The Spiral of Justifications – a lineage of sorrow
I’ll admit it. As a man I have too many times felt the tidal pull of the victim, enhanced by imbalanced justifications in the name of momentary retribution, naming it mindly as setting the record straight – righting a perceived wrong even about trivia that I care not for.
If we are honest with ourselves few if any of us can claim we haven’t engaged in this behaviour, this thinking . Very much bestowed and endorsed by the Patriarchy we live under – the world is full of examples of this in action. Neighbour disputes, in the homes the offices in the battlefields of our ungirded imaginations. A machination of suffering , in the name of being suffered.
So the victim continuum …. its a buck passing of responsibility -this thing did that to me , they “made” me feel or do this. The Made phrase that we use so often is interesting. What happens when we make something – we are creating something – we as in ourselves. So yes we were the creators of our own victimisation.
I’m not, to be clear including situations of genuine physical and mental and emotional abuse here, more specific perception. Where we are of our own free choice, engaging our entire being in this negative loop. It’s the loop of sorrow. Oft the justification for feuds and wars, massacres and persecution. A lack of forgiveness, a lack of compassion in ourselves for ourselves- and therefore of others.
We all experience suffering in a myriad of ways and intensities throughout our lives. Are we justified to victimise ourselves, and others on the back of something that once happened to us that was bad or troubling ? At some point we need to heal, move on and transform this pain, so we can prime our inner and outer worlds for harmony and deep peace. To step out of suffering, away from the bumbling bigotry of self depreciation and that of others.
If we take the time to look into the heart fire and learn to glow and emanate not the victim but the calm abidance then we can forage into happiness and foster love. Is our justification peer reviewed by the universe ? No just by us. We are all unique but part of the Mindstream- the singularity thread. This is how our perceptions can seed in others behaviours. The Nuremberg rallies is a classic example of this, but still it’s a choice , still it’s our individual responsibility and no we can’t justify its presence when loving living, breathing compassion is what we all need to live.
So the next time you say that phrase, or feel that way – that’s ok, just try not to forget you drive the wheel, and if you let go and admonish yourself renouncing your power – then you got no right to blame the external when you made it that way by self design and your own free thought.
The inner words and the outer utterance is our living working mantra. Our deliverance and dedication. What we say echoes and ripples literally as a wave. These waves as the sea can combine and form super waves. A calm sea is friendly on the heart and soul. Smile to the victim in you , embrace it so completely that it is healed. Best way I found to do that is allow it. Like electricity to flow most efficiently it needs least resistance in its circuit so do our hearts . Look for your resistance don’t bolster it with reinforcements and additional battalions of self righteousness. If that becomes our recruiting station tabloid then we already lost out.
Send your wound a kiss of life, smile kindly at your misfortune so it becomes your wine. Breath deeply and gently on your troubled feelings, may they be nurtured tenderly like a sapling of happiness.
The great garment of choice, and the choice of what to wear.
When we wake in the morning and decide what to wear for the day, we choose our selection on what looks or feels right or in some cases what we are told to by others. There is a thread. A thread of choice that joins the seams of all. Throughout our lives a very real issue is this feeling of having choice taken away, or reduced or prevented by others or by other forces beyond our control. The beyond control component is interesting as by definition its beyond our control. So rightly this could include, physical harm or aggression from others, natural disasters, alien attack the sun blowing up- there is a myriad of these. As adults and as beings the only thing we get to control and do have complete choice over is our consciousness. This is our jurisdiction, or the truth of our word/speech. The Inherent justice of our sound.
As we look into the mirror reflection getting dressed and make our selection- we can see that we have the right of choice over our thoughts, emotions and behaviour i.e our response to stimuli, response to the actions of others, response to the things that happen beyond our control. So many times we as beings as humans will say- she stopped me from doing that, he prevented me from getting there- they took away my freedom of choice. We can replace this limitation station perspective with limitless perspective. Spend enough time alive and its clear to see the world is filled with different beings that create vast oceans of variety- each with their own design and process – expand that to the vastness of all there is and it is limitless.
