OPHIUCHUS: The Serpent Bearer

Ophiuchus

THE SERPENT BEARER

He who walks the crooked path with serpent wisdom

He who exists outside the sacred twelve

He who refuses submission

He who heals not through conformity, but through the destruction of illusion

He whose venom is medicine

The Nigredo before Rebirth

The Resurrector of the Self

Mythological Origins

In Greek mythology, Ophiuchus is associated with Asclepius, the son of Apollo and a mortal woman, Coronis. Asclepius was trained in the healing arts by the centaur Chiron, eventually becoming so skilled that he could raise the dead. This defiance of natural order provoked the ire of Zeus, who struck him down with a thunderbolt, but later immortalized him in the stars as Ophiuchus.

The serpent entwined around his body or staff represents:

⦁ Regeneration and rebirth (as snakes shed their skin)

⦁ Knowledge of life and death

⦁ Hidden wisdom and transgressive power

From a Western Left Hand Path perspective, Asclepius/Ophiuchus resembles a Promethean archetype: a mortal who steals divine secrets (in this case, the power to heal and resurrect) and is punished by the gods for trespassing divine boundaries.

Astrological Significance: The 13th Sign

Ophiuchus was not included in the traditional 12-sign zodiac, though the Sun passes through it from roughly November 29 to December 17. Its omission may have more to do with maintaining the sacred 12-fold system than any astronomical accuracy.

In modern esoteric astrology, Ophiuchus has been dubbed:

⦁ The 13th Sign represents the hidden archetype

⦁ Bearer of forbidden knowledge

⦁ Catalyst of transformation through chaos

Those “born under Ophiuchus” are sometimes described as:

⦁ Magnetic, intense, and philosophical

⦁ Unorthodox seekers of truth

⦁ Healers or rebels who challenge norms

Ophiuchus represents a threshold, the Serpent Power between death and rebirth, knowledge and madness.

• Location: Positioned between Scorpio and Sagittarius

• Symbol: A man holding a snake, split into Ophiuchus (the man) and Serpens (the serpent), a rare case of a constellation being split into two parts.

  
  

• Ophiuchi: The brightest star in the constellation, whose name means “Head of the Serpent Collector.”

Western Left Hand Path Connections

In traditional astrology, the 12 zodiac signs form a sacred and balanced wheel, each neatly fitting into solar cycles, houses, and planetary rulerships. But Ophiuchus disrupts that order. This makes Ophiuchus an archetype of the Western Left Hand Path, where the practitioner defies divine law, carves their own path, and embraces what is hidden, or forbidden. He is both the venom and the cure, an alchemical paradox, the very essence of antinomianism.

To initiate through the 13th Gate (Ophiuchus) is to transcend the tyranny of cosmic law. It is a Sinister Initiation. Within the Ophidian Current, the serpent plays the role of initiator as in the Garden of Eden, the serpent offers knowledge, not sin. In Tantric practices, Kundalini rises as the inner serpent of divine consciousness. In Draconian systems, Typhon-Set, Leviathan, and Apep are all serpentine adversaries of order and stagnation. This is aligned with the Western Left Hand Path principle of using adversity, shadow, and isolation as tools for Transcension.

Ophiuchus is the Serpent Initiate, the one who defies the gods and opens the gates to immortality through knowledge and personal gnosis. His serpent is not a tempter, but a teacher, a vessel of forbidden truths, just as the serpent was to Eve. He is a kindred spirit to Lucifer, Prometheus, Mercury, and Thoth-Hermes, liminal figures who bring divine fire to mortals.