King Tut's Tomb was No Better - Found in America

Between 603 and 702 AD. a truly marvelous temple was built by the Mayan people to honour a non-Mayan, non-Indian man. The firsthand account of Alberto Ruz from 'Eyewitness to Discovery' follows in part, as it was printed in 'Illustrated London News':

Four spells of work--each two and a half months long--were required before we were able to clear the filling from this mysterious staircase. {It has an important serpent figure on the walls all the way down.} After a flight of forty-five steps, we reached a landing with a U-turn. There followed another flight, of twenty-one steps, leading to a corridor, whose level is more or less the same as that on which the pyramid was built--i.e., some 22 metres under the temple flooring. In the vaulting of the landing two narrow galleries open out and allow air and a little light to enter from a near-by courtyard.

Above one of the first steps we reached we found a box-shaped construction of masonry containing a modest offering: two ear-plugs of jade placed on a river stone painted red {The colour of ochre and cinnabar that we have seen denotes spiritual things in the beginning of processes that adepthoods of the world are seen involved with.} On reaching the end of the flight of stairs we found another box of offerings, backing on to a wall which blocked the passage. This time it was a richer offering: three pottery dishes, two shells full of cinnabar, seven jade beads, a pair of circular ear-plugs also of jade, the plugs of which were shaped like a flower, and a beautiful tear-shaped pearl, with its 'lustre' pretty well preserved. An offering of this kind, at such a depth, told us without any doubt that we were approaching the object of our search.

And, in fact, on July 13, 1952, after demolishing a solid obstruction some metres thick, made of stone and lime--this was very hard and the wet lime burnt the hands of the workmen--there appeared on one side of the corridor a triangular slab, 2 metres high, set vertically to block an entrance. At the foot of this slab, in a rudimentary stone cut, there lay, mixed together, the largely destroyed skeletons of six young persons, of whom one at least was a female.

At noon on the 15th of the same month we opened the entrance, displacing the stone enough for a man to pass through sideways. It was a moment of indescribable emotion for me when I slipped behind the stone and found myself in an enormous crypt which seemed to have been cut out of the rock--or rather, out of the ice, thanks to the curtain of stalactites and the chalcite veiling deposited on the walls by the infiltration of rain-water during the centuries. This increased the marvellous quality of the spectacle and gave it a fairy-tale aspect. Great figures of priests modelled in stucco a little larger than life-size perhaps just 'giants'. formed an impressive procession round the walls. The high vaulting was reinforced by great stone transoms, of dark colour with yellowish veins, giving an impression of polished wood.

Almost the whole crypt was occupied by a colossal monument, which we then supposed to be a ceremonial altar, composed of a stone of more than 8 square metres, resting on an enormous monolith of 6 cubic metres, supported in its turn by six great blocks of chiselled stone. All these elements carried beautiful reliefs.

Finest of all for its unsurpassable execution and perfect state of preservation was the great stone covering the whole and bearing on its four sides some hieroglyphic inscriptions with thirteen abbreviated dates corresponding to the beginning of the seventh century A.D., while its upper face shows a symbolic scene surrounded by astronomical signs.

I believed that I had found a ceremonial crypt, but I did not wish to make any definite assertions before I had finished exploring the chamber and, above all, before I had found out whether the base of the supposed altar was solid or not. On account of the rains and the exhausting of the funds available for this phase of the exploration, we had to wait until November before returning to Palenque... I then had the base bored horizontally at two of the corners, and it was not long before one of the drills reached a hollow space. I introduced a wire through the narrow aperture and, on withdrawing it, I saw that that some particles of red paint were adhering to it... This colour was associated in the Mayan and Aztec cosmogony with the East...

{This is true of the gateway arch at Tiahuanaco where they talk of the red lands to the east that went under the water. It likely relates to what is now found off the coast of Cuba at the 2200 foot depth.}

Once the stone left its seating and began to rise it could be seen that a cavity had been cut out of the enormous block which served it as a base. This cavity was of an unexpected shape, oblong and curvilinear, rather like the silhouette in schematised form of a fish or of the capital letter omega {Which we have seen regarding Teilhardism. Could this have been a man like Count Vlad of the Christian Dragon crusaders? Could it be the forerunner of the Jesuit/Illuminati knowledge including Teilhard?}, closed in its lower part. {My Stele details how at Chichen Itza I was able to see the Greek alphabet and what I believe was the Cara-Maya alphabet as well as mathematical, astrological and other symbols. I was threatened with being thrown in a Mexican jail and coerced to sign away my legal protection as a U.S. resident and Canadian citizen. This stele is not on the tour and was painted over the second time I was there. It was painted over more than once and difficult to photograph. The work of Churchward says the Greek alphabet [this was an early alphabet] tells the story of the destruction of Mu. The Mayan people know that is their origin. But the Greek and Mu tie-in may have something to do with Troy III which was named Aa-Mu. This kind of information would be sensitive to a lot of people. The Mexicans were negotiating [roadblocks and army goons with guns all over] with the Mayans in Chiapas at the time.} The cavity was sealed by a highly polished slab fitting exactly and provided with four perforations, each with a stone plug. On raising the slab which closed it we discovered the mortuary receptacle...

In the vermillion-coloured walls and base of the cavity which served as a coffin, the sight of the human remains--complete, although the bones were damaged--covered with jade jewels for the most part, was most impressive. It was possible to judge the form of the body which had been laid in this 'tailored' sarcophagus; and the jewels added a certain amount of life {There were probably metal knives and a staff which came from something other than the meteorites the Mayans made knives from. The Mayans weren't encouraged by the Mexicans to take pride in their heritage. There was a time when they were even saying there were no Mayans left, as they tried to make it become the truth}, both from the sparkle of the jade and because they were so well 'placed' and because their form suggested the volume and contour of the flesh which originally covered the skeleton. It was easy also to imagine the high rank of the personage who could aspire to a mausoleum of such impressive richness.

We were struck by his stature, greater than that of the average Mayan of today; and by the fact that his teeth were not filed or provided with incrustations of pyrites or jade, since that practice (like that of artificially deforming the cranium) was usual in individuals of higher social ranks. The state of destruction of the skull did not allow us to establish precisely whether or not it had been deformed. In the end, we decided that the personage might have been of non-Mayan origin {N.B.}, though it is clear that he ended in being one of the kings of Palenque. The reliefs, which we have still to uncover on the sides of the sarcophagus and which are now hidden under lateral buttresses, may tell us before long something of the personality and identity of the glorious dead.

Even if he had not been buried in the most extraordinary tomb so far discovered in this continent of America, it would still be perfectly possible to assess the importance of this personage from the jewels which he wore--many of them already familiar in Mayan bas-reliefs {Therefore some not?} As shown in some reliefs, he was wearing a diadem made from tiny disks of jade and his hair was divided into separate strands by means of small jade tubes of appropriate shape; and we discovered a small jade plate of extraordinary quality cut in the shape of the head of Zotz, the vampire god of the underworld, and this may have been a final part of the diadem {Elsewhere reported as part of a necklace, by others.}. Around the neck were visible various threads of a collar composed of jade beads in many forms--spheres, cylinders, tri-lobed beads, floral buds, open flowers, pumpkins, melons, and a snake's head (Chanes and Dragons}. The ear-plugs were composed of various elements, which together made up a curious flower.

The amount of jade and the meaning of each thing on the necklace or the crouched man on the ring of jade are all packed with meaning. You could say that each of the insignia represented a spirit that one of the tribes honoured or worked with, you could imagine they are like Boy Scout badges, and you could say they are just decoration. The jade and green vitreole is an interesting connection that might make me think of geopolymerization, but I doubt it was tested for that possibility. The crouched man is a position of many honored Kelts when buried.

The ear plugs of special flower design reminds me of the lotus chakra and the place where the 'Third Eye' rests inside the brain. Perhaps the energy of the crystals and stone were created to accentuate certain energy or direct it into specific forms. Maybe I am just guessing too much; but symbols always mean something. At his feet were jade beads so large as to be hollowed and they had a flower plug. Kukulcan/Quetzacoatl directed the natives to sacrifice flowers rather than people in the centuries that followed. It would surprise me if this person was not one of the heritage of those mythic heroes who came and went throughout the Americas. I think they acted like Ovates of the Druidic or Bardic Tradition from the writings I've seen.

It is entirely likely that they and their families were to become the Toltecs. They were most sought after as mates among the various people. Ruz draws a lot of inferential connections to the Egyptian symbology and practices. I agree with some but also repeat imitations of pyramids that house tombs in America does not make Giza Pyramids into funerary tombs. Here also is a 'Tree of Life' and a Cross that is part of many belief systems throughout the world. It amazes me to hear the scholars say things like there is no cultural impact from other continents on the Americas when I read things like this; perhaps I use too much intuition or common sense and would have learned the error of my ways if I had become an archaeologist.

"The presence here, in a sepulchre slab, of motives which are repeated in other representations gives perhaps the key to interpret the famous panels of the Cross and the foliated Cross (in Palenque) and also some of the paintings in the codices. On the stone in question we see a man surrounded by astronomical signs symbolizing heaven--the spatial limit of man's earth... But above the man rises the well-known cruciform motif, which in some representations is a tree, in others the stylised maize {Like in Rosslyn Castle of the Templar Stewarts.} plant, but it is always the symbol of life resurgent from the earth, life triumphing over death." (2)

'Astronomical' should be astrological, in my mind. The Mayan (and Peruvian) ability to prophesize is legendary. They correctly knew the many key disasters of their history well in advance. The planet Venus plays a key role in their calendrical sky watching. There are many ways to report on these things, but I ask again; why not include other theories and related facts. When he wrote this he might have known about the Hopewell/Adena mound builders that many archaeologists see a relationship with. The serpent that rises up the stairs at a specific day each year through the shadows of a construction and placement so exact, might be of interest. The placement of all Mayan temples on a center point theory tied in to the earth energy grid could have been connected to the crystal ear plug receivers.

There, I go again! Just a lot of 'possibilities', but where are the facts? It was good that he drew connections to Egypt and omega could have a great deal of meaning as we said to make a connection with Greece. In Chichen Itza at the Villas Archaeologique I saw many Greek or Etruscan statues dated to the appropriate era. The more recent sculpted faces were totally Mayan/Aztec with the tongue and grotesque exaggerated features. It is hard to imagine that he would not have been there. It is the place where all the archaeologists stayed while uncovering the Mayan culture at the end of the 19th century. The editor of the book could have made notations about the breaking of the Mayan code that shows it has a phonetic as well as pictographic language, which wasn't known to Ruz.

