 |
 |
Beyond the Cosmic Serpent
 |
Anthropologist Jeremy Narby is the author of the quite extraordinary, ground-breaking book THE COSMIC SERPENT (1995). In this he describes the remarkable wisdom of the native tribes of the Upper Amazon, which includes a vast pharmaceutical knowledge of over 50,000 plants. Asked where this knowledge had come from, they said the spirits of the plants themselves gave this information to the shamans. Confused, and not believing what he had heard, Narby lived with these native peoples for some while, and eventually consented to take part in a shamanic initiation in which he ingested the hallucinogenic brew ayahuasca, which was said to aid communication with the spirit world. |
As a miasma of psychedelic imagery overtook him, he saw before him twin serpents, which appeared to unconsciously convey information concerning their greater significance. The experience confounded Narby, and led to years of study in the nature of human consciousness. Finally, he was forced to conclude that the twin serpents seen by him, and present in primitive and religious art worldwide, signified the consciousness of DNA. Furthermore, he felt sure that they represented the subtle communication taking place during shamanic states between our DNA and that of the plant world. If this were possible, then it made sense of the various tribes' immense pharmaceutical knowledge accumulated across countless generations.
| Since the publication of THE COSMIC SERPENT, which has revolutionised the way we perceive human consciousness, Narby has travelled the world speaking to shamans and scientists, further refining his thesis, and he will exclusively reveal his findings at QuestCon05, his only public appearance in the UK this year. Watch out also for Narby's new book INTELLIGENCE IN NATURE (Tarcher/Penguin, 2005), which furthers the theories voiced in THE COSMIC SERPENT. |
 |
|
Jeremy Narby at Questcon05 |
Jeremy Narby Ph. D., grew up in Canada and Switzerland. He studied history at the University of Canterbury, and received his doctorate in anthropology from Stanford University. He is the author of THE COSMIC SERPENT: DNA AND THE ORIGINS OF KNOWLEDGE" (1998) and co-editor of SHAMANS THROUGH TIME (2001). His latest findings are discussed in his new book INTELLIGENCE IN NATURE: AN INQUIRY INTO KNOWLEDGE (Tarcher/Penguin, 2005). |
Back to Questing Conference 2005 main page
|
|