Snake Charming Dream Gods
Ancient Egypt and Greece
Imhotep
The polymath, presumed step pyramid architect and later demigod — ‘Imhotep’ of the Old Kingdom of Ancient Egypt is frequently associated with the Hellenic god of dream-healing and prophecy — ‘Asklepios’. This identification is thought to have originated with the Greeks themselves in Egypt, yet Egyptologists have found little or no strong evidence of Imhotep in relation to specific Egyptian dream incubation rituals, oracles or ‘sleep temples’ which we find as a major aspect of the Hellenic Asklepion tradition. He is however frequently invoked in his capacity as supernatural physician, miracle-worker and granter of wishes. Particularly when couples are desperate for a child.
The Real Man
There is only a small amount of contemporaneous material recovered that tells us about Imhotep’s existence as a real man and the site of his tomb is currently mysterious. It is believed by many to be hidden somewhere in the vast necropolis at Saqqara.
The most famous evidence from Imhotep’s lifetime, is an inscription on the base of a statue of the pharaoh Djoser (to whom Imhotep was vizier) at Saqqara, which lists the titles he had in that pharaoh’s court. One of the many divergent positions held by Imhotep during his mortal career was ‘Greatest of Seers’. His divine skills as physician seem to have come much later, as his integration with Asklepios cements in Alexandrian Egypt.
The popular identification of him as the architect of Djoser’s Step Pyramid appears to derive from a single source — the somewhat enigmatic Egyptian priest and historian Manetho’s writings entitled ‘Aegyptiaca’. This was a voluminous history of Ancient Egypt, thought to be commissioned by Ptolemy II Philadelphus and a major resource for early European enquirers into Egyptian history. The book was especially influential in regard to the construction of a chronological timeline for the ancient rulers and the division of dynasties.
Imhotep’s influence perpetuates into proceeding centuries, with elevation to divine status occurring many years after his death, from which time he becomes celebrated as a supreme and supernatural physician, magician-scribe and essentially a ‘miracle’ worker. In the New Kingdom, with his cult well-established, his list of epithets increases to include ‘Chief Scribe, Sage, High Priest and Son of Ptah’. His attributes also merge with those of Thoth and his idealised image and character endures even into the Roman era.
From the Stele of Psenptais (-90 to -41) of Saqqarah — British Museum N° 1026:
Imhotep, Son of Ptah, capable in all his actions, and great miracle-worker, said: — I will give you a son who will be very healthy.
I was rich in all things; I had a very beautiful harem and yet I had reached 43 years without having a male heir. It is then that the consecrated God IMHOTEP, son of Ptah, gave me the son I wanted so much: he was perfect in form and I called him Imhotep-Petobastis. My wife, Taimhotep, the blessed daughter of the Father God and priest of Horus of Letopolis brought him into the world.
I made the high-priest happy (by the marriage). However, I have borne three girls without bringing a son into the world. Then with my spouse the high priest, we pleaded with the holy Imhotep, Son of Ptah, and who has miraculous powers, to give a son to us. He heard our prayers. Thus the Great God in his majesty revealed himself to the High Priest: perform great service in this magnificent place where my body lies, and I will reward you for it by the gift of a son. At this time he awoke and threw himself before the holy god upon the earth…
Was Sceptre
Imhotep is most frequently represented with a close-fitting skullcap like his father the God Ptah, denoting his priestly nature — and sits as a scribe with a rolled-out papyrus scroll across his lap.
Imhotep is often depicted holding the ‘Was’ sceptre — a sign of power and dominion which is also considered to be a symbol of Thebes — (Egyptian name Waset — City of the Sceptre). In Waset Imhotep was revered alongside Amenhotep, Son of Hapu — another deified architect.
Some believe the Was symbol was a stylised version of a predynastic staff used by herdsmen and tribal chiefs, in part as a tool for pinning down snakes — it has a forked base. The top of the staff is believed to represent the dog-like head of the Set animal.
De Lubicz via Paul LaViolette speaks of the Was as “a living branch that conducts nourishing, vivifying sap, fluid that ascends…” and even found some Was scepters made from “the living branch of a tree that had been cut so as to include a section of the lower source branch as well as two offshoots coming from its upper end”(Genesis of the Cosmos)
Asklepios
It is this affinity with the Rod of Asklepios and potential dominion over serpents (or perhaps an attempt to harness their regenerative power and potency?) that I find especially interesting. Both Asklepios and Imhotep could be viewed as precursors to the figure of Jesus — both demigods, born to mortal mothers, they were miracle workers with prophetic powers, faith healers and serpent subduers.
Son of the god of music and healing — Apollo and the mortal woman Coronis. Asklepios was cut from the flaming womb of Coronis as she burned on the punishing funeral pyre made for her by Apollo, who caught her being unfaithful to him. The rescued infant was taken by his father to the centaur Chiron, who taught Asklepios the skills of a healer. Legend tells of him witnessing a snake in the forest, bringing a bundle of herbs to a wounded mate. The snake is said to have ‘licked clean the ears’ of Asklepios, revealing secrets and initiating him in the deepest mysteries of the healing arts. His symbol (the Rod of Asklepios — a snake-entwined staff) represents the harnessed healing power and wisdom of serpents. Serpents ‘licking clean the ears’ has perpetuated into Greek folklore tradition and expresses an idea of being initiated into the secrets of nature. Being able thereafter to know and understand deep mysteries that had previously been concealed. Asklepios’s medical powers were so strong he was even able to bring the dead back to life. An act that resulted in punishment from Zeus, who struck Asklepios dead with a thunderbolt. At Apollo’s protest Zeus restored Asklepios to the heavens — installing him as the constellation Ophiuchus (the Serpent Bearer)
Snakes and Dogs
The dog and snake are the theriomorphic forms of Asklepios and they were both attendant creatures in the temples dedicated to the god’s dream healing operations, the dogs probably being put to use in wound licking. To pay homage to Asklepios, the rooster was the sacrifice of choice (for Imhotep it was the sacred Ibis). The snake is a transcendent creature. Of course she is associated with healing and rebirth as she has the ability to regenerate her tail and shed old skin, emerging young and perfect. Supplicants at the Asklepion wore white swaddling robes — like babes awaiting a new, perfected life.
