Can A Reptile Get An Even Break?

By Rosmary Ellen Guiley

c. Visionary Living, Inc.

It’s hard for reptiles to get a fair shake. Though exalted in most mythologies, reptilians are maligned in Western theology. Even in ufology, a field that embraces unusual ideas, reptilian ETs are treated with suspicion and ridicule. They are said to be the shapeshifting evil overlords of the New World Order. They are reported to carry on salacious sex with humans. They are said to be plotting the violent overthrow of the human race. The religious see them as servants of Satan. Mention reptilian ETs and the mass media have a field day. Even the Grays get more respect.

When it comes to reptilians, can the serious be sorted from the carnival?

According to cryptozoologist John Rhodes, the first person to speak publically about reptilian-humanoids, there are answers, and the subject of reptilians bears closer exploration. Rhodes has spent years studying reptilians and looking for evidence of them on planet earth. He has explored many caves and tunnels around the world, and has interviewed hundreds of people claiming to have encountered them. Although he has yet to have a personal sighting, he has definite ideas about the reptilian presence here. He says we should not look to the skies for reptilian ETs, but instead look beneath us into the ground, where a race of reptilian humanoids – reptoids – has evolved.

The reptoids are not necessarily evil, Rhodes said. They are neither all good nor all evil, but a mix of intentions, personalities and behaviors – a lot like us, he said. Some of the reptoid hybrids live on the surface of earth, carrying on lives among humans.

Rhodes is working to rehabilitate the image of the serpent. Two thousand years of Western demonization of the serpent make his work seem at times like the labor of Sisyphus, pushing the rock uphill. Rhodes perseveres, despite opposition from religion, proponents of the Evil Empire/New World Order, and a host of more middle-of-the-road folks who harbor deep-seated fears about reptiles in general.

These reptilian creatures are from a parallel civilization of Earth origin, said Rhodes. “It’s difficult for us to think that we have brothers and sisters who are other races,” he said. “The reptoids are part of our celestial family. If we got to know them and established diplomatic and trade relationships with them, we would learn about our differences and similarities and lean on each other a bit. We could expand on our similarities to come into communion with each other. Our relationships would strengthen over time.”

Bonding with reptoids requires letting go of fear. “If we have a dualistic nature, why should they be any different?” Rhodes points out. “Good and evil are a matter of perspective. We shouldn’t try to characterize a creature based on misinterpretation or false reports. We have to make certain we don’t cast a shadow on something that has yet to be illuminated by our own knowledge.”

Western religion is responsible for much of the misinterpretation of the serpent image, according to Rhodes. The serpent is one of the oldest, most universal and most revered symbols in mythology. Although negative associations exist, the serpent is predominantly associated with wisdom, enlightenment, immortality, healing, renewal, magic and the guardianship of hidden treasure. Numerous deities have been associated with serpents. The Aztecs’ Quetzacoatl is the “Plumed Serpent,” and is prophesied to return as a great teacher. A prophecy which, according to Rhodes, may be associated with the recent UFO activity over Mexico City and the publically exposed secret British military caving operations which occurred in Mexico in 2004. The “Rainbow Serpent” in Australian mythology is a creator deity. Asklepios, the Greek god of healing, has a totemic serpent entwined on a staff. Hermes, the Greek god of learning and magic, carries a caduceus wand entwined by two serpents. Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, has a serpent on her shield. The Nagas of Vedic lore are human/serpent beings who possess a high level of wisdom. In yoga, the kundalini, the energy of enlightenment, is likened to a coiled serpent that sleeps at the base of the spine, and rises to the crown of the head when awakened by spiritual study and discipline.

In Judeo-Christian angelology, the angels who are closest to God – the seraphim – are associated with serpents (see sidebar at the end of this article). Jesus acknowledged the wisdom of the serpent in his statement, Be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” (Matthew 10:16)

But even the seraphim and Jesus do not counter the dominant darker picture of serpents presented in the Bible: that of deceiver and an agent of evil. While the Gnostic teachings identify Jesus with the serpent in Eden, because they were both condemned for bringing humans closer to god-like status, the Biblical authors emphasized the serpent’s negative image by attributing it to evil deeds and deception. In Genesis, a serpent tempts Eve to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, thus causing the Fall of humanity from grace, and the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. As punishment, God condemns the serpent to travel upon its belly. The serpent went on to symbolize lies, treachery and evil, serving as the inspiration for the forked tongue and serpent-tailed representations of the Devil.

The appearance of the Biblical serpent is controversial. Genesis does not give an exact description. Some illustrations of the serpent, in Eden, depict a reptilian-humanoid being. The serpent talks to Eve and exhibits intelligence and wile. But like reptoids, did it walk upright or slither on the ground as a normal snake?

In some older Jewish legends, the Genesis serpent is a tall, extremely intelligent creature with actual arms and legs. He was created by God to be king of all creatures and eat the same food as humans. But his envy of humans, which was the evil within him, caused him to bring about the Fall.

