We are all aware of the statement “get off my back” and its meaning of being driven or hounded by others. We often regard the situation as one of being criticized, but there is another “back-rider” to examine; it is a spiritual concept. One teaching is that we are accompanied in life by one of the Ancestors from the collective of the Ancestral Spirit. This being is sometimes called the Mind-Rider or Spirit-Rider (I prefer the latter term). As mentioned in the Preface to this book, the Spirit-Rider shares a common quality with the Mayan Vision Serpent.
The Spirit-Rider is an Ancestor that can come and go between the Mortal Realm and the Ancestral Realm. It is said to attach itself to the spine of the descendant and to ride with her or him. The Spirit-Rider is seen as a serpent in replica form resembling the shape of the human spine; its head is positioned with the so-called primitive brain associated with the area of the brain stem. The Spirit-Rider does not always remain with the host body, but can and does rejoin the Ancestors in their realm from time to time.
One of things the Spirit-Rider does is called fetching; this means it can take our consciousness to another place or realm. Spiritual or magical visions are often the result of being fetched away. The Spirit-Rider can also fetch another Ancestor and bring it to the descendant. Without understanding “the fetch” and how it works, a person can feel psychotic or as if going through an emotional/mental breakdown. Fortunately most of the work of the Spirit-Rider goes unnoticed to the conscious mind unless the person has had some training or alignment practice.
There is one exception to this, and it is associated with what some people call the “chill of affirmation” that is a tingling feeling up the spine. It manifests when some greater truth is acknowledged in our being. This sensation is the Spirit-Rider moving in the spine; it is drawing our consciousness to appreciate the words being spoken. Such communication is from the soul and meant for the benefit of Human Consciousness.
From the mystical view the Spirit-Rider carries the “Ancestral Eye of the Past” with it. In this context, mystics envision the Rider as a snake carrying one eye in its open mouth. Through this, and through us, it can see the world of the Living, and it can help us to see the world of the past. It can also give us vision into the future. The idea of “the one eye” shows up in the myth of the Norns who are Fate beings in the lore of Northern Europe. It also appears in the legend of Perseus who encounters three sorceresses who share one eye that can be passed around between them. Perhaps the mythical theme of the “one eye” is a remnant of very old beliefs about Ancestral vision.
The Ancestral Eye of the Past allows us to look upon the world of Ancestral wisdom, to see it as it was in its day, and to see it as it is within us now. The eye travels on the breath of life to connect to an Ancestral descendant. Once attached, it looks out through the brow into the outer light. In some mystical systems this area is called the Third Eye and is located in the center of the forehead just above the eyebrows.
One of the teachings in the old Huna system is that a Kahuna has an etheric extension from the tailbone of the spine. It is thought of much like a lizard's tail, meaning that if severed it can rejuvenate. This tail keeps the Kahuna rooted in the Ancestral connection, rooted in communication with the past. In this we can see the etheric serpent that moves between the worlds.
Since encountering this teaching, I have come to feel that the sensation called “the chill of affirmation” is part of the shaman's tail mechanism. As previously mentioned, the “chill” is a tingling or wave-like sensation that runs up or down the spine when we are talking about something meaningful or spiritual. It often comes with a revelation about some matter in our life. From a metaphysical perspective it is an affirmation from “spirit” that truth has been spoken or experienced; it is the Higher Self sending the message to pay particular attention.
From time to time in life we can lose the feeling of spiritual connection, of connection to many things in our life. We can liken this to losing our tail, losing our rootedness to the Spirit of the Land, to the Ancestral Spirit. In time we can return to our Path or to what carries us forward in life. It is the tail regrown; it is the Ancestral vestige renewed.
It can be of comfort to know that we have a Spirit-Rider with us. It means we are not alone and not disconnected from those who came before us in our lineage. To have a Spirit-Rider means that an intentional process is at work within us, there is meaning and purpose to our lives. Like the serpent, however, it slips away from time to time; it disappears into an underworld. It seemingly leaves us for a time and then returns again. Like the sun, the moon, and the stars, its light goes into the West and disappears on the horizon. The Ancestral wisdom knows that light is at home in the darkness, and this is represented by the celestial lights passing above our world; they visit but do not stay, they return home when all is said and done.
