Quick Comms: Snakes, Serpents, and Vipers

Oh, and electricity...

Riddle me this: what can be found in a coil, has a head and a tail, a “fiery” bite that can paralyze or kill you, and is said to be able to whisper words in your ear?

That’s right!

Electricity.

Now, you may say, “wait, what?”

Well… Am I wrong?

• Electricity when coiled is the basis of energy generators, induction heating, electromagnetism, and all other such methods of electrical manipulation.

• Electricity has positive(head) and negative(tail) ends.

• If you get “bit” by an electrical circuit you get zapped by a hell of a jolt, can be paralyzed for a time, or even have your heart stop.

• Low-power electrical phone lines permit the transfer of audio messages.

Also consider the fact that brass and copper is often associated with our slithery little friends, even back to biblical times.

⁹ So Moses made a serpent of brass, and set it up for a sign: and when a serpent had bitten a man, then he looked to the serpent of brass, and ^[a]lived. - Numbers 21:9

Strange, is it not? A brass serpent coiled about a rod?

There’s so much to cover on this topic, so buckle in as I take it apart in chunks, starting with the worship of these scaly bois.

Mythology of the Serpent

Serpents are present in nearly every mythos, even in places where snakes aren’t all that common. Norse mythology has a world serpent called Jörmungandr, there’s the Ouroboros which eats its own tail, the Tsuchinoko in Japan, the Biblical Serpent of the Garden of Eden, the Mosaic Bronze serpent above called Nehushtan, Gorgons like Medusa from Greek mythology, Quetzalcoatl from the American Natives, the Egyptian Sun God Atum among many others in the Egyptian pantheon.

I haven’t even gotten to the dragons and various wyrms either…

For now, let’s just stick to the snakes and what they have in common.

Typically, if we’re talking about snakes, serpents, vipers, and all other slithery little fellas, they almost always are associated with speech and communication, but especially LIES.

Snakes have a forked tongue. Since the dawn of civilization Man has had many opportunities to lie to his fellow man by saying one thing while meaning another. Colloquially, this is known as having a “forked tongue.” Saying one thing, but meaning another. It’s a bit above simple lying — it’s deception. Things like omitting facts, misrepresenting events, bearing false witness, or otherwise interpreting things such that the person listening arrives at false conclusions is the next level above lying and has no purpose outside an express intent of manipulation. It is for that reason the “forked tongue” isn’t just an allusion to lying, for which the word “lie” is sufficient, but has given birth to another term that more accurately describes the dynamic act of deception.

Ultimately, two is the number of choice. Either you do or you don’t. Either it is or it isn’t. Either yes or no. There’s little room for maybe when dealing with a snake. They are a binary creature, with head and tail. There’s nothing other than that.

So it is when you talk to an individual whom you cannot be certain of their honest intent. Gullible people have existed in every society, so there comes an understanding amongst the gullible that those who weave deceitful lies must be identified and their methods and practices sequestered such that the damage they do doesn’t arise to the point of crippling the rule of law. Do you trust the person, or don’t you? Statistics and odds don’t matter when all sorts of machinations are in play to sway your choice.

In other words, we came up with a concept to describe a very dangerous type of person who comes baring a difficult choice. An archetype, if you will. The archetypical “snake in the grass.”

Gods and figures from all pantheons and mythos represented by the serpent all share a similar thing in common — they are not to be trusted. Theirs is the realm of rumors and gossip. A hissing noise made when whispers are done behind others backs spreading all sorts of venom, the ink of plots and schemes.

“You ain’t supposed to trust them there hissin’ ankle biters.”

More than any of this, though, serpents always have some sort of hand in all forms of creation stories, particularly when it comes to the beginning and end of the world. The Egyptian Atum took the form of a snake when he separated the cosmic waters. A serpent whispered lies to Eve in the Garden of Eden. Jörmungandr is slated to release his tail and strike at the World Tree with his venomous bite when Ragnarök comes around.

The point is, serpents are synonymous with the Cycle, particularly when it comes to that indistinct point where a circle’s ends meet. A completed circle has no ends, yet when you draw one it is impossible to do so without starting and stopping at a communal point. Where this point rests, mythologically speaking, is the origin of life, the starting point of the Universal Cycle, and represents the unknowable nature of the Birth of Time.

