Wishing you a sacred equinox. These times of year pass unnoticed by most people, but in the ancient world were the most holy of the year. They convey profound truths about creation, and about the journey of consciousness through it. For those of us reviving the ancient Religion of the Sun, it’s a time we can reflect upon its profound meaning, and connect with it in nature. It’s a special time in which we can feel part of the great cycles of the cosmos and its divine workings.
In the Northern Hemisphere, its the spring equinox, when life finally emerges from the darkness of winter. It’s a time of coming back into the light of the divine, after being through chaos and darkness – and the hardship of having to find and make our own light in the darkness.
In the Southern Hemisphere, it’s the autumn/fall equinox, which represents those times we descend into darkness and difficulties in life to acquire knowledge about ourselves and forge virtues.
I’ve made videos on the meaning of the spring equinox and the autumn equinox (with the help of a great team at our publisher) in ancient cultures.
Also, an update on what we’re working on: Mark and I are finishing up a major re-write of our book Ancient Solstice, which has taken the last few months. We hope to have it finished and released in the next couple of months. There’s new information in it, as we’ve learned quite a lot since its first edition; we’ve aimed to make it a very comprehensive guide to the ancient sites and cultures connected to the solstices and equinoxes, and to their deeper, ancient meaning. We hope it’ll be a reference to all those wishing to understanding and reconnect with the lost ancient wisdom of the world.
Thank you to all of you who have supported us over the last few months, and have enabled us to work on this task.
Wishing you a sacred and blessed equinox.
Thank you Lara & Mark, happy and meaningful new cycle to everyone!
Enjoying a lot reading your last book, so much new information there and looking forward for the next one!
Thank you everyone for your kind and thoughtful wishes. They were lovely to receive and read over the equinox. It makes it all the more special to be able to share this time together (even though we are separated).
For some of us the light is now increasing, and for others the darkness. After years of celebrating the solstices and equinoxes, I feel tuned into the cycles of nature and the cosmos in ways I never was before, as some of you have also mentioned. Knowing the deeper meaning of these times, you can really start to get a profound sense of the roles that light and dark times have.
Your words ring so true Lara.
With gratitude – Thank you to you and Mark.
Hey everyone, Happy belated equinox. I wish everyone had an inspiring time connecting with The Spiritual Sun. My heartfelt gratitude to everyone in the Sakro Sawel team who makes this possible, it’s a priceless gift that you put out into the world that can completely change human lives if we but give it a try and open our hearts and minds to it, I know that’s the case with me. Words are not sufficient to express the immense change that I’ve had in my perspective about life thanks to your continuous effort. Especial thanks, of course, to Mark Atwood and his wife Lara Atwood for your dedication to the plan of The Great Hidden Lord, you are always an inspiration and role model and are constantly on my mind.
May the light of The Sacred Sun embrace you with his love and guide your paths to return back home, you are always in my prayers.
Hi Lara and Everyone,
Wonderful news about an updated edition of the book being prepared. Looking forward to the new updates.
I hope this Equinox has been a joyous and inspiring time for each of you. Most of you seem to be on the northern hemisphere and looking forward to the warmth of the Sun increasing. Enjoy coming out of the winter and the cold…
I had the opportunity to celebrate Autumn equinox – so moving into darkness in my part of the world. An interesting time of the year.
I opted to use the Minoan ceremony (or main themes from it) as a way to celebrate this special time of the year.
I found it fitting to do so, as a way to mark the need to look even deeper into the subconscious, by entering my own labyrinth and confronting my own minotaur!
Wishing everyone a meaningful and supportive Spring or Autumn as we begin this new cycle.
Starting these cycles with the rituals that you and Mark wrote has had a great impact on me, and I’m grateful. They also inspire me to find new places to hold them and to experience the different impact they may have.
Thank you as well for the update and your kind wishes. Like many others here, I’m looking forward to the next published material.
Happy Equinox to everyone around the globe!
The time of the solstice/equinoxes once went unnoticed for me as well, now I feel so blessed to have learned about the deeper truths of this special time… Now I come to this time of year with jewels and treasures that were freely given, where incredible ancient knowledge keeps unravelling and uplifting the soul.
Hey Olga, just wanted to say that these times of the year mostly went unnoticed for me as well (except of Christmas of course 🎄), until I learned about their deeper spiritual meaning from Mark and Lara’s work, which made me pay more direct attention to the Sun, feeling my connection to it and praying to it at times too… I have also been trying to inspire my mom to feel this connection, as she really liked one summer solstice celebration we did together some time ago, and has been studying the books on the Religion of the sun since (even taking part in our dream incubation efforts here). And during this spring equinox, a wonderful little thing happened, where she spontaneously sent me a phone message “Slava Slnku!” (meaning Glory to the Sun in Slovak ), which made me really happy that she could spontaneously feel this deeper spiritual emotion on this occasion. 😊
How wonderful you are having that connection with your Mother Lucia! Honestly, it’s so deeply moving to see the Religion of the Sun blossom in everyone over time, as we each grow, develop and intensify the connection to the sacred sun.☀️
To everyone, all the best over the Equinox period. A special time of year here in Australia, as the change of the seasons represent a moment to breathe & reflect wlile the magpies are singing again & the bees are busy getting ready. Thank you to Mark, Lara & team for all that you do.
Thank you Lara for your wishes!!
I wish the precious Light of Spiritual Sun Shines everyday our hearts!!
Thank you Lara for your wonderful and uplifted wishes.
What touched me deeper was highlighting that these times were the most holy of the year, comparing, how unniticed they are today. I don’t know why, but this gave me the need and yearning to try to reflect, understand and study the information you give. As I’m writing, I feel that it gives me the boost and purpose to try to change things in my life, to try to connect with this magical event and see a little light forward me.
