Rewriting The Story Of Eve, The Serpent And The Apple
Because We Need New Myths
The Original Sin involves three characters: Eve, who is tempted to eat of the fruit of The Tree of Knowledge; Adam, with whom Eve shares the fruit; and the Serpent, who does all the tempting to begin with.
Why a Serpent? Depending on which version of the Bible you read, the Serpent is described as more crafty (ESV), more subtil (KJV), the shrewdest (NLT) of all the beasts created by God. You get the drift — that Serpent was smart.
The Serpent has been, since ancient times, a symbol of the Feminine. If we view the Bible as a container of wisdom, a telling of actual events recounted in metaphor, rather than resorting to a literal interpretation of the events described, we perhaps open our minds to a greater understanding of the messages contained therein.
In considering that Trees are also symbols of the Divine Feminine we begin to see how Genesis in the Bible is speaking to us of the Divine Feminine, without actually using those words. There is consistent use of metaphor within the Bible, yet we choose to recognize this in some instances and not in others.
Consider also that Genesis does not specifically name the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, the tree from which Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat. Yet, the apple is what most comes to mind when we think of the fruit with which Eve tempted Adam. Perhaps this is no accident.
At the heart of an apple is a five pointed star. The five pointed star, the pentagram, is a symbol steeped in mystery, magic and superstition. Its symbolism is beautifully varied, holding astrological, religious and mathematical meanings. Perhaps its astrological significance – see the Pentagram of Venus – is the root of the pentagram being a potent symbol of the Divine Feminine.
Did the artists portraying Adam and Eve eating from The Tree of Knowledge deliberately use the apple, aware of the symbolism within the Genesis story? After all, it is artists who are most steeped in the art of symbolism, and therefore most likely to discern hidden messages.
Consider reading the story of Adam, Eve and the Apple from a different perspective than the one engrained in our consciousness – that of a woman tempting a man to do something he shouldn’t. Consider the story as marking the time when humanity began vilifying the Feminine, when eating from The Tree of Knowledge (living with the wisdom of the Divine Feminine) became seen as evil. The time when ancient Goddess worship was replaced by a God that could only be male.
The Great Goddess — the Divine Ancestress — had been worshiped from the beginnings of the Neolithic periods of 7000 BC until the closing of the last Goddess temples, about AD 500. Some authorities would extend Goddess worship as far into the past as the Upper Paleolithic Age of about 25,000 BC.
― Merlin Stone, When God Was a Woman
If the Garden of Eden represents the perfect state, then consider the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden as marking the time when humanity no longer lived in a perfect state – in a balance of the Divine Masculine and the Divine Feminine. Consider it the beginning of when symbols of the Divine Feminine, such as the Serpent and the Pentagram, were deliberately interpreted as evil.
If you doubt how quickly the symbolism around anything can be deliberately and easily altered, you need only consider the swastika. Many remain ignorant of its ancient history of being a sacred symbol across varied cultures, aware only of its coopting by Nazis and neo-Nazis since the 20th century.
But why does any of this matter? It matters because our patriarchal society has flung us headlong into “….deforestation, global pollution, wars and consumerism to the point of eventual self-destruction.”
We are waking up to the imbalance in which we exist and how it does not serve us. We are collectively searching for solutions to the existential crisis we all feel but find difficult to describe. The knowledge that we all embody masculine and feminine traits has not been taught to us, far less any wisdom on how we balance those traits to achieve well-being. Our well-being is reflected in the society we create. Our current patriarchal, capitalist society has left us disillusioned and searching for more.
We need to re-write the patriarchal myths on which we have based our society and which have influenced our collective consciousness.
Can we see the story of Adam, Eve, and the Apple in a new light? Can we begin re-writing our lives based on this new light? Can men honor themselves as gentle, empathetic, and sensitive even as society tells them that they need to act differently? Can women stand proud in their strength and wisdom even when society tries to diminish them? When we honor these traits in ourselves and live our lives in accordance with that essence, we cannot treat others and the world around us with anything less than the empathy we give to ourselves. It is a lack of empathy and connection with the world outside of us that has led us to where we are, on the brink of what scientists tell us will be the sixth mass extinction.
The story of Eve is of her being maligned for sharing the wisdom of The Tree of Knowledge with Adam. Will we continue to remain ignorant of and blind to the wisdom of the Divine Feminine?
Nandini Gosine-Mayrhoo is a freelance writer and ghostwriter who uses her words to shift the current paradigm. You can read some of her musings and contact her at www.giveyourwordswings.com
