194 
CREATURES OF MYSTERY 
mystic conceptions of Gnosticism appears in the cultus which 
tradition (in truth or slander) declares the semi-Christian sect 
of Ophites to have rendered their tame snake, enticing it out 
of its chest to coil around the sacramental bread, and worship¬ 
ping it as representing the great king from heaven who in the 
beginning gave to man and woman the knowledge of the 
mysteries (Tyler, Edw. B., Primitive Culture, Vol. 2, pp. 
239-42). 
The serpent has, in all ages, been famed for its shrewdness 
and wisdom, whether in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3 :1; 2 Cor. 
11:3) or generally (Matt. 10:16). “Be ye therefore wise as 
serpents and harmless as doves.” The serpent is a symbol of 
immortality, owing to the fact that it makes an endless circle 
when holding its tail in its mouth, and also from the circum¬ 
stance that it renews itself by shedding its skin. 
From the time the Babylonians traced their first crude writ¬ 
ings on cylinders of clay, the serpent has held sway over the 
superstitions of men. King Cobra has spread his hood in In¬ 
dian temples while high priests have droned their incantations 
for his favor. King Rattlesnake has writhed through the sands 
of the Painted Desert, sanctified by the Hopis so that he may 
return to the earth spirit with the prayers of his tribe. 
Seeing the snake with a litter of young, the ancient man 
looked upon him as an emblem of fertility, and from there it 
was only a step for him to set up an idol and worship it when¬ 
ever he wished more children or more abundant harvests. The 
symbolism of the serpent developed through the centuries. As 
the snake represented fertility, what was more natural than 
for it to be associated with the sun, the great giver of life, 
People began talking of a snake that dwelt in the golden orb; 
soon the Indians were calling the Milky Way the Path of the 
Serpent, and the prismatic arch of the rainbow became the 
Celestial Serpent to the Persians. 
The snake appears as a healer in the drawings of Isis and 
Osiris, the great Egyptian gods, and also with the Hindu 
deities, Rudra and Ramahavaly. And best known of all repre¬ 
sentations is the caduceus carried by Hermes, or Mercury, 
messenger of the gods on Mount Olympus. This is his badge 
