SERPENT MOUND: An American Indian Mystery School

SERPENT MOUND: An American Indian Mystery School

by William John Meegan 
Presented with author’s permission

ABSTRACT

Serpent Mound is located in Adams County, Ohio, USA.  The effigy of a serpent is found atop a precipice: a stretch of land looking very much like a peninsula plateau within a meteor impact crater[1].  The serpent effigy is thirteen hundred and seventy feet in length[2].  Serpent Mound is said to be the central hub (axis mundi) of the ancientmound builder’s culture located in the modern state of Ohio and several surrounding states.

Serpent Mound has certainly had it many admirers, pseudo-biographers, scientific investigators and well intention researchers trying to ferret out its sacred meanings.  It is with full knowledge of many of these investigations and through their varied inquiries coupled with my own researches that I add my analysis and observations on the numerous exoteric and esoteric nuances incorporated into the effigy of the serpent on Serpent Mound and its surrounding topography.

Many of the features laid out in Serpent Mound and its surrounding topography are reminiscence of the ancientEgyptian, Hindus, Jewish and Christian exoteric and esoteric teachings.  At first I was not willing to believe that there was a global diffusion of esoteric knowledge, which allowed for the creation of Serpent Mound; however, the evidence kept piling up to the point that denial of this possibility was no longer realistic.  In fact it was Serpent Mound and the American Indian culture as a whole, which honed my theory on this global diffusion of esoteric knowledge.  I had to ask myself how the American Indianscould have knowledge of esotericism and its highly sophisticated mathematical sciences and still remain living in what the high cultures call primitive conditions.  As I looked at this problem globally it dawn on me that theAmerican Indian made a conscious choice culturally not to make decisions that world affect those being born seven generations hence.  This kind of decision making processsuppresses what modernity calls progress; thus, I began to envisage that the esoteric science was made use of by the numerous indigenous cultures around the world based solely upon the temperament of the indigenous culture codifying it into their arts and educational systems (it does not have to be in the form of literature), which in all cases was initially combined secularly and religiously.

My understanding of the diffusion process is neither quite the same as academia nor those advocated by modernity as a whole in fact it is diametrically opposite to those points of views.  The transcendent has its own diffusion process, which has nothing to do with depending upon humanity to dispense its message locally and/or globally.  The transcendent give each soul/psyche, so desiring it, the same spiritual experience no matter where he or she may be in the world.  Outwardly this may seem as if one human being is dispensing information to another culture in order for that culture to have the same religious and/or secular mores as the parent culture.  This does not meet the needs of the individual’s soul/psyche.  In fact such tactics such as forced religious and secular education on a conquered people is despotic and rips from the soul/psyche the better part of that person as Nietzsche[3] would say.

Granted once a religion is established children born into that mindset would learn its mores; however, society teaching its children its cultural mores is taking the child out of it spiritual state of being and casting it into a cold and barren wasteland: the better part of that child is lost but how else is one to educate the child into society’s cultural mores?  Consider what Christ said of those that received a spiritual vision, “suffer the little children to come unto me for such is the kingdom of heaven (Mathew 19:14).” The spiritual vision reverses the process of the world’s educational system and returns the soul/psyche to its true spiritual state of being.  Now the fully mature adult has an established religious system to hone his or her spiritual experience to; albeit, a superficially understood religious system: once again cast into a cold and barren wasteland; nonetheless, the newly initiated initiate has Orenda[4] to guide him or her out of the cold and barren wasteland into a fully spiritual understanding of his or her religion’s mores.

I highly recommend those reading this article to first read my contribution to World Mysteries: SACRED GEOMETRY AND THE ART OF SCRIPTURAL WRITING[5].  Many of the esoteric ideas in that article are relevant to the esoteric analysis of Serpent Mound. 

Esotericism has everything to do with SERENT MOUND and the deciphering of its internal construct: how and why was it constructed.   It is crucial that the reader realize that the American Indian was just as intelligent as any other human being on the face of the earth.  The American Indians’ spiritual mores are as intrinsically esoteric as any other culture on earth.  It is important to mention at this very early stage that this entire paper was written from an esoteric perspective; nevertheless, a great deal of scientific evidence will be presented with appropriate reference material to augment this thesis; however, this gives the reader but a slight glimpse into the spiritual understanding of what is transpiring at SERPENT MOUND. 

