An interpretation for the ancient symbolism for healing: the sun, the snake and the body

"...the sun wards off the evils of the earth... Of the sun's healing power Asclepius is the symbol, and to him they have given the staff as a sign of the support and rest of the sick, and the serpent is wound round it, as significant of his preservation of body and soul: for the animal is most full of spirit, and shuffles off the weakness of the body. It seems also to have a great faculty for healing: for it found the remedy for giving clear sight, and is said in a legend to know a certain plant which restores life" (Porphyry, c. 305AD). According to ecologist Whit Gibbons (2018), snakes are a sign of healthy environments, "when snakes are absent, the biodiversity is anemic."