Skeleton of 12,000-year-old shaman discovered buried with leopard, 50 tortoises and human foot

Skeleton of 12,000-year-old shaman discovered buried with leopard, 50 tortoises and human foot

The skeleton of a 12,000 year-old Natufian Shaman has been discovered in northern Israel by archaeologists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The burial is described as being accompanied by "exceptional" grave offerings - including 50 complete tortoise shells, the pelvis of a leopard and a human foot. The shaman burial is thought to be one of the earliest known from the archaeological record and the only shaman grave in the whole region. 

Dr. Leore Grosman of the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University, who is heading the excavation at the Natufian site of Hilazon Tachtit in the western Galilee, says that the elaborate and invested interment rituals and method used to construct and seal the grave suggest that this woman had a very high standing within the community. Details of the discovery were published in the PNAS journal on November 3, 2008. 

What was found in the shaman's grave? 

The grave contained body parts of several animals that rarely occur in Natufian assemblages. These include fifty tortoises, the near-compete pelvis of a leopard, the wing tip of a golden eagle, tail of a cow, two marten skulls and the forearm of a wild boar which was directly aligned with the woman's left humerus. 

A human foot belonging to an adult individual who was substantially larger than the interred woman was also found in the grave. 

Dr. Grosman believes this burial is consistent with expectations for a shaman's grave. Burials of shamans often reflect their role in life (i.e., remains of particular animals and contents of healing kits). It seems that the woman was perceived as being in close relationship with these animal spirits.

Method of burial 

The body was buried in an unusual position. It was laid on its side with the spinal column, pelvis and right femur resting against the curved southern wall of the oval-shaped grave. The legs were spread apart and folded inward at the knees. 

According to Dr. Grosman, ten large stones were placed directly on the head, pelvis and arms of the buried individual at the time of burial. Following decomposition of the body, the weight of the stones caused disarticulation of some parts of the skeleton, including the separation of the pelvis from the vertebral column. 

Speculating why the body was held in place in such a way and covered with rocks, Dr. Grosman suggests it could have been to protect the body from being eaten by wild animals or because the community was trying to keep the shaman and her spirit inside the grave. 

Analysis of the bones show that the shaman was 45 years old, petite and had an unnatural, asymmetrical appearance due to a spinal disability that would have affected the woman's gait, causing her to limp or drag her foot. 

Fifty tortoises 

Most remarkably, the woman was buried with 50 complete tortoise shells. The inside of the tortoises were likely eaten as part of a feast surrounding the interment of the deceased. High representation of limb bones indicates that most tortoise remains were thrown into the grave along with the shells after consumption. 

The recovery of the limb bones also indicates that entire tortoises, not only their shells, were transported to the cave for the burial. The collection of 50 living tortoises at the time of burial would have required a significant investment, as these are solitary animals. Alternatively, these animals could have been collected and confined by humans for a period preceding the event. 

Shaman graves in archaeology 

According to Dr. Grosman, the burial of the woman is unlike any burial found in the Natufian or the preceding Paleolithic periods. "Clearly a great amount of time and energy was invested in the preparation, arrangement, and sealing of the grave." This was coupled with the special treatment of the buried body. 

Shamans are universally recorded cross-culturally in hunter-gatherer groups and small-scale agricultural societies. Nevertheless, they have rarely been documented in the archaeological record and none have been reported from the Paleolithic of Southwest Asia. 

The Natufians existed in the Mediterranean region of the Levant 15,000 to 11,500 years ago. Dr. Grosman suggests this grave could point to ideological shifts that took place due to the transition to agriculture in the region at that time.

HEROD'S LOST TOMB

HEROD'S LOST TOMB

Herod's bloody reputation has always hidden another side of one of the Bible's greatest villains - an architectural mastermind of breathtaking proportions. An Israeli archaeologist claims to have found Herod's most intimate creation of all - his tomb.

LITTLE KNOWN LEGACY

Herod the Great, the king of the holy land in the time of Christ, is best known for the murders of his wife, three sons, and all of Bethlehem’s male children under two. His bloody reputation has always hidden the fact that Herod was one of the greatest and most imaginative builders in world history. Learn more:

In and around ancient Judea Herod built about 22 world-class temples, palaces, fortresses, and cities.

At Masada he turned a crude mountaintop stronghold into a fortified palace complex that seemed to defy gravity.

At Caesarea he built the Mediterranean’s largest deep-water port; a feat some believe should be considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

With his expansion of Jerusalem’s Second Temple, Herod built the largest sacred complex of its time—dwarfing the pagan shrines of Rome and equal to the size of about 26 football fields.
Though Jewish by faith, Herod was an Arab by blood.

Jerusalem’s Second Temple was part of one of the largest sacred complexes of its time. To keep it pure, it’s said, Herod trained 1,000 Jewish priests in construction techniques.

Herod built the Western Wall, Judaism’s most sacred site.

At Herodium, Herod built one of the largest palace complexes anywhere, and chose to be buried there. Yet Herod’s burial contained a maddening riddle concerning where he built his tomb.

The archeologist who located King Herod's tomb at Herodium said that the grave had been desecrated, apparently shortly after his death, but called the discovery a "high point." 

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem announced Monday night that it has uncovered the grave and tomb of Herod, who ruled Judea for the Roman empire from circa 37 BCE. 

Professor Ehud Netzer of the university's Institute of Archaeology told reporters Tuesday that the tomb was discovered when a team of researchers found pieces of a limestone sarcophagus believed to belong to the ancient king. 

Although there were no bones in the container, he said the sarcophagus' location and ornate appearance indicated it was Herod's. 

"It's a sarcophagus we don't just see anywhere," Netzer said. "It is something very special." 

Netzer led the team, though he said he was not on the site when the sarcophagus was found. 

He said the sarcophagus had been smashed into pieces, most likely by someone seeking revenge on Herod during the great Jewish rebellion of 66-72 CE. 

An aerial view of Herodium

"The discovery of the grave is the high point in the excavation at the site," said Netzer. The professor, who is considered one of the leading experts on King Herod, has conducted archeological digs at Herodium since 1972 in an attempt to locate the grave and tomb. The discovery solves one of Israel's greatest archeological mysteries. 

The majority of researchers had believed that Herod was in fact buried at Herodium, based on the writings of the ancient Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, but multiple excavations at the site failed to locate the grave. 

Netzer's successful dig focused on a different part of the site than previous excavations, between the upper part of Herodium and the site's two palaces.

Herod governed by consent of the Roman 

emperors whose dominion stretched over most of the eastern Mediterranean and down to Egypt, under Cleopatra. They regarded Herod as a useful puppet king, able to keep the oftenrebellious Israelites in order. They were not too interested in his methods, though the Emperor Augustus was reported to have said: 'It is better to be Herod's dog than one of his children.' What prompted the remark was the pile of corpses of Herod's family that grew in the courtyard of his palace. In 35BC, he had his brother-in-law, the High Priest Aristobulus, drowned because he suspected him of disloyalty. Another brother-in-law, Kostobar, was killed soon afterwards.

His sons by Mariamne, Alexandros and Aristobulus, were both killed on his orders. Another son, Antipas, was executed for treason. It is not hard to see why, for many Jews, the much-married Herod was a hated figure.

