Nkauj Ntsuab & Sis Nab, Read Through the Eve Theory of Consciousness

TL;DR

• EToC claims women discovered recursive self-awareness first, then taught men via ritual; Hmong myth features Nkauj Ntsuab (Green Maiden) leading with Sis Nab (Snake Youth)—a female–male dyad that creates/organizes the world, with serpentine valence. See Yang’s synthesis and sources therein (creation by Gaodjoua/Sis Nab) — Yang 2007 — Hmong Studies Journal (PDF).
• The Qhuab Ke funeral chant embeds cosmogony + a guided ascent through spirit realms, i.e., ritualized death-and-rebirth—exactly the phenomenology EToC expects around the discovery/diffusion of the “I.” Primary text/translation: White (after Lemoine) — White 1983 — Qhuab Ke (PDF); Falk’s qeej studies — Falk 2004 — Asian Ethnology (PDF).
• EToC’s Snake Cult of Consciousness posits venom as entheogen and meme-vector; Sis Nab is literally Snake Youth. Modern case literature confirms psychoactive/reinforcement-seeking use of snake venom in India (rare, dangerous; still real) — e.g., PMC 2021 — case review; PMC 2018 — case report. NGF-in-venom is factual neurobiology — PNAS 1956 — NGF (PMC).
• Cross-cultural serpent creator-pairs (e.g., Nüwa–Fuxi) parallel the Hmong dyad; not identity, but supportive structure for EToC’s diffusion horizon — Duke UP essay on Han iconography: Archives of Asian Art — Duke UP.
• Aetiologies (e.g., Plain of Jars folktale version) localize cosmology in landscape—EToC’s “map becomes the territory” in culture — bilingual booklet: Johnsons’ Folktales (PDF).
• Baseline EToC reference: v3.0 — Vectors of Mind — EToC v3.

“Back in the beginning who rose to rule the sky? … Who rose to rule the earth?”
— Qhuab Ke (White’s English after Lemoine, 1983), p. 5 — White 1983 (PDF)

What EToC Predicts (in one page)#

The Eve Theory of Consciousness (EToC) argues (i) recursive self-awareness (“I”) spread memetically first, then selected for genetically; (ii) women discovered “I” first, anchoring early ritual and pedagogy; (iii) a snake-centered entheogenic complex (venom as sacrament) catalyzed initiation; (iv) the resulting duality (inner/outer, spirit/material) became a cultural universal legible in myth, calendars, and funerary liturgies. Programmatic source: “v3.0” — https://www.vectorsofmind.com/p/eve-theory-of-consciousness-v3.

Two operational tests matter here:

1. Gendered primacy — Does a myth remember a woman-first or woman-led turn to order/creation?
2. Serpent catalyst — Do snakes mediate knowledge/creation, esp. as ritual power?

The Hmong pairing Nkauj Ntsuab (Gau Njua) + Sis Nab (Shee/Shee Na) checks both boxes—and then some.

The Pair and the Chant: What the Sources Actually Say#

First, locate them. In one rigorous ethnography, Gaodjoua (Nkauj Ntsuab) and SheeNah (Sis Nab) are listed among the World‑Above celestials (with Saub, Siv Yis, Kaying, and Ntuj), not as netherworld goblins—English “underworld” is a leaky gloss over yeeb ceeb / yaj ceeb dualism (spirit/material). See Yang, Hmong Studies Journal 7 (2007), p. 1–2 — https://www.hmongstudiesjournal.org/uploads/4/5/8/7/4587788/klyang.pdf.

Second, function. Yang collates Lemoine/Mottin: Lady Gaodjoua is “first woman”; in variants she creates Earth while her husband creates Sky—an explicit gendered cosmogonic division of labor. Mottin (1980: 62–65) via Yang (2007: 30–31) — https://www.hmongstudiesjournal.org/uploads/4/5/8/7/4587788/klyang.pdf. That’s bullseye for EToC’s female‑first agency.

Third, ritual frame. The Qhuab Ke (“Showing/Teaching the Way”) sung at funerals interleaves cosmogony with itinerary—creation Q&A, gates of the sky, horned gatekeepers, retrieval of the placenta-garment—guiding the soul through a structured ascent back to ancestral villages. Primary: White’s English after Lemoine’s Hmong text (1983) — https://renincorp.org/bookshelf/showing-the-way_white.pdf; musical encryption in the qeej performance studied by Falk (2004, Part Two) — https://asianethnology.org/downloads/ae/pdf/a1503.pdf; also Part One — https://asianethnology.org/downloads/ae/pdf/a1483.pdf.

