THE SERPENT AND THE TREE!

MYTHS AND MEANING:

There are some myths about the serpent and a tree. Obviously, there is the famous serpent of the Garden in the Bible. Reason why Christians believe the serpent is evil. But it has a double meaning as explained on THE MEANING OF THE SERPENT. Just to have an idea we can say that there are two serpents: The one which crawls on the ground and the one which can fly: The Feathered Serpent called Quetzalcoatl by the Aztecs, Kukulcan by the Mayas, Kundalini in India, the Chinese Dragon, the serpent of Minerva, the serpent of Aesculapius, the Cobra of the pharaohs, etc.

We can find, in the Greeks’ mythology, the tree of the golden apples (Now you know where the idea of the apple tree in the garden came to Christians) and a dragon or serpent which was protecting the fruits. This serpent was called Ladon. Only the mighty Hercules could defeat it to get three of those apples!

There is another famous serpent that was protecting a tree.

Yes! The Norse men had that idea too. Let’s remember Jormungand (The Midgard Serpent). Odin sent it to the ocean. It was feeling so comfortable in the waters and grew up so big that became really huge. All humans and gods were afraid of it. Only the powerful Thor defeated it and paid a great price for it: His life! As you can see here, this serpent was the same evil serpent of the paradise in the Bible.

The fight of Thor against Jormugand has a real good and deep meaning. Let’s see… That evil serpent can be destroyed only through the greatest sacrifice of all, which is our own life! That serpent represents desire. Buddha said: The cause of pain is desire! What we live for? We want to fulfill all our desires, that is the reason of our life; but life does not give you everything you want. So suffering is the outcome sooner or later. The more you have the more you want and that path is endless.  You cannot have satisfaction going on that path. Therefore, happiness is on another path: Fighting your desires! This requires a lot of analyzing and here is where meditation comes. You need a lot of concentration and deep understanding of yourself to defeat your desires and then you die or kill your desires to be resurrected to happiness!

The serpent, desires, defeated us in the garden. Now we need to defeat the serpent to achieve real happiness beyond boundaries and attachments!

THE SERPENT AS A GUARDIAN:

WHAT WAS A SERPENT DOING ON THE TREE OF THE GARDEN IN GENESIS OR ON THE NORDIC TREE? Interesting question, but it has a very simple answer.

The serpent represents wisdom, energy and power. Nevertheless, not everyone can use those attributes on the right way. A selfish person would use them to satisfy his/her desires. Some people might use them to control other persons, etc.

Let’s remember the tree with the golden apples, on the Greek mythology. Those apples were supposed to give immortality. Those were the apples of knowledge, the knowledge beyond human understanding. The serpent was the guardian. It was keeping away those who were not able to use the apples in the proper way. But those who tried to get those apples, when they were not told to do so, had to face the serpent.  The serpent then overcame them and they became slaves of desire.

Those apples were only for the gods or for those prepare to become one.  Just the mighty Hercules was able to get those apples and Thor did it too as explained above.

The great Thor, the son of Odin, gave his life to destroy the serpent. Only the one who sacrifice himself/herself is able to defeat the guardian of the tree.

LOVE IS THE MAGICAL POWER WHICH FACES ALL KIND OF TRIALS WITHOUT FEAR.  

THERE IS NOT FEAR WHERE LOVE IS! 

LOVE TRANSFORMS A WEAK PERSON INTO A BRAVE ONE!

THE WARRIOR ARMED WITH LOVE WILL DEFEAT THE POWER OF THE SERPENT.

ILLUSION: THE POWER OF DESIRE!

The ancient philosophy of India says ILLUSION (MAYA) is the power which hypnotizes people. Human beings are dreaming. Life is a dream. Life is an illusion. That illusion creates attachment and the latter is developed by desire.

Desire, at the end, chains us to the wheel of life. The more desires we have the more hypnotize we are and therefore the more slave we are.