Despite the demonization of the serpent, benevolent aspects have been kept alive in Western esoteric lore, such as in Freemasonry. Rhodes stated that “According to Albert Pike’s Morals and Dogma, the study book of modern Freemasonry, the 25th Degree of the Freemasonry is known as the Knight of the Brazen Serpent. This degree of study encourages Freemasons to reflect on the benevolent aspects of the serpent image and demonstrates its positive influence in human culture. They reflect back on history of all the serpent-worshiping cultures around the world.”

Rhodes’s interest in reptilian ETs was piqued by the famous Roswell, New Mexico case. “According to testimony, recovered aliens from a crashed craft were taken to a military base, where they were seen by various people” he said. “Glenn Dennis, the mortician who supplied small, hermetically sealed coffins to the base hospital, saw an illustration drawn by a nurse who was working on the base. Rhodes said. She drew a creature with hands that had small circular pads on them. That’s something we see all the time in arboreal (tree) lizards.”

The description of the being’s skin also was more lizard-like. “These physical descriptions, rather than describing a form originating from outer space, were strikingly similar to those of other Earth evolved reptilian species,” Rhodes said. “From my point of view, in this case it seems as though we have been encouraged to speculate about extra-terrestrial origins of these beings when we are most likely dealing with creatures from our own planet. Rather than pointing upwards towards the clouds, this evidence pointed downwards toward the earth – so these ‘ET aliens’ might really be creatures who actually evolved here on Earth.

“My interest was further stimulated by the work of paleontologist Dale Russell, Visiting Professor, Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Senior Curator of Paleontology, North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences. Russell postulated that Stenonychosaurus Inequalis, aka troodon, an advanced, bipedal dinosaur that lived 65 million years ago, had morphologically evolved over time so that its eyes came more forward, thus allowing stereoscopic vision. This enabled the troodon to have better hunting skills because it had more depth perception. Also, its brain case was larger than any known dinosaur of the time, and it had a grasping claw. Russell hypotheticlaly advanced the troodon dinosaur’s physical form forward a few million years to see what it would have looked like if it had not become extinct. The model he arrived at was strikingly similar to the images of the ancient god’s our ancestors recorded in their mytho-histories and to the reptilian-humanoids (reptoids) that people have reported in modern ufology.”

Rhodes also states that the April 5th, 1909 Arizona Gazette newspaper headline reporting the Smithsonian Institution’s discovery of a massive underground city in the Grand Canyon gives us notice that not all ‘mythologies’ are simply figments of cultural imagination. “The Hopi Indians of the area claim that their ancestors emerged from an underworld city after the last Great Purification,” he said. “More intriguing is that they claim that this was a world of plenty that was maintained by the Ant People under the supervision of their Elder Brothers, the Snake People. Could the ant-like grays and reptoid ‘aliens’ be the intelligent creatures that befriended the Hopis, ultimately leading them to safety and a path of spirituality after they resurfaced? More importantly, if the Hopi underworld was discovered to be based on fact, then other aspects of American Indian mythology may also be based upon factual events and beings.”

Rhodes began speaking publicly about reptoids in the early 1990s. The topic drew a lot of negative reaction, and Rhodes found himself under personal attack as well. Threats against him caused him to lower his public profile and return to field research. “Fear is a good promoter,” he said. “The Church has used it for over 1500 years, since they reversed the interpretation of the serpent 180 degrees from something that was benevolent or dualistic, to something that should be regarded as completely evil. This singular interpretation creates fear, blinds logic, induces stress (resulting in suppressed immune systems,) and can sometimes elicit dangerous behavior from religious ‘believers’ or cultist ‘followers.’ ”

He decided to become active again a few years ago because of a strange New Mexico murder case. The victim was 36-year-old Girly Chew Hossencrofft, a Malaysian woman who disappeared in September 1999. Her body was never found. Her estranged husband, Diazien Hossencrofft, confessed to plotting to have her killed. Convicted also of the murder (in 2002) was Linda Henning, a woman with UFO interests who reportedly was encouraged by Daizien to believe that the world was being run by the New World Order, which was being manipulated by reptilians.

“It was a tragic case,” said Rhodes, “one that drove the subject of reptilians deeper into a dark corner of ridicule. I’ve come back out of retirement to set the record straight and try to separate the facts from the fear based fiction.”

“If it turns out that there is another animal species here on earth that is being unfairly demonized and that we may come in contact with someday, everyone owes it to open up their hearts and minds to see if such creatures exist,” he said. ” It would be a terrible insult to nature itself and to creation and to the word ‘love’ if we were to not do that. What if these creatures were to appear and we would react out of fear, and shoot first to examine the bodies later? It would be better to encounter them hands down and palms open and find out if we can communicate with them. It would be terrible to have conflict and devastation with these beings because our inherent knee jerk reactions only to find out later on that we both would have been better off as allies and friends.”

Testimonies of positive experiences with reptilian aliens and reptoids are increasing. “According to statistical analysis, seventy percent of all the reported reptoid contacts have been neutral or benevolent, and about 30 percent have been negative or malevolent,” Rhodes said. “Because fear sells more, and there are more stories about monsters than angels, the silent majority who claim to have had a positive encounter have been threatened and suppressed by a very vocal and aggressive minority who feel that these creatures are evil.”

