Happy solstice! Here’s the video we’ve just released on the ancient spiritual meaning of the summer solstice.
The summer solstice, the time of most light in the year, was one of the largest religious occasions in pre-Christian times. Ancient cultures across most of the world venerated the sun at the summer solstice and aligned some of their greatest sites to it. Many thousands still honor it according to their ancient traditions, especially in Europe where it is known as midsummer. Why is the summer solstice such an important event and what is its spiritual meaning?
In this video, I delve into the celebration of the summer solstice throughout history. I give many examples of ancient sites aligned to it, exploring the symbolism contained in some of the most amazing examples, including Stonehenge in Britain, the Sphinx and Great Pyramids in Egypt, Ales Stenar and similar sun ships in Northern Europe. I talk about how its celebration was an important part of an ancient religion of the sun that spread to different parts of the world in prehistory, exploring its symbolic relationship to an epic spiritual journey that begins in darkness before returning to the light.
As part of this video, I discuss some original theories put forward by myself and my husband Mark including:
- The symbolic meaning of Stonehenge’s design and its purpose as an Ancient Portal Site, as part of our Ancient Europe OBE Theory.
- The symbolic meaning of the summer solstice alignment at the Great Pyramids and Sphinx.
- The symbolic meaning of Ales Stenar and other ancient stone ship settings, and their possible ritual purpose.
- The symbolic meaning of the maypole and its relationship to the design of ancient sites.
- The deeper meaning of the halo and flower wreath.
- How the annual journey of the sun was used in ancient religions to symbolize the path to enlightenment (our Sacred Sun Path Theory).
- That these ancient sites and traditions were connected as part of a now lost religion we call the Religion of the Sun.
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This was such a big project! I thought the meaning of the summer solstice was going to be simplest of the four solstices and equinoxes, but as it turned out, there was a lot of information to cover. Some of these ancient sites have not just one, but many solar and stellar alignments. Each of these weaves into a large body of cosmology that takes a lot to unpack. Then on top of that, these sites are also connected to one another, sharing symbolic and even geometric features. It was a challenge to try and bring it all together, especially with the immovable deadline of the actual solstice.
Thankfully, there is a great team working behind the scenes to make it happen. Firstly, a big thank you to Mark for his knowledge that has made it possible to piece the meaning of the summer solstice back together. Thank you David for tackling the big job of organizing all the images and video clips – this time there were around 350 of them. And thank you to the small team of people who helped with finding them. You’ll also notice some amazing 3D graphics in this video, which recreate all the different alignments – thank you Julian, these help so much in bringing these places back to life. Thank you David and Dara for creating the AI images, which recreate many of the ancient scenes and symbols, and to Dara for another beautiful video thumbnail. Thank you Lucia for composing the lovely quote images. Thank you Jenny and Jordan for putting together all the credits. Thank you Jenny and Priya for sorting out permissions for external content. And thank you Jon for another beautifully produced video, editing it all together with some amazing effects.
Thank you also to all of you who’ve financially supported us and the publishing team, to make this possible.
Wishing you all a very joyful and meaningful solstice.
Hi Everyone,
there is much to be said about ancient sacred sites and much more to be uncovered about them.
I came across this doco that mentions pyramids in many countries around the world and that our history needs to be re-written. The actual presenter and researcher, Dr Sam Osmanagich, focuses on the pyramids in Bosnia (yes, Bosnia!) that can be dated to 34,000 years ago – this correlates to the timing of the Giza plateau pyramids. He mentions the healing properties and spiritual properties of the pyramids as well as their energy generating power. He also tells of a portal or star gate that has been closed off. It goes for about an hour, here is the link: youtube.com/watch?v=0sEKQkZOcGc
Happy belated solstice Mark & Lara, and everyone!
The video brought forth so much new information that it required several watch on our end. The graphics and images were really good and helped to bring to life some of the ancient people.s celebration, so well done everyone involved in creating them.
I was really moved by the Yakults celebration in particular. But the idea of Stonehenge, Akes Stenar and the pyramids being a portal and the symbology to higher dimensions at the solstice felt very powerful and made things click even better. It helped me understand better why these sites exist, why we need them too, and why some people who visit them report feeling strong energy. I wish everyone much love & light in this time.
Thank you Geraldine. I agree, I think so much about ancient sites makes a lot more sense now. I feel like we now have a solid way forward to reconnect with these sites and to use them.
Thank you, Lara and the crew, for the inspiring and informative video about the summer solstice. We watched it in two sittings, as it is full of material that needed processing. Watching it certainly helped me to slow down my daily mental whirlpool and re-centre a little. The meaning of the maypole crowned with the Sun was new to me, and it sparked a renewed enthusiasm for trying to internally light the candle of consciousness.
It also seems that humanity has moved far away from actively putting huge efforts into being inspired by creation, especially celestial events like solstices and equinoxes. Therefore, recovering the lost knowledge of the true meaning of such events feels to be very important for humanity’s development.
Wishing everyone much inspiration to seek the inner light.
Magnificent and professional work and so glad this is happening 👏🙏How the different production elements are coming together, it seems to just get better and better.. I don’t want to say effortless, because I know so much effort must go into it. ^^ But really impressive teamwork. Thank you to everyone that’s helped, but especially Lara to bring it all together and for the c.o.n.t.i.n.u.o.u.s hard work throughout all this time.
It hit me again how ‘solid’ this info is, how much research backbone is behind it. I watched the video together with other people not/not as familiar with the content, so was able also get a sense of what that impression is like as well. It’s definitely very densely packed and about each few minutes I know a whole 30min video could be made! So much more you’d could and want to say I’m sure. But so important that this is there, like a pillar in this four part foundation on the solstice knowledge. I will also carefully watch it again. Even though there’s tonnes of info you’ve gone through in the last 13? years, getting closer to the more core principles it can become more easily explainable and understood as well.
Thank you Karim. I’m glad you have the impression of something solid, as that has been our aim. On their own, the conclusions could sound far out, and so it’s been a matter of trying to clearly lay out the evidence, as it’s all there in the ancient texts and artifacts etc.
Thank you to all those involved in creating this superb video. Watching this gives me hope that someday the Religion of the Sun will be reborn on this earth and we’ll be able to worship together as a community. Wishing everyone a profound spiritual strength and a deepened relationship with the divine.
Beautifully said, I hold this hope too.
Another extremely well put together video presentation that’s informative, illuminating and filled with beautiful imagery. It was long but it doesn’t feel long to watch as the pacing is great and the subject matter so interesting. You managed to cover so much so concisely, which is no easy feat. And I know there was so much more you could have said about this too.
Like some others, I was most struck most by the connection between the passageways in some of these sites to the tunnel or portal seen in NDEs. I’m amazed this connection was even made, but the explanation just makes so much sense. Seeing these sites as OBE portals, connecting to non-physical dimensions of creation, just puts them, and the meaning of the Solstice and Equinox events, in a whole new light.
I think this explanation will make sense to many people too, and help them to understand the meaning of these sites and their own heritages much more deeply. You can really feel this ancient religion of the Sun coming back with these revelations.
A big thank you to you and Mark both for bringing this knowledge back and all your hard work.
I hope everyone had an inspiring Solstice and may the light grow stronger!
Thank you for the feedback Matthew. I also think that the connection between the tunnel/portal to heaven and ancient sites may help people to realize just how relevant these sites are. They are then no longer just tombs for old kings or for primitive, superstitious people – they symbolize something real and timeless, that people are experiencing now. On some level, they can still serve as places of connection today – not just as ways to connect with ancestors, but to be used for the same purposes they were built for.
It’s interesting, that purpose should have been obvious in some ways. Like, if we look at more contemporary structures such as gothic cathedrals, their purpose is obviously to create a portal to heaven, and that’s obviously why people like them. Cathedrals took a much more literal approach, almost like they’re dumbed down for people who no longer understood, in the same way books replaced oral stories, and tv replaced books.
Indeed, this new connection is truly profound and impactful. Understanding these sites now becomes so much more then a contemplation on an ideal, but a way to explore something more direct, experiential and tangible.