DESIRE IS A SIMPLE ATTRACTION TOWARD SOMETHING OR SOMEONE. LOVE ON THE OTHER HAND IS THE NEED TO MAKE THE OTHER PERSON HAPPY.

DESIRE IS ATTACHMENTE, LOVE IS FREEDOM!

DESIRE LOOKS FOR SELF-SATISFACTION. LOVE LOOKS FOR SELF-SACRIFICE. THE FIRST ONE IS SELFISH, THE LATTER IS ALTRUISTIC.

DESIRE IS ILLUISION AND LOVE THE END OF ILLUSION.

DESIRE IS A POISSON AND LOVE THE ANTIDOTE.

DESIRE IS AN ADDICTION, BUT LOVE IS NOT. THE FIRST ONE GENERATES SLAVERY, THE LATTER SET YOU FREE!

DESIRE IS THE MOTHER OF ANY ILLUSION. LOVE IS THE DESTROYER OF ALL ILLUSIONS!

THE SERPENT ON THE CROSS.

This is a very interesting symbol that was used by the Alchemist, for example. The cross is a very old symbol and we can find it in every single culture. The cross has different meanings, but for sure all of them are positive.

Some people believe that the crucifix is a negative symbol. This is a very wrong idea. It comes from the idea that Jesus Christ died on a cross. so, they say: How can you worship a crucifix if that was the thing that killed the Christ. Well, first tell me this: How can be resurrection without death?

We have to study what the crucifix mean in order to understand it. We cannot judge things if we do not understand them.So, let's try to see the symbol and its meaning.

THE CROSS has to poles, one vertical and the other one horizontal. The vertical pole represents the forces coming from top to bottom, it is from the Cosmos. The horizontal pole is our earthly life. So, the first one is the spiritual path and the second one is the material road or life. Some people want to walk one or the other one, just a few try to follow both. Why? Because going through both paths requires a lot of equilibrium, a lot of effort. If you think initiates only travel the vertical path then you are mistaken. Actually, only initiates can go through both path at the same time.

THE SERPENT has a positive and a negative meaning, please refer to my article the meaning of the serpent (link below). Right here, the serpent on the cross, it represents the material world, the power of desire, the illusion that most die in order to be resurrected into a higher level of consciousness full of love and compassion.

THE MEANING OF THE SERPENT ON THE CROSS IS:

ILLUSION IS DESTROYED THROUGH THE PERFECT BALANCE BETWEEN MATTER AND SPIRIT.

The cross is the symbol of destruction of illusion. The snake is the initiated who is crucifying all material desires and given them to the spirit. Truth and love comes as a result from this crucifixion.

THERE IS NOT RESURRECTION WITHOUT DEATH!

All great masters always speak about the need to overcome desire. BUDDHA TAUGHT: THE ROOT OF PAIN IS DESIRE. Well, we all have desires, how can we do this? Actually having desires is good, so what is the problem? The problem is when desires control you  because then you become a slave of desires. So, you lose your identity and your will. As long as desires control you then you cannot be happy. You cannot depend on any desire to be happy.

Happiness is an inner state beyond the body, beyond desires, and beyond the mind. This can be understood by initiates who already have achieve some degree of experimentation of this matter.Otherwise people just are believers without any experience.

HAPPINESS IS THE BLISS OF FREEDOM.

SLAVERY IS THE SENTENCE OF DESIRE.

Therefore the crucifix is the best symbol of human liberation. It is not a symbol of torture or human death, but the death of desire, but that desire that makes you addicted to, that desire that makes you a slave.

WHOEVER WANTS TO BE TOTALLY FREE AND HAPPY MOST CRUCIFY HIS/HER DESIRES, THOSE DESIRES WHICH MAKE HIM/HER A SLAVE.

MORE FROM CULWISDOM:

 REAL LOVE: CUPID, VENUS AND THE MYTHS OF LOVE! 

THE CREATION MYTHS AND THE FALL OF MEN!

THE MEANING OF THE SERPENT.