Searching For Life's Meaning - Purpose in God's Screen Play

I find it interesting that, when we ask the question, "Why are we here?" we are really asking something so much more personal. It is something that has been asked through the ages: what is our purpose, and what brought us here? But I think that, underlying the generality, the heart of the question asks, "Why am I here?"

In my study of religion, I have been struck with the idea that, in the tradition of the western monotheist religions which have influenced our understanding of western society, there appears to be a promise that we are part of some great plot. We are allowed to take part in the vast adventure of the cosmos, which has a definite beginning and end. It seems that we inherently want to be a part of something greater than ourselves: humanity, the world, the universe, creation as it were. We also seem to suffer a loss of hope and faith in our own reality when we are unable to plug ourselves into the story and follow its path.

This realization suddenly became clear while I was sitting in a movie theater, watching with passive contentment as the protagonist fought his way through the muck and mire of the plot toward the goal set before him. He didn't ask to be in his position, he didn't wish it, and yet, there he was, with his cohorts at his right and left, struggling to the finish in the world that the film had created. As I watched, detached from the reality of the buses, people, and responsibilities that awaited me on the outside of the theater door, I came to understand the purpose story and myth. It gives us meaning.

I'm not referring to "meaning" in the general sense that an anthropologist offers it: the belief in God, creation by the Creator out of love; rather, that which validates that we need to be here. In Judaic, Christian, and Islamic beliefs, it appears as though a character role and the plot are set before us, made by the Creator. We have been raised to understand that because of the beginning and because of the inevitable end, there must be a rising action, a climax and a resolution. By merely living, we are characters in the grand scheme promised, and it is that lack of purpose in the whole that brings about the depression and loss of importance, the apathy that drains the meaning of, and form from our existence.

For most of us, we wake up, crack our eyes at the light beamed through the split window blinds, and sigh as cyclical time continues. There is no linear progression, just a cyclical recurrence as we understand time, in and out, over and over again until we die. It is really only the small distractions that seem to make life bearable: the forgettable drunk night, when, for a moment, a chemical reaction heightens our passions to engage with another human being in hopes that this climax will result in a satisfactory end. Perhaps even a marathon of our favorite TV show that once again shuts the door of the world briefly so we can live in another.

If Aristotle's and Aquinas' cosmological arguments are true, then an outside cause which effected the creation of this universe put into play something of significance. In the Hebrew Bible, the roles were given to play parts in an eternal story greater than themselves: Abraham leaving Ur was promised that the story would continue with his progeny; Moses, that his people needed to be freed from the antagonist; Gideon, the unlikely hero, pressed by a theophany to push the enemy from his land; David, to unite a nation. In the New Testament, Paul was to prepare for the end, and in the Qur'an, Muhammad, was to correct the corruption and save the world from damnation.

And in this plot there are also the code heroes, the martyrs who die by their own choice for the greater good of the plot, the hero archetypes who, by classical Greek method, leave their homes to venture forth to the underworld and do battle with the enemy at the gate. There are the oracles that give insight into the future and what must be done to preserve it, and, of course, the great evil, the Babylonians and Crusaders at the door to destroy a sacred way of life.

Yet I feel that as we read these, as these ideas in western thought become a part of our consciousness, we begin to feel disillusioned with the reality we have come to know: the bills, the morning traffic, job security in our cubicle, the normality of apathy toward anything more than what is outside of the sphere of the freeway stretch we drive every morning and night. The same stores we shop at for food, the same coffee shops where we get our coffee, the same side of the bed we sleep on offer only tedium, not meaning.

Certainly this has all been considered within the understanding of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. One certainly does not care about one's role while sitting cold in the rain, or clenching one's stomach from hunger. But it is something to wonder about: when all physical need is met, when we are warm, when we are no longer hungry, what next? I think there is a plot, and that it calls to us. I don't mean to say that it must adhere to religious norms. At the mention of certain world traditions, a bias may arise, so that one feels, "This no longer applies to me." I mean it in the universal sense. Though the question of why humanity is here is a global one, I believe it always alludes to what our own personal microverse means in relation to the rest of the cosmos. I believe there is an answer, and, although it is sometimes hard to find, the essential search must be to discover one's own story, one's own role, one's own purpose.

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Outlandish Adventures of Orpheus in the Underworld Review

Outlandish Adventures of Orpheus in the Underworld Overview

Recreates the myth of the Greek poet-musician who charmed the whole world with the power and beauty of his song.

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Update Post: May 29, 2010 04:20:12

Check Out The Distaff Side for $28.00

The Distaff Side Review

The Distaff Side Overview

Female Characters play various roles in the Odyssey: patron goddess (Athena), seductress (Kirke, the Sirens, Nausikaa), carnivorous monster (Skylla), maid servant (Eurykleia), and faithful wife (Penelope). Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, this study examines these different female representations and their significance within the context of the poem and Greek culture. A central theme of the book is the visualization of the Odyssey's female characters by ancient artists, and several essays discuss the visual and iconographic implications of Odysseus' female encounters as depicted in Greek, Etruscan, and Roman art. The distinguished contributors--from the fields of classical studies, comparative literature, art history, and archaeology--are A.J. Graham, Seth L. Schein, Diana Buitron-Oliver, Beth Cohen, Sheila Murnaghan, Lillian Eileen Doherty, Helene P. Foley, Froma I. Zeitlin, H.A. Shapiro, Richard Brilliant, Jenifer Neils, and Christine Mitchell Havelock. Feminine in orientation, but not narrowly feminist in approach, this first interdisciplinary work on the Odyssey's female characters will have a broad audience amongst scholars and students working in classical studies, iconography and art history, women's studies, mythology, and ancient history.

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Update Post: May 28, 2010 04:10:23

Mints and S'mores

The word "mint" could mean a lot of things. It could pertain to something being in good condition, the garnish, or the flavor. But the typical 'mint' is the hard candy that it comes in different shapes, styles and flavors. The mint nowadays is an ingredient that is used in a wide variety of candies from jellybeans, to chewing gum, to chocolate. It was in the early 1900s that mint was first used as flavoring to candy, gum and toothpaste. However way before that, the mint, like licorice, has enjoyed a rich and long history which began with the early civilizations. Mint then was consumed not as the candy we know today but in many other forms.

The word 'mint' comes from a story in Greek mythology. In the story, Hades, the god of the underworld, was having a romantic affair with a beautiful and spirited nymph by the name Minthe. The affair reached the ears of Persephone, the wife of Hades and was angered by it. As punishment for his actions, Persephone transformed Minthe into a sweet herb. In ancient Greece, the people would place mint leaves around dead bodies to hide the smell of decay. This is also a ritual to remind Hades of the wrong he had done. In other cultures and civilizations, the mint was used in different ways. The herb, then until now, was used in food recipes, as tea and as herbal medicine.

The mint reached America when they were brought by the early Colonists. At that time, it was used as a form of medicine. Later on, it was made into homemade candy which became very popular. Commercial production of the mint candy was first done in Massachusetts in the late 1790s. Three centuries later, the United States became the leaders of peppermint production. The mint flavor soared in popularity by the turn of the century.

The famous Lifesaver mints were created and marketed in 1912 by Clarence Crane which he named so because of its circular shape which is similar to the lifesavers that hung from the sides of boats. Europe started to participate in the mint candy manufacturing and marketing industry in 1927 and it started with the Austrian named Edward Hass. He had created the first adult mint candy which had an intense mint flavor. He called it PEZ. The term PEZ came from the word peppermint in German which is 'pfefferminz'.

The S'more is a whole different story. The s'more is a typical marshmallow that is cooked and melted or marshmallows that are roasted then sandwiched between crackers or eaten directly. Roasting of marshmallows over an open flame is a tradition of many Americans, almost like a rite of passage. The S'more's history however, is a mystery and no one knows exactly how the tradition started. The first evidence of a s'more recipe was in 1927. A Girl Scout Handbook contained the recipe involving marshmallows with graham crackers and chocolate. The name s'more is also attributed to the Girl Scouts Organization. The name is a shortened version of 'give me some more'. Since then, the s'mores have been a popular addition to the campfire experience of children and throughout the years, it has been associated with singing around a camp fire and summer fun.

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Restless Dead: Encounters between the Living and the Dead in Ancient Greece Review

I bought this book as soon as it came out. I became a fan of S.I. Johnston as soon as I read her Hekate book.

In this book she describes the evolvement of the relationship between the living and the dead in ancient Greece. Being a Greek I was amazed of how much it has survived of what Greek think as far as the dead are concerned. It is very rewarding to see that so much of the old religion is still around us and that Christianity has not destroyed everything yet...

Having said that, this book is an academic endeavour and not a New Age or Neo-Pagan writing. Mrs. Johnston is a true scholar and she does honour to the University she teaches.

Read her other books too.

Restless Dead: Encounters between the Living and the Dead in Ancient Greece Overview

During the archaic and classical periods, Greek ideas about the dead evolved in response to changing social and cultural conditions--most notably changes associated with the development of the polis, such as funerary legislation, and changes due to increased contacts with cultures of the ancient Near East. In Restless Dead, Sarah Iles Johnston presents and interprets these changes, using them to build a complex picture of the way in which the society of the dead reflected that of the living, expressing and defusing its tensions, reiterating its values and eventually becoming a source of significant power for those who knew how to control it. She draws on both well-known sources, such as Athenian tragedies, and newer texts, such as the Derveni Papyrus and a recently published lex sacra from Selinous.

Topics of focus include the origin of the goes (the ritual practitioner who made interaction with the dead his specialty), the threat to the living presented by the ghosts of those who died dishonorably or prematurely, the development of Hecate into a mistress of ghosts and its connection to female rites of transition, and the complex nature of the Erinyes. Restless Dead culminates with a new reading of Aeschylus' Oresteia that emphasizes how Athenian myth and cult manipulated ideas about the dead to serve political and social ends.