In this patriarchal society construct or ”choice”- those that wish to control, really do not want you to remember that choice is not optional its a default. It cannot be owned, or bought or traded or taken by force. If you have consciousness, then you have choice. But we have to stop seeing the reflections that confuse us into thinking that we are not allowed choice, whilst many things in a compelling and very real way my make us feel like this. We have whole international bodies set up to preserve and defend our rights, we have entire laws dedicated to enshrining something that exists in the non-physical plane. The choice of our consciousness. The freedom within, the jurisdiction of our infinite love. Hatred, anger and violence can only ever be healed, transmuted or transformed as energy with Love.
If you push past the layers of fear, the excuses- the justifications you remember love. Your infinite being knows this Heart-space. So instead of reminding yourself and creating reasons, instead of choosing 🙂 – to see you have choice taken away remember, you can only give this away, only you can take away or decide on your choosing on the real level- the level of consciousness. So remember what is yours to choose, and what is not. Once you have this calibrated in harmony, making choices becomes easier. Life will still cast many difficult situations and things you must decide- so give yourself a chance. Take a chance on you.
Think in your heart of what you decided to wear for your life, and also remember like choosing clothes- if your not happy with how you look and most importantly how you feel- you can always choose something new or different. Wear your pendant of choice with courage, let it shine forth your understandings and hopes and intentions. The pendant of choice is invisible yet can be felt by all, it is every design and no design all in one beautiful infinite casing of abundance. You can make choices that create more for not just you but others. The pendant resonates in the heart, it is worn on the soul and carried into the physical by the body. The mind is the conduit between these worlds. The Universe is full of infinite variety and choice. While others are busy fighting, and arguing- be your choice. This power cannot be stopped or controlled, its vastness knows no boundaries or limitations. Fashion yourself, wear and be your fashion and show it to the Universe, the everything choice.
As a printer by trade, he was able to read accounts of the latest scientific discoveries and became an inventor. Scott de Martinville was interested in recording the sound of human speech in a way similar to that achieved by the then new technology of photography for light and image. He hoped for a form of stenography that could record the whole of a conversation without any omissions. His earliest interest was in an improved form of stenography and he was the author of several papers on shorthand and a history of the subject (1849).
From 1853 he became fascinated in a mechanical means of transcribing vocal sounds. While proofreading some engravings for a physics textbook he came across drawings of auditory anatomy. He sought to mimic the working in a mechanical device, substituting an elastic membrane for the tympanum, a series of levers for the ossicle, which moved a stylus he proposed would press on a paper, wood, or glass surface covered in lampblack. On 26 January 1857, he delivered his design in a sealed envelope to the French Academy. On 25 March 1857, he received French patent #17,897/31,470 for the phonautograph.
The phonautograph used a horn to collect sound, attached to a diaphragm which vibrated a stiff bristle which inscribed an image on a lamp black coated, hand-cranked cylinder. Scott built several devices with the help of acoustic instrument maker Rudolph Koenig. Unlike Edison‘s later invention of 1877, the phonograph, the phonautograph only created visual images of the sound and did not have the ability to play back its recordings. Scott de Martinville’s device was used only for scientific investigations of sound waves.
Scott de Martinville managed to sell several phonautographs to scientific laboratories for use in the investigation of sound. It proved useful in the study of vowel sounds and was used by Franciscus Donders, Heinrich Schneebeli and Rene Marage. It also initiated further research into tools able to image sound such as Koenig’s manometric flame. He was not, however, able to profit from his invention and spent the remainder of his life as a librarian and bookseller at 9 Rue Vivienne in Paris.
Scott de Martinville also became interested in the relationship between linguistics, people’s names and their character and published a paper on the subject (1857).
Direct tracings of the vibrations of sound-producing objects such as tuning forks had been made by English physician Thomas Young in 1807, but the first known device for recording airborne speech, music and other sounds is the phonautograph, patented in 1857 by French typesetter and inventor Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville. In this device, sound waves travelling through the air vibrated a parchment diaphragm which was linked to a bristle, and the bristle traced a line through a thin coating of soot on a sheet of paper wrapped around a rotating cylinder. The sound vibrations were recorded as undulations or other irregularities in the traced line. Scott’s phonautograph was intended purely for the visual study and analysis of the tracings. Reproduction of the recorded sound was not possible with the original phonautograph.
