This blog is a continuation of the promise from my two earlier blogs: ‘Isis, Mary Magdalene and the Dark Madonnas and the archetype of the Other Goddess’ http://www.joannakujawa.com/isis-mary-magdalene-dark-madonnas-as-the-archetypes-of-the-other-goddess/ and ‘Inanna, Ishtar, Mary Magdalene – Recovering the lineage of the Lost Goddess’ http://www.joannakujawa.com/inanna-ishtar-isis-mary-magdalene-recovering-the-lineage-of-the-lost-goddess-and-other-stolen-stories/ . My promise was to research more on the alternative explanation of the presence and meaning of the Serpent in Goddess imagery.
Anyone who was brought up on Western religious traditions knows the story of Adam and Eve, the Tree of Knowledge, the Tree of Life and the Serpent. It is a strange, foreboding story that ends with the expulsion of humanity from Paradise for disobedience. This story has never made any sense to me. In my book The Jerusalem Diary I voiced this suspicion but did not explore it. I just sensed something fishy there and left it at that. But I have spent the last few months exploring alternative explanations of the story with some interesting results, to say the least.
What is fishy about the story?
Firstly, Eve, the female protagonist, is either stupid or bad. Having studied biblical stories, I have found women are nearly always the ‘bad guys’ – with very few exceptions.
Secondly, I have always had an issue with following unreasonable orders such as ‘Don’t eat from the Tree of Knowledge’ (Genesis 2-3). Well, my friends, I love knowledge and will certainly eat of that tree as much as I wish and as much I can. That’s the tree I am interested in. So let’s get the record straight right here!
Thirdly, the story as it is passed to us in its current form makes no sense whatsoever. Why would an all-loving God behave badly and not want us to know the most essential part of our story? And, worse, punish us for wanting to know? That’s bad parenting to say the least.
So I have moved on to studying some Jewish Kabbalistic explanations I have found touching and more reasonable. I have found some wisdom there and a genuine desire to understand the true meaning of the story. I was almost convinced. For example, the fall from grace represents the fall into the ego while the Serpent represents duality. By listening to the Serpent both Adam and Eve were punished for the consequence of their actions (disobedience). And the eating from the Tree of Knowledge symbolises our feeling of separateness from Nature.
But then, almost by chance, I recalled the pre-Christian goddesses of Sumer, Babylon and Egypt; they are all major deities represented with the Tree of life and the Serpent in a very positive context! So I looked into these stories closer.
First of all, the stories of such goddesses are much older than the Biblical stories. According to the most conservative mainstream archaeologists the culture of Sumer is at least 7000 years old. Thus – let me stress this – the stories of the goddesses, the Tree of life and the Serpent are older than the Biblical stories.
Secondly, each of the goddesses represented with the Tree of Life and the Serpent tells an uplifting and empowering story of humanity and NOT a story of punishment.
So now let’s look at some of these goddesses – even if very briefly.
The first goddess we know of from Sumer represented with the Tree of life and the Serpent is Ninmah. She sits on the throne as the main deity, with the raised upward Serpent behind her and the Tree of life in front of her. With her hand extended she offers the Fruit of Life (or resurrection or life eternal) to the male figure sitting on the other side of the Tree of life (possibly her male consort).
Similarly, the goddess Inanna (also known as Ishtar in Assyria) is portrayed dancing with the snakes and the Tree of life and is said to represent the axis between the matter and spirit. Scholars such as Van Dijk and Parpola argue that this represents the ‘celestial pole that connects heaven and earth’ (De Song Meador 2000) and can be traced to early Mesopotamia (and the goddesses).
Interestingly, Inanna is also now very explicitly connected to the story of resurrection. She descends to the Underworld but returns resurrected and sacrifices her male consort Dumuzi as a price for her resurrection, although she manages to resurrect him also for six months a year to be with her. Another familiar story (but a watered-down version) associated with resurrection is that of betrayal. Dumuzi assumes Inanna’s power when he is in the Underworld (which might be a reason she later sacrifices him for six months).