Herodium, a fortified palace built by Herod some 12 kilometers south of Jerusalem, was destroyed by the Romans in 71 CE. Herod, whose father and grandfather converted to Judaism, was appointed governor of Galilee at the age of 25 and was made "King of the Jews" by the Roman senate in approximately 40 BCE. He remained king for around 34 years. 

Herod, also known as Herod the Great, is credited with expanding the Second Temple and building Caesarea, Masada, and many other monumental construction projects. He died in the year 4 BCE in Jericho after a long illness. 

  Herod decided to construct his tomb at Herodium because the site played a role in two dramatic events in his life. In the year 43 BCE, when Herod was still governor of the Galilee, he was forced to flee Jerusalem along with his family after his enemies the Parthians laid siege to the city. 

His mother's chariot flipped over near Herodium, and Herod became hysterical until he realized she was only lightly wounded. A short while later, the Parthians caught up to Herod and his entourage, although Herod and his men emerged victorious in the ensuing battle. 

At Herodium, Herod built one of the largest monarchical complexes in the Roman Empire, which served as a residential palace, a sanctuary, an administrative center and a mausoleum. Herod first built an artificial cone-shaped hill that could be seen from Jerusalem, on which he constructed a fortified palace surrounded by watchtowers that he used solely in wartime. 

At the base of the hill, he built an additional palace, which was the size of a small town and known as "Lower Herodium." The palace included many buildings, fancy gardens, pools, stables, and storage areas. Herod spared no expense in an attempt to turn the site into a regional gem, bringing water from Solomon's Pools and special soil to allow his gardens to blossom in the heart of the desert. 

Following Herod's death, his son and heir Archilaus continued to reside and Herodium. After Judea became a Roman province, the site served as a center for Roman prefects. With the outbreak of the Great Revolt, Herodium was seized by the rebels, but then handed over without resistance to the Romans following the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE. 

Fifty years later, Herodium was also used by the rebels during the Bar Kokhva revolt, but was abandoned thereafter. In the 5th century CE, the site was settled by Byzantine monks, and then served as a leper colony before being finally abandoned in the 7th century CE. The first archeological dig at the site, between the years 1956 and 1962, was conducted by a Franciscan monk and revealed most of the currently-known remains. Israel began excavations at the site in 1972, several years after its capture during the Six-Day War 

UNSOLVED MYSTERIES OF EGYPTIAN MUMMIES

UNSOLVED MYSTERIES OF EGYPTIAN MUMMIES

The word 'mummy' is not of Egyptian origin, but is derived from the Arabic 'mumiyah,' which means 'body preserved by wax or bitumen'; This term was used because of an Arab misconception of the methods used by the Egyptians in preserving their dead.

A mummy is a corpse whose skin and flesh have been preserved by either intentional or incidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air when bodies are submerged in bogs. Mummies of humans and other animals have been found throughout the world, both as a result of natural preservation through unusual conditions, and as cultural artifacts to preserve the dead.

The best known mummies are those that have been deliberately embalmed with the specific purpose of preservation, particularly those in ancient Egypt, where not only humans but also crocodiles and cats were mummified. Ancient Greek historians record that the Persians sometimes mummified their kings and nobility in wax, though this practice has never been documented in Egypt.

The body of a Persian Princess which surfaced in 2004 in Pakistans mummy had a nature which turned out to have been forged. In China, preserved corpses have been recovered from submerged cypress coffins packed with medicinal herbs. Although Egyptian mummies are the most famous, the oldest mummies recorded are the Chinchorro mummies from northern Chile and southern Peru.

Also among the oldest is Uan Muhuggiag which is a place in the central Sahara, and the name of the mummy of a small boy found there in 1958 by Professor Fabrizio Mori. The mummy displays a highly sophisticated mummification technique, and at around 5,500 years old is older than any comparable Ancient Egyptian mummy.

The monks of Palermo in Sicily began mummifying their dead in 1599, and gradually other members of the community wished to have their bodies preserved as a status symbol. The last person to be mummified there died in the 1920s. The Capuchin catacombs of Palermo contain thousands of bodies, many which are clothed and standing, however in many cases the preservation was not successful with only the skeleton and clothing surviving.

Many ancient civilizations believed in life after death, mummifying those who had died to guarantee the soul passage into the next life. Different civilizations had their own rituals to that end. Some believed that the dead lived on in the tomb, while others thought of the dead as having gone to a blessed afterworld in some far-distant place. That being the case they provided for both worlds, elaborate preparations for the afterlife been made in the preservation of the dead.

Ancient Egypt

Most often when we think of mummification, what comes to mind is ancient Egypt, especially the times of the pharaohs. Although mummification existed in other cultures, eternal life was the main focus of all Ancient Egyptians, which meant preserving the body forever. Egyptian culture believed the body was home in the afterlife to a person's Ka and Ba, without which it would be condemned to eternal wandering.

The earliest known Egyptian "mummified" individual dates back to approximately 3300 BC. This individual, nicknamed 'Ginger' because of the color of his hair, is not internationally renowned despite being older than other famous mummies, such as Rameses II or Seti I.

Currently on display in the British Museum, Ginger was discovered buried in hot desert sand. Desert conditions can naturally preserve bodies so it is uncertain whether the mummification was intentional or not. However, since Ginger was buried with some pottery vessels it is likely that the mummification was a result of preservation techniques of those burying him. Stones might have been piled on top to prevent the corpse from being eaten by jackals and other scavengers and the pottery might have held food and drink which was later believed to sustain the deceased during the journey to the other world. While there are no written records of religion from that time, the beliefs of those who buried Ginger could have resembled the later religion to some extent.

The earliest technique of deliberate mummification, as used ca. 3000 BC, was minimal and not yet mastered. The organs were eventually removed (with the exception of the heart) and stored in canopic jars, allowing the body to be more well-preserved as it rested. Occasionally embalmers would break the bone behind the nose, and break the brain into small pieces in order that it could be pulled out through the nasal passage. The embalmers would then fill the skull with thick plant-based resin or plant resin sawdust.

It also wasn¹t until the Middle Kingdom that embalmers used natural salts to remove moisture from the body. The salt-like substance natron dried out and preserved more flesh than bone. Once dried, mummies were ritualistically anointed with oils and perfumes. The 21st Dynasty brought forth its most advanced skills in embalming and the mummification process reached its peak.

The bodies' abdomens were opened and all organs, except for the heart, were removed and preserved in Canopic jars. The brain, thought to be useless, was pulled out through the nose with hooks, then discarded. It was also drained through the nose after being liquefied with the same hooks.

The emptied body was then covered in natron, to speed up the process of dehydration and prevent decomposition. Natron dries the body up faster than desert sand, preserving the body better. Often finger and toe protectors were placed over the mummies fingers and toes to prevent breakage. They were wrapped with strips of white linen that protected the body from being damaged. After that, they were wrapped in a sheet of canvas to further protect them. Many sacred charms and amulets were placed in and around the mummy and the wrappings. This was meant to protect the mummy from harm and to give good luck to the Ka of the mummy. Once preserved, the mummies were laid to rest in a sarcophagus inside a tomb, where it was believed that the mummy would rest eternally. In some cases the mummy's mouth would later be opened in a ritual designed to symbolize breathing, giving rise to legends about revivified mummies.

