The Real ‘Gardiner’s World’ . . . 

(Proof of Philip Gardiner’s Plagiarism)

 

The first presentation here is Anna Franklin's text from her book Familiars. Anna Franklin's Website  

 

 

1. Extract from Familiars by Anna Franklin.

(Published by Capall Bann, 1997)

 

 

http://www.lighting.druidnetwork.org/reviews/books/familiars.htm 

 

 

Text highlighted in Yellow is what found its way into The Serpent Grail (Watkins 2005) via Philip Gardiner’s contributions.

This same text was included in Philip Gardiner’s original manuscript for The Serpent Grail.

Fact: this same text written by Anna Franklin is also presented in Philip Gardiner's book Gnosis

(New Page Press, 2006) - (see Section 3 below )

No mention of Anna Franklin; no credit or quotation references given to Anna Franklin.

 

 

 

All text written by Anna Franklin. Copyright © Anna Franklin 1997. All Rights Reserved. 

FERTILITY SYMBOL OF THE GOD  

The connection between copulation and conception was not made for millennia, and in early myths the Goddess gave birth to the universe parthenogenically, though after the connection had been made the original Oneness of the Goddess split into god and goddess forms and from their sexual union creation was thought to arise. Because of its phallic shape and its reputed fertility the snake is a symbol of the male principle.

In the Pelasgian creation myth the goddess created the first living creature from air, the giant serpent Ophion, and becoming a female serpent mated with it and then gave birth to the world egg. She became a dove and floated on the primordial ocean while Ophion coiled around the egg three times until it hatched out and created the heavens, the earth and the underworld.

Lightening is known as the sky-serpent or lightening-snake. The thunder storm was believed to be the mating of the Sky Father and the Earth Mother, bringing the fertilising rain. The lightening strike itself was a phallic thrust of fertilising power. The Greeks believed that the mushroom was the result of the strike of the sky-snake, an offspring of the mating of the God and Goddess, a 'Divine Child' for ritual consumption. The mushroom in question may have been fly agaric or psilocybin and was taken at Eleusian Mystery initiations, and by the Maenads of the Dionysian revels. The site of the lightening strike was considered to be a place so full of power that it was made into an abaton ['abyss'] or forbidden place. In another creation myth the lightening serpent falls from heaven to fertilise the primeval sea in the Abyss, the Womb of the Goddess.

 

The Greek god of the North wind, Boreas, was serpent tailed. Popular superstition asserted, until recent times, that horses could conceive from the wind, they turn their hind quarters into a wind when it blows.The ancients believed that the first menstruation occurred after copulation with serpent phallus.

In the Dionysian mysteries a serpent, representing the god, was carried in a box called a cista on a bed of vine leaves. This may be the Cista mentioned by Clement of Alexandria which was exhibited as containing the phallus of Dionysus. The cista mentioned in the mysteries of Isis may also have held a serpent, the missing phallus of Osiris. The fertility festival of the women of Arretophoria included cereal paste images 'of serpents and forms of men' , in other words, phallic symbols.

Several ancient dignitaries put about the rumour that they had been fathered by the god in serpent form. The emperor Augustus was said to have been fathered by a snake, and his mother never afterwards lost the marks of its embrace. A serpent was said to have been found beside the sleeping Olympias, mother of Alexander the Great. Her husband, Philip of Macedon, is reputed never to have coupled with the 'Bride of the Serpent' again. Alexander is sometimes connected with the horned serpent. The healer god, Asclepios, is said to have fathered a son on a woman who is depicted in Asclepios's temple at Sicyon as sitting on a serpent. Barren women often sought help at the temples of Asclepios to sleep in the precincts of the abaton.

The snake is also a fertility symbol because, like the cat, it kills the rodents which devour the stored harvest.

 

THE WHEEL OF THE YEAR

Originally in classical mythology the year was divided into three seasons to represent the three aspects of the Goddess. These were ruled by the totems of lion, goat and serpent. The serpent represented the autumn death aspect of the Goddess. The odd day was ruled by a griffin vulture [in a year of thirteen lunar months there is one day over]. The sacred king dies and passes into the serpent, or serpent part of the year.

