The god Enki (Ea) was also known by the Sumerians as the "ushumgal",
which translates to: "great serpent" or "dragon",
and according to both the Sumerian and Akkadian myths, he planted a
great fruit tree in his garden at Eridu which was called the
"Mes"-tree and another wondrous tree called the Gishin
(Sumerian) or Kiskanu (Akkadian). This sounds quite similar to the
story of Adam and Eve in the Book of Genesis in the Bible where there
is a tree of "Knowledge of Good and Evil" and a tree "of
eternal life" and a certain "serpent" who dwells
there.
In the Babylonian "epic of Gilgamesh", king
Gilgamesh sought the secret of eternal life and ultimately found this
in a plant which he unfortunately lost on his return. It is
remarkable that both the Kishkanu and the plant of eternal life are
described as growing in the water. Possibly this plant could have had
a healing and revitalising effect by which means one could life a
longer and healthier life. Probably to limit the population, the
"gods" may have kept these plants for themselves within a
restricted area like the garden of Eden, which according to the Bible
was guarded by an angel with a flaming sword.
The book Genesis from the Old Testament in the Bible tells how the "Lord" was very upset when he found out that Adam and Eve did eat from the fruit of the "Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil", and dispelled them out of the Garden of Eden before they also might eat from the "Tree of Life" which would give them immortality. However many today regard this fruit as being an apple, it had actually not been written what kind of fruit this fruit of "Forbidden Knowledge" actually was.
It is also important to know that the "serpent" in
the Bible story was never called "the devil" or something
like that, but simply "satan", which translates from Old
Hebrew to "adversary", thus it is not a specific name. This
makes sense because when "God" cursed him to crawl on his
belly and eat dust, he had been opposing the will of "God".
According to certain Jewish legends (not to be confused with the
Jewish holy scriptures) the serpent was - before the "fall
of man" - of extraordinary size, the smartest among the animals,
stood upright, and would have resembled man closely. After the fall
its body degenerated, and lost its feet and mental capabilities. (See
the book: "Legends
of the Jews" (1909), by Louis Ginzberg.) The word "devil" probably
had been derived from: "the vile (one)".
The belief of
the devil as a horned man with goat hoofs is but a (possibly
medieval) fabrication of Christianity, because this actually
represents a satyr; a mythical creature that is half man/ half goat,
just like Pan; one of the gods of the "Old Religion"
(Paganism).
The story about a serpent who acts against
the will of the Lord may relate to the rivalry between Enki (Lord of
the Earth) and his half-brother Enlil (Lord of Heaven) from the old
Mesopotamian legends. Like mentioned earlier, Enki was known by the
Sumerians as the great serpent or dragon, so maybe the serpent from
the Biblical story was Enki who took the form of this animal or
possessed its body. According to the myths, Enki made the human race
more intelligent in time, which was against the will of Enlil, the
god with the highest authority. When a war took place between
their groups it wouldn't be that strange if Enki was called the
"adversary" by Enlil to his followers and prophets.
In
ancient cultures like ancient Egypt and Meso-America, the serpent is
actually the ancient symbol for wisdom and transformation, and could
possibly be the symbol of the race of those extraterrestrial visitors
who were called the "sons of God" in the book of Genesis
from the Bible and other ancient texts.
From Elisabeth Haich's
book: "Initiation" (more about this book in the next
chapter):
"Then he takes the golden hoop that ends with the head of a serpent and fastens it firmly on to the white silken cloth over my forehead. It is the symbol of the members of the ruling race, the Sons of God. It is the symbol of the initiates..." (Page 128)
"We use the serpent standing erect as the symbol of initiation, as the mistress of the tree of recognition and knowledge." (Page 256)
"In front, the circlet of gold bears the head of a serpent, symbol of the procreative energy of life, transformed and spiritualized." (Page 313)
The book: "The
Apocalypse of Adam" from the "Nag Hammadi"
writings (labeled as apocryphal and believed to be of Gnostic
origin), also tells about a certain sub creator, referred to as
the "demiurge", who created Adam and Eve. In these
Gnostic texts, the so-called: "demiurge", is seen as the
fashioner of the materialistic world. "Demiurge" originates
from the Greek dēmiourogos, literally: "public worker",
originally a common noun for "craftsman" or "artisan".
