Salve a tutti, hi everybody.

In this wiki I'm talking about a very famous symbol often misunderstood.

I'm talking about the Caduceus, the staff carried by Hermès and consequently by Hermes Trismegistus in Greco-Egyptian mythology.

It is often mistakenly used as a symbol of medicine instead of the Rod of Asclepius, especially in the United States.

The caduceus is made up of a staff with two wings, symbolizing the primacy of the intelligence that is placed above the material in order to dominate it by means of intelligence, and of two reptiles that mate, symbol of the polarity of the good and of the badly balanced by the god who controls its strength, twisted in the opposite direction to the top and facing each other. In this interweaving the male serpent, of solar ascendance, is placed on the right, while the female serpent, of lunar ancestry, is placed on the left.The two-snake caduceus design has ancient and consistent associations with trade, eloquence, negotiation, alchemy, wisdom, and controversially, thievery, lying, and the passage into the underworld.

Astronomically, the head and tail of the two reptiles represent the points of the ecliptic in which the Sun and the Moon meet, almost in a hug.

Metaphysically, it represents the descent of primordial matter in gross matter.

Physiologically, it represents the vital currents flowing in the human body.

Referred to the Universe, it indicates the ability to dominate the chaos and to put order in it, creating harmony between the different tendencies that revolve around the axis of the world.

Referred to the human body, it indicates the thaumaturgical power of the one who is able to bring harmony into a sick organism.

The caduceus also indicates the ability to reconcile opposites with each other, creating harmony between different elements such as water, fire, earth and air. For this reason it frequently occurs also in alchemy, as an indication of the synthesis of sulfur and mercury, as well as in the symbolism of the pharmacopoeia.

The term caduceus derives from the Greek Karkeion (herald, messenger) and represented precisely the symbol of Hermes or Mercury, messenger of the gods, who displayed it as a symbol to settle the quarrels. It was in fact brought by heralds and ambassadors as a symbol of their function and as an emblem of their personal inviolability. But before that at Mercury, the magic stick was attributed as emblem to Hermes Trismegistus, mythical ancestor of traditional magical art, understood as a synthesis of universal knowledge in all its applications: medicine, moral law, philosophy, religion, natural sciences, mathematics, etc. The myth of Hermes dates back to the most remote Egyptian civilization, then resumed from the Greek mythology that drew the god Hermes then became Mercury with the Romans.

[Sources: "Acam", "Wikipedia", "Google imagines"]