"[This work] will represent the principal study of ancient Greek beliefs in the intervention of the dead, a topic of acute relevance to the study of classical literature, Greek religion, and the later cultures that spawned curse tablets and versions of Christianity." --David Frankfurter, author of Religion in Roman Egypt

"This is an incontestably useful book. . . . The author's scholarship is remarkable and her competence indisputable. Her laudably courageous and original analysis of the Erinyes leads us from archaic poetry, via the purificatory rituals and reforms of cult brought about by the mysterious Epimenides, to the Orphic tradition recently discovered in the Derveni papyrus--all of which enables Sarah Johnston to conclude by proposing an enthralling rereading of Aeschylus' Oresteia." --Philippe Borgeaud, author of The Cult of Pan in Ancient Greece

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Update Post: May 26, 2010 03:30:15

The Metaphysical View of Death and Life After Death Part 3

FINDINGS

In this chapter we will consider the four perspectives in greater detail. We will look into the dying process and the nature of life in the higher planes, as seen through the eyes of Western and Eastern occultism. Analysis of the religious concepts anent death, dying and the after-death state will offer us a clearer picture of what is commonly believed by the average person. We will deal with religious concepts not from the perspective of any particular religion, but from an overall, general view. The findings of modern researchers of the paranormal will greatly enhance our comprehension of nature's laws, while Tibetan teachings concerning death will offer us a better insight into the purposes of life and the liberating nature of the death process. We will discuss these various perspectives with a metaphysical understanding.

The metaphysician is a seeker of empirical and pragmatic truths--truths and laws that are applicable and relevant to one's life. The metaphysician, as a healer of man's souls, is a searcher for not merely theoretical, but practical, factual, and experiential knowledge. Such knowledge, as an accumulation of relevant data, offers the material required to gain wisdom, insight and understanding of God's plan, and the privilege of participating in the creative work of the universe. Knowledge of the death process and the purposes of life offers us a certain power to pre-determine our fate in the higher worlds and in subsequent incarnations with the exercise of our God-given gift of free-choice and the divine-will of our Higher Self.

Religious Beliefs

Followers of religions have viewed death, or the passing over to a new dimension, in contradictory terms. On one hand, there is a lively anticipation and hope for a glorious future-state in a heavenly paradise, and on the other, a pronounced fear of eternal damnation and torture in an everlasting burning hell. The concepts of heaven and hell are common to most religions, and from the occult point of view, there is a basis for these ideas; however, heaven and hell as understood by the masses and unenlightened clergymen are a distortion of the reality underlying those states.

Hell, according to religious ideas, is a place in the afterlife for the punishment of wicked, immoral and sinful men and women. It is described to be a place of eternal torture, a place filled with fire and brimstone, a place of horror and terror, a locality where one suffers pain and misery indefinitely. Judaism refers to this hell as Sheol and Gehenna, while the ancient Greeks called it Hades and Tartarus. In Buddhism, the hell-state is known as Avitchi. Hell has been described in literature as the Inferno, the Abyss, the Pit, the Darkness, Limbo etc. In Paradise Lost, Milton called the capital of Hell, Pandemonium, which figuratively, refers to a state of chaos, lawlessness and anarchy. In the Gospel stories the Piscean Master referred to a pit outside the walls of Jerusalem--a pit utilized as a garbage incinerator. This burning pit was used as an illustration, in a metaphorical and symbolical manner, of the nature of Gehenna. Not understanding the symbolism, followers of Christ have accepted the Master's explanation in a literal sense. It should also be noted that ancient mystics considered this earth plane to be one of the hell regions.

In the scriptures we are told that God is a consuming fire. This fire is synonymous with the fires and flames of hell; to the soul, higher vibrations are always fiery in nature. What do the flames of God consume? They consume temporarily the manifestation of the false ego with its expressions of pride, hatred and cruelty. They cleanse the subtle bodies of psychic dross. In the alchemical tradition, fire has been a symbol of the processes of transmutation and purification. In the same esoteric sense, the fiery stimulus of hell causes a purification and transmutation of the soul which results in soul-awakening. Once the soul realizes its mortal errors and repents, it rises from the fires of hell and enters into the planes of "purgatory" for the next phase of the purification process. From another perspective, the flames of hell may symbolize a soul's lust for the physical world--its ungratified consuming desire, and rage or resentment towards all that opposes its egoistic will. Freedom from such a hell is a simple matter of extinguishing lowly desires and the acquisition of humility. Sufferings one experience in hell, aside from the above conditions could also be the result of remorseful feelings for one's past negative deeds, one's "sins" of omission and commission; or the result of one's anger and displeasure for not possessing the ability to resume the life-style one had previously known. This often cause what is called an "earth-bound spirit."

The concept of purgatory was first formulated by Pope Gregory I, who lived in the sixth century AD. Although turned into a dogma in some Christian sects, this particular doctrine is based on reality, as it is validated by the experiences of psychics and mystics. Purgatory is an intermediate plane between heaven and hell; however, in actuality, all planes are purgatorial in nature. Purgatory, in a specific sense, is a plane of consciousness, a dimension where souls sojourn temporarily to cast off material and carnal habits, attitudes and feelings. It is a realm of purification of one's thoughts, emotions and desires. Purgatory is where one also commences the assimilation of experiences of one's incarnated life. Once this purification has taken place, the soul goes to one of the heavenly regions appropriate for its expression. This occurs automatically without any authoritarian decree or overseeing.

To believe that a loving, kind and merciful God would banish and exile wayward souls to eternal condemnation and punishment is a sacrilegious attitude and feeling, and an injustice towards our Creator. The loving Omniversal Mind of the Cosmos would never have conceived of such an idea. God does not punish. The many hell regions were not created by God but by man's guilty conscience, by man's evil tendencies and propensities, by man's willful disobedience and violation of the Cosmic Law of Harmony. This is not to say that hell and its tortures do not exist. They do exist, but as an illusion of maya. They are tangible but are phantasmagorias. Hell is an inner state of darkness within the consciousness projected and objectified onto astral substances. Hell is a state of mind and consciousness externalized and reflected in one's astral, or even physical environment. Sojourners of hell unconsciously build, share, and experience a collective thoughtform.

Religion in the collective sense, paints hell in frightful forms and images. In actuality though, most of the devils and demons torturing souls in hell are mere phantasms arising from the psyche. The wrathful deities, creatures and demons found in hell, such as Satan, Beelzebub, Ashtaroth, Mara, the Raksasas, the Furies, the Harpies, the Erinyes, Chimaeras, Cerburus and Hydras, are all negative thoughts and feelings within one's soul externalized in an illusory, hallucinatory sense to torment oneself for one's past misqualification of soul-energies. Aside from hell, these gruesome and grotesque images are also seen and experienced at a certain phase of the bardo. These terrifying demons are mere symbols of negative human behaviour. The guilty conscience of men and women evilly-inclined erupts from the unconscious to manifest as horrible illusions. Simply put, a bad conscience and temperament creates the experience of hell. Cornelius Agrippa, the eminent occultist of the 16th century, referring to the illusory nature of hell as experienced by hell-sojourners says that souls,

". . . are most cruelly tortured in the irascible faculty with the hatred of an imaginary evil, into the perturbations whereof, as also false suspicions, and most horrible phantasms they then fall, and they are represented to them sad representations; sometimes of the heaven falling upon their head, sometimes of being swallowed up into the earth . . . and sometimes of being taken, and tormented by devils." (1995:596)

In the Gathas, one of the holy scriptures of Zoroastrianism, hell is described as the place of the worst thought, and as the House of Lies. The people of Ahura Mazda believed and still believe that in hell one is tormented by the daena, or conscience; however, they do not propose this to be construed and considered as a permanent state--a concept expounded by theologians of many other living faiths. Eternal punishment is illogical, senseless, and without purpose, and goes against all spiritual principles and values. It would be more realistic to view a merciful God ending soul-identity and consciousness rather than to picture the Almighty banishing and gloating at the sufferings and miseries of wayward souls. Hence, the purpose of hell is not that of punishment but to awaken the soul of its spiritual poverty, of its need to turn towards the Divine Light. Here we emphasize the concept of hell from the perspective of Zorastrianism for it has greatly influenced the Semitic religions which somehow distorted the transmission of esoteric knowledge.

Hell should not be seen as an eternal state. It exists for the soul only for as long as the soul refuses to acknowledge and face the Light of God, of Truth, and give up its resentments, hatreds, and other negative feelings. Not all souls sojourn in hell or purgatory. Lofty, pure souls bypass the lower worlds to head straight for their place in the heavenly regions. Every soul goes to the plane most appropriate for its nature. This process or procedure is not directed arbitrarily by any being, there is no one to coerce and force us to be in any realm. This is all executed according to the Law of Correspondence. Man's spiritual attainment or lack of it determines where he would go. It is a matter of frequencies. One's personal frequency attunes one into the appropriate dimension vibrating at the corresponding wavelength. Imagine if you will, a wicked sinner obtaining forgiveness at the last hour and goes to the heavenly worlds. The very presence of the sinner would transform heaven into hell, for his innate wickedness, his negative character, would pollute the surrounding environment. Death does not transmute our character. We carry our same personality, character, minds and emotions wherever we go. If we are in constant discord with our environment, with our many relationships here on this earth plane, we would express no differently in the subtle worlds. The presence of negativity causes the soul, the astro-mental bodies, to assume a certain density in its energy-structures and fields, a certain atomic weight which binds it to the lower regions of hell or purgatory. Heaven is thus protected from trouble-makers. Whether in hell or purgatory, the soul suffers all of its misqualified and misspent energies alone. The length of time that one sojourns in hell or purgatory is dependent upon one's self, upon one's own inner desire to improve one's character, upon one's desire to be free, the desire to forgive self and others--to request forgiveness from those wronged, and the desire to serve others.

Concerning heaven, Christians have long visualized it to be a magnificent city with streets paved in gold and ornamented with precious stones. The book of Revelations has done much to mould Christian beliefs regarding this matter. What is not known to the average Christian is that the apocalypse in Revelations is symbolical and that it is a work written by great initiates for lesser initiates studying the mysteries of God, and that to interpret it literally is to deceive and mislead oneself. It takes a great deal of familiarity with the occult, the Qaballah, and the initiatory teachings of the ancients to properly interpret the real significance of its spiritual contents.

Heaven, generally, is believed to be a place of rewards, of eternal rest. Ancient Greeks called heaven the Elysian Fields or Olympus. Followers of Zoroaster describe it as the House of Suns, and the abode of the best thought--a place where the sun never ceases to shine--no doubt alluding to the luminous nature of the plane. To Hindus, heaven is Surga, and it lies in the higher lokas. Theosophists call heaven "Devachan." Ancient Egyptians referred to it as Sekhet-hetepet. To Scandinavians it is Asgard; and spiritualists call it Summerland. Heaven as an abode of peace, happiness, and abundance is a fundamental religious belief in every culture, ancient and modern. As hell is believed to be a place of punishment, so heaven is believed to be a realm of rewards due to the virtuous, the "poor in spirit" and to those who serve God faithfully.

