The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-07-04
WORSHIP OF SERPENrs
facts Demonstrated by the Discovery n
the Serpent Mound of Ohio.

OlSCOF6TE
the Serpent Mound of Ohio.
That such work. so earefullv ia
signed, and constructed under such diff
heulties along this narrow ridge termi
mating in the high rough cliff. wa.
planned and built under some powerful
influence, We can but believe. And wba,
other than religious motive can he
conceived? Have we not here the eyi
oence OF the former existence of +ha,
ancient faith, which, rising probably in
the East ages before historic time. held
millions of people under its terrible
sway; and, spreading over Asia, Africa
and Europe, has not yet been wholly
supplanted, in India and Africa. by later
faiths?
mat the serpent was prominent in the
rellglous faiths of the Americans is be-
yond question. and that, to a certain
extent, in combination with phallie and
sonar worship, 1t extended from Central
America to Peru and Mexico, can
not be doubted, whatever its origin.
Its existence in Yucatan is shown
as In Cambodia, by sculptures
on the ruined buildings which
can only be properly designated as tenn
pies we know from history and art
That this form of worship existed in
Mexico down to the time of the Spanish
invasion and conquest and that it still
survives in the rites of the Zunis and
Moquls, and probably other of the
Pueblo tribes
10 this southwestern region, with its
many Asiatic features of art aud faith
we are constantly forced by our inyesti-
cations as we look for the source of the
builders of the older works of the Ohio
valley. With these considerations in
mlnd' and with the knowledge that
structures similar to this in Ohio exist.
ed IN the Old World, where the serpent
and other early faiths had their greatest
development, will it be forcing the facts
10 argue-unless all religious SYMBOLISM
Is merely colncident, vague and mean
tngless, which seems an absurd position
to hold-that in the oval EN- bankment
with its central pile of burnt stones in
com blnatlon with the serpent, we have
The three symbols everywhere re-
garded in the Old World as en-
blems OF those primitive faiths? Here
we ind the linga-in-yoni of India. O.
the reciprocal principles of nature
guarded by the serpent; or life, power.
knowledge, and eternity. Moreover. its
position, east and west. indicates the
nourshlng source of fertility-the great
snn-god whose first rays fall upon the
altar of stones in the center of the oval
so that here we have associated the
symbols which in Asia would be ar
cepted without question as showing the
place TO be a phallo-solar shrine COM
plned with the serpent faith Its very
position on the high cliff terminatino
IN the rough overhanging rocks, washed
by the spring torrents, and near the
three forks OF the river, is to be consid
cred when comparisons are made. This
combination OF natural features proba-
bly, could not be found again in anv
part OF the great route along which the
people must have journeyed from the
Mexican Gulf. Is this all to be taken
as mere coincidence in the DEVELOPMENT
OF faith in America and the Old
World? There seems to be too much
here to admit of such a theory; and
when other facts, in other lines.
Joint in the same direction, it is play-
ing false with our reason to be too skep-
teal. sAt reements, nay, identities.
would then mean nothing in science.
and comparative studies would be use
less Ferguson, in his Tree and Ser
pent Worship" mentions the existence
OF serpent worship on some of the Pa.
clfic islands, and refers to its possible
transmission across the Pacific to Amer
lea, and says if it is proved that this
worship is indigenous in the New World.
We are thrown back on the doctrine that
human nature is alike everywhere. and
that man in like circumstances and with
like degree of civilization does ALWAYS
the same things, and celebrates the
same beliefs. 1t may be so, but l con-
fess 1t appears to me that at present the
evidence prepond erates the other way
Up. 39). When this careful author thus
expressed his views, he was not &C.
quainted with the details now pointed
out in the col. binations of the Ohio SER
pent shrine. f. w. Putnam, in
Century