Egyptian Mummies as a Commodity

In the Middle Ages, based on a mis-translation from Arabic it became common practice to grind mummies preserved in bitumen into a powder to be sold and used as medicine. When actual mummies became unavailable, the sun-desiccated corpses of criminals, slaves and suicidal people were substituted by mendacious merchants. The practice developed into a wide-scale business which flourished until the late 16th century. Two centuries ago, mummies were still believed to have medicinal properties against bleeding, and were sold as pharmaceuticals in powdered form as in Mellified Man.
Artists also made use of Egyptian mummies; the brownish paint known as Caput mortuum (Latin for death's head) was originally made from the wrappings of mummies. It was most popular in the 17th century but was discontinued in the early 19th century when its composition became generally known to artists.
In the 19th century, European aristocrats would occasionally entertain themselves by purchasing mummies, having them unwrapped, and holding observation sessions. These sessions destroyed hundreds of mummies, because the exposure to the air caused them to disintegrate.

An urban myth of mummies being used as fuel for locomotives was popularized by Mark Twain, but the truth of the story remains a debate.

During the American Civil War, mummy-wrapping linens were said to have been used to manufacture paper. Evidence for the reality of these claims is still equivocal.
Many thousands of mummified cats were sent from Egypt to England to be processed for use in fertilizer.

The mummy in popular culture

It is easy to see how ancient Egypt, and the practices of its citizens have become portrayed as they are in films, stories and even video games. Mummification as vessel to the afterlife and an almost naive attempt at preservation for later reanimation seems to us now to be so bizarre and shrouded in mystery, that a common concept of mummies should be feared, or that the people who were mummified were indeed fearsome and brutal. 

Mummies are often associated with gold or treasure, with a common imagination of their tombs being adorned with gold leaf and precious gems. However, as shown in these images the tombs were often decorated just with paint and made out of simple materials such as wood or clay. What would these ancient Kings and nobles think if they knew that in the modern world their legacy is used as a basis for fantasy worlds in movies, that people play online gambling games themed around treasure hidden in their burial chambers of a pyramid with evil mummys wrapped in bandages, ghosts and ghouls running around. Perhaps they would be amused, a sense of humour can’t have been beyond even these old relics. 

Scientific Study of Egyptian Mummies

Egyptian mummies became much sought-after by museums worldwide in the 19th and early 20th centuries and many exhibit mummies today. Notably fine examples are exhibited at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, at the Ägyptisches Museum in Berlin, and at the British Museum in London. The Egyptian city of Luxor is also home to a specialized Mummification Museum. The mummified remains of what turned out to be Ramesses I ended up in a "Daredevil Museum" near Niagara Falls on the United States­Canada border; records indicate that it had been sold to a Canadian in 1860 and exhibited alongside displays such as a two-headed calf for nearly 140 years, until a museum in Atlanta, Georgia, which had acquired the mummy along with other artifacts, determined it to be royal and returned it to Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities. It is currently on display in the Luxor Museum. 

More recently, science has also taken interest in mummies. Dr. Bob Brier, an Egyptologist, has been the first modern scientist attempted to recreate a mummy using the ancient Egyptian method. Mummies have been used in medicine to calibrate CAT scan machines at levels of radiation that would be too dangerous for use on living people. In fact, mummies can be studied without unwrapping them using CAT scan and X-ray machines to form a digital image of what's inside. They have been very useful to biologists and anthropologists, as they have provided a wealth of information about the health and life expectancy of ancient people.

Scientists interested in cloning the DNA of mummies have recently reported findings of clonable DNA in an Egyptian mummy dating to circa 400 BC. Although analysis of the hair of Ancient Egyptian mummies from the Late Middle Kingdom has revealed evidence of a stable diet, Ancient Egyptian mummies from circa 3200 BC show signs of severe anaemia and hemolytic disorders.

Mummy Wikipedia

The actual process of embalming as practiced in ancient Egypt was governed by definite religious ritual. A period of seventy days was required for the preparation of the mummy, and each step in the procedure was co-ordinated with relevant priestly ceremonies.

The embalmers' shop might be a fixed place, as in the case of those connected with the larger temples. Often, however, it was a movable tent which could be set up near the home of the deceased.

Removal of those parts most subject to putrefaction was the initial step in preparing a corpse for mummification. The embalmers placed the body on a narrow, table-like stand and proceeded to their task. The brain was removed through the nostrils by means of various metal probes and hooks. Such a method necessarily reduced the brain to a fragmentary state, and, as no remains of it are associated with mummies, we may assume that it was discarded. An incision was then made in the left flank of the body to permit removal of the viscera, with the exception of the heart, which was left in the body.

The liver, the lungs, the stomach, and the intestines were each placed in a separate jar, the Canopic Jars , and consigned to the protection of a particular divinity. Next came the preservation of the body itself. This was accomplished in a manner somewhat similar to that of drying fish. But instead of common salt, natron, a mixture of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate, with sodium chloride (common salt) and sodium sulphate as impurities, was used. Natron occurs in Egypt in a few places. Water containing natron in solution comes to the surface and is evaporated, leaving the natron as surface deposits.

Small parcels of natron wrapped in linen were placed inside the body. The outside was covered with loose natron or packages of linen-wrapped natron. The dry atmosphere of Egypt accelerated the desiccation process. After the body moisture had been absorbed by the natron, the packs were removed and the corpse was given a sponge bath with water. The skin was anointed with coniferous resins, and the body cavity was packed with wads of linen soaked in the same material. The body was then ready to be bound into that compact bundle we know as a mummy.

Only linen was used in the wrapping. To give a more natural appearance, linen pads were placed in the hollows caused by the drying. The arms and legs, sometimes even the fingers and toes, were bandaged separately. Then some twenty or more layers of alternating shrouds and bandages were wrapped around the entire body. Between every few layers of linen a coating of resin was applied as a binding agent. The proper wrapping of a mummy required several hundred square yards of linen. The shrouds were sheets six to nine feet square, and the bandages--strips torn from other sheets were from two to eight inches wide and three to twenty feet long. The linen used in wrapping mummies was for the most part not made especially for shrouds but was old household linen saved for this purpose. Often the linen is marked with the name of the former owner, faded from repeated washings. Occasionally bandages bear short religious texts written in ink.

When the wrapping had been completed, the shop was cleaned, and all the embalming materials that had come in contact with the mummy were placed in jars for storage in the tomb. This was a fortunate practice, as Egyptian embalmers were none too careful, and any stray toe or ear which may have become detached or mislaid during the long embalming process was usually swept up with the spilled salt and scraps of linen and included in the storage jars. 

But the making of a corpse into a mummy was not all that took place during the seventy days. The artisans who were engaged meanwhile in all the activities essential to proper burial might number in the hundreds. The construction and decoration of the tomb, if not already completed by the deceased during his lifetime, presented an enormous task. Woodworkers were constructing the coffin-or a series of coffins, each to fit within another - tailored to measure.