The snake is sometimes seen as ruling the winter half of the year. The Sun god Apollo is viewed in myth as having slain the python at Delphi with his sun ray arrows [though this may be a myth explaining the conquest of patriarchal gods over the female snake goddess and her priestesses]. The snake may be seen as the Lord of the Waning Year, and the dark twin of the Sun Lord. The two lords fight for rulership of the land at the beginning of summer, and at the beginning of winter. This may have given rise to the later debased myths of the hero slaying the dragon, instead of defeating him for the summer months as in the story of St. George and the dragon. In the Pagan world view the slain lord with rise again every year, and the light and dark [winter and summer, day and night] rule in balance.  Later myths see death as a final ending and the light and dark are in opposition. The Sun Lord also dies nightly, and passes through the Underworld realm of the serpent or dragon. Ra, as the solar cat, was seen as battling the serpent of darkness Zet or Set. Similar stories are told in many myth systems of sky gods fighting serpents, such as Marduk and Tiamat, Apollo and the Python, Zeus and Typhon, Yahweh and Leviathan etc.  In Greek myth Ge, the earth goddess, gives the Tree of  Immortality as a wedding gift to Hera. It is located in the Hespirides, an island in the far west, and guarded by the daughters of night and the serpent Ladon. The apples of the tree represent the sun, which sets or dies nightly in the west and journeys through the underworld, lair of the serpent or dragon, to be reborn each dawn in the east. The story of Adam and Eve is a degeneration of a similar myth.

 

Slaying the serpent came to represent the triumph of light over dark, or one religion overcoming another. Apollo slew the snake at Delphi, while St Michael and St George slew dragons. St Patrick is said to have banished snakes from Ireland. The virgin Mary is often depicted as trampling the serpent underfoot. Lore has it that to kill an adder in early spring brings good luck for the year, while to let it go means bad luck.  This is killing the serpent representative of winter.

In the Old Testament the sea monster Leviathan appears. This was probably the original totem deity of the Levite clan, whose name means 'son of Leviathan'. Leviathan may have been a dual deity with Jehovah, each ruling half of the year. 1st century AD medallions show Jehovah as a serpent god. The snake is depicted with Mithras along with his horse and dog, travelling with the god and licking up the blood of the sacrificed bull. The Mithraic god of time Zervan is depicted as having the body of a man, the head of a lion, and being wrapped about with the cosmic serpent.

 

GUARDIANSHIP

Because of its associations the snake was a powerful guardian spirit and was encouraged in temples and homes, often kept as pets.. The guardian serpent appears in many Celtic legends. Conal Cernach had a serpent coiled around his waist which helped him in battle. There are many tales of serpents guarding wells and underground treasure.

 

DIVINATION

Snakes are associated with divination throughout the world. The Greeks kept oracular snakes at temples. The Arcadian word for priest literally meant 'snake charmer'.   

 

According to Philostratus the Arabs understood divine omens, particularly through the sound of birds, because they had eaten the hearts or livers of a serpent. Both Arabs and Hebrews derive their word for magic from the word for serpent.

Worship of the serpent goddess was widespread in pre-dynastic northern Egypt. The asp had the title of uzait, meaning 'the eye' for its otherworld sight and wisdom. The goddesses Hathor and Maat were both called 'the eye'. The uraeus head dress, worn by the pharaohs, symbolically gave the wearer the power of the third eye. The snake was meant to strike at any enemy coming into the presence of the ruler.

All Egyptians queens were given the title of  ‘Serpent of the Nile’.

The Indigenes of America, on occasion, chose a warrior to undergo the ordeal of allowing a snake to bite him several times during a sacred dance. If he survived he was considered to have gained great wisdom and insight into the workings of the cosmos. This is typical of the trials of shamanic initiation.

Interestingly it has been demonstrated that a person immunised against snake bite of a krait or cobra, then bitten by it, has vivid hallucinations. Perhaps the sacred snakes kept at the temples were actually used to induce vision states. Many so called ‘serpent plants’ [plants given the title of ‘serpent’ or ‘snake’ for their ability to alter consciousness] have been used shamanically to bring about trance states and engender otherworld journeys, including several mushrooms. The Druids used snake stones, said to be formed by adders breathing on hazel wands, for healing and divination. In lore having ones ears licked clean by a serpent enabled one to receive oracular wisdom.

 

THE THREE REALMS

The snake is seen to be a creature of all three realms. The pyramid texts speaks of the snake as celestial, earthly and subterranean. As divine phallus the serpent was in perpetual copulation with Mother earth and represented the axis mundi, passing through all three realms.