Like hell, followers of religion have likewise misunderstood and misconceived the nature of heaven. In their theology, most religions lay too much stress on externals without considering the mystical nature of their teachings; this applies most specifically to such concepts as heaven and hell. The Bahá'i faith, as an exception, believes heaven and hell to be spiritual conditions, and not mere places. In their theological teachings, heaven is defined as the proximity of the consciousness to the throne of God, and hell as a remoteness from the heavenly Godhead. This is in accord with the words of the Nazarene that the kingdom of God is within. Eventhough the concept of paradise among Christians has a different meaning from the kingdom of God as enunciated by the Master--the former believing it to be a place--it could indeed be considered as such, as a place or places reflecting the inner state of the soul, just like hell--eventhough we apparently contradict our previous statement concerning Christian emphasis upon externals. As mentioned before, heaven and hell as places have been substantiated by the discoveries and experiences of mystics and psychics. However, we have to realize that the external protean reality is but a reflection of the inner state or condition of the mind. We have considered this before, but it is necessary to reiterate because of its importance.

Although heaven is as beautiful and glorious as described by religions, it is not a place of eternal rest. A heaven of ease and idleness is a static state. Inertia does not exist in the universe. All is in motion and in a continuous flux. The Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, said that "everything is becoming." All Sparks, or creatures of God are forever evolving. Everything is in a dynamic state moving towards a higher expression and manifestation. Heaven as experienced and understood by mystics, is a state of intense activity. Heaven is not a place where one sings hymns and play on the harp all day long (unless that is what gives us pleasure), it is a place of continued education for the evolving soul, where the mysteries of the universe, and Cosmic laws are studied. In the higher worlds one learns to exercise one's creativity in myriads of ways. One also spends one's time in heaven serving the whole of creation in various capacities, in accord with one's innate abilities and talents. In the heavenly regions, there are no angels ornated with wings and halos, as represented by painters in their artwork. In heaven, angelic beings are adorned with their purity, love and other positive virtues. What are supposed to be wings are simply magnetic radiations streaming from their persons.

One of the salient features of religious beliefs is that during transition, before one passes over to heaven or hell, one has to undergo a judgment. The Ancient Egyptians, Tibetans, Christians, Muslims and many others all have and had their judgment scenes in their theological concepts. This is ingrained in the eschatology of religion and has, as a matter of fact, a basis of truth which we shall see later as we consider the bardos. It will suffice here to describe certain aspects of the Judgment scene.

The Judgment scene of almost every religion consists of a judge, a weigher of the scales, a scribe, and of course, the soul being judged. To Ancient Egyptians, Osiris was the judge of the soul, Anubis the weigher of the scales, while Thoth was the scribe. The human soul was often depicted as hawk-headed. In Zoroastrianism, Mithras or sometimes Zoroaster sits on the judgment seat, with Rashnu acting as weigher and Sraosha as recorder. Tibetans called their magistrate Dharmaraja and their scribe Shinje--the monkey-headed one. Christians believe that Jesus would be the one to judge the "quick and the dead," with angelic personnel acting as his amanuensis.

In the Judgment scene, as conceived by the ancient Egyptians, the Ab, or heart of the soul is weighed against Maat, or Truth, symbolised by a feather. The deceased makes a long confession, affirming his or her goodly works. The negative works of the soul goes unstated and unproclaimed--the soul hoping that its past sinful deeds are overlooked and not revealed. But then comes the weighing of the scales, where the statements of the soul are gauged of its truth. When found not to measure up to its honesty, the soul is led to hell to be tormented by Typhon, who is one of the presiding demons; otherwise, it is shown the way to paradise. The Judgment scene of all religions follows more or less along similar lines.

According to some religious and cultural beliefs, prior to the Judgment or the entry into the underworld, the soul had to cross a river or rivers, before passing on to its destination. The soul is usually led across the river in a boat or by using certain bridges. Ancient people used these symbols to signify the processes of transition. Muslims call the bridge "Sirat," while followers of Zoroaster call it "Chivat." Ancient Greeks called the underworld rivers Styx, Acheron, Cocytus, and Phlegethon. These named rivers correspond to the four streams of the Garden of Eden: Pison, Gihon, Hiddekel, and Phrath. Occultly, they probably refer to the four etheric planes. Scandinavians also believe in a river that souls in the cthonian world had to cross. They call this "Wimur." Ancient Babylonians believed that the soul had to cross the Huber river prior to reaching the "mountain of justice," or the Judgment scene.

Psychologically, rivers, oceans, pools, and lakes all refer to the subconscious element within man. In the depth of the Freudian "id," lurk various monsters--phobias, psychosis, neurosis, and repressions. In an occult sense, these monsters of the psyche are known collectively as the Dweller on the Threshold. Crossing rivers in the context of its symbolism, entails encountering these monsters, these repressed images in the death process; and indeed, according to Tibetan thanatology, this is exactly what occurs in the bardo. All religious doctrines teach of the danger that the soul may have to face in the intermediate state.

Copyright © 2006 Luxamore

Great Price for $9.49

Encyclopedia of Wicca & Witchcraft Review

Raven Grimassi has collected together in this one volume some of the basic elements of Wicca and Witchcraft as well as some biographies of the movers and shakers within our community.

Mr. Grimassi covers many areas of beliefs, such as the various Gods/Goddesses and their stories. He also covers such items as tools, books referencing Wicca and Witchcraft, trees, animals, organizations and so much more. He has entries related to history, myths, legends, shamanic material and so much more that the book becomes a text book as well as a reference book. The information is general, but covers much of what a researcher might want to know about each subject and how it relates to Wicca and Witchcraft.

What I found interesting were his bios of people who have either founded or were an influence to our Spiritual paths. From Aleister Crowley to Oberon (Tim) Zell to Doreen Valiente to Carl Weschcke, he provides information as to who these people were in a brief but insightful manner. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the backgrounds of some of the people who have written our books or founded our organizations or have had some influence on what we know today as Wicca and Witchcraft.

This is a good book for those who are constantly referencing this kind of material, as Mr. Grimassi has put much of what we have to usually look in many volumes for into one convenient location. This is a wonderful collection of information that will be pulled off the shelf again and again.

Encyclopedia of Wicca & Witchcraft Feature

• ISBN13: 9781567182576
• Condition: USED - LIKE NEW
• Notes:

Encyclopedia of Wicca & Witchcraft Overview

The Encyclopedia of Wicca & Witchcraft

Craft Elder and author Raven Grimassi has revised and expanded his indispensable reference work, the award-winning Encyclopedia of Wicca & Witchcraft. The first book of its kind to be written by a practicing Witch, this guide presents Wicca/Witchcraft as a spiritual path, connecting religious concepts and spirituality to both a historical background and modern practice.
    
With a wealth of information on European folklore and Western Occultism, and material relevant to any tradition, you can use this book to research any aspect of the Craft, including:

• Theology-pantheons, Wiccan Rede, Three-Fold Law
•  History-Craft roots and influence
•  Places-historical and sacred sites
•  Verses, rites, and invocations
•  Ritual objects and tools
•  Influential Witches-past and present
  
The Encyclopedia of Wicca & Witchcraft also contains a glossary of terminology; book references; Craft web sites, organizations, and magazines; magickal alphabets, runes, correspondences, symbols; and 300 illustrations.

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• A Witches' Bible: The Complete Witches Handbook

Update Post: May 24, 2010 02:40:09

Check Out The Complete Idiot's Guide to World Mythology for $6.98

The Complete Idiot's Guide to World Mythology Review

I was looking for a book to use as an introduction to World Mythology. A book loaded with summaries of myths, and brief descriptions of gods, creatures and places. A book that is easy to read, that somehow organizes the information in a way that I could easily browse. This book is all that and a little bit more.

I used this book as a trampoline to the actual myths. It gave me a concise summary of the myths, which I use to decide whether I wanted to explore them in another source like in Great Myths of the World or Parallel Myths. It exposed me to some myths I wanted to study: Nordic, Celtic, Babylon, Japanese, ... With this book, I learned a bit about creatures such as Werewolves, Vampires, Zombies, and yes, The Chupacabra. It even had a section about comparative mythology in pop culture where Star Wars and The Matrix had a cameo.

I had bought other Complete Idiot's books as an introduction to a theme. As an introduction to World Mythology, this book deserves 5 stars. Not every book in the Complete Idiot's Series is a gem, but this one certainly is for me.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to World Mythology Feature

• ISBN13: 9781592577644
• Condition: USED - VERY GOOD
• Notes:

The Complete Idiot's Guide to World Mythology Overview

Make no myth-take—this book is indispensable.

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to World Mythology explores the gods and goddesses, heroes and heroines, monsters and angels of the myths from every corner of the globe. Additionally, it explores the parallels between every culture and the striking similarities in mythic figures and the structure, action, wording, and result of the stories themselves.

• Covers Egyptian, Celtic, Teutonic, Norse, Japanese, Mexican, Native American, and other myths
• Features information on The Hero’s Journey—the cycle of myth according to Jung, Campbell, and others
• Appendixes include a glossary of terms and both a general and a subject Index

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Update Post: May 23, 2010 02:20:12

The Mythology of the Spider

The spider has always been a very powerful symbol in many cultural traditions. The very idea of a spider sends shivers down the spine of many people. In our culture, the snake is typically used as a representation of evil, but a few have used the spider for that purpose.

For many Native American tribes, spiders were important in mythology, though typically not to represent evil. Instead, these myths usually emphasized other characteristics of the spider, such as their creative abilities and their extreme cunning.

Among the Pueblo and Hopi cultures, the spider is revered as the creator of the world. A great Spider Woman wove the world with her web, and then disappeared into the underworld. This makes sense if we think about the spider as a creator. A spider has the unique ability, among all animals, to weave a beautiful web with no apparent outside tools. Strand by strand, she diligently weaves her web. Individual Native Americans who chose creative art or pottery making as their specialty would often choose the spider as their totem animal to help fuel their creativity.