Artists were busy decorating the coffins. The fine painting on the coffins was rarely done directly on the wood, but rather on a smooth plaster coating of whiting and glue over linen glued to the wood. The beautiful colors on many cases are pigments from minerals found in Egypt, often covered with a clear varnish.

Countless other helpers were engaged in constructing and assembling the numerous articles to be deposited with the mummy when it was laid to rest in the tomb.

An extremely important task also undertaken during the seventy days of mummification was the preparation by priests or scribes of magical texts to be placed in the tomb. These texts, now known as the 'Book of the Dead' were written on papyrus rolls varying in length from a few sheets to many sheets, some rolls approaching a length of one hundred feet. Often they were exquisitely illustrated in color. The chapters forming the Book of the Dead contained information necessary to the deceased in overcoming obstacles on his journey and in gaining admittance to the afterworld.

An elaborate funeral procession of priests, relatives, friends, servants, and professional mourners accompanied the mummy to the tomb. Attended by priests, the mummy, in its magnificent coffin, was carried on a great sledge pulled by oxen. The mourners followed behind the sledge. In the procession, too, were porters bearing gifts to be placed in the tomb. These mortuary accouterments believed essential for a happy afterlife might be furniture, weapons, jewelry, food, linens - any or all of those things that had made for comfort and happiness in the earthly life.

The final ceremony at the tomb was the opening of the mouth. Through this ceremony the mummy was thought to regain ability to move, to talk, and to eat. In order to fulfill his destiny in the afterworld. It was necessary that the priests perform this last rite which would restore to him the functions of a living person.

The mummy was then carried into the tomb and sealed in the outer coffin or sarcophagus. The Book of the Dead was placed near him, mortuary gifts were piled about, and priests in the guise of gods made sure no evil spirits lurked in the tomb.

According to Egyptian belief, interment of the mummy did not automatically insure entrance into the afterworld. The deceased had first to appear before a group of forty-two spiritual assessors and convince them that he had led a righteous life on earth. Then in a final trial before Osiris, king of the nether world, the heart of the deceased was placed on the Great Scales and balanced against a feather, symbol of righteous truth. Anubis, the jackal-headed god who presided over embalming, did the weighing, while Thoth, the ibis-headed scribe of the gods, recorded the result on a tablet. If the heart of the deceased passed this test, he was admitted into heaven. If not, his soul was doomed to roam the earth forever.

The Pre-Dynastic Egyptian (before 3000 n.e.) was buried in the sand and was surrounded with pottery jars containing food. He was placed on his side in a contracted position, and was occasionally wrapped in reed matting or animal hide. Later, the dead were placed in crudely made baskets, boxes, or pottery coffins, which were buried in the sand or deposited in small natural caves at the base of the cliffs in the Nile Valley. By 3000 b.c. men of importance had small chambers cut for themselves in the rock, often with a shallow pit or niche to receive the coffin. From these beginnings evolved the typical Egyptian tomb consisting of two essential parts: the burial chamber and a room in which offerings to the dead were placed. 
Most impressive of all Egyptian tombs are those of the Pyramid Age (2800-2250 B.C.). Those colossal tombs that are as famous as Egypt herself developed from a less elaborate form now called "mastaba" (from the Arabic word mastabah, meaning "bench," which describes the form of the superstructure of the tomb). The mastaba tombs are low, rectangular structures of brick and stone built on bedrock. The building houses an offering chamber, or a series of them, and a secret room containing a statue of the deceased.

A vertical shaft in the superstructure leads down into the bedrock to the tomb chamber some twenty to eighty feet below. The limestone walls in the offering chambers of the mastaba tombs are covered with sculptured scenes done in low relief. They were originally painted, and some of the color still remains. It is from these skilfully executed scenes depicting contemporary Egyptian life that we derive much of our knowledge of the period. The mastaba tombs are for the most part those of nobles, the pharaohs preferring the more monumental pyramids. The great pyramids at Giza, tombs of the Fourth Dynasty kings, are by far the most imposing of the pyramid tombs.

The Egyptians were mummifying their dead even in the days of the pyramids. Indeed, there are mummies that antedate the pyramids. These ancient mummies are wrapped in the contracted position characteristic of Pre-Dynastic burials, whereas the mummy of the Pyramid Age lies full length on its back, enclosed in a box-type coffin decorated to resemble a house.

In the early days of mummification only the kings were definitely conceded the opportunity to attain an exalted afterlife. Religious texts to aid the dead kings in gaining entrance into heaven were carved on the stone walls of the mortuary chambers of some of the pyramids. These are now known as the Pyramid Texts.It is on the walls of the pyramids of the Fifth and Sixth Dynasty kings at Saqqara -smaller and less imposing pyramids than those at Giza - that these oldest collections of Egyptian religious texts are found. Although nobles of the Pyramid Age were also accorded sumptuous burial, no texts are found in their tombs.

By the time of the Middle Kingdom (2100-1780 b.c.), after the period of the mastabas and pyramids, tombs and their accessory chambers were usually hewn out of solid rock in the sides of the hills along the Nile. Occasionally, however, tombs were enclosed by or built under mortuary buildings erected on the plain.

These buildings served as chapels or offering chambers. The mummy of the Middle Kingdom was placed on its left side in a rectangular wooden coffin on which was painted religious texts. These Coffin Texts were excerpts from the older Pyramid Texts, with the addition of new thoughts and symbols. Some mummies had a cartonnage mask over the upper portion of the body. These cartonnage coverings--layers of linen or papyrus soaked in plaster - were shaped in human form and painted. Sometimes the entire mummy was enclosed in such a covering, a practice which quickly led to the making of coffins themselves in mummy form.

A person of rank or wealth (and these went hand in hand), would have a series of two or three coffins, each case fitting inside the other, with the inner one the most elaborate. Often the outer coffin would be carved from stone in mummy form, or would consist of a huge stone sarcophagus. It was late in this period, when liberalization of religious concepts extended the privilege of an afterlife to those in less fortunate circumstances than kings and nobles, that beards appeared on mummy cases. The beard, heretofore worn only by divinities and kings, indicated presumption on the part of the deceased that he would be accepted into their immortal presence.

During the time of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Dynasties the rock-cut tombs reached their zenith in the famous Tombs of the Kings in the valleys at Thebes. These tombs consist of corridors, chambers, and halls descending into the solid rock of the hillsides a distance of several hundred feet. The walls are covered with religious texts and scenes, and with inscriptions and pictures portraying every phase in the life of the deceased, all beautifully painted.

Mummification practices, too, varied with the passing centuries. The use of the Canopic Jars as repositories was discontinued during the Twenty-first Dynasty (1085-945 BC), and the viscera were henceforth wrapped in packages and replaced in the body or bound with it. Hollows in the desiccated body were cleverly filled out by placing pads of linen underneath the skin. From this period on, the art of making good mummies went into a gradual decline, even though mummification continued to be practiced for another fifteen hundred years. Less attention came to be paid to the condition of the body itself, and more to the external appearance of the wrappings.

In Roman times (after 30 BC) a garish type of coffin came into use. Showy cartonnage coverings were formed and painted in fanciful likeness of the deceased. At the same time, coffin-makers were building coffins of simple board boxes. On the cover there might be a life-sized plaster face modeled after that of the dead. Sometimes a painted portrait of the deceased was placed inside the coffin over the face of the mummy.

