1. Serpent Gods and Dragon People
Lucifer is, of
course, usually understood by the Judeo-Christian tradition to be
the serpent referred to in the Genesis three account of the fall of
man. His description as the “wisest” and “most cunning” of all the
creatures - as well as his promise to mankind that if it but eats
of the “forbidden fruit” of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil - has led some commentators to draw parallels between him and
the “civilizing” and “wisdom” gods of other cultures, the gods who
taught mankind the arts and sciences of civilization. The
Mayan-Aztec god Quetzlcoatl, who is credited with teaching them
their civilization, is said to have been a bearded white man, but
is also, as is well-known, depicted as a “feathered serpent” or a
“winged serpent.” Similarly the Incan Viracocha was a bearded white
man, and also a “feathered” or “winged” serpent. The Egyptian
“wisdom god” Thoth, who is also credited with building the Great
Pyramid, is also associated with a lizard, the salamander. Even the
book of Revelation refers to Lucifer as a “dragon” or, to put it
differently, a “feathered serpent.”582
In ancient Egypt’s
mythology the flying serpent is not only a symbol of immortality,
it is also an ambiguous symbol both of the source of good and of
evil, a dialectic recalling the serpent’s temptation of mankind in
Genesis three to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Not surprisingly, these feathered serpents or dragons are also said
to have sired a chimerical offspring with mankind.
The Book of Dzyan...(states that) the Sarpa or Great Dragons were the Fifth Race to inhabit the world. The Fourth Race was a race of giants who had lived before the Deluge but were wiped out by that catastrophe. The book relates how the serpent gods or dragons redescended after the Deluge and instructed man in the arts of civilization. These serpent-gods had a human face and the tail of a dragon: they founded divine dynasties on Earth and are believed to be the ancestors of our current civilization, the Fifth Race of the Book of Dzyan. The leader of these gods was called “The Great Dragon.”583
Like the giant
offspring of the Nephilim described in the Old Testament, the
Book of Dzyan also describes the
“reptilian-human” offspring of this fifth race as practicing
cannibalism.584
Egyptian art often
depicts the slaying of an evil serpent in terms starkly reminiscent
of the Christian theme of St. George slaying the
dragon.
Egyptian Winged Serpent Motifs585
Egyptian Slaying of the Serpent Motifs586
The Egyptians also
depicted “serpent vehicles” in the Pyramid texts, carrying Osiris
in the underworld in a “boat” and then to the stars.
Egyptian “Serpent Vehicles” Carrying Osiris, from the
Pyramid Texts587
These feathered or
flying serpents and dragons are also associated with the notion of
kingship itself, appearing in the Egyptian pharaoh’s headdress or
ureaus.588 Similarly, the
ancient Emperors of China claimed descent from the “Celestial
Dragon,” since dragons were “present at the Creation and shared the
world with mankind.” Moreover, in China “the dragon was linked with
the development of man” and who “taught him the essential arts.”
Indeed, “the first humans were believed to have been created by an
ancient goddess...who was herself part dragon and part
mortal.“589