Takeaway: the Hmong system hard‑codes a dual world (yeeb/yaj) and ritualized death–rebirth navigation—exactly the ecology where EToC says recursive “I” is taught, tested, and transmitted (cf. EToC’s Eleusinian analogy and “Third Eye”/symbolic space) — https://www.vectorsofmind.com/p/eve-theory-of-consciousness-v3.

How the Myth Supports EToC (five correspondences)

1) Female-first agency → Green Maiden makes the world#

EToC posits women discovered “I” first and founded the cult of inner life; Hmong sources preserve Nkauj Ntsuab (Gaodjoua) as first woman and earth-maker, paired with Sis Nab (sky-maker). That’s the women-first predicate, remembered as cosmogonic primacy rather than a 20th-century psychologism—precisely the kind of deep mnemonic EToC expects in archaic myth. Yang 2007, pp. 30–31 (Mottin/Lemoine citations) — https://www.hmongstudiesjournal.org/uploads/4/5/8/7/4587788/klyang.pdf. EToC baseline on women-first: https://www.vectorsofmind.com/p/eve-theory-of-consciousness-v3.

2) Serpent catalyst → Sis Nab as Snake Youth (and the neurochemistry checks)#

Sis Nab literally encodes the snake. EToC’s “Snake Cult of Consciousness” claims venom worked as an entheogen and post-ritual plasticity amplifier (cf. NGF). Facts on the ground: NGF was indeed first isolated from snake venom (1956), and purified from cobra venom thereafter—canonical neurobiology: PNAS 1956 (Cohen & Levi-Montalcini) — https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC282958/; PNAS 1968 review — https://journals.physiology.org/doi/pdf/10.1152/physrev.1968.48.3.534. Ethnographic/forensic crumbs: rare but documented recreational/ritualized use of snake venom in India with psychoactive reports and reinforcement substitution — case series/reviews: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5968650/; https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8715837/; PubMed review — https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35870385/. Archaeology: a 1,500-year-old coprolite from Texas preserved a venomous snake fang; scholarly consensus leans ritual consumption — Texas A&M summary (peer-review: Journal of Archaeological Science) — https://liberalarts.tamu.edu/blog/2019/04/25/snake-fil-a-study-shows-early-native-american-ate-an-entire-rattlesnake/; National Geographic — https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/prehistoric-times-someone-ate-venomous-snake-ritual-dare. None of this proves Paleolithic venom rites; it reduces the prior improbability that a snake-centered initiation complex existed. EToC’s venom argument: https://www.vectorsofmind.com/p/eve-theory-of-consciousness-v3.

3) Dual world → yeeb ceeb / yaj ceeb = inner/outer split#

EToC’s hinge is duality: a new inner, symbolic space (“Third Eye”) emerging alongside the material world. The Hmong yeeb ceeb (spirit/invisible) vs yaj ceeb (human/visible) is explicit—and ritually traversed in Qhuab Ke funerals. Yang 2007, p. 2 — https://www.hmongstudiesjournal.org/uploads/4/5/8/7/4587788/klyang.pdf. The chant’s itinerary (gates, guardians, sky riddle, ancestral return) is classic threshold-pedagogy. White 1983 (e.g., pp. 5, 18–19) — https://renincorp.org/bookshelf/showing-the-way_white.pdf. EToC on symbolic space/recursion: https://www.vectorsofmind.com/p/eve-theory-of-consciousness-v3.

4) Culture as terrain → the pair “shape” mountains, rivers, people#

Hmong cycles attribute to the pair the shaping of mountains, plains, rivers, lakes, and people—and diaspora retellings embed this as aetiology (e.g., Plain of Jars). This “world-making” motif matches EToC’s line that once recursive culture emerges, maps (myths, names, rites) become the territory (institutions, land-memory, law). Johnsons’ bilingual folktale booklet — https://www.renincorp.org/bookshelf/johnsons-folktales/the-story-of-the-plain-2.pdf; EToC’s “map → territory” riff (self-narration as world-shaper) — https://www.vectorsofmind.com/p/eve-theory-of-consciousness-v3.