Than you everyone for your uplifted comments.
Michael the verse of the song you gave: “I know you have a little life in you yet, I know you hae a lot of strenght yet” spoke so strongly in me, maybe because I’ve past situations that were very diggicult for me to handle the last two years. Thank you for that.
Thank you Lara for the update too, thank you and Mark for all the work you are doing, giving us so much help, thanks to all the team and everyone who’s supporting you.
Wishing everyone to have had a very inspiring and a unique eqiunox, in any way they celebrated it, feeling and getting in tune with it’s magical energies, connecting somehow with it’s meaning, sensing the spiritual light, gaining the strenght, inner peace, guidance and help that each needs.
Thanks, Lara! I hope everyone got whatever is important to them from this equinox time. I wish you all to continue making steps forward towards the light.
Happy Equinox :)
I feel like my personal life has been in sync with the movement of the sun this quarter, which has been very intense! I felt a lot of death over the winter, going through a lot of confusion about what I’m doing, how, where, mostly with regards to work. Almost perfectly aligned with the spring equinox, things are becoming more clear internally, and somewhat externally as well. I’ve been applying to dozens of jobs, at big and small companies alike, and it became clear through the process what I really excell at, enjoy the most, and learn the most from. Having the clarity about what suits me best is refreshing, and I’ve noticed certain fears and insecurities that wouldn’t allow such a conclusion before, and a related perfectionism that would make it impossible as well. It’s amazing how self-knowledge can make chaos clearer.
I can’t wait to see the book updates, the meaning of sacred sites and ceremonies is so important! People feel drawn to them and don’t know why. If the book becomes much larger, it’s going to have to become a multi-volume set!
Thank you Lara for your wishes, and for your and Mark’s continued work on the Ancient Solstice book. It’s a beautiful period now in the northern hemisphere, with light and warmth truly returning. I wish you and Mark and everyone here an truly an inspiring period.
Regarding your upcoming book, I wonder, is there any way to contribute to the next edition? I’ve been quite sad about how little Slav focused content is in your books, and if the opportunity is there to do something about it, I would definitely like to try. And considering we have quite a few Slavs in this community, I may not be the only one interested.
I was wondering the same thing. Based on a small amount of research, there are some interesting things to be found in Chinese culture and linguistics which hasn’t been covered, and much more in local traditions, as Emily’s mentioned. In my own background, the Mapuche of Chile and Argentina are another small branch of the religion of the sun, and I’m sure there are many small ethnic/cultural groups like that which have something unique to contribute to the overall story.
I do wonder though, how comprehensive is comprehensive? Is it enough to show the pattern? What knowledge would be most useful?
I’ve had an idea kicking around for a while to use AI for research by creating a searchable text corpus. AI search tools have evolved quite a bit which could make research easier (though much of the information you seek is at the fringes and not easily found in the first place).
Thank you for your wishes Aleksandr. I think it would be of great value to have more information about Slavic culture in the books too. There are so many cultures to write about, and there is so much spiritual knowledge in each of them that so many people don’t know about. It is truly a vast task to bring it to light.
One of the major difficulties I found with researching Slavic culture in particular is the apparent lack of ancient source material to draw upon. It seemed to have the least surviving written and oral material of any culture I’ve delved into so far. The language barrier has also made it very difficult, as it doesn’t seem that many Western scholars have studied Slavic traditions? So if you or any of the other Slavs here know of any source material you can point me to, that would be really helpful.
Hi Lara,
I saw you quoting The Book of Kolyada, if you have not seen it yet, you can look into the Book of Veles, with an intriguing story about its discovery during the time of White Army fighting the Red.
When I read it, it is not a usual book, there is a combination of sounds, repetitions, meanings, imagery that have a powerful uplifting effect. Perhaps someone would experience the same, if would read the Rig Veda in Sanskrit.
(The Book of Veles is is freely available on Rejected Scriptures, the English translation is very poor, but gives an idea of the content).
There were Russian groups practicing esoteric knowledge in the early 20th century, a very interesting book from that time is called “The Solar Way” (in English) by Nina Roudnikova. It contains deep teachings, some of them I have never seen anywhere else. This is a hard book to read, the most likely, purposefully made that way, to protect the esoteric knowledge. I think it would be particularly interesting to you, as an attempt to revive the “Solar Way” with a strong esoteric twist, in the early 20th century. The English translation is ok.
In our days there was a lady called Svetlana Zharnikova, some of her articles got translated in English and can be found for a very cheap price on amazon, this is a scientific work aimed to discover the truth about the ancient origins of Russians/Arians/Slavs/Hindus etc. I don’t agree with all her arguments, but she definitely accumulated so much knowledge and shared it with great depth and sincerity.
Yes it is so hard to find good sources of old Slavic tradition (especially in English), so much got destroyed, there were stages of systematic destruction of everything ancient and sacred.
Somebody told me recently that ancient Aryans brought their knowledge to India because they knew that this would be the place where it would survive throughout time.
Thank you Vadim. It has been years since I have looked at these Slavic books. I had looked into the Book of Veles, but couldn’t find enough information to validate it as an authentic text. The Book of Kolyada, while very modern, I remember was at least a real collection of Slavic mythology. The other works you mention sound like interesting leads, as I’ve found it’s really helpful to have writings from native people on their own tradition, who are attempting to study it objectively and at the same time also explore its deeper meaning.
For the Book of Veles, I didn’t even want to read it first, because there is so much of the information online of it being fake/modern work.
But sometime ago I looked more into it and found some very interesting things.
2 main proofs that it is a real historical document: it describes on details the ancient migrations that became officially proven only recently by studying the genes.
And secondly it gives the ancient names of the 4 main points of the wheel of the year that were not mainstream known in 18-20th centuries. So for example Spring Equinox/Maslenitsa had the old name Red Mountain.