The snake is seen as a link with the Underworld, from its habit of living in the earth, privy to the secrets of the Goddess and slain and resurrected gods. Snakes were often found in graveyards and were thought to be communicating with the dead, or to be the dead themselves. The serpent or dragon is seen as guarding a wealth of underworld treasure under a lake, in a cave, or an island in the far west of the ocean. Cherokee legends tell of great wisdom that will come to the warrior who will take the jewel from the head of the serpent king, Uktena. The treasure is the Goddess's secrets of life, death and rebirth. Hindus say that all snakes contain a red jewel of immortality in their heads.

 

HEALING

Because the snake sheds its skin each year and appears renewed it was seen to be immortal. The ancient Chinese saw the process of rejuvenation as a person splitting their old skin and emerging once more as a youth. The Melanesians said that to slough one's skin meant eternal life.

Snakes were identified with the patron god of healers, Asclepios, who was said to have appeared as a snake to heal Romans during a plague. The Caduceus, still a symbol of medicine and healing, shows two intertwining snakes. The Daughter of Asclepios, Hygeia, is sometimes depicted with a serpent at her breast. The snake is said to suckle from the breast of women, and from cows and goats. This is impossible as they have no muscles which would enable them to suck.  Asclepios had been a serpent previous to his human incarnation. The Romans once sent to the temple of Asclepios in Epidauros, for a healing serpent to cure a plague that raged in Rome. According to Pliny this did the trick and the plague was stopped. The snake was given divine honours. Guatama Buddha is said to have taken the form of a snake to stop disease among his people.

During the mediaeval period, though the snake was generally considered a symbol of evil, it still had links with healing. Adder stones, thought to be formed from the skins of fighting adders, were used to heal cataracts of the eyes. Dried snake heads were used to cure snake bites, and snake skins were worn about the head to prevent headaches or around parts of the body to ward off rheumatism. Adder venom was used to induce abortions.

 

 

 

 

 

2. Appendix III from The Serpent Grail

By Philip Gardiner and Gary Osborn (Watkins 2005) Edited by John Baldock

 

 

Normal Text – written by Philip Gardiner . . . presumably.

Text highlighted in Pink – added by John Baldock during the editing process

Text highlighted in yellow – word for word taken from Anna Franklin’s book Familiars 1997

Text highlighted in Green – contributed by Gary Osborn

 

 

Note by Gary Osborn:

It should be emphasised that during the time when I was writing my own chapters and also adding my contributions to what I thought was “Philip’s text” and also during the editing stage, that neither myself nor John Baldock the editor, had any prior knowledge that this was Anna Franklin’s material.

We naturally assumed, and without thinking any different, that this was Philip Gardiner’s material, as it was included in his original manuscript.    

The following extracts are taken from an email attachment I was sent during the editing process, and I use this to show how Anna Franklin’s material, which was in the most part intact and verbatim (word-for-word), had later altered due to John Baldock’s editing and my own contributions to the text.

Only recently I discovered that some of this material by Anna Franklin had also been included in the new version of Philip Gardiner’s book Gnosis published by New Page Press – having already appeared in The Serpent Grail by Philip Gardiner and Gary Osborn and published by Watkins.

With respect to Anna Franklin, this inclusion of Anna Franklin’s material in the new version of Gnosis is technically a double breach of Copyright in favour of Watkins, and again, Anna Franklin has not been quoted, nor has she been credited – as like many paragraphs of my own material which has also found its way into Philip Gardiner’s book Gnosis and which I will deal with here later.

 

 

 

The Serpent Grail. Appendix 3: The Realm of the Snake in Mythology

(During the first week of editing)

   

The snake is intricately linked with magic and mythology in almost every culture. It is seen as the personification of wisdom and goodness, and alternatively as the personification of evil – thus revealing its implicit duality.

Snake worship is a worldwide phenomenon which many experts believe can be traced back, via India to Persia, Babylonia and various other early civilizations.

According to scholars of mythology, the erect stature adopted by the snake when threatened, led to it being seen as phallic and therefore male. Through its association with the watery elements, it was also seen as female. However, we disagree with much of what is generally assumed about this association of the snake and human sexuality. Many instances in which a serpent god is linked with the phallus are due to the correspondence between the sexual act and the creative processes of consciousness in which there is a similar fusion of opposites. The phallus may itself also be a symbol of the power and fertility of the snake, which is what most experts would seem to believe. What they would not probably extrapolate is that this in turn actually means, that like the male sperm, which is serpentine in form, the snake itself was a carrier of this fertility – rather than being just a symbol itself of fertility. We were to find in researches for our next book that this phallus association did indeed have a deeper meaning and it was nothing at all to do with what is currently believed by the establishment.

