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The word shaman for most people, carries an aura of mystery and perplexity. Yet, it is a spiritual practice that began with early human societies. For people unfamiliar with at times perplexing...
The Egyptians, like many cultures, had no generic word for ‘demon’. Although some words, such as Akhw, get very close. Etymologically, the Greek derived term ‘daemon’ or ‘demon’ means divider or...
The names Thessalia, Hippolyta, Antiope, and even Princess Diana of Themyscira, better known as Wonder Woman are not unknown, even though up until recently only the romantics believed in their...
The mythological Alcinous and the location of his kingdom of the Phaeacians have remained one of the most elusive topics of ancient Greek literature. Clues to the ruler and his kingdom survive only...
On June 20, 1675, the small border town of Swansea, Massachusetts, was attacked by a band of Pokanoket of the Wampanoag tribe . No casualties resulted from the Pokanoket raid that day, except for...
Ghost stories abound about American presidents haunting the Oval Office. Wandering spirits returning from the dead to haunt the places they lived and worked in have been central components in...
The Andean mountain lion, often called the South American cougar, ( Puma concolor ), is perhaps best known simply as the puma, and this manhunter ruled the forests and jungles of western South...
A link to the treasures of the Templar Knights have come to light by way of a 17th-century manuscript, discovered by a historian, Giovanni Tomassini, in the small village originally called Ferentum...
An archetypal character who appears in the myths of many different cultures, the Trickster gleefully crosses and breaks physical and societal laws of both humans and gods, destroying norms, while...
Gilgamesh is one of the greatest heroes of the ancient Middle Eastern world. The epic named after him has become one of the greatest literary works of all ages. There is, however, one aspect of...
The Agricultural, or Neolithic (New-Stone Age) Revolution , marks the birth of modern civilization. Traditional wisdom says that is when we started to become us. That is when we began to grow crops,...
In Greek mythology, Melissa was a nymph who discovered and taught the use of honey and from whom bees were believed to have received their name. Regarded as nectar of the gods, honey is obviously as...
Counting from December 25, using the Julian calendar , Twelfth Night – January 6 – takes place on the last night of the ‘ Twelve Days of Christmas’ , marking the coming of the Epiphany, celebrating...
The historical existence of the Garden of Eden ( Genesis 2:4-3:24) remains a mystery. The Hebrew text depicts the Judaic Deity, Adam, Eve, and the villainous Serpent interacting within an intimate...
A peculiar pyramid with a ‘fan structure’ stands as an ancient stone solstice marker in Icod de los Vinos, a municipality on the island of Tenerife, in the Canary Islands (Spain). The precolonial...
In normal times (and the year 2020 is definitely not normal times) the Christmas holiday season is the point in the year when, in the United Kingdom, the annual pantomime theatre shows get underway...
In Canada the term ‘First Nations’ represents the aboriginal communities who draw their origins from the pre-contact era (before the arrival of Europeans) up to the present day. Historians generally...
The first Christmas day was on February 26 in the year 6 BC for new evidence suggests it was the date when Jesus was born. The key to unlocking the mystery of Christ’s birth lies within the...
Just as with the appropriation of Pagan sacred sites by Christian authorities, as recommended by Pope Gregory I to St Augustine in the late sixth century, there was a natural tendency in the late...
According to the Gospel of Matthew , Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea at the time of King Herod and some Magi from the East arrived in Jerusalem to inquire where the new-born King of the Jews was...
Bronze was a prized metal in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. It is an alloy of copper and tin and its production requires smelters at temperatures above 1 500 degrees Celsius. It is unlikely to have...
In 1493, the invention of the Gutenberg printing press dramatically amplified the gathering and dissemination of news. However, this innovation came with a dark side as it later delivered the Great...
For at least 150,000 years, if not much longer, small groups of human hunters adorned themselves with the skins, horns and oils of the beasts they tracked to better conceal their presence and to...
A century before Columbus , at the zenith of Venice's splendour, two brothers, Nicolò and Antonio Zeno embarked an extraordinary journey to the far north following Viking trade routes on the shores...