It feels in some way like in an instant flash, all these previous connections and meanings have joined to this new OBE Portal Theory and something really BIG has clicked. The designers of these important places must have really wanted us to know where we came from, and to reconnect to the the source of the beginning and the end.
I hope everyone had a blessed solstice. What a beautiful video, thanks to everyone involved in the making of it. I love the thumbnail, I think it’s my favorite so far. On one of the 3 days of the sun standstill at sunset, there was a moment in which I could see directly to the sun and its perfect circular shape without dazzling me or bothering me whatsoever, it looked like an enormous and beautiful pale yellow paper circle gently surrounded by soft clouds as it was peacefully setting behind a mountain. I don’t take my phone to my walks so I could not photograph it, I wonder if the camera lens would have captured a similar image to what I was seeing.
I want to share a fragment of a dream that I had a few days before solstice that I have been inspired by and reflecting upon. In the dream, I was at a house with people I didn’t know and those people were very uneasy, at some point I looked out a window and noticed a reddish-orange hue and I said “They want me to look at the sky” to which the people in the house reacted trying to dissuade me in a very nervous manner, I just said firmly “just let me out” while I was kind of pushing them out of my way to the door, once I got outside I saw that the sky was full of glyphs written in that reddish-orange color but I didn’t put much attention to most of them because I seemed to be looking for a particular one so as I turned clockwise around 180 degrees I saw the biggest glyph which seemed to be the centerpiece of it all and it was the sun rising out of an eclipse and I almost instantly said, “He is coming out” with a deep sense of duty. The mood that the glyphs emanated was not peaceful necessarily, it felt very severe like a war call. I felt insignificant for the task that this mighty symbol was calling all of us to do but I could also sense that my participation was much needed.
I hope everyone is doing well and that the strength given by this event is of great help to you in your journey.
Here I share one of my favorite songs at the moment:
https://youtu.be/fp7mdSMNQB0
🔥 To Victory! 🔥
What a dream Marco. This is how I interpret it.
It seems to show the darkness and fear the world is under – that fear creating a sense of conformity, of closing oneself away from the Spiritual Sun. But you have broken from that conformity. Something big is changing on a world scale, as the sun affects the whole planet. He is the Sun/Son, and he is rising, “is coming out” for the world to see again. The glyphs in the sky seem to represent a message coming from above, from the divine, one that is related to something ancient, since it was not a modern language. That it felt severe, like a war call, rather than a small battle, indicates that the scale or at least the repercussion of what is coming will be large. Darkness will not relent, and so to spread the knowledge of light, in such times, is to go to war.
Thanks for the interpretation Lara, I was interpreting it differently and this definitely makes a lot of sense with some perspectives I’ve been having about the state of our big family, humanity that is. I’m certain that your new book will help me greatly to investigate all of this and to prepare myself for whatever is to come, I need to connect, I need to know what’s up with all of this.
Thanks, Julian, Matthew, Tina, and Lucia for helping further expand the meaning of this dream and I’m glad you resonated with it. I also hope we are entering a period of opportunity and I wish us all strength to be able to ride the waves; to sail back home.
Those people huddled inside, like crabs in a bucket, I’ve felt that grow over the last few years in society around me, and it’s really stifling and unpleasant. War is a welcome change, the prospect of which gives me hope, and of course I know it’s a diffident kind of war, one fought with love and that transcends divisions. Really moving stuff, thanks for sharing Marco! I hope we’re really coming out of the eclipse.
Hi Marco & Julian,
The dream appears to be like an ominous sign to me at first glance…especially with the energy that the red-orange glyphs appeared to emit,and the atmosphere around the people in that dream,as well as what Julian mentioned,I think I could feel the same thing happening to people around me. It looks like many of the ancient prophecies have started to be fulfilled,and we are really entering a time of darkness and difficulties. But the interpretation that Lara gave does seem to suggest that there is still potential for change, and the fight which we can all take part in seems like a turning point. Reminded me of what she mentioned earlier in her video about “turning of the milky sea”. During these times we pull against the forces of darkness in the tug of war between light and dark,and to spread light in ourselves and the world at large. With summer solstice haven just passed in the Northern Hemisphere, I think perhaps there is a deeper meaning to all of these things…
PS: And by that I mean as darkness as started to increase in the world, it is for us to fight against it.
I’ve got some hope, because I know many people feel it’s gone too far, and even if they don’t consciously know it, their essence is reaching for something more connected to reality. Even without thinking, people are working on their gardens, spending more time in nature… It’s a running joke in software development (my field) that everyone wants to quit and start a farm. The atmosphere of society is overall worse, but it’s a wakeup call for some, and I’ve heard people whispering “forbidden” ideas to eachother.
I spoke to an indigenous elder at a peace ceremony the day after the solstice, he said more westerners are trying to learn his ways, and some even take his cultural practices and charge money for them, which he was a bit frustrated about. “If you want to learn my ways, come to me! Only I won’t charge you any money!” We agreed that people these days are so disconnected, that they need something like this (the ceremony). He was surprised when I told him most westerners come from similar indigenous beliefs and ideas, they’ve only forgotten. He said among indigenous tribes, they basically all agree on fundamental beliefs, and I bet there’s a lot of overlap with the religion of the sun, too.
So, there are more people fighting the darkness than you might think, even in small ways, and many of those people could join this cause to fight for the light more directly. It’s warm in the sunlight and my hope is there are some who are tired of being cold.
I agree Julian, I think there is often an innate desire to connect with nature and things beyond the material world, but they can be submerged within the wider society. I noticed how during the Covid lock downs, many people seemed to increase their interest in being in nature, ironically once their freedom to do so became restricted.
What you mentioned about “forbidden” ideas reminds me of part of George Orwell’s 1984, where Winston and Julia find an affinity in their hatred for the Party and meet in the countryside on their first rendezvous, away from their telescreens.
When I was in my early 20’s, I considered myself an atheist, but used to find a lot of peace by being in nature, watching sunsets, the clouds moving, etc. Looking back, I can see how the longing to connect with spiritual things was also present in some of the music I made at that time, even though I didn’t consciously realise it.
It’s good that there are people who are still connected with their spiritual cultural heritage, such as the indigenous elder you mentioned, despite those who are profit-driven.
I’m reminded of this Gospel passage…
‘When he [Jesus] saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”’
What an amazing dream you’ve had, Marco! It does seem as Lara said,that it relates to whole humanity. The Sun rising out of eclipse sounds as such a powerful message and you are called to take a part as a war requires an army, as many as possible! You must be doing something revolutionary inwardly to be given that message in such a way.
At times I have also had some experiences that called me to take a part and felt as though the divine gave us all some tasks to complete in order for the light to grow there and here..
Thank you for sharing this dream Marco, the feeling of it must have been very powerful! The war is indeed inside, as well as outside of us… Mark had mentioned in the past how the Sun/Son has been blocked in the world, hopefully this your dream, together with other clues happening in the world (like the Egyptian Sphinx Avenue ceremony for example) means that it is coming out, so that the people can have a chance to practice this ancient religion once more.
Thanks for sharing that dream Marco. Yes, it does sound like a call to action for a spiritual battle, as others have mentioned. I can relate to your comment about the mood feeling like a war call, rather than peaceful. I’ve had some lovely times in spiritual settings before and felt really refreshed and invigorated after. But I find a lot of knowledge can also be gained by going through tough times and struggles, which can indeed seem like a battle.
Thanks for also sharing that a cappella version of Wayfaring Stranger from 1917. I’ve seen the film, but forgot it was used in its soundtrack. It’s certainly a timeless song and I thought you may also appreciate a couple of other versions of it by Anonymous 4. The first is a 4-part harmony version and the second is a more simple solo vocal and drone version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJbqwVAoc1Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1Lmmj1wI30
I find these type of rousing songs can be very powerful and give a real boost during dark times. I haven’t been able to celebrate solstices or equinoxes outside of the house during the last decade, so simple reminders of a spiritual focus can be inspiring.
I thought you might find some inspiration in this simple but beautiful call to action song that was popular during the American civil rights movement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcCaA9LO1yk
With the summer solstice being a time of celebration though, I thought it might be nice to also share an upbeat celebratory song about the sunrise. It’s sung by Dolores O’Riordan of The Cranberries and was in the pop charts 30 years ago, from the album Take Me to God. It’s nice to have a popular song in praise of the sun, as it seems fairly rare these days: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2IVFWxLEb0
As Matthew quoted in the gospel passage, let’s hope for more labourers to support the struggle of light over darkness.
