that the Greek Medusa is a paralell to the Roman Luxuria. They were both part of the old female "deities", in a culture where the highest of the royals - of both sexes - also functioned as deities.

Being the essential goal for the old offering-systems they received the the female serpents, bringing the "Water of Life" (Aqua Vita), also called the "Water of Wisdom", to the respective royal courts.

The Go+Ra+Go`n (Good+Ra+Good) says that the old deities, called Good-men, got and gave the Ra, representing the male Seeds of Knowledge and Water of Life. The rites of the old Spartans reflect the practice of these principles. But, with the defeat to the uprising Athenians the old nobility of Troy lost, and the more violent culture took over. Thus the old rites were altered and eventually completly denounced.

When the old culture - and the inherrited rights of it - were oberthrown, this culture were abandoned and stigmatized. By the new rulers, - that were without this inherrited rigth to reveive the grace of the people. Thus the old funtion of the royal deities were given up, and eventually mystified.

It is interesting to see how the key-figures in the old culture - such as Medusa and Jezebel - soon came to be pictured as "devilish". The devil-figure was also part of the old practice of worship that created the serpent that once involved all members of the repspective societies - with each other - and thus became the yearly blesing for the people - to their royal families and rulers of the land."

"Go + R + Go + N

Good + Ra (Man`s Seed ("reflection")),
Good + kNowledge (N also representing the North-star, with six angles (sextant) symbolising higher knowledge and navigation.

Gorgon; Good Seed, Good Knowledge."

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« Reply #4 on: February 02, 2007, 09:31:39 am »

From Boreasi:

Aphro, quote;
"The serpent signifies ancient wisdom. Attempts by Chistianity to make it a demonic creature were merely an attempt to stamp out all pagan symbols and wisdom, among them, Poseidon's trident, turned into the pitchfork of the devil and woman, earlier seen as the equal of man, then turned into the vessel for which all earthly sin entered the world."

A very spot on conclusion - and great links!

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Jormungand

Thor fighting the sea serpent, Henry Fuseli, 1788.In Norse mythology, the sea serpent Jormungand was the middle child of Loki and the giantess Angerboda. In Thorsdrapa, Fađir lögseims, (trans. father of the sea thread), i.e. the father of Jormungand, is used as a direct kenning for Loki.

Loki was forbidden by Odin to mate with Angerboda (also Angraboda, Angrboda- "Herald of Sorrow"), as it was prophesised that the offspring of their union would overthrow the gods. When Loki went ahead and did it anyway, the Aesir kidnapped the three children,Fenrir, Hel and Jormugand. They tossed Jormugand into the Ocean, the endless waters that encircled Midgard. Jormungand grew so big that he was able to surround the Earth and grasp his own tail (see Ouroboros).

Jormugand's arch enemy is the god Thor. There are three known myths detailing their encounters. In one, Thor encounters the serpent disguised as a colossal cat by the giant king Utgard-Loki. As one of the tasks set by Utgard-Loki, Thor must lift the cat, and though he is unable to lift such a monstrous creature as Jormugand, he comes so close that when the deception is revealed by Utgard-Loki it is still an impressive feat.

Their next encounter came when Thor went fishing with the giant Hymir. The two did not get on, and when Hymir refused to privide Thor with bait, Thor struck the head off Hymir's largest ox, Himinhriod ('Heaven Springer') to use. They rowed to a point where Hymir often sat and caught flat fish, and he drew up two whales. Thor demanded to go farther, and so they did. Hymir told Thor that the part they were at was unsafe, because of the Midgard serpent, but Thor ignored him, and to Hymir's horror they rowed out further.

Thor then prepared a strong line and a large hook, and Jormugand bit. Thor pulled the serpent up; the two faced off, Jormugand dribbling poison and blood. Hymir went pale with fear, and as Thor grabbed his hammer to kill the serpent, cut the line, leaving the serpent to sink beneath the waves.

Their last meeting will come at Ragnarok, when Jormungard will drag himself from the Ocean and poison the skies with the deadly poison eitr. Jomungard will kill many warriors with his poison, including Thor, the thunder god, who with his dying breath will at last finish off the Serpent.

According to another folktale, whenever fishermen, sea explorers or Viking raiding parties encountered the Serpent, Thor would come along to fight the great snake. It is possible that this particular myth arose because of thunderstorms at sea (the Norsemen believed that thunderstorms were caused by Thor riding across the sky in his goat-pulled chariot), where the ocean's waves ripped at ships like they were a gigantic snake. Ancient Norsemen spent a considerable amount of their time at sea, so many of their myths and legends revolve around such matters.

Jormungand is also sometimes referred to as the Midgard Serpent (Miđgarđsormur)or the World Serpent.

Alternate spellings:

Jormagund
Jormugand
Jormangund
Jormungandr

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jormungand

Eitr is a fictional substance in Norse mythology. This liquid substance is the origin of all living things, the first giant Ymir was conceived from eitr. The substance is supposed to be very poisonous and is also produced by Jormungand (the Midgard serpent) and other serpents.

