I’ve just written a Frequently Asked Questions about the Religion of the Sun. It answers (what I think) are the most common questions about it, but I’d be interested to hear if you think there are any I’ve missed!
It’s up on https://religionofthesun.com/ – a website that’s going to be dedicated to providing information about it. The website is under construction – I’ll gradually be writing more content for it, which I will keep you posted about.
So much to do! :-)
From my experience, there is nothing spiritual about drugs.
Supernatural, yes.
When you gain a mystical experience by the powers of your pure inner state, awareness, concentration, Divine Grace, etc. it carries this state into the higher dimensions and allows you to resonate there in a spiritual way and learn properly.
People use drugs out of a lack of spiritual discipline, lack of profound spiritual knowledge and guidance, lack of objective spiritual experience, under dark influences etc. One part of your brain is more active, another shut, and the ego runs the show.
I do feel that certain natural substances could had been used by truly spiritual ancient people in some emergency situations, as a short-term medicine, for deeply hurt people (releasing massive amounts of dopamine and activating the pineal gland in spiritually inspiring environment under a proper guidance).
But later on it all degradated.
I remember once reading an interview with a follower of Dark Forces and when she was asked “what is the easiest way to bring people to darkness?”, she said just one word: “drugs”.
I feel sad that respected people like Joe Rogan and Graham Hancock say what they say about the drugs… maybe someone can send them Mark’s new books as a gift for Christmas? :)
Hi Vadim, Unfortunately I don’t think the books will be ready for Christmas… It’s hard to believe they have taken so much time, we are literally working on them right now (I am taking a quick minute to check comments!) but I can say that the extra time has been worth it with everything we’ve discovered and added. In my biased opinion :-) I think they will be the most comprehensive books on their subjects in the world.
I’ll reach out to Joe and Graham at some point after I get through these books, and am back full steam making videos and doing interviews.
Hi Lara,
Thank you so much for your work, this is a true blessing and hope to all who seek the Light! And thank you for kindly sharing how things are going.
Personally I feel that I already know much more than I am able to put in practice… this Path that Mark and others had described to us, seems to be a true “inner revolution”.
That being said, really looking forward to your new books and videos!
May you and Mark be divinely supported at all stages of your wonderful work, and may it reach many more sincere souls!
Hi Lara, it’s me again…
Reading your book and watching Graham Hancock’s latest work, I was wondering if the decline of the “lost civilization of the Sun” was started, caused or effected from the use of psychedelics (or the misuse)
Have you tracked on your research if those substances were initiated from the time of the religion of the Sun or it was something that incorporated later from other groups?
There’s so much fuss about them lately btw, regarding altered states of consciousness
Nice to hear from you Oliver, and great timing. We’re just finishing up a chapter about psychedelics for Mark’s next upcoming book.
Ancient texts and traditions state that the advanced race (which I refer to as the Children of the Sun) who had founded the Religion of the Sun, were far more psychic than humans – they are widely reported as having supernatural abilities, and were said to be able to travel out of their bodies to other dimensions easily etc.
There is an important reference that says humans sought to emulate them, but lacking the same abilities, turned to substances (not just psychedelics, but blends now lost that induced certain states).
If you start looking around, you’ll see evidence for the use of psychedelics and other substances across the ancient world.
Yet if you read the texts of the religion of the sun that have come down to us, they don’t advocate for using psychedelics, but rather for spiritual discipline and inner transformation as the means to achieve spiritual states and enlightenment. To me this surely seems to have been the original message, with drugs added later.
I don’t doubt that psychedelics would have always been used by people (and other humanoids, like Neanderthals). And there will always be those who think they offer a shortcut to mystical states. People today tend to justify their use by focusing on the evidence for drug use in ancient times, while ignoring the mass of teachings about drug-less spiritual transformation.
In my opinion, achieving spiritual states and knowledge is not as easy as taking a substance, and the use of psychedelics is actually harmful to spiritual development. This will be explained in more detail in the upcoming book.
I think the use of psychedelics is indicative of spiritual decline generally in that people’s understanding, sense of discipline, and psychic sensitivity need to go down in order for them to wish to take them. Certainly psychedelics were part of the massive decline into all out horror in Central America among the Maya and Aztecs. It’s interesting that they appear at around 1000 BC – the same time as mass human sacrifice, and their deadly ritual ball game, suggesting some new outside cultural influence.
It would be great to debate Hancock and Rogan on this. I noticed in their latest interview together they assume without any objective analysis or data that DMT allows one to make contact with extraterrestrial life in other dimensions. I’ve noticed that people who take psychedelics don’t tend to scrutinize their experiences, and I’ve yet to see any account of a psychedelic experience that contains information that’s verifiable, in the same way there has been in near-death experiences, out-of-body experiences, and dreams.
Grateful for your response!
Upcoming book sounds great!
Namaste 🙏
http://youtu.be/kYvfeeaiN40
Thank you Lara for this explanation and great points for further reflection.
It stood out to me what you said:
“People today tend to justify their use by focusing on the evidence of drug use in ancient times, while ignoring the mass of teachings about drug-less spiritual transformation”.
I thought about why that would be, and thought that the ancient teachings and practices of connecting to the other realms are not that widely known, while literally everyone knows that there exist certain drugs that can cause altered states of perception. So there seems to be this tendency in the society to hide the real spiritual techniques from the mainstream, while the use of drugs is widely known and even popularised, like back in the 60-ties by the popular artists and musicians using them, etc…
Another thing that stood out was what you said about (paraphrasing) when people’s spiritual understanding, sensitivity and discipline goes down, they start searching for the drug-induced experiences.
