The Egyptian Book of the Dead , or "The Book of Coming Forth by Day," is an ancient religious text that played a significant role in Egyptian funerary practices around 1550 BC. It contains spells,...
Myth, legend and literature are full of tales about people ending up in either Heaven or Hell. However, every now and then a story arises about someone who belongs in neither. Such is the tale of...
China’s first emperor, Emperor Qin , was a man so obsessed with immortality that he commissioned the creation of an army that would accompany him into the afterlife. This army was no ordinary army,...
There is nothing as colorful as all the various mythologies of our world. From Europe to Asia, Africa and the Americas, both ancient and modern cultures and civilizations envisioned and sculpted...
A water lily from the genus Nymphaea , this plant became known as the ‘Blue Lotus’, or the ‘Egyptian Lotus’. This aquatic plant is not just a thing of beauty, it has a secret too, and the ancient...
The First Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, was terrified of death and much of his reign was focused on the search for immortality and the Elixir of Life. Ironically, Qin Shi Huang died from the toxic...
A central concept in the novel The Sphinx Scrolls is whether a mummification technology has ever existed that could preserve someone for long periods and retain the potential to bring them back to...
Chinese Thought conceived the idea of a universe governed by the interaction and cyclical alternation of two opposing, but complementary principles called Yin and Yang . Before becoming...
Add magic to natural philosophy and early chemistry knowledge and you have the ancient art of alchemy . Alchemists tried to change various substances into gold and looked hard for the elixir of...
The elixir of immortality (known also as the elixir of life) is a mythical substance believed to grant those who consume it eternal life. Various civilizations throughout human history have their own...
Xiwangmu (西王母), whose name means ‘Queen Mother of the West’ is a goddess in the Taoist pantheon, and worshipped in Chinese folk religion. Xiwangmu is considered to be one of the most prominent female...
A new botanical scientific study on ginkgo trees highlights the species’ hyper-charged defenses and apparent escalation towards “immortality.” Native to China , G inkgo biloba , also known as the...
Immortality has been a dream of human beings since the dawn of time. Mankind´s fascination with cheating death is reflected in scientific records, mythology and folklore dating back at least to...
Idunn (Iðunn) is one of the most important goddesses in Norse mythology. The name of this goddess has been variously translated to mean ‘The Rejuvenating One’, ‘Ever Young’, and ‘Rejuvenator’, which...
You may have heard of the golden apples of Greek myth, but do you know of the Chinese Peaches of Immortality? These sacred fruits have become symbols that continue to hold significance at yearly...
The elixir of immortality (known also as the ‘elixir of life’) is a legendary substance found in many ancient cultures. This elixir is expected to grant eternal life to the person who consumes it...
New archaeological finds shed light on Qin Shi Huang’s (first Emperor of China) quest for eternal life. According to 2000-year-old texts written on thousands of wooden slats, the Chinese Emperor did...
The general appearances of Chinese gods lead us to think of them as sober imperial bureaucrats. They mostly look like middle-aged men dressed in official-looking robes, spending their time reading...
It is no longer a secret that there are historical connections between the myths from everywhere in the world, indicating that every culture had strong influences on each other and their legends. A...
Huangshan (written in the Han script as 黄山, and literally translated as ‘Yellow Mountain’) is a mountain range located in the southern part of Anhui Province, in the eastern region of China. This...
Apples have a prominent place in world mythology, and are often associated with paradise, magic, knowledge and sensual experience. Legendary magician Merlin was said to carry a silver bough from an...
Uruk from Mesopotamia was probably the first legendary immortal. He was believed to have been a “regular” individual who simply could not die. However, mythology suggests that immortals and observers...
Soma is both the name of a god and a substance that is found in Hindu mythology. As a deity, Soma is one of the most important gods in the Rigveda . Soma is also considered to be a primeval being,...
The ningyo, which translates as human fish (known also as gyojin , meaning human fish , or hangyo-jin, meaning half-fish human ) is a creature in Japanese folklore that is comparable to the mermaids...