I looked into the arguments why it is fake and most of them are very weak, and have a bias of Soviet scientists receiving something from abroad that had its origins linked with the White Army and was of the “pagan” nature.
The Book of Veles seems to be a real historical document of ancient Russian/Slavic culture, the most likely originating in early Middle Ages and been written by more than one person (there is a part focused on wars written in a more simple way and there are more esoteric deeper fragments that look very much like the work of an authentic Volkhv).
One small episode that really inspires me is the story of a strong man fighting a Serpent, only making things worser, until asking for Divine Help.
Thanks Vadim, I didn’t know there was some evidence for it being authentic. The main arguments for it being forged from what I remember, were that it used a mixture of modern Slavic words/grammar and ancient words/grammar, like someone was trying to write it according to ancient language from modern times but made mistakes. The other was that it seemed to be partly politically motivated in trying to prove certain migrations, which may be the ones you’re referring to, which may have turned out to be true! I realize there has been a strong movement to suppress paganism that continues today.
I remember the book was meant to have been written originally on wooden tablets. Does anyone know what happened to these originals?
From what I found, they were picking up mostly on translations themselves, as the book was written in unknown language but with similarities to later “kirilitsa”, that would be so hard to imitate and I wonder who would even have the skills and motivation to do so.
One argument was made that “it is impossible to properly translate it, therefore it must be fake.” Another one was “this is not a part of the modern science, therefore it should be a forgery”.
Migrations were to the Middle East, Europe, India and Iran, and now we know that those ancient people (Aryans/Sarmats/Skiffs/Slavs) moved through those areas.
I heard that there was no proper study done in the Academy of Science of the Soviet Union, the person who has “proved” it to be a forgery, didn’t make any proper research, looking into the fragments of one tablet and was not even a specialist in ancient pagan tradition.
The tablets were said to be brought to Brussel, but then after Brussel got under the Nazi occupation, they disappeared. I would say that the most were likely taken by Ahnenerbe and destroyed, or sold, or retrieved from Ahnenerbe by US Special Services, and they definitely won’t release it for political reasons.
And this is actually another big argument that the Book of Veles is forgery, asking where are the original tablets? But the same argument can be applied to other sacred texts, like where is the original of the 4 Gospels, who can show the original version of Koran?
One more thing that you would also find interesting and resonating with your research is that the Book of Veles speaks against human and animal sacrifice.
Thank you Vadim for your brief summary of some of the Slavic texts you looked into. The work of Svetlana Zharnikova you mentioned caught my interest, as the origin of the Slavs is something that I was trying to look into as well for some time, and so the results of someone who has looked into this in-depth for longer time could be quite inspiring.
Regarding the book of Veles, do you know of any pdf or online text of this book in Russian? I thought I could just read it slowly in the original, and get a feel of it in its native language, while in the same time brushing up on my very rusty Russian. 🙂
Hi Lucia,
Zharnikova’s videos (in Russian) on YouTube can give a good flavor of her research/insights.
The Book of Veles (Kniga Velesa) has different translations, you can find the one by Asov as a free PDF, it has the photos of the tablets, plus some photos, his modern Russian translation, and his commentary.
I had AI translate it into English, in case anyone wants to have a look. This should be a pretty decent translation, although I have no way to verify that, and it’s a translation of a translation (what was the original language? This is translated from Ukrainian).
https://mega.nz/file/oKcWibQT#pPPcI52dfrFs6-Yx7P8FK48TkE0TDHjU6Gc5RpM496E
Thank you very much Vadim, I found a pdf of the Book of Veles in Russian, and also using Julian’s/AI translation as a reference… Should be an interesting read. 🤔 I have also started listening to some of Zharnikova’s videos on Youtube, so far I only saw shorts, hope to find some longer videos too.
Hi Lara, Alex,
Тhis question and Lara’s answer made me remember an ancient text that someone mentioned to me a while back called ‘Veda Slovena’ which should translate as the Knowledge of the Slavs.
This is a collection of folk songs and legends originating from before the islamization of parts of the Bulgarian population, but also from pre-Christian times. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veda_Slovena)
From Wikipedia:
“The collection has unusual themes and content – it deals with pagan gods, supernatural beings, mythological heroes, ancient kings and lords..”
The text in what seems to be old Bulgarian and French can be found here: https://archive.org/details/1-1874/mode/2up
Hope everyone had a great equinox time.
Thank you Pavlin, this text seems well worth investigating. I notice that it is considered a forgery by some. It’s a shame so many of these texts which proclaim to record ancient Pre-Christian beliefs in Europe are disputed. It’s likely that some are forged and some are real, making it difficult to navigate them.
It would be wonderful to see the Slavic culture explored more, as well as other cultures where we can unravel the lost knots of the Religion of the Sun and discover the interconnectivity of all things, like a great flower of life. It’s certainly challenging to trace back original source material about Slavs though, and hull through the daunting task of hundreds of pages of (light reading?) pre-medieval/early Christian text exploring Slavic culture and history to uncover any fragmentary aspects of religious activity pertaining to the Slavs. The Slavs seem to not have left behind much original source material, mainly because they didn’t know how to read or write until they were actually Christianized and the writing system was introduced to them. Who knows the persecution they went through, and what pushed them to remain in hiding not to mention how careful they needed to be in preserving/writing anything down, lest it be burned or their lives/livelihood threatened.
As with many cultures (excluding India which is rich compared to most in relation to the wealth of wisdom of the Religion of the Sun!) much of the ancient Slavic history/religion is lost to oral transmission, and whatever they retained in their songs and storytelling. There is not much that has survived in written form, perhaps fragments in some folk songs that hint at an ancient longing of something faintly religious, perhaps here we can find some subtle clues, if by chance we can collect these old poems and songs in various languages wherever we can find them.
