The

Serpent Code

Serpent worship was once common in Ireland until Christianity’s dominance systematicwiped it out. Yet according to

Philip Gardiner

the signs of this ancient wisdom lore canstill be found today throughout the world.

Ireland, St Patrick and the Pests

Ireland was once infested with snakes. So say the Christian stories of St. Patrick, whosupposedly expelled them with his

Baculum Jesu

Staff of Jesus

[1]. Of course Irelandhas no indigenous snakes at all and so he must have been speakingof asymbolically. Butto what was he referring?For years, scholars, Christians and even alternative historians have been arguing over whatexactly St Patrick was eradicating. There is precious little evidence of St Patrick evencoming to Ireland, just as there is no evidence that St Paul went to Malta and kicked outthe snakes there too! So what's the truth? And is there any spiritual relevance for us today?Across Ireland there are hundreds of crosses, many of which can be proven to have pre-Christian origins, and many are entwined with images of serpents. The same is true of other locations, such as Malta as I’ve just mentioned,,Rhodes, India, Greece and manymore. In all these places snakes are found on ancient megalithic monuments and Christian buildings. These are remnants of a pre-existent serpent-worshipping cult. The serpent cult,is so often misread as consisting of solar worshippers. They worshipped the esoteric or inner sun. For us today this inner light is the realisation of our own connection to thegreater universe, of our own inner balance and our own growth towards a more ‘in-tune’attitude to the world around us. It is also the part of ourselves and our outer world, whichgives life, sustains and gives growth.The sun, found in the sky and as an inner light found within via methods pertaining to theinner serpent energies, [2] as they were perceived. These inner serpentine and solar linkedvisions were physically represented in megalithic monuments, oral folktales and art.The existence of this universal cult can also be discovered in other elements of the Irishand Celtic tradition. There is scarcely a design or ornament in Ireland from ancient timesthat do not show the serpent or dragon image. There is scarcely a myth, a folk tale or alegend, which does not include the serpent. These are not just pagan ornaments or myths -they also bled into the Christian world, or more accurately, the Christians could not keepthem out it was so deep in the Irish culture.The Church had spent many years trying desperately to demonise the serpent, making itthe evil snake in the Garden of Eden or even picturing Lucifer, the angel of light, as theserpent. The reason is simple. Knowledge is powerful, but knowledge of yourself is muchmore powerful - the Church, as the intermediaries between us and knowledge of theDivine could not allow this. But the snake maintained its position steadfastly within theChurch, clinging on like limpet. It was in fact the only animal in the Bible to speak usingit's own voice; it was used by Moses in the wilderness to heal the Israelites and it was used by the first Christians as the symbol for the Christ himself.Serpents can be found on Irish Christian crosses such as those of Killamery in KilkennyCounty and the font of Cashel, amongst others. Indeed, even the Crozier (priests staff) of

Cashel has a serpent emerging from a vagina – which itself is covered in serpents – therefore symbolising ‘new life’ via the born-again serpent.The crozier itself basically resembles the staff of Moses or Aaron, or even that of anEtruscan or Babylonian priest – all cultures linked to serpent worship. Unfortunatelyfundamentalists and strict Protestants removed many of these serpents found adorningsuch crosses, in an attempt to hide the true history.Also seen on Irish crosses are strange figures, which have extra large heads in relation totheir body. Some have said that this is due to the predominance of a “Celtic Head Cult”, but the evidence we uncovered in

The Serpent Grail

[3] pointed to the fact that both theserpent cult and the head cult are one and the same. We found that this was due to theinternal psychological and spiritual process brought on by the serpent energies.In Irish tales these great serpents or "piests" (pests), were said to be

“as big as a horse,and have a great mane upon it, so it has.”

(

Legend of the Lakes,

Croker, relating to LoughKittane of Killarney). This has baffled many and has given rise to the link between thesnake-serpent and the fabled dragon in many cultures. The tales of the great serpents of huge size and even compared to mountains reveals much. Many of these serpent tales refer to actual locations whereby ancient man created great centres of healing, initiation andritual – all linked to the universal worship of the serpent.The Fenian heroes of ancient Ireland are recorded orally in song and one of them, Fionn,was their ‘dragon slayer.’ One of the legends tells us that:

“It resembles a great mound, its jaws were yawning wide;There might lie concealed, though great its fury, A hundred champions in its eye-pits.Taller in height than eight men,Was its tail, which was erect above its back;Thicker was the most slender part of its tail,Than the forest oak which was sunk by the flood.”

Fionn asked where this great monster had come from and was told,

“From Greece, todemand battle from the Fenians.”