I was in Croatia during the solstice, and for sunrise went up a nearby hill. The climb was rocky and felt part of ‘getting to’ the observation ceremony. The location choice was last minute so I didn’t know exactly where the sun would rise. There was also a haze along the horizon, so I thought it could even be an hour before it appears. But soon after some relaxation and opening mantras I happened to open my eyes briefly to see it had appeared on the nearby hill in front of us. Surprise sunrise Initially I thought the haze would be a detriment to the sunrise, but actually it made it so that I could look right at the sun for the first 10 minutes or so (normally I don’t look directly, not even briefly.) It felt like a friendly conversation could be had with this presence on the other hill, at the same time I looked around and thought how all the plants and everything, that their life came from it. Behind us was the sea designed with strips of islands. I was with a very good friend and afterwards there was a wonderful harmonious vibe, which felt a bit like a solstice time blessing for me personally. Events in the days before, like a visit to little heaven on earth national park full of summer life, and even how the trip itself came together, I saw also had influence from above in there to manifest those gifts.
Little clip of being in the temple of nature
Thanks for sharing Karim. That video is excellent. Looks like paradise!
Thanks Lara and everyone involved in putting this video together :) It’s really a masterpiece, I’ve watched it twice already and was still processing all the information, I think I will re-watch again and again!
These videos just keep getting better! They’re packed with valuable information and incredibly engaging to watch.
Hi and thank you for the video
I look forward to the future videos on how to celebrate these events. :)
Thanks Kristofer, I’m planning to do videos on how to celebrate the solstices and equinoxes starting in 6 months time, so beginning next winter solstice in the northern hemisphere.
Happy solstice, everyone!
It’s so nice watching this documentary-style video, moving from chapter to chapter and there is always some new information that trigger me.
The artwork and visuals are embedded so nicely, and it’s obvious that a lot of work has been done behind the scenes, which I appreciate.
I watched the sunrise during that solstice at the center of Athens, coming from behind a hill next to the Acropolis (Parthenon) hill, and even I was in a big city, although inside a urban park, it felt sacred and special.
Here is a video of how it looks.
Thanks Lara for bringing this message in such a way that many can understand.
Looking forward to the next video and the upcoming book!
Looks like a strong scene but also peaceful space. Nice vid.
I guess that sacred moment occurs regardless, at sacred sites known and unknown, but happy there was someone there to witness and appreciate it.
Thank you very much Oliver for sharing your solstice view with us! I agree, for a big city, this scene looks really peaceful and beautiful, with those ancient ruins on the right side and an old tree… Were there any other people except of you? Also, the sun rising over that hill looks almost like an alignment. Personally, I would love to see different sunrises/scenes of solstices and equinoxes from more people all over the world, as these times of the year brings us together.
Hi Oliver,
I think it’s always an uplifting moment to sees sunrise,especially on solstices. I don’t don’t have the Mega app so I couldn’t see the video but I believe it must have had been a really spiritually-enpowering experience! I didn’t get to see sunrise this summer solstice due to bad weather in my area unfortunately,but hopefully I will get to see on the next one.
Hi Oliver,
It’s lovely you found a peaceful place within such a busy city. I felt the same when I visited the Acropolis years ago. Athens can be so hectic, but looking out from the Acropolis hill is spectacular and an oasis of calm away from the hubbub of urban life. Nicely captured on the time lapse video! :)
I agree about the artwork in the video too; it’s spectacular and very effective.
That was a very inspiring video to watch! It seems fitting to have a some kind of portal to the higher realm at the solstice site and time as the soul of a person who would complete the work would automatically be transported to the source. I’m guessing the upcoming book would give us some insights into these.
The AI imagery is really spectacular and I’m wondering if beings from other planets would also display that kind of look,long bearded and gray and in robes ? Would they also practice the religion of the Sun…
I hope everyone had an inspiring and insightful solstice time.
Hello Tina,
I think Lara did mention at some point that some of the Wisdom Bringers as well as the so-called gods may had been extraterrestrials,since some of them are depicted as having an unhumanly appearance and are said to have originated from the stars. I also remember seeing a post which Lara wrote years ago about attending a conference on Ancient Aliens… I don’t think all aliens/extraterrestrials have the same kind of “human” look that we’re familiar with,but I believe there is evidence that they do have some kinds of connection with the religion of the sun as we know it…
Hi Emily, yes, I remember that about the wisdom bringers.
I had an experience where I saw some of them and they looked exactly as those people in those AI images so that’s why I asked probably to check if my experience was valid or it just came from my mind as long beard and the greyness can be an universal symbol of wisdom and knowledge. Although those in my experience looked young but had those gray and long beard characteristics too.. and they seem to be knowing about the religion of the Sun…
Hi Tina,
You had an experience where you saw one of those men? That’s so interesting! A friend of my named Ling Ling also had an encounter with a mysterious being like that,whom she calls The Foreign Old Man. This being took her on a trip in the Astral Plane and she saw some really wonderful things. It was a truly enlightening experience for her. You seem to be right about long and and fair-colored beard as a symbol of wisdom…Many Wisdom Bringers of the Religion of the Sun are described as having that apparent look,although this is not always the case.
Yes, there were quite few of them and the main one was as described but others were not although also exhibiting the young look with a kind of old characteristics too. In my case they were certainly not foreign to me as it was revealed..
That’s interesting Tina, as I was wondering upon seeing those particular AI images, why all those worshippers there seem like all the same old men with gray hair, as surely, women must have been worshipping too, and surely, they could not all be just old. Unable to find any rational explanation, I thought maybe it was somehow easier to create old men with AI or something… :-D And while I agree about the old person with gray hair being a symbol of wisdom (especially if they appear like that in the astral), these images are illustrating practitioners of the religion of the sun in daily life I think, so I was somewhat confused…
Hey Lucia, re: your comment, “I thought maybe it was somehow easier to create old men with AI” there is a bit of that at play when creating the images, because the AI software tends to work based on archetypes and to have generalized ideas about what things should look like. If trying to create an image of a Druid for example, it might lean towards creating Gandalf-looking images. So then if you try to create a “group of druids” you end up with images of groups of men. The same goes for other concepts like a priest / priestess / initiate who all tend to come out looking the same way. Or images of people flying for example, where they all initially tend to come out looking like superman. Another example, trying to create images of a “group of people” at Stonehenge makes the group 80-90% male in some cases, or trying to create images of ancient people worshipping at sacred sites, where sometimes a lot of the people come out wearing modern day hats over their otherwise traditional attire :) Once you’ve made initial attempts, then you need to get creative and specific with the language used in the prompting, and to try lots of variations and iterations to end up with something that works and is more or less what you were originally trying to create.
Thank you David for the information, it must be a tedious work indeed, and you guys did a great job! It looks like the AI is still in its nursery-school years, but apparently, it can learn pretty fast! I was even thinking that maybe not long from now, the AI will be able to create some cool video-sequences of people worshiping at different sacred sites, etc. It would be even better, if the actual people started filling those sites and reviving the ceremonies of the Religion of the Sun. 🌞
Hi Lucia,
Real people filling the ancient sites and performing ceremonies must be a really spetacular view! Would really love to see something like that happening one day!
Oh, never mind… It was just a lack of knowledge on my side, as I just googled the Essenes, and found out they were an all-male community, supposedly celibate. So now its clearer about the images! :-) Still not sure about all the gray hair, but maybe if I do a bit more research, I will find out about that as well.
Happy solstice everyone!
Thanks so much for this video and the info in it Lara and Mark. I think my favorite part was the poem from the pyramid texts read over the footage of Ales Stenar, it just seems so fitting.
I have visited some of the sites you talked about in the video and they are remarkable in their design and how they feel to be there, but I wish I had have seen this video first, as it would have helped to understand them in a much more meaningful way.