In what can be called the Old Faiths of pre-Christian times we find the theme of Cosmic Serpent or World Serpent. This serpent is a mover of tides, and can be seen as those very tides. In this light the serpent originates and maintains the tides; more specifically it carries the tides of life and death. In the lore of this great serpent it is Divine in nature. This belief later morphed through Judaic-Christian influences that succeeded in minimizing its prior significance, and in vilifying its nature and character. However, remnants for the Old Faith can be found in the class of angels known as the Seraphim. The ancient Book of Enoch mentions them, and this is associated with the old depiction of the Seraphim as fiery serpent beings that serve as guardians.
In Ancestral wisdom the serpent is venerated, in part, because it moves easily between a variety of worlds and inner dimensions. It is the messenger between the material world and the non-material world; between the world of mortalkind and spirits of the Otherworld. In ancient artwork and myth the serpent is carried by a god or goddess. Two figures stand out in terms of being intimately connected with the Dead, and by extension to the Ancestors. They are the deities known as Hecate and Hermes. In addition to being associated with the Dead both of the deities bear serpents. The serpent is often depicted as a chthonic creature connected to the Underworld. In an earlier chapter we noted the serpent as the guardian of the seed, a metaphor for the assurance of continued generations.
In classic iconography Hecate holds a serpent in her hand, or is accompanied by one. Hermes appears with a caduceus that features two serpents climbing a staff. In metaphysical circles this is often linked to the double helix figure of DNA, which resembles two climbing serpents. Hermes is, among other things, a god who guides and escorts the Dead. As such he is known as the god of otherworldly boundaries and the transformation of souls. On an interesting side note, I previously mentioned the beehive as a symbol of the Ancestral Spirit; in one ancient myth Hermes is given a gift of bees by Apollo. Both bees and spirits of the Dead are associated with oracle abilities. Seeing into the future is a theme we saw regarding the soul and the Ancestral Spirit working together in the process of reincarnation as the joining of the terrestrial and celestial. Noteworthy is the fact that in the earliest depiction of Hermes he is dressed in a black garment decorated with stars (the original home of all souls).
Scholar Karl Kerenyi describes Hermes as calling the Dead (before burial) and putting them into a type of slumber with his golden staff. This is reminiscent of what Dion Fortune called The Great Anesthetist (see Chapter Five). However, the Hermes that Kerenyi speaks of also awakens the Dead and opens a way to be released from the realm of the Dead. His winged caduceus uplifts the departed soul and guides it back amidst the stars. The twin serpents on his staff carry the Ancestors and call to the soul to return.
As noted in Chapter One, the serpent has long been associated with Ancestral veneration. Its winding movement represents the flow of the generations across time. The shedding of its skin symbolizes the many forms shed in the lifetimes that rise and recede in the course of time. In this light we can also view the serpent as a symbol of the Cosmic Life Force.
Anthropologist Jeremy Narby, in his book The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge, reveals a generational connection between DNA and communication between the body and the mind. Narby lived among a tribe of Peruvian Indians and was introduced to a plant substance called ayahuasca, which is effective and powerful at creating altered states of consciousness. Under the direction of shamans, Narby drinks the ayahuasca and experiences the inner realms and communication it offers. In particular he meets a large multicolored serpent that introduces itself as the creator of all things. Narby later concludes that ayahuasca can bring a person into direct communication with his or her DNA, which is represented by the serpent. An interesting connection arises when Narby learns that as DNA replicates, an intense photon particular bombardment occurs in the form of a multicolored snake-like ripple. Is this the serpent that Narby met, and who proclaimed itself the Creator?
Narby points out that many shamanic people use images other than a serpent when they work with non-material realms (or altered states of consciousness). Items or objects such as ropes, ladders, vines, or bridges/stairways are also used to enter other worlds. Some of these worlds are underneath the land while others are in the heavens above. Using these tools the shaman can enter a world usually traversed only by the Dead. The Gateway to this world is through the core concept known as the axis mundi, the axis of the world. Unlike the Dead, the shamans return to the world of the Living with conscious knowledge of the inner realms. This knowledge can be used for healing the mind and body.
Shamans of an Amazon tribe known as the Ashaninca teach about a “sky rope” that connects the earth and sky together. A copyrighted image of it appears in Narby's book (on page 94); the sky rope looks exactly like the double helix structure of DNA (the only difference being that it is somewhat stretched out). Narby's book also shows a photo of the plant from which the ayahuasca potion is made; the branches of this plant appear like two entwined serpents. The native users of the plant (Banisteriopsis caapi) call it the “spirit vine” and “the ladder to the Milky Way”—ayahuasca is called the “vine of the soul.” Let's take a moment to look at the relevancy of all of this to the theme of Ancestors, communication, and spiritual evolution.
