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An image of a Serpent-bearing Goddess figure found in the remains of a temple in Knossos, Crete.She is one of several such figurines unearthed.
The name and purpose of the figure has never been deciphered, but she is associated with animals- mainly bees and snakes, and associated with the labyrinth and the labrys symbols.
See also: The Lady and the Serpent
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The Orphic egg is usually represented as an egg surrounded by a coiled serpent. The egg symbolizes the belief in the Greek Orphic religion that the universe originated from within a silver egg. The first emanation from this egg, described in an ancient hymn, was Phanes-dionysus, the personification of light:
“ineffable, hidden, brilliant scion, whose motion is whirring, you scattered the dark mist that lay before your eyes and, flapping your wings, you whirled about, and through this world you brought pure light.”
The image below depicts Phanes’ birth from the egg:
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The poisoned cup is an emblem of the Catholic saint John the Evangelist. The symbols stems from the popular miracle story whereby at HJohn’s blessing, the poison in a cup of wine intended for his consumption is transformed into a serpent.
Interestingly, the image of a serpent rising from a cup is described in a vision of Isis in the Golden Ass of Apuleius:
“In her left hand was a golden cup, from the top of whose slender handle rose an asp, towering with head erect and its throat distended on both sides. ”
The Poisoned Cup
John transforms the poison
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This symbol, a winged staff entwined by twin serpents called a caduceus, has been nearly universal, found in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and India, where it is a symbol of harmony and balance.
The symbol may have originally been a symbol of the sovereignty of the Goddess Tanit, and has been used as an emblem of the goddess Ishtar and the Sumerian creator god Enki.
The most recognizable form is the Kerykeion, or herald’s wand, an emblem of authority carried by couriers for safe passage, and most often associated with the Greek Hermes and the Roman Mercurius. It has been mistakenly utilized as a symbol of the medical industry in the place of the wand of Asclepius (Asculapius).
In the Hermetic Tradition, the caduceus is a symbol of spiritual awakening, and has been likened to the twin Kundalini serpents of Hindu mysticism.
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