#Rod of Asclepius

[nemfrog]

Frontispiece of a book of anatomy for artists. Anatomie du gladiateur combattant, applicable aux beaux arts. 1812.

Internet Archive

[houseofthelabyrinth]

⚕️ Turn Illness into a Weapon ⚕️

"Among the surviving records of SPK’s (Sozialistisches Patientenkollektiv or Socialist Patients' Collective) actions and ideologies is a manifesto written by its members called Aus Der Krankheit Eine Waffe Machen (often translated as To Make an Army out of Illness, or Turn Illness into a Weapon). This 1972 text is part user manual, part oral history, part sardonic critique of Cold War capitalism. Unlike other self-organized patient groups and their counterparts in the anti-psychiatry movement, SPK uniquely combined Marxist political theory, social science analysis, and what they termed 'therapeutic praxis' to create an improvised, in-patient community with the express collectivist goal of researching the connections between capitalism, madness, eugenics, and the individuation of illness under political economies of work and care."¹

— from Health Communism, written by Beatrice Adler-Bolton and Artie Vierkant.

[ID: My design of a linocut print on brown paper. A snake is wrapped around a stick, with text below which reads, "Turn Illness into a Weapon". The snake is hissing and baring its fangs. Its tongue is curling out of its mouth. The second image is the same design but on white paper. End ID]

¹ Beatrice Adler-Bolton and Artie Vierkant, Health Communism (Brooklyn: Verso, 2022), 128-129.

[the-lunacy-system]

Kind of funny how the Caduceus is used for medical stuff because it's a symbol of Hermes, the god of travelers and thieves

It should be the Rod of Asclepius, who is the god of medicine

The difference between the Caduceus and the Rod of Asclepius (visually) is the number of snakes; the Caduceus has two, while the Rod of Asclepius only has one

[violetmoondaughter]

The wand usually consists of a twig as long as the distance between the crook of the elbow and the tip of the index finger. The material used is usually obtained from trees such as apple, elder, hazel, and oak, but in other cases alternative materials such as metals, horns, or crystals are used. The wand can later be decorated with carvings and the addition of ribbons, crystals, feathers, shells, or any other natural element to add specific features to the tool. 

In some practices the use of the wand is replaced by the presence of a Stang, a staff, shoulder height in length, with a fork at the top. The wand or staff is a ritual object used since ancient times as a symbol of power. It represents the connection between heaven and earth and is often seen as a phallic symbol of power. 

In ancient times the staff was used in pastoral cultures as a tool for control, defense, and guidance of the flock, later it became a symbol of royal and religious power and guidance through the instrument of the scepter.  

Some examples of the wand or staff are the Etruscan Lituus, a staff used by Etruscan Augurs to mark out a ritual space, delineate the boundaries of territories and channel divine power. 

In Dionysian worship we find the Thyrsus or Fennel Staff, a staff topped with a pinecone and covered with fronds used during rituals to symbolize phallic and divine power.  

Another example is the Caduceus, related to the cult of Hermes and the Rod of Asclepius, both of which are represented by a staff surrounded by a serpent-like figure that recalls transmutative and regenerative power. 

The symbolism of wands and staffs are strictly connected with guidance, protection and wisdom and for those reasons it’s still used in magical rituals. 

[lightningchaserarts]

Rod of Asclepius for your viewing pleasure.  please suggest charities to donate the profits to! preferably ones that serve healthcare to LGBT communities! 

https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/142708865?ref=studio-promote

[deepgrotto]

Finally got my Rod of Asclepius shark jaw tattoo! I can't wait to graduate in May! At long last, I'll be a real fish doctor.

Done by Emma Vaughan (@citronmod on Instagram) at Unbreakable Ink.

[toasterpip]

A new Furcadia character, and a high-ranking field officer of the Argent Order, an organization in one of my friends' settings. The Argent Order is a non-partisan order of healers and doctors who provide aid, care, and treatment for any who need it.

Amelie herself is a high-ranking field officer (about equivalent to an army Captain), whose fascination with the workings of living bodies led her to become a devoted student and adamant healer. She's refused several promotions that would see her taken away from the 'real work' out in the world, where her abilities can be put to direct use.

[sspacegodd]

I noticed that mainstream searches have started equating the sign of medicine with the sign of Hermes. So now everyone assumes the two signs are interchangeable. They're not.

The sign of medicine is actually the Rod of Asclepius --- a version of Moses making a bronze serpent as a cross accessory --- but in 1902 the US Army sort of accidentally adopted the caduceus as the medical symbol. That created a ball of confusion.

Add the myriad of deeply occult meanings, e.g., the caduceus symbolizing the spine and showing the 2 pathways of energy used to shimmy up and down the center of the spine; the "tree of life"; or to awaken the kundalini "coiled like a snake" at the base of the spine and erupts in a flight of light.

Words aren't all spelled the same so we can tell the difference between them. And then comes the divisive myriad of meaning, where specific ideas are assigned to specific words.

Don't get me started on the Ouroboros or its bookworm.

[suzilight]

Caduceus and Asclepius: A Tale of two Rods

"The Caduceus is the Staff of Hermes, the messenger god [2], and has been mistaken for the Rod of Asclepius, a symbol of medicine for over a hundred years. Hermes was a patron of negotiation, trade, and commerce [3]; his trusty staff, the Caduceus, came to be a symbol for the god himself and is seen printed on Roman coins.