In 2008, phonautograph recordings made by Scott were played back as sound by American audio historians, who used optical scanning and computer processing to convert the traced waveforms into digital audio files. These recordings, made circa 1860, include fragments of two French songs and a recitation in Italian. This was made possible by the wonderful work of FirstSounds.Org detailed below.
Au Clair de la Lune – By the Light of the Moon (April 9, 1860) [#36]
Scott recorded the French folksong “Au Clair de la Lune” on April 9, 1860, and deposited the results with the Académie des Sciences in 1861. It remains the earliest clearly recognizable record of the human voice yet recovered. The words have been a matter of controversy, but the latest playback—unveiled in May 2010—establishes them as “Au clair de la lune, mon ami Pierrot, prête moi—,” rather than “Au clair de la lune, Pierrot répondit,” as originally announced. The latest work also reveals that Scott had allowed the cylinder to slow down—possibly to a complete stop—between the words “Pierrot” and “prête,” perhaps indicating a pause to check how much unrecorded space was left on the sheet.
Listen here to the Recording :
FirstSounds.ORG
These wonderful people since 2008 have been bringing to life the worlds oldest recordings – here is some basic info about them and what they do
David Giovannoni tracks some of his activities on his website.
Patrick Feaster explores historical media at his website and blog.
Richard Martin & Meagan Hennessey continue to produce new releases for Archeophone Records and blog about acoustic era sound.
Many good people have collaborated with us over the years. Sincere thanks to all.
Marcel Vogel (research scientist formerly with IBM): ‘The crystal is a neutral object whose inner structure exhibits a state of perfection and balance. When it’s cut to the proper form and when the human mind enters into relationship with its structural perfection, the crystal emits a vibration which extends and amplifies the powers of the user’s mind. Like a laser, it radiates energy in a coherent, highly concentrated form, and this energy may be transmitted into objects of people at will’
QUARTZ AND ITS PROPERTIES FOR HEALING
Quartz is a defining constituent of granite and other felsic igneous rocks. It is very common in sedimentary rocks such as sandstone and shale. It is a common constituent of schist, gneiss, quartzite and other metamorphic rocks. Quartz has the lowest potential for weathering in the Goldich dissolution series and consequently it is very common as a residual mineral in stream sediments and residual soils.
While the majority of quartz crystallises from molten magma, much quartz also chemically precipitates from hot hydro-thermal veins as gangue, sometimes with ore minerals like gold, silver and copper. Large crystals of quartz are found in magmatic pegmatites. Well-formed crystals may reach several meters in length and weigh hundreds of kilograms.
Naturally occurring quartz crystals of extremely high purity, necessary for the crucibles and other equipment used for growing silicon wafers in the semiconductor industry, are expensive and rare. A major mining location for high purity quartz is the Spruce Pine Gem Mine in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, United States.
The largest documented single crystal of quartz was found near Itapore, Goiaz, Brazil; it measured approximately 6.1×1.5×1.5 m and weighed more than 44 tonnes.
Quartz is a mineral composed of silicon and oxygen atoms in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical formula of SiO2. Quartz is the second most abundant mineral in Earth’s continental crust, behind feldspar
Quartz crystal, because of the power and strength of its geometrical pattern, can transform a frequency pattern that it is exposed to. When a geometrical pattern is transformed, the manifestation is transformed. The use of sound with crystal is a further step toward understanding and participating in the manifestation and organisation of matter in the universe. And although the growing knowledge of the use of crystal to transmute and transform electromagnetic energy has become important in the development of new technology, quartz crystal’s greatest potential lies in the manipulation of subtle energies within humans.
Besides having a variety of grid-like lattice structures, quartz is believed by recent research scientists to also have some spiral patterns woven into the crystal structure.
Crystalline structure will respond to consciousness as well as to heat, light, sound, and pressure. It is this ability to respond to consciousness and thought forms that is so pertinent to our discussion. As crystal responds it will undergo oscillation and in so doing create specific vibratory frequencies of energy emission.
Along this vein, negative thought forms which have taken shape as a disease pattern can be released allowing the body to return to homoeostasis. The quartz power may lay its ability to make organised, focused, and coherent the emanations from a healer; like a laser takes scattered rays of energy and makes the energy field coherent and unidirectional. The healer’s energies are much stronger than if they were not made coherent by the crystal. So love and intent from the practitioner is so important.