I think this is a really important point you made, because desiring these things (the drug trips) on their own does not really make much sense if one is seriously searching for objective spiritual truths. But then, most people today don’t know that there exists a possibility for them to become a Divine being! In the light of this possibility, any drug-induced experience of course pales in significance. But how many “spiritual gurus” of today tell people of this possibility? They speak about awareness, meditation (everybody imagines something else under this term), and other general terms, but these things don’t have such an appeal to people compared to the possibilities of experiencing other realities…
I remember a friend telling me many years ago, that an experience with drugs helped him to realise that there was more to life than meets the eye, and prompted him to search for spirituality. So people have different reasons for trying the drugs, but I feel like the main reason may be a desperate search to connect in a direct way to something non-material, some subtler realms which they intuitively know they must exist. In this sense, I think popularising conscious astral projection for spiritual progress would go a long way, which I think may be one of the topics of your upcoming books?
Really looking forward to them whenever they come out!
Also, I searched for that J. Rogan interview with Graham Hancock you mentioned, and I found it on Youtube, and was really surprised how he said there that if we are going “to crack” the phenomenon of the extraterrestrials, we will have to use psychedelics in order to explore the mysteries of consciousness… I really can’t believe that somebody of Graham Hancock’s caliber would not know about other options of exploring the consciousness than psychedelics, but I guess this is where we are today as a society. :-O
Thank you for shedding light on this topic! It’s been perplexing me for a while. It seems the “shortcut to mystical states” is not a modern invention!
The topic is so intriguing, because on the one hand, you hear researchers explore and acknowledge divine experience or spiritual initiation in the ancient world, and you think, wow… this is going to get interesting, but then hear them go on that its drugs/intoxication which lead someone there.
Sometimes you see them gathering their case with a lot of information, and it almost feels like a symphony of celebration to uncover the Eleusinian Mysteries! How amazing it was once to live in a state of serious and dedicated religious observance, to unravel the secrets of the universe and to attend the sacred temples…
But then you see researchers who find/read about some remnants of wine and honey, beer yeast, or other herb blends etc… surrounding the space and environments of religious temples and immediately draw conclusions that these were used in cases of spiritual experience/initiation. These researchers applaud the notions of spiritual initiation and divine experience, but for some reason, only present a case for drug-induced spiritual experiences. (Maybe they will make a passing remark towards a disciplinary life of spiritual practice, but it’s ultimately a celebration of psychedelics) They go into great lengths to make their authoritative case, but I don’t see how they have any real authority… At the end of the day they neglect to disclose the actual “mysteries”, and only offer a quick answer.
It seems that when a society rejects spiritual leadership, or when it’s hijacked by varying agendas, when the wisdom bringers have been forgotten or rejected, and are no longer prevalent, this is what we get. We are not going to get the mysteries on a platter, in a pill, a drink or some dried leaf. The mysteries have been veiled for a reason, and could only be lifted by the merits of the person, as so many scriptures allude to. Similarly, what good are drug-induced “spiritual” experiences, when people are left without spiritual leadership to piece together what their experiences mean on the grand scale of things? We are lost without the wisdom of true spiritual teachers and their influence in society. They mean everything for this world.
Hi Lara and Lucia,
You’ve made some interesting points about the use of psychedelics and I agree their use ultimately harms spiritual development, rather than benefiting it.
I’ve had a keen interest in the late 1960s and early 1970s counter culture since my youth and have a lot of music from this period in my collection. I still rate this era as a highly creative time musically and culturally, as well as an important time sociologically, as it included significant historic events, such as the civil rights movement, the struggle for greater equality for women, anti war protests and eastern spiritual traditions being brought to a much wider western audience via popular musicians such as The Beatles, Donovan and The Beach Boys.
But what strikes me is that despite the open discussion of spiritual concepts, literature and techniques among many in the counter culture, such as The Age of Aquarius, The Tibetan Book of the Dead and Transcendental Meditation, this tends not to be reflected in any real depth in the lyrics of songwriters from this era. I could easily list over 1000 songs I’m familiar with from this era, but I can only think of a small number of songs that have any spiritual depth. Instead there tends to be more of a mishmash of ideas that ultimately don’t really lead anywhere of substance.
With regards to the use of psychedelics in particular, I’ve found from my own observations that their use makes people see less of reality, rather than more of it. I’ve seen some very unfortunate consequences of their use, both in my personal life and in my observations of the negative impact their use had on some popular 1960s musicians, most notably Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys and Syd Barrett from Pink Floyd. Some lesser known musicians from this period also suffered tragic consequences following heavily using psychedelics, such as a former member of Jefferson Airplane, who was admitted to a secure psychiatric unit after attempting a serious assault on one of his bandmates, while mentally imbalanced.
Some other popular musicians of this era who were keen on the use of psychedelics, such as Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison unfortunately didn’t even reach the age of 30. Their premature deaths were not directly linked to their use of psychedelics, but due to their willingness to intoxicate themselves to excess in general, but it’s quite sad really that the leader of a band whose name was taken from William Blake’s mystical writings about opening up the doors of perception ultimately took such a destructive path instead, through his hedonistic drug use.