The Rod of Asclepius belongs to the Greek god of healing and medicine, Asclepius [3]. For over one hundred years the Caduceus has been wrongly used as a medical symbol due to its visual similarities with the Rod of Asclepius.

The Caduceus was first documented being incorrectly used as a medical symbol in the 1850s when it was applied to US Army hospital stewards [4]. A survey in 1992 found 76% of US hospitals were likely to misuse the Caduceus, while Shetty et al. found that only 6% of doctors were aware that the Rod of Asclepius was the true symbol of healing [5]."

Plato, Republic 599c (trans. Shorey) (Greek philosopher C4th B.C.) : "To have restored to health as Asklepios (Asclepius) did, or what disciples of the medical art he left after him as Asklepios did his descendants." source

Me: Modern medicine adopting the symbol for Commerce and Trade instead of the symbol for Health and Healing - oh, the irony!

[theeditorandnarratorcollaborate]

On Serpents and Saint Patrick

View this post on Instagram A post shared by G. B. Gabbler 🤖🦶 (@g.b.gabbler)

[lesbianbanana]

THEY MADE AN ASCLEPIUS EMOJI!!!!!!

⚕️

[fullmetalwendigo]

Mantle of Asclepius.

[vanitas-vanitatum-mortis]

Okay, I'm pretty sure it was pointed out many times already, but why are people on the west still using Caduceus as medical symbol? What is the point of that?

Before you come at me saying something like "what are you talking about, it's always been related to medicine" hear me out and let me correct you. The wide known symbol of medicine is Rod of Asclepius (Staff of Aesculapius in other words), which was the rod of, yes, you guessed it, ancient Greek god Asclepius, deity of healing.

This rod has only one serpent entwined around it.

And it is not like people in United States haven't seen it. The Star of Life, blue six-pointed star with white outline and Rod of Asclepius in the middle known and used worldwide originated from there. It was designed in 1963 by American Medical Association and came to life as something widely known year later. AMA somehow remembered about asklepian being ancient symbol of medicine.

Alright, but what's my point with that question?

Well, you see, Caduceus (also known as Herald's Wand) is a symbol of Hermes. I'm not very sure how it looks like in terms of teaching about Ancient Greece and its mythology in America (so far you have probably noticed that I'm from Europe) but you may or may not have heard that Hermes is a god of commerce, travelers, thieves, road, speed, cunning, shepherds, athletes, wit and sleep. He was said to be herald of gods. The staff associated with him contains of two entwined serpents and often wings at the top.

Why is that then that the symbol of swiftness, commerce and logistics, some time ago also rhetoric, is used as a medical symbol by some healthcare organizations? I understand (I have no idea how it happened tho, dude seriously wtf) that in 1902 US Army Medical Corps used it as their insignia by the mistake of a single officer bUT IT WAS OVER 100 YEARS AGO AND SOMEHOW I STILL SEE PEOPLE DOING IT. Ekhem, so yeah, I just wanted to know why people don't check things first even when it comes to something that's been with us for thousands of years.

[ihatebrainstorm]

[Medicine]

"The Caduceus. Commonly mixed up with the Rod of Asclepius."

Guys I think it'd be really funny if Pharma and Ratchet had the same voice

[happyk44]

A doctor rushing to a small town on horseback, praying diligently to Hermes for safe and speedy travel so that they may make it before the patient is too sick to help. Hermes hearing this - and curious by it. People often ask for safety from thieves. Thieves ask for luck amongst the roads, potential targets to snag and steal. Merchants request shortcuts so they may sell their wares quicker. Rarely does he ever hear prayers for safety, for speed, for luck so that someone may help another.

So he follows silently, a little sparrow soaring above. Slips down from the air to the ground, as tiny as a mouse, and darts rapidly behind running boots. Watches from the corner of a room as a child weakly breathes and a doctor patiently attends to them.

It's interesting to him, the care. He's not yet seen it much in travelers - seen it in families, of course, in friends. But never in strangers. People are wary of those they meet on roads. Strangers on hidden paths, far away from helpful eyes and warrior swords, prickle with potential danger.

And yet...

It's interesting to watch the colour rise back to a pale face, cheeks flushed, lungs drained of fluid and now breathing clearer. A medicinal paste is rubbed into a lanced wound. Clear words, clear instructions.

The doctor stays for a few more days, attending to small ailments, checking in on the child. And then they're off to the next town, praying for safety and speed so they may help those who need it before it's too late.

He follows. He watches. He learns.

It fascinates him. Healing, helping. Traveling roads endlessly to take care of others. Even at cost, it's baffling. The effort, the drive - how do they manage it? Aren't they tired?

All travelers settle down eventually. Nomadic lifestyles run thin as age impacts movement. Energy. And yet on and on this doctor roams. And others soon follow.

Please, Lord Hermes, they whisper into rushing wind, please let me make it in time. Before someone falls prey to Death's cold scythe. I just want to help.

Okay, he whispers back, inaudible to their ears but not to their growing spirit. Run, my child. You will make it. You will help.

[puppyeared]

fuck it. plaguesona