It seems like the ancient sites strongly draw people towards them, but the understanding of why they were built and what they were used for is really lacking and basic in the normal information that is provided at the sites themselves. So I feel like what you are uncovering is really going to make the sites much more accessible for people in a deeper way. It would be amazing to have this information and visit those sites for the first time!
As an unexpected example from this morning, I visited Kokino in Macedonia for the solstice sunrise – the site itself is epic, it’s higher than almost everything around it, so there are amazing views in all directions and you really feel like you are at the top of the world. It’s also in a place where you can’t see much in the way of civilization around it, so you feel quite removed from every day life there. The site itself is very peaceful and has a subtle spiritual feel about it, like it is / was a sanctuary. There are a number of solar alignments to the summer and winter solstice and the equinoxes there which can be seen from different viewing areas in the site, but one of the summer solstice alignments is particularly spectacular:
There are rock “thrones” at the site facing the summer solstice sunrise. As the sun rises and shines through a gap in the stone outcrop in front of the thrones, it shines directly onto one of the thrones at chest / head height. It is only a very small part of one of the thrones that is lit up, maybe two feet across, but it shines directly on the head of a person sitting there, and it reminded me strongly of what you mentioned in the video about being made king in the light, crowned by the sun. There are a couple of small viewing platforms close to but separate from the thrones, so it seems like the thrones could have been used for major participants in solstice ceremonies, which could have been watched by people from other areas of the site where they could also see the solstice sunrise alignment as well as what was happening in the throne area.
I uploaded some photos if anyone is interested
Can’t wait for the Spiritual Out-of-Body Experience book!
Wow, your description of that alignment gave me chills!
I agree Julian,just imagine how would it feel being there in person!
That’s right David, “epic” does indeed seem to be an apt description of Kokino! It looks like a stunning site and the multiple solar alignments are a great find. Also the “thrones” you mentioned, which would create a dramatic ceremony in celebration of these solar events.
Thanks for sharing those photos and again for your work in putting together the fitting visual content in the video, along with everyone involved in designing the new images. The thumbnail for this video is also beautiful and could easily work as a painting on the wall. Well done to Dara in creating such a lovely piece of artwork! :)
Happy solstice!
This was one of my favorite solstices, and your video was like a guide explaining and influencing the last few days/weeks.
It’s been a very intense time filled with lots of activity, uncertainty, and doing my best to trust intuition. A week ago, I set out to California for a conference, which was a culmination of the last months of intense activity, and its coincidence with the solstice didn’t escape my attention.
My grandfather passed last November, and I was driving his car. The car’s engine died in a small town in Nevada, where my grandfather once worked as a cowboy. I felt it was significant, and similar to how Celtic kings are buried with chariots, and the Norse with their boats, and particularly meaningful to me because we didn’t hold a formal funeral. I held a little ceremony, saying goodbye and leaving some sunflowers with the car. It was unexpectedly sweet, and turned a bitter situation (losing a car) into something beautiful and meaningful. The fact that this happened at the time of Father’s Day and the summer solstice wasn’t lost on me. When the video came out, and you explained the solar boat and the soul’s journey to the afterlife, it clicked into place nicely.
Driving home (in a rental car), last night I decided to make an attempt to reach big horn medicine wheel for sunrise. I had to drive through the night, and reached it just before dawn, in time for a beautiful sunrise on a very still morning. The site sits on a high plateau, overlooking a valley, with unique limestone outcroppings in significant directions, and the summer solstice sun comes over a high peak across the valley.
Many interesting impressions came to me as I sat watching the sunrise.
I had a vision showing me something about an ego state I need to work on, and then felt clarity and peace, opening my eyes at the moment the sun peaked over the mountain. It reminded me of the tunnel of darkness, but in a different way, or perhaps adding a layer of symbolism to the darkness.
I noticed the arms of the wheel were like chords, connecting the sun to the center of the wheel, the center to the circumference, and a single arm extending beyond connecting me to the whole symbolic structure, and thereby to the sun. The single line connecting outward was like saying “just a small portion reaches you”.
Finally, I noticed how the light rays of the sun form these curved shapes, and how they perfectly resemble a scarab with outstretched wings as depicted by the Egyptians, as well as the curved lines engraved at Gavrinis and Newgrange.
Wandering around the site, I found trenches that aligned the solstices to the top of medicine mountain, which is currently topped by a massive radar tower :/, as well as a deep cave nearly aligned to the summer solstice. It seemed probably natural, but I couldn’t be sure. I’d never heard of these features, and was astonished to find them. Certainly they would be part of the ritual landscape.
After a brief rest, I continued on to the Devils Tower in Wyoming, where I was fortuitously given a great gift.
I arrived just before solar noon, and reflected as I went up the path that because the natives considered it the remnant of a great tree in their legends, I was about to walk around what’s perhaps the worlds largest symbol of the world tree, at solar noon, on the solstice!
I set about walking around it in a sunrise direction, and paused on the solstice sunset side to see if any alignments existed, and saw what looked like a pair of mountain peaks poking up behind the trees. I could scarcely believe it… Could it be possible? I had to be sure. I scrambled up a few hundred yards of rocks and there before me was a picture-perfect “mound of creation”, formed by two large stone protuberances, jutting above the rolling hills. Pulling out my sun alignment app, my heart skipped a beat, as I confirmed that on the summer solstice, the sun sets precisely between them. Natural or not, this could be the largest such alignment in the world. Unfortunately I couldn’t stay for sunset, so I will have to go back another summer.
I have no idea how it’s possible, or whether it’s natural, but I stumbled my way into an enormous and profound summer solstice alignment, complete with an enormous world tree and mound of creation alignment. There are other things too, like the particular shape of the “trunk”, which looks like a bear’s head from the south, and would gaze up at ursa major year-round, and some other things that I’m a little less sure about.
There are mysteries out there waiting for people like us.
Hi Julian!
What an interesting experience you had! The Devil’s Tower in Wyoming does seem to contain a lot of mysteries,and I also hope to visit there someday.
One correction: one native name for the devils tower is “tree rock”, but legends surrounding it don’t refer to it as a tree, but as a rock that grew under them to save them from the bear, which is similar to legends about escaping from cataclysms I’ve heard in southern US and S. America
Beautiful Julian. 🙏🏼
When our life’s circumstances are orchestrated so that they become a small version, a vehicle ;-), of the deeper meaning and we get to live that experience and feel that meaning. In the modern day. In a personal way.
Researching the past, which is good and helps with our ‘search’, but the personal experience is not there, it’s here, connecting to the timeless force of the other realm. Definitely the solstices are times when we’re gifted these things strongly.
Hi Julian,
Sorry to hear about you losing your grandfather. I also lost another relative this year. That’s interesting you made the connection with the Celtic chariots and Norse boats, along with the coincidence of the car breaking down in the town where you grandfather once worked, particularly with it being a distance from your own home.
It’s lovely that you were able to transform the mishap into a fitting farewell for your grandfather, along with the timing of Father’s Day and the solstice. Also that you saw in the sunrise at the Big Horn Medicine Wheel and discovered those solstice alignments. The three concentric circles in the design seem significant too, don’t they?
The unexpected alignment at the Devil’s Tower also sounds very serendipitous, along with the observations about it incorporating the world tree, with its celestial alignment!
It’s also interesting about the insight into the inner state you mentioned and your observation about the curved lines on those sacred sites resembling the sun’s rays. I hadn’t made that connection before.
I’d love to be able to discover these kinds of sites some day. It sounds like a very special trip for you, with a lot of insight gained. Thanks for sharing your experiences of it!
Thanks Michael, he was 2 weeks shy of 96, so we were all ready, and the whole death process was filled with love, beauty, and acceptance. The way I put it is, I kept expecting death sneak in and to take him in the night like a thief, but death came through the front door as a welcome guest.
With regards to the concentric circles, you might be seeing the pathway and fence around the site, which are modern features. The ancient part of the site is a stone cairn in the center, spokes radiating out to a circle of loose stone, five cairns positioned along the circle, and one spoke extending beyond the circle to a sixth cairn, the one that faces the solstice sunrise.
As mystics with open minds, these sites were built for us, and are ready to open up to us more than they do for tourists, we’ve just got to listen! This was a real gift, but I think it only came about because of the effort I put in to get there.