5) Diffusion horizon → serpent dyads recur (Nüwa–Fuxi; Rainbow Serpents)#

The Hmong pairing has structure-parallels in neighboring myth ecologies: Nüwa–Fuxi serpent-tailed creators (Han-era art shows them as a dyad) — Archives of Asian Art 71(1) — https://read.dukeupress.edu/archives-of-asian-art/article/71/1/63/173731. EToC posits a serpent cult phylogeny across Eurasia (and debates Australian timing). On the latter: classic rock-art work dates “Yam-style” Rainbow Serpents to ~4–6 ka BP (Taçon/Wilson/Chippindale 1996). DOI — https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.1834-4453.1996.tb00355.x; OA mirror — https://www.academia.edu/803647/Birth_of_the_Rainbow_Serpent_in_Arnhem_Land_rock_art_and_oral_history. EToC’s discussion — https://www.vectorsofmind.com/p/eve-theory-of-consciousness-v3.

Quick Map: EToC Predictions vs. Hmong Evidence#

The Qhuab Ke as a “Recursion Machine”#

At funerals, Hmong families teach the dead: cosmogony (who made what), an itinerary (which road to take), passwords for gatekeepers, and the retrieval of one’s satin garment/placenta—a metaphysics of identity continuity. A few (≤25‑word) lines: “Back in the beginning who created man?…‘Miss A, Young Man Ong, you created man.’” (White 1983, p. 10). The ascent culminates at the gates of the sky guarded by the Horned Couple (pp. 18–19). Source PDF — https://renincorp.org/bookshelf/showing-the-way_white.pdf.

If language + recursion co‑emerge (EToC), you’d predict liturgies that simulate recursion: nested if‑then steps, role‑filling dialogues, liminal crossings, meta‑maps (map of afterlife’s map). That’s exactly what Qhuab Ke delivers. On qeej encoding/chant performance: Falk 2004 (Part Two) — https://asianethnology.org/downloads/ae/pdf/a1503.pdf; Part One — https://asianethnology.org/downloads/ae/pdf/a1483.pdf. EToC’s recursion thread (Third‑Eye metaphor): https://www.vectorsofmind.com/p/eve-theory-of-consciousness-v3.

Comparative Sidebar: Nüwa–Fuxi Isn’t a Gotcha; It’s a Lens#

Lemoine long ago drew a parallel between Gaodjoua–SheeNah and Nüwa–Fuxi. Treat it as convergent structure (serpent dyad creating/ordering), not simple borrowing. For Chinese visual culture (Han triads, serpentine tails), see “Iconographic Volatility…” — https://read.dukeupress.edu/archives-of-asian-art/article/71/1/63/173731. For Hmong placement of the pair among celestials, see Yang 2007 — https://www.hmongstudiesjournal.org/uploads/4/5/8/7/4587788/klyang.pdf.

EToC’s diffusion horizon (serpent cult phylogeny) is compatible with multi-source, multi-century exchange. Australian Rainbow Serpents are late-Holocene in rock art (4–6 ka) per Taçon/Wilson/Chippindale 1996—paywalled DOI and OA mirror above. That’s a minimum iconographic horizon, not a birth certificate for snake myth.

Minimal Provenance & Influence#

Timeline (texts you can actually read)#

Section Heading Two — Objections, briefly#

1. “Underworld beings.” Afaict that’s a mistranslation. The pair are placed in World‑Above lists (Yang 2007). The Qhuab Ke ascent corroborates a vertical cosmography. — https://www.hmongstudiesjournal.org/uploads/4/5/8/7/4587788/klyang.pdf.
2. “Snake venom? Really?” Yes, rare/probably modern in many reports, but documented psychoactive use exists; NGF in venom is uncontested. That’s enough to keep EToC’s entheogen hypothesis live rather than woo. — https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8715837/ ; https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC282958/.
3. “Are Nkauj Ntsuab/Sis Nab named in every Qhuab Ke?” No. The chant is recensional; but the pair‑logic and cosmogony are emphatic. White 1983; Tapp’s China recension notes omission of some motifs (variance is the rule). — https://renincorp.org/bookshelf/showing-the-way_white.pdf ; https://www.researchgate.net/publication/44444705_Qha_Ke_Guiding_the_Way_From_the_Hmong_Ntsu_of_China_1943.

FAQ#

Q1. Does the Hmong dyad literally encode “women discovered ‘I’ first”? A. Not literally; myths don’t footnote neuroscience. But first-woman creates Earth paired with a serpent-male is exactly the gendered + serpent structure EToC predicts—close enough to count. See Yang 2007 — https://www.hmongstudiesjournal.org/uploads/4/5/8/7/4587788/klyang.pdf.