It reminds me of a line from George Harrison’s Within You, Without You, which brought Indian classical music to a popular audience on The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper album:
“The people who hide themselves behind a wall of illusion
Never glimpse the truth, then it’s far too late, when they pass away”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr54nqD1URA
I remember an interview with George Harrison’s teacher, the sitar player Ravi Shankar, where he commented that the hippies treated the often devotional Indian ragas he played as “a yeah yeah thing” and “made a real hash of things” with their focus on expanding consciousness through drug use. I’ve found the popular music from this era with the most depth spiritually tended to be by musicians who had more than just a passing interest in spiritual practice, such as some pieces by George Harrison and the jazz musician Alice Coltrane.
As it’s approaching the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere, reflecting the birth of spiritual figures such as Jesus and Krishna, I thought it may be nice to share this devotional mantra to Krishna, recorded by Alice Coltrane, which I listened to while watching the sunset on the last equinox. It is accompanied by a nice video of lotus flowers within a golden cauldron, which also seemed appropriate, within the context of spiritual birth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn36bzFZeg4
I wish everyone here a peaceful solstice time, wherever you are in the world, with the opportunity to allow the light within to flourish.
Interesting timing of your post Michael, as I have been exploring George Harrison’s music and legacy these past 3 weeks or so. :-)
I had never been much into Beetles, just knew their music generally from the radio, etc. It struck me though, what meaningful lyrics G. Harrison had written or used, and how deeply interested he was in inner change and experience-based spirituality as opposed to just passive belief. His study and practice of Indian spirituality and music sound very sincere to me. One song of his that I have never heard before is called The Inner Light (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa3948JzWCc), and this one has the lyrics taken from – surprisingly – Tao Te Ching! I even found out that this idea (to make a song with the lyrics from Tao Te Ching) was suggested to him by Spanish mystic and translator Juan Mascaro, whose translation of Bhagavad Gita is my favourite. The world is small after all! :-)
Also, of course, his song My Sweet Lord is so touching, expressing exactly the feeling of burning inner desire to reunite with our higher Being… Or “Here comes the Sun” – a simple and powerful little ode to the Light that comes back (internally and externally) when the sun appears again.
I had a listen to the song you suggested too, and was really pleasantly surprised at this unusual rendition of a kirtan. Alice’s voice is so touching and sincere, it sounds to me almost as a personal dialogue with Krishna. Thank you very much for sharing!
Hi Lucia,
I’m glad you enjoyed the music. Yes, The Inner Light is a nice song and it has the unique feature of being on the first and as far as I know only single to reach number 1 in the UK chart to reference the Tao Te Ching, as it was the B-side of The Beatles’ hit Lady Madonna. George Harrison clearly had a strong interest in eastern religion and bought the Hare Krishna Bhaktivedanta Manor close to London in 1973. I remember being given a copy of the Bhagavad Gita by one of the devotees from there some years ago.
As you mentioned Here Comes the Sun, I thought I’d share Nina Simone’s beautiful version of it, which expresses that longing for the light in a tender way:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei-5qrfMQoY
You may also like a few other songs from the late ‘60s and early ‘70’s, which are relevant in relation to the recent solstice. For those who have recently celebrated the summer solstice, I think From the Morning by Nick Drake expresses the beauty of connecting with nature during summer in a poetic and gentle way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88JcKM_vH5E
The Beatles’ Sun King is also a gentle and uplifting song with some nice harmonies, as can be heard clearly in this a cappella version. I wouldn’t bother spending time trying to translate the Spanish, Portuguese and Italian lyrics at the end though, as you’re unlikely to find anything deeply meaningful!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bat2rcpT6SM
Om by The Moody Blues from their album In Search of the Lost Chord is also pleasant. It’s nice to hear a melodic song about the primordial mantra from a popular group of that era: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTavb9i37u8
It’s nice there are also some contemporary artists writing songs specifically about the solstices. You may like these two songs, in case you haven’t already heard them, which are in celebration of the winter solstice.
Eimear Quinn’s Winter Solstice references Druidry and she also mentioned the tradition of solstice celebrations at Newgrange and Stonehenge as an influence in writing the song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtaYoB92cpY
Lisa Thiel’s Yule is also pleasant:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0Xz5w-Sr5g
I hope you had a peaceful solstice and enjoy the music!
Ok great thank you
Hi Lara, just another question please
I read Omraam Aïvanhov’s book “La lumière, esprit vivant” and he writes some practices with the sunlight, where a person can visualize the light inside them during the daly life or during meditation. Also he suggests to think, talk, or move towards the light when someone feels low. To send beams of light to someone who is unhappy. Also to feel like drinking the first beams of light during sunrise.
And I’m wondering if these practices are part of the practice of the religion of the sun or a kind of newagie staff?
Saying that, I’m really looking forward to your new book, you announced, and it’s probable my questions be answered there anyway.
Cheers
Hi Oliver,
I haven’t come across those specific practices in ancient texts, except meditating on (or visualizing) the light within – specifically in one’s heart. It sounds like Omraam was drawn to the spiritual sun and devised those exercises himself. There are however exercises with the sun that I have seen in ancient texts that date as far back as 10,000 years ago (or more). These will be in the books coming out next, which I’m getting back to working on right now :-) Feel free to ask any other questions.
Hi Oliver,
Maybe I can just add that Omraam Aivanhov was a disciple of Peter Deunov, working around the time of Rudolf Steiner, Arnoldo Krumm-Heller, George Gurdjieff, who all tried to revive ancient original teachings, connecting the sources of wisdom around the world, etc. (the New Age thing is something much more recent).
