Description
Medium: white stoneware clay, single glaze,
Size: life sized – about about 12” w. X 12” d. X 6” h to be wall mounted
In our Christian culture the snake is representative of all things negative and I do believe that is partly the reason I absolutely abhor snakes however, as a thought experience it was wonderful to recall other very positive attributes ascribed to the snake, such as the following:
Modern Medicine still uses the symbol of the snake for healing or the healer. The Greco-Roman God Asklepios was shown carrying the staff with a snake wrapped around it as a symbol of the healing power he held. There is also to be found the symbol of snake for healing or making ones psychological being stronger in the mythology of India and the rising power of Kundalini. The snake is commonly linked with transcendence from one way of being to another in almost all cultures of the past.
Thus I chose to depict the snake symbol to stand for the act of healing. Its head is centered on the healer’s forehead; a place often depicted as the seat of wisdom in the tales of the Ancients. Thus the power of healing is not simply technical knowledge to ‘repair’ a failing body-system but using the healer’s wisdom to treat the whole person.
