Serpentine Visions

D.Antón
In almost all traditional societies throughout human history the images of serpents symbolizing the origins of wisdom are renewed.
As early as 2,000 to bd a Mesopotamian seal represented a serpentine deity.
She had a human form and in her hands held  the caduceus with two snakes entwined in a double helix.

From the visions induced by ayahuasca, the Shipibo-Conibo communities of the Amazon jungle in the present territory of Peru identify the Cosmic Anaconda which they believe is the protector spirit of life 3   .
For the Mapuche the beginning and subsequent development of the universe was ruled by two serpents (filu), the sea serpent: Kaikafilu, and the land serpent, Trengtrengfilu.
Beyond the Pacific Ocean, in Australia, aboriginal peoples believed they descended from the Great Mother, the Rainbow Serpent.
She was also present in Chinese mythology, represented by two serpentine shapes symbolizing the essential, complementary and opposing principles: Yin and Yang. They are two coiled and androgynous silhouettes which epitomize the forces that make all aspects of life.
Yin represents earth, she is female, dark, passive and absorbent, she is present in even numbers in the valleys and waterways.
Yang is Heaven, male, light, he is active and penetrating, he is present in odd numbers, in the mountains and in the solid lines.
Together they become the dragon, a winged and double serpent, representing the cosmic evolution.  We are living both yin and yang times, the synthesis of opposing principles.
In India, the Serpent Mother is represented by Sesha, the thousand-headed serpent.
Even in the drama of Judeo-Christian biblical Genesis, despite being disowned by the church paradigm, the serpent is also present. She is the one that takes care of the tree of knowledge. The original sin of the first human couple, for the values ​​of the patriarchal society was wanting to find the truth, gain knowledge, to return to their natural origins. And in this attempt, as did many other peoples, there was the serpent.
In Mesoamerica, from the old days of the Olmecs, it was possible to see allegorical representations of flying snakes, even in the Maya and Teotihuacan pictures, they reappear again and again as the magical symbolism of the Plumed Serpent.
Quetzalcoatl is the Aztec vision of the fundamental duality of the ancient serpent, the term, of Nahuatl origin, is constructed with two roots: quetzal (feather, bird) and coatl (twins, snake).
As describes Ptolemy Tomkins referring to the Mexican native world:
“It started to take shape ... a being composed of wind, waves and rain, whose essence was movement and whose body was that of the snake. This snake lived in heaven, and its presence was manifested everywhere ....
This serpent of heaven had its counterpart living on earth and between the two divided the universe.
Sleepy and cold, the second snake was very different from her sister who lived in heaven. Its gigantic form in the black earth set in motion only to devour things.  Stars  entered its stomach when they fell below the horizon; it was known that the spirits of maize and other crops descended there when their stems became pale and withered, and humans, as their bodies scrapped resulted in war or by accident, also penetrated there. The stomach of this serpent was as long as the width of the land, and a number of possibilities were reserved for beings who roamed its length .
The sky could be described as a two-headed dragon, a giant snake, or a four iguanas place.” 4
The snake is present through all levels of the Mexican mythological drama. Coatlicue, the mother of mothers, is represented with a skirt of snakes, and her head is made by the composition of two serpent heads face to face.
Coatlicue’s daughterm Coyolxauhqui, the Lunar Goddess, which was dismembered in his struggle with her brother Huitzilopochtli, also was represented with pairs of snakes coiled in her arms and body.
From: "Peoples, Drugs and Serpents", Danilo Anton, Piriguazu Ediciones