Before there was Cinderella, there was Ye Xian. Undeniably one of the most well-read fairy tales made popular by Disney’s 1950s film, Cinderella describes the life of a young woman forced into...
Modern culture is dominated by science and technology, which for the most part offers an explanation for human behavior and the forces of nature. But it hasn’t always been like that. Words like “...
Nothing instilled more fear in the tomb raiders of times past, than the possibility of encountering a curse that warned of dire consequences for those that did not heed its warning. In ancient Egypt...
An enchantress from Welsh mythology, Cerridwen is regarded as a woman of incredible power and magic. She pervades Welsh and Irish culture as an emblem of wisdom and rebirth, remaining today as a...
Pseudomonarchia Daemonum , also known as the False Hierarchy of Demons , is a great compendium from the 16 th century dictating the names of sixty-nine demons. The title itself indicates that the...
By Tara MacIsaac , Epoch Times Imagine you’re in an ancient temple, dimly lit by rays of sunlight peaking in. A worshipper lights a fire on the altar, and steps back. A statue beside the altar begins...
The modern Western world is familiar with the concept of wishing wells, or bodies of water in which currency, most commonly in the form of coin, is tossed with the intention of making a wish. Some...
It is unknown what words or rites seers in Armenia chanted 3,300 years ago to tell the rich ruling class what the future held, but the chambers they attempted to do their magic in contained a...
An ancient Egyptian codex written in Coptic and dating back 1,300 years had been deciphered for the first time, revealing that the 20-page book made of parchment contains a series of spells and...
The Picatrix is an ancient Arabian book of astrology and occult magic dating back to the 10 th or 11 th century, which has gained notoriety for the obscene natural of its magical recipes. The...
On a grey November day in London’s Hyde Park we passed beneath a cluster of leafless trees, their skeletal branches alive with the chatter of hundreds of starlings. Suddenly, the birds fell silent. A...
Archaeologists have uncovered evidence for the practice of rituals and possible astronomical practices in Western Pomerania, dating back to the Mesolithic period, at least 9,000 years ago, according...
A 1,500-year-old papyrus stored in John Rylands Library in the University of Manchester has been studied for the first time in more than a century, revealing that the ancient text was actually a...
An experiment conduced earlier this year on a replica of an ancient bronze mirror held at Kyoto’s National Museum revealed that the original may have been used as a so-called magic mirror to conjure...
Archaeologists have reported on the discovery of a 900-year-old crypt in Sudan containing seven mummified bodies and walls covered with inscriptions. The text appears to have been written as a form...