The story of the Garden of Eden is a foundational story of Western culture and the Western psyche. Eve (woman) caused the fall of mankind because she was seduced by the snake and ate the apple from the Tree of Knowledge. God was so angry that he expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden and said that everyone would be born in original sin for her crime.

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Joseph Campbell says in the DVD Joseph Campbell - The Hero's Journey, "Our religion is basically a religion of exile" -- a religion of alienation from the plant world, other species including the snake which represents knowledge and healing, from wisdom (as shown in the caduceus), and from the Feminine.

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The caduceus is not only the sign of healing, it also represents our own Kundalini energy rising up our spines to reach our Third Eye -- which when opened gives us "wings" to fly. So, to be alienated from the snake and apple is not only to be alienated from other species of animals and plants, but from our own wisdom!

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Does this story help explain the rampant addictions and depression, as welll as the alienation from healing plants and other species? Does it help explain the war against the feminine -- women, the Right Brain, Mother Earth that has dominated Western culture for centuries?

Has the Dollar Sign replaced the healing Caduceus?

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