The Root of All Goodness

The 32nd Port Townsend Kinetic Sculpture Race went on last weekend. This year’s theme was Mythos: Gods and Goddesses, so of course it was syncy as hell. I have pics of Zeus, Aphrodite, Hades, Isis, The Unknown God and the Flying Spaghetti Monster, but for me the best kinetic sculpture was The Almighty Dollar.

For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. ~1 Timothy 6:10

The curious thing about the dollar is that its symbol is a snake on a staff, which is also the symbol of Asclepius, the Greek God of medicine.

The myth of Asclepius tells us:

Zeus killed Asclepius with a thunderbolt because he raised Hippolytus from the dead and accepted gold for it. ~ wikipedia

This is fascinating, considering our own medical “industry” is all about the gold, and not so much about the healing, except as a way to get… more gold! That’s just the way it is in the land of the Almighty Dollar.

It is not clear why snakes are sacred to Asclepius and to healing:

In honor of Asclepius, a particular type of non-venomous snake was often used in healing rituals, and these snakes — the Aesculapian Snakes — slithered around freely on the floor in dormitories where the sick and injured slept.

However, in shamanic visions, a snake-like character is often described. I’ve seen them myself.

To many occult researchers, the serpent, and especially the intertwined snakes of the Hermetic staff, represent the double helix of our own DNA. If you subscribe to the idea of consciousness being far greater than mere human synapse firing, but something ingrained into the fabric of the universe itself, then it is not so far-fetched to suppose that our DNA has an encoded intelligence, a “library” of information that would make the Library of Alexandria pale in comparison. And this just might be the source of shamanic healing of which Asclepius and his staff are a symbol.

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Notes:

In the short story "The Two Temples" by Herman Melville, the narrator, hired by a lady as a personal physician, describes his job as "the post of private Æsculapius and knightly companion."

I wonder… if you ritually burn a dollar bill, can you release Asclepius from his curse?

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UPDATE: 10/15/14

I read an article in the library about a shortage of snake anti-venom, especially the coral snake, because it was not profitable for pharmaceutical companies to produce it. This syncs fairly hard on the myth of Moses and the brazen serpent.

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UPDATE: 10/16/14

Well, that was weird. Mom asked us to burn some old financial records on the beach, since they no longer needed to be kept. We lit a bonfire, and many printed $ snake signs went up in flames this afternoon. There were many medical bills and receipts in the fire, and old bank statements. The conversation around the fire turned to medical issues of friends and family that were on our minds. It became a sort of fire side lament.

So somehow, we acted out the ritual I had described just above, even though I never goaded, suggested or even hinted that any of this should, or even could, occur.