The Caduceus vs the Staff of Asclepius (Asklepian) webpage
Permission to use and disclaimerI am posting this "general permission" (with conditions) and "general disclaimer" (of theological authority), as I have had so many individual requests and queries I am unable to answer them individually - my apologies if you are one of these!
General Permission
The information on this site has been researched from many open "public domain" sources and so may be used freely by anyone, providing any significant copying or use of the concepts I have proposed is acknowledged and cited as:
reproduced from/according to/cited from/courtesy of/with permission from:
(or similar)or
The photographs have likewise been collected from various open (public domain) sources or if copyrighted, my reproduction on a non-commercial educational page hasn’t caused anyone to object to my use of their image. I am unable to provide sources for these photographs as I collected them over a long period before I knew I would put them on a web page, so you may have to do your own Google search!!!
If you do use any photo for non-commercial/educational purposes, you will probably be OK but if you intend to use it for commercial, political or religious purposes, you would be advised to research the source and obtain permission.
General DisclaimerThe contents of this page are not intended to promote or denigrate any religious view, just to reveal the difference between a mystical symbol (the double snake of Caduceus) and a medical symbol (the single snake of Asclepius), so that anyone thinking they are using the medical symbol is made aware that the use of the caduceus is incorrect. This confusion (whether by "evil design" or ignorance) has been occurring for millennia as seen by the single fiery serpent set upon a pole that Moses was commanded to set up becoming the double snake symbol of the Nehushtan cult suppressed King Hezekiah over 600 years later. Whether the repeated use of snakes and poles by Moses implies any use of magic or other theological contradiction is beyond my theological and historical expertise and should not be used as evidence for any religious purpose, so I will not be responding to any demands to explain myself! However, if someone has anything useful to contribute to the topic that is educational or of interest, I would be interested to hear from them.
Sincerely,
Keith Blayney
Dr Keith T Blayney MBChB DipObs FRNZCGP
General Practitioner / GP Obstetrician