Category Archives: Psychology

The Believing of Seeing, Part 2: The World of a Modern Day Psychic

Posted on October 16, 2015 | Leave a comment

An Oracle Turtle Shell. Tortoise plastron with divination inscription from the Shang dynasty, dating to the reign of King Wu Ding. Held at the National Museum of China in Beijing.

In Part 1 of The Believing of Seeing, we examined the Oracle of Delphi and its importance in the ancient world. Today we meet a modern day psychic who shares with us her own insights into her gift of foresight.

Jeannie Reed is a professional psychic with an international clientele. For thirty years she has practiced her craft. She believes that each of us has psychic ability that only needs to be nurtured and developed to be realized. Below she describes her awakening as a professional reader and the evolution of her ability to see what others cannot. Continue reading →

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Posted in Blog, Communications, Healing Arts, Psychology, Public Life, Religion, Science and Technology

Tagged ancient history, ancient oracle, ancient psychic, AntiquityNOW, i ching, Jeannie Reed, psychic, tarot

The Believing of Seeing, Part 1: The Oracle of Delphi

Posted on October 15, 2015 | 1 comment

Priestess of Delphi (1891), as imagined by John Collier; the Pythia is inspired by pneuma rising from below as she sits on a tripod.

This time of year we love to explore all things unexplainable. But while Halloween has become a marketer’s dream, the spirits and forces that we mimic and parody in costumes and lawn ornaments are the stuff that defined ancient lives. Fear of the unknown, obeisance to light and dark forces and importunities to celestial powers were all seminal to the rise and fall of cultures around the world. For this reason, those individuals who had prescient powers were held in particularly high regard. The Oracle of Delphi in ancient Greece is perhaps one of the most famous of these ancient seers. Continue reading →

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Posted in Blog, Culture, Psychology, Public Life, Religion, Science and Technology, Science Fiction

Tagged ancient hallucinogens, ancient history, ancient oracle, ancient psychics, AntiquityNOW, Apollo, fault lines, Greek gods, Greek mythology, oracle, Oracle at Delphi, psychics, Pythia, Pytho, vapors

Double Trouble: Doppelgangers and the Mythology of Spirit Doubles

Posted on October 28, 2014 | Leave a comment

It’s almost Halloween! In our recent posts we’ve been delving into why some of us are so drawn to the supernatural, the paranormal and the scaring the pants off terrifying. In today’s post we hurl ourselves once more into the realm of the supernatural. A twice look at terror, as it were. Continue reading →

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Posted in Ancient Origins, Blog, Culture, Holidays, Literature, Psychology, Public Life, Religion, Science and Technology

Tagged ancient doppelgangers, ancient folklore, Ancient Origins, AntiquityNOW, doppelgangers, Egyptian mythology, Halloween, Native American mythology, Norse mythology, spirit doubles

National Anthems: Ancient Elements, Modern Resoundings

Posted on September 16, 2014 | Leave a comment

Last Sunday, September 14^th, was the 200^th anniversary of the writing of the United States’ national anthem, The Star Spangled Banner. Inspired by the raising of the American flag at Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland, which signified a major victory by the Americans over the British during the War of 1812, Francis Scott Key penned a homage to the “broad stripes and bright stars” he saw that night. This year, people celebrated across the land with concerts dedicated to the music of the United States. Continue reading →

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Posted in Blog, Communications, Culture, Holidays, Literature, Music, Politics, Psychology, Public Life, Science and Technology, Sports, War and Violence

Tagged Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, ancient history, Ancient Rome, AntiquityNOW, Du Gamla Du Fria, Hatkivah, Het Wilhelmus, Inno di Mameli, Kimigayo, music psychology, national anthems, Star Spangled Banner

A Place Called Home: Earth Day, Ecopsychology and an Urban Legend

Posted on April 22, 2014 | Leave a comment

What is this connection with the earth that we humans cling to so tenaciously? As a species we obviously are dependent on the air to breathe, the water and soil that nurture us, the sun whose fiery presence holds us in its eternal circle. But the earth is more than the elements that give us life. The earth holds millions of memories in the folds of its mountains, across the tapestry of its lands and in the rhythmic singing of its seas. For we as humans attach ourselves to this earth, not just for nurturance, but by the profound evocations of time, memory and place. Continue reading →

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Posted in Art, Biology, Blog, Culture, Holidays, Human Rights, Literature, Psychology, Public Life, Science and Technology

Tagged AntiquityNOW, Chief Seattle, Earth Day, Ecopsychology, Environmentalism, Theodore Roszak, Where is home

Music Origins: Mesopotamia, American Gospel and the Neurology of Faith, Part II

Posted on April 10, 2014 | 3 comments

Image courtesy of Andrew Newberg, NPR.

In Part I we looked at the importance of music in Mesopotamia and its specific role in communing with the gods. Fast forwarding nearly four millennia we found a remarkable similarity in the strains of American gospel music and the belief that the ecstasy of song enables the Holy Spirit to enter the bodies of the faithful. What is the nature of this willingness to give up one’s self to a higher being? How does music play a part? Is rapture—a potent driving force among believers—real? Let’s look further at the reason for this music/spiritual connection by venturing inside the anatomy of the brain and as well exploring humankind’s long and precarious evolution of mind and body. Continue reading →

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Posted in Anatomy and Physiology, Biology, Blog, Culture, Music, Psychology, Science and Technology

Tagged ancient history, ancient music, AntiquityNOW, God gene, music and spirituality, neurology, neurotheology

Music Origins: Mesopotamia, American Gospel and the Neurology of Faith, Part I

Posted on April 3, 2014 | 3 comments

Through the centuries many forms of music have arisen out of mystical or spiritual ardor: Indian ragas, Japanese Shinto music, Madih nabawi or Arabic hymns, the classic liturgical anthems of Europe and American gospel. Whether by the pounding of drums or the sonorous stones of Stonehenge or the arpeggios echoing against ancient cathedral walls, worship through music has defined civilizations from early times. What is this power in music that moves humans to seek their deities in notes, rhythms and sounds? Let’s look at two very different cultures with surprisingly similar perspectives. Continue reading →