Why this word is great
OPHIOLATRY — [Noun] The worship of snakes or serpent deities. From the combining form ophio-, from Ancient Greek ὄφις (óphis, "snake"), and -latry, from Ancient Greek λατρεία (latreía, "worship"). Unlike ophiomancy, which seeks prophecy in sinuous movement, or zoolatry, which diffuses reverence across the animal kingdom, ophiolatry is a focused, theological gravity. It is the sacred cobra reared on a pharaoh's brow, the silent offering of milk in a sun-warmed dish, and the bronze serpent raised on a pole in the desert—a veneration not of the beast itself, but of the potent duality it embodies: poison and renewal, wisdom and temptation. We worship what we cannot excise from our own coiled minds.