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Spirals and other Rock Art

Marija Gimbutas in The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe says:
“Compositions on the shoulders of cult vases reveal pairs of snakes with opposed heads, making the world roll with the energy of their spiralling bodies.”
Spirals and carvings of this snake energy are seen all over the world, much like the cult of the serpent. And, it is always found to be in association with the serpent worship. According to J.C. Cooper in An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Traditional Symbols, the spiral “typifies the androgyne and is connected with the caduceus symbolism” which is of course the symbol of serpent healing.

In Australia Robert Layton in Australian Rock Art: a new synthesis, points out the serpent origins of these images; images, which are always seen with other serpentine shapes. Figure three in Layton’s book shows these images clearly as “a snake entering a hole,” “a snake leaving a hole.” Remembering that the Ouroborus, the circular image of the snake eating its own tail, is an image of immortality, we should also remember the antiquity of the device. Along side spirals are circles like the Ouroborus, called often cup and ring marks.

There are also zigzags, thought by many to be the fiery aspect of the serpent, and waves, showing the fluidity of the serpent - something also related to the symbolism of Water. It is no surprise that such images of the snake, in all its relative forms should be seen on the most ancient of rock art. In the cup and ring marks there are many images of what appears to be a serpent entering the cup and rings.

Some have put this down to a serpent entering a hole, others that it is eating an egg; nobody is sure. What it does show is a serpent head towards a cup! If, of course, the snake is also the symbol of the macro sun, then these spirals and serpentine patterns may also reveal the pathways of the sun at various times of the year and the greater years – such as those of the precession of the earth.

The spirals have been associated with astronomical alignments. This can especially be seen in the work of N.L. Thomas in Irish Symbols of 3500 BC where the spiral running right to left is seen as the winter sun; the spiral running left to right is the summer sun and the double spiral as the spring and autumn equinox. There is little doubt from the work carried out by Thomas that this is true, but the fact also remains that the ancients were using symbols of the serpent in their astronomical alignments. This is matched by the fact that the serpent was seen in the sky, in various constellations and by the serpent encompassing the heavens. The two elements cannot be split apart – this was a unified theory of life and it was created by, given life by and kept fertile by the snake and the sun.

In Eurasia and Japan there are definite images of snakes as spirals. In earthenware from the middle Jomon period (approx 2000 BC) of Japan these can be seen quite clearly, and are said to be there to protect the contents of the jar from harm; something important was obviously in them. Clay figures from the same period also show wound snakes on the heads. These spirals became part of family crests and transformed over time into the Yin and Yang symbol of duality so popular today.

These family symbols are called Kamon and one class of them particularly is called Janome, which basically means eye of the snake. Characters for snakes in Chinese became part of the alphabet over 3000 years ago. Another interesting point about the snake in China is that the Rainbow is said to be the snake elevated into the sky much like the Australian Rainbow Serpent. Indeed, the Chinese character for Rainbow reflects this position as it has the symbol of the snake within it.

In Peru there is pottery with spirals ending in snakes heads. In Taiwan there is a sculptured door with spirals ending in snakes heads. In many Celtic stone monuments there are similar images – all leading to the now beautiful and ornate Celtic Knot-work