THE SNAKE CLAN

Here be serpents!  This site is dedicated to the Snake Clan of the New Orleans Men's Center and contains links to online snake myths.

The New Orleans Men's Center is a mythopoetic organization of men dedicated to developing positive masculinity though the sharing of myth, poetry, and personal soul work.  The members of the Snake Clan are Keith Dupleix, Ed Tedrow, Benny Eckholdt, and Steve Hingle.

The Staff of Aesculapius

THE SERPENT IN MYTH

Most Westerners know only an evil serpent of the Old Testament.  But for many cultures around the world, the snake is a symbol of spirituality, transformation, rebirth, healing, wisdom, and generative power.  Sometimes the mythic serpent resembles a dragon more than a snake.  I have tried to stick with the ones that are closer to snakes.  Check out the stories and narratives, and visit the New Orleans Men's Center.  Enjoy!
The Serpent Ouroborus - The snake eating it's tail. From George Wither's A Collection of Emblems, Ancient and Modern, 1635.
See World Ouroborus Images

STORIES

The Rainbow Serpent, Fon, West African

Rainbow Serpent (The Mother Snake) by Aboriginal Australian Francis Firebrace

The Rainbow Serpent, as told by an elementary student in Australia

Ungud, the Great Serpent, Unumbal tribe of northern Kimberley, Australia

Man and Serpent: Three snake folktales translated/edited by D.L. Ashliman including The Man and the Serpent (Aesop), The Gold Giving Snake (The Panchatantra), and Of Good Advice (Gesta Romanorum).

Snake and Serpent Husbands : Thirteen tales translated/edited by D.L. Ashliman, mostly from Europe.

The Snake's Gift: Language of Animals, Serbian

Egle, the Queen of Serpents, Lithuanian

Jormungand, the Midgard Serpent, Norse

The Young Man and the Snake, Pakistan
 

Dragon-Slayer, Japan

The Legend of the White Snake, Chinese

Degei, the Snake God, Fiji

Mayan World Creation Myth, with Gucumatz, the Plumed Serpent

The Snake with the Big Feet, Native American

Battle with the Snakes, Iroquois

The Serpent of the Sea, Zuni

The Origin of the Hopi Snake Dance, Tiwa

The Girl Who Married Rattlesnake, Pomo

The Snake Brothers, Brule Sioux

The Serpent's Tale, a book of collected snake stories by Gregory McNamee

Note - I have not verified the authenticity of any of these stories, but each is someone's story.


NARRATIVES ON SNAKE MYTHOLOGY

The Serpent of Wisdom - Includes many cool pictures.

Serpents and The Hindu Nagas

The Serpent in Mythology

The Divine Serpent in Myth and Legend - In this very long article, Robert T. Mason, PHD enumerates the roles of divine serpents from around the world.

A Serpent by Any Other Name - Names for serpent gods.

THE NEW ORLEANS MEN'S CENTER

What is NOMC?

NOMC History in Poetry by Kraig Schmidt. Read about the creation of the Snake Clan!  

WORDS OF THE SNAKE CLAN:

By Ed Tedrow:

~~~Planet Snake

~~~Those Eyes

~~~Dead Animals

~~~Two Old Men

~~~The Lover and Men's Souls

~~~The Warrior Soul

~~~Go With the Flow

NOMC Testimonial by Benny Eckholdt

Three Poems by Steve Hingle

a Thanks for visiting! If you have any comments or suggestions for additions to this site, you can e-mail me, Steve Hingle, at s_hingle@yahoo.com