ancient egypt
The Modern Practice Of Spiritual Healing
In a world driven by science and technology, the value of our spiritual health is rarely recognized or appreciated these days, yet it is an essential aspect of our holistic health and well-being.
The truth is that spiritual healing has been practiced since the beginning of time to promote physical, emotional, mental and spiritual well-being. Our ancestors were much wiser in this regard. They had a holistic view of health and wellness that not only focused on the physical and mental, but also honored the spiritual or metaphysical aspects of our existence.
In ancient Egypt, for example, illness was treated as a battle between good and evil, and magical remedies were used in addition to herbal medicines. In ancient Greece, holism underpinned everything, and the soul, mind, and body were considered one.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, a holistic system practiced for at least 23 centuries, healing is achieved by balancing the yin-yang life force energies that permeate everything in the universe. In the indigenous healing traditions of Native America, holistic health is represented by the four quadrants of the ‘medicine wheel’ or ‘sacred circle,’ namely the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual states of being.
In Christianity, spiritual healing is documented with many references to the healing power of faith and prayer. The Bible also refers to the spiritual gift of healing, and there are several accounts of Jesus performing miraculous healings. In Hinduism, Ayurveda is a five-thousand-year-old Vedic system of medicine that seeks to restore the balance between the body, mind, and spirit.
Happiness Is To Follow Your Path With Joy
Discouragement, failure, heartache. Poor Moses did not have it easy. He went daily to the throne of the Pharaoh to ask for the release of his people. His life hadn’t started out very well. His mother had to hide him in the bulrushes, so he wouldn’t be killed right after his birth.
Then he went to live in the princess’s house, and knowing he was different he often felt alone. Adopted by royalty, his biological mother and sister were still living as slaves in the fields. He wasn’t happy. He should have been in high spirits, because he had everything a young man could desire…except he knew he didn’t belong.
Then, before he realized what had happened, this young man had killed an Egyptian soldier! So, here he was, a sought criminal, running away and going into hiding.
He had a stutter when he spoke, so he was a quiet man. But then Great Spirit puts him on his true path, instructing him to “go talk to Pharaoh, tell him to let my people go.”
What! Look, this path can’t be right? Yet, reassured by the prophets, the messengers, he embraced his task of getting the Israelites out of Egypt. With his brother by his side to do the talking, Moses finally went to the Pharaoh, and kickstarted the dream of freedom from slavery.
God helped Moses by creating problems for the Egyptians. He sent plagues and calamities. At first the results were disappointing and there was no change. Time after time, ten times in fact, just as the release seemed to be granted, the Pharaoh snatched it back again. But eventually see the plan finally work out.
There Is More To Astrology Than Horoscopes!
Astrology is an ancient, complex metaphysical tradition that originated over 4000 years ago in Mesopotamia. Yes, indeed! Old Babylonia was its birthplace, not Harry Potter’s Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Neither was it concocted by an enterprising editor of some trendy newspaper or magazine.
Actually, the first horoscope in the modern press is credited to the British astrologer Richard Harold Naylor who wrote a horoscope for the newly born Princess Margaret, titled What The Stars Foretell For The New Princess. It was published three days after her birth on August 24, 1930 in the Sunday Express weekly newspaper. It was so popular with readers that he was asked to write more horoscopes for the publication.
The sun sign astrology we see in modern day horoscopes was not originally intended for the individual, but it has become a useful gateway to entice people into a deeper exploration of astrology. Nothing wrong with a little ‘cheese for the mice,’ as long as we bear in mind that true astrology does not exclusively revolve around our birth sun sign.
Our sun sign is only one letter of the astrological alphabet, albeit a highly significant letter. The other planets in our natal chart do view our sun as the center of things, but the cosmos and our individual lives contain so much more.
The layered complexity of a nativity, a client’s individual birth story crystallized in an exact moment of time and place, is a story as rich as the history that birthed it. Ancient Babylonia carried the first seeds of the western, tropical system of astrology that many of us practice today.
The Sacred Tradition Of Smoke Cleansing
Smoke cleansing is an ancient spiritual practice found in many faiths, cultures, and wisdom traditions all over the world. These age-old rituals, ceremonies and healing practices involve the burning of various aromatic plants, resins, and woods and have been practiced since humans first discovered fire. Traditionally ceremonies and rituals involving smoke are mostly used for energy cleansings and spiritual blessings, but the purposes, techniques and materials used vary widely among belief systems, tribes, nations, and cultures.
The burning of incense, for example, was a revered practice in ancient Egypt as part of religious ceremonies. This practice continues today in the Roman Catholic church, with the burning of incense to amplify prayers and intentions.
In both Hinduism and Buddhism, incense is burnt for ritual offerings and rites, while in ancient China incense was burned during festivals and processions to honor ancestors and household gods, and in Japan it is part of the Shintō purification ritual.
