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The Pilar Shrine a Karahan Tepe with the portal entrance at the back and the face in the middle of the right wall . ( Image: © Hugh Newman)

Can Winter Solstice At Karahan Tepe Explain A Shamanic Christmas Origin?

Ancient megalithic sites all over the world are still visited in celebration of winter solstice , to welcome the sunrise on the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. From Newgrange in...
This reconstruction shows the Bad Dürrenberg shaman in her full regalia. Source: Karol Schauer / State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt

Hidden Connection Between 9,000-Year-Old Bad Dürrenberg Shaman and Infant Exposed

Ever since archaeologists discovered the 9,000-year-old remains of what has come to be known as the Bad Dürrenberg shaman in the 1930s, they have been struggling to learn more about this enigmatic...
Nestled within Koli National Park, the Pirunkirkko cave, known as the Devil's Church in English, has become renowned for its purported connection to the spirit realm. Source: University of Eastern Finland

Researchers Unpack Science Behind Unique Presence of Devil in Finnish Cave

Thousands of curious visitors venture to the Pirunkirkko or ‘Devil’s Church’ cave in eastern Finland, in the fervent hope of the contact with the spirit world, specifically, to ‘talk to the Devil’...
Shrine at Naupa Iglesia. 	Source: © Freddy Silva

Naupa Iglesia: An Egyptian Portal in the Andes?

Halfway up a near-vertical ravine in the Andes, someone carved an inverted V-shaped entrance into the mountainside. Then they sliced the bedrock with great precision to create a shallow door that...
Artist’s reconstruction of the Swedish shaman. Photography by Gert Germeraad, Trelleborgs Museum.

Sweden's Exceptional 7,000-Year-Old Burial That Defied Tradition (Video)

The discovery of 'Burial XXII' in Sweden during the early 1980s generated considerable excitement among archaeologists. This unique Mesolithic grave , located in Skateholm on the southern coast,...
Top Image: Fantasy shaman leading a holy ayahuasca ceremony (Caphira Lescante/Adobe Stock)

Psychedelic-Induced Mystical Experiences Throughout History

Since time immemorial, psychedelic mind-altering experiences have been common among humankind’s shamanic journeys. All is one. That is one of the feelings contemporary users of mind-altering plants...
Shaman inhaling psychoactive substance ( Adobe Stock /  Ammit)

Hallucinogenic Trip Of The 1000-Year-Old Shamanic Pouch Into Another Galaxy

Since the mid-1950s, experimentalists, scientists, artists, musicians and psychonauts have been indulging in the “jungle alchemy” that is the ayahuasca, or DMT, experience. From 2008 – 2010...
The wooden snake staff was discovered in south-west Finland. Source: Satu Koivisto/Antiquity Publications Ltd

Discovery of Snake Staff Leaves Archaeologist “Utterly Speechless”

While excavating a site in southwest Finland , archaeologists came across something extraordinary. Hidden in the muddy soil in the wetland site of Järvensuo-I they unearthed a delicately carved snake...
Mindscapes And Altered Realities Of The Ancient World

Mindscapes And Altered Realities Of The Ancient World

From Australia to Alaska, and from South America to Europe, ancient cultures responded to their environments and developed particular belief systems to interpret reality. Although all of them...
A trio of anthropomorphic figures from the Tanzanian cave art at the Amakhee 4 site.

Ancient Tanzanian Paintings of Bizarre Humanoids Perplex Experts

Rare, multidimensional art has been discovered in a Tanzanian cave shelter. However, the ritual scenes depicted in the ancient art don’t tally up the traditions of the modern Sandawe people...
17,000-Year-Old Musical Instrument Is “Discovered” By Archaeologists

17,000-Year-Old Musical Instrument Is “Discovered” By Archaeologists

During a recent inventory of items held at a museum of natural history in Toulouse, a team of archaeological researchers took the opportunity to re-examine a conch (sea snail) shell retrieved in 1931...
The Legend of Lugalbanda, The First Sumerian Shaman