In previous chapters I wrote about the three types of consciousness we have while possessing a Material Body. For the purpose of this chapter we can look at the flesh body as being the serpent consciousness (by way of the DNA that formed it in the Material Plane). In this regard it is the rope or stairway connecting above and below, the body and the soul. This suits the concept we explored in other chapters that direct communication with the soul is through the body. Altered states of consciousness are reached through the body whether by ecstatic dance or ingesting or smoking a particular substance. The serpent-like DNA within our bodies connects us directly with the Ancestors.
Altered states of consciousness draw Human Consciousness into play, but are also a means for the soul to experience the flow between material and non-material existence all in one setting. It is like being able to observe the waking and the dream state all at once, or the interaction of the so-called conscious and subconscious states as one communication. In previous chapters we looked at the dream state as always in transition of forms and themes, while the waking state perceived reality as stable and linear (with the constancy of cause and effect unfolding before us in orderly ways). Imagine being the overseer and director of each one. Your soul is precisely that, but Human Consciousness is only self-aware and egocentric to and in the moment. This separates our levels of being, and there is a disconnect between the celestial and terrestrial partnership. One example is, oddly enough, found in the myth of Adam and Eve and the talking snake.
In the tale of the Garden of Eden we find Eve approaching the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It is guarded by a serpent, as most trees with the power to transform usually do possess guardian snakes in old myths and legends. Eve, who we can assign to the Elemental Body, is instructed to not eat the fruit of this tree. In other words she is to remain without personal discernment; she is conscious only of being. This is the state of the Lower Self without the direction of Human Consciousness.
In our retelling of the story, “God” is the Higher Self trying to separate the Lower Self (the body) from communicating upward what it is not acclimated to comprehend, hence the order to not eat from the tree, or even touch it. This is attached to our earlier theme that the Elemental Body communicates directly with the soul, the Higher Self. However, as noted in previous chapters, the Middle Self (Human Consciousness) needs to communicate with the Higher Self through the body. This brings us to Adam, who in our tale represents Human Consciousness.
As the story continues, Adam succumbs to the influence of the body, the Lower Self. This is reflected in Eve giving Adam a taste of the forbidden fruit. This “opens their eyes” and they discover they are naked, which means separated from the oneness of the “Garden” and therefore self-aware. In the tale they make aprons of fig leafs, a fruit associated in the Old Faith with initiation. The “couple” has indeed passed across the threshold.
At this point in the tale, God is strolling through the garden but cannot locate Adam, to whom it calls out: “Where are you?” In other words, the Higher Self extends its presence into the material world but cannot sense Human Consciousness. Adam replies that he is hiding because he is naked (in new awareness of his being). God asks how it is that he knows himself in this way now and presses Adam by asking if he has eaten the forbidden fruit. Adam answers yes, and then passes the responsibility to Eve (the Elemental Body). Eve is then questioned in the same manner and passes responsibility to the serpent. This represents the breakdown of communication and the associated disconnect between the Middle and Lower Selves when something blocks communication with the Higher Self.
We are left now with only one unexamined character in our story, and that is the serpent. Eve expresses that the serpent beguiled her, and that he is the reason she ate the forbidden fruit. When people see or hear the word “beguiled,” they think of deception, which is actually only one meaning of it; the word can also simply mean to interest. In any case, Dr. Nehama Aschkenasy, a Hebrew scholar, points out that in Hebrew the word which is translated as “beguiled” in the Bible does not mean “tricked” or “deceived” as commonly accepted. Instead, Aschkenasy says that the Hebrew word is a rare verb that indicates an intense multilevel experience evoking great emotional, psychological, and/or spiritual trauma. In this light, the serpent was the catalyst that caused Eve to come into self-awareness, which then makes one turn her thoughts to purpose and personal role in existence. In the story, Eve says she desired the wisdom that eating the fruit offered, which again speaks to self-realization and what can follow from that state of being.
Let us return to the figure of the serpent in the myth of Eden. Who is he? In our scenario the serpent is the DNA, the original design, the yet unmanifested plan. In the story, Adam and Eve have no genetic parents, and so we can view them as simply representing pure consciousness. Eve, as the Elemental Body still in its purity as energy, is presented with the idea of material manifestation and the power of lineage that is possible through what the serpent offers. She can become manifest, and through her as a body, a spiritual process can flow into material existence.
In our story we see the theme in which the Elemental Body is coaxed into formation when the Ancestors and the soul envision reincarnation. Prior to that event the Elemental Body is more potential than it is anything manifest. It must respond to the invitation of the serpent; it must accept it and become a vessel that can grow “wise”—that is, it can evolve through self-awareness and realization.