Now let’s move on to ancient Egypt and the almighty goddess Isis. Here the stories of the Serpent, the Tree of Life, betrayal and resurrection reach their dramatic climax. Isis is represented with an Ankh – the Egyptian symbol of immortality which, in my opinion, is the combination of the Tree of Life and the Serpent. (The Serpent coiling on the top creating the Tree.) Isis’ husband Osiris is killed by his brother Seth (the betrayal) but Isis manages to temporarily resurrect Osiris and conceive a child with him (Horus).
In all the instances each goddess is called the ‘Queen of Heaven’, a title later given to the Virgin Mary. In each instance the goddess is responsible for the Tree of life and the Serpent, and the closer we get to Biblical times the story of betrayal becomes more and more prominent until we reach Mary Magdalene, where the story gets reversed.
In the story of Mary Magdalene – the goddess is demeaned as a prostitute (without any scriptural evidence) and although she is not responsible anymore for the resurrection of the young god, she is still somehow necessary, as it is she who sees him resurrected and breaks the news to the male disciples who scattered in fear of prosecution!
The closer we get to Biblical times the more demeaned goddesses are, and I would argue that perhaps the betrayal here is not on the goddess but on all of us. Someone has been rewriting the ancient story for reasons unknown to us. The story of betrayal, for example, is very strong in Gnostic stories of creation where some malevolent forces (the archons) interfere in the process of creation and separate us from our Source and the true knowledge (Gnosis) of who we are.
Let’s look at imagery. What are alternative explanations for the Tree of life and the Serpent?
I have found two explanations especially compelling. The Tree of life represents the meeting of spirit and matter, represents the possibility of life eternal (resurrection) and perhaps hidden knowledge of this. The goddess is the benevolent power that wants to share this gift or knowledge with humanity (us), since her hand is extended towards us.
The Serpent – especially in its outstretched, vertical position, could represent an awakened kundalini energy which Hindu tradition claims is in our unawakened divine potential.
Other alternative theories promote the possibility that the Serpent represents our DNA helix. Interestingly, the majority of our DNA is called ‘junk DNA’ by scientists, which means they have no idea why it is there.
Imagine if we activated this dormant, ‘junk’ DNA. We would be the beautiful beings that we were meant to be. We would what the yogic scriptures call us to be: “You are That!’ Capital ‘T’ ‘That’.
And I suspect this is exactly what the ancient goddesses came to teach us.
The question, however, remains, who were these goddesses and I have some theories here. Personally, I do not believe that they were some random goddesses as there are too many similarities there.
My first and favourite proposition is that it is one and the same goddess which resurrects herself in our consciousness (or what Carl Jung would call Collective Unconscious) to remind us of our own Potential and Possibility.
The second and bolder one is that some interdiemsional, highly evolved beings (be it Angels, be it Avatars – depending on a tradition) reincarnate themselves every once in a while with the same purpose – asking us to Awake from the slavery of the mundane and reach for our spiritual evolution.
The third and one favoured in some circles, is that some ancient advanced civilisation (the Annunaki) landed in Sumer and experimented with our DNA for their own benefit to create a slave species. However, even in that version, a goddess and a god did not agree with that plan and set out to help us.
In her talk last year at a conference in Nevada, Regina Meredith of GaiaTV expressed an opinion (through a connection to her own sources) that we are the inter-dimensional species and we are trapped in this dimension. And that there are other beings that help us to remember who we truly are.
The choice is your and I would love to know your take on it, however wild or conservative.
I would love to hear from you via comments so please do not hesitate to comment.
This entry was posted in Goddess News and tagged Ankh, Anunnaki, Babylon, Dr Joanna Kujawa, Eve, Genesis, Gnostics, Goddess News, Goddess News blog, Goddess News Newseletter, Goddesses, Inanna, Ishtar, Isis, life eternal, mary magdalene, matter, Ninmah, portal, Queen of Heavens, Regina Meredith, resurrection, spirit, Spiritual Detective, Sumer, the Serpent, the Tree of Life. Bookmark the permalink.