In the teachings of esoteric Christianity, Yoga/Tantra, Daoist mysticism, etc, – that all could be seen as the branches of the ancient Religion of the Sun that Lara describes in her books – there are many different practices linked to the sunlight, or light in general, this is to connect with the Higher Realms, move the energies in a spiritually beneficial way, awaken the perception, etc.
One of the valuable things that have I encountered, is said to be based on extraterrestrial teachings given 12,000 ago for the time of Kali Yuga, most of their texts are still not revealed and not translated from Sanskrit. The ceremonies that come out of those sacred texts, are extremely profound and have many wonderful methods, using the visualization of light to connect with the Divine, seeing the light entering the third eye with breath and the mantra, going inside the cup of water to make it “become light”, etc.
Omraam Aivanhov (and his teachers) could also find something similar, the most likely, from different sources, and then use their insight and guidance, to adapt it to their personality, culture, time, circumstances of life.
Hi Vadim, I’m very interested to hear more about those Sanskrit texts – do you know what they are called and where I can find out more about them?
I remember reading Blavatsky say that there are many more Sanskrit texts that have not been revealed to the public, and always wondered and hoped this might be true.
Hi Lara,
I believe they are a collection of different sacred texts, the Bhagavad Gita is there but is structured differently, as the Gayatri mantra, some other texts are not widely known at all. Yes, they could be related to what Helena Blavatsky talked about, as they are esoteric, and were revealed in the connection with her Theosophical society, but after her life.
They are kept in a library in India now, but someone took the photos of them, translated them and put into the computer format. My friend has all of it and is willing to send everything to you, for your study and research, so I will connect you by emails.
I am sure there is something really deep about these teachings, as the ceremonies that I have experienced, based on those texts, are extremely profound and spiritually elevating.
What an amazing connection – that your friend happens to have them in digital format. I am so appreciative he is willing to send them.
Thank you for your kind gratitude! He could be travelling now with his family, so we just need to be patient. He does believe that spiritual knowledge is meant to be shared with those who appreciate it for what it is.
Wow Vadim, how incredible that you’ve come across these ancient texts that can’t be readily found anywhere else!
Regarding the possible extraterrestrial origins of some spiritual teachings, I have also came across a brief reference to that in H. Hausdorf’s book “The Chinese Roswell”, where he mentions a story of Belgian Jesuit Missionary Albert d’Orville who journeyed through much of Tibet back in 17-th century. In his diary, d’Orville preserved his account of UFO sighting, followed by an inspiring discussion with a local lama, which suggests that some Tibetan monasteries may still be in contact with spiritually advanced extraterrestrials (or at least that was the case in 17-th century when the discussion took place), and even being taught by them:
“November, 1661. My attention was drawn to something moving in the heavens. At first, I thought it might be a species of bird, unknown to me, that lived in these regions. Then the object came nearer, taking on the form of a Chinese double hat, and all the while rotating silently as if it were being conveyed through the air on invisible wings. This visitation was definitely a thing of wonder – or a magic trick. The object winged its way above the city exactly a if it wished to be admired. It circled twice, and then was suddenly enshrouded in fog, and as much as I strained my eyes I could no longer see it. I wondered if the altitude at which I was could have been playing tricks on my eyes. Then I noticed a lama standing nearby. I asked him if he, too, had seen the object. He answered by nodding his head and replying, ‘My son, what you witnessed just now was not magic, because beings from other worlds travel across the oceans of space, and it was they who breathed the spirit into the first people who lived on this earth. These beings condemn all violence; they counsel mankind to love one another. their teachings are like seeds, but if these seeds are sown on rocky ground, they cannot germinate. These beings, who are light-skinned, are always received by us in friendship, and they often come to earth near our monasteries. They have continued to instruct us, revealing truths that were lost in the centuries of cataclysm which have changed the face of the earth.'”
Wow Lucia, what a remarkable account… it’s another important piece of evidence in the puzzle showing that extraterrestrials not only seeded “human” life on Earth (the children of god/the sun), but also their ancient spiritual knowledge (the religion of the sun).
Hi Lara, yeah, it seems to correlate with the beings who “crossed the deep dark void” from Kolbrin, doesn’t it? In the “Chinese Roswell” book, there is also an interesting passage describing the “gods of light” who, according to some Tibetan myths, started the civilization in Tibet in the remote past:
“Yehi, according to myth the first king of Tibet, is said to have been born from an eggshell (or, in another version, a seashell). The Tibetans regard Yehi as the progenitor of the human race. In the Rgyal-rabs – the text said to preserve the genealogy of Tibet’s most ancient rulers – 27 legendary kings are mentioned, seven of whom came down from the zenith of the sky, passing through the levels of the atmosphere on a heavenly ladder or ‘sky-cord’. These Tibetan kings – also called ‘gods of light’ – are said to have bestowed upon the lamas a receptacle containing ancient writings. Legend has it that this receptacle is hidden away as a sacred relic in an unknown monastery. According to the seventeenth century lama-historian Taranatha, the heavenly teachers told the priests to preserve the memory of their divine visits by carving memorials to them.”
All this made me wonder where did these beings came from… Our forefthers I mean. ;-) There is a lot of talk in the “new age circles” about Pleiadians having some connection to us, and if I remember correctly, there are also some ancient alignments to this star cluster, and also in the ancient carvings, like the Nebra disc for example. But of course, theoretically, there could be different ETs seeding the people on this Earth…
According to the teachings from the texts that my friends has, that lineage was given 12,000 years ago, for the time of Kali Yuga, around the time of the birth of Krishna; the wisdom/sacred knowledge was brought from another planet by the Avatar of Vishnu and the 4 Kumaras.