Additionally, quartz has the ability to hold a healing thought form, similar to a magnetic recording media like a flash drive or hard drive. The crystal can be programmed with specialised information using higher dimensional consciousness vibrations.
The word “quartz” is derived from the German word “Quarz” and its Middle High German ancestor “twarc”, which probably originated in Slavic, cf. Czech tvrdý (“hard”), Polish twardy (“hard”), Serbian and Croatian tvrd(“hard”). The Ancient Greeks referred to quartz as κρύσταλλος (krustallos) derived from the Ancient Greek κρύος (kruos) meaning “icy cold”, because some philosophers (including Theophrastus) apparently believed the mineral to be a form of super-cooled ice. Today, the term rock crystal is sometimes used as an alternative name for the purest form of quartz.
HOW ARE THEY MADE ? & SOME BACKGROUND
Silica’s importance in overall optimal bodily function has been recognized for quite some time. As early as 1878, Louis Pasteur predicted that silica would be found to be an important therapeutic substance for many diseases and would play a significant role in human health and consequently nutrition. The average human body has about seven grams of silica.
Singing crystal bowls came into being in the mid 1970’s. Made of quartz crystal, they are a byproduct of the computer industry and are also used to produce synthetic diamonds, rubies, and emeralds. Known as crucibles, they are produced worldwide. Originally, the industry only grew microchips at exact frequencies. Now, these beautiful bowls are available to the general public for vibrational healing, meditation, chanting, toning and musical accompaniment. They are made of the purest silica sand, spun in a centrifugal mould and heated at extremely high temperatures. The wall of each bowl is calibrated to an exact thickness. Produced in this manner, every bowl has a specific frequency and tone. This process of quartz fusion creates a singing crystal bowl of absolute timbre. Clear bowls are made from cut sections of large diameter quartz tubing, melted and fused at one end. The tones produced by playing the surfaces of these bowls are astounding. Some of which have been found to be perceptible to human ears, at distances up to almost 2,000 feet.
Crystal singing bowls along with flutes are the only two instruments capable of producing a perfect sine wave, also known as pure tone. These waves do not erode over time and continue in their perfect form much like sending a beam of laser light off into the night skies. The pure tone of this perfect wave is capable of correcting imbalances in the human body through the law of resonance. This law states that when two similar energetic systems encounter each other, their vibrations will come into a state of harmonic vibration. Our brain wave patterns in alpha state have the same energetic patterns as sine waves.
When a crystal singing bowl is compressed, by rubbing it with a suede mallet or rubber ball, it demonstrates it’s pyroelectric properties, releasing light and small voltages of electricity. Energy is literally stored within the crystal bowl as a result of these properties. When a quartz crystal singing bowl is played, this energy is amplified and expanded going out into the environment until it comes into contact with another vibrating physical structure, perhaps yourself! Our bodies are made up of silica and our glands and cells are crystalline in structure. These structures, combined with the 80% of our body which is made of water, makes singing crystal bowls resonate perfectly with the human body, vibrating it into a state for optimum healing, meditation and spiritual growth.
They are made of 99% silica sand (quartz) and is literally spun in be in a centrifugal mold which is heated to 4000 degrees and an electric arc in the center fuses the individual grains into one whole.’s why the inside of the bowls is smooth and the external granular and sparkly as tiny quartz grains. When they came out of the mold they are then configured. This is done through a process similar to sanding down the bowl on the outside or trim the bowls height to the required note is found. The outer edge of the bowl is then performed by moving Suede mallet or beater with a large rubber ball on the end around it, which causes friction and the sound is then produced.
HOW TO CLEAN AND CARE FOR CRYSTAL SINGING BOWLS
Crystal Singing Bowls are a beautiful, yet fragile instrument. But with correct maintenance it can remain beautiful and bright for a lifetime. Always handle your bowl with extreme care, and take unique precautions while carrying it. It is likewise essential that suitable strikers, mallets and rubber rings are used when your bowl is played. There is a wide range of these specialised tools which will guarantee your bowl is not ruined while you play it. Bowls could end up being unclean during typical usage. Tidy your bowl with distilled water and moderate soap. A soft bristle brush or white fabric could be made use of. We have discovered that frosted bowls with stubborn areas could profit from a steam cleaner. Small format Steam cleaners allow you to spray dirt from the outer surface and are the easiest way to clean your bowls.