As Julian mentioned, AI makes things somewhat easier, at least as a starting point because you can upload a full body of work, and ask questions of what you are looking for. For example I tried this with “Sources of Slavic Pre-Christian Religion” a multilingual anthology published in 2021 covering Slavic history from the 9th to 15th century, where the Slavs were mocked and degraded in Christian sermons, saying:
“From this, the Greeks learnt to take offerings to Artemid and Artemis, whom the Egyptians called Rod and Roženica. Thus it also came to the Slavic peoples. These Slavs started making offerings to Rod and the Rožanicy before Perun, their god, and before then to the vampires and Beregyni.
Following holy baptism, they rejected Perun, but even after accepting Christ, in the border areas they still pray to the accursed Perun, and to Khors, and Mokoš and Vil. And they do it secretly, unable to give up the accursed consecration of the second table dedicated to Rod and the Rožanicy, (to) greatly deceive faithful Christians, to blaspheme holy baptism and to the wrath of God.
And thus the Egyptians revere and make offerings to the Nile and to fire, saying that the Nile is fruitful and makes the wheat grow. Fire dries and ripens this abundance. For this reason, the damned worship the noon sun and bow towards it.”
Looking at what other cultures said about them, even negatively, at least gives some context to their movements and way of thinking as well as methods of worship, until we get lucky and find some lost treasures, maybe hidden away in the Slovakian/Polish Tatra mountain tops or in a jar sunken floating up from the Baltic Sea or Danube River 😉
Would you be interested in similar medieval sources Lara? I would be curious to do some additional AI extractions but these are some additional sources which describe their interactions and observations with/of the Slavs: The Primary Chronicle (Povest’ vremennykh let) ~1110 AD, Chronica Slavorum (Chronicle of the Slavs) Helmold of Bosau (Germany) ~1170 AD, Chronicon by Thietmar of Merseburg (Germany) ~1015 AD, Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum by Adam of Bremen ~1070s AD, Account of Ibn Fadlan by Ahmad ibn Faḍlān (Abbasid diplomat) 922 AD.
Thank you Aleks for bringing this topic up! 🙏
Thank you Olga, I would definitely be interested in those medieval sources you mentioned. Anything particularly that describes Slavic practices would be very helpful.
In the excerpt you quoted, in mentions Egyptians. I’m just wondering why – was that a mix up by AI?
Hi Lara, yes that bit seemed a bit unusual. The medieval source is from records of a church sermon given by Saint Gregory of Nazianzus (329–390 AD), a theologian and Bishop of Constantinople. Apparently he was heavily involved in building the doctrine of the Trinity.
When I read it, I almost could hear the rants of a riled-up religious officiant, jumbling words on top of each other, to evoke negative emotions against all heathens/pagans and lumping them all together into one demonized group. It’s the actual quote in the book that AI pulled from. Page 366 of Sources of Slavic Pre-Christian Religion.
The editors say this about the section:
“This fragment constitutes the final part of the sermon, with an ending that dif-
fers among the various manuscripts. It is one of the ones that most explicitly
refer to the gods and practices of pre-Christian Slavic religion, although they
are always identified with the corresponding Greek culture and, in this case,
also the Egyptian”
Let me get back to you on the rest.
Hi Olga, it’s an interesting approach with AI that I am also keen to try out.
What stood out most in your comment though are the names of deities, which I think have to be translated to be understood. For example Beregyni probably relates to various ways of protecting oneself and the beings to ask for protection. Rod is a root word that has many words derived from it, that have to do with one’s family, tribe, city and nation. Rozhanica relates to Rod as the birth giver – and I think the two names are related to the Father/Mother of other traditions. Veneration of ‘Rod’, is hard to separate from veneration of one’s tribal ancestors and of one’s homeland (rodina).
Same type of interpretation exists for other deities, and in some cases links to Vedic gods (eg. Vishnu and Vsevishnij, i.e. The Highest). There are quite a few links between Slavic diety names and Vedic ones, as well as between the two language groups (Slavic languages and ancient Sanskrit share about 30% of base words).
The same Vedic link is seen in traditional embroidery patterns, and documented by Svetlana Zharnikova, whom Vadim mentioned.
Regarding writing, it is interesting to look at the Буквица (Bukvitsa) alphabet, which comes around 1000AD, but links to the old gods and teachings. It’s possible that a form of runes was the alphabet before Cyrillic letters, but I don’t know much about that. The old runes are a link between the names of the old Slavic gods and the modern Cyrillic alphabet, in the sense that modern letters are quite similar to the old runes, and the runes seem to be based on the names of the old gods.
Vadim, or Pavlin, or anyone else, do you happen to be familiar with a historic account of Slavs that seems correct? I have not seen one that takes into account the Vedic links, which seem obvious to me.
Hi Aleks, yes the root meaning of so many of these names is so fascinating, I too sense an older influence, maybe even origin.
Using AI, I found it helpful to ask questions to brush up on my Slavic history, summarise events or point me to relevant sources, until I have more familiarity. On the one sense, history is written by the victors, on the other, I wouldn’t be too surprised by certain exaggerations or omissions and have some empathy on why cultures would want to do so. However, I find it hard to unravel a Slavic empire ruling for over 1500 years as described in the book of Veles, but remain curious about the contents of the text and why it exists.
That being said, AI is also laced with its own ‘conventional’ biases and is very harsh on controversial topics.