Perhaps serpent worshippers had come to Ireland fromGreece, and had fought the ancient inhabitants, leaving behind such terror that they became symbolised by this great ‘dragon mound.’ Fionn, it is said, opened the side of thedragon and released the men, going on to kill it. It may be that there is a mixture of wartime fact entwined with the symbolism of this legend. Emerging from the side of thedragon, according to all the myths, gives new life, leaving us no doubt that theseserpentine monuments were places of initiation and rebirth.Evidence of ancient serpent worship in the Americas can beverified from the manyserpent mounds that appear across the continent. In Ohio, there is a large serpentinemound with a large head of the snake swallowing (or throwing up) a large egg. Similar snake mounds can be found across the world. Some are man-made, others natural andadapted - such as Hackpens Hill near Avebury in England, where Hack means snake and pen means head - thereby giving us "snakes head hill". These large serpents, still seen inthe land today were ancient burial mounds, earthworks and places of ritual for the serpentworshipping cults of our ancestors. The great mane upon the mound, being grass or trees.In 1871 at the meeting of the British Association in Edinburgh, a certain Mr. Phene gavean account of his discovery in Argyllshire, Scotland, of a mound,

“several hundred feet long, fifteen feet high and thirty feet broad.”

The tail tapers away from a circular cairn,which he presumed to be a solar disk above the head of the

“Egyptian uraeus”

. [4] Thisfiery Uraeus serpent, or more properly Wadjet, anoints the head with flames, as referred toin the Bible in Apostles, Acts 2, where the Apostles are filled with the holy spirit, andflames lick above their heads. Here we have a clue to the serpents connection tospirituality.

In the Pyramid Texts the Wadjet is linked strongly with nature. The papyrus plant is said toemerge from her and she is connected to the forces of growth, fertility and creative power.The Uraeus is an indication of the divine wisdom and solar-force, emerging from the browof the head, symbolically represented in the serpent mounds appearing on the brow of ahill. The brow is known as the ‘temple’. Within the Temple is the Holy of Holies, the mostsacred place in a human’s body. In Native American traditions many underground cavernswithin landscaped mounds are where known to be places where initiation rites occur r ed.From our research, it appears these places were ritualistic re-birthing portals as if from thewomb of the creative serpentine mother. In Egyptian history Osiris entered the serpent andemerged reborn and invigorated, and our European and American ancestors mimicked this belief. In all cases it was the wisdom of the serpent, which gave the strength to empower the individual to move on in life, as if born again.

Serpent mounds – a worldwide phenomenon

Further references to serpent mounds can be found across the world. In the Persian holy book

Zend Avesta

one of the story’s heroes takes a rest on what he thinks is a bank – onlyto find out that it was a green snake. In Mauritania, Iphicrates says that

“there weredragons of such extent that grass grew up on their backs.”

In Strabo (Lib xv. P.1022) twodragons are said to have resided in the mountains of India, one eighty cubits long and theother one hundred and forty. From Syria Posidonius tells of a dragon which was so largethat horse riders on either side could not see each other. Each ‘scale’ was as big as a shield,so that a man

“might ride into his mouth.”

It is thought that these must be ruins of Ophite(serpent worshiping) temples. In some parts of Syria serpent worshippers were known asHivites (linked with the root word hivvah which from which came the biblical name of Eve which could then be equated with "female serpent"). In India serpent deities areknown as the Naga.From South America text said to have been written by Votan (Quetzalcoatl), in thelanguage of the Quiches says he left Valum Chivim [5] and came to the New World toapportion land among seven families who came with him and were said to be of serpentorigin or culebra. Passing the

“land of thirteen snakes”

he arrived in Valum Votan,founding the city of Nachan (City of Snakes), thought to be Palenque, possibly around 15BC or even earlier. In reference to Serpent Mounds there is the description of asubterranean passage, that terminated at the ‘root of heaven’ – referred to as a ‘snake’shole’ while snake heaven was Patala. Votan was only allowed entry because he was ‘theson of a snake’ from which we can infer he was an initiate in the serpent cult.

Serpent Wisdom

There are two distinct elements of practical wisdom originating in the serpent tales, fablesand folklore. Firstly that the physical snake itself not only sloughs off its skin and appearsto be re-born from within a cave or under a rock, but that the very elements of the physicalsnake could actually prevent disease and cures ill health. The knowledge of amazingregenerative properties of the various parts of the snake have been discovered in hundredsof ancient medica materia, alchemical texts and hidden within folklore. The venom of thesnake was used as an Elixir to help prevent disease through boosting the immune systemwith high levels of protein. And secondly mixing the neurotoxic venom with the blood of the snake or mammalian host such as a horse brings on altered states of consciousnessmuch akin to certain drugs used by shaman across the world from ancient times. Visions of ‘otherworlds’ seen in such trances are often depicted as tombs, wombs or caves, withinwhich sometimes benevolent, sometimes terrible, serpents are encountered.In any discussion of serpent wisdom we cannot fail to also mention the ancient HinduKundalini practice. Kundalini means simply "coiled serpent" and in the Indian system theida and pingala energy (through serpent channels) are raised up and down the spine toraise the consciousness of the adept. There are six chakra energy vortices aligning the