Pushan was the name of the ancient Solar deity. Interestingly, when I looked into the Rig Veda, I found this quote:
“Soma and Pusan, urge your chariot hither, the seven-wheeled car that measures out the region, That stirs not all, that moves to every quarter, five-reined and harnessed by the thought, ye Mighty.” – Rig Veda
The vehicle that Soma and Pushan used, sounds like UFO to me. There are more references to it in Rig Veda.
I don’t know about Tibet, but in Wudang mountains of China, I saw the symbol of Dao with 2 mysterious snake-like figures; according to the Sifu of that temple, those were the ancient creators of the human race, the root of Daoist tradition is not human/earthly…
Perhaps that can explain more the Daoist veneration of the Big Dipper constellation. The Goddess of the Big Dipper is depicted very similar to Hindu deities, having many arms. And in India the 7 stars of the Big Dipper are connected to the 7 Saptarishi, the 7 ancient wisdom bringers. As the Big Dipper rotates in the sky, it makes the shape of swastika, over the solstices and equinoxes, that were also observed in China in relation to the 4 stars: Niau (Alphard), Huo (Antares), Xu (Sadalsuud) and Mao (Alcyone).
In some Daoist altars, you can find the symbol of Yin-Yang in the center, the 8 Trigrams are around them, and around them, are the drawings of sacred constellations. The Sun is known to be the main source of Yang energy in Daoism.
So just looking into India and China, there seem to be already many interesting connections/correlations between the ancient wisdom bringers and the visitors from the outer space.
Hi Vadim,
That’s interesting about the date 12 000 years ago, as it seems to correlate with the Younger Dryas catastrophe, and a subsequent appearance of the wisdom bringers as Mark and Lara mention in their work. However, I just looked what is generally considered to be a beginning of Kali Yuga, and it is said that it started around 3000 BC, supposedly after the death of Krishna. So it looks like the current understanding of the timeline of the Yugas may not be quite correct? I would not be surprised if that was the case.
That vehicle that the Rig Veda describes as “harnessed by the thought” sounds quite interesting indeed, as in some UFO accounts, the UFOs are being described as being navigated by the mental power.
I have also stumbled upon the “Big Dipper swastika” images, it looks quite pretty! Actually, there seem to be 2 swastikas created by the Big, but also the Little Dipper circling around the Pole Star, something like this: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/22/Precessional_north_pole_(B%C4%9Bij%C3%AD_%E5%8C%97%E6%9E%81)_in_%CE%B1_Ursae_Minoris%2C_drawing_a_w%C3%A0n_%E5%8D%8D_in_the_four_phases_of_time.svg/300px-Precessional_north_pole_(B%C4%9Bij%C3%AD_%E5%8C%97%E6%9E%81)_in_%CE%B1_Ursae_Minoris%2C_drawing_a_w%C3%A0n_%E5%8D%8D_in_the_four_phases_of_time.svg.png.
Interesting that the Daoists seemed to venerate the Big Dipper… In my quick search for the Pleiades connections in different cultures, I found out that according to the Hindu mythology, the “seven sisters” of the Pleiades, called the Krrtika, were married to the seven Rishis that made up the stars of the Big Dipper. So if there is something to this myth, it may indicate some sort of connection between the two constellations.
Also surprisingly, the first astronomical mention of Pleiades was in the Chinese Annals of roughly 2350 BC, where this constellation was referred to as the “Blossom Stars” or “Flower Stars”. This means this constellation must have been important to the Chinese for quite some time. Also the Xiaoling Mausoleum (the tomb complex of the founder of the Ming Dynasty) located near Nanjing in Eastern China, when viewed from the air, echoes the arrangement of the visible Pleiadean stars. Called the “treasure mound,” the tomb is said to hold “great cosmic secrets beyond gold treasure.” :-O
I also found out that the Native American Indians have many myths and legends about the Pleiades, and even consider themselves to have been “seeded” by the Pleiadeans. Would be indeed interesting to find out what prompted all this focus on this star cluster among the different cultures since ancient times…
Hi Lucia, your post made me think of the ‘nakshatras’ of Vedic astrology, (just means heap or section, so a portion of the sky) which are 27 in number, like the Tibetan kings – and where the conscious deities are said to reside – compared to the 12 zodiac signs which are the ‘unconscious arms of Vishnu’. Because of this description, they’ve always really interested me! The ladder, or sky-chord, I wonder if that refers to the seven planetary spheres, the ‘gateway of man’, i.e, where the ecliptic crosses the zodiac at the start of Cancer, or something else entierly!
The Pleiades are part of the Krittika nakshatra, which is the original first nakshatra, and comes from the sanskrit root “kri” which means to do, make or create, hence there’s this curious link with creation, the Pleiades and this prevailing idea that they have something to do with ‘seeding’ humanity. Their ruling deity is Agni, the God of fire, he who comes first, the first word of the first line of the first Veda, the spark of creation!
Hi Oliver,
I also discovered Omraam Aivanov some time ago, and found his descriptions and thoughts on the Sun inspiring. I remember watching a video where he said how there were advanced beings living on the Sun, and how we can actually pray and petition to them, how the Sun is a seat of Christ-force, and how by watching sunrise or connecting to the Sun in general, we are also connecting to our Higher Self/Inner Sun.