In Vafţrúđnismál Odin asks Vafţruđner about the origin of Ymir and the giant answers:

Ór Élivagom
stukkoo eitrdropar,
svá óx, unz varđ ór iötunn;
ţar órar ćttir
kómu allar saman,
ţví er ţat ć allt til atalt.
Rough translation:

From Éliwaves
Eitrdrops splashed
that grew into a giant
who begat all families
from which all [giants] come
that is why we are easily angered

Influence
The word eitr exist in most Nordic languages (all derived from the Old Norse language) in Danish edder, in Swedish etter, in German Eiter (lit. pus),in Old Saxon ĕttar, in Old English ăttor. The meaning of the word is very broad: poisonous, evil, bad, angry, sinister etc. The word is used in common Scandinavian folklore as a synonym for snake poison. The last line of the stanza in Vafţrúđnismál where Vafţruđner says "that is why we are easily angered", is a word-play with the meaning of the word eitr, as it also means anger/angry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eitr
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« Reply #5 on: February 02, 2007, 09:32:32 am »

From Rich`s thread "Ophiusa";

"the island Rhodes was at first called Ophiusa, being full of serpents, before Phorbas, a Prince of Argos, went thither, and made it habitable by destroying the serpents"

"The same is said of Formentera, in the Mediterranean, anciently Ophiusa, between Majorca and Minorca."

http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/5/5/13552/13552-h/13552-h.htm
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"Island of Serpents, to the portion of the country which they held, in the same manner that Rhodes and Cyprus severally acquired the ancient designation of Ophiusa, from the fact of their being the residence of the Ophites, who introduced serpent-worship into Greece.[9]"
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The Ophites claimed that Moses himself had exalted Ophis by setting up the serpent, and that Jesus also had recognized it (comp. John iii. 14).
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=83&letter=O

Note the dobble 0 in the name; O-phi-u-sa

See also; http://forums.atlantisrising.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=001206#000001
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« Reply #6 on: February 02, 2007, 09:40:58 am »

From Boreasi:

Astrology

On today's star charts the Dragon (which means serpent) should be identified with the constellation Serpens (Caput and Cauda connected with ten stars). The seven heads would be the constellation Corona (crown) Borealis which consists of 7 stars. This serpent is right at the feet of the constellation Virgo and Hercules, where Hercules is meeting with the serpent. Also seen to be the Archangel Michael.


Sumerian Dragons

In Babylon they worshipped the god Nina in the form of a serpent (IBSE, Vol.1, 428-9).

A modern rendition of ancient Persia, the Zoroastrian symbol "The Fravashi of Light" is dipicted above along with an ancient rendition of one of the Farohars (Guardian Angels) from which it derived. "They manifest the energy of God, and preserve order in the creation. They are said to fly like winged birds, and are represented by a winged disk...."

Gilgamesh

The Epic of Gilgamesh describes the battle with the Bull of Heaven. Enkidu seized the Bull by the horns. "The Bull of Heaven foamed in his face, it brushed him with the thick of its tail. Gilgamesh followed the bull, he seized the thick of his tail, he thrust the sword between the nape and the horns and slew the bull" (Sandars 1972, 88; ANET, 85, 505). The "thick of his tail" does not mean a dinosaur’s big tail, but the tassel at the end of its tail. The Akkadian is ku-bur zib-ba-ti-su, meaning "thickness of his tail" (ANET, 505). "It refers to the tassele at the end of the tail in contrast to the thin middle part" (Ibid., note 29). The horns of the bull are plated with lapis two inches thick, weighing thirty pounds, and holding 105 gallons each (Heidel, 55). This was a huge mythical bull which is associated with the constellation Taurus, the bull (Black and Green, 49).

Gilgamesh also battles another monster called "Huwawa" (Babylonian) or "Humbaba" (Assyrian) who lives in the Cedar Forest. Huwawa is described by "his roaring is the flood-storm, his mouth is fire, his breath is death" (ANET, 79; Jacobsen, 200). This does not mean it breaths fire. This is poetical language describing its snort that looks like smoke on a cool morning.

Ugarit

In Ugarittic it is clear that leviathan (ltn) had seven heads. In the story of Baal and Mot it says, "for all that you smote Leviathan the slippery serpent (and) made an end of the wriggling serpent, the tyrant with seven heads?" (Gibson 1978, 68; ANET, 137-8; KTU 1.5, I.1-3). In Sumerian poetry there is mus-sag-imin, the seven headed serpent. In Old Akkadian the seven-tongued serpent, hubullu may also have seven heads (TDOT Vol.7, 507). There is even a Sumerian carving of a seven-headed monster (ANEP fig. 671,& 691).

The many-headed Greek hydra who was killed by Hercules may come from the ancient Near East stories of Leviathan. Could the idea of a many headed sea monster come from seeing a giant squid or octopus, and assuming the tentacles were heads. It seems that the word "leviathan" is a general term for any large sea animal. In Job 41 it clearly has one head, but in Psalm 74 it has many heads, probably a giant squid. In the Book of Revelation 13:1 the beast arising from the sea has seven heads. This seems to be alluding to the leviathan of seven heads tradition.

Greek Serpents

Arcadia is a region in Greece in central Peloponnesus. It has links to flood myths, and its first king was said to come from Argo. The importance of this will be revisited shortly.
The god Pan ruled over Arcadia. This god was identified with the Gaelic Britian god Cernunnos, who was also horned. Cernunnos, the prototype Herne the Hunter from Shakespear's The Merry Wives of Windsor (who was also related to Puck from A Midsummer's Eve. Puck was later known as Robin Goodfellow, later Robin Hood!), was a fertility god(for all the above gods are related to the celtic Green Man) and was connected to the cycle of Life and Death. This brings to mind the Greek god Chronos, whose name equals the Danish/Celtic entity "Cerunnos", both strongly associated to “Chrown”, as well as crowning and the basic symbols of the ancient Royals. A parallel is the Egyptian Pharaos who wore the Serpent at their forehead – as the “eye” of their crown.