The other place that the spider reoccurs throughout Native American mythology is through the trickster archetype. The trickster archetype in mythology is usually represented by a personified animal who disobeys the customary rules of society. They are usually quick-witted and cunning, and often disobey the gods in order to help their people. An example of a trickster in Greek mythology is Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods and brought it back to humanity. If you think about the characteristics of a spider: they are sly, cunning, sneaky, and resourceful. The spider as a trickster character was most common among the tribes of the Plains.

In Navajo folklore, there is a story about two warrior twins who stumble into a hole in the ground and meet a great spider. The spider foresees that they will face many dangers along their journey, so she gives them some magic feathers for protection. The two warriors eventually make it to the house of the Sun, who tries to poison them, burn them, and spear them. With the help of the magic feathers, the Sun eventually realizes that the warriors are his sons, so he equips them with weapons, which they use to protect the Navajo people. This is an example of the spider as a cunning trickster.

Whether she is a creator, a trickster, or a manifestation of evil, the spider is, without a doubt, a symbol which has a powerful effect on our psychology. The spider has been an important part of many different mythologies throughout history.

Check Out Temple of the Cosmos: The Ancient Egyptian Experience of the Sacred for $11.52

Temple of the Cosmos: The Ancient Egyptian Experience of the Sacred Review

Ancient Egypt's connection to the Sacred shoots through from the past to the present like lightning. The energy of its ancient structures is absolutely palpable. That ancient people, to my sense of things, is the most connected to the Way Things Are and if you surrender to its treasures and monuments it is obvious. So I came back home after my second and extended trip to Egypt wanting to know what They knew. I have a personal sense of the Sacred that I humbly believe is a fairly complete picture of God and the idea that an Ancient People also were in tune, and harmonizing with, the Universe meant that I had to know more. If nothing else, I needed to know where I was in my personal understanding. I felt a deep connection to this millenia old culture and was desperate for a translation of the Sacred texts and imagery of Egypt.

I can tell you that most all of them are terrible. And here I am speaking of the academic, Egyptological cast. Their works have sucked the juice right out of Ancient Egyptian religious belief. The typical scholar has no personal connection to the esoteric and sacred and so they cannot begin to understand what it is that they are claiming to understand. On the other side of things you have ungrounded and unfounded New Age belief that comes across more as wishful thinking than actual connection to what the Ancient Egyptians believed themselves. Frankly, it has been a frustrating search for a work that harmonizes with my encounters with Ancient Egypt.

Enter "Temple of the Cosmos" by Jeremy Naydler, which is the 43rd book that I have read about Ancient Egypt since returning home (!). As I said, I have been looking for the appropriate translation of the Sacred Texts so that I could have a fuller understanding of Ancient Egypt's Understanding. Thank you Mr. Naydler for your excellent tome! This book is what I was looking for and had not found. Temple of the Cosmos evolves as it should, beginning with First Principles and then working its way through the Ancient Texts and Images as an aspiring Ancient Egyptian initiate would. This approach provides the underlying logic and unifying themes that help to elucidate and illuminate that which has been lost for so long. That is to say there is a wholly natural progression in Temple of the Cosmos's structure that serves the material and the reader equally well.

The book's Contents are as follows:

1 A Metaphysical Landscape
2 Interpenetrating Worlds
3 Myths of Cosmogenesis
4 The Marking of Time
5 The Marriage of Myth and History
6 The Theology of Magic
7 The Practice of Magic
8 The Soul Incarnate
9 The Soul Discarnate
10 Orientating in the Underworld
11 The Travails of the Underworld
12 The End of the Underworld Journey

Chapters 1-3 lay the foundations for an understanding of how the Egyptians viewed their world. Naydler does an excellent job of explaining the ancient consciousness as compared to the modern consciousness. He then provides essential language that allows the reader to reconnect one's mind with the ancient mind. This is no small achievement! Chapters 4-5 describe how the Ancient Egyptians' beliefs interacted with the Cosmos and their perception of the Cosmos. Chapters 6-7 describe the world of psychic phenomena as understood by Ancient Egyptians and how they used their connection to the Powers That Be in order to have better, more enlightened lives. The final chapters, 8-12 reenact the path walked by initiates into the Sacred Science of the Ancient Egyptians. These latter chapters sew everything in Temple of the Cosmos together into a beautiful, scintillating, multi-dimensional tapestry. The essence of the Ancient Egyptian Sacred as been effectively restored. Furthermore, these latter chapters have the most clear explanation I have ever read of the khat, ka, ba, akh and of Maat. For deeply personal reasons the explanations of the ka and Maat were absolutely essential and exquisite.

The majesty of Mr. Naydler's accomplishment is such that it, in my mind, should serve as the basis for all future understanding and scholarly research into Ancient Egyptian belief. Unlike the other tomes that I have read, I have no disagreements with any of its contents. There was nothing contained within that did not "feel right." I must add that there are other excellent texts, including the works of R.A. Schwaller de Lubicz and Rosemary Clark, too. However, for sheer "cut to the chase" readability Temple of the Cosmos is the best.

To describe Mr. Naydler's work the best I want to rely upon his own words. From page 277:

"One of the reasons why ancient Egyptian religion has been so frequently misunderstood is because the gods have been conceived as almost entirely removed from the domain of human experience. Once it is grasped that the gods are interwoven with states of consciousness, and that they accompany and guide the development of consciousness, the religion of ancient Egypt assumes something of its original power. The Book of the Dead and the many other texts that concern the Underworld are not the products of some wishful fantasy about life after death, but are guides to the unfolding of ever more refined and elevated levels of spiritual awareness."

And from page 283:

"...the way in which the ancient Egyptians saw their world has been misunderstood. For example, modern scholarship can describe ancient Egyptian cosmology as if it were the outcome of a similar aspiration to that which lies behind modern cosmology but has simply been proved false, thereby ignoring the question of how such a cosmology could be true for the ancient Egyptians. Ancient Egyptian history is studied as if it were possible to extraploate our modern reality principle backward in time ad infinitum, without any conception that the very nature of a historical event might have been different in ancient times from what it is today. In much modern Egyptology there is both a lack of psychological sophistication and an ignorance both of metaphysics and esotericism, which has the inevitable consequence that the spirituality of the ancient Egyptians must remain a closed book."

If I may conclude by humbly thanking Mr. Naydler for his loving and masterful "Temple of the Cosmos" and by saying to the author: the book is no longer closed! Thank you!

Jason Voss

Temple of the Cosmos: The Ancient Egyptian Experience of the Sacred Feature

• ISBN13: 9780892815555
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Temple of the Cosmos: The Ancient Egyptian Experience of the Sacred Overview

In this guide to the cosmology of ancient Egypt, Jeremy Naydler recreates the experience of living in another time and place. Temple of the Cosmos explores Egypt's sacred geography and mythology; but more importantly, it reveals with unprecedented clarity an ancient consciousness in tune with the rhythms of the earth. The ancient Egyptians experienced their gods not as remote beings but rather as psychic and natural forces, transpersonal energies that played a part in everyday life. This direct experience of the gods shaped the Egyptian concepts of human development, healing, magic, and the soul's journey through the Underworld as described in the Books of the Dead. While building on the pioneering efforts of R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz and others, Temple of the Cosmos is much more than a recapitulation of previous theories of Egyptian spirituality. Rather, this book breaks new ground by placing the work of other Egyptologists in an original, magical context. The result is a brilliant reimagining of the Egyptian worldview and its sacred path of spiritual unfolding.

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Update Post: May 21, 2010 02:00:08

The Medical Caduceus - Jewelry and Origins of the Symbol

Caduceus jewelry is a popular gift for graduating nurses, physicians and veterinary students but do you know how this symbol came to be used by medical personnel? The Rod of Asclepius is a more appropriate symbol for medicine and medical organisations but the caduceus is also used, although, unlike the Rod, it has no medical significance. In fact, just the opposite as the symbol is associated with Hermes, god of the market place and travel, of the cunning of thieves and liars, who was a patron of commerce and generally associated with mischief as a deified trickster. He was also the conductor of souls to the underworld so the use of his symbol for medicine is particularly inappropriate.

The Rod of Asclepius

The more correct symbol is the Rod of Asclepius which is a walking stick or staff entwined by a serpent. Asclepius is the god of medicine in the Greek mythology and his daughters were Hygieia, Aceso, Aglea, Meditrina, Iaso, and Panacea who symbolise medicine, cleanliness, and healing. Panacea means literally 'all healing' and is a familiar word in modern English. Asclepius was the son of Apollo and Coronis and was raised by a centaur called Chiron after his mother was killed for unfaithfulness. Chiron taught Asclepius the art of medicine.

In Ancient Greece, around 300BC the cult of Asclepius was popular and his healing temples were called Asclepieia. Snakes were used in the healing rituals and non poisonous snakes freely crawled around the temples. The Oath of Hippocrates originally began with the words 'I swear by Apollo the Physician and by Asclepius and by Hygieia and Panacea and by all the gods..."

The Caduceus

The caduceus is usually depicted as a herald's staff with two entwined serpents and very often a pair of wings. Originally the staff was carried by Iris who was the messenger of Hera. Only in later myths was it borne by Hermes. It may be the basis for the astrological symbol for Mercury, who was the Roman equivalent of the Greek Hermes. It is often used as a symbol for medicine especially in the United States. Why is there confusion between the Rod of Asclepius, an appropriate symbol for medicine and the caduceus which is inappropriate, associated as it is with Hermes, patron of thieves and tricksters and conductor of the dead to the underworld?

The Use of the Caduceus by Medical Personnel

It appears that it was used mistakenly instead of the Rod of Asclepius in the nineteenth century. It was first used as a medicine symbol around 1856 in the US on the uniforms of army hospital workers and was worn by medical officers from about 1902. The Surgeon General noticed the error a few years later but did not change it. The name is thought to come from a Periodical of military medicine called La Caducée and it was used by the Navy Hospital Corps and the Army Medical Department after the first world war. Although the American Medical Association used the caduceus for a time it was replaced by more correct symbol for medicine, the Rod of Asclepius, in 1912.

Modern Use of the Caduceus in Jewelry

Nowadays caduceus jewelry is popular especially among nurses and it is available as a charm for bracelets or a pendant or necklace. A medical caduceus is a popular gift for graduating students whether nurses, physicians or veterinary personnel. One theory of why the caduceus, rather than the Rod of Asclepius, is more popular is because it simply looks better!