However, after checking his work a bit more, I realised that he was going in circles or missing some topics completely, especially in relation to sexuality/spiritual alchemy, and therefore not providing the whole body of knowledge that would enable someone to really change.
Hi Lara
From all your research and knowledge around the ancient religion of the Sun, what do you think about celebrations/memorials/rituals honouring the ancestors?
Could this be part of the ancient religion of the Sun?
It’s something I see often and in common among pagan traditions as well as in the revivas nowadays, and was wondering.
I have wondered about this many times too, Oliver, thanks for bringing it up! I have found notions of this ancestors worship in different regions of the world, including Caucasus, China, Japan, Americas, etc… and it seemed to me to be either an older type of worship that happened before the arrival of the Religion of the Sun to those regions, or a type of worship that got renewed each time the Religion of the Sun slacked in a region. But that’s just my first impression, and may be completely wrong of course! I have also wondered if the ancestors were perhaps worshiped as a kind of lineage worship, which, in case of the cultures influenced by the Religion of the Sun could be like remembering this lineage and celebrating people/family members who were a part of this legacy before them? Just speculating here… I would also REALLY like to know what is Lara’s opinion about this.
Hi Oliver,
I was faced with the same question when coming across it so prominently in China and ancient China. Wondering what’s it about, what there is to it.
I don’t feel I’ve fully answered it satisfactorily for myself yet. But here are some points and some of my observations on it, if you’re interested.
Personally I don’t view it to be the case that a person who’s lived pretty much a normal everyday life will with death all of a sudden have their whole psyche transformed permanently and become a divine being. In the Ancient Path of the Sun it describes how it’s a very specific process someone would need to go through in life to reach it.
So actual worship of deceased family members as a replacement of the communication we can have with real divinity – does not seem right.
Another part of the story might the remembrance and honouring of an ancestral lineage that does trace back to a genuine spiritual progenitor. Lara, in her book, writes about solar theocracies as a main characteristic way of government implemented by wisdom bringers. One extract she quotes reads: “The Sons of the Sun also required their leadership to be continued in perpetuity as a form of government through their family.” in another part she writes “… as in so many ancient solar dynasties, he [the Japanese Emperor] and his family are seen as direct descendants of the sun … .” and “Over the thousands of years that followed, those in places where these solar theocracies had been established would be eager to trace their lineage back to these original kings, in order to prove their divine authority to rule. Some of the royal families of Europe traced their lineage back to Odin/Wotan, kings in India traced it back to Manu, whereas the Inca elite traced it to Viracocha.” p. 269
I can see in that case, remembering and honouring that lineage, having a veneration for the original spiritual originator, and upholding a beneficial establishment, can be good.
But then again such can also go wrong as ancestor worship “has been used by Élites as propaganda legitimizing their political positions.” The same paper, by Li Liu, further reads (about early China) “In the Shang dynasty the ritual of ancestor worship became institutionalized … . Royal ancestors could intercede with Di [the high god], and enable the king to communicate with his ancestors. Worship of the Shang royal ancestors, therefore, provided powerful psychological and ideological support for the political dominance of the Shang kings.”
The one direct personal insight I had in relation to ancestor worship (as in how in modern times in China someone might have frames with their deceased parents as an altar in their home) that in a spiritual sense it was actually a confinement put on that person, something that wasn’t right and had an off-feeling about it. Confining the average person’s prayers to that, rather than the direct communion they could personally have with the divine. And also that the implementation of this for the people at large might’ve been something put in place intentionally at some point.
These following lines seem to line up with that insight. About a later period: “Ancestral-cult rituals became increasingly hierarchical during the Three Dynasties. … living persons could only worship ancestors whose seniority and rank corresponded to their own. … commoners could only venerate their immediate family forebears at home … . Evidently only kings could worship the high god, the legendary ancestors and royal ancestors.”
In terms of modern European pagan revivals for example and an incorporation of forefather worship, I don’t know too much about what these different groups do in practice. I think many feel a wish to relink to the ancient spiritual ways, to “that”, which we might not be able to quite put our finger on exactly yet nor know how to get to. So a good question is what would someone base such practice on, a genuine sacred text, clear archaeology, higher personal experiences? If not, what then? I feel in religious matters it’s quite serious to introduce things, you have to know what you’re doing.
I feel it’s one of those question that makes me have to explore and consider things more. All the best Oliver.
I found it very interesting to hear about that style of ancestor worship in China. I have seen it still lingers on in East Asian countries today (though I don’t know much at all about it).
I can’t help but think that it derived from a time when the king/pharaoh was a “son of the sun” in a spiritual sense. There are passages in the Kolbrin, for example, that speak about how the king/pharaoh had to be a “twice born” – and the system of initiation to become one was incredibly rigorous. But that over time, the kings declined to go through it. Yet I suspect the worship of the king as though he went on to become an immortal after death remained. You see it in China, in Egypt, and Easter Island.
Hi Oliver,
It depends what kind of ancestor worship you mean, as there are different types.
In the religion of the sun there are different destinations/fates of the “soul” after death. Most souls are believed to reincarnate (either in another human body or as an animal). Some are banished to the hellish underworld. Very few awaken and become “Sons of the Sun” – living consciously after death in higher realms.
Those who reincarnate have moved on, and so there is no soul left to maintain contact with. Those in hellish realms are believed to be beyond contact, though they can be prayed for. While “Sons of Sun” can be contacted and respond.