Cecrops

The name Cecrops means 'face with a tail' and it is said that this mythical Greek king, born from the earth itself, had his top half shaped like a man and the bottom half in serpent or fish-tail form. He was first king and founder of Athens itself, though preceded in the region by earth-born Actaeus, king of Attica. Cecrops was a culture-hero, teaching the Athenians marriage, reading and writing, and ceremonial burial.

During his reign Athena became the patron goddess of the city of Athens in a competition with Poseidon which Cecrops judged. They agreed that each would give the Athenians one gift and Cecrops would choose whichever gift they preferred. Poseidon struck the ground with his trident and a spring sprang up; the water was salty and was not thought very useful, whereas Athena struck the rock with her lance and an olive tree sprung up. Cecrops judged the olive tree to be the superior gift, for the olive tree brought wood, oil and food, and consequently accepted Athena as their patron. Poseidon, in a rare show of magnanimity, decided to grant his gift regardless, although its nature was initially misunderstood: it was meant to represent sea power, which Athens was to exercise gloriously in the future.

The Acropolis was also known as the Cecropia in his honor. See also Chronos thread; http://forums.atlantisrising.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=15;t=000609#000003

Late Greek Myths

"OPHIOTAUROS" was a monster born with the foreparts of a black bull and the rearparts of a serpent. During the Titan-War it was revealed that whoever fed the innards of this creature to flame would be victorious over the gods. So Zeus' ally, the goddess Styx, then imprisoned the beast near her home in the Underworld. When Briareus, an ally of the Titanes, came and slew the creature, Zeus sent a kite-bird to steal the innards away to heaven and thwart the prophecy.

(This story appears to be part of the lost Greek epic known as the Titanomachia (War of the Titanes), in which the giant AIGAION appears as an ally of the Titanes. Ovid here calls Aigaion Briareus, the name of his son in both the Titanomachia and the Iliad).

GAIA

“The Kite star Milvus … If you want to know what bestowed heaven on that bird: Saturnus [Kronos] was thrust from his realm by Jove [Zeus]. In anger he stirs the mighty Titanes to arms and seeks the assistance owed by fate. There was a shocking monster born of Mother Terra (Earth) [Gaia], a bull, whose back half was a serpent. Roaring Styx [as an ally of Zeus] imprisoned it, warned by the three Parcae [Moirai the Fates], in a black grove with a triple wall. Whoever fed the bull’s guts to consuming flames was destined to defeat the eternal gods. Briareus [Aigaion] slays it with an adamantine axe and prepares to feed the flames its innards. Jupiter [Zeus] commands the birds to grab them; the kite brought them to him and reached the stars on merit.” –Ovid Fasti 3.793

Sources: * Ovid, Fasti - Latin Epic C1st BC - C1st AD http://www.theoi.com/Tartaros/Ophiotauros.html

Homer;

In the Odyssey there is a description of a sea monster called "Scylla." "Her legs and there are twelve are like great tentacles, unjointed, and upon her serpent necks are borne six heads like night-mares of ferocity and triple serried rows of fangs and deep gullets of black death. Half her length, she sways her heads in air" (Fitzgerald 1961, 212; Book 12:88-94; LCL 104, 439). This seems to describe the giant squid, Architeuthis which Ellis says is "probably responsible for more myths, fables, fantasies, and fictions than all other marine monsters combined" (1994, 122). Therefore it seems most likely that the stories of a seven-headed sea serpent arose from seeing the giant squid, Architeuthis.

Today we may even think that the Hydra who was killed by Hercules could be nothing but a giant octopus. The hydra is said to have nine heads, and when one was cut off, two more grew in its place (Ibid, 260). Pliny the Elder lumps the squid and octopus together as polyp in his book Naturalis Historia, finally burring the last memories of the ancient Spartan culture.


Egyptian Serpents

Nehebkau


In Egyptian mythology, Nehebkau (also spelled Nehebu-Kau, and Neheb Ka) was originally the explanation, of the cause, of binding of Ka and Ba after death. Thus his name, which means (one who) brings together Ka. Since these aspects of the soul were said to bind after death, Nehebkau was said to have guarded the entrance to Duat, the underworld.

The symbol resembling a two-headed snake was the more important glyphs in his name. Nehebkau became depicted in art as a snake with two heads (occasionally with only one). As a two-headed snake, he was viewed as fierce, being able to attack from two directions, and not having to fear as much confrontations. Consequently sometimes it was said that Atum, the chief god in these areas, had to keep his finger on him to prevent Nehebkau from getting out of control. Alternately, in areas where Ra was the chief god, it was said that Nehebkau was one of the warriors who protected Ra whilst he was in the underworld, during Ra's nightly travel, as a sun god, under the earth.

When he was seen as a snake, he was also thought to have some power over snake-bites, and by extension, other poisonous bites, such as those of scorpions, thus sometimes being identified as the son of Serket, the scorpion-goddess of protection against these things. Alternatively, as a snake, since he was connected to an aspect of the soul, he was sometimes seen as the son of Renenutet, a snake-goddess, who distributed the Ren, another aspect of the soul, and of the earth (Geb), on which snakes crawl.

Ka is also the Egyptian word for phallus, and so as the somewhat difficult to interpret (one who) harnesses together phalluses, he was often depicted in an Ithyphallic manner (still as a snake).

