| Year 2000 AD finds Asclepius
universally recognized as the tutelary patron of physicians. He is referred
to throughout the world in alchemical, hermetical, and mundane medical texts
and treatises as the master physician who knew how to revive the dying and recently dead
using the blood or venom of a serpent or snake with dragonish features.
So what was he -- man or myth?
|
| Variations of
the Name |
| Listed below are
the numerous spellings I have found for the name of Ophiuchus's
Greek namesake. There are more ... |
| Aesclepius,
Aesclepios, Aesculapius, Æsclepius,
Asclepios, Asclepius, Asklepios, Asklepius, Imouthes |
|
Asclepius: The Tap Root Of The Ophiuchus Myth
Historic accounts of the mortal human life and career of the Greek master
physician Asclepius are
inextricably interwoven with the many myths and legends of the Greek pantheon.
While the modern, scientifically-minded man or woman passes myth off as
overactive imagination the spiritually-minded will tell you that ancient peoples
merely lived closer to deity than we as a culture do today.
Judging by the books I have read, many learned people have recently devoted
substantial portions of their lifetimes comparing all of the discoverable
versions of myth, legend and historic documents concerning the conception and
mortal birth of Asclepius to unearth some illusive truth. Presented here is a
regurgitated digest of the salient points and arguments for the revaluation of
constellation Ophiuchus as just another constellation in the night sky (and not
a very bright one at that). See table of authorities for a partial list of
references used in creating this brief but important e-paper.
Constellation
|| Myth || Startistics Mission
Astrology || Asclepius || Descendents
|| Serpent || Imhotep
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Greek Legend
As with all hero myths, the legend of
Asclepius's birth is unusual. All accounts I have read take place during the
Hellenistic Period and the bulk of them agree that Asclepius was the son of the
Greek god of medicine and light Apollo and Coronis, a mortal maiden. Most of the
legends paint his mother as having incurred wrath and punishment for being
unfaithful to Apollo, and Asclepius as having been taken from his mother's womb
either by Apollo or by Hermes while she lay burning on a pyre designed to send
her to Hades. For those who are tired of hearing stories where the woman stands
accused and we never hear her side of it, there are other stories that are more
palatable, including one about Coronis being seduced by one of the priests in
the temple of Apollo and some where she was set upon by Apollo against her will.
However he was born, the myths go on to say Asclepius was taken to be raised and educated by Chiron the Centaur who taught him the
secrets of healing, life and death. By all accounts Asclepius became a
miraculous healer in or around 1400 BC, capable of retrieving a spirit from the
realm of the dead. His one overweening fault in the eyes of the Greek legend
tellers appears to have been his attraction to being paid for his work.
Regardless of the question of money, all accounts are unanimous on the reason
for his having been slain: He was using powers in his human form that were
decreasing the powers of a god; namely, Hades, god of the dead. For this
transgression he was killed by a thunderbolt hurled at him by Zeus, god of sky
and earth. As to the popular death blow story, which sounds harsh to say the
least, if one digs deep enough into the available body of research there are to
be found arguments to it that have a more practical if not scientific ring to
them. I won't spoil the thrill of discovery for you ... browse my table of
authorities for pointers.
Constellation
|| Myth || Startistics Mission
Astrology || Asclepius || Descendents
|| Serpent || Imhotep
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Asclepius's Descendents
As a matter of recorded history, Asclepius lived
a mortal life in or around the 6th or 7th
Century BC and was survived by a wife and, by most accounts, six children. The two sons,
Podalirius and Machaon are referred to as Asclepiads, being skilled physician sons of Asclepius who carried on their father's tradition
of administering history-making cures and remedies One son was said to be more adept at surgery while the other was
among the first physicians to advocate dietetics. It is not unusual to hear the
term Asclepiads used today to refer generically to physicians or the treasured
remnants of the old hermetic documents which remain to evidence the spiritual life of the
mortal Greek Asclepius, tap root of the Ophiuchus myth.
Our medical terms hygiene and panacea are attributed to the names of two of Asclepius's
daughters, Hygieia and Panakeia.
Constellation
|| Myth || Startistics Mission
Astrology || Asclepius || Descendents
|| Serpent || Imhotep
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The Serpent and the Staff
As the shaman and medicine-man is associated with snake spirits, so Asclepius is
sometimes mentioned in connection with the Cabir Telesphoros, his private daemon
who is said to have dictated or inspired his medical prescriptions, and the
"Serpent of Epidaurus," both a legendary serpent and - entwined about
a staff - his personal/professional emblem. This
symbolic connection between physicians, divine inspiration, and snakes is
ancient and continues to survive the test of time to this day, finding itself
consistently in each successive age as a universal symbol of knowledge applied
with wisdom in the practice of medicine. However as the Ancient Wisdom
resurfaces, more and more people are finding there is a whole lot more to the
Serpent, the Staff and the Caduceus than appears on the surface. See also Caduceus
on this site.