Hi Olga,
I think it is a great idea to ask AI questions regarding ancient spirituality. It would be great to create some sort of “Slavic AI model” that would be just stuffed with everything that one could find about the Slavs, and then ask different questions. The same could be done with Japanese ancient religion, etc. Now of course, it would not be very objective, because the sources are not always true, I remember Emily shared a dream her friend had with Amaterasu who told her that there are many things in Nihon Shoki and Kojiki (the oldest texts on ancient Japanese history/mythology available today) that are not true. The same would be true about the Slavs, but still, I think we could uncover some interesting things like that, and with time (like for example in the case of ancient migrations), some of the things could prove to be true.
The fragment that mentions Egyptians in relation to the Slavs in interesting indeed. And even though it may have been just the effort of that one eager priest to relate the Slavs with the Egyptians in order to show how horrible heretics they were (I noticed even some fanatical Christians today really despise the Ancient Egyptian spirituality), it may have also been based on some real connections between Egyptians, Greeks and Slavs. I noticed that the Book of Veles for example mentions the river Ra, which is kind of interesting too.
If anyone has a paid version of ChatGPT and hasn’t seen it yet, it has a new feature called Deep Research. It currently has a limited number of uses per month, but from a small amount of experimentation it seems pretty good.
This GPT may also be useful for helping come up with a good prompt to use with the Deep Research tool.
There are also free alternatives to ChatGPT’s Deep Research, such as Grok’s DeepSearch, among others. They all vary in their capabilities.
Wishing everyone an uplifting equinox time 🌞
Happy spring equinox!
Thank you so much for your work to help us all, it is truly a blessing.
May the pristine tradition of the Sacred Sun revive in the world and renew it.
Praise to the Sun!
And your miracle.
And the hope it keeps on giving.
Wishing everyone an equinox time with great spiritual presence in your inner life.
I went out to catch some sun just now and feeling the grass and soil and breathing the fresh air it started to become an escalating prayer, from small to the whole of humanity, and for myself too.
I’m grateful for the coming of spring and the nice blue skied days here and there.
A very special thanks to Lara and Mark, for all that you do on many levels and ways.
Wishing everyone continued healing and spiritual strengthening. 🔆 🦋
Hi everyone,
I wish y’all a blessed equinox! These times of the year have functioned as times where I take a moment to reflect on my spiritual journey. With so much darkness in the world, it can be easy to lose sight on what really matters and get carried away by worldly temptations, as I have realized recently through my personal experiences. As I have discovered, that is one of the lessons to be learned for me. I have been reading some Taoist scriptures and trying to understand them, one of the questions that pop up inside my head every once in a while is the question of “What is the Tao and how can I find it? ” I have seen many explanations of it, but I always wanted to have a personal understanding of it myself on a personal level. I’ve wondered about where exactly I could find it,and is it possible to find it in such a world where many things are designed to keep someone’s soul entrapped. The other day as I was meditating to harness the energy from the sun as it was shining directly into my room at noon(I do that as part of my routine now whenever I can and when it’s a clear sunny day), I went into a sort of a trance again, where I heard this voice that spoke to me, “It is both in the inside and on the outside, it is both near and and far away.” I believe that answered the question I had about the Tao. And it also went on to say that the external world one experiences is a reflection of one’s inner conditions, and by finding inner light can one dispell the darkness from within. I think that is quite an important point to be made,but for some reason I just forgot about that. That reminder from the beings in a higher realm was really great! And I believe that I should continue to go in the right direction, and do my best to walk the spiritual path.
I also thought I should share a news I came across about a reenactment of the spring equinox ceremony as being performed by the Chinese Emperors during the Qing Dynasty that took place just this passed equinox, and here is an article about it I found in English, https://www.globaltimes.cn/galleries/5694.html The ceremony was being performed at a historical site called Ritan, literally meaning “temple of the sun” in Chinese. I wish I could’ve been there to see the reenactment being performed, as it must be a sight to behold.
One of the main structures at the site is where the spring equinox ceremony would be held. The structure has a round of walls painted red on the outside, an altar at its center, and apparently four gates on the outer walls, each facing one of the four directions. With each gate there would be a pathway that leads to the central altar upon entering, and I found that this design looking very much like a solar cross. There’s a picture about the structure here, https://www.thebeijinger.com/blog/2020/01/09/everything-you-need-know-about-rending-ritan-park I haven’t seen the seen the solar cross appearing often in this culture, a design like this seems to be another piece of evidence of a mysterious link that connects the East and West.
It’s incredible…once we start joining the dots, start to see the commonalities, it becomes more apparent – that there was once a global civilization/community, that there was once a connectedness among people through a common religion, that being The Religion of the Sun.
It makes sense that it would become fragmented, broken up, distorted, destroyed and also buried if the knowledge started to be eroded, less valued or infiltrated by sinister intentions.
Spiritual truths are revealed and maintained if the people who value them keep working on maintaining that standard, otherwise, as we know so well, it can be destroyed or taken away, perhaps even lost.
So if there was once a spiritual China, Slav area, etc, aligned with the Religion of the Sun, but has over time been destroyed or forgotten it adds up that they too would have been part of that global community – as is now being revealed and realised…
It now seems soooo obvious…
I also feel reassured that there is once again the prospect of a ‘global community’ starting up, albeit small and fragmented, but coming together slowly, thanks to the work of Mark and Lara…and everyone here who sees themselves to be part of this revival..!
It should be amazing to witness, that park has East-West equinox sacred path to have a procession as a part of the ceremony. It would be so interesting to see how it has been revived in our days.
Here’s a video of parts of the ceremony: https://m.tv.sohu.com/v/dXMvNDkxNjMzODIvMTU0NjM2Nzcuc2h0bWw=.html
Surprising that such an intricate and involved ceremony would unfold so openly in modern day China given the impressions mainstream media and other sources are trying to portray the country as being secular, with no religious expression encouraged.
It is however, refreshing to see.