Q2. Where in Qhuab Ke is the inner/outer split? A. Everywhere: creation Q&A, spirit gates, sky riddle, ancestral villages—an algorithmic itinerary for crossing yeeb/yaj. Start with White (pp. 5, 18–19). — https://renincorp.org/bookshelf/showing-the-way_white.pdf.

Q3. Is there hard evidence for venom rites in deep time? A. Hard no; we have plausibility not proof: NGF in venom (1950s biology), rare modern cases with psychoactive reports, and a ritual snake meal in a 1.5-ka coprolite. — https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC282958/ ; https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8715837/ ; https://liberalarts.tamu.edu/blog/2019/04/25/snake-fil-a-study-shows-early-native-american-ate-an-entire-rattlesnake/.

Q4. What about the “folding mountains” variant? A. In some Hmong cycles the industrious wife enlarges Earth so it must be folded into mountains/valleys—a mythic geomorphology that fits EToC’s “map → territory” vibe. See collations in Hmong thought summaries drawing on Mottin/Lemoine — e.g., https://www.academia.edu/45206766/Aspects_of_Hmong_Thought (use cautiously).

Footnotes#

Sources#

• Cutler, Andrew. “Eve Theory of Consciousness v3.0.” Vectors of Mind, Feb 27, 2024. https://www.vectorsofmind.com/p/eve-theory-of-consciousness-v3
• White, Kenneth (after Jean Lemoine). “Showing the Way (Qhuab Ke).” Pandora, 1983. https://renincorp.org/bookshelf/showing-the-way_white.pdf
• Falk, Catherine. “Hmong Instructions to the Dead: What the Mouth Organ Qeej Says.” Asian Folklore Studies 63 (2004): Parts One & Two. https://asianethnology.org/downloads/ae/pdf/a1483.pdf ; https://asianethnology.org/downloads/ae/pdf/a1503.pdf
• Yang, Kao-Ly. “The Meeting with Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy: A Case Study of Syncretism in the Hmong System of Beliefs.” Hmong Studies Journal 7 (2007): 1–42. https://www.hmongstudiesjournal.org/uploads/4/5/8/7/4587788/klyang.pdf
• Taçon, P. S. C., M. Wilson, and C. Chippindale. “Birth of the Rainbow Serpent in Arnhem Land Rock Art and Oral History.” Archaeology in Oceania 31 (1996): 103–124. DOI https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.1834-4453.1996.tb00355.x ; OA mirror https://www.academia.edu/803647/Birth_of_the_Rainbow_Serpent_in_Arnhem_Land_rock_art_and_oral_history
• Cohen, Stanley, and Rita Levi-Montalcini. “A Nerve Growth-Stimulating Factor Isolated from Snake Venom.” PNAS 42(9) (1956): 571–574. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC282958/ ; review: https://journals.physiology.org/doi/pdf/10.1152/physrev.1968.48.3.534
• Manjunatha, N., et al. “Snake Venom Use as a Substitute for Opioids: A Case Report and Review.” Indian J Psychol Med (2018). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5968650/ ; Boopathy, A., et al. “Snake Venom Addiction as Alcohol De-addiction.” Indian J Psychol Med (2021). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8715837/ ; PubMed review (2022): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35870385/
• Texas A&M Anthropology. “Snake Fil-A: Study Shows Early Native American Ate an Entire Rattlesnake.” (2019). https://liberalarts.tamu.edu/blog/2019/04/25/snake-fil-a-study-shows-early-native-american-ate-an-entire-rattlesnake/ ; National Geographic on the same study: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/prehistoric-times-someone-ate-venomous-snake-ritual-dare
• “NKAUJ NTSUAB thiab SIS NAB (Dab Neeg Tiaj Rhawv Zeb) / The Story of the Plain of Jars.” Johnsons’ Folktales, Fall 2002. https://www.renincorp.org/bookshelf/johnsons-folktales/the-story-of-the-plain-2.pdf
• Fischer, Felicia J. “Iconographic Volatility in the Fuxi-Nüwa Triads of the Han Dynasty.” Archives of Asian Art 71(1) (2021): 63–89. https://read.dukeupress.edu/archives-of-asian-art/article/71/1/63/173731
• (Use with caution) “Aspects of Hmong Thought.” Compiled excerpts referencing Mottin, Lemoine, Bertrais, Johnson, D. Wang (n.d.). https://www.academia.edu/45206766/Aspects_of_Hmong_Thought