The average man and women looking at SERPENT MOUND and the surrounding region see it all with the jaundice eye of the mundane: meaning that the individual views this and other sacred sites in the world at large with his or her own educational reach and intellectual prowess; however, when it comes to the higher civilizations of antiquity then the modern man knows for the most part those people were far more intelligent then he or she is; whereas, the American Indiansand other aboriginal cultures around the world appear to be so primitive that they seem to be just out of the antediluvian times. 

Esotericism is not in the mainstream educational system and for the most part it is a spiritual system of thought unknown to the mundane world at large; however, it is the most sophisticated scientific educational system the world has or will ever know bar none.  There is one prerequisite to understanding esotericism and that is the individual has to be spiritually minded to understand its transcendentalconcepts.  Outwardly the Esoteric Science is imprinted upon the exoteric (mundane) and cannot be readily seen with the naked eye and/or envisaged through the normal means of reason and logic; nonetheless, the uninitiated can be taught to decipher ‘some’ of its esoteric scientific patterns codified to the mundane.  It takes a great deal of time, expense and analytical thought to get at this knowledge; nonetheless, it takes a deep agonizing desire within the heart of the initiate to invoke the aid of the spiritual powers that be (Orenda) to guide him or her through the maze. 

Again it would take a spiritual minded individual to cull out the better part of this system of thought and then it would take a lifetime of inner contemplative and meditational researches to fully get a handle on this spiritual science.  The educational systems of the world believe that all systems of thought can be learned within a designated period of time.  This is not so with the Esoteric Science.  To learn the deep esoteric principles the initiate goes through a lifetime of testing and temptations. Does the initiate really want to know about him or herself or is this esoteric system of thought being studied for fame, power and fortune?  It is the soul’s/psyche’s inner internal spiritual powers that be that are continuously without ceasing determining the viability of the initiate progress in learning the numerous nuances in this Esoteric Science: in other words, the initiate is spiritually evaluating him or herself and spiritually one cannot lie to oneself. 

In fact the esoteric system of thought is so difficult to completely comprehend that it takes envisaging the infinite realm of God within a grain of sand: within a letter (BETH – first letter of Genesis) or within a sound (OM – Hindu monastery chant).  The American Indians that built SERPENT MOUND knew this spiritual system and rule of thought in its entirety and they accomplished placing that understanding in their sacred Star Mounds throughout the North American continent’s northern hemisphere. 

Esotericism for the most part is not for the average citizen; however, it is there for them when that day comes that they have a spiritual vision.  Esotericism explains to the initiate the spiritual vision (Orenda) that comes to him or her from the transcendent and that is all it teaches.  No matter how sophisticated the esoteric science is presented esotericism teaches the soul/psyche that the entire outer materialistic manifestation is analogous to his or her soul/psyche. 

After 39-years of researching the esoteric science from out of the Judeao Christian scriptures and after the publication of three books on the subject of esotericism I feel eminently qualified to decode the esotericism codified to the SERPENT MOUND complex.

1.     SERPENT MOUND’S SURROUNDING TOPOGRAPHY

The East Folk and West Folk tributary streams[6] flowing into Brush Creek, which flows along side of Serpent Mound’s Peninsula Plateau, is some of the topography that needs to be pointed out.  Compare a map of Egypt where the Nile River flows into two main tributaries, which then flow into the Mediterranean Sea.  No, this is not exactly the same; however, there are other examples of topography that needs to be compared and considered.  The Sketch Map of Serpent Mound Park[7] gives a general depiction of the area under discussion. 

It is not only the multiple of similarities but also their dissimilarities that have caught my attention.  The second topographic nuance concerns the peninsula of Sinai compared to the peninsula that Serpent Mound is positioned upon: they are extraordinarily similar.   Consider the LiDAR[8] video and note that both the Sinai and the Serpent Mound peninsulas are both flanked by two bodies of waters.  Both Brush and East creeks alongside of Serpent Mound peninsula have all the appearance of being manmade.  The image of Brush Creek from the LiDAR video clearly looks too uniformed to have been carved out by nature and East Creek gives all the appearance of being carved out in a straight line.  The LiDAR video takes away all organic materials from view, which would normally hide these topographical anomalies.

