The Serpent In the Garden of Eden

The Adam and Eve myth has been regarded as Babylonian in Origin, but if we consider the serpent and the tree of life as the key part of the myth, it appears to be much earlier. According to the archeologist M.Gimbutas, the "fem-fertility" religion of pre-history represented the mother goddess as a snake because it shed its skin, thus giving the ancient's the impresion it could be reborn.

But when the father-god concept spread and began replacing worship of the goddesses, She and fertility represented by the serpent and the tree became a popular way of evolving the myth and hence the religion of the society from the female to the male creator. In the mythology of the Mesopotamian and then the Greek-Roman civilization the test of the hero was to slay the serpent (always represented in enlarged form as a "dragon." In this way, the "dragon" came to be a universal symbol of evil power.

It is of note, however, that the serpent and the tree mythology goes back much further, back to 12,000 BC both in China and in Turkey. (see Archeology magazine, Nov./Dec, 2008 and Tree of life - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Goddess is reborn every year she is the Pagan Christ in a sence.
This may frighten some and make them want to explain she is evil.

This song is beautiful and really explains the Goddess and her being punished.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAvb5xSM6QY&feature=share&list=PLF9FA6102F F0FA12F

Song: The Goddess SIngs
Artist: Lady Isadora
Album: The Witching Hour

The number of interpretations are numerous if not endless. Here is one more:

Adam = the physical aspect of the human being
Eve = the soul
the Snake = is the vital force known as the Kundalini
The Garden of Eden = Paradise, or spiritual consciousness
The tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil = the conscious mind, or Intellect, which is limited due to acquiring its information via the physical senses, that is, it deals with Cause and effects, the realm of duality.
The Tree of Life = our Divine Consciousness, or Spirit.

We are told to eschew the fruit of the tree of good and evil and to cling to the Tree of Life, which is spiritual awareness.

Taken from a personal perspective it is guidance for the developing soul to live by Spirit and not be deceived by the illusions of the created realm.

P.S. - Eve, or soul, was deceived by the serpent (kundalini), which refers to soul being caught up in the vital forces and having less awareness in the spiritual existence. Poor Adam, as the physical aspect, the body has no life of its own (being guided by Eve, or soul) hence he falls under her sway.

I don't know if you've heard of Paul Solomon who gives a very good talk on "Myths and Mysteries of the Bible". It is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwasWiNdMAU&feature=share&list=PLhqYYxyrC-BRsEebwUnodSD_93H-vzGXG

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[Amilius777]

Historically the Garden of Eden story doesn't produce original sin.

The Jews didn't believe in it, I don't believe in it, and I don't think anybody should believe in original sin.

Sin or error is not original. I'd rather believe in Original Blessedness. Original Sin is a Roman Catholic doctrine made in the 4th Century to unite the new holy roman empire under the Papacy.

Forget about original sin. Now is there ancestral sin? I can understand this. This is an Eastern belief. The idea is that our ancestor Adam committed self-aggrandizement. And this somehow spread to the whole human race to put yourself over God and others.

Forget about all the "Spiritual Symbolism" Adam represents this, Even symbolizes that .

That is all nice from a metaphysical perspective. But for being honest the whole story is simply a poetic fair tale to explain human selfishness. That is all.

Adam is our common ancestor which we evolved from. Adam being gifted with the knowledge and reason of God basically chose his own self over others and God- the Whole. So from Adam's error and disharmony all human beings by example have inherited this "Me First, Me over you, and I am so and so". This identification with our little human selves and putting our selves over others is the primordial error.
And btw Adam and Eve are just two sides of one ancestor if you read the Genesis carefully, and the Serpent is originally called "The Hissing". Meaning? The Serpent is Desire Misused in you to give into your animal instincts that is why he is called the most cunning of beasts.

Now if you want to get to who committed the very first "evil" sin we come to Cain. He represents humanity at large which harms his brother, seizes his inheritance, and uses violence as a way to assert his selfishness.

Ironically Jesus would say in the Gospels- "From the sin of Cain...." Which meant that for Jesus the real sin is the harm to one another It wasn't until Luke's Gospel does Jesus have some connection to Adam's sin. But Adam's sin didn't happen. It is a poetic story. Luke is making an archetypal connection with Jesus as the new poetic tale of selflessness, whereas Adam was selfish.

Wicca has a saying- "Do what you will, harm none, that means yourself, others, and the divine". This is the idea behind the Bible but nobody cares to notice this.