It is believed that the ancients thought caves, wells, and all openings in the earth to have been entrances to the womb of the ‘world mother’ or ‘earth goddess,’ from which all life erupted, and into which all things were laid at death. The snake is said to live within the earth – being the body of the Goddess. In this way the snake is aware of all her secrets and her wisdom, including those of life, death and rebirth.

Water was seen as sacred and very often shrines were created at these special places, eventually evolving into all manner of Churches, Temples and Mosques. Because the snake’s movements are sinuous and wave-like, similar to the course of a river, three letters are attributed to the snake – ‘M,’ ‘W’ and ‘S’ – and the use of these letters has to be closely watched when used in conjunction with snake mythology or even  Alchemy. The snake is not implied every time these letters are used, just when in association with other snake symbolism. Many cultures around the globe believed that water contained a spirit-serpent and were linked implicitly with water cults; being seen as the resident guardians of a pool, pond or well – especially in the Celtic culture, where they are depicted with gods and goddesses of sacred wells and healing such as Brighid, who herself is associated with many serpent deities, such as Neit.

At one well, situated in Pembrokeshire it was said that it contained a golden torque guarded by a hand-biting serpent. (The torque is said by some to be symbolic of the serpent, and we say that it is also symbolic of the toroidal vortex and cycles – the ‘end-beginning’ point in the cycle being the open part of the torque) At the Maiden’s Well in Aberdeenshire there was reputed to be a winged serpent and the same story is repeated often around Europe.

Some say that originally the snake was the symbol of the virgin goddess, giving birth to the cosmos unaided by any male principle – an almost androgynous element of creation. And this is what we say the serpent is – it being a symbol for the neutral energy, which is transcendent of its two opposites – which really results from the same energy being divided in two.

The coiled or spiral symbol of the serpent also represents the vortex – the womb of the virgin goddess – the opening into the vortex being her vagina. In some early myths the goddess gave birth to the universe and afterwards the original singularity of the goddess split into god and goddess (the neutral energy being divided in two) and it was from their sexual union (fusion) that creation was thought to arise. As we can see, this process of fission (division) and fusion goes on all the time and at every instant in all oscillating, periodic cycles and systems – which means our own consciousness is doing this every fraction of a second.

In the Pelasgian creation myth the goddess created the first living creature from air – the giant serpent Ophion – and becoming a female serpent mated with it, she gave birth to the World Egg or Cosmic Egg. She became a dove (a later symbol for the spirit of god, the soul of a person, sometimes seen as female) and floated on the primordial ocean, while Ophion coiled around the egg three times – like the Kundalini serpent at the base of the spine – until it hatched out and created the heavens, the earth and the Underworld.

Lightning was known as the ‘sky-serpent’ or ‘lightning-snake.’ The thunder storm was believed to be the mating of the Sky Father and the Earth Mother, bringing the fertilising rain. The lightning strike itself was a male thrusting and fertilising power.     

The ancient Greeks believed that the mushroom was the result of the mating of the God and Goddess; the lightning snake and the earth, and many have pointed towards this mushroom as being the Elixir of Life. Either way, if this “mushroom” is the elixir, it was symbolically created by the snake. The site of a lightning strike was considered to be a place so full of power that it was designated an abaton [‘abyss’] or forbidden place. The correspondence between lightning and the flash of bright light in the center of the head during the enlightenment experience is obvious.

In the Dionysian mysteries a serpent, representing the god, was carried in a box called a cista on a bed of vine leaves. It is believed that this may be the Cista mentioned by Clement of Alexandria, which was exhibited as containing the phallus of Dionysus. The cista mentioned in the mysteries of Isis is also said to have held a serpent – being the missing phallus of Osiris. The fertility festival of the women of Arretophoria included cereal paste images ‘of serpents and forms of men.’

Several ancients put about the rumour that they had been fathered by a god in serpent form, which links well with the Royal lineages of India who claim to be descended from the Naga serpents of antiquity. It also links with the idea of Christ being the serpent king and later European kings claiming descent from his bloodline. The emperor Augustus was said to have been fathered by a snake, and his mother never afterwards lost the marks of its embrace. Christ, as many will know, was linked strongly with the story of Augustus.