The first spark…

Where is the start of a clock? Is it truly the 12:00 position? Or is it the 1:00 position? Perhaps its starts at the half-way point of 6:00? If the Universal Clock never stops ticking and no one was around to see when it started ticking, where then in time might we say a “reset” is slated to occur? Planets circle one another, so it stands to reason the greatest celestial body to be slung out will complete its orbit eventually, right?

When does the snake swallow its tail? When does he release his tail?

When his mouth finally opens, what are his first words?

This is the ideology behind the Ouroboros. The Tail-Eater.

Representative of the Alpha and Omega. A time which came and went yet no one remembers. A drawn circle whose full stroke is known only to God. Within the circle is all that there is and has been, while outside rests all that is not, yet will be. It is for that reason alone we mistrust the serpent, because its full nature cannot be known without also prying the head from the tail. Doing so opens the doors for the beginning and end to unravel.

Which brings me to the circuit.

The Circuit

Before the advent of electricity, or perhaps the rediscovery of it, the concept of a circuit had more to do with the court system or any other system of Man by which one completes a full cycle. When producing a basket, for instance, a circuit is when you arrive at the same point where you tucked your first weave around the posts.

Pretty much any craft that has to do with string, cord, rope, wire, or other such long wiggly bits can form a circuit when one is tasked with giving form to the formless.

You see, that’s what the string represents. Formlessness. A singular dimension. The first dimension. Before that there is just the point, a lonely place and the origin of all, which is said to contain all and contain none because of its intangible nature. As you built upon a string, knotting it into itself, you gain dimension.

Basically, you start with a point. Add another point and the connection between them forms a line. Connect the ends of the line, and you have a circle, which is no different than the point except now there is a place within and a place without the boundaries of the circle’s circumference. What rests within is the past, what we know, while what rests without is the endless void which is beyond measure. The border between the two is the tumultuous present.

Put it on its side, however, and consider time, then you see the circle is not complete for those with the perspective to sidestep reality and recognize it’s coiled nature; recognize that the Universe is headed in a direction.

What I have described is the life cycle of a serpent…

• The Point is the Egg.

• The Line is the Serpent.

• The Circle is the Ouroboros.

• The Coil is the Nest.

All these are the forms which the serpent takes.

As too, are they all the forms by which one may create an electrical circuit.

• The point is the lead, or terminal node.

• The line is the bare wire.

• The circle is a completed circuit.

• The coil is the induction coil.

Those who put their hand in the coil will feel the heat and sting of the serpent’s “fiery” bite.

Eggs, however, will be nurtured with the heat of the nest, called incubation, and be given life.

These are examples of the Nature of the Serpent.

Electricity.

Magnetism.

Time.

Cycles.

Oh so many concepts that are impossible to be wrapped up if not for a symbol to represent them and their many interpretations.

That symbol is the Serpent.

The Serpent as a Symbol

The serpent represents the loop. Like a programming loop. A state of returning from whence you came.

Because thou art dust, and to dust shalt thou return. - Genesis 3:19

For this reason, the serpent is also the patron of being stuck…

Consider these analogies involving snakes in their various forms:

• A snake bites you, and now you must choose what course of action to take. Suck out the venom, find someone to help, remove the limb, or accept your fate? Are there any other options? You won’t know for sure until you find yourself in this predicament.

• An acquaintance comes up and offers you a business deal. Do you take the deal? How do you know it’s not a scam? Even if it isn’t a scam, how do you know the deal won’t fizzle out? Do you have the resources to allocate for a new venture? How much do you trust the information you’re being told?

• You come up to a traffic light, but it has just turned yellow. Do you speed through? Do you slam the brakes? Do you really have to fear oncoming traffic? What if there is someone antsy at the intersection? What if there’s someone behind you not paying attention?

What do all these have in common?

The Existential Crisis.

A point in time where one is forced to make a decision, the answer to which cannot be discerned ahead of time. No amount of preparation or experience can tell you for certain what will happen next. No moral code can aid in determining the correct course of action. You may have statistics to rely upon, but likeliness is not the same as certainty. In such circumstances, Man is beset upon with panic, confusion, anger, fear, regret, doubt and anxiety.

The “what ifs” surround you… drowning you.

A clock is now ticking, and its mere presence is choking you like a rope tangled around your neck. Like a python squeezing the air from your lungs.

This is the “fiery” bite.

The heat of the moment, brought on by the one who crawls on its belly through the muck.

This is the Serpent. The key Adversary to a well laid Plan.

The unknown. The spontaneous. The chaotic.

