The Adoration of Asklepios - How can a god heal you in a dream?
SUN WITH THE SERPENT-BEARER
As the Sun begins his journey through the constellation of Ophiuchus, I think it is an apt time to turn our minds to the ancient Greek god Asklepios, whom Ophiuchus (the cosmic serpent-bearer) represents. This god is credited with the power to heal people in their dreams. His power to do this is very well-documented in ancient texts, historical documents and other archaeological evidence. In this article I will explain how I think this incredible phenomena might be possible. First, a bit of background for you.
Asklepios, was the son of Apollo - the god of music. The concept of harmony is central and vital to the ancient Greek perception of health, and at most sanctuaries Asklepios and Apollo worked side-by-side to effect a cure, to bring a patient back into harmony with their intention.
The mother of Asklepios was the mortal princess Coronis. She was slain by his father in a jealous rage for her infidelity and Asklepios the child was cut from his dead mother’s womb whilst she burned on the funeral pyre.
WOUNDED HEALER
Asklepios was raised and schooled by the centaur Chiron (Carl Jung’s archetypal wounded healer). He was gifted with the most secret and divine healing powers after a supernatural encounter with snakes. Asklepios became the serpent-bearing, bearded dream-healer of the celestial sphere and dwelled in the realm of gods. As the popularity of Christianity rose, the early Christian forefathers destroyed the Asklepion statues, temples and sanctuaries to pave the way for a snake-less miracle man.
ASKLEPIOS - JESUS
Asklepios - the semi-divine, ’God-Man’ famously performed miracles of healing for mortals and supposed lost causes, being a successful ‘last-resort’ for many supplicants. Many of the miracles of Jesus appear to be borrowed from Asklepios’s stories.
Asklepios finally angered Zeus, when he demonstrated dangerously god-like powers by bringing dead men back to life. For this act he was punished by a thunderbolt strike.
SLEEP TEMPLES
Asklepios presided over the Asklepeions - ‘Sleep Temples’ the dominant healing sanctuaries of the Panhellenic world. The tradition of dream incubation, which was the primary route towards a cure in these centres, is a very ancient one.
DREAM INCUBATION
Dream incubation has roots in the earliest spiritual beliefs of our ancestors. In the dream time, an individual can reconnect to the universal flow, can access the imaginal realms, manifest their desires and curate their own cure. By utilising the unique state of consciousness which is lucid dreaming, supplicants could call the gods into the dream chamber and request a supernatural healing. How can a dream heal?
PLACEBO AND PANACEA
If you are lucid and have a dream in which a god visits you and radiates healing light into your body or performs a physically impossible operation upon your body, you may be in the ideal state to activate a spontaneous healing response. When lucid your mind, body and spirit are integrated in a deep and complex way.
I had an epiphany type dream last night and I experienced the healing power of Asklepios directly. The god’s appearance activated my awareness, acting as a lucidity ‘trigger’. When I knew I was dreaming, the following information flowed into my consciousness:
DREAM INITIATION
When Asklepios appears to the patient, they become lucid. The appearance of Asklepios indicates a union between the mortal flesh of the patient and the divine light of God, pure spirit. Asklepios’ power can flow through the supplicant in this state. This is an initiatory moment, the ‘bridal chamber’, the gnostic ‘chrism’. The novel dream-stimuli results in a spontaneous response on the part of the autonomous nervous system, similarly to the way hypnosis and placebo can be very effective treatments. In the lucid state the cure has happened for real.
SARAH JANES
November, 2020