That must’ve been reassuring and comforting Julian, for the process of death to be as peaceful as possible, with your grandfather feeling the love and care of those close to him. I would say the final days of both my relatives who passed away over the last couple of years were peaceful in the end, but unfortunately they both suffered a lot in the preceding years.
It was sad that some of their suffering was also connected with negligence within various organisations, including medical negligence. I won’t go into all the details here, as both are long stories, but I was glad of my own background in health and social care, which allowed me to go through the official governing bodies to attempt to resolve some matters. This wasn’t always easy, especially when someone assigned to help then attempted to gaslight and bully me.
I’ve found this has been a common scenario over the last decade though, as I’ve also received similar treatment within medical, government or business organisations, with gaslighting, manipulation and downright lies. But I’ve also found that if I try to do things “by the book” in these cases, it has generally resulted in a more favourable outcome, despite the overall process often being stressful and lasting over several years.
But going back to the topic of the summer solstice, yes, it sounds like you definitely had the right approach to exploring these sacred sites. You already had a background knowledge of what to look out for, but were also open to experience the new, including following your own guidance and intuition.
I think this is a good approach, as we can learn more by being open, rather than having a preconceived idea of what to expect. When I first visited a sacred site some years ago, I had a mental template of how the experience should be and of course was initially disappointed when the reality didn’t match my expectations.
We learn far more by tuning into the atmosphere of the site and trying to connect with it in a deeper way. Some people at the biggest sites can view them almost purely as tourist destinations and seem satisfied with a few selfies to put on Instagram. But as you’ve found, there is often so much more to explore, including discoveries that couldn’t be predicted in advance.
Thanks for the clarification about the concentric circles, by the way. Yes, I based that conclusion on a few aerial shots online! :) I hope you’ll be able to discover more about many other sites as you visit them.
Thank you Lara for this amazing video, just in time for the solstice.
Really inspiring to see new information regarding the way the ancient sites were used. Many people feel someting to happen at the sites, especially on the solstices and equinoxes – and you described it quite well. I hope we’ll find a way for the portal into another world to be felt and experienced in even stronger ways!
Wish a wonderful summer solstice to everyone (and winter solstice too).
And, thank you to the team for making the video such a pleasure to watch.
Thanks Aleksandr. I really think the understanding of ancient sites as having been used as a way to open a connection to heaven and the Source could completely revolutionize the way we interact with them today. I think people intuitively almost sense that’s what Stonehenge is for, as you see people raising their hands at sunrise toward the sun to receive its energies. But if people really understood this is what the ancients intended, I think there would be more of a focus and confidence in the activities there toward that aim. The same goes for so many other ancient sites, which we list in our upcoming book.
Thank you so much Lara and Mark for this incredible information! And to everyone involved who helped materialize it!
The connection of the Sun to the portal of NDEs is very profound. I am honestly still absorbing a lot of it, and can’t wait to explore it more thoroughly in your upcoming book, so that I can read and reread, and read again!
Although seeing the sun as a symbol of completion/enlightenment, or the creator, or the return to source, was inspiring to say the least, this new information feels like more things are clicking together, as though I can understand better ‘the language of the Sun’.
Happy Solstice!
You know, seeing that absolutely enthralling last four minutes of the video makes it all worth it!
Joking aside, I’m impressed with the high production value overall, which really complements this important information.
Happy solstice to all who celebrate.
You mean after the other grueling 1 hr ;-) Glad you watched to the end, especially to see the formidable list of credits you put together!
I find these videos so difficult to make because there is just so much to cover, and even then I have missed so much out. The solstices and equinoxes were THE most important times in the ancient world, so no wonder there is just a massive amount to get across with them.
Thank you so much Lara and Mark (and all the contributors) for this beautiful video packed with profound wisdom and illustrated by amazing images, video clips, schemes and 3D graphics, helping us to visualise and feel the atmosphere of these places, as well as to understand the spiritual meanings behind often obscure symbols or alignments. Many of the images are so beautiful that they could be a standalone art. ❤️
Regarding the content, it seems like you guys discovered some amazing new connections that haven’t been mentioned in your work before, like the Ancient Europe OBE theory! It makes so much sense that an invisible portal would open at the time of the summer solstice that would bring down to Earth the energies of higher realms/heaven, kind of similarly to Halloween, which is said to be the time when the veil between the physical realm and afterlife is the thinnest (which some people unfortunately use for all kinds of ghost-related phenomena or spooky things). I strongly believe there is something on these energies physically, as for example even some herbs are said to have the strongest, almost magical properties if they are picked during the summer solstice, and also marriages have been conducted on this day by the ancient Slavic pagans (and even today during the revivals in Slovakia), as it is an auspicious time of Earth and Heaven connection, connection of masculine and feminine, water and fire, etc., like what the image at 10:06 of the video depicts. But what your theory adds to this is the other-dimensional aspect of a special portal – Akhet, and maybe an opportunity to travel via OOBE at this specific time of the year in order to gain higher knowledge? That’s definitely something to try!
I was also amazed at the profound meaning of the Ales Stenar site. To say the truth, I have always been fascinated by the so-called Solar barques of the Egyptians, they just felt so beautiful (like for example those carried along the avenue of the Sphinxes during the Opet festival recreation), and very esoteric somehow… And while I knew about those ancient petroglyphs depicting the ships, I thought they were just portraying the wisdom-bringers or any sea-faring people of the Religion of the Sun spreading this knowledge to all parts of the world, and I didn’t think of them as being connected in any way to the solar barques! But it seems now like Ales Stenar could be that connection, together with those preserved ships you mention at 41:40 that the Kings were buried in, in both Egypt and Scandinavia. Now looking more at all the standing stones of the boat-shape, I could not but wonder if they were also connected in some way with the vesica pisces symbol? Could the meaning of this kind of a boat, as well as the vesica pisces be both tied also to the alchemical process? After all, a king could not reach heaven on his own, and needed to change his energies (hence rowing on waters) in order to do so… In this train of thoughts, I really liked the image at 42:46 of the video, where a couple watches the sun from within this symbolic “stone boat”, sailing towards heaven. Anyway, its just something that came to my mind watching this.
And what a surprise about the “lost form of Judaism” mentioned at 51:43. I would never think that Essenes had anything to do with Judaism, but when I think about it, it makes sense as that’s what had existed in those regions before Jesus completed his mission. As you mentioned, it seems quite likely that Jesus influenced them, or maybe they were some sacred order that posessed the esoteric knowledge of the Religion of the Sun, so he naturally gravitated towards them. In any case, it would be really interesting to crack the mystery of the ancient Judaism at some point, especially in the light of what happened to it later…
Wishing everyone a spiritual solstice, and really looking forward to “The Spiritual OOBE” book! 🌞
Thank you Lucia, I really didn’t know how interwoven the three sites of the Great Pyramids, Stonehenge, and Ales Stenar were when I started making the video. To do these videos about the solstices and equinoxes, I decided to explain their meaning largely through the ancient sites aligned to them, as I feel that gives a very concrete (or stone!) basis to the interpretation of what these times really meant to ancient peoples. As it turned out, these 3 sites I chose for the summer solstice even had connections in their proportions! I did not expect this. We already knew however about portals being a key part of ancient sites from the work on our book The Spiritual Out-of-Body Experience, and I’m really looking forward to bringing the knowledge of this out as it’s just so amazing, and explains the cosmology that connects lots of ancient sites on earth to each other. Incredible stuff!
I know many sites are linked via stellar alignments and measurements (cubits, meters, and megalithic yards all relate mathematically), but I’d love to understand what that means on a spiritual level. I feel like I always get just a taste, enough to convince me that something deeper is going on.
Breathtaking art and visual effects. Truly such a beautiful and deep ground breaking video.
Peacefulness, seems to be palpable in nature around the solstices. The peacefulness of completion perhaps at the summer solstice and the reigning of supreme light. It brings the longing for freedom, to cut all ties, drop all masks, leave all patterns behind. To cut it cleanly and not look behind.
Have a lovely solstice!
What a wonderful video, I have learned something new, your new insights are very interesting and uncover new layers of a deeper meaning.
Happy and a deeply meaningful solstice!
