Wednesday, 20 August 2008
RIDING THE SNAKE: THE CADUCEUS
The Caduceus is one of the most famous and least understood symbols in the Western world. Traditionally associated with the ancient Greek God Hermes it is today usually seen as being to do with doctors and the medical profession. In fact, its actual meaning is much older than that.
The association with doctors is to do with a confusion between the Caduceus and the not unrelated Rod of Asclepius. Asclepius was a Greek God of healing whose medicinal abilities were such that he was able to resurrect the dead and give immortality to humans. After a while Zeus became a little concerned about this and, ever mindful of the dangers of allowing humans a little too much power lest they supplant the Gods, killed Asclepius, more likely than not with a lightning bolt. Having done this, Zeus repented a little and, in partial recompense for his harshness, transformed Asclepius into a constellation of stars. Asclepius' Rod of Healing is symbolised as a single serpent coiled around a staff. The Caduceus, on the other hand, is symbolised by two serpents coiling around a staff, the top of which is often circular and sprouting wings. Apparently it was American military doctors who brought the idea of the Caducues as the symbol of medicine to Europe during the world wars (thank you to Alan Smith for that piece of information!), supplanting the single-serpented Rod of Asclepius as the sign of doctors.
That the two images are linked is obvious. As if further confirmation were needed, in the CORPUS HERMETICUM, the ancient mystical Greco-Egyptian texts which were so influential in the Renaissance, Asclepius is presented as the son of Hermes Trismegistus. In these Hermetic dialogues Hermes, the great sage associated in the Greek mind with the Egyptian God Thoth, tells his son about the secrets of the Universe, the nature of God, the power of the Gnosis and the mysteries of Reincarnation. The link between the two deities and their similar symbols is clear.
So what does the Caducues mean? Well, in all cultures there is the idea of the "Serpent Power". This is the life force, the primal energy which flows through everything. In its most uncreated state it is pure, undifferentiated power, coursing through every living thing, human or otherwise, and giving it life. In China, this Serpent Power is embodied in the Dragon. In elemental terms, the famous Dragon Lines are seen as flowing across the landscape of the earth, representing Yin and Yang, powering the natural forces therein. In the discipline of Feng Shui, how one aligns one's house or builds on these Dragon Lines is crucial for health and prosperity. Chinese Dragons, unlike their equivalents in the West, are sacred creatures who can help humankind. Not insignificantly, they are often presented as plumed or crested and can fly.
In the West, Dragons have less positive connotations. From the battle between Apollo and the serpent Python, to the story of George and the Dragon and the Serpent in the Garden of Eden, Dragons and Serpents are dangerous creatures which need to be defeated or tamed. It is the agency of the Serpent, often portrayed coiled around the Tree of Knowledge which causes the Fall of humanity, bringing death, pain and decay into the world in GENESIS. Elsewhere, though, the defeat of the Dragon yields up treasures. George, in defeating the Dragon, saves the Maiden but also protects the sacred spring of water the Dragon was defending. Apollo's defeat of Python brings about the creation of the Temple at Delphi, where the Oracle resides. Indeed, it is the fumes from Python's layer which enable the High Priestess to channel the God and so dispense cryptic wisdom to mankind. An echo of all these processes is found in the recurring imagery of the Archangel Michael defeating the Serpent. Interestingly, and in a parallel with the Dragon Lines of China, Towers dedicated to St Michael are built upon key Pagan sacred sites, most of which, invariably, are located at ley nodes. The most famous is the one at Glastonbury Tor. Anyone who knows the Tor will remember that it is grooved like a spiral, as if an enormous snake were coiled around it. Modern students of ley lines sometimes like to call them Michael and Mary lines, translating the Yin/Yang energies of these primal energy currents into a Christian context.
So on a macrocosmic level, Serpents and Dragons represent the primal Life Energy coursing through the earth. In the East, working in harmony with these energies is a good thing to do. In the West, they have needed to be conquered and tamed in order to release positive energies trapped therein (the Maiden, the Spring, the Oracle, the Golden Fleece etc). Perhaps this says something about the relative psychological development of the two hemispheres of the planet. Whatever the case, going back to the equally universal image of the World Egg with the Snake coiled around it, the Serpent represents something very ancient in the human psyche. So how does this relate to the Caduceus?