Cleansing the Frosted quartz crystal singing bowls
Quartz crystal has energy memory. This has several implications. Perhaps you have had a session you want to repeat. Then don’t clear your bowl in between these sessions.
Perhaps you are having a new session with a new agenda, and desired energy. The bowl, like recording media, can accept one bunch of data at a time so you will need to clear it of old vibrational energies.
It is conceivable that you might want to keep your energies and intent to accumulate in your bowl and make it personal. But upon receiving a new bowl it should be cleansed of old vibrations.
The fastest way to cleanse your bowl is with distilled water that has several drops of pennyroyal oil in it. Your bowl does not need to be immersed in this water but you can fill it up with distilled/pennyroyal oil water and also wash the outside with a cloth soaked in this water. This will cleanse your bowl in just a few minutes.
Other methods of cleansing:
1. Take it to the sea and immerse it in the salt water – leave it for a couple hours if you can and preferably in a sunny spot.
2. Set in sunlight for a couple days
3. Bury it for 2-7 days
4. Put it in a stream and let water flow over it for 2-7 days (this method is more appropriate for crystals than for bowls)
Cleansing your bowl will demagnetize it so that it accepts new intentions and vibrations. Regardless, it is good to cleanse your bowl periodically.
All to often in the hussle and bustle of our everyday train, we spend and dedicate so much time to rushing. Faster and faster perpetual motion, juggling demands and trying often struggling to fit into the ”schedule” all we ”have to do”. There are many articles on Harmonics and vibration, thesis’s, papers, techniques and technical scientific research into the subject so I wanted to approach this from a subtle perspective. A flowing one, like a gentle memory. This piece is more about a perspective on listening and sound, and not so much on the specifics and techniques of my approach or any to achieving that – I will save that for subsequent articles on the matter.
Just like there is always more to learn about life, there is infinite learning and observation through sound. That delicate straddling of the micro/macro-cosm, the harmonious dance through existence and beyond.
The thing I like about zooming out or in is its simplifying. Expand out far enough and you’ll get so big you become the smallest or notice it simply, zoom in enough and you will see the large picture simply. That’s not of course to say we wont notice anything or that degree of scope by only performing these two infinite actions, but I find it to be a gentle way to straddle the balance of all there is sometimes.
”There is no object so large but that at a great distance from the eye it does not appear smaller than a smaller object near”. Leonardo da Vinci
Have you ever sat on the grass face-down and looked at the ground, or gazed into a pond ? When you took the time out of your-sized world, and observed you probably were amazed and blown away by how much motion, movement how much life is present that had you not slowed down, stopped and taken the time to notice you would have missed out on all this oneness. All the creatures, beings and therefore energies flowing all around you that you just hadn’t noticed until you focused your gaze. It is one and the same of course with sound. Since all is in a state of vibration this also means the sound of and from this life and all there is is constantly flowing around us.
I can remember as a child putting my ear to the ground and hearing the life, the busy noises of the living earth. That’s what I love about our world so much- its such a noisy, living breathing circle spinning through space. The joy of that discovery of noticing something magical beautiful that was there all along- like a full-stop. and comma all along. So it doesn’t matter if your interested in deep explorations of Sound or just want to hear the beauty of the world in finer greater detail, or perhaps just improve your communications with friends and family, or in my case all of the above – we can hear the fruits in-store for us 🙂
Leaving aside the literal details and precise religious meanings, here in this space I see David & Goliath as polarities, two aspects of ourselves that instead of fighting, and killing each other, they are working as one unit – the small and the Large, the inner and outer worlds all part of the great Spiral. So we interviewed them to bring forward their understanding on subtle sound-work. David revealed to us the small micro-view, the essence of the reduced picture of simplicity- the ears as the eyes focused on the bindu point of perception. ” I find as im walking around, it helpful to think and feel the smaller things, you know right down to the tiniest rock, the tiniest smallness that we can find. When we synchronise the thought with the feeling with the ears, then we can develop our listening to the finer harmonics, the subtleness the suppleness of vibration” he said, Goliath nodded and stroked his elongated beard of massiveness adding ” Yes David, I agree – eye for one, tend to see things as the big picture- the hugeness of all and nothing, the great expanse of possibility and the nobility of its infinite refraction’s”. So here we have little and large agreeing on the same thing. David had one more thing to add with a beaming smile across his face before the close of this precious exchange ” we came here to fight and oppose each-other, me with my slings of outrageously placed and incorrectly perceived victimisation, and he with his loomingly massive bullying spear- but as we approached one another we realised there was no opposition – or need to fight. Here we realised there was a bridge in between, that spans the space between the space- here we can find our listening spot. The Sweet spot.
