Showing 66 articles
The Feathered Serpent
Author: Nataliya PetlevychJuly 6, 2022
Stories of ancient civilizations appear and evolve in the flow of time. The symbols they contain are multivalent and complex and the pursuit of meaning is never a simple task. Ancient Mexican legends tell of great cycles of construction and deconstruction of the world. There was a new dawn, a new age was about to [...]
The Educational Value of Folk Tales
Author: Pinar AkhanApril 30, 2022
It is now a well-known fact that reading or telling stories to children starting from a young age has many developmental benefits. Just to name a few: stories can help to improve language and communication skills, develop the child’s brain with the ability to focus, help with associating and expressing their feelings, learning about the [...]
The Myth of Atlantis and the Universal Flood
Author: Antonio BeldaApril 18, 2022
The myth of Atlantis is one of the most famous and controversial myths of all time. Ever since the myth began – with the Greek philosopher Plato – people have been asking whether or not his story of a sunken continent was a historical fact. It is fair to assume that Plato did intend his [...]
Dionysus – The Mystical and the Heroic
Author: Svetlana KirutaMarch 28, 2022
“The myths about the god Dionysus tell us about the mysterious connection that exists between the mortal and the immortal in man. He is a symbol of the inner path, the return to the centre, to the throne of Zeus, a symbol of the heroic enthusiasm that inspires a disciple to walk the path, and [...]
Developing Virtue
Author: Tushar SawantMay 12, 2021
A long time ago, in the lands marked by the Roman Republic, a group of senators marched with haste to meet a man tilling a small farm. Upon watching the senators approach his farm, the man enquired, “Is everything alright?” to which they replied, “We hope that it might turn out well for both you [...]
Ferocious Deities of Japan
Author: Nataliya PetlevychMay 12, 2021
Among the benevolent and peace- and goodness-emanating deities of Japanese Buddhism, one might be surprised to encounter the ferocious and mighty Myōō, the Wisdom Kings. Their appearance is mesmerising: faces filled with astonishing power and determination, clearly visible fangs and bulging eyes, impressive postures of true warriors equipped with different weapons to combat evil. The [...]
Plant Lore – A Brief Insight Into the Mythology and Symbology of Plants
Author: Gareth KinsellaNovember 19, 2020
“And just as speech is invention about objects and ideas, so myth is invention about truth.” – Humphrey Carpenter You may not know it, but as a child, plant allegories may have left a bigger impact on you than first imagined. Vivid and captivating fables, like conceptual seeds that were sown in your mind through [...]
Myths of Africa: Deepening our Understanding of Life and Death
Author: Siobhan FarrarOctober 1, 2020
Africa is a vast continent with many different peoples and a diverse diaspora whose cultural and spiritual heritage has often been misunderstood and misrepresented through colonial and Western perspectives. The ability to move past assumptions and conditioning always presents a challenge, which requires that we aim to see the essence of human life and experience. [...]
The Magical Function of Rituals and Ceremonies
Author: Julian ScottOctober 1, 2020
From an esoteric point of view, a ritual is dependent on the existence of the invisible dimension. This invisible dimension consists of a spiritual-mental aspect, which is the domain of the archetypes or ‘living idea-beings’ spoken of by the Platonists; and an ‘astral’ aspect, which is an intermediate world between spirit and matter, just as [...]
Terra Preta, the Black Earth upon which Civilisations were Built
Author: Gareth KinsellaJuly 30, 2020
“Agriculture is the noblest of all alchemy; for it turns the earth, and even manure, into gold, conferring upon its cultivator the additional reward of health.” – Hebrew proverb In 1542, a Spanish conquistador named Francisco de Orellana set sail along the Amazon river with a group of his fellow countrymen, looking high and low [...]
The High City of Troy
Author: Nataliya PetlevychJuly 30, 2020
Long ago at the dawn of history, on a distant seashore near the sacred Mount Ida, stood a marvellous city, the walls of which were built by the gods themselves. It was there that Poseidon and Apollo did their penance labouring for king Laomedon on the orders of the great Zeus. The city was Ilium [...]
The Noble Spirit of Competition
Author: Markus EdinJuly 21, 2020
With the 2020 Olympic Games being cancelled we may seize the opportunity to reconnect with the spirit of this most famous and prestigious sporting event. For it has not always existed in the format we know it today, the ancient Olympics serving a vastly different purpose than the modern day Olympic Games. Just how far [...]