How bullroarers figure in Papua New Guinea male initiations—from Purari Delta imunu viki and kaiamunu ‘monsters’ to Sepik Tambaran houses—plus names, stages, and secrecy.
How Did a Self-Aware Mind Evolve?
Meditations on mind, myth, and evolution. Cast the scales from your eyes!
TL;DR
- Symbolic thought emerged ~50,000 years ago, yet the universal human symbol, “I,” or the ego appears globally entrenched only in the Holocene ~10 kya.
- According to Eve Theory of Consciousness, women invented serpent-venom initiation rituals that reliably taught subject-object separation, producing powerful gene-culture evolution towards understanding “I am’” at a young age.
- The memory of this awakening is preserved worldwide in creation myths (cf. Lucifer, Nüwa, Quetzalcoatl) and was transmitted globally via bullroarer mystery cults (cf. the rites of Dionysus or Australian Dreamtime).
Topics
About
I’m Andrew Cutler, a Machine Learning engineer researching human origins. My work connects psychology, comparative mythology, and AI to trace how recursive self-awareness evolved. Snakecult.net is a place for me to put lightly-edited AI-generated essays that explore niche questions (usually produced with OpenAI’s Deep Research or o3-Pro).
Research Articles
Snake‑Bitten & Swallowed: initiatory serpents from Cape York to Eleusis
Comparative cases where initiates are called ‘snake‑bitten’ or ‘swallowed’—from Cape York’s dunggul to Sabazios, Yuruparí, the Ophites, Hopi Snake Dance, and Wawilak—w/ primary sources.
Darwin on ‘primitive’ society: jealousy, marriage, and deep time
What Darwin actually said about early human social order—monogamy, polygyny, polyandry, ‘communal marriage,’ matriliny, time depth, and gene–culture feedback—with primary-source quotes.
Djang’kawu & Wawilak Sisters: Yolngu Charters of Law, Language, and Country
A research-oriented account of the Yolngu Djang’kawu and Wawilak Sisters cycles—origins of law, language, and ceremony—mapped to EToC.
Freud’s Primal Horde, ‘Mother‑Right,’ and the Return of the Father
What Freud actually said about a primordial matriarchy: Darwinian horde → parricide → totemic brother‑clan with mother‑right → restitution of patriarchy, with primary‑source receipts.
Ice-Age Memory in World Myth: Floods, Fimbulwinters, and the Great Unfreezing
A source-heavy, neutral survey of myths about long winters, cataclysmic floods, and great meltwaters—assessing if any preserve Ice Age memories.
Wandjina–Wunggurr: Rain‑Law, Repainting, and the Maintenance of the World (Kimberley, WA)
A research‑oriented account of the Wanjina Wunggurr creation complex (Worrorra–Ngarinyin–Wunambal), showing how repainting rock images sustains seasonal order and Law.
Emergence Portals: American Myths Through the Eve Lens
From Hopi sipapus to Andean caves, New‑World creation stories mirror the moment ‘Eve’ first looked back at herself.
Etymology Of Atonement
A deep dive into how the word atonement grew from the Middle‑English phrase “at one” plus the French‑derived suffix ‑ment, and what that splice reveals about the youth of English.
From Reconciliatio To Atonement: How An English Neologism Ousted Latin, Greek, And Hebrew Mainstays
Why the English coinage atonement eclipsed classical terms like Latin reconciliatio, Greek katallagē, and Hebrew kippur—and what that shift says about Reformation‑era thought.