The story of Eden ends with God informing Eve that as a consequence of her actions, her desire will now be for her husband, and that he will rule over her. What we can see in this (instead of gender assignments) is the role between the Elemental Body and Human Consciousness. It is perhaps best reflected in view of the Hawaiian Kahuna that the Unihipilli (the so-called Lower Self) loves and is completely devoted to the Uhane (the so-called Middle Self). It is described as wanting to please Uhane in everyway. The soul establishes this relationship for the purpose of communication and the evolution of both the Lower and Middle Selves. Therefore we can see “God” in the Eden tale as the soul assigning roles to consciousness, but not out of punishment. The three are brought into unification and functionality. The idea is not to stay happily inert within an enclosed garden, no matter how lovely or perfect it is, but to instead become one's full potentiality.
In contrast to the depiction of the serpent as the Cosmic Life Force, we also find it connected to Underworld themes. In such cases there is typically an element of prophecy connected in one way or another. One example is the python associated with the Oracle at Delphi in ancient Greece. According to the old tales, the goddess Gaia kept a holy or sacred serpent in a chasm beneath the earth, from which vapors drifted upward. A shepherd happened upon the chasm and experienced the onset of prophetic abilities. Others followed in time and had similar experiences. The entire myth changes later on with the tale of Apollo slaying the python. This alters the theme and creates the idea that fumes from the rotting corpse of the great python bestow the gift of prophecy. A temple to Apollo was erected at the site and the cult featured a priestess who sat upon a tripod set over the chasm; here she breathed in the rising fumes and revealed the future. Of interest is the design of the three-legged tripod associated with altered states of consciousness. We do not seem to be able to separate ourselves from the number three when it comes to the mystical.
In the system at Delphi, we can see the repetitive theme we have been working with in this book. The fumes from the serpent represent the Elemental Body influencing Human Consciousness. The spiritual or “soul” element is present in the setting being the Temple of Apollo, and so we see the coming together again of body, mind, and soul. The primary difference here is that communication is not directed upward to the Higher Self above Human Consciousness, but is expressed outward through the latter into the material world. It is the serpent speaking through a human vessel and is therefore communication of the sacred DNA of the Great Python. This makes it Ancestral in nature. In other words, it is the Ancestors speaking from the Underworld.
This idea connects us to another that is sometimes called Shadow or the Organic Memory of the Earth. We touched upon this in Chapter Two. Shadow holds the memory of all life energy, which is absorbed at death and through the process of decomposition. Shadow can be thought of as the Lower Self of the earth's body where memory is retained on the “cellular level.” Just as the human body has memory, so too does the body of our planet.
The level of serpent communication suggested by the Oracle at Delphi speaks to very deep and primal areas of our Elemental Consciousness. This is the serpent as reptilian and being the complete opposite of Human Consciousness. It is Human Consciousness/Middle Self giving over to the Elemental Body/Lower Self. Here communication becomes unconscious and we are propelled by an inner knowing that is beyond the reach of a conscious knowing. It is untraceable personal gnosis because it rises from the non-linear within the subconscious mind. This is the language that shamans refer to as “language-twisting-twisting” or more simply as “twisted language.” Jeremy Narby touches on this in his book The Cosmic Serpent.
The approach of twisted language is to call common things by other names. To use the common name is to stay fixed on all that is taught and associated with it. We are, in effect, too close to the commonly named thing; only by calling it something else can we step back far enough away to see it as a whole instead of its finite nature. It is the language of dreams as well as the shifting images within the dream state. In a dream you can pick up a rifle and have it turn into a rake. This makes no sense to the conscious mind in the moment because it is not the language of the waking consciousness. The meaning is in the shift, and the object is only a means to reach the message.
Throughout the dream state the serpent slowly slithers, directing us as the dream unfolds. While it is the soul that is communicating to Human Consciousness within a dream, the serpent works with it to bind us to the experience and carry that back to us in the waking state. Whether the dream is pleasant or a nightmare depends upon how we embrace or reject what the serpent's whispers offer us from the branches of the Ancestral tree.
In the shadowed places of the mind it is easy to misinterpret the ways of the serpent, and this typically results in its vilification. For example, in the myth of the giant ash tree known as Yggdrasil a serpent is depicted as gnawing away at the deepest root in order to topple the tree. The falling of the tree is prophesized as the end of the world. However the end of one thing is the beginning of another. Let us look deeper into the work of this serpent.
