Review: The Cosmic Serpent, by Jeremy Narby

I’d wanted to read this when it first came out but never got around to it.  And I’m glad I waited, because it clarified my thinking about aspects of my own writing that needed some clarity.  But beyond that I found it a fascinating examination of mythological imagery, shamanism, hallucinogenic substances, and DNA.

What’s that?  How do all those things relate to each other?  To give it to you in the proverbial nutshell, Narby believes that DNA speaks to people, specifically shamans, and specifically while they are under the influence of drugs. “Oh sure,” you say.  “Pull the other one, it’s got bells.” But Narby has done a pretty good job documenting the medical uses of plant material discovered by these same shamans, and used by their tribes for centuries, plants which western pharma companies are only now beginning to exploit, even though they still don’t actually know why the plants work the way they do.  He’s also traced a lot of ancient imagery and mythology which feature helical structures, entwined serpents, twisting ladders and stairwells; in short he feels they’re symbols of the double helix of DNA.

Because I’m not trying to convince anyone, and because in order to fully understand and appreciate Narby’s thesis, you really do have to read the book, I don’t have any real stake in anyone’s belief or disbelief.  I found the book fascinating, the more so because it has some professional importance to me.  I actually find it far more interesting and even convincing than the conclusions drawn by Yuval Harari’s Sapiens.  YMMV.