And so simply worshiping departed ancestors does not fit in with the cosmology of the religion of the sun – those traditions that venerate dead relatives are not part of it.
That said, there are traditions, as in Hinduism and ancient Egypt (which are part of the religion of the sun), in which people pray for those who have recently died so that they pass on well through the afterlife to their next destination. This has been shown to have a real basis, as there are near-death experiences in which those who died (and later revived) saw that the prayers of those still alive helped those who had just died.
Further, I know that in some Indo-European traditions (part of the religion of the sun) there is a more general sense of honoring the ancestors – not specific relatives – but those who have gone before us and have built the things in our civilization we now benefit from. Although not crucial to the religion of the sun, honoring the good deeds of our ancestors, I believe, is critical to maintaining culture/society/traditions/civilization. Those who don’t are on the path to destroying their civilization.
Lara
Thanks Lara, what you said make perfect sense to me.
Much appreciated
Not a problem Oliver, best wishes.
Hi Lara,
this seems to be a natural progression for the website – a way of disseminating information in a quick, expedient way for those starting out on this topic.
A welcomed addition!
A way for questions and answers to be provided, especially when copies of the book are not available.
Thanks so much for providing the FAQ’s. I think you nailed it, very comprehensive answers.
To me an excellent resource to share with interested friends, and answered a few queries I had
.
Perhaps 1 supplementary question (probably not critical) along the lines of “Are Mystical Experiences part of the ROTS”? – just a suggestion.
Thanks for sharing – great to hear there is a new site.
Hi Lara,
I really appreciate the time and effort that you spend on creating this website. The FAQ page was really helpful to me when it comes to explaining the Religion of The Sun to those around me who have never even heard about it what it is and its relationship to my own culture. One thing that I do not completely understand though,is what exactly does Knights Templar have to do with the Religion of The Sun. I looked for information about Knights Templar from many different sources and they all say that they were an organization of crusaders who protected Christian pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem and fought against Muslims in an attempt to seize control of the Holy Land. There was basically this war that was going on between Christians and Muslims over who should have the authority to take Jerusalem. The Christian religious organization,or more specifically the Roman Catholic Church,was really corrupt at that time in history,just as it had almost always been. The papal authority that was established and the entire hierarchy of the Church was created as a tool to control people. That is not to say that Christianity had lost its connections to the Religion of The Sun,some of its teachings and practices do appear to reflect the merit of this ancient religion,but when it comes to the Catholic Church,there has always been corruption within it and now it is becoming even more obvious as the dirty secrets of the Vatican are slowly coming into light. And the Crusade was a really wrong move to begin with. As the Religion of The Sun can be practiced almost anywhere,whether alone or in groups. The most important thing is to use our body and mind as temples that connect us to the divine. And as spiritual practitioners we should not commit acts of violence or promote violence in any shape or form. The Crusade appears to completely contradict all that. Just because they claimed that they were doing this in the name of God to wage war against Muslims to take back the Holy Land doesn’t justify what they had done. And Knights Templar,being a part of that violent,bloody and cruel movement,how is it possible for them to be following the principles of the Religionof The Sun in some way? I don’t really get it.
Hi Emily, Good question. From what I can tell, the Crusades have become highly politicized and there are some myths about them. I’m not well researched in this, but I have done a bit of reading about it. Palestine was apparently mostly inhabited by Christians at the time, but they were ruled over by Turkish Muslims who had taken it over and had begun persecuting them, and were even threatening the Byzantine Empire. Muslims had also been pushing into Christian lands for hundreds of years, so the Crusades don’t seem as simple as a power struggle over Palestine nor of unprovoked aggression. To understand history, sometimes I find it helps to try and put myself in another person’s shoes. If there were people of my religion who were being unjustly persecuted and who couldn’t defend themselves, what would I do. It’s hard to answer that without knowing all the details, but I certainly would do everything in my power to help them become safe or get to safety.
The Templars were formed after the Crusades had begun to defend Christrian pilgrims on their way to Palestine as you say. But there is more to them than that. The Christian Church was completely intolerant of spiritual ideas outside of its dogma, and so people who were interested in exploring spirituality in Europe at the time had to find a way to do it without being persecuted. And it seems people found different guises. One of those was within the Knights Templar. There were people within its ranks (so not all) who were clearly exploring spirituality in greater depth, and it seems likely they continued to practice in secret even after the Templars were outlawed and disbanded, with some possibly going on to establish Freemasonry.
Yes, there is a lot of evidence that there was some profound spirituality within the ranks of Templars and that it continued in different forms even after their Order was terribly destroyed.
It could be the case that Templars, as an organization, had degenerated with time and failed in the struggle against the darkness, becoming more focused on riches and fame, being always in war, rather than really supporting and promoting spirituality, so eventually there was some form of karmic punishment.
And the history is written by the winners, so what we know in general about the Templars tends to be based on that mainstream view.
The examples of Templars spirituality can be found in their art, such as well preserved in famous Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland in the south of Edinburgh, in the Temple Church in the City of London in England, etc. There is quite a lot to learn from those places.
Some researchers looked into the descriptions of their daily schedule, starting about 4:00am, they had to say 60 Our Father prayers even before having their breakfast in the morning! How many people today pray at least once a day?