The most extraordinary feature that shows up on the LiDAR video has traditionally nothing to do with Serpent Mound.  In the very beginning of this film the topography of the area to the north and south of Serpent Mound is brought into view.  This includes seeing the folk in Brush Creek representing East Folk and West Folk tributary streams and to the south of Serpent Mound most of the peninsula plateau east of Brush Creek is shown and it looks very much like a sleeping (dreamer[9]) or dead bear (this is consistent with the Hunting of Great Bear mythology).  Serpent Mound’s effigy is located at the bear’s mouth.

It would seem that I was the first to make this observation concerning Serpent Mound’s peninsula plateau being in the shape of a sleeping (dreamer) or dead bear, which forced the investigation into any American Indian Bear Clans that may have been in the region around the twelfth century AD: the time of Serpent Mound’s construction.  This last was ascertained by carbon dating.  This led into the investigation of the American Indian’s Great Bear Spirit Mythology: most notably ‘Hunting the Great Bear[10]’.  I immediately sent out emails and searched the internet and other resources but little data is known outside of pure speculation[11] being that the American Indians as a whole was not a detailed record keeping culture: for the most part everything was handed down by word of mouth.  I traced the Bear Clan in the region to the Mohawk Indians, one of the five original nations comprising the Iroquois Confederacy[12].  The mythology concerning the ‘Hunting of the Great Bear’ originates in the Iroquois Confederacy.  It would seem that most Indian nations throughout the continental United States have a Bear Clan and the same ‘Hunting of the Great Bear’ stories with slight variations.  This last does not take away from the fact that the Iroquois[13] Confederacy moved into the Ohio and surrounding states region in the twelfth century AD.

There are others that want to give Serpent Mound a far more ancient and mysterious history preceding the birth of Christ; however, they are depending upon materials that were initially place in Serpent Mound (as filler) by its builders, which could have been used materials from who knows where.  Another carbon dating report[14] is said to be out later this year.  Apparently this is much hope on the BC date.  My chief objection to such an antiquity lies in the fact that Serpent Mound is in too good of a condition to be of that antiquity.  The world has seen wind worn erosion on the temple complex made out of pure granite next to the Sphinx in Egypt can we not expect to see at least some erosional features on Serpent Mound over a period of two thousand years or more.  Consider the freezing winter’s snows and then the thawing coupled with thunder and lightning storms incessantly pounding upon Serpent Mound for over two thousand years, would this not eventually do great damage to the Serpent Mound effigy?  Now look at the picture of the LiDAR video again.  Are not those the same geological features that Professor Robert M. Schoch, PH.D.[15], of Boston University, declared was consistent with “precipitation-induced weathering” of the enclosure of the Sphinx?  I am not a geologist but this is what Professor Schoch (geologist) and John Anthony West[16], the noted amateur archeologist, has been teaching the world for decades. The LiDAR picture above shows that the fissures clearly seen on both sides of the peninsula’s plateau are running down from both sides of Serpent Mound.  Serpent Mound is centrally located at the apex of the peninsula’s plateau.  The Ohio region climatically has consistent snows and rains year in and year out.  That is the point.  Why is Serpent Mound still there if it is over two thousand years old?

I can understand that Serpent Mound was probably well maintained (trees[17] and other debris removed and soil, clay and stone repairs made when necessary) throughout its long history from the twelfth century.  The indigenous tribe(s) that built it may well have remained in the area right up to the time of the White Man’s encroachment on their territories driving them out of the region in the nineteenth century. 

Mea Culpa: it may well be that I am wrong about the AD/BC dating of SERPENT MOUND and the creation of its effigy and the sculptural formation of the sleeping or dead bear on the outcropping of the peninsula plateau; however, if the mounds of Ohio and those found in surrounding states were created by the Adena and Hopewell Indians in the BC era then those Native Americans Tribes that still remain in the area are their descendents and carry on the cultural mores of their ancestors (compare the American Indian mythologies of the entire continental United States and Canada: they are virtually identical within tight ‘peripheral’ variations; albeit, on a superficial level but that is exactly how modern Christians are carrying on the religious mores of the Founding Father of Christianity.  Another point about esotericism is that it may have in the pass and will again in the future fade out in the psyche of the cultural mindset; however, it always reappear to future initiates.  This esoteric science cannot stay hidden for thousands of years that would be totally alien to the purpose of life.  Esotericism is the soul’s/psyche’s main rationale for existence and life on earth.  To have it cease its appearance periodically in the cultural mores of a culture takes the raison d’être: reason for existence out of the equation for the individual.  Here I am speaking about the total annihilation of the soul at death and eternal life. 