In ancient Rome cinnamon was burnt during funerals. The Assyrians burned various aromatic woods in their homes, temples, and places of healing. In traditional Chinese medicine, the burning of agarwood and sandalwood is done to promote emotional wellness and physical healing.
One of the most well-known smoke cleansing traditions, especially in the United States, is known as smudging. To ‘smudge’ means ‘to make a smoky fire’ or ‘to emit a dense smoke.’ Smudging involves various purification and healing ceremonies originally practiced by the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Certain sacred herbs are traditionally used in smudging to purify and bless people and places, of which the most commonly used today is white sage or salvia apiana, also known as bee sage or sacred sage. It is an evergreen perennial shrub native to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico.
Remembering The Lost Wisdom Of Lemuria
In 2013, the scientific journal Nature pusblished a report that a long-lost continent had been discovered hidden under the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. This was furher confirmed by another study pusblished in 2017. What makes this unprecedented announcement especially interesting for the modern estoteric community is that it confirms the long-held belief that a lost continent called Lemuria, or the Land of Mu, did in fact exist, exactly as some scholars had speculated as far back as the mid-1800s.
Although not yet confirmed by modern science, it is also believed that this lost continent was once inhabited by an extinct race of prehistoric humans known as Lemurians. It is believed the Lemurians coexisted with the dinosaurs. They are even said to have had four arms and very tall, large, adrogynous bodies.
The legend of Lemuria and its inhabitants gained increased interest in the esoteric community when Helena Blavatsky, the Russian mystic and co-founder of the Theosophical Society, published her famous book The Secret Doctine in 1888. In the second part of the book, she describes how humanity originated and evolved from seven “root races” dating back millions of years. According to Madame Blavatsky the third root race was the first to be truly human and they existed on the lost continent of Lemuria, while the fourth root race is said to have developed in Atlantis.
“Occultism rejects the idea that Nature developed man from the ape, or even from an ancestor common to both, but traces, on the contrary, some of the most anthropoid species to the Third Race man,” writes Blavatsky.
A Brief History Of Astrology
The energies of the planets and stars affect us on many levels every day, whether we were aware of it or not. The earliest humans looked especially to the movements and phases of the Sun and Moon to guide them in their decisions about when to hunt, when to plant and harvest, and when to prepare for winter or migrate.
From this evolved the practice and study of Astrology. The early civilizations of Mesopotamia were the first to observe the patterns formed by stars in the galaxy as long ago as 3000 BC, while Indian astrology began to emerge as far back as 1200 BC.
The original astrologers identified five ‘wandering stars,’ which together with the sun and moon became the seven original ‘planets.’ More planets were of course identified over time, as technology advanced to introduce the telescope and other astronomical devises.
The Babylonians are generally credited for first developing formal Astrology, because they developed astrological charts to predict the recurrence of the seasons and certain celestial events. Centuries later, Ancient Egypt and Greece discovered Babylonian Astrology, where it soon became highly regarded as a science and was eventually also embraced by the Romans, as well as in the Middle East. In time, its popularity spread throughout the rest of the world. Today, we still use the Roman names for the zodiac signs.
Meanwhile, separate systems of Astrology also emerged in India, China, and Mesoamerica. It remains unclear whether the Babylonian, Indian (known today as Hindu or Vedic Astrology) and Chinese systems of Astrology evolved in isolation and independently, or whether they mutually influenced each other. There are many similarities between these systems, but also many distinct differences. Scholars have been studying and debating this for centuries, but the matter remains inconclusive.
The Ancient Art Of Dowsing
If you live in a rural, arid area or grew up in a farming community, you might be familiar with the practice of ‘dowsing’ to searching for hidden, underground water. But did you know that dowsing is also used as a divination tool, as well as a spiritual practice?
The art form of dowsing dates back to ancient times, as it can be found depicted in old artwork found in Egypt, China and Babylonia. Dowsing for water, as it is practiced today, is believed to have originated the 16th century in Germany, where it was first used to search for metals.
Dowsing, however, is not only used to find water. It is also used by diviners and metaphysicians to predict future outcomes, perform healings, locate missing objects, and even to help solve crimes.
Instead of a dowsing rod, psychics use a pendulum or weighted item to ask their spiritual guardians or angels for guidance. The pendulum serves as a connection between the physical realm and the spirit realms. The answers from spirit is interpreted through the motion of the pendulum. For example, if the pendulum moves up and down, or counterclockwise, the answer may be no, or negative, while back and forth or clockwise usually suggests yes, or positive.
A skilled diviner is usually able to translate the results very accurately, although a beginner can also practice this art with some success. This allows someone who is new to the practice to ask simple yes or no questions to get results. For more advanced readings, with more complex questions, it’s best to consult a dowser with more experience, who can accurately interpret the results. Dowsing scales and charts are often used for this purpose.