Quite naturally, wealth was always a dominant actor in the mummification and burial accorded an individual. Although actual Egyptian records of the cost of mummi~cation are lacking, Diodorus Siculus, a Greek historian who traveled in Egypt, touches on burial costs in his writings. According to Diodorus, at the time he journeyed in Egypt (60-57 b.c.) there were three grades of burial. One was expensive, costing sixty-six pounds of silver (one talent), another cost a third as much (twenty minas), and the lowest grade of burial cost much less.

Tombs for the common people had no chambers. The coffins were placed in walled recesses in the side of a rock or in shallow holes gouged out of the rocky plain. Mummies of the poor were placed in common repositories, either with or without coffins. The bodies of those with no money at all were given a perfunctory ceremonial cleansing, were sometimes covered with a cloth, and were buried in the sand.

The Egyptians believed that a god incarnate assumed the form of an animal. Nearly every deity was associated in their minds with a certain bird or beast. So it is not surprising that we find near the sites of ancient cities large cemeteries devoted to the burial of animals. Usually only one kind of animal was buried in a given cemetery. Adjacent to each such cemetery was a temple devoted to the cult of the god identified with the specific kind of animal buried at that place.

The animals were mummified, but not always too carefully. Chief stress was laid on the bandaging, the object having been that the package should clearly indicate the kind of animal enclosed. Often these animal mummies were placed in theriomorphic coffins. There are mummies of jackals, cats, ibises, snakes, lizards, gazelles, hawks, bulls, sheep, baboons, crocodiles--in fact, almost every conceivable kind of animal known to Egypt.

At some places animal tombs such as those of the Apis bulls at Memphis are found. The tombs of the Apis bulls, which date from the Eighteenth Dynasty and later, consist of subterranean passages and vaults hewn in the rock an aggregate length of some twelve hundred feet. Many of the bulls were placed in huge stone sarcophagi.

The ambition of every Egyptian was to have a well mummified body and a perpetually cared-for tomb. The children of the deceased were charged with the maintenance of this home on earth and the observation of all attendant ceremonies. In the case of a favored government official a portion of the state revenue might be assigned as an endowment for the care of the tomb.

As the number of deceased ancestors and officials multiplied, however, and the consequent cost of tomb maintenance became excessive, the tendency was to neglect those of the remote past and to concentrate attention on those of the more recently deceased. Thus the living inhabitant of ancient Egypt, with all the faith he placed in the preservation of his own mummy, was constantly faced with the anomaly of neglected and despoiled tombs -for tomb robbers were at work even during the days of mummification.

We have Egyptian papyri recording the robbery of royal tombs and the capture and punishment of the despoilers. An archaeologist rarely finds a tomb that has not been plundered.

'Mummy dust' was sometimes stolen from the Sarcophagi and sold.

There are about 500 Egyptian mummies in the US. Most are in museums. Some are privately owned.

HISTORY OF MYSTERIOUS HALLOWEEN

HISTORY OF MYSTERIOUS HALLOWEEN

Halloween is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31, usually by children dressing in costumes and going door-to-door collecting candy. It is celebrated in much of the Western world, though most commonly in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Canada and sometimes in Australia and New Zealand. Irish, Scots and other immigrants brought older versions of the tradition to North America in the 19th century. Most other Western countries have embraced Halloween as a part of American pop culture in the late 20th century.

The term "Halloween" derives from Hallowe'en, an old contraction, still retained in Scotland and some parts of Canada, of "All Hallow's Eve," so called as it is the day before All Saints day (observed by some Christians, including Roman Catholics), which used to be called "All Hallows," derived from All Hallowed Souls.

In Ireland, the name was Hallow Eve and this name is still used by some older people. Halloween was formerly also sometimes called All Saints' Eve. The holiday was a day of religious festivities in various northern European pagan traditions, until it was appropriated by Christian missionaries (along with Christmas and Easter, two other traditional northern European pagan holidays) and given a Christian reinterpretation.

In Mexico, All Saint's Day, following Halloween, is the Day of the Dead.

Halloween is also called "Pooky Night" in some parts of Ireland, presumably named after the puca, a mischievous spirit.

"Punkie Night" is observed on the last Thursday in October in the village of Hinton St. George in the county of Somerset in England. On this night, children carry lanterns made from hollowed-out mangel-wurzels (a kind of beet; in modern days, pumpkins are used) with faces carved into them. They bring these around the village, collecting money and singing the punkie song. 'Punkie' is derived from 'pumpkin' or 'punk,' meaning 'tinder.' 

Though the custom is only attested over the last century, and the mangel-wurzel itself was introduced into English agriculture in the late 18th century, "Punkie Night" appears to be much older even than the fable that now accounts for it. The story goes that the wives of Hinton St. George went looking for their wayward husbands at the fair held nearby at Chiselborough, the last Thursday in October, but first hollowed out mangel wurzels in order to make lanterns to light their way. The drunken husbands saw the eerie lights, thought they were "goolies" (the restless spirits of children who had died before they were baptized), and fled in terror. Children carry the punkies now. The event has spread since about 1960 to the neighboring village of Chiselborough.

In the United Kingdom, the pagan Celts celebrated the Day of the Dead on Halloween. The spirits supposedly rose from the dead and, in order to attract them, food was left on the doors. To scare off the evil spirits, the Celts wore masks. When the Romans invaded Britain, they embellished the tradition with their own, which is the celebration of the harvest and honoring the dead.

These traditions were then passed on to the United States. Anoka, Minnesota, USA, the self-proclaimed "Halloween Capital of the World," celebrates with a large civic parade.

Halloween is sometimes associated with the occult. Many European cultural traditions hold that Halloween is one of the "liminal" times of the year when the spirit world can make contact with the natural world and when magic is most potent.

Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). It is the time between Samhain (pronounced "SOW-in" in Ireland, SOW-een in Wales, "SAV-en" in Scotland or even "SAM-haine" in non Gaelic speaking countries) and Brigid's Day "the period of little sun." Thus, Samhain is often named the "Last Harvest" or "Summer's End". The Earth nods a sad farewell to the God.

We know that He will once again be reborn of the Goddess and the cycle will continue. This is the time of reflection, the time to honor the Ancients who have gone on before us and the time of 'Seeing" (divination). As we contemplate the Wheel of the Year, we come to recognize our own part in the eternal cycle of Life.

While almost all Celtic based traditions recognize this Holiday as the end of the "old" year, some groups do not celebrate the coming of the "new year" until Yule. Some consider the time between Samhain and Yule as a time which does not even exist on the Earthly plane. The "time which is no time" was considered in the "old days" to be both very magickal and very dangerous. So even today, we celebrate this Holiday with a mixture of joyous celebration and 'spine tingling" reverence. 

The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their New Year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. They believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to Earth.

Halloween, Halloween pics
In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids,or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter. To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.

By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain.

The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of "bobbing" for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.

By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. 

In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1st as 'All Saints' Day', a time to honor saints and martyrs. It is widely believed today that the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday.

The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween.

In 1000 A.D., the church made November 2 'All Souls' Day', a day to honor the dead. It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils. Together, the three celebrations, the eve of All Saints', All Saints', and All Souls', were called Hallowmas.

