snakes

"...the worship of snakes is not limited to cultivators, but occurs among Hindus of all castes and sects, among the literate and well educated as well as the illiterate."

"Cobras reverenced throughout India and their worship takes different forms in different parts of the country."

"The [next] important festival which is an All India occurrence is Nag Panchami. The name of the festival implies that it is a day which is dedicated to the worship of snakes (Nag) and the worship is to be on the fifth day (Panchami) in the bright fortnight of Sravana (August-September)"

"Nag Panchami celebrations may be regarded as fertility rite."

"There exists a wide spread belief that the same animal (cobra) has power to impart fecundity and remove barrenness."

"In Kerala it is common to find in the houses of the high-caste Hindus a shrine for cobras in the south western corner of the large compound round the ancestral house. [So also in Coorg, every Okka has a nata which is a platform where unhewn stones representing cobra – deities are deified."

"The thousand headed Sheshnag or Anant is the most powerful of them and revered even by the gods. He bears the whole earth on his hood like a chaplet on his crown. When he nods or yawns, the earth, with its oceans and mountains, begin to tremble."

"The snake deities are also regarded as the guardians of treasures on land and sea."

"The scriptures treat snakes as a community as there is a mention of nag lok."

"But most significantly worship of snakes gets prominence in modern astrology because they are considered as rahu and ketu. The head of a snake is rahu and the tail ketu. If all other planets are caught between the head and the tail in a horoscope then it is termed as kaal sarp yog."

"The myth of ‘sarpa satra’ or ‘snake sacrifice’ originally occurs in the Bhagavata Purana. The references to ‘sarpa satra’ are also there in Shivalilamrita and Dnyaneshwari."

"So down the great dragon was hurled, the original serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth; he was hurled down to the earth, and his angels were hurled down with him."

"RATTLESNAKE, n. Our prostrate brother, Homo ventrambulans."

"This is a footnote to our gay-marriage discussion. A woman in India last week married a snake. And it was done at a traditional Hindu ceremony attended by 2,000 people. Now, I would like to ask the proponents of gay marriage, which after all violates traditions going back through all of human history, to now absolutely positively guarantee that the next movement is not going to be allowing people to marry their pet horse, dog or cat. And you know what? Given the anything-goes culture we live in, I don't think they can deliver that guarantee."

"Some huge camoodi, able to crush my bones like brittle twigs in its constricting coils, might lurk in these shadows, and approach me stealthily, unseen in its dark color on the dark ground."

"In certain snakes there is a large actively functional right and a small comparatively useless left lung. The evolutionist would suggest as the meaning of this that the ancestors of snakes possessed, like normal air-breathing s, a pair of lungs—right and left—approximately equal in size, but that in correlation with the lengthening of the body as it assumed the typical snake form the left lung had undergone a gradual reduction in size. He would point out that in some snakes, such as the , a still further stage has been reached in which the left lung has disappeared altogether, leaving only a single—the originally right—lung."

"David Kimbrough studied, observed, participated with, and befriended many individuals in this unique expression of faith: the handling of snakes. This activity is understood not as a test of God's care and protection, but in fulfillment of the command of Jesus himself, that if done in his name then no harm would come to them. The exception to this is if the person is not right with God, then injury and/or death could follow. It was a test of the person's faith."

"Believing wholeheartedly that such an act was not only appropriate but commanded, churches practicing the handling of snakes and the drinking of poisons have often been labeled as cultic in nature, but, according to Kimbrough, nothing could be further from the truth. These are people who truly believe in taking the words of the New Testament seriously."

"And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."

"Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you."

"The book of Mark in the Bible's New Testament calls serpent handling one of the "signs" that true believers must follow."

"Snake handling is based on a passage in the Bible that says a sign of a true believer is the power to "take up serpents" without being harmed."

"Using the image of a snake for the ego he (Ashtavamka asks, you think you are the doer, so has the black serpent of ego bitten you? Whenever you think you must do, he says you have been bitten by the snake of ego. By not doing the doer, you drink the nectar of trust and can be happy."

"Today, two serpent motifs are commonly used to symbolize the practice and profession of medicine. Internationally, the most popular symbol of medicine is the single serpententwined staff of Asklepios (Latin, Aesculapius), the ancient Greco-Roman god of medicine."

"On her way to work one morning Down the path along side the lake A tender hearted woman saw a poor half frozen snake... "Take me in tender woman Take me in, for heaven's sake Take me in, tender woman," sighed the snakeShe clutched him to her bosom, "You're so beautiful," she cried "But if I hadn't brought you in by now you might have died" She stroked his pretty skin again and kissed and held him tight Instead of saying thanks, the snake gave her a vicious bite..."I saved you," cried the woman "And you've bitten me, but why? You know your bite is poisonous and now I'm going to die" "Oh shut up, silly woman," said the reptile with a grin "You knew damn well I was a snake before you took me in""