(urth) Claw = Fang?

[Bill Burgess]

Remembering,  with Severian,   that symbols create knowledge and human
stories,  rather then the other way around,  here are some things I thought
of when reading your question.

In the Eden story four entities are cursed, the serpent, the woman, the
man, and the ground/dust.

The serpent's curse is that he will crawl on the ground and eat dust and
that it's seed  will be enemies of the woman's seed.   The woman's
descendants will smash the head of  serpents because serpents bite their
heels.

The woman's curse is that whatever physical pleasure she may have  in
procreation,  only she will bear the incredible pain and risk of it.  Her
husband will only experience the pleasure of it,  while he rules over her.

The man's curse is identical with the curse of the ground.   The dust is
cursed to bring forth thorns,  and the man is cursed to extract his (and
the woman's)  food painfully from thorn filled fields.   For all the days
of his life,  until he returns to  that cursed and thorn filled dust from
which he came.


The dust of the ground is cursed with serpents fangs and thorns.     And
the dust of ground is the origin and destiny of humanity.

This is in the book of Genesis.   In the book of Exodus the Israelites are
plagued with serpents and as a remedy Moses makes an image of a serpent and
lifts it on a staff for all to see and be cured of the venomous bites.   So
the symbol of the curse here becomes also the symbol of its cure.

So,  Christian symbolism builds on this by making by making the complete
humiliation of Jesus, which culminates in a crown of thorns,  as he is
lifted up on the cross,   the very cure for the curse of humanity.     And
certainly the crucifixion is the Christian fulfillment of the curse where
the seed of the woman's heel is bitten but he smashes the head of the
serpent.   But again,  this very curse is also the cure.

One other Biblical mention,  Paul says that he is given a thorn in the
flesh (remember the flesh is the dust of the ground),  and this thorn is a
messenger of Satan, (the serpent),  and when he asks God to remove it,  God
tells him it is actually there for God's purposes,  because the weakness
this thorn brings is also the source of his strength.    So again,  the
curse is the cure.

It seems impossible to me to see any use of a thorn as a symbol without
seeing an allusion also to the fangs of the serpent.
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