Nonetheless, Rhodes finds his message better received now than in the past. “Nobody wanted to listen at first,” he said. “But it’s not about me – it’s about the message and the possibility of other-than-human Earth evolved intelligent life.” He encourages people to speak out about their experiences regardless of whether they are positive or negative.

Rhodes said he has yet to have his own personal encounter with a reptoid. “I’m still waiting net in one hand and camera in the other,” he said. “Im not telling people to believe me. Im telling them there’s enough evidence here to compel further scientific investigation, and also that people should take their own personal journey of investigation. The only thing they’re ever going to know is the information they find for themselves. It’s the personal experience that creates true knowledge.”

We have a lot of science suggesting that reptoid evolution could be possible. We just don’t have a body yet to prove it. But one day we just might.”

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[The foregoing was first published in FATE’s UFO Special, 2005. For more information about FATE, visit www.fatemag.com.

Different hierarchies of angels have been conceived throughout Judeo-Christian history. In the dominant Christian scheme, the highest rank of angels – those closest to God – are the seraphim, and they may have serpent associations. Their name is thought to be derived from the Hebrew verb saraf, which means to “burn,” “incinerate” or “destroy,” and probably refers to the ability of seraphim to destroy by burning.

The seraphim may have evolved from the uraeus, the gold serpent (specifically a cobra) worn by Egyptian pharaohs on their foreheads. Uraei without wings and with two or four wings were depicted in iconography throughout the Near East. They protected by spitting their poison, or fire. The seraphim who became angels in lore perhaps originally had serpent forms with human characteristics.

In the Hebrew Bible, the term saraf is applied to fiery serpents. Numbers 21:6-8 refers to fiery serpents sent by the Lord to bite and kill sinning Israelites. After Moses prayed for forgiveness, he is instructed to set a fiery serpent atop a pole. Whoever was bitten by it, when he looked upon it, would live. Moses mades a bronze serpent, which may have been a representation of a seraph angel. Deuteronomy 8:15 refers to the “fiery serpents” and scorpions in the land of Egypt.

The prophet Isaiah described more human-like seraphim in a vision. (Isaiah 6:2-3) He saw the Lord on his throne with six-winged seraphim standing above him. Two wings covered the face and two the feet – probably to protect them from the intense brilliance of the Lord – and the other two wings were used for flying. The seraphim called out to each other, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; and the whole earth is full of his glory.” One seraphim took a burning coal and touched it to Isaiah’s lips, proclaiming that his guilt was taken away and his sin forgiven.

According to 3 Enoch, an apocryphal work important to angelology, there are four seraphim who correspond to the four winds of the world. Each has six wings which correspond to the six days of creation; each wing is as big as the fullness of a heaven. Each has 16 faces, four facing in each direction, and each face is like the rising sun, the light of which is so bright that even other high-ranking angels – the hayyoth, ophanim, and cherubim – cannot look upon it.

3 Enoch says that the seraphim are so named because they burn the tablets of Satan. Every day Satan sits down with Sammael, prince of Rome and Dubbiel, prince of Persia, to write down the sins of Israel on tablets. Satan gives the tablets to the seraphim to take to God so that God will destroy Israel. But the seraphim know that God does not wish to do so, and so they take the tablets and burn them.

The Sefer Yetzirah, the most important text in the Kabbalah, says seraphim are the highest order of angels, and they exist in the Universe of Beriyah, where Binah, which is represented by fire, dominates. Beriyah is the world of the Throne that Isaiah sees in his vision. Some Kabbalists call the seraphim Powers, Forces or Potentials rather than angels.

Seraphim are mentioned in Jewish literature and pseudepigrapha (non-canonical Jewish-Christian texts written under pseudonyms), sometimes without specific description, but as part of the high heavenly host. According to the Testament of Adam, the seraphim stand before God and serve his inner chamber, and, like the cherubim, sing the hourly “holy, holy, holy.” 2 Enoch describes them as having four faces and six wings.

Seraphim are not mentioned by name in the New Testament.

In other lore, seraphim are the created representations of divine love, the fire of which consumes them and keeps them close to the throne of God. They are the only angels to stand above the throne. They establish the vibration of love, which in turn creates the field of life. They purify all, and dispel the shadows of darkness. They are of such subtlety that they rarely are perceived by human consciousness.

Angel lore is complex, and different texts – most of them non-canonical or commentaries on the canon – often conflict and even contradict in their descriptions and depictions of angels. Seraphim and serpents are no exception. Seraphim are close to God, the embodiment of divine love – and yet they may be related to serpents, the creature punished and reviled by God in Genesis. Moses’ image of a fiery serpent (seraph) heals – yet the Garden of Eden serpent deceives. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus acknowledges the wisdom of the serpent – yet the Garden of Eden serpent is not to be trusted. In 3 Enoch, the seraphim righteously oppose Satan the adversary – yet the serpent, perhaps the origin of the seraphim themselves – has become a symbol of Satan.

What is the truth about serpents? Do we really know?

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Adapted from The Encyclopedia of Angels, 2^nd ed., by Rosemary Ellen Guiley, published by Facts On File, 2004.