Bhutan’s sacred Burning Lake (known also as Membartsho or Mebar Tsho), in the Tang Valley, gets its name from a legend involving Pema Lingpa (or Padma Lingpa), a renowned Bhutanese saint. Today, the...
A travel along the corridors of the Wieliczka salt mine inspired Polish writer Bolesław Prus to write his most famous novel -''Pharaoh''. Over the centuries, all of the explored chambers of the salt...
The continental neighbors of the Romans, the Gauls were considered barbaric entities which the Republic and Empire attempted to colonize multiple times. Caesar’s numerous conquests on the mainland...
Meteora means ‘suspended in the air’ in Greek. This site is one of the largest and most important Greek Orthodox monastic complexes. It is located in the north-western edge of the Plain of Thessaly...
For anyone familiar with the Bible, the story of the Israelite god Yahweh is a simple one. Yahweh appears to Abraham in the book of Genesis and enters into a covenantal alliance with him. Abraham's...
The Horn of Africa is a region with a unique identity and vibrant history. Close to the Arabian Peninsula, it always stood out from the rest of the African continent. Today, the Horn of Africa is...
In translation, the term jinn can be interpreted as ‘hidden from sight’ or ‘the hidden ones.’ In Arabic, the word jinn defines a collective number and it derives from the root jnn or gnn, which means...
The name of the Torah has a complicated history. It has been thought to mean a multitude of things including “instruction”, “law”, and “teaching”. The Torah is often misunderstood to represent the...
In 1692 a darkness descended on Salem , Massachusetts, like no other in American history. Children and adults alike, claimed that the devil himself was walking the streets of the early English colony...
Pythagoras is perhaps the most famous figure in the group of ancient Greek philosophers known as the Pre-Socratics. This is largely due to the Pythagorean Theorem, a mathematical theorem that is...
In India, a farmer working his land has made an important discovery. He unearthed a rare Jain statue, that dates back over a millennium. It is believed that traces of a temple have also been...
Mecca (also spelled as Makkah) is regarded as the holiest city in Islam. Apart from the fact that Mecca was the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad, it is also the city where Islam’s holiest place of...
Vikings are more popular than ever. With dramas such as Vikings and The Last Kingdom the ancient Norsemen have reached new generations. Of course, there is dramatic license taken to particular...
The Lord said to Abram: “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name...
Jacob’s ladder is the name given to the stairway that appears in the dream of the Biblical Patriarch Jacob. But the ladder has also come to symbolize a connection between Earth and Heaven (or the...
Al-Andalus is the name given to the Iberian Peninsula when it was under Muslim rule. Islam arrived in that region with the arrival of the Moors during the 8 th century AD, and succeeded in conquering...
According to a new paper published in the journal Tel Aviv , ancient esoteric worshippers at a Judahite temple at the fortress mound in Tel Arad in Israel “likely smoked cannabis during cultic...
In India , the remnants of ancient temples have been uncovered during construction work on a new religious complex. It is almost certain that they are Hindu temples, and they have already yielded...
Researchers in China have found evidence that Stone Age people had a close relationship with hares. While they never domesticated them as they did with dogs, it appears that humans changed the...
The coronavirus pandemic has led many people to seek comfort in a variety of ways. Some have returned to traditional customs and beliefs. In Ireland many people are making a pilgrimage to holy wells...
As the great Irish esotericist John Heron Lepper wrote, one could say that the existence of secret or closed societies [namely mystery schools] – in which certain teachings or practices are passed on...
Mithra was the god of light, purity, goodness, and truth and occupied an important place in the faith of the ancient Aryans. The Spread of Mithra There are various opinions on the spread of the...
The world of the ancient Egyptians was diverse and enigmatic, filled with untold wonders and beliefs that were closely interwoven with the nature around them. Of particular interest is the vast...
A deity with as many attributes as arms, Saraswati (or Sarasvati) is the Hindu goddess of aesthetics. These include music, the arts, wisdom and learning. She can be compared, in many ways, to the...