Serpent lore and symbols of deity

—also used to describe the wand of Hermes. Despairing souls are led by this sign to forget their pains in the joyful hope of immortality, while the staff supports the feet of those who stumble on the way. The cross has now taken the place of the serpent. It carries the meaning of that ancient symbol and is carried by the "verger"—a word derived from Virga—at the head of a church procession.

With such extensive branches in the realm of symbolism, the serpent could hardly escape being classified as a phallic emblem. However, this aspect of its history refers only to its later career as a masculine symbol and cannot be addressed today.

Serpent worship, though passed down with different interpretations throughout the ages, is a relic of a primitive time when the relationships of life were simple and the hidden mysteries of nature were viewed with awe and reverence. It was the sign of an era when the influence of women was primary on earth and was reflected in the hierarchy of heaven. The serpent was regarded as the Supreme God. Such was its holiness that merely painting its image on a wall made the area sacred.

The snake was everywhere called upon as a protector. Even in modern times, there was a superstition that an "S" crossed by another "S" and bolted to a wall protected a building against fire. The serpent—known as ophis or ob—was especially the guardian of treasure. The word "opulent" is even coined from its linguistic remains, and it was from Ophir a port or region mentioned in the Bible famous for its wealth that Solomon obtained the gold for the Temple. Deprived of its divinity and stripped of its earthly dignity, the world is still full of memories and monuments of the serpent as an object of reverence. Language would be crippled if "snake roots" were deleted. The obelisk carries its memory high, and even the name "Europe" could not be pronounced without its help.