A serpent was said to have been found beside the sleeping Olympias, mother of Alexander the Great – another great leader who is associated with Christ. Her husband, Philip of Macedon, is reputed never to have coupled with the ‘Bride of the Serpent’ again. Alexander is sometimes connected with the horned serpent. The healing god, Aesculapius, is said to have fathered a son by a woman who is depicted in Aesculapius’ temple at Sicyon as sitting on a serpent. Barren women often sought help at the temples of Aesculapius to sleep in the precincts of the abaton.

 

Serpent Seasons (Gardiner’s subtitle)

In classical mythology, the year was divided into three seasons to represent the three aspects of the Goddess. These were ruled by the totems of lion, goat and serpent. The serpent represented the autumn death aspect of the Goddess. The snake is sometimes seen as ruling the winter half of the year. The sun god Apollo was viewed as having slain the python at Delphi with his sun-ray arrows (though this may be a myth explaining the conquest of patriarchal gods over the female snake goddess and her priestesses.) The snake may be seen as the Lord of the Waning Year, and the dark twin of the Sun Lord. The two lords fight for ruler ship of the land at the beginning of summer, and at the beginning of winter. This may have given rise to the later debased myths of the hero slaying the dragon, instead of defeating him for the summer months as in the story of St. George and the dragon. In the Pagan worldview, the slain lord will rise again every year, and the light and dark (winter and summer, day and night) rule in balance. Later myths see death as a final ending and the light and dark are in opposition. The Sun Lord also dies nightly, and passes through the Underworld realm of the serpent or dragon. Ra, as the solar cat, was seen as battling the serpent of darkness Zet or Set. Similar stories are told in many myth systems of sky gods fighting serpents, such as Marduk and Tiamat, Apollo and the Python, Zeus and Typhon.

In the Old     Testament the sea monster Leviathan appears. This was probably the original totem deity of the Levite clan, whose name means ‘son of Leviathan.’ Leviathan may have been a dual deity with Jehovah, each ruling half of the year. 1st century AD medallions show Jehovah as a serpent god.

In Greek myth Ge, the earth goddess, gives the Tree of Immortality as a wedding gift to Hera. It is located in the Hespirides, an island in the far west, and guarded by the daughters of night and the serpent Ladon. The apples of the tree represent the sun, which sets or dies nightly in the west and journeys through the underworld, lair of the serpent or dragon, to be reborn each dawn in the east. The story of Adam and Eve is said by some to be a degeneration of a similar myth.

Slaying the serpent came to represent the triumph of light over dark, or one religion overcoming another. Apollo slew the snake at Delphi, while St Michael and St George slew dragons. St Patrick is said to have banished snakes from Ireland. The Virgin Mary is often depicted as trampling the serpent underfoot. But we should ask ourselves how or why did the serpent come to be represented as evil? As death? As we have seen the serpent was initially the great creator god, who brought about life itself. It seems that as ever the serpent becomes a duality.

Folklore has it that to kill an adder in early spring brings good luck for the year – while to let it go means bad luck. This ‘killing the serpent’ is representative of winter: this reveals that the serpent was losing its life-giving symbolism and being replaced with the Christian attributes of Satan. The snake is depicted with Mithras along with his horse and dog, travelling with the god and licking up the blood of the sacrificed bull. The Mithraic god of time, Zervan, is depicted as having the body of a man, the head of a lion, and being wrapped about with the cosmic serpent.

 

Prophecy (Gardiner’s subtitle)

Snakes are associated with divination throughout the world. The Greeks kept oracular snakes at temples; the Arcadian word for priest literally meant ‘snake charmer.’

According to Philostratus the Arabs could foretell omens through the sound of birds, as they had eaten the hearts or livers of a snake. Both Arabs and Hebrews derive their word for magic from the word for serpent.

Worship of the serpent goddess was widespread in pre-dynastic northern Egypt. The asp had the title of uzait, meaning ‘the eye’ for its Otherworldly sight and wisdom. The goddesses Hathor and Maat were both called ‘the eye.’ The Uraeus headdress, worn by the pharaohs, symbolically gave the wearer the power of the ‘third eye.’ The snake was meant to strike at any enemy coming into the presence of the ruler. All Egyptians queens were given the title of ‘Serpent of the Nile.’