Hercules - What is the Measure of a True Hero?

'Long ago, in the faraway land of ancient Greece, there was a golden age of powerful gods and extraordinary heroes. And the greatest and strongest of all these heroes was the mighty Hercules. But what is the measure of a true hero? Ah, that is what our story is...'

Fables are fashionable, no doubt about it. On film, the world in the 21st century is saved by super-heroes a few times a day because they have either futuristic technology or astonishing powers.

For me, however, Disney's 'Hercules' is the best movie in this genre ever made : it is their only film based on Greek mythology - these timeless tales about a world of complex interrelations between gods and humans explored the mysteries of life on earth, conveying important lessons to struggling mortals.

The conduct of the royal society on Mount Olympus in those days seems to have been as fallible as today's jet set and in the absence of TV, the stories about their lives and adventures, weaknesses and misdemeanors in ancient Greece apparently were the talk of the town.

As an animated movie first released in 1997, the ancient characters in Walt Disney's 'Hercules' speak a very modern language - Charlton Heston (Narrator), Rip Torn (Zeus, leader of the gods), James Woods (Hades, ruler of the underworld) and Danny DeVito (Phil the Satyr) amongst others have given their voices to a fast-paced, wildly funny and very entertaining film for kids and adults alike.

What is often overlooked though is that the story of Hercules is also a brilliant parable about the human cycle of life on earth - for me, that is he most interesting aspect of the movie. It all starts at the party on Mount Olympus, where right of admission is reserved for Gods, to celebrate the birth of Hercules, son of Zeus and Hera. The host welcomes a new guest:

"Hades, you finally made it. How are things in the underworld?" "Well, they're just fine. You know, a little dark, a little gloomy. And, as always, hey, full of dead people. What are you gonna do?"

The evil Hades plans to overthrow Zeus as chief of the gods in what he calls a 'hostile takeover bid', however, and shortly after the party sends his helpers Pain and Panic to abduct Hercules down to Earth because the Fates predict that he might thwart the coup in 18 years time.

Although pain and fear are still the most effective allies of dark forces today, good help was difficult to find even in those days, and Pain and Panic don't quite manage to infuse the magic potion into Hercules that would make him forget his divine origin.

As a result, Hercules retains super-human strength for his spell on earth - but that doesn't make him very popular: as an impetuous teenager, he breaks whatever he touches and he isn't allowed anywhere near the local pottery store. 'Jerkules' is his nickname at that time and he yearns to be normal, like everyone else.

He just wants to fit in somehow and know where he belongs, setting the scene for the archetypal hero's quest - this is beautifully highlighted in his captivating song 'Go the Distance' : 'I will find my way, I can go the distance; I'll be there some day if I can be strong; I know every mile will be worth my while.'

So when he leaves the home of his foster parents to find his place in the world, his first stop is at the temple of Zeus, a quiet place for reflection, to ask for guidance. There he learns that he has a famous father - and Zeus tells him that he has to prove himself a true hero on earth to restore his status as a god.

How do you become a true hero?

You learn from an expert.

On Zeus' advice, and with the help of Pegasus the flying horse, Hercules seeks out Philictetus, the trainer of heroes. Phil is disillusioned because previous clients like Perseus and Achilles couldn't go the full distance, but he takes Hercules on and shows him all the tricks of the hero-trade. Both make mistakes and get hurt a few times in the process, of course - you teach what you need to learn, and the lines between teacher and student get blurred after a while.

Along the way Hercules also has to rescue Megara, a damsel in distress, and they fall in love - he doesn't know that she has sold her soul to Hades, however, and is committed to help him rearrange the cosmos to take over Mount Olympus. Despite their efforts to get Hercules out of the way before he spoils the loot, he becomes a famous superstar 'From Zero to Hero' in the big city with his own merchandised brand on consumer goods, all the royalties that go with it, and the high life that everyone envies.

But being rich and famous, strong and powerful is not being a true hero, Zeus tells him at another visit to the temple - before Hercules can rejoin the gods he must still do something that he has to discover for himself, something that he can only find by looking inside.

Hades in the meantime is furious and very frustrated with his lack of progress until he finds the only weakness Hercules has - his love for Meg. Hercules eventually agrees to give up his enormous strength for 24 hours to win back Meg's freedom from the clutches of Hades - who immediately launches his attack on the world by unleashing the Titans.

But Meg, Pegasus and Phil are not giving up on Hercules' shattered dreams and help him in his darkest hour. Together with the gods on Mount Olympus, they defeat Hades and his Titans and liberate planet Earth from the underworld's tyranny and oppression - but not without casualties: Meg is dying!

In a desperate attempt to change the course of events, Hercules rushes to see Hades and strikes a deal with him: 'Take me in Meg's place'. He dives after Meg into the River of Death, selflessly offering his life in return for hers, but the Fates cannot cut his thread so that they both emerge alive - the underworld has no power over gods!

Meg and the mighty Hercules are whisked off to Mount Olympus - now he can return home to be reunited with his family. The overjoyed Zeus explains : 'A true hero isn't measured by the size of his strength - but by the strength of his heart!'

This is the moment Hercules has always dreamed of, but he realizes that a life without love, even an immortal life, would be empty - and chooses to stay on earth with Meg and his friends: 'I finally know where I belong.'

I just love it!

What if we all remembered that we are powerful beyond measure and have a connection to our divine origin with unlimited support?

What if we knew that we are always exactly where we belong, wherever we are and whatever we do?

Kenaj- The Old Man of Moiromma [Episode #28; "The Cadaverous Planets"]

In the plains and frozen frontiers of Moiromma, by the mountains of the far and grayer side of the planet, along the frozen waterways of northern Moiromma, under the weary eyes of Siren, grieving eyes of siren, grieving for the loss of her friends she left in the depths of the underworld of earth, in the Gulf Stream of Hades on a vessel, where she was drifting for months with her comrades and drowned herself trying to escape its forbidden waters; thus, she was grieving for the loss of her mother Jokaneen in addition, who was captured and brought to the vaults of Hell, and incarcerated until she lost her existence. Now she was born of her mother, young yet, but full grown, and on the land called Moiromma, a planet of mostly glaciers, and permafrost, and ice, underground tunnels, and to the south, cells of Moirommalit's. But this far north, where she was, it was mostly uninhabitable. It is where she showed up suddenly. She was now standing on this frozen arctic planet, in silence, this ice planet in the galaxy her mother was morn into. She now was born into, now with no weapons, no resources, starving: she had imprints of all her mothers' memories, her DNA, and plus some. She was a commander for a day, in the underworld, fighting the henchman, she felt great, the henchman called Agaliarept: who was more prudent than what she thought he'd be. She figured--during those months in the gulf waters, they'd all starve to death, and why provoke anymore problems on the docks of hell, when the sea would take care of them. Thus, he gave in to her wish, only to get rid of her, and her twenty, doomed warrior souls; and wherever they went, he could care less. But he never figured on resurrection on her part.

Regrettably, there was a new fate to face, she stood there naked in the arctic winds, looking for friend or foe, for anyone would do. The gray pale dawn was all she had for light; she heard her mother's voice, like she had heard it many times before; she heard it in her minds-eye.

'The old man, see the old man, Kenaj.' The voice stopped, and she tried to search her memory banks to find out who he was, she did have all her data, all her memory: her mother's memory. But it was hard to retrieve in this frozen north side of Moiromma.

'Seek out Kenaj, by the great barrier sea, beyond the canyon,' said the inner voice of her mother to her mind. She was in the canyon she noticed: beyond it, the word 'beyond,' seeped into her mind.

"Yes, yes," she said out loud, as if her mother could hear.

As she swiftly went through the short valley, she found herself on a cliff, not a steep one, but one where there was a lake of sorts, frozen, with little lakes on top of the lakes, as if it thawed out in the afternoon and froze during the nights. Then she looked about, and a glacial mound was next to her, which evidently must have made the lake she presumed. And she stood there naked, as an old man down by the lake was trying to catch fish, looked up, up at her--stunned, but not overwhelmed. And when he took his second look at her, there was a trace of gaiety on his old mind, on his old wrinkled face, but still a bit handsome. He even looked like he had a bit of piety in his eyes.

"Well," he said, and before he could say another word,

"Are you Kenaj?" asked Siren.

"Do you know Kenaj?" he asked.

"I know his name, my mother whispered it to me in my mind, and she was killed in the vaults of Hell, killed for good."

The old man stood in shock; he knew now who she was, who her mother was,

"You mean Jokaneen? You look a little like her, I mean reassembly so."

"Yes, yes, of course, my mother knew you that is why she asked me to seek you out."

He hesitated, seemed to dispute with himself, and looked about.

"Come, take this fur," he gave her his top fur coat; he had another one on underneath that one.

"Yes I knew her well, I liked her, did her wrong; I wanted to have longer life, and couldn't wait. That was 150-years ago. I'm--I think--somewhere around 225-years old now. An old man according to earth time, but here not so old; but you see I am from earth, I am the old Archbishop of Brugge. When I came to Moiromma, about 100-years ago--and that's a long story--I came from Asteroid-Ice Cap where your mother left me, well, I found my way here. And I suppose I can help her daughter out. I did really like her, and I like you."

Siren was much taller than he, and had more body muscle than the old man, but he were likeable, and seemed sincere. But why live way out here, when there was more civilization southward, this was a dying question that she was hoping to ask, and get answered.

"Come into my home, my stone home, with a six-foot ice ceiling, with wooden chairs. I have the only wood I think on Moiromma left. The floors were stone and wood, with furs on them, much better than what he had selected from her memory banks from which her mother had had to live with. But humans were creative if anything, and so she knew that again by way of the selective memory banks of her mentor mother.

The Ice House

The cave like home had several rooms to it, and as I had mentioned, a six foot thick ice window for a ceiling. It was bluish ice that faded into light see-through ice, older than Kenaj; perhaps 500 to 1000-years old, was the blue parts.

"I had a dream of your mother, not long ago, a good dream; I guess I've dreamt of her a lot. I wish we could have remained friends. Her ghostly residue is in you, and it seems to be haunting me."

He noticed she looked much like a soldier, an Amazon type soldier of the old Greek days, when Troy was dominate on the planet called earth.

"You are so very young and beautiful, and I hope you possibly know the word: beautiful?"

She smiled, and the femininity came out of her,"Yes, it is a good word, thank you." She responded.

