Ningishzida (middle figure) bringing Adapa of Eridu to Anu (on throne at right)
Ningishzida was a Mesopotamian deity, worshiped in the city of Gishbanda which lay near Ur in the orchards of the Fertile Crescent. It seems that he was originally a tree god (the name Ningishzida means “lord of the sacred/giving tree” in Sumerian, the first known written language), but he became associated with fertility, the underworld, and the healing force of nature. I wish I could tell you more about Ningishzida, but, remember how I mentioned Sumerian was the first known language? Surviving texts concerning Ningishzida are ancient. The texts were baked into clay tablets and these have become smashed and broken. When translated they look like this (roll over the links along the left side for source identification and click any of the “GI” links for English translations). There is beauty, nature, the underworld, and magic. There are serpents and lions and glowing portals, but the meaning is unclear (to say the least).
The “libation vase of Gudea”, dedicated to Ningishzida (21st century BC). the double helix depicts the deity.
Yet if the combination of fertility, a magical tree, the Fertile Crescent, and a serpent do not seem immediately familiar to you, perhaps you should peruse the book which comes free with the hotel room (you don’t even have to read very far). Scholarly tradition asserts that the Pentateuch was written before or during the Babylonian exile of the 6th century. The author/authors seem to have used Mesopotamian sources for the portions which deal with creation and primeval history.
The Caduceus
Ningishzida is portrayed as either a serpent with the head of a man, or, more frequently, as a double-headed serpent coiled into a double helix. It is believed that the Greeks also made use of this symbolism in their myth of the caduceus, the wand of Hermes/Mercury which is associates with theft, deception, and death (for Mercury was a psychopomp who led souls to the underworld with his staff). Of course contemporary people are familiar with the double helix as well. We know that DNA, the fundamental blueprint of life is latticed together on a double helix. It is strange that the first use of this symbol is a mysterious Sumerian tree/snake god who apparently also appealed to Jewish scholars during the Babylonian captivity.
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June 27, 2012 at 4:15 PM
SpiderGoddes
This is fabulous! I am definitely going to repost this, with your permission, of course. I just posted about a book called The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge by Jeremy Narby. If you have not read that book, I guarantee that you would find it fascinating and informative.
June 27, 2012 at 5:17 PM
Wayne
Thanks! Repost away. Thanks also for the suggested book. The title makes me think of the rainbow serpent, the demiurge of the dreamtime.
February 10, 2019 at 7:26 PM
Nin
You are right on with that. He speaks about that too!
July 26, 2013 at 8:07 PM
Payín Imendia
The Cosmic Serpent with the double helix as describe in that book refers to the knowdledge about medicinal plants given to amazonian chamanes by way of drinking Ayahuasca, and alucination vine twingled as doble helix. All of the chamans that drink Ayahuasca see double helix serpents coming from the sky.
July 27, 2013 at 11:19 AM
Wayne
Wow! Ayahuasca sounds like a complicated and powerful decoction!
August 5, 2017 at 3:12 AM
IkarusZ
It is not Anu on picture it is Enki, ypu can see water caming from him.
Sumerian oldest language – not so.
DNK have ADTG in betweern so it does not look like a serpents and tree.
Obvios this snake have something to do with Adam and Eve, You wrote: ” the wand of Hermes/Mercury which is associates with theft, deception, and death” this is so similar to Genesis.
February 6, 2020 at 4:36 PM
Anonymous
Enki is satan
August 6, 2017 at 10:56 PM
Dan
The snake / tree symbolism has a clear and consistent meaning in religions across the world, to include the Sumerian religion. It isn’t a mystery. In fact, if you study closely enough, the Sumerian religion provides some of the clearest explanation for it. Fertility, underworld, healing, magic, ascendance up a tree. Don’t make an esoteric mystery out of something that isn’t. Read, think, and figure it out. Think in terms of the political purpose of religion in a hostile world. Study the duality of the Sumerian gods. Study serpent symbolism. Study the political history of foreign religions that mirror this one.
The tree could have something to do with DNA in terms of a modern association to what the Sumerians were in-part representing with the symbol, but it has zero to do with the DNA helical structure in terms of direct literal symbolism. Sometimes a helix is just a helix, and there is no pole up which the DNA helix ascends.
September 24, 2020 at 5:41 AM
Ken Brown
Good points, although it could be argued that the “pole” within the DNA helix is metaphysical and only visible in its negation. I liked that you mention the idea of ascendance up a tree (in a spiritual sense obviously) because I’ve recently been formulating a theory or theories that the archetype of which you write coresponds to none other than Lucifer’s fall from grace, so to speak, and his never ending quest to regain his angelic power and eternal life. The entire narrative is basically summed up or reflected in the overall precepts of Kundalini yoga, wherein the serpent energy at the base of the spine (the bowels or dust of the ground) awaits humanity’s calling forth through the various yogic body positions, hand gestures, breathing techniques and repetitive mantras, in other words through strict and specific methods that act as keys to unleash the serpent (the double-headed serpent of the knowledge of good and evil). The serpent then climbs the 32/33-rung ladder of the spinal cord, or tree of knowledge (nervous system), from the very base of the spine, representing matter on the Kabbalah’s Tree of Life, to the crown of creation, the human brain/pineal gland and crown chakra, whereupon the serpent receives once more the wings of transcendence that allow him/it access again to the higher dimensional and vibrational realities that he abdicated. Thus the serpent is no longer prostrate on his belly like the subject of a great warlord when approaching his divine ruler, but rather sits upon his throne at the summit of creation, wearing the crown of Kether as he surveys the chaos of his new order. Arguably then, when the devotee finally reaches the intended state of “nirvana”, in reality the final protective barrier against demonic possession has been willingly removed and the practitioner becomes more and more a conduit of Luciferian consciousness. Inevitably it becomes harder and harder to identify with their former, pre-“illuminated” or “enlightened” self.
The serpent and tree motif is, whether together or separated, obviously phallic, and there is also the seraph angels which translates to fiery-flying serpents in Hebrew. The spinal cord when viewed from the side, like the prostrated Lucifer before God, resembles a snake, and the tree then is the brain (and/or the CNS as a whole), a snake in a tree that can walk and talk (and procreate), just like the serpent of Genesis and Eden. Christ is the Tree of Life, perhaps even more so when viewed crucified. In conclusion, God’s tree represents unity of purpose and moral absolutism while Satan’s tree is the source of duality (good and evil together), false dichotomies and deception.
November 26, 2017 at 11:16 AM
occultadmin
Reblogged this on Occult tower.
September 2, 2019 at 6:31 PM
Guadalupe Briseño
If you read The Cosmic Serpent of Jeremy Narby and the effects of the ayahuasca plant, the twined snakes and DNA, you have to read From the Ashes of Angels of Andrew Collins!
September 7, 2021 at 12:53 AM
gunst01
Reblogged this on Die Goldene Landschaft.