All these are like the trails the Serpent leaves in its wake; a winding path.

In the Garden, Adam and Eve had a simple life and a simple task: tend the Garden. After they partook of the forbidden fruit, however, they were met with no clear path forward. They were on their own. Mortal, afraid, and ashamed.

All because of that lousy Serpent…

That is what the Serpent symbolizes: an emergent situation. A shake up of the status quo. Whispers in the mind of “do this” and “don’t do that!”

It’s the state where a Man fears everything and everyone is colluding against him. Where you feel completely abandoned, unsure, and alone. Where you are most vulnerable to the slanderous words of the Devil tempting you to choose the ruinous path. Often, the safe and cowardly path.

It’s that shiver of stress which shoots up your spine like a bolt of lightning that incites in your fight or flight response.

It’s the agony found in the words “let this cup pass from me!”

…

It is said that Satan fell from heaven like a bolt of lightning.

Why so much allusion to electricity and serpents then?

How might the ancients have made these connections before the age of the light bulb?

How indeed…

I have several explanations, but the True one is the one you will never accept even if I told you seven times seventy times.

It is written in the Earth. It is spoken in the Winds. Its shadows cast from the Fire. Its motions carried in the Waters. Just as the coming of the Messiah was prophesied. Just as how in the beginning there was the Word.

¹ In the beginning was that Word, and that Word was with God, and that Word was God. - John 1:1

What matters is that the nature of electricity is like the nature of the Serpent. Their fates are entangled. Their movements synonymous…

The Ouroboros represents the completed circuit. The Caduceus in both its forms, one snake versus two, representing Direct and Alternating current respectively. Or perhaps, even, serial and parallel circuits? The coil represents the induction coil, by which heat may be generated. Venom is the acid found in the battery, the gland. A serpent must be grounded for it to strike. Its venom flows through the body and paralyzes, often stopping the heart. Meeting a serpent is like a meeting with a mortal enemy, an opposing force. Magnetic force.

Because of this, as strange as it sounds, we might study the Serpent to know more of electricity’s nature. Within the serpent lies the blueprint of all things cyclical. The full realization of THE Circuit. Electricity is but one of those forces which follows the same template. A pattern etched in all sort of Nature’s systems. A communal pattern which repeats in the same way a poet might compare light to the truth.

Does the serpent not sprawl through the ground just as a lightning bold sprawls through the sky? Doesn’t lightning strike like a serpent springs forth from the coil as it bites? Each shedding of the skin marks a new technological age of Man. With each new age comes panic, distress, uncertainty, doubt.

This, too, is the nature of Rebellion. Of Revolution. Like any other Cycle.

The Serpent represents not only electricity, deceit, and crisis, but it also represents a rebirth. A shedding of skins. Independence from all that is tyranny. Freedom.

This graphic from Benjamin Franklin was used to describe to the 13 Colonies just how desperate things had gotten. There is an old adage that no matter where you cut a snake, doing so would invite certain doom upon it. You can cut a leg off most other creatures, and it may live. For a snake, however, there is no leg to cut; no place you might sever and not have it bleed out to death. Or so the anecdote goes…

So too does the action of an electrical circuit cease if you interrupt the flow.

This interpretation of the Serpent is that of a desperate alliance. In that moment of crisis, many might put aside their differences to overthrow a greater foe lest they all perish.

Summarily; “JOIN, or DIE.”

That is why God let the Serpent go free into the world. Not to oppose him, but to oppose all those who worship at the Altar of Tyranny. The Serpent represents the tools by which a Patriot may overthrow the Tyrant.

Satan merely usurped this tool for use against God, turning it into a weapon, and was so punished because God is not a tyrant. In his crisis moment, the Devil chose wrong.

Rebellion, therefore, favors only the just and the meek. To all others, only ruin awaits.

To be meek means to have the means to act, but the wisdom to act only when necessary. A vagabond brandishes his weapon and demands all others follow his rules to sustain order. The meek only wield their weapon when no other option is left.

So it is said, that the meek shall inherit the world. The virgin blade, which has never tasted blood, strikes sharp and true, unfettered by past sins depriving it of a perfectly honed edge.

This is the meaning of “the Virgin which crushes the head of the Serpent underfoot.”

When faced with crisis, you have many options but one decision to make — act, or don’t act. Either have faith in your decision, though it may be incorrect, or let the anguish of the moment take you. Many will pace about, lost in fear and doubt.