The serpent associated with Yggdrasil is called Nidhogg. He is found beneath the tree in the zone of Niflheim, which contains the realm of the Dead. In addition to trying to gnaw through the root of the tree, Nidhogg also feeds on the bodies of dead corpses; these lay on what is called the corpse shore. Mircea Eliade, professor of Religious History, writes: “Because snakes are lunar—that is eternal—and live underground, embodying (among many other things) the souls of the dead, they know all secrets, are the source of all wisdom, and can foresee the future.” In this light the serpent consumes the Dead, digesting all their experiences in life. Here it is the DNA flowing back into the Ancestral Spirit. The Dead in Niflheim are those who lived life poorly and in bad ways. This connects us back to theme of Ancestral redemption. New Elemental bodies will be generated by the Cosmic Serpent through Ancestral lineage in hopes of finding a champion to redeem the misdeeds.
At the bottom of the root in Niflheim there is a spring or a well known as Hvergelmir. I have seen this name translated as both “bubbling, boiling spring” and “bubbling cauldron.” In either case, it is said that many rivers flow from it into the Nine Worlds that hang on Yggdrasil. We can look at this as the many rivers of blood that flow through various lineage lines across time from generation to generation.
In the myth of Yggdrasil, three figures known as the Norns draw water from the Well of Urd and pour it out on the gnawed root. This restores the root back to normal, which can be viewed as the process whereby the DNA structure is kept from morphing and losing its integrity. The Well of Urd contains, in essence, the waters of destiny and the three Norns (there is that number again) are the Fates. In the use of “destiny” to restore the root we can see the plan or design needs to stay uncorrupted, the DNA must be preserved. What “is to be” is kept hydrated by the waters of destiny.
As the myth continues, we find that in the end the serpent succeeds in gnawing through the root. He then gathers the Dead with him and ascends up to the very realm of the gods. Here we can see the theme of the evolution of consciousness, the Elemental Body rising from the Ancestral Realm, transcending its lower abode and entering into a higher realm or state of consciousness. The “end of the world” is the end of one finite phase of reality and the birth of a new higher order.
Another type of serpent that can be assigned to “the shadowed places” is the guardian snake. This is not to be confused with the guardian dragon in Western culture, for the dragon guards things he has no personal use for, such as a treasure of gold or gems and young virgin maidens, whereas the snake guards things not intended for the average person such as special portals and most particularly trees or the fruit that grows on them. Guardian serpents are also associated with rites of initiation. Noteworthy in myth and legend is the offering of honey cakes to guardian serpents, and as mentioned earlier, there is a connection between bees, the Dead, and the realm of the Ancestral Spirit.
In the myth of the Garden of the Hesperides we find some interesting features we can connect to the Ancestral theme and a guardian serpent. The legendary garden was located in the West, which is the gateway to the realm of the Dead. The garden was tended by three women called the Hesperides; they were also known as the Nymphs of Sunset, and the Evening Daughters of Night. In the center of their garden was an apple tree bearing golden apples; this fruit granted immortality.
The apple tree was guarded by a serpent with a hundred heads who was known as Ladon (he is also known as the Hesperian Dragon). In the myth, Ladon is slain by Hercules, who is a demigod (half-Human and half-Divine). In this we can see our figures of Human Consciousness and Soul Consciousness jointly holding power over the Elemental Body. In other words, we are Hercules when the three act as one. The apples represent the Divine fruition of achievable consciousness. The serpent is withholding access to the immortality of the individual, and we can regard this as the limitations of the flesh body. In other words, the inevitable fate of the body is to die. If we are nothing but the body, then this finality is our fate as well. However, the hero Hercules is ultimately successful in obtaining the fruit of immortality, which we can regard as Human Consciousness (when hand-in-hand with Soul Consciousness) has the ability to conquer the cycle of life and death in the Material Realm.
The serpent is the guardian and the liberator. What seems sinister about the serpent is actually what we fear from within our emotional makeup. The snake is reptilian, seemingly unemotional and coldly logical. It reminds us of our weaknesses and imperfections; it reminds us that we can make the wrong choices when our emotions and fears enter into our reasoning.
Unlike the hero in Western mythology we are not to slay the guardian serpent in order to complete our quest. Instead we are to hear its ancient Ancestral tales, listen to its rooted wisdom, and uncover what is hidden from us that keeps us contained in ignorance. With the serpent, the Spirit-Rider, carried on our back, the Ancestral Eye can lend added vision on our quest.