A funny allegory is found in the serpent called "Lord of the Tree of Truth". It bears a relief of serpents twined round a staff, exactly like the caduceus of Hermes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nehebkau

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Thoth, the Dog-Headed

Aroueris, or Thoth, one of the five immortals, protected the infant Horus after the murder of Osiris. He also revised the ancient Egyptian calendar by increasing the year from 360 days to 365. Thoth-Hermes was called "The Dog-Headed" because of his faithfulness and integrity. He is shown crowned with a solar nimbus, carrying in one hand the Crux Ansata, the symbol of eternal life, and in the other a serpent-wound staff symbolic of his dignity as a counselor of the gods.

http://www.domainofman.com/ankhemmaat/moses.html
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« Reply #7 on: February 02, 2007, 09:42:21 am »

From Boreasi:

Apophis

Egyptian Apep was the great force, that worked complementary to the sun god, Re. Thus Apopis was the very embodiment of the powers of solution, the "being of non-being" and the creative imperative - out of the darkness.

Hence, he was a sort of void or "black hole" forcing those he swallowed into that non-existence which the Egyptians later came to fear. Being outside of the daily world, he was believed to require no nourishment other than his own breath. He was a huge serpent who was thought to have existed at the beginning of time in the waters of primeval chaos prior to creation and his power was so great that it was thought that he would continue to exist in an endlessly malevolent cycle of attack, defeat and resurgent attack.

He became known by many epithets, ranging from evil lizard, opponent and enemy to world encircler and serpent of rebirth. During the Roman period, he was interpreted as "he who was spat out" and linked to the saliva of the goddess Neith.

There is no evidence of this god prior to the Middle Kingdom. He seems to have come into existence in the Egyptian mind during the troubled times just after the pyramid age. Most of the god's mythology seems to have been developed mostly during the New Kingdom in funerary texts. There are various accounts of this malevolent force, but overall, as the sun god made his nightly voyage through the underworld and each morning as the solar barque was about to emerge into the daylight, it was attacked by the great serpent whose terrifying roar echoed through the darkness. The serpent was said to hinder the passage of the solar barque by means of its coils which are described as "sandbanks", and also by gorging the waters of the underworld river in order to attempt to strand the barque of Re.

Apophis was sometimes equated with Seth, the god of chaos, yet the nature of Apophis seems to have always been dark and threatening, while Seth could at times be beneficial. In some texts, Seth was even enlisted by the sun god in order to defeat the serpent. According to some mythologies, Apophis hypnotized Re and all of his entourage who sailed with him, with the exception of Seth, who resisted the serpent's deadly stare and repulsed him with the thrust of a great spear.

However, in other accounts, Re's companions and even the dead themselves, who could transform themselves into a form of the god, Shu, were involved in this cyclical battle for the survival of creation and order. Most notably, in the Book of Gates, Isis, Neith and Serket, together with other minor deities and some forms of monkey helped capture the monster with magical nets. Afterwards, he was restrained by deities including the earth god Geb and the sons of Horus, who cut his body into pieces, though each night he is revived to attack once more. In fact, in some myths, the sun god is encircled or swallowed by the serpent who later disgorges him as a metaphor of rebirth and renewal.
Apophis, like Seth, was also associated with various frightening natural events such as unexplained darkness such as solar eclipse, storms and earthquakes. Hence, he was always an underlying threat to the very stability of the cosmos.

Apophis is usually depicted in funerary texts and other settings as a great serpent, sometimes with tightly compressed, spring-like coils to emphasize his vast size. He is sometimes described as being over sixteen meters in length, with the first section of his body made of flint. He is usually shown being restrained, dismembered or in the process of being destroyed, often by multiple knives. In the tomb of Ramesses VI in the Valley of the Kings on the West Bank at Thebes (modern Luxor), Apophis is shown with twelve heads above its back representing those he has swallowed who are freed, if only briefly, when he is vanquished. Once Re has passed by the snake, the heads are destined to return into the body of Apophis until freed again, only briefly, the next night. In the private tombs and funerary papyri, and other scene of a different type is found where Re or Hathor appear in feline form in order to slay the serpent by cutting it up with a knife. The serpent is also symbolically portrayed in some temple scenes (at Dendera, Deir el-Bahri, Luxor and Philae). There, the king strikes a circular ball-like object which represents the evil "eye of Apophis".

Apophis was included in various cults as a god or demon to be protected, later protected against. Various magical texts and rituals were produced to combat his effects upon the world. In fact, the text that Egyptologists refer to as the "Book of Apophis" was a collection of these magical spells dating to the late New Kingdom, though the best preserved example, known as the Bremner-Rhind Papyrus now in the British Museum, was produced in the 4th century BC. These are spells for the "overthrowing of Apophis", which provide protection from the powers symbolized by this deity or from snakes which could be viewed as minor yet dangerous manifestations of the monster. In the Late Period, these spells were read in temples daily to protect the world from the threat of the sun god's arch enemy. An associated ritual involved cutting into pieces and burning with fire a wax model of the serpent. Other rituals involved drawing a picture of the serpent in green on a new piece of papyrus, which was then sealed in a box and spat upon for times before being set on a fire.

However, the deceased also needed to be protected from Apophis, and there were references to seventy-seven papyri-rolls which are given to a dead person by means of a spell, containing formulas for bringing Apophis to his place of execution where he is cut up, crushed and consumed by fire.

As a final point, snakes were certainly not seen always a threatening creatures in ancient Egypt, as they seem to have been in other societies. In fact, they were frequently seen as protective and it was Mehen, another snake deity who helped protect the sun god in the underworld. Likewise, it was the cobra goddess Wadjet who helped protect the king.

http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/apep.htm
http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/set.htm
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« Reply #8 on: February 02, 2007, 09:43:49 am »

More Boreasi:

Midle-East Snakes and Snakelings

The Leviathan may be a composite of several sea monster. Ancient Near Eastern pictures abound with composite monsters. The snake-dragon of Babylon pictured on its walls, has a snake’s body with horns, lions forelegs, and a birds hind legs (Black and Green 1992, 166). Sometimes dinosaur bones are mistaken as monsters.