The American tradition of "trick-or-treating" probably dates back to the early All Souls' Day parades in England.

During the festivities, poor citizens would beg for food and families would give them pastries called "soul cakes" in return for their promise to pray for the family's dead relatives.

The distribution of soul cakes was encouraged by the church as a way to replace the ancient practice of leaving food and wine for roaming spirits. The practice, which was referred to as "going a-souling" was eventually taken up by children who would visit the houses in their neighborhood and be given ale, food, and money.

The tradition of dressing in costume for Halloween followed European and Celtic roots and traditions. On Halloween, when it was believed that ghosts came back to the Earthly world, people thought that they would encounter ghosts if they left their homes.

To avoid being recognized by these ghosts, people would wear masks when they left their homes after dark so that the ghosts would mistake them for fellow spirits. On Halloween, to keep ghosts away from their houses, people would place bowls of food outside their homes to appease the ghosts and prevent them from attempting to enter.

As European immigrants came to America, they brought their varied Halloween customs with them. Because of the rigid Protestant belief systems that characterized early New England, celebration of Halloween in colonial times was extremely limited there. It was much more common in Maryland and the southern colonies.

As the beliefs and customs of different European ethnic groups, as well as the American Indians, meshed, a distinctly American version of Halloween began to emerge. The first celebrations included "play parties," public events held to celebrate the harvest, where neighbors would share stories of the dead, tell each other's fortunes, dance, and sing. Colonial Halloween festivities also featured the telling of ghost stories and mischief-making of all kinds. By the middle of the nineteenth century, annual autumn festivities were common, but Halloween was not yet celebrated everywhere in the country.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, America was flooded with new immigrants. These new immigrants, especially the millions of Irish fleeing Ireland's potato famine of 1846, helped to popularize the celebration of Halloween nationally. Taking from Irish and English traditions, Americans began to dress up in costumes and go house to house asking for food or money, a practice that eventually became today's "trick-or-treat" tradition. Young women believed that, on Halloween, they could divine the name or appearance of their future husband by doing tricks with yarn, apple parings, or mirrors.

In the late 1800s, there was a move in America to mold Halloween into a holiday more about community and neighborly get-togethers, than about ghosts, pranks, and witchcraft. At the turn of the century, Halloween parties for both children and adults became the most common way to celebrate the day. Parties focused on games, foods of the season, and festive costumes. Parents were encouraged by newspapers and community leaders to take anything "frightening" or "grotesque" out of Halloween celebrations. Because of their efforts, Halloween lost most of its superstitious and religious overtones by the beginning of the twentieth century.

By the 1920s and 1930s, Halloween had become a secular, but community-centered holiday, with parades and town-wide parties as the featured entertainment. Despite the best efforts of many schools and communities, vandalism began to plague Halloween celebrations in many communities during this time.

By the 1950s, town leaders had successfully limited vandalism and Halloween had evolved into a holiday directed mainly at the young. Due to the high numbers of young children during the fifties baby boom, parties moved from town civic centers into the classroom or home, where they could be more easily accommodated.

Between 1920 and 1950, the centuries-old practice of trick-or-treating was also revived. Trick-or-treating was a relatively inexpensive way for an entire community to share the Halloween celebration. In theory, families could also prevent tricks being played on them by providing the neighborhood children with small treats. A new American tradition was born, and it has continued to grow.

Today, Americans spend an estimated $6.9 billion annually on Halloween, making it the country's second largest commercial holiday.

Religious Viewpoints

The majority of Christians ascribe no doctrinal significance to Halloween, treating it as a purely secular entity devoted to celebrating imaginary spooks and handing out candy. The secular celebration of Halloween may loom larger in contemporary imagination than does All Saints' Day.

The mingling of Christian and pagan traditions in the development of Halloween, and its real or assumed preoccupation with evil and the supernatural, have left many modern Christians uncertain of how they should react towards the holiday.

Some fundamentalist and evangelical along with many Eastern Orthodox Christians and Orthodox Jewish believers consider Halloween a pagan or Satanic holiday, and refuse to allow their children to participate. In some areas, complaints from fundamentalist Christians that the schools were endorsing a pagan religion have led the schools to stop distributing UNICEF boxes at Halloween.

Other Christians, however, continue to connect the holiday with All Saints Day. Some modern Christian churches commonly offer a "fall festival" or harvest-themed alternative to Halloween celebrations.

Still other Christians hold the view that the holiday is not Satanic in origin or practice and that it holds no threat to the spiritual lives of children: being taught about death and mortality actually being a valuable life lesson.

Ironically, considering that most fundamentalist sects are Protestant in nature, many Protestant denominations celebrate October 31 as Reformation Day, which commemorates the October 31, 1517 posting of Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses.

Many mainline churches and religious schools, particularly Lutheran ones, meld the two holidays without worrying about "Satanic influences."

Symbols of Halloween

Jack-o'-lanterns may be carved with a funny face. Halloween's theme is spooky or scary things particularly involving death, black magic, or mythical monsters.

Commonly-associated Halloween characters include ghosts, witches, bats, black cats, owls, goblins, zombies and demons, as well as certain fictional figures like Dracula and Frankenstein's monster. Homes are often decorated with these symbols around Halloween.

Black and orange are the traditional colors of Halloween. In modern Halloween images and products, purple, green, and red are also prominent.

Elements of the autumn season, such as pumpkins and scarecrows, are also reflected in symbols of Halloween.

The jack-o'-lantern, a carved vegetable lit by a candle inside, is one of Halloween's most prominent symbols. In Britain and Ireland, a turnip was and sometimes still is used, but immigrants to America quickly adopted the pumpkin because it is much larger and easier to carve.

Many families that celebrate Halloween will carve a pumpkin into a scary or comical face and place it on the home's doorstep on Halloween night for fun. Traditionally, something like this was done in order to scare evil spirits away.

Halloween Customs

Observance of Halloween faded in the South of England from the 17th century onwards, being replaced by the commemoration of the Gunpowder Plot on November 5. However it remained popular in Scotland, Ireland and the North of England. It is only in the last decade that it again became popular in the South of England, but as an entirely Americanized version.

The custom survives most accurately in Ireland, where the last Monday of October is a public holiday. All schools close for the following week for mid-term, commonly called the Halloween Break. As a result Ireland is the only country where children never have school on Halloween and are therefore free to celebrate it in the ancient and time-honored fashion.

The custom of trick-or-treating is thought to have evolved from the European custom called souling, similar to the wassailing customs associated with Yule. On November 2, All Souls' Day, beggars would walk from village to village begging for "soul cakes" - square pieces of bread with currants.

Christians would promise to say prayers on behalf of dead relatives helping the soul's passage to heaven. The distribution of soul cakes was encouraged by the church as a way to replace the ancient practice of leaving food and wine for roaming spirits at the Samhain.

In Celtic parts of western Brittany, Samhain is still heralded by the baking of kornigou. Kornigou are cakes baked in the shape of antlers to commemorate the god of winter shedding his "cuckold" horns as he returns to his kingdom in the Otherworld.

