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Subscribe to this list via RSS Blog posts tagged in snakes

Posted by on in Paths Blogs
The Minoan Snake Tube: Not a pet carrier!

Snake tube. What an odd name for a Bronze Age artifact from Minoan sites. That's what Sir Arthur Evans called these cylindrical ceramic objects that were decorated with wavy serpentine shapes running up and down them. You can see a few on the bottom row of the image at the top of this post.

Evans called them "snake tubes" because he thought the Minoans kept pet snakes in their temples and homes, and these tubes were their little houses. I mean, they're decorated with snakes, so why not?

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs
The Call of the Horned Serpent

 Wrap your cold coils around the world,

bounding that which Is from what Is Not.

 

As Lord of Beasts, god of red life, the god of witches—him that we call the Horned—takes many forms. Among the least-examined of these in contemporary Witchdom is that of the Great (or Old, or Crooked) Serpent.

One readily understands why. Ophidophobia runs deep in Western culture. I'm afraid of snakes myself, though they fascinate me as well. (They say that fascinate originally referred to “the ability to induce an erection.” Make of that what you will.) The War between the Thunderer and the Earth Serpent is an old, old story, one of humanity's most widespread. It only becomes a danger when the War becomes morally weighted, as it does, most notably, in the Bible, in which the Serpent frequently embodies capital-E Evil: e.g. the polycephalous (many-headed) and polycerate (many-horned) Dragon of the bad acid-trip book of Revelation.

(Pagans, of course, knew—and know—better. Ba'al's adversary, Livyatán—who became the Leviathan of Hebrew mythology—is called náhash 'aqaltón: the “zigzag serpent.” Interestingly, Bible translators have tended to render this as “the crooked serpent.” Compare the two adjectives. One is morally-charged, the other merely descriptive.)

Here we see another reason for Wicca's aversion to the Horned Serpent. Wicca, for entirely understandable reasons, has tended to eschew anything that bears even the slightest taint of Satanism.

Old Craft is less fearful of Biblical imagery although—as Craft historian Mike Howard has observed—when it embraces it, it tends to do so for its own purposes.

One of the few contemporary Craft voices to speak about the Old Serpent is Tony Steele, who in his 1998 Water Witches writes about a purported Fam Trad, supposedly of Frisian origin, preserved among the canal-boatsmen (and -women) of the English Midlands.

Let me say up front that the credibility of his historical claims is gravely damaged by his decision to anchor them in the Oera Linda Book, a notorious late “19th” century forgery claiming to date back to Bronze Age “Atland” (i.e. Atlantis).

Well, for now let us lay historicity to the side. Steele claims as the god of these water-witches the Great Serpent “World”: in Frisian (supposedly) Wr-alda. (My Frisian-English dictionary doesn't turn up such a word.) Steele's ideas are most moving (and convincing) when he writes in a pagan idiom of the Earth Serpent, Whose power flows through the landscape. (Take a thoughtful look at the Great Serpent Mound to understand what he means.) It is less so when it seeks deep Craft meaning in the hallucinatory visions of the book of Revelations, where the Dragon is said to have seven heads and ten horns. Steele suggests that reflection on the uneven horns-to-heads ratio will impart deep insights into the nature of the god of witches.

Call me a skeptic, but I'm not convinced.

Still, Steele does indeed have his share of insights to offer, and I'd recommend a read to those whose ears the Crooked Serpent has tickled with His forkèd tongue.

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs
SEA SNAKE FAMILES: Death

The majority of sea snakes live in the warm seas of the Indian and Pacific Oceans.  Most of the species are found in the Coral Triangle region of Southeast Asia, with Australia a close second. Built for marine life, sea snakes have rounded bodies and flat tails.  Furthermore as they swim, small flaps cover their noses to keep the sea water out.

 The families of sea snakes differ in their need for land and fresh water.  The Hydrophiinae like the yellow-bellied sea snake spend their entire lives at sea.  They have glands under their tongues to discharge salt.  Also, the powerful lung of these snakes allows them to dive deeply, and stay underwater for a long time.  Great numbers of these sea snakes can be found floating out in the open ocean in a giant raft (“slick”).

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STILETTO SNAKES (Mole Vipers, Burrowing Asps): Expect the Unexpected

Found in Africa, Stiletto Snakes (Atractaspis) are well-suited for their underground life. Burrowing through the earth, They look for a tasty Lizard. Finding one, Stiletto Snakes stab the unfortunate animal with their fangs, and then eat Him. These Snakes can kill without opening their mouths. Highly venomous, Stiletto Snakes possess huge venom sacs. Because They live underground, Stiletto Snakes are only encountered by people when they dig in their gardens.

Because of their large horizontal fangs, Stiletto Snakes can strike sideways and backwards. With a jerk of their heads, these Snakes kill by a sideways stab of their fangs. (Unlike other venomous Snakes, these Snakes stab their victims instead with their fangs.) The stabbing injects the venom, earning these Snakes the name “stiletto”. Although these Snakes are venomous, They are not considered to be Vipers. Causing much taxonomic confusion among scientists because of their unusual fangs, Stiletto Snakes have been placed in their own family for the time being.

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Snake Spirits: Health and Wealth

"Snake, snake, come swiftly 
Hither come, thou tiny thing,
Thou shalt have thy crumbs of bread,
Thou shalt refresh thyself with milk."

-The Brothers Grimm, “Stories About Snakes: First Story”

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Posted by on in Paths Blogs
Another Knotty Problem

In my last post I explored the Minoan sacral knot, a religious symbol from ancient Crete that consisted of a length of cord knotted together with a loop at the top, and the sacral scarf, a looped-and-knotted length of fringed fabric.

But these aren’t the only instances of knotwork in Minoan religious iconography. And while the sacral knot may be related to the Egyptian tyet (Isis’ symbol), these other knots are more closely allied with snakes.

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Posted by on in Paths Blogs
Tying a Sacred Knot

Many symbols and images have held sacred meaning within religious traditions around the world and throughout time: the circle, the cross, the pillar, the pentagram. These symbols don’t necessarily mean the same thing in every tradition, and sometimes we can’t even be sure what the original significance was for each culture.

One such symbol is the knot.

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Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • Ruby
    Ruby says #
    When I first saw the image of the sacral knots my immediate thought is that it could be a birthing rope. Something like a rebozo u
  • Laura Perry
    Laura Perry says #
    What a great insight! Yes, I'm familiar with the rebozo as used by the women of Central America during labor and childbirth. The m

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