Thanks very much Lara and everyone involved in making this video! The hard work behind the scenes to make it happen definitely shows and the content is both inspiring and highly informative. I agree the bespoke images and graphics are very professional and add a real sense of setting and history to the video.
Wishing everyone a happy and peaceful solstice time!
What an informative video on the spiritual meaning of summer solstice! A big thanks to Lara for piecing together such deep and profound information! It’s interesting to know that the tunnel that many people claim to go through during NDEs could be an actual portal connecting souls to the Divine! Not sure if this could be related to what’s being mentioned here but I once had a dream where I was running aimlessly through a dark cave,I forgot how I got in there in the first place but I was lost in the cave and was probably looking for an exit where I could get out. I then saw a tunnel with bright light on the end and I ran towards it,but as I got closer to the end of the tunnel the light bacame so blinding that I couldn’t look directly at it. Somehow I knew that the exit was right there,but I couldn’t approach it because the light was just too bright for me to see. I ran back towards the dark interior of the cave,and didn’t remember what happened next. As for the celebration of summer solstice in China, it may be a non-religious cultural festival for many of the Han Chinese,but I’ve come to known that there is an ethnic minority group in Yunnan Province located in the southwest part of the country called the Hani,who have traditions of rather serious sun worship,as well as viewing fire as something that is divine in nature. This is especially true with Hanis living in the city of Mojiang,which happens to sit on the Tropic of Cancer where the sun can shine directly overhead on summer solstice. During the longest day of the year what’s called the Sun Festival is being celebrated by Hani people living in that region, holding ceremonies that can include certain rituals,as well as singing and dancing. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to find a lot of detailed information of this event in English, except for this short article which gives a brief description as well as a few pictures of the event,
https://www.studyinchina.com.my/web/page/hani-people-celebrate-summer-solstice/
It’s always intriguing to see traditions that commemorate the sun around the world,and to learn about the deeper spiritual meanings behind them. To watch ancient ceremonies taking place as well as revival traditions making a come back has always been empowering. Many people around the world are reconnecting to the ancient wisdom left by their ancestors,and contemplating on the Inner Spirit at the time of greatest light of the year. Are we aware of the divine spark which exists within everyone of us? Can we overcome the darkness inside as we walk the Spiritual Path of the Sun? I think these are some of the most important questions to bear in mind as we progress along the spiritual journey.
Happy Solstice Everyone! (regardless of which part of the world you’re in!)
PS: Just thought I should share a video that I saw about a ritual that takes place on summer solstice at a shrine located somewhere in Japan.
https://youtu.be/D-u60e_sjZg?si=0LRPb8_ps8PXOki3
I thought the ritual performed in the video is kinda interesting because you don’t just get to see a ritual like this everywhere. So I thought that I should share;)
I don’t really get why they sang the Japanese anthem at the end,but nevertheless this is an interesting ritual. I just found out that the two rocks in water which the people gather in front of in the video are called Meoto Iwa,or Married Couple Rocks,which in Shinto beliefs,represent the union of creator deities in Japanese mythology,Izanagi and Izanami. According to the legend it was them who gave birth to Amaterasu,the sun goddess,and the numerous islands of Japan. From a certain point, the sun can be seen rising in the middle of the Meoto Iwa,so is it possible that there is some sort of significant meaning here? I think it’s very possible
That interpretation sounds very plausible to me.
Just wanted to share some beautiful pictures of Meoto Iwa of Ise from Wikimedia… 😊
Sunrise: (happens during summer months, especially on Summer solstice):
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sunrise_of_the_Wedded_Rocks02.jpg
Moon rise (happens during winter moths, especially on Winter solstice, could the star there be Venus?):
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hutamiokitamajinjya_Meotoiwa.JPG
A 19-th century Japanese painting of a sunrise at this site (interestingly, here the stones are on the shore, not submerged in water, and from what I have briefly read, it seems that this may be the case during the low tide?)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Utagawa_Kunisada_-_Sunrise_in_Ise,_on_the_Futami_Ga_Ura_Coast_-_MNK_VI-3570_(459406).jpg
Hi Lucia,
The pictures you shared about the Meoto Iwa are indeed very beautiful! Thank you so much for sharing them;) I thought I’d also share another video of people praying and chanting towards the direction of sunrise during the ritual on summer solstice;)
https://youtu.be/Rq3oBnzGZwA?si=YgAK6sY2mDoFzpBa
The Meoto Iwa is actually a quite significant type of rock formation in Shintoism,and can be seen in many different places in Japan. So I believe it does hold some type of important spiritual meaning. Wikipedia even has a list of places in Japan where you could find one of these rock formations;)
Those few photos are really moving, and the Japanese ceremony as well! It’s amazing how much they relate to the themes brought up in Lara’s video: the circle dance, the mounds of creation, and even the rowing relating to the solar boats.
I agree Julian, those Japanese people seem to be rowing really hard! :-) It would be interesting to know what is their native explanation for this part of the ritual.
Hi Lucia,
I haven’t been able to find their native explanations of the ceremony, but the rowing part does seem interesting like you said;)
Hi Julian,
After a personal contemplation I think the portal which Lara mentioned in her video may have also been represented here at the site of the Japanese ceremony by a small torii on top of the larger rock of the Meoto Iwa. In Shinto the torii usually means a gate that marks the transition from the mundane to the divine,a gate which spirits travel through. Given the contexts at Futami Okitama Shrine could this be more than a coincidence?
While I was doing some research on the Japanese torii gate I found that its origins can also be interesting. Some scholars say that the structure may not be unique to Japan after all,and have made connections between the Japanese torii and the Indian torana, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torana It looks like there are similar structures in other Asian countries,and that’s a really interesting phenomenon. Also according to Japanese legends,the torii also has something to do with the sun. Being too lazy to retell the story in my own words,here’s the brief narrative from https://blog.japanwondertravel.com/what-is-torii-gate-25135 “When the goddess of the sun, Amaterasu Omikami, hid behind the cave and the sun didn’t come up, eight-million gods tried to open the gate in several ways. It is said that a deity prepared a tree for birds and made them chirp to catch her attention. And that tree became the first torii gate.” It’s interesting that in both Chinese and Japanese legends,there are birds associated with the sun. In China we have legends of the three-legged crow which is a representation of the sun,and I didn’t expect the association of birds with the sun to turn up in Japanese myth also. It looks like there are more similarities between the old legends of different countries in Asia than what one may realize. The sun used to be a major theme in early Chinese mythology just like those of many other ancient cultures, but as time went by with the changing of dynasties and the rise of other beliefs and ideologies the significance of the sun appeared to fall in the minds of the majority of Chinese people. This could be the reason why solstices and equinoxes have downgraded to non-religious cultural celebrations in China. It’s not entirely due to the Communist takeover since this process of “forgetting” outright sun worship had begun centuries before that happened. It seems that the esoteric teachings of Taoism played a much bigger role in shaping the folk culture in China, and it is those knowledge that still survive to this day. Straight up veneration of the sun has long become an obscene practice for many Han Chinese. It definitely looks like Japan has the exoteric aspects of the Religion of the Sun better preserved.
More information about the Japanese torii gate
https://www.olivierrobert.net/post/japan-the-torii-symbols-of-purity-and-spiritual-transition
https://www.japan-experience.com/plan-your-trip/to-know/understanding-japan/torii
I forgot to mention that Japanese legend also says there used to be a three-legged crow named Yatagarasu which guided Emperor Jimmu on his quest at some point. The depiction of the three-legged crow is very similar to that of China in its early recorded history. So I think it’s not hard to conclude that there must have had been a common source of influence that was present in the lands of East Asia back then. The association of the three-legged crow with the sun was both present in ancient China and Japan. When I first discovered this fact it actually surprised me a bit because that means there were closer connections between these places than I initially thought. Perhaps they were all parts of a solar religion that stretched across the vast lands of East Asia. I now suspect that perhaps all of these things were somehow connected to one another,the legend of the founding of the Japanese Imperial Court, the old Chinese legends,and the people who built Sanxingdui…What if all of these were part of something greater?