The story does not speak about a literal "fruit" or apple,
but about a certain knowledge: a word of knowledge of the
"eternal God", that Eve teached to Adam.
From
reading the text it can be assumed that this "eternal God"
would not be the same as the creator god who was known as the
"god who created us" (the Lord). It even says that
Adam and Eve were higher than the god who created them, which
strongly implies that this "god" was but a lesser god,
namely a creator god. The concept of both an All-embracing God and a
sub creator god is also a concept that is reoccurring in many ancient
texts that were for this reason labeled as "Gnostic" texts
and none of these texts were later included in the Bible. Various
Gnostic systems - but not all of them - see both the demiurge and
material world however as evil creations, and the non-material
(spirit) world as being good; The reason for this view could be
because of the attempts of the sub creator to destroy mankind in the
great Deluge. It is probably that - because of this rather
conflicting ideology - Gnostic texts were not included in the
Bible.
From the text:
"Listen to
my words, my son Seth. When God had created me out of the earth,
along with Eve, your mother, I went about with her in a glory which
she had seen in the aeon from which we had come forth. She taught me
a word of knowledge of the eternal God. And we resembled the great
eternal angels, for we were higher than the god who had created us
and the powers with him, whom we did not know.
Then
God, the ruler of the aeons and the powers, divided us in wrath. Then
we became two aeons. And the glory in our heart(s) left us, me and
your mother Eve, along with the first knowledge that breathed within
us. And it (glory) fled from us; it entered into [...] great [...]
which had come forth, not from this aeon from which we had come
forth, I and Eve your mother. But it (knowledge) entered into the
seed of great aeons. For this reason I myself have called you by the
name of that man who is the seed of the great generation or from whom
(it comes). After those days, the eternal knowledge of the God of
truth withdrew from me and your mother Eve. Since that time, we
learned about dead things, like men. Then we recognized the God who
had created us. For we were not strangers to his powers. And we
served him in fear and slavery. And after these things, we became
darkened in our heart(s). Now I slept in the thought of my heart."
While the place referred to as the "Garden of Eden"
once really existed according to his readings, Edgar Cayce
explained that the Biblical story of the fall of Adam and Eve in the
Garden of Eden was however merely of symbolic nature and therefore
should not be taken literally. According to Edgar Cayce's readings,
the Bible was the symbolic account of the regression into the flesh
(in the first book: Genesis) and the restoration of the human soul to
its divine origins (in the final book: Revelations).
The
readings of the psychic and sear Paul Solomon (1939-1994) gave an
detailed explanation of the symbolism of "eating from the Tree
of Knowledge".
From reading
176, 7/73:
"There was the separating from the knowledge "We are of God" and there was the identification of that which was the apple, the physical, the body. Then man, thinking himself man, lost his identity as God."
And from "Source
Reading Japan #32, 5/4/92":
". . .
Each soul was aware of the ability to create and for as long as that
awareness was maintained, there was never a thought of competition.
For as long as life-forms on this planet were creative, there could
not be a thought that if one should take more, that another would in
turn have less.
Thus, there was no thought of
competition but there was curiosity, a curiosity of understanding the
relationship between life and darkness, and what is called love and
fear or good and evil. And, though those inhabiting this school were
warned against inquiring into such knowledge, the compulsion to know
was too great for many to resist, and so there was the reaching into
self, what is referred to as eating of the Tree of Knowledge, good
and evil. (It) was actually a partaking of self or selfishness and
the separation within self of the two sides, the two hemispheres, the
two energies which, as you would see represented in the Tao in this
time as yin and yang, are perfectly balanced; there are not two in
actuality but only one.
Still the experiment with the
curious souls was toward the separation of this yin and yang, which
in turn allowed the separation of the masculine and feminine, the
impregnation of the one (from) the other, which (also) resulted in
the parting of the brain (into) two hemispheres of the brain, or the
cleft brain, as we would refer to it.
This was the
beginning of all thought of competition, of recognition of darkness,
it was the birth of fear, it was the beginning of all things that a
soul must graduate in consciousness in this time. This is the purpose
for the establishment of a Mystery School, providing techniques,
encouragement, assistance in releasing the appearance of duality, and
allowing the individual to experience only light without darkness as
a point of reference. The ability to experience light without needing
dark to make a point of comparison.
