Using a "sacred" chalice initiates drank a mixture of venom and blood from the same snake in ceremonial worship of the serpent deity.
By taking this elixir the cult’s initiates were cured of disease and, it is claimed, their lives were prolonged. Indeed, Gardiner believes that this is the root source of the Elixir of Life legend.
This book uncovers archaeological evidence to trace the spread of the serpent cult through prehistory from Mesopotamia to Egypt and Greece to the West. It demonstrates how the legends borne out of their serpent worship were inculcated into Christianity, Judaism and Islam at the birth of these religions.
This book also demonstrates parallels between European and American serpent worship. It uses archaeological evidence to demonstrate that the knowledge regarding the benefits of imbibing serpent venom was inculcated into ancient symbolism on both sides of the Atlantic. One important site that features in the book is the ancient city of Yaxchilan in Mexico where Gardiner discovered images with amazing ceremonial similarities to the Christian Eucharist:
"On what is known as Structure 23 in the ancient city of Yaxchilan there are remarkable images of a bloodletting ritual… (that) depicts the preparations for a ‘holy war’ and unfolds in a number of scenes across several lintels. Shield Jaguar, the blood-lord of the city, stands holding a flaming staff. Below him is the female-element of Lady Xoc (meaning ‘shark’) who is performing a unique and disturbing sacrifice. She is kneeling, dressed in sky-ornamented clothing with a headdress showing the god, Tlaloc, the ‘rain god’ of Teotihuacan, thus indicating her lineage and blood to be of the gods with life-giving powers. "She is pulling a rope or vine strung with thorns through her tongue, and the blood is dripping down it into a bowl/basket decorated with serpents at her knees. The design on the bowl/basket, known as the ‘step-fret’, represents water, waves, wind, sun, light and, most importantly, life. It is a known symbol of the serpent and a magical talisman against death. Her blood is also splattering upon white paper placed in the bowl/basket to collect and somehow enhance the power of the sacred offering, so that the vessel only becomes a life-giving symbol after the paper has collected the blood. Like the Grail, the vessel is a receptacle for blood. Furthermore, the alchemical colours red and white that are mixed in this sacrificial scene are the same as those the bread and wine of the Christian Eucharist: the paper and bread wafer are white; the blood and wine, red. The vessel then changes into an unadorned ceramic, the serpent image having now come to life following the offering of!
blood." [More]