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.

——————

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?

——————

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.

——————

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.

The Year of Healing

With all the rumors of government conspiracy and god only knows what else, I thought it might be a good idea to focus on who really calls the shots in Washington DC and just about everywhere else:

The Almighty

The Man: He's not much, just looking at him, really just a paper tiger, but everything from birth to death to taxes is valued in dollars - the global fiat currency. He's the machinery behind every transaction from a street corner meth deal to the Wall St. loan shark bankers. And it all goes round and around thanks to a little scrap of paper encoded with the most magically powerful of symbols.

Much sync treasure has been mined from the symbols printed on the dollar, perhaps the most successful magical working - ever. A lot of magic is the art of imparting archetypal power to a physical object, and with the pyramid, all seeing eye, phoenix and all the rest, we can see quite a few of those archetypes inked onto the dollar bill.

The reason the dollar is green is that according to meta-accountants, every dollar bill loaned out is fertile seed, like a green bud of potential profit cast out to the winds. The "good seed" will return to the banker, with interest attached. How Pharaoh Osiris.

The $ sign is an S over a vertical bar: the serpent and staff of Asclepius, the divine physician. Also the brazen serpent of Moses.

Asclepius is the Greek god of health and healing. He is the son of Apollo, the Greek sun-god. His mother died when he was still in her womb and he cried out when her body was placed on the funeral pyre. Apollo cut the womb and pulled the unborn child out and declared that this son of his, Asclepius, would be responsible for the human fight against disease and death.

There is a more than a little irony between this ancient symbol of healing and the unfortunate truth that the dollar is the single most likely culprit behind global warming, deforestation, species extinction and war. Every detective always says, "follow the money".



One myth says Zeus killed Asclepius with a thunderbolt because he raised Hippolytus from the dead and accepted gold for it. What a curious thing, this power of healing connected to the power of money. These days, every physician and pharmaceutical company accepts gold, and plenty of it, for their healing powers. I wonder, is Asclepius still paying for his sin?

Anyway, it's got me to wondering. If Asclepius (hissing sounds, anyone?), the snake on a staff, is the god of healing (and more than that, the god of creative potential energy), and yet his symbol is associated magically with the Gaia destroying power of the American dollar, then something is seriously out of whack. It's almost as if Asclepius is held in some kind of bondage, that makes him work his powers of healing for the dollar bill, and the dollar bill, only.

I found inspiration in the American eagle - really a phoenix. I was driving by a strip mall last weekend and saw "Phoenix Games", with the flaming bird on the window. Can I release Asclepius from his bondage by another magical act - a ritual burning? Can I purify his symbol, by renouncing my claim check?

Releasing Asclepius from bondage

Today, I discovered 2013 is the Chinese year of the snake. I know it sounds presumptuous, but I declare 2013 the year of Asclepius, the year of healing.