Hi Dimi & Lara,
I was happy to find out about this too. Apparently this spring equinox ceremony reenactment has been taking place for years, and every year it draws the attention of people from many different places. It would definitely be a sight to behold if you were to visit Ritan Park in Beijing on spring equinox. I don’t think this celebration is very well-known in the West, since there are so many things that have been put in place to divide people of the world…but I think the religion of the sun might just be the thing that is able to bridge the gap and connect us all, for we are one under the Sun. And its influence is so prominent among many ancient cultures, if more people could recognize that and connect to ancient spiritual wisdom, that might breakdown many of the barriers that exist. If it wasn’t for the work of the Atwoods and those who may have helped, who could have thought that belief system as different as Shintoism, Taoism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism European paganism, Native American beliefs,and even Christianity could be connected in such a wonderful way. And by rediscovering ancient wisdom passed down from time immemorial, there is a positive impact that could be made…Thank you again to Lara and your husband Mark for putting in the effort to study those ancient traditions and bringing them back to light,and as always, I’m looking forward to anything new that may be shared in the future!
You said it well Emily, about the potential of the Religion of the Sun to bring people of different traditions and cultures together. I am a bit worried though, that just as there is this amazing potential for unity and cooperation, there will also be a lot of opposition and attacks, as the darkness doesn’t like any unifying force to take off on a larger scale. I think this is something we should be ready for, and prepare ourselves well with studying and practicing, to face any possible provocations with the right attitude and knowledge.
Thank you!
Thanks for bringing attention to that Emily🙏 , and Julian also for that 2012 video.
Archaeology is a great means to look back in time, but what you often don’t get to see from it and then tend to forget- even though it was all there – are the colours of the textiles, the sounds, the ceremony, the living people practicing it etc. So it’s so nice and interesting to see reenactments like this and impressive that genuine traditions have lasted (or at least in part) as in China.
Great find Emily! It’s surprising and such a positive thing to see this kind of cultural revival happening in China. I hope it’s a sign of greater things to come. It made me wonder whether it could develop into a larger event in the way that the re-enactment of Inti Raymi in Peru and Willkakuti in Bolivia has, and even to an extent the Opet Festival in Egypt. These ancient cultural celebrations drew and draw people’s attention from all over the world.
Just a little bit more information on Ritan. It is apparently one of the four prominent temples visited by emperors during different times of the year to honor specific celestial deities in the past, especially during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The other three temples are the Temple of Moon, the Temple of Heaven, and the Temple of Earth. As you can probably tell the concepts of Heaven, Earth, Sun and Moon were important parts of ancient Chinese cosmology, and they have been intertwined with folk beliefs, divination, and just about every part of the worldview of ancient Chinese. And again there is a lot that I could go into on these topics, and talking about them would probably take me forever. Also I have noticed that on the reenactment of the ceremony performed at spring equinox there was a tablet placed on the altar, written in Chinese and the Manchu language apparently (since rulers of the Qing Dynasty were Manchus), which says something that could be translated into English literally as “the deity of great brightness”. This is probably a reference to The Sun, and I’ve noticed that this phrasing is somehow similar to the meaning of the name of Amaterasu in Japanese, which is “(she) who illuminates the sky”. In Japanese sometimes Amaterasu is also referred to as Amaterasu Ookami, which means “the great deity Amaterasu”. I think it’s interesting how the phrase used to refer to the solar deity here is similar to how Amaterasu the Shinto goddess is being called in Japan. And according to my knowledge as far as mainstream researchers are aware of, the exact connection between the indigenous beliefs of China and Japan isn’t well understood. While it’s clear that one may have influenced another in known history, both cultures have a long history of sun and nature worship that stretches far back into antiquity. Shintoism, as far as we know, is a belief system native to Japan. There is evidence of sun worship existing on the Japanese archipelago long before the Chinese influence on its culture and language arrived as part of the diplomatic exchange between state officials, and worshipping of the sun was also prominent in China during very ancient times. I speculate that there might had been a larger solar religion that existed in East Asia,which its founders established solar theocracies in multiple nations in this part of the world, which would eventually become an important foundation for Shintoism in Japan, and also contribute to the ramnants of the religion of the sun in China. If such a solar religion existed it may also explain the origin of the pyramids in China. All of these, of course, were likely haven occurred before recorded history and mainstream academia would probably not admit that they were true in anyway…
I’ve seen the idea of one culture influencing another often being thorwn around as an explanation of why there are similarities between different cultures. This explanation would certainly make sense if two cultures were not far apart from one another, but it wouldn’t make sense if similarities were found between two cultures that maybe separated by continents and there is no possible means by which the people of the two cultures could have had contacts with each other during ancient times by conventional understanding. Through my own research I found that the image of the three-legged crow was used in both ancient China and Japan as a kind of symbolism for the sun. And for a while I bought into the idea proposed by some mainstream scholars which suggest that this was likely a result of different cultures in East Asia influencing one another. But this explanation was called into question when I found out that the raven acts as sort of messenger to the god Odin in Norse mythology. I think stories of Huginn and Muninn are similar in some way to that of Yatagarasu in Japanese mythology, in the fact that they both serve as a sort of a guide(and Odin could also be similar to those gods in Japanese mythology in some way?) And although raven and crow are not exactly the same animal, they both belong to the genus Corvus and they appear in the legends of very different cultures like that of the ancient Nordic and Japanese with similar characteristics. Could the birds of the genus Corvus be another symbolism of the Religion of the Sun? I don’t know if there could be more similar examples from other cultures, but it looks like to me this could be another one of the case where this similarity could have the do with the fact that they both descended from the Religion of the Sun from very distant times, like the case with Midgard and Nakatsukuni in terms of cosmology. I don’t have more evidence beyond what I have wrote about in the comments already, but I do think it’s possible that there was a once a larger solar religion in Asia at some point in the very distant past that encompassed a huge part of East Asia, from the evidence I’ve found and how the Religion of the Sun was known to spread in other parts of the world as the Atwoods have presented.