Thanks for the post. I enjoyed seeing several figures at a glance all related to the common symbols of the tree and the serpent. It certainly sparks curiosity. If asked to express my suspicions, I would comment, after a brief meditation, that these stories have something to do with creation – the movement from the physically unmanifested into form. The creation of humanity and of the world, and our own potential to be creators. The resurrections and betrayals move like a breath, the inhaling and exhaling as the rhythm of life (resurrections) and death (betrayals). We are created, and destroyed – the underworld representing potential energy, that then becomes form, and makes up our world. The giving of the fruit may also represent creation, perhaps symbolic of our power, as the created, to create also. Fruit (Sumer’s, Eve’s) can mean any form of creation, including procreation (Inanna’s Horus).
The snake, rather than being the energy itself, might represent our connection to life force in it’s subtlest form, like a channel. So we are able to harness life energy through it. To me this doesn’t stray far from the kundalini and DNA theories you present, as they all point toward a dormant possession and it’s potential.
The tree is more our already manifested environment, from which we can draw knowledge. Not so much about where we come from (we get that more from the snake) but where we have been and where we can go in the physical world. This is because all matter is made from a set of elements. The science of matter allows us to create prolifically. This is why it is called the tree of life (not death or pre-Life). Of course the world of matter has its roots in the subtler worlds, just as a tree has roots, and it’s all connected. This echoes your take that it represents the meeting of the spirit and matter.
That is my wild, wild guess!
Oh my Goddess! This is a fantastic meditation/reflection on the topic. Thank you, Jaclyn, I love it. I totally love it and ma grateful that it provoked such a beautiful and deep response in you. I agree that all of these stories have to do something with the story of Creation and/or our beginnings expressed in the language of myth. In my talk, I mentioned also Joseph Campbell and his idea that we need to re-learn how to understand the language of mythology or otherwise we will miss out on the important information that the myths have carried for us for millennia. It is OK to have suspicions as I am here only attempting to decipher the original story behind the many layers on top of it. It is also not my intention to criticise any tradition although I admit I show some attitude in a paragraph or two 😊. It is just a fire of an enthusiastic seeker! You are also spot on when you speak about the resurrection and betrayal stories. In Kashmir Shaivism, for example, the explanation is exactly the same as you give. That is, the breath in is a manifestation of Grace and the revelation of the Divine while the breathing out is the Concealment of the Divine (which feels like darkness). However, in the grand scheme of things they are just attributes or phases of the Divine or how he Divine manifests or chooses to conceal Itself for us. I have always loved that interpretation and I think it is amazing that you have reached the same conclusion in your meditation.
I also agree that the Serpent can have many more interpretations – especially as a form of a vortex or a ‘channel’ ‘to harness the Energy through it’ or, perhaps to cross the veil of the subtle divide between the material and spiritual. And I think your interpretation of the Tree of Life is spot on too – as something already materially manifest and accessible to us but with its roots deeply in the more subtle/spiritual realm.
It is so rare to witness, in real time, a Ph.D stepping so eruditely out of the box to address the vital issue of the ancient Goddesses.
At the Israel Museum, the Tree of Life Goddess is featured. Google Tree of Life Goddess Israel Museum.
Zoom into the lower portion to see a raised snake, above a V (the womb symbol). This snake is featured in Book V of The Books of Isis series, as the ancient symbol for sperm, from the “Fish” gods, who created the Nephilim (at Genesis 6:4).
for which is a tiny sperm. Nun is the first letter of the tetragram NPLM, the Nephilim of Genesis 6:4.
The implication is huge. Yahweh chased King Solomon off the throne of Israel for bringing into Jerusalem Asherah, the Woman of the Tree of Life, because it was thought to be an Egyptian symbol.
or the earlier Sumerian Creation tale is likely accurate.
on sperm from the Fish gods?