Visualization - The Costumes We Wear in the Roles We Play

We all wear different costumes in the various roles we play in this reality and others. Sometimes they fit - but can become outmoded as we move thrugh different aspects of our lives. Halloween is a time of magic and mystery in which we can explore some of the costumes we wear in this lifetime and others.

Close your eyes and prepare as you would for Meditation.

You prefer a dark room lit only by candle light.

Imagine yourself in a store buying a Halloween costume.

You look around at the many selections.

Take your time.

Find a costume that calls to you.

Now try it on.

Look in the mirror. What do you see in your reflection?

How does the costume make you feel?

Become that person and walk out into the world wearing the costume and being that person.

If that person is you in this lifetime - in which you felt afraid and volunerable - use this experience to move beyond your fears as you grow stronger. If you are the frightened child of Halloween - realize your power to create.

You can try on other costumes on Halloween - or any other day - to explore other aspects of who you are.

This visualization can be used for healing - fun - or personal enlightenment.

You can also see yourself in the costume before you go to sleep and ask for more information on how that aspect of your soul can help your awaken in your present journey. 

UNSOLVED MYSTERIES OF LEMURIA

UNSOLVED MYSTERIES OF LEMURIA

Lemuria was an ancient civilization which existed prior to and during the time of Atlantis. Physically, it is believed that Lemuria existed largely in the Southern Pacific, between North America and Asia/Australia. Lemuria is also sometimes referred to as Mu, or the Motherland (of Mu). At its peak of civilization, the Lemurian people were both highly evolved and very spiritual. While concrete physical evidence of this ancient continent may be difficult to find, many people "know" that they have a strong connection to Lemuria. 

We're going to tell you a little story. Approximately 14,000 years ago, the culture known as Lemuria was thriving. There were also other cultures on Earth, such as Atlantis, which were thriving as well. The holy people or the prophets of the Lemurian culture began to be aware that something was going to be changing. They began receiving information that the Earth was going to go through a very dramatic shift. The shift that they were referring to was what you call the Great Flood. You've also called it the destruction of Atlantis. These holy people of Lemuria were very much in touch with the land. 

They were the ancient ancestors of the Native Americans. They began to be aware that it was very important that the knowledge from Lemuria be preserved. And so for about 2,000 to 3,000 years, they were preparing for this great cataclysm. They began spreading their teachings about the Earth and about mankind's history to as many people as they possibly could. They believed that if they could spread this information to as many people as possible, the information would be stored within the cells of the human bodies. Then it would never be forgotten. They also began to store information in crystals. 

These crystals were taken deep within the Earth to be stored and preserved. These ancient Lemurians also began to create detailed maps of the underground tunnels that existed between power points on our planet. They also took the time to prepare their plans. They knew that they would receive a sign telling them it was time to go underground before the floods came. So they prepared themselves for these several thousand years to be the sacred keepers of the records of Earth. They knew it was very important that the information they held be saved for when the waters receded, otherwise the entire history of Earth and the sacred teachings of the Lemurians would have been lost forever. 

These holy people received their signs and began going underground. This occurred approximately one year before the flood. While underground, they learned to live there and use the underground environment for their sustenance. They built very supportive and loving communities underground. During that year, they did the final work involved in preserving some of the knowledge that they knew needed to be preserved. 

Then the flood came. All these people who were underground were safe from the waters, even though many, many people on the surface of the Earth perished. When the waters receded, the people emerged from underground. The land they once knew was now very different. This emergence from the Earth is the point at which the Native Americans' creation history begins. In a very literal sense, they did emerge from the Earth. Most of the native peoples have lost the exact literal memory of this emergence, but within the highest ranks of the shamans, this knowledge is still passed on. 

Now, we tell this story from the point of view of the Native Americans, but they were not the only people who went underground. The holy people all around this planet went underground. For instance, the Aborigines in Australia and those who were later to become the Druids in England were all preserving their knowledge underground as well. The Druids were preserving the ancient Atlantean information, as were the Egyptians. But the native peoples of the Pacific area, including Asia, were preserving the Lemurian information. These native peoples, even today, hold within themselves this sacred knowledge. Some of it is conscious but most of it lies in the subconscious. The Ainu of Japan are one of the tribes that preserved some of the knowledge. There was a great cooperation among all of these peoples on Earth to make sure that the sacred teachings were never lost. 

The prophets also knew that when the new time came, after the flood, mankind would move away from the sacred teachings. The prophets knew that there would be a very long period of time during which the teachings would have to be kept hidden. They knew that one day that cycle would end and the teachings would once again emerge from each and every person. That is what is happening now for all of you. You are drawn to visit places like the Native American sacred spots or Peru or Egypt because you are feeling this ancient knowledge beginning to rise to the surface within you, and you seek to find a vehicle through which that memory can be activated. 

As the memory is activated in each of you, it will not necessarily take the form of information. Instead, it will simply take the form of your own spiritual and inner wisdom. The ancients never had religion and never felt the need to make someone else believe the way they did. That pattern happened only after the flood. The ancients all had an inner wisdom and an inner spirituality that was never discussed or argued about. Even though everyone is unique and has his or her own spiritual beliefs, ultimately those beliefs all are the same idea on the most basic level. 

Those basic beliefs are the belief in a higher power, love and respect for each other and love and respect for the Earth. That is the very basic foundation of spirituality. That was the spirituality of the ancients, and that is the spirituality that is awakening within you. It doesn't matter whether you are Buddhist, Shinto or Christian. All that matters is that basic foundation of spirituality. Belief in a higher power, love and respect for each other and love and respect for the Earth. It is really that simple. As you travel to these hallowed spots and you get back in touch with the Earth, that's how the spirituality gets awakened within you. 

Do not underestimate the power of the experiences you have while you are on this trail. They awaken within you something that was lying asleep for quite a long time. Reincarnationally, you are those ancient Lemurians. You are fulfilling your agreements by being here now and helping in the awakening. You all carry those memories within you. Honor that and trust that you do have them within you. 

The question that has been asked of us so many times is, What's going to happen now? Is there going to be another cataclysm like the flood? How is this new awareness going to be activated on Earth? You are all working very hard on an energetic level so that you will not bring about another cataclysm. We do not perceive that you are going to experience another flood or destructive earthquake. 

This time the change is going to happen within you. You are going to experience, in a sense, your own personal internal earthquake, your own crumbling of belief systems that no longer serve you. So in a sense, there is going to be destruction and the ending of a cycle but it's not going to take place around you in the physical world; it's going to take place in an even more powerful place - within you. So do not fear if old things you carry begin falling away. Do not fear if old relationships can no longer be the same. Most of all, do not fear exploring the unknown, for the deeper you go within, the more profoundly you are going to experience this. Know that all that happens to you, even the things that may be disturbing, is part of your own personal release of the old. As you are releasing the old, you will be exposed to new ideas. They may feel strange or foreign to you, but just keep yourself open and allow whatever is there to come to you before you assume that it is not for you. Stay open and explore. 

During this tour, the ancient energies that you are exposed to are going to accelerate this process even more, for it is time now for the awakening to happen. You have all chosen to be the pioneers who help to lead the planet in this age. 