I found that emperors during the Ming and Qing dynasties of China did perform ceremonies on all solstices and equinoxes. For winter solstice, a ceremony was held at the Temple of Heaven as Lara have shared before; on spring equinox, a ceremony was held at the Temple of the Sun; On summer solstice, a ceremony was held at the Temple of Earth and one at the Temple of the Moon on fall equinox. According to mainstream sources, including information published by the official Chinese state research institutions, these four temples were built only a few hundreds years ago at most, but there is evidence that they were built according to specific alignments since they are located to the four directions of the Forbidden City(where the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties resided) Whether or not they are aligned to sunrise and sunset is not clear, since I haven’t found much information on this. It’s also interesting to note that the sun is not the subject of worship on all four occasions, as the names of the temples suggest, the emperor would go to only one temple at a time for the specific subject of worship on that day, and it was Heaven on winter solstice, the Sun on spring equinox, Earth on summer solstice and the Moon on fall equinox. I’m not sure if this could be a later change to the ceremonies that was different from how the ceremonies were originally performed during very ancient times, or that this could have been one way of doing these ceremonies in accordance with the spiritual meanings of solstices and equinoxes in the ancient religion of the sun. But they did perform ceremonies on all solstices and equinoxes, which I have just found out, and I don’t think all of the four ceremonies have been revived so far. But I think at least that is something worth-noting.
Dear Lara and Mark,
Thank you for your tireless efforts in helping to spread hope for humanity in these changing and challenging times.
All the strength and best wishes to you both.
Wishing everyone a wonderful spiritual Equinox ☀️
Great to hear about the updated edition of the Ancient Solstice coming up!
Thank you Mark and Lara ✨
Thank you for the good wishes, Lara. I’d also like to wish you and everyone here an inspiring and peaceful equinox, and strength through connecting with the divine at this special time.
Also, thanks for the update on the update :) I look forward to seeing what new knowledge and insights will be released with the next edition!
Thank you very much Lara for your wishes and the update on how your work on the book is progressing, I am really looking forward to all those amazing updates… Wishing you, Mark, and everyone here a magical equinox! (here, in the Northern hemisphere, its the spring equinox tomorrow, which is my favourite from all the stages of the Sun, somehow, its energy is just sooooo beautiful! ❄️🔥🌞)
Thanks very much for your wishes Lara and for the updates on the book, which I’m sure will become an even more valuable resource. I also wish you, Mark and everyone here a peaceful equinox time, whether for spring or autumn.
With it also recently being International Women’s Day on the 8th, I started re-reading your article on the important role of the divine mother in spirituality. It’s a pity how so much in relation to this has been airbrushed from history within mainstream Christianity, as you detailed in your article: https://sakrosawel.com/reestablishing-the-feminine-in-godhead-the-role-of-the-mother-goddess-in-divinity/
As well as the important role of the divine mother in fighting darkness within ourselves, the role of women at the time of Jesus’ death and resurrection is worthy of discussion in relation to the equinoxes. It’s noteworthy how after even the most loyal of Jesus’ male disciples abandoned him as he suffered intensely during the Passion, it was the women who tended to him at his crucifixion. Similarly, it’s Mary Magdalene who is reported in the gospels to be the first of Jesus’ disciples to discover his body missing from the tomb after his resurrection.
It’s lovely to hear about people’s inspiring experiences of celebrating the solstices and equinoxes, such as visiting sites relevant to the these important solar events. Although I’ve also sometimes found these occasions bittersweet over the last decade or so, as they provide a reminder of something I once used to cherish (like celebrating in nature) but which seemed to belong to a past chapter of my life.
Over time, it can still be possible to find moments of beauty within prolonged suffering though, as well as the insight that this can bring us. So I hope that people will still be able to find some kind of spiritual connection, whatever their circumstances may be.
As there has been some discussion of going though difficult times and struggling with stubborn inner states, I thought it may be nice to share a version of a song recorded for International Women’s Day. It was originally written by Kate Bush for a movie on motherhood, so is not intended as a spiritual song. But I was inspired by the line “I know you have a little life in you yet, I know you have a lot of strength yet” and thought others may relate to it too. To be honest, this arrangement also has two of my favourite musical elements (vocal harmonies and string drones), which I have a soft spot for! :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PK0GuD6ep5c
I thought I’d also share Kate Bush’s duet with Peter Gabriel (Don’t Give Up), which gave me some hope when I was going though a very difficult period some years ago, shortly after receiving a couple of life changing diagnoses. This led to much distress, particularly as there was limited opportunity to discuss their practical and psychological consequences at the time. So as other coping strategies, such as connecting with nature were also very challenging to access, I found great solace in music that connected with the things I was going through during that time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjEq-r2agqc
In a comment on the misuse of spiritual symbols in the FAQ section, I previously shared the second movement of the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs by the Polish composer Henryk Górecki, the lyrics of which come from an inscription on the wall of a Gestapo cell, made by a prisoner held during WW2. The first movement is taken from a 15th-century Polish lament of Jesus’ mother Mary and the third from a folk song conveying a mother’s loss of her son. So in each movement, something of beauty emerges out of intense suffering.
As with the Passion of Jesus being very relevant at the moment, the Churning of the Milky Ocean is also equally fitting within the Hindu tradition, with the spiritual rewards gained by separating the spiritual treasures from the poison. The influence of Jesus’ life and teachings have of course had an exceptional impact on societies since and he is probably the most well known wisdom bringer in Western history.