The Ice House: Kenaj

Once inside the domicile, he quickly looked side to side, in a low voice said, "Tell nobody I'm here...ever!"

"I'll do as you ask," said Siren," sitting down on a wooden chair. It was to her unique, the wooden chair she had not seen one before, "This must be a rare thing to have a wooden chair on this planet?"

"Yes indeed," responded Kenaj, adding, "At night there are creatures here and they rumble along noisily over the rough like cobble like paths going onto the glacier: the one right to us, they are giants, ten foot ice rats, and the others are ten to twenty foot ice worms. And they can be very dangerous."

As she sat looking about, while Kenaj paced the floor. He lit a candle; fire was also an exclusive commodity, as was wood on Moiromma. He hesitated for a moment; he heard the rumbling of a worm above him, and the knocking of the giant paws of the rats.

"That must be the creatures you've just mentioned," stated Siren.

"Worms and rats, Yes, we are really on the safer side of the planet. On the southern side, the Moiromma cells, the gypsy type cells are more dangerous than the creatures. Over on that side they all want to kill you for no reason, here they want to eat you because they're hungry like you. Thus, you have a better chance of survival here: if you can outsmart them.

The youthful Siren examined him attentively. She had a lump n her throat, not sure what to do, or what her next move was. But as she looked up, she saw a shadow, dark shadow moving over the ice ceiling. It was the worm, a big worm. But the ice was thick, and Kenaj didn't seem to be alarmed over it, hence, she remained calm.

"The ice is six-feet thick," said Kenaj, with a friendly smile, "if that worm sticks around, we'll have dinner, its 300-pounds of blubber with thin pieces of meat throughout its system."

To Kenaj, the young woman seemed striking; very lovely. He took off his coat and robs, she had the fur coat on, politely, and she did as he did. Monkey see monkey do, I suppose you could say.

"Should I give you this?" she asked, holding her coat out for him to take. He took it, shut the door, locked it with a second door, and put an iron bar across it. He had already put her coat up against the wall on a hanger.

"You must be hungry?" he asked Siren, pulling out a fish from an ice pool in an open room not far from his room. It had legs on it, and he pulled them off, telling her, they'd scratch her as she'd try to eat it, and they were not worth the trouble. They both ate a fish alive.

Siren studied the man quite seriously now, she looked at him again, and again, he was now a bit strange to her. He went to the bed in the main room [likened to a studio apartment], and lay down. She found herself aroused; she followed him, and lay beside him. Then something happened she had no name for, and it wasn't sleep. She seemed neither surprised nor curious, but rather, overtaken by the emotions she was going through as he laid on her. Then she found him moving off her, and falling to sleep, and wanting to wake him up for a replay, but didn't. It was all innovative for her.

The Old Man

The old man had tried to go out in the early morning, still a bit ash dark, to find that worm that was casting its shadow over his domicile, thinking it would be resting thereabouts, and catch it off guard; in doing so, Siren when she woke up, seeing the door open a ting, not seeing the old man, she put on her fur coat, and did as the old man had done, went outside to check the surroundings. 'Ugh,' she screeched out, seeing the old man's torso lying on the ice. His other body parts were nowhere to be found. She picked up what was left of him and brought his remains into the igloo type house. She had remembered her mother telling her: Moirommalit's were cannibalistic, and flesh was good to eat, but for some reason she could not eat him, she had made love to him, her mother had informed her in a dream, this is what took place, and it seemed wrong. She was learning she was a combination of a few different types of beings, and earth had implanted some of their morals, or values or whatever they may be inside her. As well as Moiromma and Hell itself had taught her much, and Asteroid Ice-cap was in her general genetic make up: where to her knowledge, her mother was from originally: she having the blood of both Moiromma and the Asteroid colony.

Now she was in a strange would indeed, one she did not know much about: oh yes, her mother whispered much into her ear, and imprinted much into her system, her genetics, but experience was lacking.

Notes by Rosa: Episode #28: note: the original 26-episodes were written in April, 2004, in Lima, Peru, or in route to Lima, via, by air: and one in Equator, of the 26. The 27th was written in December of 2004, in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. All revised between July and September of 2005. Four episodes were then written July of 2005, called "Project: Space Tomb," which was indirectly retaliated to the Moiromma series in the sense of its presence in outer space, but like Episode 27, it was not meant to be part of the series, and was made part in the sense the author needed to use it for the story. But episode #28, was created as an extension to the 26-episodes, specifically for those who have especially liked the series, which the author has noticed several internet sites picking up on them, and sharing them with the public. So it would seem this is being written by demand.

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Gleanings is a gathering of hitherto uncollected essays written by Christine Downing during the quarter century since the publication in 1981 of her seminal book, The Goddess: Mythological Images of the Feminine. Many of the essays continue her exploration of Greek goddess traditions and other aspects of Greek mythology. Others grow out of her ongoing involvement with the thought of both Freud and Jung. The interrelationship between polis and psyche, city and soul, is a central theme of several of these papers, including those that focus on the Holocaust. Various facets of lesbian and gay experience are also examined.

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Update Post: May 17, 2010 01:20:10

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Gods In Everyman Review

Archetypes are a powerful tool for self-knowledge because they tap into the universal collective language we all share. Learning to become more aware of your own archetypes can help you see yourself, the bigger picture and is a good place to start creating solutions for yourself and others. This book is for men but women will benefit as well by integrating the masculine archetypes within themselves and to better understand the men in their lives. Jean Shinoda Bolen has also written a most wonderful book for women called "Goddesses in Everywoman: Powerful Archetypes in Women's Lives". Both of her books are keepers in my library and I refer to them often for reference in my own writing.
Affirmations for the Everyday Goddess Spiritual Guidebook & 22 Wisdom Cards for Contemplation & Prayer (based on the 22 major arcana of the tarot)

Gods In Everyman Feature

• ISBN13: 9780060972806
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• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Gods In Everyman Overview

In this challenging and enlightening companion volume to the bestselling Goddesses in Everywoman, Jean Shinoda Bolen turns her attention to the powerful inner patterns--or archetypes--that shape men's personalities, careers, and personal relationships. Viewing these archtypes as the inner counterparts of the outer world of cultural stereotypes, she demonstrates how men an women can gain an nvaluable sense of wholeness and integration when what they do is consistent with who they are. Dr. Bolen introduces these patterns in the guise of eight archetypal gods, or personality types, with whom the reader will identify. From the authoritarian power-seeking gods (Zeus, Poseidon) to the gods of creativity (Apollo, Hephaestus) to the sensual Dionysus, Dr. Bolen shows men how to identify their ruling gods, how to decide which to cultivate and which to overcome, and how to tap thepwer of these enduring archetypes in order to enrich and strengthen their lives. She also stresses the importance of understanding which gods you are attracted to and which are compatible with your expectations, uncovers the origins of the often-difficult father-son relationship, and explores society's deep conflict between nurturing behavior and the need to foster masculinity.

In Gods in Everyman Dr. Bolen presents us with a compassionate and lucid male psychology that will help all men and women to better understand themselves and their relationships with their fathers, their sons, their brothers, and their lovers.

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Update Post: May 15, 2010 01:00:16

Mudras & Hand Symbolism: Hand Symbolism & Beliefs Part 3

[Note: This paper contains images which may be seen as originally published at our website]

As a support for our statement above, we might mention the Tarot cards as an example. These esoteric cards nowadays degraded to a method of divination, was actually a training manual for the promotion of one's spiritual and divine expression in the world of matter. The pictorial diagrams of the Major and Minor Arcana holds secrets that the casual operator of the cards are unaware of. When properly understood the Tarot cards take us step by step to our goal of human perfection through the alchemical process.

Having gone underground the Initiates of the Mystery Schools were quick to appropriate the popular religions to embody their secret doctrines and practices. Not only are satanic elements quick to jump on the bandwagon of spiritual establishments, angelic forces are adept in letting the Dark Ones think that they have the upper-hand while in the meantime reorganizing their army and infiltrating stealth-like into their religious camp upsurped from the Light forces. Like Dante, angelic consciousness wrote books of their spiritual wisdom using Christian imagery; or painters like the multi-genius Leonardo Da Vinci, who represented important occult precepts in his artwork using Christian themes. Music composers too, cleverly inserted mystical formulas and teachings into their symphonies, concertos, operas and sonatas. As an example, the musical piece, "The Magic Flute" of Mozart comes to mind. However, what is relevant here is that occult signs are portrayed profusely, graphically in art, and we would do well to focus on that.

Above we mentioned Da Vinci who conveyed teachings in his art productions. There were many others, like Albrecht Durer, Fra. Angelico, and Raphael. The signs that these artists and many others around the world for countless generations represented in their paintings and drawings were related to the secrets of initiation and the process of spiritual development where human genius, I.Q., creativity, morality, and holiness were raised to a sublime degree. The ancient Greeks, Chinese, Hindus and many other cultures and civilizations all had their initiates who were highly developed mentally, morally, and spiritually--these men and women were well beyond their time and the lay people viewed them as demi-gods and apotheosized them.

The artists and artisans of the secret Mystery schools made used of almost every material available for conveying the metaphysical doctrines of the Ancient Wisdom, such as papyri, stone, bronze, terracotta, clay, mosaics, ivory, enamels, stained glass, gems, crystals, cloth, wood, canvas, tiles, leather, etc.