Some looked into their heritage preserved in Europe, for example there is a lot of evidence that Jeanne d”Arc was of a noble blood and hereditary Knight Templar, raised by her parents in secretly preserved Templar tradition. Could a simple peasant girl with strange visions get in charge of the whole French army and be quite successful for some time?
Other researchers, such as Francine Bernier, looked into a possible Templars legacy in North America. There is a lot of evidence that Templars tradition could be preserved in some form in Quebec province of Canada, starting with very noble intentions and benevolent work of highly secret Company de Saint-Sacrement working behind the Society of Notre Dame, influencing French Canadian society in a positive way, similarly to how it started with Freemasonry.
Lovely to see another website and one dedicated to the Religion of the Sun. Looking forward to seeing more in relation to Solar based religious practices and a renewal of the lost knowledge and wisdom born from that way of life.
Hi guys,
How do i upload a profile picture like you guys have?
Hey Sonam, looks like you worked it out, but for anyone else who’s wondering, to show a profile picture you would need a gravatar account: https://en.gravatar.com/
You can set the profile picture in the gravatar account, then when you post a comment using the email associated with the gravatar account, your gravatar profile picture will show up next to your name / comment.
Thanks Dave – Helpful
The FAQ is a pleasure to read. Considering the vastness of the religion of the sun, it is surprising that how little knowledge of it exists in the mainstream. Your recent videos as well as this FAQ clarify the most obvious gaps in understanding.
While reading the FAQ I was wishing for there to be a comment facility on some of the sections. It would have been nice to put thoughts into paper, as well as to have a reason to look deeper into some of those aspects. Of note, I found your touching upon light, and about it being the greatest visible manifestation of the divine to be very inspiring. The connection between light and the sun gives insight about the relationship between the Father and the Son. Reflecting on the qualities of light is also insightful, so I would like to mention of a few of the properties of light known to physics (and understood by me):
Light exists as both a particle and a wave. Light travels with a speed that sets the limits on speed and it never stops. Light does slow down (or speeds up) upon changing medium. Direction of light can be changed (by gravity or reflection) and light can be imprisoned. Light has no mass. No matter how fast one moves light always moves faster by the speed of light – and it seems that time dilates to allow this to happen.
Hi Alexander,
I’m sorry if I spelled your name wrong but this is the way of spelling that came into my head when I saw your comment. Where on the website does Lara talk about light being the physical manifestation of the divine? I tried to find it but couldn’t. It’s very interesting though that I’ve recently came to a conclusion about light and spirituality,and I don’t know if this makes any sense to anyone,but light in the physical world does not only include the light from the sun that you see during the day or the light that comes from a lamp in your house,they are called visible light because they can be detected by the human eye. By their very nature they are electromagnetic waves that are formed by alternating electric and magnetic fields that are perpendicular to each other. There are different lengths of EM waves and visible light makes up only a small portion of the EM spectrum. There also exist radio waves,microwaves,infrared,ultraviolet,X rays and Gamma rays that cannot be seen by the human eye but are exactly the same in nature as visible light,just with different wavelengths. They are all EM waves and can be considered light. When you think about light in that sense then light is not only rays of energy that illuminates dark places but also a medium which can be used to send information. A lot of our modern technology rely on light/EM waves to relay information. Upon first hearing this it may sound a little bit strange but cell phones connect to cell towers and transmit calls using radio waves and Wifi uses EM waves that occupy a part of the EM spectrum that is sandwiched between radio waves and microwaves. As we become increasingly reliant on smart devices like smartphones a few of us actually stop and ponder about how they work and what medium do they use to spread information. At the end of the day it’s all done through EM waves/light. If light in the physical world can be used for communication and to carry information,can the spiritual light that is within do the same? I see no reason to believe that’s not the case. If everyone could find that source of spiritual light within them and communicate through the spiritual light that is emanating from deep within their souls,then the world will be a much better place.
Thank you Lara, so nice to see that website coming alive! I think you have answered the questions in quite a comprehensive manner. Having said that, I am sure more questions will emerge over time, as people are naturally curious about so many things… Like for example if I wanted to ask about an ancient religion, I would probably ask things like… does this religion have some kind of “priesthood”, or what is its hierarchy? How does the Religion of the Sun see the role of women within it, and in life in general? I am also sure many other questions will also be answered as you start publishing the practices related to it.
Very comprehensive FAQs! Really exciting to see another site being launched too – it makes me really hopeful for a modern resurgence of the ROTS! It was good to read through as they addressed some questions I’d had on my mind …
One was about Judaism and its link to solar religious practice. It seems such an ancient, mystical religion its absence in your examples of the inheritors of the ROTS was quite glaring to me, so it’s good to know there was an ancient connection that’s been broken. It’s been coming up a lot in my investigations into ancient British solar practice; there’s actually – to my surprise – a ton of in-depth information and dedicated people investigating our ‘hidden history’ (some proper history buffs who’ve rejected the mainstream narrative) and one theory that comes up a lot is that the ten lost tribes of Israel came to Britain, and I wondered how/if this fits in to the movement of the ROTS. Probably this was a more recent migration that’s not really tied into the ancient spread of this religious practice? Either way, it’s part of some incredible ideas about the ‘hidden history’ of my heritage I’m coming across thanks to being made aware of this ancient global religion. I don’t think I’ve felt more in tune with my own heritage and at the same time a kinship with people all across the globe.
It was also interesting to hear you separate the European mound builders from the Druids and Celts, I’d kind of morphed these together in my mind, but recently seen that they’re quite distinct.
Thanks and good luck with the new site!