For those interested in seeking truth and knowledge, it seems there is much opposition to face within the world and within ourselves. But although the struggle can affect our lives significantly over many years, the end results may also be very valuable, if we can learn through it.
Hi Micheal,
Well said. Here I just wanted to mention another thing I saw about the alternative understanding of Jesus that is different from most Christian schools. This isn’t related to solstice or equinox symbolism, but the deeper meaning behind his act of performing miracles.
I’ve watched this video https://youtu.be/mSQpYhW-kJY?si=QdMr-EOoeHlJnJnk
where it talks about how Jesus’s acts of performing miracles was a way of showing how he had connection and unity with the divine source of creation. His miracles were another demonstration of Christ-consciousness, which is a topic that has been discussed repeatedly throughout the video series that this video belongs to which is called the Christ theories. I think I have mentioned this before on this website, those are made by a Youtuber whose username is Spirit Science and this person apparently makes New Age-related contents on his/her channel. The Christ Series is unsurprisingly about a New Age/Pegan understanding of Jesus, and I do find many of the things mentioned in those videos are very interesting. Like the concept of Christ-consciousness, which is very similar to the Spiritual Sun. This series also identifies Jesus as an Avatar, which sounds almost synonymous with Wisdom Bringer as mentioned by Lara and Mark in their works. But I was a little surprised that they included figures such as Krishna and Muhammad in their list of Avatars, who were likely not Wisdom Bringers of the Religion of The Sun,since Krishna advocated for celibacy(as Lara mentioned in one of her articles that this was likely a later addition), and Muhammad was the founder of Islam, a religion that has little to nothing to do with the Religion of The Sun. They also tried to convey this idea that all religions lead to the same place of the Source,which the research of the Atwoods on the Religion of The Sun showed that this is not the case. And I think this is likely one of the problems with many of the so-called New Age beliefs out there. Is that they tend to encompass beliefs and practices from many different exotic traditions, the Religion of The Sun may be a part of it, but they also take ideas from Shamanism, Buddhism, pretty much anything that is different from the Abrahamic monitheistic religions which are the dominant religions in the West. Some of them even go on to try psychedelics because they think it’s all part of this “new age” religion. So as far as I can tell, I don’t think the New Age/Neo-pegan movement can necessarily equate the Religion of the Sun, at least not in its pure form. They have sure done a lot of work to unravel the ancient mysteries of the past,and the Atwoods have accredited them on that. But I believe there is something even better than the mashup beliefs and practices that are prominent among many of the New Age circles, and what Lara and Mark have presented is truly one of its kind:)
PS: Although I have to admit, that it is really hard to find the religion of the sun in its pure form these days. And the Atwoods have done a really good job at refining the gold!
Thank you Michael for sharing your insights about the role of the Divine Mother in spirituality and the uplifting songs. I know this may have little practical use, but in my small daily routine, I continue to ask for strength and healing for you, Akira, and a few others I know.
As for the music, it seems to be one of the natural expressions of the consciousness’s longing. On the night after the equinox, as well as the following night, I had a few more lucid episodes, and my spiritual longing expressed itself through music and singing in the astral dedicated to the stars and the Sun, which I could see and was trying to fly toward while singing.
@Emily – Thank you for sharing your reflections on Tao. I feel your quest for personal understanding has been similar to my own – seeking to deepen my awareness of both the inner and outer in daily life. And sometimes, those efforts make the soul sing 😊
Thanks Slawek, I appreciate your prayers and am glad you enjoyed the songs. Your astral experiences of singing to the stars and sun sound lovely! 🙂
Hey Slawek, nice to hear about another of your astral singing episodes! 🎵🌞 Its been a while since I sung there… nowadays I seem to mostly search for the sun/light in almost all of my dreams or lucid episodes. Today I saw it for a while in a clearer dream, together with other symbolic things, before it disappeared and some random images popped up, I kept searching and looking, but it was very difficult, there seemed to be some negative influences as well, but I was not conscious enough to use the protective formulas.
Thank you Lara! Amazing to hear there’s new discoveries being unveiled.
Hope everyone is able to tune into the equinox in their own way, north or south. I’ve been getting myself up and out in nature for early morning walks to start to feel the shift happening now. It’s been magical. I know it’s a special sunrise on the actual equinox but I find viewing it as a period to experience rather than just one day helps, especially when I can’t do a full ceremony because I have to be in work, like this year!
Wishing everyone a special time of connection to their own being and the divinity all around us.
Thanks very much for the update and work you’re doing and for the equinox wishes – wishing the same to you and Mark!
May we all find much light within ourselves no matter which part of the year we’re going into and be able to grow a connection more and more with the spiritual sun ☀️
Thank you very much Mark and Lara for your wishes and all your work.
Wishing you both and everyone here a reflective and spiritual time this equinox.
I pray we all receive the strength and guidance we need for our journeys through life, with all its ups and downs. May we all persevere and grow in light, love and understanding :-)
Thank you Lara for your kind wishes and for the update. I am also deeply grateful to Mark and everyone involved in the ongoing efforts to revise, update, and share new information and discoveries related to the Religion of the Sun. Having access to this knowledge has significantly enriched my inner life.
This year marks twenty years since my first spontaneous astral experiences; a priceless gift that led me to question certain choices and attempt to embark on a journey of slow inner transformation toward becoming a less ego-driven being.
Wishing everyone a reflective and spiritually uplifting equinox.
Thank you for the wishes and update, Lara.
Thank you for the reminder that the purpose is to make your own light and forge virtues, when darkness would make me forget. It has brought me a sense of inner calm and direction.
May each of us here celebrating the equinox feel a true connection to the light of the spiritual sun, and may it teach us and give us strength and clarity.
Wishing everyone an inspiring, peaceful equinox.
Thank You Mark and Lara!
Blessed Equinox to all!