There is a very powerful site in Santa Fe called Bandolier. To describe what the energy is like there is very difficult, so please bear with us. Bandolier is one of the places on Earth that integrates the star energy and the ancient Earth energy, so when you visit there, you may feel strong ET energy, but at the same time you may feel the presence of the Earth Mother very strongly too. It is very important that on each planet there be sacred spots that integrate both the star and the planet energy. Bandolier is one such place. There are many. For instance in Japan you have Mount Kurama. So as you are walking through Bandolier, feel your feet planted firmly on the ground and at the same time feel your star connection. 

One of the themes of your time in Sedona has been grounding. You allowed yourself to take a very difficult hike. You succeeded because you allowed the Earth to support you. You became one with the Earth. From the Earth you drew strength, and it is the strength that is now going to help you as you go to the second part of the tour. The energy of Santa Fe is going to be different but it is very closely connected to what you experienced this morning. When the tour is over you will see how they fit together. 

We would like to take some time to answer your questions, but first we would simply like to congratulate all of you on the great acceleration you have all experienced in the past few days. So many things have moved within you. You cannot really understand how much has occurred within you with your mind, but you will notice, when you go back to your normal life in Japan, that things have changed. 

Earlier, I felt that I knew exactly when all the people were going to leave the place we were exploring. 

That experience, especially with the crowds, was showing you what it's like to be one with the Earth. You knew when the crowd was going to disappear because you could sense the energy of the Earth. You were a part of the environment, and that is exactly what the ancients experienced. 

The Native Americans do something called the Rain Dance. Today much of the significance of that ceremony has been lost; today the belief is that the dance makes it rain. However, in the ancient days, the Rain Dance was very much like what you experienced with the crowds. The Native Americans would do a Rain Dance not because they wanted it to rain, but because they could sense the energy of the environment and they were moved to become part of the environment and celebrate the rain. There is a subtle difference. We hope we have explained it. You experienced that feeling of being one with the Earth. It was very important to bring up that ancient knowledge. 

What is the significance of the Snake People? 

The Snake People are very, very ancient. They existed approximately 5,000 to 6,000 years ago. They were descendants of the Lemurians, in particular, descendants of the original record-keepers of Lemuria. The snake, in terms of symbology, has always been used on Earth to mean wisdom, so you find many cultures around Earth in which the snake, as a symbol, plays a very important role. 

Now today, you were taken to a place called Montezuma's Well. The myth is that that was one of the emergence points of the ancient Lemurian/Native American. Sedona is one of the places that was first inhabited by the people who were keeping the records. After they emerged, their civilization lived mostly high in the cliffs. At that time Sedona was a chain of islands, so they had to live on higher ground. This original group that came from beneath the Earth lived here and, of course, procreated, so there were many generations here. The Snake People are descendants of those original ones from beneath the Earth. 

Now you've all seen the large amount of quartz crystal that is in the red rock, and you all know that quartz crystal can hold information and knowledge. Sedona was chosen as an emergence point because of all the quartz crystal in the area. It would be very easy to use all the quartz crystal in the rock to hold the knowledge of Lemuria, so the Snake People living in this area were committed to programming that knowledge into the rocks. This is why so many people are now drawn to Sedona. Anyone who has a Lemurian connection will naturally be drawn here. All of you, at one time or another, belonged to the Snake People tribe. 

Are there any ruins of Lemurian temples in the Sedona area? 

There are some physical remains of those temples but they are so eroded now that you really couldn't recognize them as remains of a temple. However, energetically those temples still exist. They can only be accessed on the inner planes through your dream state or through your meditations, but they are still very active. That's another reason why people feel so drawn to come to Sedona. They have traveled here in other states of consciousness so even though their physical bodies haven't been here, they feel familiar with it. There are many Lemurian temples here interdimensionally. 

Is there any connection between those who survived the Great Flood and extraterrestrials? 

What a wonderful and creative question. No one has ever asked this before, and it is one of the particular areas of interest for us. We assume that a good number of you have read The Prism of Lyra, but we will attempt to keep it very simple in case you haven't. The people who went underground during the flood could be associated with what we call the Sirians or the Sirian energy. Their symbol was the snake. They were the keepers of knowledge throughout. As to whether there were people who survived the flood on the surface, the answer is yes. You have a Biblical story about a man named Noah who built an ark. That story is very true with one exception. There was not just one Noah but many people around the planet who built arks or boats to survive the flood. So when the flood finally receded, there were those who had gone underground and there were those who had stayed aboveground. And yet there was contact. 

Among those who stayed aboveground, there were two factions. There was one faction that we would say was oriented toward the energy from Sirius. Those people had a love for mankind and a desire for peace and knowledge. But there was another faction that was more aligned with what we would call the Lyran influence. They were the ones who wanted power. Some of those people were the ones in powerful positions in Atlantis. Now we're talking about those who stayed aboveground. For the most part, those who went underground were all of one orientation. 

All through history, you have had conflict between the knowledge-keepers and those hungry for power. That still happens today. So as soon as the floods receded, the conflicts started again. That is why the people who are now considered Native American did not integrate themselves with the rest of the world. They kept themselves separate in order to assure that the knowledge would be preserved; they allowed the power struggle to continue while they simply sat back and tried to preserve the knowledge. You can see that is happening now. But the cycle is finishing, because so many of you now are beginning to realize how important that spiritual knowledge is. As more and more of you begin a spiritual search, those in power will have to change their ways because they won't be able to manipulate people anymore. 

So your individual search for your own spiritual truth eventually affects the entire planet. This time on your planet that you are calling a new age is the completion of many thousands of years of conflict. We perceive that the conflict will be healed. 

How long did people live underground? How long were their lives? 

When the flood receded, about half of those who were underground emerged. Half stayed underground because they were not quite sure it was safe to emerge. Those who emerged saw that conflict was already beginning on the surface once again, so they retreated and kept to themselves. They refused to become part of that conflict. That's why today there is such a division between Western society and the native peoples. The Native Americans do not want to play the game of conflict. 

The people who stayed underground remained there for several more generations. At one point, half of the half emerged, but there was still a group who remained underground. They are still there. They are the people you call the Inner Earth people. They have evolved quite rapidly over the past several thousand years. They have built their own society totally independent of yours, and in a sense they have mutated to allow themselves to adapt to life below the surface. They do not want to play the game of conflict either. Their lives are quite long, a life span averaging approximately 600 to 800 years. They do not procreate at the rate you do so there is no population problem. 

In terms of the longevity of people during the period of the flood, their life span was longer than yours. It really depended upon the genetic characteristics of the individual. If a person had a genetic makeup based on a strong extraterrestrial background, he had a longer life span. This information is spoken about very clearly in the Bible. It is given that the ages of certain Biblical figures are well over 100 years, like Moses. Some are given quite long lifetimes. Those records are out there. 

Over time, as you all have evolved away from being a part of the Earth, your life spans have gotten shorter. This is because when you are one with the Earth, you channel the life force of the Earth and it rejuvenates you. But when you cut yourself off from your life force, you deteriorate faster. This is why Native Americans have such long life spans and yogis who live up in the Himalayas do, too. They have, as much as they could, kept their connections with Earth. Your life span will grow longer the more you reconnect with the Earth. As your consciousness changes, your life span will grow.