The Indigenes of America, on occasion, chose a warrior to undergo the ordeal of allowing a snake to bite him several times during a sacred dance. If he survived he was considered to have gained great wisdom and insight into the workings of the cosmos. This is typical of the trials of shamanic initiation. Many so called ‘serpent plants’ [plants given the title of ‘serpent’ or ‘snake’ for their ability to alter consciousness] have been used shamanically to bring about trance states and engender Otherworldly journeys, including several mushrooms. The Druids used snakestones, said to be formed by adders breathing on hazel wands, for healing and divination.

 

The Triple Realm (Gardiner’s subtitle)

In Egyptian mythology the Pyramid Texts speak of the snake as celestial, earthly and subterranean. As the ‘divine phallus’ the serpent was in perpetual copulation with ‘Mother Earth’ and represented the axis mundi, passing through all three realms. Due to the fact that the serpent lives underground it is seen as a link with the Underworld and snakes were often found in graveyards, where they were thought to communicate with the dead. The serpent or dragon is seen as guarding a wealth of underworld treasure in all manner of circumstances – under a lake, in a cave, or an island in the west. Cherokee legends tell of great wisdom that will come to the warrior who will take the jewel from the head of the serpent king, Uktena, and this brings to mind the idea that the snake has a jewel set in its head, from across the world‘s mythology. It was even said that the Elixir of Life was an emerald jewel, which fell from the forehead of Lucifer the serpent Angel. And in Hindu mythology the serpent was said to have a jewel in its forehead. The great treasure is often believed to be the goddess' secrets of life, death and rebirth. This “jewel” is obviously a reference to the thalamus at the center of the brain through which we perceive and create our reality – a process sometimes seen as “evil” as we can become deluded and trapped by our own creations. This is why the jewel is often said to be found in the “head” of the snake and was greatly prized. The idea of the snake’s healing power has been attributed to its shedding skin, due to the lack of knowledge for any other reason. The ancient Chinese saw the human process of rejuvenation as a person splitting their old skin and emerging once more as a youth. The Melanesians said that to slough one's skin meant eternal life and we find similar reasoning in Judaism and Christianity.

As we have seen, snakes were identified with the patron god of healers, Aesculapius. The Caduceus, still a symbol of medicine and healing, shows two intertwining snakes. The Daughter of Aesculapius, Hygeia, is sometimes depicted with a serpent at her breast. Aesculapius had previously been a serpent in one of his human incarnations.

Buddha is said to have taken the form of a snake to stop disease among his people and Siegfried bathed in the blood of the dragon he slew and became invulnerable. The blind emperor, Theodosius, recovered his sight when a grateful serpent laid a precious gem upon his eyes and Cadmus and his wife were literally turned into snakes to cure the ills of mankind.

During the mediaeval period, the snake was generally regarded as a symbol of evil as it was associated with the processes of reality creation and maya (illusion,) yet it still had links with healing. Adder stones, thought to be formed from the skins of fighting adders, were used to heal cataracts; dried snake heads were used to cure snake bites, and snake skins were worn about the head to prevent headaches or around parts of the body to ward off rheumatism. Adder venom was even used to induce abortions. Old ideas developed where it was said that medical skill could be gained by eating some part of a serpent – the idea being that we could assimilate the snake’s healing qualities.

 

 

 

 

3. Extract from Gnosis by Philip Gardiner

(Published by New Page Press, 2006).

Edited by Astrid de Ridder

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.gnosisbookdvd.com/

 

“The New Bible Standard on Holy Gnosticism”

Dr. John Jay Harper

http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A127JMGT826X6U?ie=UTF8

 

Review by Dwayne Sheffield.

“the ride is spiritually exhilerating”

http://www.gardinersworld.com/content/view/147/45/

 

 

Last line in Acknowledgements section written by Philip Gardiner:

"I would also like to thank my wonderful editor Astrid deRidder for making me look good.”

 

  

Normal Text – written by Philip Gardiner . . . presumably.

Text highlighted in Pink – added by John Baldock during the editing process of The Serpent Grail.

Text highlighted in yellow – word for word taken from Anna Franklin’s book Familiars 1997.

Text highlighted in Green – contributed by Gary Osborn when writing The Serpent Grail.

 

 

Gnosis – Chapter 1: The Serpent

Beginning from Page 29

 

In the Pelasgian creation myth the goddess created the first living creature from air – the giant serpent Ophion – and becoming a female serpent mated with it, she gave birth to the World Egg or Cosmic Egg. She became a dove (which became a symbol for the spirit of god, or Holy Spirit) and floated on the primordial ocean, while Ophion coiled around the egg seven times until it hatched and created the heavens, the earth and the Underworld.