One thing for sure is that leviathan is not a dinosaur. In the Hebrew it is clearly a general term for a large sea creature. It may live in the ocean or river. It may be a living animal or a composite mythical creature inspired by fossil bones or the constellations. The context will usually determine the meaning.

Seraphim

In Isaiah's vision of God the seraphim are guardians before God's throne (Isaiah 6). They praise God saying, "holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts." They have six wings where cherubim have only two. The Hebrew word for seraphim is "fiery ones" (BDB, 977). They may have serpent like bodies (see Numbers 21:8, Deuteronomy 8:15, Isaiah 14:29, 30:6; fiery flying serpents). They may personify lighting while the cherubim the clouds. Cognate roots are sharrapu the Babylonian fire-god, Nergal, and seref, the Egyptian guardian of graves called the "griffin" in English (Ibid). In Jewish theology the Seraphim, Cherubim, and Ophanim are the three highest orders of angels (ISBE, Vol.4, p.2732).

Cherubim

The cherubim in the Bible seem to be a composite animal similar to the sphinx of Egypt. In Ezekiel chapter one these creatures have combined features of humans, lions, bulls, and eagles. The attributes of God were expressed in concrete terms, like the strength of the lion procreative power of the bull, the swiftness of an eagle, and the wisdom of man to show God's omnipotence and omniscience. There are several carvings of what seems to be cherubim that have been found (BAR 21:4, pp.36-41).

Behemoth

Behemoth in contrast to the leviathan is a giant land animal, not a sea creature. There seems to be a similar animal in a Ugaritic text BH called ëgl il ëtk meaning "the ferocious bullock of El" (Pope 1965, 321; KTU 1.3 III 44). Another text describes an animal as having horns like bulls, humps like buffalo, and the face of Baal (Ibid; KTU 1.12 I 30-33). This beast may be the same as the Sumerian and Akkadian "bull of heaven" who was slain by Gilgamesh and Enkidu in the Gilgamesh Epic (Ibid., 322; ANET, 83-85; Heidel 1946, 53-55, An Outline with Bibliography and Links, see below).

The description in Job 40:21-23 seems to allude to the area around Lake Huleh which was filled with buffalo. His tail is like a cedar branch that can easily bend or sway (Pope think this refers to sexual arousal). This does not mean his tail was as long as or as big as a huge cedar tree for verses 21-23 say, "Under the lotus plants he lies, hidden among the reeds in the marsh. The lotus conceal him in their shadow" (NIV).

Baohomet/Asmodeus from Persia;
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/05/wai/ho_56.56.htm
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« Reply #9 on: February 02, 2007, 09:45:06 am »

Biblical Dragons

The Kings James Version uses the term "dragon" which comes from the Greek word drakon which means "serpent." It refers to a monster with a scaly snakelike body. The Greek New Testament uses drakon 12 times only in the book of Revelation which the KJV translates as "dragon" (Rev. 12-13, 16:13, 20:2). The dragon in Revelation has seven heads similar to the leviathan in Ugaritic and Psalm 74:14 (Gibson, 50, 68; Walace, 290). Satan is called a "dragon" in Revelation 20:2.

In the Old Testament the KJV uses the term "dragon" for the Hebrew words tannim meaning "jackals" and tannin meaning "serpent, or sea monster" (BDB, 1072; Gesenius, 868-9). It seems the KJV mistranslated these two separate words. Tannim is from the root tan meaning "to howl" and tannin is from the root tanan "to smoke" (Ibid.).

In the LXX the story of Bel and the Dragon is added to the book of Daniel. Daniel exposes the priests who were eating the food offered to the god Bel. Cyrus has them killed. Daniel then feeds the living dragon pitch, fat and hair so that it dies. The Babylonians force the king to put Daniel into the lion’s den where he is delivered by God. Daniel’s enemies are cast into the den and immediately eaten.

Leviathan

Leviathan that was quoted earlier. The terms "Rahab" and "tannin" are also used in parallel to Leviathan. "Leviathan" occurs 6 times in the Old Testament .

Job 3:8 says, "May those who curse days curse that day, those who are ready to rouse leviathan" (NIV). The KJV has "their mourning" but the marginal note says, "Or, Leviathan." The Hebrew is clearly, /tywl, "leviathan." Job wishes that soothsayers would have conjured up leviathan to swallow up the day of his birth (NIV note).

Job may be calling on the giants Ohya and Ahya who battled Leviathan before they were destroyed in Noah’s flood according to the Book of Giants (TDOT 1995, Vol.7, 506).

There is an interesting Aramaic incantation text that says, "I shall deliver you with great magic from Leviathan, the sea monster" (Ibid, 505). Job 3:8 may be referring to the constellation Draco.

Job 41:1 says, "Can you pull in the leviathan with a fishhook" (NIV). This whole chapter describes this terrible sea creature probably a giant crocodile. It is said to have a tongue (verse 1), a nose and jaw (v.2), limbs (v.12), mouth ringed with fearsome teeth (v.14), and a back tightly fitted with scales (v.15).

Psalm 74:14 says, "Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness" (KJV). Here leviathan has more than one head in the Hebrew.

Rahab

In Isaiah 51:9 "Rahab" is used in parallel to tannin, sea monster. In Isaiah 30:7 and Psalm 87:4 "Rahab" is used as a designation for Egypt which is symbolized by a giant crocodile (Heidel, 104-5). In Isaiah 27:1 the leviathan is also used in parallel to tannin. Some equate these monster to the constellations Draco, Hydra, and Serpens (ISBE, Vol.1, 309). Some ancients saw the clouds as a personification of a dragon (Job 26:12; Heidel, 104-5). Some equate Rahab with the mythical sea monster Tiamat who was split open to make heaven and earth by Marduk (Job 16:12).


