Art is the expression of the state of consciousness of a culture. Shifts in the mode of art are often the harbinger of a societies collective consciousness. Studying an ancient culture through aesthetics reveals things that about a culture that are often not discernible through forensic analysis. Where science fears to tread and religion forbids us to look the artist takes over as the rightful tool guide.

As our forensic study of ancient aesthetics continues, Ep 4 looks at a timeless set of symbols that seem to be present in every ancient temple- and pyramid-building culture since the beginning of recorded history. These symbol clusters, which show nearly identical meanings and usage from culture to culture are all pointing to a highly taboo tradition, yet clearly one that was of central importance to the esoteric traditions of nearly every known ancient culture. But in spite of its clearly central role in the ancient psyche, these traditions are either totally ignored or mercilessly attacked, greatly misrepresented and generally considered outside the domain of modern science, beyond blasphemous in theological circles, and apparently outside the boundaries of basic sanity itself.

In this episode we look at the ubiquity of the symbolism of the snake in Ancient Egypt and throughout the ancient world. To understand the deeper meaning of this symbolism we take a look at both ancient esoteric philosophy and the enigmatic traditions of alchemy to reveal one of the most closely guarded secrets of both eastern and western esoteric traditions.