Lightning was known as the ‘sky-serpent’ or ‘lightning-snake.’ The thunder storm was believed to be the mating of the Sky Father and the Earth Mother, bringing the fertilising rain. The lightning strike itself was a male thrusting and fertilising power. The Greeks believed that the mushroom was the result of the mating of the God and Goddess; the lightning snake and the earth, and many have pointed towards this mushroom as being the Elixir of Life. If this “mushroom” is the elixir, it was symbolically created by the snake. According to John Bathurst Deane in The Worship of the Serpent, the site of a lightning strike was considered to be a place so full of power that it was designated an abaton [abyss] or forbidden place of the serpent. (ab). This itself links the serpent with the electrical or electromagnetic energy of the Earth, as it is commonly seen in the Chinese Dragon Paths and the Serpent Ways or Ley Lines of Europe.

In the Dionysian mysteries a serpent, representing the god, was carried in a box called a cista on a bed of vine leaves. It is believed that this may be the infamous cista mentioned by the early writer Clement of Alexandria, which was exhibited as containing the phallus of Dionysus. The cista mentioned in the mysteries of Isis is also said to have held a serpent – being the missing phallus of Osiris. Again, according to Deane, the fertility festival of the women of Arretophoria included cereal paste images ‘of serpents and forms of men,’ revealing the dual aspects of female wisdom and male power. A serpent was said to have been found beside the sleeping Olympias, mother of Alexander the Great – another great leader who is associated with Christ. Her husband, Philip of Macedon, the husband of Olympias, is reputed never to have coupled with the ‘Bride of the Serpent’ again. Alexander is sometimes connected with the images of the horned serpent. Aesculapius, is also said to have fathered a son by a woman who is depicted in the temple at Sicyon as sitting on a serpent. This clearly means that Aesculapias was seen as the serpent, making the connection even stronger. Barren women often sought help at the temples of Aesculapius to sleep in the precincts of the abaton.

 

 

Serpent Seasons (Gardiner’s subtitle)

In classical Greco-Roman mythology, the year was divided into three seasons to represent the three aspects of the Mother Goddess. These three aspects were ruled by the totems of lion, goat and serpent. The serpent represented the autumn death aspect of the Goddess. This is the point of entry into another realm. The lion and goat are aspects of the lower nature of mankind – the non-spiritual side of our consciousness.

The snake is sometimes seen as ruling the winter portion of the year. The sun god Apollo was often depicted as slaying the python at Delphi with his sun-ray arrows (Although this image may be a myth to explain the conquest of patriarchal gods over the female snake goddess.) In truth, this myth explains the powerful serpent energy of Apollo slaying the female or negative aspect of the serpent.

The snake can also be seen as the Lord of the Waning Year, and the dark twin of the Sun Lord. The two lords fight to rule of the land at the beginning of summer, and at the beginning of winter. This may have given rise to the later myths of the valiant hero slaying the dragon, instead of defeating him for the summer months as in the story of St. George and the dragon.

In the Pagan worldview, the slain lord will rise again every year, and the light and dark (winter and summer, day and night) will rule in balance. Later myths see death as a final ending and the light and dark are in total opposition.

The Sun Lord also dies nightly, and passes through the Underworld realm of the serpent or dragon. The Egyptian god Ra, as the solar cat, was seen as battling the serpent of darkness known as Zet or Set. Similar stories are told in many myth systems of sky gods fighting serpents, such as Marduk and Tiamat, Apollo and the Python, Zeus and Typhon. In the Old Testament the sea monster Leviathan appears.     

This was probably the original totem deity of the Levite clan, whose name means ‘son of Leviathan.’ Leviathan may have been a dual deity combined with Jehovah, each ruling half of the year. First century medallions show Jehovah as a serpent god.

In Greek myth Ge, (the earth goddess) gives the Tree of Immortality as a wedding gift to Hera. It is located in the Hespirides, a mythical island in the far west, and guarded by the daughters of night and the serpent Ladon. The apples of the tree represent the sun, which sets or dies nightly in the west and journeys through the underworld, lair of the serpent or dragon, to be reborn each dawn in the east. The story of Adam and Eve is said by some to be a regeneration of this myth. Slaying the serpent came to represent the triumph of light over dark, or one religion overcoming another. Often it involved pinning of the serpentine earth energy to a specific location.

