That Strange Symbol | Spirit Daily Blog

There are plenty of good Christian doctors and pharmacists out there, and there is no question that a large majority of people depends or will depend on them. Thank God for the many honorable doctors out there.

And nurses?

Many of them seem worthy of beatification, not to mention the attendants who work for nearly minimum wage in nursing homes.

Saints. And how about all the Catholic hospitals? Did you know that no other hospital group is bigger?

But there also is no question of tremendous gouging in the field of medicine, from the prices for drugs (a common prescribed blood thinner costs more than six hundred dollars for ninety days, and another, a prescription gene therapy used to treat children less than two years old with spinal muscular atrophy, costs $2,125,000 a year) to simple surgical procedures. Simply put, in the U.S. it has become big business. The price for a vial of insulin can range from $30 to $40 in Europe, while in the U.S., it might be priced over $300. Asthma inhalers like albuterol can cost around $20 to $50 in European countries but may cost over $250 in the U.S. without insurance.

Drugs like atorvastatin (Lipitor), used for lowering cholesterol, can be five times more expensive in the United States.

In the U.S., a visit to a general practitioner ranges in cost from $100 to over $250 for those without insurance. Specialist consultations generally range from $200 to $500 or more without insurance (while in many European countries with universal healthcare systems, visits to general practitioners are either free or require a nominal fee, typically under $30).

And hospitals?

A single day in one can range from $2,000 to over $4,000 (depending on the state and the hospital). More intensive care or surgeries can push the daily costs much higher.

Now, countless lives are saved or extended as a result of the sophisticated medical care. The question is whether it is a business or a profession, and the question is where some of the less admirable aspects of modern medical care originate (spiritually).

In this regard are the symbols, which at the least are a curiosity.+

The American Medical Association (AMA) logo is a single snake coiled around a slanted straight line, similar to a spring. It’s based on the staff of Asclepius, which dates back to ancient times and represents the Greek god of healing–the staff symbolizing medicine and healing, while the snake shedding its skin represents renewal.+

The symbol also appears in the Bible, where Moses is instructed to erect a brass pole with a serpent to heal the Israelites of snake bites.+

Those who looked upon the staff (with tamed serpents under its control) were thought to get healed.

There is also the highly similar “caduceus” (as it is called when there are two snakes). This was the magic wand carried by Hermes (the Romans knew him as Mercury), and was once a symbol for the A.M.A. and is still in wide use in various other fields.+

To understand the association of the winged caduceus and the healing arts, one must consider two early forms of worship—adoration of serpents and of the sun. Serpent and sun worship are found to be universally associated. The serpent was worshipped as a symbol of life and regenerative power by primitive humans, who also associated sunshine with the blessings of life and health. The establishment of the seat of serpent worship in northern Egypt, in the dominion of the sun god Ra, led to the association of the sun and the serpent.

Although the caduceus (again, two snakes, not one) had a non-medical origin, during the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance it started to be associated with the healing professions as an emblem of alchemy and, later, pharmacy. The source of this correlation appears to be the Hermetica manuscripts, a collection of texts on philosophy, astrology, alchemy, magic, and medicine. As Wikipedia informs us, “It is relatively common, especially in the United States, to find the caduceus, with its two snakes and wings, misused as a symbol of medicine instead of the Rod of Asclepius, with only a single snake. This usage was popularized by the adoption of the caduceus as its insignia by the U.S. Army Medical Corps in 1902 at the insistence of a single officer (though there are conflicting claims as to whether this was Capt. Frederick P. Reynolds or Col. John R. van Hoff).”

The long-standing historical association of the caduceus with commerce has engendered significant criticism of its use in medicine. Medical professionals argue that the Rod of Asclepius better represents the field of medicine.

Suggestion: the best symbol would be this one:

Curious when it comes to healing are also aspects of the pharmaceutical industry. The word “pharmaceutical” has its origins in the mixing of various magical herbs known as pharmakeia, a staple of European occultism.

“Pharmakeia” appears in Galatians 5:20 and Revelation 18:23 and variations of it appear in Revelation 9:21, Revelation 21:8, and Revelation 22:15. These are typically translated into English as “sorcery,” “witchcraft,” or “sorcerer.” Ancient Greek uses of pharmakeia closely mirror the generic modern English word drugs; the same Greek root word produced English terms such as pharmacy and pharmacist.

A bit pagan, one might say (as too much healing is now in secularly monetized hands).

Because of the link between alchemy and pharmacy, and the use of mercury in pharmaceutical preparation, from the 16th century on, the caduceus started to appear as a symbol linked to healing, and it can also be found occasionally as printers’ marks in frontispieces of pharmaceutical publications, says the Science Museum Group.

[Footnote: the issue of the symbols arose again for us when two social-media videos circulated, depicting alleged near-death experiences and including visions of the symbol at the doorway to hell. Years ago, we carried the testimony of a Chicago physician named Theodore M. Homa who, during his brush with death, saw the desperate state of his profession—how so many doctors had like himself become entrepreneurs instead of true caregivers—and how they shuffled patients in and out without tending to their fundamental needs, dashing off a prescription instead of counseling them on behavioral changes and even spirituality. “I saw the materialism,” he said, “how too many are focused only on their careers and their retirement.” How patients had become numbers. “I didn’t care enough,” he said, and this, he warned, is “deadly” to the physician’s soul. Doctors should recognize that Jesus Christ is the Divine Physician: in the end, it is He alone Who authentically heals. We also once carried the account of a surgeon from India who said he was cast into hell for turning his calling into a business.+

It hardly means the medical profession is evil, nor even that it’s related to those near-death visions. For as we see above, the two snakes around the staff have meant various things to various people—some good and healing, some not as good, warlike—but they do inspire a bit of meditation and reflection.

“Lord God, let all our medical professionals be men of God, and may the main motive have nothing to do with money or anything serpentine.”]

[resources: The God of Healing]