Poisons and intoxicants were revered as fetishes, believed to be possessed. [1]
In ancient times, crime was detected in ordeals of poison, fire, and pain, as medicine men and priests acted as the first crime detectors and officers of the law through these crude techniques of arbitration. [2] Mental poisons hinder spiritual progress just as physical poisons impede the efforts of the Adjuster. [3]
Deliberately polluting the physical body with poisons hinders the efforts of the Adjuster to elevate the material mind and spiritual progress of the soul. [4] Poisoned weapons were used very early in history, alongside various mutilations and demands. [5]
Unscrupulous rulers gained great power through the discovery and use of poison, but their rule was always subject to the threat of assassination and rebellion. [6] Modern physicians still employ the wisdom of the serpent as a symbol, inherited from ancient snake cults whose members became genuine venom addicts. [7]