I’ve just discovered about an ancient form of chanting in Japan called norito, which are usually written to give addresses to specific kamis. I’ve been recently fascinated with one specific chant called Amatsu-norito,and here a video which I really like, https://youtu.be/bpYrZuVB69A?si=mCrZY7S0pdgUccAk
Here is a simple introduction about what norito, more especially what Amatsu-norito is, https://www.themathesontrust.org/library/amatsu-norito-shinto-incantations
and according to this website there is apparently an esoteric notion to the norito, it states as follows, “The great norito, the heavenly norito is beyond comprehension, no matter how deeply we may think. The human mind should be understood as that which can commune with Heaven and Earth, with great nature, with the cosmos. Therefore, we can be aware that the kami of the cosmos may be found within the individual mind. In turn, this leads to the purity of no-mind (mu-shin). When the kami encounters this no-mind state, man and kami become united and all of my thoughts and aspirations become one with the kami… This means that through the union of myself and the kami, I return to my true and original self. ” This sounds similar to some of the teachings from Hinduism and Taoism,as well as the deeper messages of Jesus. The Amatsu-norito is associated with Takamagahara,a place where kamis including Amaterasu are said to reside according to Shintoism. And in Shintoism the world is composed of three dimensions with Takamagahara being one of them and the highest plane of existence, the other two being Ashihara no Nakatsukuni(or simply known as Nakatsukuni/Middle Country) and Yomi. And it’s interesting to note that some say Yomi,the lowest plane of existence in Shintoism,is also called Ne-no-kuni or Root Land. While I haven’t found a direct reference to anything resembling a world tree in Japanese mythology,the name Root Land does appear to sound interesting.
While I was listening to Amatsu-norito,I got a vision of a place filled with pure bright light. I couldn’t make out the shape of anything recognizable,except for what I perceived to be a shining sun. I’m not sure if this is Takamagahara or another plane of existence, but I personally prefer to call it the Land of Light. Also when listening to two other Japanese songs having to do with mythology, https://youtube.com/playlist?list=RD78QOFutP4Ik&playnext=1&si=0CE3Q3lO-s3ZLZKJ
https://youtu.be/78QOFutP4Ik?si=PB3pUaiuAly4Bg7S
my soul appeared to have been transported to the same place. In the midst of that I also got a vision of the mitsudomoe. I don’t know why I’m so fascinated with the Japanese Shinto religion since I’m not even Japanese and I don’t have as much of an interest in modern Japan(as many people do) as its distant past,maybe because I feel more connected to the expressions made through East Asian cultures which I’m native to rather than those others that may appear to be more alien to me. The ancient spiritual beliefs of the Land of the Rising Sun just never fails to captivate my imagination.
There are also similarities between Bitfrost (Rainbow Bridge) in Norse mythology and Ame -no-ukihashi/Floating bridge of Heaven in Japanese legends. Both are said to be a bridge that connects the Heavenly Plane with the Earth. In Norse mythology Bitfrost is said to be a bridge between Asgard and Midgard in the form of a rainbow, while in Japanese mythology the Ame-no-ukihashi is also said to be a bridge that connects Takamagahara with Nakatsukuni. Another fun fact is that Midgard is often translated as Middle Earth in English, similarly Nakatsukuni in Japanese mythology also means “middle country” literally. In addition to the fact that Yomi is also sometimes called Roots Land,the similarities in cosmology of the two traditions are very interesting.
Great questions Emily.
That’s a very interesting dream, and sounds like it may have been symbolic. It may show that the light is indeed bright, and it takes a lot for us to adjust to be able to walk toward it.
Great find about the Hani people and their solstice festival! I would have loved to include this and the one in Japan in the video – it would have made it even longer! I will keep these for another video about the summer solstice in the future.
It shows how valuable your research, and the research of other people in non-english speaking languages is, since in the west this information is completely unknown.
Hi Lara,
Your interpretation may be right. The Hani people are known for their worship of the sun and fire. Their belief is also different from many of the organized religions, their beliefs are polytheistic,and is largely centered around nature. There is a theory that the Hani people in China might actually be related to the Japanese(at least some of them), that both originated from a group of sun-worshipping people that lived in East Asia many centuries ago( perhaps in present-day Southwest China), so far there isn’t enough sufficient evidence to support this theory, but I wonder could this group of people have had some connection to the ones who built Sanxingdui? I heard there are some people who came up with the theory in recent years that the bronze tree of Sanxingdui might have represented the axis mundi in their world view,even though official researchers have not taken note of this theory. And if you look on the map the Sichuan Province where Sanxingdui is located is actually pretty close to Yunnan, where the Hani people reside. So I wouldn’t be surprised if a group of sun-worshipping people were found to have lived in that area thousands of years ago.
The place where the Japanese ceremony took place is called the Futami Okitama Shrine, located in the town of Futami-ura,part of the Ise City, Mie Prefecture, Japan. The sunrise in the middle of the Meoto Iwa on summer solstices as well as the summer in general are actually a sight to behold for the people who live around that area and for tourists. The rope which is tied between the larger and smaller rocks is called shimenawa and it is used in many Shinto rituals for purification. On top of the larger rock of the Meoto Iwa at Futami there is a small torii,which is a type of traditionally-styled gate that is seen in many Japanese Shinto shrines to symbolize the transition or connection between the mundane/ earthly and the ethereal/sacred. I think that is also worthy to take note of. The shimenawa here is also sometimes said to represent this.
There’s no need to thank me or anything on sharing this! I just thought I should share what I know about summer solstice celebration and I think that’s pretty much it;) There is still a lot that I don’t know and I feel that I have learned more from your videos;)
Aside of solstices, the Meoto Iwa is generally used to symbolize the union of a man and a woman in marriage(an extended meaning of the union of Izanagi and Izanami),Wikipedia has a description of this symbolism as follows,
“The couple rocks at Futami Okitama Shrine in Mie Prefecture Ise City have been known for a long time, as depicted by Ukiyo-e artist [ja] in the Edo period, and are generally used as a symbol and prayer for “marital bliss and domestic safety”, “maritime security and great catch”. It is also a symbol and prayer for “marital bliss and domestic safety”, “maritime security and a good catch of fish”, and is said to be a symbol of Iwakura Shinko in Kojindo, which means a symbolic place or object in Nature, especially megaliths, rocks, and mountains, were considered Shintais and believed to be places where Kamis resided. For this reason, shimenawas and toriis were decorated as proof that a deity resided there (kanzumaru).
It is also an embodiment of the concept of the two sides of the same coin that pervades ancient Shinto and current shintos, such as the idea that this world consists of Utsushi-yo and Tokoyo, and the Seven Lucky Gods of Ebisu and Daikoku, two of the Seven Lucky Gods, are believed to be one, and the counting of chopsticks and footwear as one set or one pair is also said to be unique to Japan.
In the Kojiki, there are many Myths about married couples, from Izanami and Izanagi to Sarutahiko Ōkami and Ame-no-Uzume. It is thought that these became Sai no Kami and Dosojin, and were connected with the belief in a rock formation. This is why Jizos and Dōsojin are often depicted as a couple or as a pair of large and small rocks or stone statues. This kind of belief in married couples has spread throughout the world over time and has become familiar in the form of married couple’s bowls, etc. At the same time, it is deeply related to the belief in child-rearing and child-bearing in the framework of family, such as householder and home. The ‘Iwana’ are deeply related to the belief in child-bearing, child-rearing, and the treasure of children.
These ideas of rock-building belief, Omote-Taiwanai and matrimonial belief (also called matrimonial harmony, which is the basis of ancestral spirit belief) are combined to form the object of enshrinement at the couple’s rock.”
I generally find it hard to identify anything that is truly esoteric in the beliefs of Shintoism. The indigenous religion of Japan sure appears to be very pegan,but the more esoteric aspects of the Religion of the Sun may have been lost overtime. However is it possible that the Meoto Iwa actually contains a deeper spiritual meaning than what it appears on the surface? Could this possibly be a Japanese representation of the union of the Divine Masculine and the Divine Feminine? And sunrise in the middle of the Meoto Iwa at Futami on summer solstice could also symbolize the Trinity forces of creation? I think that’s something interesting to consider.
