Moses and the Serpent

[deviadah]

Some random thoughts on some interesting subjects... I've placed it in the part of the forums that deal with the history of alchemy because the figures of the Bible is very much a big part of the alchemical history, as is the symbolism of the Serpent!

In the mountain region where the famed temple Petra lies (as seen in Indy 3) lies a High Place (a form of temple or place of worship) which was used by the Edomites.

Now close to this area stands a Snake Monument, about 30 feet high. It is in fact a monolith carved out of the rock with a serpent twirling around it.

Although destroyed by locals, due to Hippies going there to worship in the 60s (fuckin' hippies), the base of it still remains.



Can be difficult to detect but the base and beginning of the snake twirling up around the broken monolith is quite visible. Archeologists actually discovered a tomb that contained a black staff painted with hieroglyphs. The writings on the staff indicate that it was owned by Tuthmosis.

The staff is now in the Birmingham Museum after a long adventure where it actually at one point was on the Titanic, but left the ship when it stopped off in Ireland (perhaps Titanic got cursed).


Click on image for a larger pic...

Anyway what is interesting is the fact that Tuthmosis is the brother of Akhenaten. He was in fact the Pharao to be but vanished and his younger brother took his place. Now there is linguistic evidence to suggest that Tuthmosis is Moses (or one of several Moses since he lived for a very long time).

Freud connected Moses with Akhenaten, and perhaps not a strange thing to do since both created a religion based on a single God. Perhaps the religion of Akhenaten and Moses is in fact the very same religion - seperated only by language.

Look at the images below:

It almost seems as the lights shining down...


...is the arms of the candelabra pointing upwards.

Well really don't have one yet, but the connection between the religion of light (a la Akhenaten) and the religion of the one God (a la Moses) sure thickens.

Add to this the fact that both Baal and Serpent worship seems to be a bigger part of the ancient Hebrew religon than what the modern Jews themselves want to admit. The Bible has clearly been censored, but this we already know for sure.

And the Lord spake unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole... - from Exodus

Which he did during his 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. Moses also had horns in his head when he came down from the mountain with the ten commandements/emerald tablet (pick your legend).

The reasons behind the good serpent vand bad serpent (both in the Bible) is due to - according to scholars - the fact that in the times when the Bible was written, and before it was written, the Hebrews had a situation similar to Luther and the Catholics i.e. two distinct representations of the serpent occured.

The issue was not really about the serpent itself, but about having graven images of God! Proof in itself that perhaps the Serpent is some sort of powerful being... like Ningishzidda!



Hope the above sparks some insights (perhaps even some I myself have missed)!

Related topic:
The Caduceus of Hermes

[BeautifulEvil]

You have done some real good research. I like the pictures too!

I didn't know about the titanic connection to the staff - the curse idea is really creepy. I was decently familiar with the rest though, especially the moses connection to Akhenaten or Tuthmosis. The serpent monument was new to me though, and it really sucks the locals had to destroy it (seems kind of drastic just to spite the hippies).

[deviadah]

Yeah I know... it was bedouins actually. They are a bit fundamental and didn't approve of the hippies new age religion. They actually blew it up with explosives!

The Titanic reference was indeed kind of freaky!

[MythMath]

Fuckin' exploding Bedouins...

[Malt_Draught]

Fuckin' exploding Bedouins...

Hahahahaa!

In relation to the idea of a curse, I was reading about how they all ran off screaming in the dark the day they opened the great pyramid, they really where terrified of their old gods! Not only that but they found a bacterium growing in the pyramid which was found to be the cause of death for the poor bloke who opened the tomb and that just makes the mind boggle, they cultivated a rare and deadly bacteria in a 1000 year old tomb!?! "Death shall come on swift wings to he who disturbs the tomb of pharoh!" - That was found to be written over the door!

Thank fuck for penacillin!

Some grave robbers where actually found sealed in some of the pyramids, due to grave robbing being a problem, they where oft thinking of ways to thwart being robbed in death. You can just imagine walking down a dark tunnel, crapping your pants with flaming torch in hand only to disturb something and have a huge chunk of solid granite roll down where the door used to be. That torch isnt going to help its robbing you of oxygen, a nasty way to go!

[Israel]

Very interesting article. I'm intrigued by the staff.

The only thing that I would take issue with is the comment that Moses created the religion of the "one god". This was actually Abraham's religion which he brought up to Canaan from the land of Ur (modern day Iraq), and several generations before Moses. It was also the religion of Jacob (later named Israel).

Another note on the name of the god Baal. During that time the name Baal actually meant Lord, and so many gods were referred to as Baal - typically to denote a deity of a specific city. It was only after the 12 tribes had split into two kingdoms that the name Baal became a shameful one.

[carabric]

Great post, I wholly believe Moses to be a daunting and wholly alchemical figure throughout the historic record. It is great you mentioned the staff and serpent...in addition to the candelabra. The earliest mentions of staff and serpent (or caduceus) are seen with just one snake as in the case of Asclepius it's only later in the historic record that the two are shown divided and battling each other to represent their opposing natures. I just love seeing the progression of allegorical ideas throughout history. To me it just shows a sort of loosening of the overall secrecy which this art is founded on, I can only wonder at where it is going...but if the bible is any clue "all will be revealed" so who knows. Even though Akhenaten is generally credited with bringing about a more monotheistic view of god I still believe the Egyptian priest before him (who would be the ones dispelling the religion) at their core were of the same idea. If you look at the other deities from a more metaphoric point of view in some ways I believe they represent aspects of the alchemical process...much in the same way during the middle age they would use figures such as crow, dove, or phoenix to represent a phase of the work.

[Aluna]

Maybe we'll all be cursed too, just from seeing the picture... =0

Anyway, good research. Making connections is a good way to accumulate knowledge, and helps people like me who know nothing about the subject...

Thank you.

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