Useful AND true
I also teach this stuff
I am writing reams and reams of essays right now, and it is going two places, primarily: towards my book, and towards my ongoing Deep Dive monthly course. Once in a while I post some of that work here, and I am going to do so here today. Most of my teaching falls into two different buckets: 1) how to think about the world homeopathically and use that understanding to heal yourself and your family outside of the System, or, 2) practical short courses for home prescribers. The former is ongoing and the latter I do on occasion as requested.
It just so happens that BOTH are happening right now, and I want you to know about it.
First things first. Let’s talk about Asclepius and his staff, which I have been mistakenly confusing with Hermes’ caduceus for years. Well, it turns out, the reason for the confusion is appropriate in light of the TyrannoCovid era, as it has a lot to do with the co-opting of medicine by military and monetary interests.
“Certain people have said that he [Asklepios (Asclepius)] holds the snake for the following reason. When he was commanded to restore Glaucus, and was confined in a secret prison, while meditating what he should do, staff in hand, a snake is said to have crept on to his staff. Distracted in mind, Aesculapius killed it, striking it again and again with his staff as it tried to flee. Later, it is said, another snake came there, bringing an herb in its mouth, and placed it on its head. When it had done this, both fled from the place. Where upon Aesculapius, using the same herb, brought Glaucus, too, back to life. And so the snake is put in the guardianship of Aesculapius and among the stars as well. Following his example, his descendants passed the knowledge on to others, so that doctors make use of snakes.”[1]
“Aesculapius was [] a son of Coronis [and Apollo], but he [Apollo] killed Coronis [for infidelity]. As she was burning, he snatched the babe from the pyre and brought it to Chiron, the Centaur, by whom he was brought up and taught the arts of healing and hunting. And having become a surgeon, and carried the art to a great pitch, he not only prevented some from dying, but even raised up the dead; for he had received from Athena the blood that flowed from the veins of the Gorgon, and while he used the blood that flowed from the veins on the left side for the bane of mankind, he used the blood that flowed from the right side for salvation, and by that means he raised the dead.”[2]
“He [Hermes] takes the wand with which he puts to sleep or wakes the sleeping eyes, the wand with which he drives the shades below or summons them back to life”[3]
“Mercury [Hermes], when he was traveling, saw two snakes fighting. He placed his staff between them and they entwined themselves around it in peace. Thus the caduceus was formed as a symbol of harmony.”[4]
The caduceus is commonly used as a symbol of medicine -- two snakes entwined around a staff. This is a mistake, however, of fairly recent origin, first seen in the 15th or 16th century but not fully adopted until the United States Army made it their logo in 1902.[5] The true symbol of Asclepius has a single snake, and most medical organizations, as well as the World Health (sic) Organization use the staff of Asclepius, although this was not always the case.
In our previous conversation on the snake remedy Lachesis, we discussed the association of the snake with betrayal, blame, and deceit, but the snake has also had a long connection with healing, as referenced above. In homeopathy, we understand that anything which has the power to harm, has the power to heal, but the practice of potentization is the means by which we alchemize poisonous or inert substances into healing. As noted above, Asclepius could use the power of medicine as a bane or a boon, and certainly this is evident in our modern system in which those branches called “holistic” endeavor to succor and sustain the human being at the center of each case, while those I have named “heteropathic” prioritize the perpetuation of biological function above all other outcomes, and at any expense.
It is interesting, in light of this, then, that the confusion around the staff of Asclepius and the staff of Hermes should occur, as “Hermes was the god of herds and flocks, travelers and hospitality, roads and trade, thievery and cunning, heralds and diplomacy, language and writing, athletic contests and gymnasiums, astronomy and astrology. He was the herald and personal messenger of Zeus, King of the Gods, and also the guide of the dead who led souls down into the underworld.”[6] We can understand Hermes to deal in the realm of the masculine or yang elements, particularly commercial/political.
That the original confusion about the two staffs should have been cemented in the popular consciousness through the United States military, and then still dominate primarily in the US where the avarice and amorality of pharmaceutical companies, and their exploitative alliance with policy makers, determine mainstream medical advice, fits this connection. As we pursue a superior Medicine of Our People, perhaps we can untangle the snakes, and return to an ideal of healing rather than an icon of war.
You are too late to attend July’s live call on the homeopathic understanding of snakes and snake remedies, but the recording is available forever for members of my Deep Dive group. Premium subscribers here get a special discount, linked below the paywall.
My next email will share a link to a four-session masterclass I am teaching for parents called The $100 Medicine Cabinet. Members of the Deep Dive group will have access to the recordings and handouts for that class after it runs.
Details to follow.
The first draft of the book is almost done, and then I can start sharing some essays here to leaven the creative drudgery of revision which is the necessary crucible of publishing.
In the working draft, this is the first line of the introduction:
“To publish one’s writing is to set a ship adrift, a fragile vessel made of tears that is swallowed by the horizon, to sink or fetch up on foreign shores. I write for exercise; I write to exorcise. I write for the mirror, and for the unknown terrain that is my future self.”
[1] Pseudo-Hyginus, Astronomica 2. 14 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.)
[2] This text was digitized from a publication titled Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, with initial markup completed by the Perseus Project.
The original text is attributed to Apollodorus, while the 1921 edition was edited/translated by James George Frazer - published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons (New York) in 1921.
This document has been stored as TEI XML, which you can view here. https://myths.uvic.ca/APOL1-L3.html#APOL1-L3.10
[3] Ovid, Metamorphoses 2.735–736 (Loeb trans.)
[4] Hyginus, Fabulae 92 (Grant trans.)
[5] https://blog.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/the-symbols-of-medicine/
[6] https://www.theoi.com/Olympios/Hermes.html