And so it is with
love and fear, good and evil, with all things you think of as
separation and duality. It is the purpose of the Wisdom School, then,
to bring back together that which has been separated in consciousness
and to create wholeness.
In an expression of wholeness
on this planet, there cannot be, in any way, any form of disease.
There cannot be any form of harm one toward another, of war, of
crime, or of what you think of as life and death. Nor is there a
separation in consciousness between one side of the brain and the
other, nor is there a separation of the consciousness of mankind with
the consciousness of God."
According to Edgar Cayce, the "fall of man" was
an event recorded symbolically in Genesis where souls from heaven for
the first time descended to the earth plane to began incarnating. The
first wave of souls ("the sons of men") to incarnate became
entrapped in the earth plane accidentally, through their misuse of
free will, where they projected their own thought forms
into physical beings we nowadays only know as mythological
creatures like the centaur, the satyr, the mermaid, and so on.
(According to the Paul Solomon readings these also included these
"large beasts", which probably would refer to
dragons/dinosaurs.)
Edgar Cayce described the "Paradise
of God" as the original divine consciousness of these soul
beings before their fall into flesh, which greatly lowered their
consciousness, and was caused by the desire for companionship and
carnal desires. The apple symbolizes the knowledge (but actually
knowledge without wisdom) of carnal desires, as the serpent
symbolizes partaking in sexual desires. By these desires and physical
bodily charms, the understanding of sex, sex relationships, came into
the experience. Because of desire, sin also came into being, by which
man further lost its contact with its true divine source. (If one
sins, one does something he deeply inside regrets.) Thus, both will
control and the inability of the same, also became part of the human
experience. (Based on Edgar Cayce Readings 364-5 and
others.)
Zecharia Sitchin wrote in his book: "Genesis
Revisited" (1990) that "knowing" actually is a
Biblical term that connoted sex for the purpose of procreation, also
translated as "making love". When Adam and Eve acquired
"knowing", it simply meant that they discovered their
sexuality. (Genesis 4:1: "And Adam knew Eve his wife and
she conceived and gave birth to Cain.")
The book
"Re-member" (2000), written by Steve Rother who allegedly
channels a collective of souls who he calls "the Group",
tells about a group of renegades from a neighbouring planet who
wanted to conquer the human race during the early history of mankind.
In this period they were called "gods" because they
believed they were better than themselves. The original meaning of
the conquerors was to create a race of submissive beings. They were
called renegades because their behaviour was not tolerated by the
majority on the planet were they came from. As a result there were
times in history were slavery was deemed acceptable. In their
attempts to control the human race, this race changed their DNA and
fused it with their own DNA. Therefore they are now regarded as one
of the six root races. The plan was to keep the human race unaware
about his true heritage and therefore their own powers.
Because of procreation the submissive human race started to discover something from their own power (assumably the creative power), and when this was claimed one by one, then they regarded men as depraved and was expelled from their midst. (Apparently their project was failed.) Later this was called the "expulsion from paradise". Finally the idea of a submissive race was given up. During this time, the renegades who took control were reunited again with their elders. In the later years these renegades and their elders did much to help humanity to become independent themselves, before they left the planet completely. In the current era they are back to help humanity with the transitional period to the new age. They are here and play a large role in the current evolution. They also seed seeds to "re-group" our DNA to receive the signals which were before outside of our reach.
The renegades that Rother speaks about were of course the Anunnaki. This implies that they probably would be among us in spirit form, guiding us with the transmission of thoughts and ideas. Perhaps their influence also led to the translation of the ancient Sumerian texts and the finding of certain Gnostic texts to clarify the events that were later firmly rooted in our religions, in order to understand them better and clear up the misunderstandings surrounding them.
On a side note, the Bible also describes what seems to be unusual long life spans for Adam, Eve and other characters appearing in the Bible, as some are said to have lived multiple hundreds of years. Edgar Cayce also touched this subject in one of his readings and explained that years were counted differently in those times. In this regard; what seems like extreme long life spans were actually quite normal to today's standard.
"The days upon the Earth then were counted in the tens, the fifties and the hundreds, besides the days or weeks or years in the present. Or, the LIFE existence of the entity, as compared to the present, would be years instead of weeks; or, in that experience, to live five to six to seven hundred years was no more than to live to the age of fifty, sixty or seventy years in the present."
(Source: Edgar Cayce Reading #1968-2)