2.     THE MYSTERIES OF ESOTERICISM

The White Man’s cultural mores tends to have anthropologists believing that the American Indian had no reason to give them false information.  It is my firm belief that the indigenous population of the North and South American continents was trying to education the savage: the White Man by simply telling him the simple stories they taught their young children [the American Indians’ version of Sunday School Bible Classes]: these were not lies but the American Indian religious mores.  Consider the analogy of a new born baby’s needs as it mature to adulthood: compare the savage needs of the new born baby’s mentality to the temperament of the White Man landing on the shores of the North and South American continents: the baby is somewhat controllable; whereas, the White Man had no civilizing mores, to curtail his appetites, whatsoever.  Remember these European invaders were initially ruffian sailors: pirates of the sea at best out to grab, steal and murder anything they could get their hand on.  There is analogously no difference between the invasions of the European White Man and that of the Hun (barbarians) that invaded the Roman Empire.  The White Man was a savage in the American Indian mindset because he raped Mother Nature and chased them from their ancestral lands.  A perfect example of the early times of the White Man’s incursions into the heart of the American Indians’ homeland was the killing of tens of thousands of Buffalo taking their hides and leaving behind their rotting corpses on the landscape of the prairies.  The shame of it forced their descendents in later generations to come up with the egregious excuse that the early settlers was trying to destroy the American Indian religion when in fact it was all about profit and greed: this example is not to discount the atrocities, massacres and mayhem towards the indigenous populations but also consider the infinite amount of examples of inconsiderate waste, deliberate spillage and premeditated damage to the lands and forests as far as the eye could see, the unconscionable pollution of the air and the senseless poisoning of the continental water tables: all collectively Mother Nature.  Destroying the Buffalo may have taken away the American Indian’s main food staple and clothing of the times but it did not take away their belief in the Great Spirit, which is not housed in an icon rather it is housed in the heart: something the White Man has yet to learn.

Would any keepers of their religion’s internal esoteric secrets freely give that knowledge of esotericism to another, such as outlined above?  The Mysteries Schools of antiquity around the world: bar none traditionally kept internally the esoteric secrets from those within their own populations that did not have the inquisitive nature to know the truth about themselves.  If the shaman of his own people would not give this ‘interpretive key’ freely to a member of his own family why would he give it to an outsider such as an anthropologist’s?  Of cause the American Indians as a whole would freely allow the anthropologist to record the variations of all their mythologies because those records hold the core esoteric principles that generate the true knowledge of the esoteric science in their culture: the true knowledge of the soul/psyche.  For example, go to any Christian and asked to be taught Christianity and he or she will go out of his or her way to teach you about the Old and New Testaments and probably give you a free bible; however, the average Christian (as with the average American Indian relating to his cultural myths) has no idea that embedded in those biblical stories is the full unvarnished record of esotericism: the true Word of God.

The Esoteric Science is not indigenous to anyone culture on the face of the earth. I have known for some time that the American Indians had an esotericism in their spiritual belief system that is equal to any other culture on the face of the earth: it is second to no other religious teaching.  Knowing this and being able to say something of substance about it is another matter.  That is until I recently became aware of the scientific studies that were being conducted at Serpent Mound.   My previous studies into the American Indian culture were tentative at best.  Yes, I noted at the time that they had to have known of higher mathematics and that conclusion was based solely upon seeing the swastika in much of their art works.   The swastika comes only from a 3 x 3 square called the Kamea of Saturn (in China it is called the Lo Shu)[18], which embodies the first nine numbers.  These nine base numbers exudes the four basic mathematical sciences: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, which in themselves would lead into the higher mathematical disciplines.  In order to know of the Kamea of Saturn (magic square[19]), whatever name the American Indians may have given it, points to knowledge of esotericism as sophisticated as any of the highly sophisticated cultures in antiquity.