To understand, perhaps we have to go East again, to look at the ancient notion of the Kundalini. When I was first told about the Kundalini, it scared the shit out of me, largely because of how it was described: 'This serpent thing coiled at the base of the spine". Not helpful. In fact the Kundalini is the primal life force within US. In other words, it is the human equivalent of the energy described above in Ley and Dragon Lines. It is often represented as a spiral or coiled image, rather like a snake, and is said to reside at the foot of the spine in the Root Chakra. I like to imagine the Kundalini as rather like a nuclear reactor, throbbing away in us and keeping us nourished and alive. The aim of the Mystic in the East is to 'raise the Kundalini' ie draw this energy up from where it is sleeping in the Root Chakra and allow it to enter the six other Chakras until, in union with the Crown Chakra, it creates Enlightenment, opening the Thousand Petalled Lotus that is the Higher Consciousness. It is believed that raising the Kundalini, drawing it up the Sushumna, or central Nadi of the body through the other Chakras, spreads health and vitality through the recipient while also bestowing enormous spiritual and psychic benefits such as telepathy, mystical vision, healing powers and precognition. The Mystic raises the Kundalini through a rigourous process of spiritual development, meditation and prayer. With Tantrics, arcane sexual practises are used (the origin and purpose of Tantric Sex), the most primal expression of the Kundalini being in the sex drive. In Tantra, this enormous sexual energy is harnessed and channelled upwards through the Chakras leading to Enlightenment. People tend to thing that Tantric Sex is just a way of having a great shag. In fact its much more subtle than this. But peoples' lack of understanding of the true nature of Tantric Sex has lead to a lot of accusations against Eastern Gurus of sexual exploitation. On the other hand, its not hard to imagine how Tantric Sex can be used to exploit and abuse the unwary. This is why, traditionally, it has been kept hidden as one of the most esoteric and specialist approaches to Higher Consciousness.
Another reason though, is that raising the Kundalini is a dangerous process. Do it too fast and you can drive yourself mad or even die. Doing it in an impure state, with the Chakras in a mess, can be equally destructive. The effects of the unbridled power of the Kundalini can, therefore, be devastating. Hallucinations, mental illness and death can be a result of misuse and foolhardy dabbling with the Kundalini. Anyone who has had any kind of rushed or negative experience with it will tell you of the hair-raising things that go on. So one must tread with care... Immediately one understands why in the West, with our fear of the primal, cthonic energies of the instincts, we have come up with so many stories and narratives of conquering Snakes and Serpents. Indeed, one could read the story of Genesis as a warning against the shattering consequences of a cosmic Kundalini experience, which, embarked upon to become like Gods, actually leads to the total fragmentation of Human Consciousness and the loss of the primordial state of Wholeness we are still looking to repair now...
This is where the Caduceus comes in. For in truth the imagery of the two snakes coiled around the staff point the way to a positive use of the Serpent Power, one in which the primal energy operates in harmony, winding its way up the Sushumna or Middle Pillar represented by the Staff to give birth to the Higher Consciousness symbolised by the winged Solar Disc at the top. This Solar Disc echoes imagery from cultures as far afield as Persia and Ancient Egypt. In Persia, remember, Ahura Mazda is often represented by a human torso in a winged circle, while in Egypt, the Solar Disc is often replaced by a sacred Scarab Beetle in full fight, symbolising the dichotomy of a creature which feeds on dung but can also fly (ie a union of earthly and heavenly properties).
Further, the Caducues can be superimposed upon a host of Western religious symbols, revealing their hidden nature as images of achieving the Higher Consciousness. In Judaism, if the Caduceus is placed over the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, one sees how it demonstrates the ideal of uniting the two outer Pillars (Male and Female) around the central one, leading to the Higher Consciousness that is Kether (the Crown), where the Winged Solar Disc is found. Similarly the Menorah, with single base and branches above matches the expansion of the serpents and wings of the Caduceus. The two winged Cherubs on the Ark of the Covenant, both facing inwards to the point between them where God manifests to Moses do the same. And, most mysteriously, the positioning of the Caduceus over the image of Christ on the Cross does the same, with the two Thieves or the two Marys on either side completing the tripartite nature of the symbol. Thus, rather than an image of suffering and pain, the Crucifixion becomes an image of Cosmic Transformation, of becoming the Higher Man which, if you think about it, is exactly what Christ does after the Resurrection.... Even Moses shares in the Mystery of the Caduceus in EXODUS, with God demonstrating how he may overcome the hostility of the Egyptians by transforming his and later Aaron's staves into snakes and back again...
So the Caducues shows us how we may harness the primal energy of our Earthly Selves and so achieve our Divine Selves. What is fascinating is how universal it is as an image. Its no coincidence, perhaps, that the primary God and friend to men of the Mesoamericans was Quetzocoatl, the Plumed Serpent, nor that it is reflected in the double helix of our DNA...Crucially, it is a holistic symbol, as it unites 'above and below'. As with the Dung Beetle of the Egyptians, the seeds of the Ascent start at the bottom of things, thus that basic energy, often sexual, is essential to the higher energy. This is a salutory warning to the Western tendency, found particularly in Christianity, to denigrate and suppress sexuality and the instincts. In doing so, Christianity cut off its most potent source of spiritual energy. St Michael's victory over the Serpent of Paganism was too great. The balance was lost and the Fountain of Life that the Caduceus represents was cut off at its source. At the same time, the image of uncreated Kundalini energy as two snakes threshing about wildly needs to be seen as a warning against unbridled release of that power. Hence the presence of the Staff in the centre of the Caduceus. Balance and harmony is the key, not repression or indiscriminate release... That is the message and the challenge of the Caduceus...