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« Reply #10 on: February 02, 2007, 09:46:16 am »

Nehushtan

The **** of The Bronze Serpent
(Numbers 21, 4-20)


4 They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, [c] to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; 5 they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!"

6 Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us." So Moses prayed for the people.

8 The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live." 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived."

From there they continued on to Beer, the well where the LORD said to Moses, "Gather the people together and I will give them water."

17 Then Israel sang this song:
"Spring up, O well!
Sing about it,

18 about the well that the princes dug,
that the nobles of the people sank—
the nobles with scepters and staffs."
Then they went from the desert to Mattanah, 19 from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel to Bamoth, 20 and from Bamoth to the valley in Moab where the top of Pisgah overlooks the wasteland.


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21:8 And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.

21:9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.
--------------------------------------------------

Comment;

Later we can follow the destruction of Israels Holy Serpent and the destruction of the neighbouring traditions from the old culture as well. Destroying the old order of Asherah and El, the old "Allfather" - paved the way for a subculture where the mere traditions that legitimated El and Aserah - called Jahve ("highest royals") - became a deity, as such. Soon it became The One and Only deity, which was to be the "faith" for the "New Israel". And ONLY for Israel. Eventually making The-One-and-Only-True-Deity a "supreme force". As the old cultures of the Roman`s and later the Arabs fell apart they took philosophical refugee in the same symbol, calling it "God" and later "Allah". By then "the people of Israel" was ready to become the "one-and-only" people of this super-natural entity.

But first - they all had to override the old laws and traditions - that evidently tied their people into a historical context of origins, causes and consequences. The Jews had already "cleaned the tables" - as they already had drastically changed The Law of Moses. Extinguishing the rites and processions that honored this very past was radically changing the history and the traditions within The House of Iseael. It is still evident in the bible;
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« Reply #11 on: February 02, 2007, 09:47:34 am »

The destruction of The Bronze Serpent
(2 Kings 18:4)


4 He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.)

See also;
Monotheism, Messiah, and Mormon's Book
http://www.fairlds.org/pubs/conf/2003GarB.html
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"The description of the rod of Moses found in the Bible is another indication that Akhenaten was living in exile in the Sinai desert. Pharaohs possessed many types of scepters representing various aspects of their sovereignty. The staff topped by a brazen serpent was the scepter symbolizing pharoanic authority.(62) We are told that this scepter was later destroyed by Hezekiah because it had become a cult fetish (2 Kings 18:4).(63)"
http://www.domainofman.com/ankhemmaat/moses.html
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The New Testament

As Jesus appeared there was still some memories left - among the folklore of the Midle East - that remembered the old significances and values.
Thus we find some references to the serpent also in the NT;

"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:14-15).

Though, even as late as Jesus of Nazareth the old symbol was remembered of its original significance – as the symbol of knowledge, wisdom and creativity, as Jesus was telling his di-sip-les;
”Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves”. (Matthew 10:16)

Book of Revelation

In the Book of Revelation there are several monsters or dragons described. The Greek New Testament uses drakon 12 times only in the book of Revelation which the KJV translates as "dragon" (Rev. 12-13, 16:13, 20:2). There is an interesting book recently published by Fortress press entitled Social-Science Commentary on the Book of Revelation by Bruce Malina and John Pilch that relates much of the vivid description in Revelation to constellations in the sky. They believe that the Book of Revelation is an astral prophecy.

"There is a red dragon in Revelation 12:1-18. Boll believes that the dragon corresponds best with the constellation Hydra which extends through one third of the zodiac. Just above the Hydra are the constellations Corax with 7 stars corresponding to 7 heads, and Crater with 10 stars corresponding to 10 horns, or 10 dorsal fins. Another possibility is the ancient constellation of Scorpio (Malina and Pilch, 2000 p.165)."

Quotes from;
http://www.bibleandscience.com/science.htm


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« Reply #12 on: February 02, 2007, 09:48:45 am »

Demonology

With the growth of the new philosophies, called religions, we have been getting a Christian demonology that still holds a certain impact on our comprehension of these old symbols. Thus we have A “demonology” that has associated demons and symbols, attributing a variety of them to the symbols of old rites and traditions – creating fear, disgust and repulsion as the new associations to the old symbols of compassion, wisdom and pro-creation.

In general, the most important demons are said to have a signature or seal, which is personal and generally used by them to sign the acts of the diabolical pacts. But those seals can also be used as a protection against them by a conjurer when summoning demons. Some grimoires like The Great Book of Saint Cyprian, Le Dragon Rouge and The Lesser Key of Solomon provide these seals. To the Devil in particular, the serpent, the goat and the dragon have been attributed as his symbols.

Demons and Food

Although demons, being spiritual beings, do not need food, according to Christian demonology, demons and especially the Devil hate salt, and thus no food is served with salt during the Sabbaths. Bread, if not made with rye, and oil, are prohibited. This is what the Christian church believed.

This can have an explanation in the fact that in some Christian rituals of baptism, especially in Catholicism, salt is put on the lips of the child during the ceremony of the baptism as a symbol of wisdom. Demons do not reject knowledge but perhaps dislike the religious symbol of it. The dislike for bread can be explained because it represents the body of Jesus for Christians and is transubstantiated into his flesh during the Mass.

