Horned Serpent

The Horned Serpent is the great underwater serpent of Muscogee (Creek) tradition, known among the neighbouring Choctaw and Chickasaw as Sint Holo. To the Creek it is a serpent crowned with stag-like horns and covered in iridescent, crystalline scales, with a single large crystal set in its forehead; both the scales and the crystal are prized as objects of divination. Dangerous and capable of dragging the unwary to a watery death, it is at the same time a powerful spirit helper that may reveal itself to a person during fasting and bestow spiritual gifts. It is the magnified counterpart of the Tie-Snake, the two serpents being sometimes told of as one and sometimes as distinct, with the Horned Serpent the greater.

Domains

• deep water serpents
• divination and vision

Powers

• to yield scales and a forehead crystal prized for divination
• to reveal itself to fasting seekers and bestow spiritual gifts

Epithets

• Sint HoloBill Grantham, Creation Myths and Legends of the Creek Indians, University Press of Florida, 2002. (secondary)

Relations

• rival: Tie-SnakeThe Horned Serpent is the great counterpart of the Tie-Snake; Creek tradition sometimes identifies the two and sometimes distinguishes them, holding the Horned Serpent to be the larger and more potent.Bill Grantham, Creation Myths and Legends of the Creek Indians, University Press of Florida, 2002. (secondary)

Sources

• The Horned Serpent (known among neighbouring peoples as Sint Holo) is a great underwater serpent of Muscogee tradition, crowned with horns and sheathed in iridescent crystalline scales whose scales and forehead crystal are prized for divination.: John R. Swanton, 'Religious Beliefs and Medical Practices of the Creek Indians,' in Forty-Second Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution, 1928. (secondary); Bill Grantham, Creation Myths and Legends of the Creek Indians, University Press of Florida, 2002. (secondary)