Temple Sleep
Temple Sleep was a process whereby a patient was ritually prepared to receive a divine dream and a direct healing interaction with Asklepios (either in his human or animal forms). I personally wonder whether the dream snake bite of the god would have had miraculous dream healing potency, a sort of mirror of the poison. And if so, this goes some way to explain the roles of Panacea(daughter of Asklepios) in the sanctuaries. Could Panacea be the personification of the heal-all dream cure? And did the bowl of Hygieia — Health (his wife) represent an alchemical property of dream venom?
The dream reports of the sanctuaries in-patients are well documented in the form of ‘iamata’ (miraculous cure reports recorded by the Therapeutae at the time). These are often very fantastic (woman pregnant with a child for 5 years, gives birth under Asklepios’s dream care to a healthy 4 year old boy that proceeds to wash and feed himself etc.) and served to program those that entered the complex with affirmations and positive feelings about the sanctuaries efficacy. The chief health concern mentioned by women for example was fertility and healthy childbirth. Supreme confidence in Asklepios’s divine obstetric prowess may have been sufficient to ensure this.
Cobra Fire
In the Egyptian tradition, the ‘fire’ of rearing cobras was utilised to protect sleepers from psychic dream attacks. People made small clay cobras which they put around them as they slept to protect them from dream enemies. Experiences which sound a lot like sleep paralysis and nightmares are described more often than pleasant dreams in the accounts of ancient Egyptians. It was believed that the dead could enter the dreams of the living. Falling asleep was a dangerous time in which the body was vulnerable to malevolent and chaotic forces. So using this kind of apotropaic heka was a way of defending yourself from evil influences. The entanglement of heka (Egyptian magic) and the divine manifesting power of the medu netjer (hieroglyphs) is also vital here and explains Imhotep’s magical scribe/physician status. Magic and medicine were inextricable from one another.
The ‘Bes Chambers’
A candidate for a purposefully constructed dream incubation venue in Ancient Egypt might be the Ptolemaic ‘Bes Chamber’ (Quibell 1907). Bes was a popular household guardian deity that took the form of a comic naked dwarf whose appearance and fearless pugnacious nature scared off demons and malevolent entities.
Bes is frequently depicted on bedroom furniture, household items and apotropaic hippo ivory wands. He is often shown wielding knives and defeated serpents. In these chambers his function is to ward off the demons of nightmares. His relationship to fecundity is also essential and perhaps these were chambers to sleep in to promote fertility and easy childbirth. In the terracotta reliefs that lined the walls, Bes’s huge erect phallus would be inserted. In these chambers were also depictions of his female counterpart — the goddess Beset.
Amazing Technicolour Dream Prophecy
Inscribed on the ‘Famine Stela’ on Sehel Island, created during the Ptolemaic period, is a story set in the 18th year of the reign of Djoser. The text describes how the king is upset and worried as the land has been in the grip of a drought and famine for seven years. Djoser asks Imhotep for help. The king wants to know where the god of the Nile — Hapi, is born, and which god resides at this place.
Imhotep decides to investigate the archives of the temple ḥwt-Ibety (“House of the nets”), located at Hermopolis and dedicated to the god Thoth. He informs the king that the flooding of the Nile is controlled by the god Khnum at Elephantine from a sacred spring located on the island, where the god resides. Imhotep travels immediately to the location (Ancient Egyptian: jbw). In the temple of Khnum, called “Joy of Life”, Imhotep purifies himself, prays to Khnum for help and offers “all good things” to him. Suddenly he falls asleep and in his dream Imhotep is greeted by the kindly looking Khnum. The god introduces himself to Imhotep by describing who and what he is and then describes his own divine powers. At the end of the dream Khnum promises to make the Nile flow again. Imhotep wakes up and writes down everything that took place in his dream. He then returns to Djoser to tell the king what has happened.
Healing, Prophecy and Snakes — in Dreams
Harmony is health and the consistent trinity of healing, prophecy and snakes within ancient dream culture has, I believe, a lot to do with this concept of harmony being the desired state of material and immaterial existence. If an individual is in harmony with nature, they have access to a flow of natural energy, they have an insight into the connectedness of all things. They are vibrating in harmony with the world and they can direct their intention to manifest the results they desire.
The snake is a perfect emblem of self-healing and regeneration. Its undulating form gliding with the landscape, it transcends all the realms of Earth — rising from the underworld, carrying the secrets of the Earth Goddess up into the treetops, where its forked tongue can taste the heavens.
There are other traditions of dream prophecy and healing and I am especially interested in what a deepening of our understanding of Minoan scripts may reveal in this respect. The snake goddesses are for the next instalment.
© Sarah Janes 1st Oct, 2020
sarahjanes@hotmail.com