Nevertheless, wine is the Christian symbol that during the mass is transubstantiated into the flesh and blood of Jesus and demons do not show dislike for wine. Some demons are said to be able to turn blood into wine and vice versa (some of them are mentioned in the Ars Goetia of the Lemegeton and in Pseudomonarchia Daemonum). During some time it was believed that offering bread and wine to a demon was an invitation to him to stay in that house and to possess that person; of course this could be without knowing that the incomer was a demon, so it was not convenient to offer those common thing to any foreigner.

It was believed that during the Sabbath the Devil could extract wine from certain plants, especially by making a cut in the trunk of a tree, and mixed it with his blood (maybe the like of demons for wine is due to this belief). This was probably due to the fact that Christian demonologists believed that during the Sabbath was celebrated a Black Mass with a parody of the communion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbols_and_symbolism_in_Christian_demonology

[ 02-27-2006, 02:52 AM: Message edited by: Boreasi ]
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« Reply #13 on: February 02, 2007, 09:49:57 am »

Aztec Mythology

Quetzalcoatl is a word from the Nehuatl language compounded from quetzal, a Mesoamerican bird with long plumage and coatl is a serpent with the suffix atl meaning water. Some will take issue with Tonatiuh of the Aztec Calendar disk being an aspect of the Plumed Serpent. But one just needs to compare the features. To the lower right is another aspect of Tonatiuh, or Nahui Ollin as also known, meaning 4-Movement. The symbols represent the movement or increase of days in the year. That is the movement from 360 days to 364 days and the causes were Jaguar, Wind, Rain and Water, or aspects of the Plumed Serpent also known as Quetzalcoat by the Aztecs and Seven Macaws, by the Quiche Maya.

http://fuliginouspalaver.tripod.com/comingtolight/id2.html

The Streaming Serpent


(from Theolog vol. 1 [new series], No. 4)
It begins in a dark room, lit under the supple glow of a sole candle. Before the candlelight a standing stick of incense burns slowly. At times, the incense fumes lift rapidly, fanning into the air into wide plumes, coiling into helices, or waving in undulatory patterns. But it is always the same flowing stream of incense. Thirteen centuries ago, a Maya priestess would have gazed into such a stream of rising incense and, through deeper and deeper trance, would have seen the serpent rising within the smoke. The priestess could then communicate with this Vision Serpent, this sacred vehicle carrying the soul of an ancestral king. I have begun with this lesson from libanomantic lore because, during this past vacation, I had put a lot of thought on the symbolism of the serpent in Mesoamerican thought. And I have found it everywhere.

As water, the serpent cleanses. In the sacred calendar, the day-sign of the serpent occurs under the presence of Chal****itlicue, the goddess of living waters. She was present in running streams, standing lakes, and any water that sustained life, from fish to crop. She was invoked in baptismal rites and healing waters, for her water had the power to wash away various negative influences. This was the water that streamed over the earth like a winding serpent, coursing over the land and suffusing it with life, just as the streams of blood course through one's vessels. The serpent was here, too.

As blood, the serpent sustains. In carvings such as those at Chichen Itza, the blood of sacrifices often spurted out into streams ending in snake heads. The blood that once nourished a human flowed over the earth and nourished the latter in turn. Upon death, one's vital energy was not dissipated as much as it was dislocated. The Mesoamerican lived in a world in which every constituent of the human being—be it matter, energy, or spirit—continued to exist after death, with new forms and functions to maintain the cosmic order.

As wind, the serpent inspires. One of the most ancient of the Mesoamerican deities was the Feathered Serpent, best known as Quetzalcoatl, the god of wind. Life cannot exist without breath, and breath cannot exist without wind. These were the winds blown by the Feathered Serpent as Ehecatl, the sacred, life-giving Wind. The swift, whipping winds of the highlands were the invisible Wind Serpents, the Ehecacoatls as they are still called today. The association between the wind and the serpent is perhaps the oldest and most widespread in Mesoamerican history, in contrast to the other three elements. And unlike other deities who operated in relation to the four cardinal directions, the wind moved in every direction. The wind god's temple could not fit the pattern of the four-sided pyramid, therefore; only a circular shape captured the wind's motion through infinite vectors.

As earth, the serpent nourishes. The cihuacoatl priest, bearing the title of the "Snake Woman," was primarily concerned with the material side of divine Providence. He ensured that people were fed and finances were secure. His affairs were as tied to the earth as the reptiles spread across it. The Aztecs perceived the earth goddess as Coatlicue, a monstrous being saturated with serpentine features, forming her skirt, her hands, and even her head. Beneath that skirt of writhing rattlesnakes, her womb bore all life. Caverns were artistically depicted as wombs in the earth, and Nahua children were often delivered in a sweathouse built as an artificial cave. Children were thus born from both the mother and the earth.

As fire, the serpent renews. What magnificent creatures the Xiuhcoatls must have been! One can only imagine such enormous beings, their backs ablaze with the dying embers of an old age and the rising flames of the new. Without the sacred fire to usher in a new cycle of time, creation would collapse. As metaphysical concepts, fire and time were interdependent; many cultures believed in a single deity who represented both concepts, such as Huehueteotl. Likewise, while the Xiuhcoatl was conceived of as a great fire beast, it was also literally the Year Serpent. On the perimeter of the Sun Stone, two great Xiuhcoatls pressed their faces against each other, reflecting the perpetual shift between day and night, the one never overpowering the other. The Xiuhcoatl was also a celestial being, whose nasal crest represented the Pleiades and whose underside was dotted with the very stars of the Milky Way. With the year it embodied time, and with the stars it embodied space. Braided strands of time, momentary divisions of day and night—these are just words. A howling Year Serpent searing through four-dimensional space—it it just a symbol.

