A travelogue and at the same time a key text of modernity: The young researcher from Hamburg set off for New Mexico around the turn of the century to attend his brother's wedding in New York. Tired of civilization, he sought the "eternally constant Indian essence in the helpless human soul." While observing tribal rituals, he particularly focused on the snake as a symbol of lightning, which Indian magic employs in weather spells. A quarter of a century later, the now-famous scholar arrived at a self-understanding with the text printed here, demonstrating how in Indian, Greek, and biblical mythology, the snake symbol embodies the transformation of fear into reason. This text, which has become canonical in the edition published by Gertrud Bing and Fritz Saxl, is accompanied by a foundational essay by Ulrich Raulff that is essential for Warburg research.