Also I saw a video of Japanese people celebrating the Swedish Midsummer in Hokaiddo, https://youtu.be/pxUbDOIMukU?si=IdeqqNjFnd91xl04 , perhaps as a result of recognizing the similarities between the beliefs of these two different cultures. Even though they are on completely different ends of the Eurasian continent,being of different races and skin color,yet there are some striking similarities in terms of their indigenous beliefs,both in the aspects of nature worship,the honoring of spirits,as well as the reverence of the sun as an important spiritual figure. Even though the origin of the Japanese still remains unclear,it’s not hard to see the commonalities between their beliefs and those of other ancient cultures.
Thanks for sharing that Japanese Swedish festival video Emily, so cute! 😀 Isn’t Hokkaido one of the places where most Ainu descendants live? Just something to consider I guess, even though in general, I have a feeling that Japanese people really like appropriating different parts of the western culture for some reason, and even in their beliefs, they seem to be quite “ecumenic” today unfortunately.
Hi Lucia,
I think what you said about Japanese people “appropriating” Western cultures is a thing that is rather kinda common among Asians these days for some reason,it’s quite sad that they are losing confidence in their own cultures due to westernization movements in these countries,but still the “pegan” beliefs of Shintoism are part of the indigenous faith of Japan,and there is quite a bit of history to it. It’s clear that both the ingenious religions of Japan and pre-Christian Europe have obvious elements of the Religion of the Sun in them,and traces of sun worship are still apparent to this day. It’s great to see the cross-cultural communication between the people of Japan and Sweden, and it shouldn’t be surprising if they found similarities in their indigenous beliefs;)
I totally agree Emily, and it is also clear from Lara and Mark’s work, that Japanese people and their ancient religion were a branch of the Ancient Religion of the Sun, with Amaterasu as a Goddess of the Sun, and so it is nice to see that there are some efforts to revive their own rituals connected to the sun, like this one at Meoto Iwa. Hopefully in the future, there will be more of a true revival of their own ancient practices connected to the Religion of the sun. That newer ritual from 2023 that you shared is very nice, I like how they bow to the sun, and then clap! In one Winter Solstice Japanese ceremony I found some time ago (at Kanayama Megaliths), they also bow to the sun rising, and then clap twice . It would be interesting to know about the meaning of those two claps. 😊 Kanayama Megaliths also have a summer solstice alignment, here is one article that describes it, with some photos of the occasion: https://iwakage.wordpress.com/2021/06/25/summer-solstice-2021/
It seems that this is another place, where Japanese people gather to observe these solar alignments and even conduct ceremonies.
Hi Lucia,
As far as I know,clapping is a ceremonial thing that Japanese do when paying homage to the kamis in Shintoism,since they are venerating the sun as a sacred entity here I guess it’s just part of the ritual for them to clap. I think I’ve seen information about the Kanayama Megliths somewhere before,and I agree it’s one of those amazing solstice alignments in East Asia! Too bad that Japan today is most famously known for nothing more than its technologies,anime as well as other so-called “advanced” worldly aspects,while very few are interested to look into the ancient spiritual heritage of the country,even the Japanese themselves;( Unlike some other countries which may have turned to contemporary ideologies in that last few centuries of modernization, Japan has always remained adhering to its mythical past in the eyes of many,and the sense of their cultural pride is centered around the totem of the sun to a large extent. It’s very possible that they were once part of the global Civilization of the Sun at existed some point in the past,and vestiges of it still remain today. Although when it comes to surviving esoteric practices,no country in Asia could be more sophisticated than India. The practices of Hinduism is surely one of a kind. I see that now there’s hope of reviving the Religion of the Sun in several different parts of the world,much thanks to the works that people like the Atwoods have done. The spiritual treasure that they are delivering to the world is truly priceless,and it gives us hope,even in this day and age with so many turmoils that are going on in the world. This gives me the feeling that perhaps the spirits in the higher realms of existence who watch over humanity have never truly given up on our civilization,even in this dark and troubled age! The Great Ones didn’t just reveal the Sacred Knowledge to humanity at the beginning of our civilization when everyone was just struggling to live and start civilization,Jesus came into this world around 2000 years ago at the time of the Roman Empire to teach people about the Religion of the Sun,and there were perhaps others that appeared throughout recorded history to acknowledge humanity on the Religion of Truth. Lao Tzu of China could have also been one of them. And in the 21st century there are still reminders that try to rekindle this profound spiritual knowledge. Even though the magnitude of this revived ancient knowledge is still slim compared to other religions and schools of thoughts that are predominant in the world today,I think there is hope for larger-scale revival.
Hi again Lucia,
I think it’s also possible that the reason those Japanese people at the ceremony sang their anthem in the end has something to do with the fact that the symbol of the sun is largely entwined with their national identity,they an image of the sun on their flag,the name of their country literally means “land of rising sun” in their language,and they have an emperor who is said to be descended from a solar deity…this is clearly unique among the countries in the world today,almost like a living piece of a solar dynasty! (although it’s clear this order has degenerated as time have passed) It shows just how influential the Religion of the Sun was in the world at some point in history.
PS: I think the yellow chrysanthemum which is considered the Japanese national emblem may also be a symbolic representation of the sun. This is just my guess,but I think the flower does look like a golden sun with many rays of light emanating from it if you look at it in a certain way
Hi Emily,
It’s interesting you mentioned those things about Japan. Yes, the country of the rising sun, always stood out to me and once I asked some Japanese people about a God or any kind of religious beliefs, they told me that they believe that the God is in mountains .. i was contemplating this for a long time as I was somehow very attracted to their ancient side of life. Then learning about the martial arts and how it is actually closely related to the spiritual practice, fascinated me then. . . It’s interesting I was always pulled towards their ancient side although never had any experiences of me being there in past lives.
I also ,like Lucia, was moved by their summer solstice ceremony and especially how they bowed to the rising sun.
Hi Emily,
That is interesting about the Hani people celebrating the summer solstice! When I was looking into Southern China some years ago, I found out that Yunan province especially seemed to have some remnants of the Religion of the Sun there. Hani people actually live side-by-side with the so-called Yi people (who are also called Nuosu or Lolo), and these Yi people also have some traces of the Religion of the Sun in their culture. For example they have solar calendar, a fire/torch festival (which is unfortunately not conducted on the summer solstice, but in August), and some amazing solar symbols on their native costumes as can be seen here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jconlar/albums/72157645773250277/with/14830801404/
Their traditional life-style and a caste social system has been destroyed by the communism though, and so they unfortunately ended up very impoverished. Their religion also has elements of animism and ancestor worship though (similarly to the Hani), which made me wonder when and how all this came together…
Hi Lucia,
You are right about the Yi people,and I think maybe they’re all connected to each other somehow.
Wow! Another amazing compilation of evidence demonstrating that the Summer Solstice was, and still is, a world wide celebration. It’s meaning a lot more profound and intricate than simply a ‘pagan’ ritual by far! I was most surprised to learn about the connection to Spiritual OBEs and also the tunnel of light possibly being connected to the long passageways or entries of various ancient sites such as Stonehenge, Scotland, etc as being symbolic of vortices/openings/passageways to higher realms. Once again, further proof that the ancient civilizations/peoples were far more connected and advanced in their understanding, practice and application of spiritual knowledge.
Thanks Dimi, yes, this was quite the revelation that has opened up a whole new understanding of ancient sites as we’ll explain in detail in our upcoming book The Spiritual Out-of-Body Experience, which isn’t far away now.
Happy Lovely Solstices (North and South hemisphere) everyone! I’m glad to see your article and your Youtube video again. It is always a pleasure and this is artwork. You spread smiles and hopes
Love and Light :)
Thank you so much
Thanks for the beautiful very informative video with stunning pictures and graphics!
Happy and Spiritual Solstice and love and strength to everyone!
Thanks so much Merita, yes, the team did a really special job with the graphics on this one. They really put a lot of effort and care in.
Thank you Alexandros, it’s always so nice to have your appreciation, here and on YouTube. Thank you for expressing it, it means a lot. Love and Light.
Happy Summer Solstice on the north hemisphere and happy winter solstice on the south hemisphere. Better times to all of you.
Thank you Jiri, and thanks for being the first commenter!