Constellation
|| Myth || Startistics Mission
Astrology || Asclepius || Descendents
|| Serpent || Imhotep
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From what we're told are "pre-historic times," the Elixir of Life,
Soma, Amrita, The Deathless Drink, was said to reside in the blood of a monster
with dragonish and snakelike features. The ancient practitioners of occult
medicine, who were anything but unsuccessful with it, have left behind many
manuscripts and documented success stories which may be hard to believe, but
that's because most of it is cloaked and veiled in the esoteric languages of symbols.
To establish the connection between Soma,
Amrita, the Sacred Mushroom (see Ophiuchus
Pharmacology) and the Serpent of Epidauros read The Cosmic Serpent - DNA
- and the Origins of Knowledge by Jeremy Narby (see bibliography entry
below).
The serpent-staff has a long history of being connected with
religious and occult miracles, making perhaps its most notable early appearance
during Ancient Egyptian times in the rivalry between the biblical Staff of Aaron
the Hebrew and the Uraeus Staff of the Priest of the Egyptian Pharaoh. Later,
this same serpent-staff concept was adopted by the American Medical Association
in its development of the symbol "Caduceus," which looks like a winged
flagpole about which a pair of serpents is entwined. Although there seems to be
a raging conflict between those who claim the Caduceus is more properly a symbol
of the Roman Mercury or Greek Hermes while the staff with a single snake wrapped
about it was the physician Asclepius's symbol, if we strip away the argument and find out where
we can all agree I think it is obvious that the concepts of stick and snake
remain behind as the two constant factors. What there is to argue about in a
pair of wings and a second snake can only be adduced by delving into the occult
arts with an open mind. See also Caduceus
on this site.
One thing seems relatively certain: the roots of
myth, legend and history attribute the wooden staff with the single serpent to
Asclepius and the winged pole with twin serpents to Hermes. The challenge beyond
that point is to find where all of the later legends trace themselves back to
the Tehuti or Thoth, the Egyptian god of many titles who is often also referred
to in historic and hermetic texts as the Egyptian Hermes.
Constellation
|| Myth || Startistics Mission
Astrology || Asclepius || Descendents
|| Serpent || Imhotep
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Tributary Legends From the Land of the
Pharaohs
Egyptian
History
To find the historical origin of the mythological figure, we must go even
farther back through time to find its earliest roots in an Ancient Egyptian god of medicine, I-Em-Hetep (whose
name translated means "He Who Cometh In Peace"). He was the third
member of a great triad of gods (Ptah, Bast or Sekhmet, and I-Em-Hetep) in Memphis, Egypt in
or about 2900 BC where he probably lived as Imhotep, the Egyptian, at a later
date.
The Egyptian mortal-made-god Imhotep had mortal
parents and lived in or about the 27th Century BC.
His amazing accomplishments have lived
on in the minds, hearts, myths and legends of both the Egyptians and Greeks some
2500 years after his death. He was honored as not only a great man, but as a god
who owed his great powers to the knowledge of medicine which he possessed, and
who brought the art of healing to mankind.
According to Egyptian history Imhotep was a master of many disciplines. He was
a skilled physician (which in ancient times was actually known as magick) and a priest of RA, the Sun God.
He was also the trusted chief minister and vizier of Egyptian Third Dynasty
King Zoser, for whom he bent his considerable skills as the innovative Master
Architect who set the first profound standard of excellence in step pyramid
building. The living evidence of his work is in King Zoser's burial complex
which Imhotep designed and built at Saqqara, Egypt between 2667 - 2648 BC. The
Zoser Complex stands today as a world monument to innovative architecture. In
addition, Imhotep received notoriety for his literary
abilities. He is credited with documenting much of his medical (or magickal)
work which has earned him recognition in modern times as "the first
man of science in recorded history."
As tales and evidence of Imhotep's accomplishments
spread to Greece, his legend began to loom so large there that he was brought to
the City of Memphis where he was called Imouthes by the Greeks. This is where
the ancient records of Imhotep-Imouthes' mortal life become fused with the Greek
god of medicine Asclepius. Most people - especially new age astrologers
coming to grips with constellation Ophiuchus - miss this subtlety. It is easy to
do. Yet this linkage is vital to the Odin/Osiris/Christ-Dying God myths and the
history of Yeshua the Christed One. One of these days it will all come together
and the girders of the World Soul will be profoundly shaken - to the good of
course.
We are told that after Imhotep's death he was deified as a son of Ptah and Sekhmet and replaced Nefertem as
the third member of the great triad of Egyptian gods at Memphis, thus tying this
legend of a demi-god back to that of the original Egyptian god of medicine, I-Em-Hetep.
Constellation
|| Myth || Startistics Mission
Astrology || Asclepius || Descendents
|| Serpent || Imhotep
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Unfortunately,
this constellation's relevance to astrology has not yet been officially
proclaimed and astronomers are complaining bitterly about it. Not having studied
the roots of astrology, they do not realize that the zodiac signs are not
intended to represent the constellations of the zodiac but are merely divisions
of the heavens that take their names from the brighter constellations that
appear to be in the general vicinity. Pure-astronomy loyalists, meanwhile, are
using the differences between zodiac signs and constellations as a major
indication that astrology is bogus.