Twists & Terms
TWISTS & TERMS
By Matthew R. Hatton
For as long as I can remember I have had an interest in signs and symbols and have noticed more than a few similaritieshere and there…
but none have grabbed my attention more than the Caduceus;
the ancient symbol of the medical arts.
For within its spiralling serpents
there is a mystery…
The mystery in question didn’t become apparent until 1953, when two Doctors by the names of Crick and Watson discovered the structure of Deoxyribonucleic Acid, -DNA to you and me- and with this came the unravelling of the secrets of genetics, what it was, what it did and how it does what is does, which is basically carry information from one living thing to its offspring thus ensuring a continuation of life.
Not all of DNA’s secrets have been deciphered yet, but now we know a lot more than we did fifty years ago when the science of genetics was in its infancy and nobody was sure at the time whether it was really a science at all. We do know for instance, that it is through and because of DNA that certain traits get passed on, i.e. hair colour, eye colour or whether you will start to lose your hair at twenty or have luxuriant locks and a long life, basically the reasons why the theory of evolution works.
Although the mystery in question didn’t become apparent until recently, it has been with us for some time, since the dawn of life on this planet, for that is when DNA started its long journey. Now somewhere along the way, and around 2500 BC, someone (unfortunately, we don’t know who) came up with the Caduceus and this it where it starts to get good…
The Caduceus consists of a central staff, which represents the element of earth topped by a pair of wings (air) circled by a pair of spiralling basilisks or serpents (fire & water).
The earliest reference to this can be found in ancient Mesopotamian texts and was also connected with Thoth, the Egyptian God of learning, wisdom and magic who was also secretary to the other gods and master of communication and capable of providing cures.
After Thoth there comes Hermes, from the Greek pantheon of gods. According to my research, he was pretty much Thoth by another name but it was in his incarnation as Hermes that he was attributed with being the father of alchemy. Hermes also had a Caduceus, which represented the healing arts. He was also the god of the spoken word, a herald and messenger. He was the intermediary between men and gods as well as the escort of the souls of the dead to Hades.
In Roman mythology, his name was Mercury.
Another messenger associated with cleverness, eloquence, wisdom and manual skill as well as medicine.
Reoccurring themes
Medicine, the healing arts, alchemy and communication, this is where we come back to DNA. Not only does the spiral structure of DNA look like the Caduceus but the similarities don’t end there. DNA, the material from which the chromosomes of a cell’s nucleus are formed, governs cell growth and inheritance. It also carries and communicates the instructions for the chemical compounds to form, or synthesise, the proteins that control specific cell functions.
One of these DNA strands is called Messenger Ribonucleic Acid mRNA, this messenger is created for protein synthesis and the process is known as transcription, it is by this process that the body can grow and continuously replace old worn out cells such as skin or stomach lining.
The caduceus, as I mentioned before, is linked with Alchemy via Hermes and it was the Alchemists, philosopher-chemists, who’s goals included finding an elixir for transformation and to discover a way to banish all ill’s and prolong life (sound familiar?). The two entwined serpents also symbolise the healing snakes of the demi-god Aesculapius, and the symbol has been widely adopted as the symbol of the medical profession (a form of the caduceus is used in the badge of the Royal Army Medical Corps).
In Hindu and Buddhist esoteric teachings the caduceus represents the two spiritual energies or healing forces which run up and down the human spine.
For the Freemasons the caduceus represents the harmony and balance between negative and positive forces, the fixed and inconsistent, the continuity of life and decay.
Wherever I looked whilst researching, I saw this symbolism repeated, this entwining, spiralling pattern representing life, growth, fertility and the search for the power over these things by whatever means, magical or alchemical.
The rune known as Ing, from ancient Norse mythology also represents, yes, you guessed it, fertility and growth.
The Maypole dance for instance which has been performed since Greek and Roman times. With two circles of dancers holding ribbons, they dance in opposite directions to form a spiral around the central pole which represents fertility, when they have danced as far as they can and all of the ribbon is around the pole they then dance in the opposite direction undoing the spiral, this mirrors almost exactly what happens when DNA temporarily separates prior to new cells being formed, this dance is performed to encourage good crops in the coming year. The Philosophers Stone
If it were not for all the hard work put in by the alchemists down throughout the centuries, we probably wouldn’t have modern chemistry.
It all began as a pseudo-science concerned with the transmutation of base metals into gold and the discovery of a single cure for all diseases.
When alchemy emerged in China, it was associated with Taoist philosophy and purported to transmute metals into gold by chemical means. This gold was claimed to have the ability of curing illness and prolonging life.
In Egypt alchemical secrets were said to be kept by the temple priests.
In Greece, Aristotle put forward that all matter was made up of four elements: water, fire, earth and air, therefore proper manipulation of these elements would bring about transformation like making gold.
So, on through China, Egypt, Mesopotamia and Greece the alchemists came up with this idea of finding a way to change things on a chemical level.
We, today, call the illusive answer they all sought; "The Philosophers Stone".
By the time these theories reached European shores, we had practical end products most of which were found by complete accident, gunpowder for instance, the distillation of wine, telescopes and many other things… all the by-products of mucking around just to see what would happen.
At some point in the middle ages some alchemists turned from trying to make gold to preparing proper medicines, as we would know them today.
Paracelsus coined the word alcohol to refer to the spirit in wine and also came up with the idea of using zinc in medicine.
After the 17th century, alchemy all but disappeared and became synonymous with quackery and fraudulent practices. But the work that had already been done, had accumulated a huge amount of hard workable data that became the basis of modern science. So we find ourselves full circle, back to where we started, searching through the very stuff of life to try and change or prolong it and we still have the same symbol that represents that search, the symbol that bears more than a passing resemblance to the very thing we have finally found that can make all our alchemical dreams come true,
The Caduceus,
DNA,
The Philosophers Stone.