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Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

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Mount Shasta: Sacred Mountain and a Strange Destination for Many

Mount Shasta: Mystery Mountain and Sacred Destination

Mount Shasta is not the tallest or most beautiful mountain in the Cascade Range; but it is the most legendary. In terms of weirdness and strangeness, the unusual stories surrounding the mountain will...
The Twists And Turns Of Religion: Shaman, Priest And Promised Messiah

The Twists And Turns Of Religion: Shaman, Priest And Promised Messiah

The world of late antiquity was extremely suspicious of novelty, anything, that is, that made claim to serious attention. Every innovation, whether of thought or technique, had to be justified in...
Prophecy has had a strong influence since ancient times

Prophecy Through the Ages: Society, Power and Legend

“Prophecy is an emanation sent forth by the Divine Being through the medium of the Active Intellect, in the first instance to man's rational faculty, and then to his imaginative faculty.” -...
Our Lady of Akita, Japan

Lady of Akita: Japanese Statue Weeps, Sheds Blood, and Performs Miracles!

Created in the 1960s by a Buddhist woodcarver, the wooden Virgin Mary resided quietly for years in the chapel of a Japanese convent in the northwestern town Akita. Yet today, the statue and her tiny...
Detail of Painting ‘Astarte Syriaca.’

Goddess Ninkharsag—Ancient Powerful Mother who Faded into The Holy Ghost

The tale of our creation we know from the Bible is only half the story—one which has been heavily edited. But have you ever wondered how god created male and female in his image? There are other...
Margery Kempe: Medieval Mystic and ‘Heretic’ Heroine

Margery Kempe: Medieval Mystic and ‘Heretic’ Heroine

Margery Kempe was, for the first 40 years of her life, an ordinary woman. Born into a middle-class family in 14th century East Anglia in England, she is remembered today for her remarkable later life...
Painting of a Menehune or the first Hawaiian people from 1933 by D. Howard Hitchcock.

The Menehune: Historical Accounts of the Mythical ‘Little People’ of Hawaii

The Menehune: Historical Accounts of the Mythical ‘Little People’ of Hawaii The mention of the name conjures up images of little people, tiny artisans fervently working through the night to complete...
The Hussites and the Hussite Wars were inspired by the desire for religious reformation and the ideas of Jan Hus.

The Hussites and the Hussite Wars: Religion, Heresy and Reformation

The Hussites were members of a pre-Reformation Christian movement that originated in Bohemia, in the modern-day Czech Republic. Named after Jan Hus, whose teachings were followed by the Hussite...
The Annunciation by Leonardo da Vinci

It’s March 25 – Happy Medieval New Year!

March 25 this year will fly by for most of us as just another day in the Gregorian calendar. But the date was far more significant in the past. For over a millennium across Europe and beyond this was...
A ‘Cult of Saints’ Meant Plentiful Sainthoods For Celtic Aristocracy

A ‘Cult of Saints’ Meant Plentiful Sainthoods For Celtic Aristocracy

Dark Age Britain was apparently full of “saints”…well, at least hundreds of people gained membership into the ‘cult of saints’ at that time. Up to 3-4 percent of aristocrats may have been awarded...
Australian Aboriginal Dreamtime Stories and Creation Myths

Aboriginal Dreamtime Stories and the Creation Myths of Australia

The Aborigines of Australia are considered one of the oldest continuously surviving cultures in the world, encompassing hundreds of diverse cultural groups, each with their own creation stories...
The Jade Emperor: Taoist Ruler of Heaven - and Celestial Bureaucrat

The Jade Emperor: Taoist Ruler of Heaven - and Celestial Bureaucrat

The Jade Emperor is not only a notable figure in Chinese mythology, but also one of the most important deities in Taoism and in Chinese folk religion. Today, the Jade Emperor is regarded as the...
The abbey gateway at the now ruined Reading Abbey in a Paul Sandby oil painting from 1808. Source: Public domain

Reading Abbey: Ruins Are A Reminder of Medieval Religious Strife

Reading Abbey was erected in 1121 in the town of Reading within in the county of Berkshire, England. It was a royal monastery established by King Henry I to pay homage to his ancestors and his...
Christ Inscription Unearthed in Israeli Village

Christ Inscription Unearthed in Israeli Village

A 1,500-year-old Greek Christ inscription bearing the words “Christ born of Mary” has been discovered at an excavation at the ancient village of Taibe, in northern Israel . This finding has not only...
Vodou Ceremony

The Origins of Voodoo, a Misunderstood Religion

In 64 AD, a great fire broke out in Rome for six days and devastated much of the city. According to the writer Tacitus, “Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class...
Biblical Tradition Of Chalking The Door Reappears In England

Biblical Tradition Of Chalking The Door Reappears In England

The ancient Christian custom of “ chalking the door ” has Biblical origins, stemming from the Israelites tradition detailed in the Old Testament where they marked their doors with chalked symbols...
Mapping The Lost Subterranean Christian Origins Of Hagia Sophia

Mapping The Lost Subterranean Christian Origins Of Hagia Sophia

At one time a cathedral, later a mosque, and now the chief museum of the Turkish Republic, Hagia Sophia, in the ancient Byzantine imperial capital of Constantinople (now Istanbul), was a world-famous...
Antichrist: The Deceiver, Betrayer and Herald of the End of Times

Antichrist: The Deceiver, Betrayer and Herald of the End of Times

The Antichrist. The name itself is enough to instill dread into the hearts of all devout Christians as well as others. It is a name that was ever connected to the negative, the malicious, and the...
Is There a Right Time to Take Down Your Christmas Decorations?

Is There a Right Time to Take Down Your Christmas Decorations?

In this day and age, Christmas has for many become a secular holiday, associated less with the birth of Jesus than with family get-togethers and the eager exchange of presents . Therefore, many...
The Northern Mysteries Current: Futhark and Mystery Schools of the Viking Age

The Northern Mysteries Current: Futhark and Mystery Schools of the Viking Age

The existence of mystery schools in the Viking Age (800-1200 CE) is deduced from myth and folklore. The poems of the Edda display the structure and content of cultic texts used within the framework...
Colorful Whirling Dervish Dance

The Whirling Dervish Dance: A Sacred Ritual to Touch the Divine

The divine may be experienced through a variety of means. In various global spiritual traditions, these include prayer, meditation on sacred texts, participation in religious ceremonies, and going on...
Thanks to new DNA analysis, the Krems-Wachtberg infants discovered in 2005 have now been identified as the earliest twins discovered to date. Source: OREA / Austrian Academy of Sciences

DNA Reveals Earliest Twins Buried 30,000 Years Ago in Austria

Thanks to news DNA analysis, prehistoric remains discovered in Austria have been found to contain the earliest evidence of twins found to date anywhere in the world. The discovery of infant remains...
Was Rama Based on a Real Historical Figure?

Was Rama Based on a Real Historical Figure?

Rama, one of the principle figures of the Hindu text the Ramayana is revered throughout India and the world. Many historians doubt that Rama was an actual person, however, many Hindus believe he was...
Detail, the medieval Hereford Mappa Mundi, “Cloth of the World” in Hereford, England. Circa 1300.

Hereford Mappa Mundi: Legendary Cities, Monstrous Races, and Curious Medieval Beasts

A large calfskin canvas was secreted away beneath the floor of an English cathedral, featuring what, at first glance, appeared to be a map of the world. Once recovered and repaired, the map which is...

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