Too few will, instead, say “Behold the servant of the Lord: be it unto me according to thy word.” Too few will say “Let not my will, but your will be done.” Thereby crushing the Serpent, whose nature is the crisis of choice, underfoot.

The calm mind, the tempered hand, and the wisdom to rise to the moment rather than sink into oblivion is known as the Rain-slick Precipice, the Dark Night of the Soul, the Head of the Old Crow, and the Agony in the Garden, among many others.

It’s the point where the Devil tempts us to shirk our duties. When Jesus said to Simon Peter:

Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me, because thou understandest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men. - Matthew 16:23

To resist temptation is the path of God.

To give in to temptation is the path of the Serpent.

It is the easy path to get stuck in a loop, the signature of the Serpent. It is the hard path to dare greatly. There is so much more to say, more myths and legends about the Serpent to decipher, but we must move on to its use now, in Comms.

The Serpent in Comms

The Serpent, most generally, refers to Collusion, Deceit, Villainy and Rebellion.

Several entities of a similar makeup working together to form a cohesive whole, against a common enemy. Therefore, when you see a Serpent in Comms you need only assume it’s talking about an effort to subvert an overarching system, in keeping with the Biblical Serpent which sought to overthrow God’s rule in the Garden.

That’s not to say, however, that it is always used to represent the morally bad party, as is often the case. Rather, sometimes collusion is necessary to avoid the wrath of those in power who would abuse that power.

Though, I will admit, in most cases a Serpent is a baddie.

Especially vipers, who as Jesus often exclaims, are hypocrites of the highest order.

With their forked tongues they say one thing yet mean another. With their venom they spread lies throughout the people, paralyzing the nation in fear and superstition. They bend the rule of law to suit their own goals, using doublespeak and loopholes to circumvent due process. They scheme and conspire to bring ruin to those who oppose them, or even might oppose them.

They lie, cheat, steal.

They frequently use the excuse “the ends justify the means” to dismiss criticism of their vile actions.

This is the profile of a Viper, subsect of the class Serpent.

Though, all Serpents share in that same nature.

One such Serpent in play is at the Vatican.

The Serpent slithers its way into an organization and plants its fangs firmly into the vein. It injects its poison quickly, incapacitating the target.

Then, the serpent begins to swallow its prey, enveloping it slowly. At that point the prey is helpless in the belly of the beast. A silhouette may resemble the original creature, but now it is firmly surrounded by a new, scaly body.

This is how a Serpent operates. Quickly, as lighting, it pacifies its prey, taking over the Heart, the core of the organization. Then, slowly, it takes over while digesting its target from the outside in, inviting all sorts of evil to whittle away from the outside in. During this period the Serpent can go into hiding and not show itself for weeks, months, even years. They can subsist on their prey for a long time, not as a parasite which must work to avoid its host’s notice, but as the new host which dissolves the original until nothing is left. This is a Serpent’s greatest strength — only having to feed when its hungry. It avoids being caught out while on the prowl. In other words, the Serpent is sneaky, striking quickly and then hiding itself for indefinite periods of time.

The Serpent, as collusion, brings about a Crisis and only the Meek may face it and survive. All who show pride will fall, their pride being their own undoing. Through fear and uncertainty, the Serpent tricks people into panicking. In their haste, they then hear the whispers of the Serpent’s forked tongue, tempting them to take the easy route.

They’ll cause a financial collapse and then whisper in your ear “Don’t worry, we have prepared for this. Just give us all your cash and coin, and we will make sure this never happens again. The Central Bank Digital Currency will save us.”

A counterfeit of the system, designed only to enslave.

See how that works?

Take over an institution, dissolve and destroy it from within with venom and without with acid, then offer an alternative to the system you are responsible for destroying. That’s the grand act of the Old Serpent.

The Shapeshifter. The Name Stealer. The Adversary. Satan.

Tyranny born of Rebellion.

Birthed by Pride, which says “I can do it better, because I am the best there is.”

Perversion, degeneracy, corruption, and rot then ensues.

It’s not just one group, either. Again, it’s a collusion of the many enemies of God. They are Legion, of which there are many.

Which is to say, temptation comes in many forms.

It doesn’t matter what the counterfeit form of God is, so long as it isn’t God. False Idols take on many different shapes and sizes.

If you want a good example of a Serpent as the fullest representation of one, Rattlesnake Jake’s scenes in Rango show the veritable Serpent. Probably not in the way you’d expect, either…