...from the Pen of the Puca
By Katharine Clark, Puca by Lauren Curtis

Did you just see the grass move? Are you sure? I'm positive the cat tails over by the pond were waving, and there's not a puff of wind.

No, wait... I know I heard a hiss and a rustle over there in the fallen leaves. Look! There it is--brown, shining, with lidless eyes and a forked tongue, and it's slithering right towards us!

Yep! The old Puca's spotted a snake in the grass. That's a good thing, as there are many kinds of vermin in these fields, and they could do lots of damage to the crops if weren't for creatures like the snake controlling the population.

Why are you rolling your eyes? Oh, I get it. “Snake in the grass” is a term used for deceitful people, folks who don't give you the straight story. That's a hold over from that Bible tale about the Garden of Eden. Well, we'll talk about that in a bit. For now, believe me when I tell you that the snake and its image have stood for far more positive things!

In ancient times, the snake was often the symbol of divine spirit, wisdom, focus and healing. It was also a totem animal of several goddesses, and represented the mysteries of life and birth. In Ireland, images of the God of the Hunt, Cernunnos, show him surrounded by the animals he protects. In his hand he holds a serpent, a symbol of fertility and male energies which give him the strength to sustain life through the Winter.

In many other cultures snakes, twined around a tree, represented the power of life and healing embracing the world. This eventually became a staff encircled by snakes, carried by gods, holy men, and shamans. In Greece, the snake Ladon coiled around the tree which grew sacred golden apples in the garden of the Hesperides (the Hesperides were nymphs, or minor goddesses). In Buddhism, the serpent kind Mucalinda rose up from his place beneath the Bodhi tree, and coiled around the Buddha. He flared his cobra head above the holy teacher to protect him from a rising storm.

Mercury (or Hermes) carried a rod with twin snakes. As he was the god who led the departed into the Otherworld, the snakes stood for Death and Rebirth. The healer Asclepius had a staff with a single, encircling snake. Hermes was the god of arcane, or mystical, knowledge (Hermetic Studies). Mysterious and medical arts were often linked. The symbol of modern medical practice, the caduceus, can now feature one or two snakes on a rod or staff.

But why are snakes associated with healing? They are credited with herbal wisdom, and the use of their venom was believed to either poison or cure a person. Those goddesses of myth who were horrible to behold--like Medusa, with her hairdo of writhing snakes , and the other Gorgons--could take or save a life. Snakes from the left side of their heads were poison, and from the right, medicinal.

Snakes represented the life form, and the umbilical cord that ties each of us to our mothers while in the womb. That's why the Minoan fertility goddess holds a snake in each uplifted hand; they are a token of the mystery of birth.

The list goes on and on. There are feathered serpents, rainbow serpents, gods and goddesses found in almost every society where male and female divinity and knowledge were sacred. Which brings us back to that Garden of Eden...

There were several belief systems where the serpent was viewed as exclusively evil or, at least, negative. In Jewish and Muslim belief, serpents are deceitful. The Truth, they believe, can only be spoken by a tongue with one tip. A forked tongue means its owner could also lie, misdirect, and trick. That's why there is an old saying: “liars speak with a forked tongue.” It refers back to the negative view of the snake.

In the Garden of Eden, the serpent is not called “Satan.” That connection comes later, with the New Testament and the advent of Christianity. The snake was merely called “cunning,” which means “knowing.” It's interesting that a snake--a symbol of women's mysterious and pagan goddesses--advised Eve, a woman, that the tree with the forbidden fruit is really a tree of Knowledge. Although the Bible does not say the fruit was an apple, it's also interesting that most pictures and re-tellings of the story use this particular fruit, the same one guarded by snakes in the garden of the Hesperides. Is the god of the Old Testament using the symbol of the snake to convince us the old pagan goddesses are evil? Hmm... something to ponder!

So, think about it the next time you see something long and wavy moving through the leaf litter. That isn't some aggressive, slimy, enemy passing by; it's the shadow of the ancient gods moving across the face of the land, the energy of life.

Good Mabon, everyone!

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