As mind, the serpent molts. It is the promise of new life. It is the reassurance that, while I cannot yet escape the consequences of my former karma, I can at least begin to shed away the mental habits which brought them into being. I can cast them all into the outermost cuticle of my skin. And then, with the vow to never repeat those habits, I tear them off my body. Rrrip! Rrrip! So what is left? - the luster of iridescent scales, the rich shimmer of the pure mind beneath the layer of old, dead skin.

Serpents were everywhere. A double-headed serpent upheld the Mayan sky. Serpents flashed as streaks of lightning from the Zapotec clouds. They carried the Olmec shaman's consciousness. They channeled down the Huichols' rain. For eight days, they swallowed the Toltecs' planet Venus. How they ruled the sky! How they ruled time! The Mesoamerican cosmology was one whose very patterns of energy and fabric of matter were personified by or pervaded with animate beings. It is a concept that still leaves me stultified. But it is nonetheless an extremely interesting paradigm, I find. I believe that the serpent offers its own paradigm: that one kind of animal can conceptually represent so many different principles of nature.

The Mesoamerican's world was an extraordinarily complex web of intersecting and even interchangeable symbols. Recently I had tried reading Nahua prayers from the seventeenth century; I couldn't get past the first verses without necessitating a total immersion into the Nahua cosmology. I would imagine that it must have been fantastic: a universe populated with divine forces, natural spirits, living waters, and the literal "Soul of the World." It was a spatio-temporal world in continuous motion and flux, whose energies were sometimes explicable through reference to animals. Even serpents.

Edgar Martin del Campo
http://members.aol.com/vucubcaqix/serpent2.htm
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« Reply #14 on: February 02, 2007, 09:50:59 am »

Red and White Sky God?

From the The Book of Enoch, translated from the Ethiopian by R.H. Charles in 1906, we find a description of the Red and White god in Chapter 106 of Book 5. The relevant passages describe the birth of Noah, as follows:

"And after some days my son Methuselah took a wife for his son Lamech, and she became pregnant by him and bore a son. And his body was white as snow and red as the blooming of a rose, and the hair of his head and his long locks were white as wool, and his eyes beautiful. And when he opened his eyes, he lighted up the whole house like the sun...."

But there are other tales of a Red and White god flying through the sky. For example, there is the legend of Santa Claus and his Eight Deer, a mythical Red and White Character who flies through the sky, which is the subject of a 19th century poem. And what are Eight Deer? For that, we must look to Mixtec legends, a Meso American tribe. There we find that Eight Deer was a mythological hero connected to the Nuhus, red and white sky gods that brought treasure to men. Further we connect nuhu's to Tlaloc, another name, or aspect of Quetzalcoatl. Nuhus, Noah, Comets and Quetzalcoatl? Is it possible they are connected to a cosmic impact event?


"Looking me square in the eye with its singular circular red and white eyeball (which indicates a star) was Tlaloc as the Rain God day sign. He wore a red and white bow on his head. The red and white bow is one of the symbols used for the Red and White Bundles and for the presence of the Nuhus. The "noso" ("ndodo") or "nuhu" in the Nuyoo dialect, "maintains a vast store house of wealth" and is assocated with a yahui or priest who in the Codex Telleriano Remensis is connected to celestial bodies as fire-serpents glossed there as cometas.(Pohl, John, et. al. "Religion, Economy, and Factionalism in Mixtec Boundary Zones" in Codices y Documentos sobre Mxico, Segundo Simposio, Vol. I. p. 210 and p. 215.) The Aztec Tlaloc was believed to reside in mountain caves which were "miraculous treasure houses filled with wealth and prosperity.(Miller and Taube, The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya, p. 166) This gives us a reference point that is stronger than just the bundles and spears of the Selden Codex."

http://fuliginouspalaver.tripod.com/comingtolight/id1.html

Symbols of Royal Lines and their populations

The keeping of the Serpent was directly linked to the keeping of these family-lines, keeping the big families - today called populations - together, as kingdoms. Such the twin sperpents became the archaic symbol of health - in a wider sendse - signifying that the whole family - all males and females - were in order, in shape and in a purposeful progress...

Thus it`s highly significant to look for the serpents wherever we want to trace the origins of the old kingdoms. They were all based on herritage and thus bound by nature - in terms of royal, noble and common functions (positions) within society. The stability thus created brougth us the civilisations we are about exploring. The breaking of this tradition made it possible to create "take-overs", by violent or covert aggression.

As agression, warfare and destruction rises the respect for the old order - and tradition - ceases. At some point even the core of the old culture is crossed, as the snake is fragmented (conquered region by region) or directly killed, as the prime family-line itself, the royals - were all seized and capsized. In historic litterature we even have heroes bragging about their destinal blow to some "evil infidel", thats been massacred, so "their seed will be never again aspire on the face of the earth..."

The basic off-springs of the old royals and nobilities – being the core procreator of their respective populations – had to take refugee inside their own lands – or flee the conquering subjugators. Thus the old family-lines of Northern Europe had to tuck their Serpents away, as the crusaders arrived. Thus there is a highly natural and historic reason why the so-called “secret societies” occurred in Northern Europe. Thus we have the recently debated desriny of the old (legitimate) French nobility hiding the alternative “history of origin”, as in Poussin's important painting (with the hidden pentagram) called "Et in Arcadia Ego". In the simultaneous poem Le-Serpent-Rouge there is another mention of Arc-adia and many other secret documents from the Knigth Templars allude to Arcadia.

See also;
http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/Arcadia.html

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