The Legend of Lugalbanda, The First Sumerian Shaman

According to the Sumerian King List , Lugalbanda was one of the kings who belonged to the First Dynasty of Uruk in Sumer in ancient Mesopotamia. What is particularly striking about Lugalbanda is the...
Petroglyph of the archaeological landscape of Tamgaly         Source: victor21041958 / Adobe Stock

Tamgaly Petroglyphs: Rituals, Shaman and Nomad’s Treasures

Tamgaly in Kazakhstan, now a UNESCO World Heritage site, provides evidence of the rich history and diverse cultural heritage of Central Asia. The area has been traversed by countless nomadic...
Prehistoric burial mound.     Source: Historic England

Chieftain and Seated Companion Illustrate Complex Prehistoric Burial Rituals

An elite prehistoric chieftain and possibly his older shaman have been discovered beside a sacred mound in southwest England’s most important prehistoric ritual center. During a new archaeological...
Seated Mesolithic woman was likely a shaman.         Source: © Gert Germeraad/Trelleborgs Museum

Mesolithic Woman Stuns Onlookers With Her Electric Gaze

Thanks to modern facial reconstruction techniques, experts are now able to recreate the faces of our ancestors in stunning detail. This has recently been done to shocking effect with an extraordinary...
Everything is distinct in the shaman’s secret world. Source: Ammit /Adobe Stock

The Shaman’s Secret World: Living in Light and Darkness

Shamanism is described in Shamanism, Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy as a every ancient coherent system of esoteric beliefs and practices that attempt to organize and explain the interrelationship...
The Odinov culture shamans graves that have been found in Western Russia. Source: Image: Institute of Archeology and Ethnography, The Siberian Times

Bronze Age Bird Beak Burials Found In Russia

By The Siberian Times Reporter The bizarre find of a skeleton with what seems to have been a collar or armor constructed from birds beaks has Russian archaeologists scratching their heads as to the...
The 3000 year old Scythian gold ritual vessel is on action. Source: Timeline / Fair Use.

Golden Vessel Used In Scythian Drug-Fueled Rituals Is Expected to Sell for $57K At Auction

A remarkable tiny golden vessel is going on auction in London. The item comes from the nomadic Scythian culture, who once dominated the Eurasian Steppe in classical times. It is valued at 45,000 GBP...
A man alone in a faerie realm.

Mysterious Worlds: Travels to the Faerie and Shamanic Realms

There are many accounts of a land of immortality and eternal youth in world myths and legends, as well as shamanic and indigenous spiritual traditions. Mysterious Worlds Writing in his recent work,...
A Sámi family  in front of goahti and lavvu housing, early 1900s, Norway

The Sami People: Reindeer Herding and Cultural Survival in the Far North

The Sámi are the northernmost indigenous people of Europe. For thousands of years they have lived in an area called Sápmi - the northern sectors of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Kola Peninsula...
Gothic queen in red dress doing magic

Ancient Women Shamans of Ireland: Healers, Priestesses and Diviners

All around the world many of the oldest ceremonial megalithic sites are associated with women shamans and oracular tradition and prophecy. A good example of this is Napta Playa which was linked to...
Nsangwini Bird Men.

Trance Rock Art of Nsangwini - Communing With the Spirits

The San, often known as Bushmen or Khoisan, are people with an ancient culture and they have been living in Southern Africa for millennia. In Swaziland, officially known as the Kingdom of Eswatini,...
Duk Duk dancers; the Duk Duk - secret society of men, 1913.

The Duk Duk: An Ancient Secret Society of Possessed Executioners

The Duk Duk is a secret society of the Tolai people in Papua New Guinea. This ancient secret sect has played an important social role for centuries and continues to operate today, although with a...
Spirit poles on Olkhon Island, Lake Baikal, Russia.

Puzzling Prehistoric Posts: The Enigmatic Spirit Poles of Eurasia

Totem poles are often seen as quintessential features of the Northwest Coast of America. Simon Fraser University lists ten types of American totem pole, which indicate their diversity and how the...

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