The most prominent feature of the art productions of the Initiates of the Mystery Schools were the hand signs and this was known as the Ancient Sign Language which was transmitted from Age to Age, culture to culture. J.S.M. Ward made a thorough study of this secret sign language and in his book, "The Sign Language of the Mysteries," he identifies several of these hand signs and gestures to be found mostly in Christian art although by no means limited to Christendom. In his book Ward offers many instances of each sign. He explains that these hand poses are to be found all over Europe, Africa, Asia, India, Oceania, the Americas, ancient Crete, Polynesia, Babylonia, etc., in short, all over the world. Among the hand signs that he discusses are:

Sign of Preservation

Sign of Faith

Sign of Distress/Surrender

Sign of Death

Sign of Praise

Sign of the Heart

Sign of Prayer

Sign of Benediction or Blessing

Sign of Secrecy

Sign of Destruction

Sign of Exultation

Sign of Reverence

Sign of Horror

Sign or Resignation

Sign of Sacrifice

Sign of Heaven and Earth

Sign of Despair/Regret

Sign of Preservation

There are many variations of this sign. Basically, it is posed by placing one hand over the heart and raising the other at an angle at the elbow with the hand pointing upwards. In some forms, it is the index finger that points skyward. In most depictions of this sign it is the left hand rather than the right that is raised. There are numerous instances of this pose in Egyptian art. The Egyptologist, E.A. Wallis Budge, interprets the hieroglyph with this sign as Hen, or "praise." The god Anubis is often represented with this hand posture, and murals in the palaces and tombs of the pharaohs often illustrate votaries of Ra with this significant gesture. This sign is also found in the Minoan and Mycenaen civilizations. In Christian art, Jesus is often portrayed assuming many occult hand signs, among these is the Sign of Preservation. The sun god Damuzi of the Babylonians while descending into the underworld likewise bears this sign, as depicted on certain objects. In his book mentioned previously, J.S.M. Ward tells of a Roman sarcophagus in the Bardo Museum, Tunis, showing the emergence of Jonah from the whale that swallowed him for three days, and making the Sign of Preservation--in effect, indicating that his life was saved. Among the mystical Islamic sects, the Whirling Dervishes appropriate the use of this important hand pose in their ceremonial rites and practices. In archaic times, the Sign of Preservation was adopted by those petitioning the deity for the preservation of oneself or someone else, and with the strong conviction that the request was granted. In contradistinction to this, it was also employed by those of high spiritual attainment assuring others of their salvation. In Christianity it is often associated with the Second Person of the Holy Trinity.

Sign of Faith

This sign resembles the Sign of Preservation with the exception that the hand pointing upwards is not squared at an angle and not pointing to the sky. It points outwards away from the body. Like the above sign, many examples of these are to be found distributed all over the world.

Sign of Distress/Surrender

When the two hands are lifted upwards above the head with the elbows bent--this is known as the Sign of Distress. This is one of those universal hand signs, and it seems almost human nature to fling the hands into the air when in despair or when faced with overwhelming pressure as a sign of psychological turmoil and the "giving-in" to a certain situation, or when feeling helpless. Therefore, it is not surprising when we find the use of this sign all around the globe as depicted in artistic works, and experientially in everyday life. This sign is an appeal for aid and is universal like many of the other signs mentioned in this section. Its use can be traced as early as 3,000 B.C. Quetzalcoatl, one of the gods of the Mayans, is sometimes depicted with this hand pose.

Sign of Death

This hand sign is related to the throat chakra, or psychic center. It consists of placing the hand's edge-whether left or right hand-at the throat. The thumb points directly at the throat itself. It is actually a moving gesture and is effected by moving the hand's edge across the throat as if to cut it. This sign suggests that something is to be terminated or killed, or that it is already dead. The ancient Romans and Egyptians were well familiar with this sign and in some Christian paintings of the crucifixion, the disciple John the Beloved is portrayed with this sign of cutting the throat while standing before the crucified Jesus. Arabs and Sudanese make use of this sign to swear their innocence uttering that God should cut their throats should they be telling a falsehood. Several American Indian tribes employ this sign as a salutation meaning that they are "faithful or true unto death."

Sign of Praise

This sign is similar to the Sign of Distress except that the hands are not lifted above the head but extended forward in front of the body, inclining upwards with the hands facing outwards and the elbows bent. This is also a greeting sign and the initial start of the salaam gesture of the Arabs.

Sign of the Heart

This sign is accomplished by placing the hand over the heart. A survival of this gesture in modern times is the bowing of a gentlemen to a lady with his hand to his heart as a salutation of respect, or as it was customary in the 17th and 18th century in Europe, for a man to remove his hat and to place it at the heart region when greeting the opposite sex. This is a hoary sign. It is to be found in ancient Egypt, Rome, and even in Crete in the Minoan period. It is also to be seen in the mosaic art of the many old churches and cathedrals. The meaning of this sign is a little obscure. It has been suggested that it signify faith or fidelity. However, with the placement of the hand at the heart we may make a conjecture and say that it concerns the finer sentiments of a person conveyed to the object of his attention or affection.

Sign of Prayer

This is probably the best known of ecclesiastical signs which is also used by the lay person. It consists of placing the palms of the hands together with the fingertips pointing in an upward direction. Another Sign of Prayer is the folding of the hands together intertwining the fingers.

Sign of Benediction or Blessing

In Christianity, this sign is utilized mainly by the priesthood. It is used by priests to bless people and consecrate objects. To assume this sign, the third and fourth fingers are folded onto the palms with the index and middle fingers held upright. The thumb may also be erect or it may be folded upon the ring finger. The significance of the erect thumb and first two fingers in the act of blessing is that the grace, virtue, and power of the Holy Trinity are being conveyed. Occultly, the subtle energies flowing from the hands are stronger at the terminal points of these digits than they are at the ring and little fingers.

Sign of Secrecy

This is a sign that has survived to contemporary times and can continually be seen in everyday life. It probably originated in Egypt during the heydays of the Mystery Schools. This sign was associated with Horus, or Harpocrates--one of the forms of Horus. This sign is executed by putting a finger to the lips as though to seal it. Its significance is that of secrecy and silence. In the Mystery Schools the Initiates were pledged to a vow of secrecy, never revealing the secrets of the Temple unless authorized to do so. Even nowadays, the following injunction may be found in occult schools: "know, dare, do, and be silent."

Sign of Destruction

When one or both of the hands are seen on the solar plexus in religious art, it signifies destruction. We can understand the significance of this sign when viewed from a metaphysical point of view. The solar plexus chakra is a storehouse of potent energies that may be used for good or ill. When this center is awakened prematurely in a disciple's life, it may cause problems that the disciple is not equipped as yet to handle. Physical, physiological, and psychological--not to mention karmic difficulties--might arise when a disciple foolishly stimulates this center. The solar plexus chakra is an emotional focus and by being polarized at this level one may have trouble extricating oneself from the lower instinctive and egoistic nature. The disciple may be destroyed by this center and evolutionary progress postponed, thus the hand gesture on the solar plexus came to be associated with destruction. There are numerous examples of the Sign of Destruction in Art. In India, Shiva, the Destroyer is often depicted with this gesture. Many Greek and Christian art-forms also bear personages with this sign.

Sign of Exultation

This hand pose is a sign of joy and satisfaction; it is done by extending the hands above the head with the fingertips of the hands touching. Though not as numerous as some of the other signs, there are several examples of these in Christian art. In China, the Hung Society uses this sign to represent the metal element.

Sign of Reverence

Reverence in the sign language of the Mysteries, is indicated by the shading of one's eyes with the hand, whether left or right. In some variations of this sign the eyes are fully covered. This sign originated in cultures where it was impolite to look directly at one's superior; for instance, a soldier would make this sign when saluting a superior officer. Another possible origin of this sign is the experiences had by blessed individuals during angelic visitations. The presence of these spiritual beings compels the beholder to shield their eyes from the angelic radiance. This hand gesture is not unique to any race for it is to be found distributed all over the world--in Ceylon, Australia, Africa, Asia, and Europe.

Sign of Horror

One of the dramatic signs, the gesture of horror is made by extending the right hand, palm outwards, while the head is turned to the right as though refusing to see something objectionable or frightening. The left hand is this gesture point outwards and in a downward direction as if trying to expel something. Examples of this sign in art may be seen in the Vatican and in the British Museum.

Sign or Resignation

This sign consists in crossing the arms upon the chest with the fingertips of the right hand on the left shoulder and the fingertips of the left hand on the right shoulders. This gesture is sometimes portrayed with the right hand over the left, but the reverse is regarded as a more proper representation according to tradition. This is another one of those signs that may have originated in the Mystery Schools of Egypt. The god Osiris and the statues representing Egyptian pharaohs are often depicted in this pose by artisans. For some specific reason the Egyptians also buried their dead in this manner, with the hands of the mummy crossed upon their breast. Even the sarcophagi or mummy cases of the deceased bear a pictorial resemblance of them with the same sign. In the Renaissance, artists often depicted Mother Mary with such a hand pose. Like the many hand gestures described herein, the Sign of Resignation generates a certain occult power of which we shall discuss later in an upcoming article when we apply and incorporate the sign in our mudra practices. The occult function of a sign is just as important as its esoteric meaning, perhaps even more so.

Sign of Heaven and Earth

This sign is executed by extending one hand above the head pointing skywards, and the other extended downwards pointing to the earth. According to Ward, the significance of this sign in Christianity is that someone had descended to Earth and later re-ascended to Heaven. Or alternatively, ascended to Heaven and later descended to Earth. There are numerous examples of this sign in Christian art related to the raising of Lazarus, the descent of Jesus into Hell to save the inhabitants, and Jesus' resurrection. There are many variations of this sign. Sometimes the hand with its open palm pointing upwards has its fingers together; occasionally we find examples where the index finger points upwards while the rest of the fingers folded onto the palm. The British Museum has a collection of Babylonian objects where the Sign of Heaven and Earth may be seen. In Greece, examples of this sign are associated with the Eleusinan Mysteries.

Sign of Despair/Regret

Regret, despair, and sorrow is indicated by resting the head upon the right hand and the left arm, which is horizontally across the solar plexus, supports the right elbow with its hand. Occasionally, this position is reversed. There does not seem to be any strict rule to this. In paintings with crucifixion themes, the Virgin Mary is often depicted with this hand position. There are examples of this sign of Persian and Greek origins preserved in museums all over the world.

Having explained the various hand signs to be found in art it would be appropriate if we were to emphasize that the signs described above are not merely symbolic or gestures without any occult significance. It is not too commonly known that these signs generate certain virtues as they modify, purify, intensify, and empower one's auric energy-structure or one's surroundings in some subtle manner. These signs are mudras with occult values. Mantras, incantations, and liturgies often accompany the signs. Most votaries of religion are unaware that their ceremonies are actually magickal rites and processes that call forth unseen influences. For instance, making the Sign of Preservation by the spiritually evolved occult practitioner, evokes spiritual and angelic forces that protects the person or persons to whom the sign is being directed to. The sign assures the petitioners and recipients that they will be protected and preserved from negative psychic attack.

It is instinctive for people to assume specific mental and physical attitudes when interacting with divine forces. We unconsciously feel hand signs and gestures to be efficacious in aiding the establishment of a contact with higher intelligences and requesting their intercession.

Hand-signs, or mudras are of great benefit to our well-being. In future articles, therefore, we will apply this mystical science in a practical way that may be practiced by the average person.

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