Apollo slew the snake at Delphi, while St Michael and St George slew dragons in England. St Patrick, as I pointed out earlier, is said to have banished snakes from Ireland. The Virgin Mary is often depicted as trampling the serpent underfoot. But we should ask ourselves how or why did the serpent come to be represented as evil? How did this animal become associated with death? Folklore has it that to kill an adder in early spring brings good luck for the year – while to let it go means bad luck. This ‘killing the serpent’ is representative of winter: this reveals that the serpent was losing its life-giving symbolism and being replaced with the Christian attributes of Satan.

 

 

 

 

4. Scanned Images of the pages of Gnosis

 

To show some hard-copy examples of Philip Gardiner’s plagiarism, below are the scanned images of the pages taken from Chapter 1 to Chapter 4 of Gnosis by Philip Gardiner.

 

 

The text highlighted in Pink is by Anna Franklin

The text highlighted in yellow is by Gary Osborn

 

 

   

                                                  

 

 

 

 

Note from Gary Osborn:

 

Below on page 73, Gardiner also uses references I had found through my own research to support my theory that Kundalini could be the cause of Spontaneous Human Combustion – not Gardiner’s idea or theory.

This was taken from my own writings, in which I delved into this connection in some detail.

 

 

 

 

Note from Gary Osborn:

Another reference on page 75 taken from my own research, where I express my own ideas here as to the connections I came to now 13 years ago.

 

 

 

And so on and so on . . .

 

 

Note from Gary Osborn:

 

One cannot be sure if other parts of Gardiner’s text in both The Serpent Grail and Gnosis are really all his own, or have been lifted and/or even ‘cut and paste’ from other author's writings.

If Philip Gardiner is making money on other people’s work without any credit or quotation references given to them; allowing people to edit the plagiarised text, as well as taking the credit for writing it, then Gardiner is fooling the public and is no better than a thief and a fraud and he should be exposed as such.

   

I am now concerned about Gardiner’s new book The Ark, the Shroud and Mary (New Page Press, 2007) as I have emails where we discussed the Ark for a future book between us, and I relayed much information to Gardiner about this subject as one naturally would in a ‘co-authorship’ – If we can call it that.

 

 

Notes:

 

1. (See here:  - the reviews by Gardiner under his pseudonym, Rosicrucian "rosicrucian" .

Because these reviews have all been written from the same computer address, this page by 'Amazon.co' which shows all the reviews made by 'Rosicrucian "rosicrucian" ' also contains a couple of reviews by Philip Gardiner - revealing that "Rosicrucian rosicrucian" is indeed Philip Gardiner . . . the man cannot even cover his tracks properly.

    The ironic thing about this is that under his pseudonym, Gardiner gives a scathing review of The Templars and the Ark of the Covenant: The Discovery of the Treasure of Solomon by Graham Philips.

    This is quite a conspicuous 'stab in the back' as Graham considered Gardiner a good friend.  Of course Gardiner is welcome to his own views on his "friend's" book, but the real motive here is that Gardiner feels he should attack the opposition and so its business as usual. And while in the Acknowledgements section of Gnosis, Gardiner neglects to thank me for the contributions - i.e., work of mine he took to pad out his book - he does not forget to thank Graham Philips and also other authors like Andrew Collins, Graham Hancock, Robert Bauval and Colin Wilson as if they are close friends.

    As for Graham's book, "Awful" writes Gardiner, while at the same time he is giving glowing reviews to his own books, and here is a selection of quotes from these reviews on his own books: See here for another selection of these reviews on 'Amazon.com' (USA). 

    "a dam good read" - [surely he meant "damn"]

    "In Gnosis Gardiner has all too starkly placed before the ordinary man or "profane" as some would have it, the most sacred truths of the ancient and not so ancient secret societies. And this in itself sums up what Gardiner is about - revealing the truths that we should all be allowed to see."  [I'm sure the reader can see the irony in this statement]

     "In this book Gardiner tells it as it truly is."

     "Stand aside sirs, Gardiner has arrived!" . . .

     "I fully endorse this book and would say to all people that search for truth not to look for it in fiction like the Da Vinci Code, but to seek out scholars such as Gardiner."

     "Some of these points would have had Gardiner shot in the last few centuries" . . . [er yes . . .].