So using our imagination we can cast a illuminating view on where we choose, where we imagine to see and hear- like the hear-see. In an infinite ocean of sound waves in which we constantly swim, we can direct our sonar listening devices. We hear below and above and everywhere, like the all in all.
We are the collaborators, the dreamers the audience and performers of the Synphonia Universalis. This is what David & Goliath wanted to share with us, to remember our participation as listeners to the subtle energy, the subtle ripples of harmony. The way the ears can lead the mind. The word harmony stems from the ancient greek word – Harmos meaning joint. The twain the two as one joint, the process toward and encompassing connected listening, as one limb of awareness.
Beautiful short animated film by artist and Director Olga Guse. Androgyne is a symbol of man born physically or mentally between the two sexes. Throughout his life, he is torn between male and female, Adam and Eve inside and outside. Her film features our song from the debut album ”Devoured by the Comfort Zone”- Healing Transformation. We encourage you to check out and discover her work.
Screenings of her film still set for 2017 :
Luan Gallery exhibition
17th October – 11th December 2017,
Athlone, Ireland
Southwark LGBT Network art exhibition
July 2017
London, England
A simple Song-Prayer to wish inspiration and ideas for all beings. We look for and find so many differing and inventive ways to be inspired, and sometimes we forget that the notion of inspiration and the breath itself is enough for us to find and follow our song of life.
All traditional cultures have some personification of the Divine Healer or miracle working physician. The ancient Greeks had Asclepius, the god of medicine.
In Homer’s Iliad, Asclepius was a man, a physician to soldiers wounded on the battlefield at Troy. But by Hippocrates’ day, he had become elevated to the status of a god.
Actually, Asclepius was a demigod, born of a divine father,Apollo, and a mortal mother, Coronis. While pregnant with Asclepius, Coronis fell in love with a mortal man and married him. This so angered Apollo that he struck both Coronis and her husband dead. As Coronis’ body lay burning on the funeral pyre, Apollo performed the first Caesarian section, freeing the baby Asclepius from his mother’s womb and certain death. And so, Asclepius’ very birth was due to a heroic act of medical intervention.
Apollo then took the infant to be raised by the wise old centaur Chiron, who taught him the art of healing. Asclepius became a great physician and surgeon, and raised the art of medicine to unprecedented heights.
The goddess Athena gave Asclepius the gift of Medusa’s blood. The blood from the veins on the left side of Medusa’s head was for the bane of mankind, but Asclepius used the blood from the veins on the right side for saving mankind and for raising the dead.
Asclepius’ raising of the dead aroused the wrath of Zeus. Not only was Zeus angered to see many of his old enemies, whom he had struck dead with his thunderbolts, returning to life, but his brother Hades, king of the underworld, was complaining about the dearth of new arrivals. And so, Zeus struck Asclepius dead with one of his thunderbolts, fearing the spread of his miraculous art of healing, especially into the wrong hands.
Despite the rumors of his death, Asclepius became a living god. Healing sanctuaries, or Asclepions, were dedicated to him at sacred sites throughout ancient Greece.
Asclepius often used the art of divination to obtain responses from his father Apollo through oracles. From these auguries he learned much about the natures of many drugs and herbs, and how to use them in treating disease. This knowledge he passed on to his sons, and to his students.
Asclepius is the personification of the miracle working physician of consummate medical skill. This powerful archetype is still invoked today by many patients, desperately praying for their doctor to work them a medical miracle, to snatch life from the jaws of death. Many people place a powerful, almost religious faith in their doctors.
While placing a supernatural, blind faith in medicine and physicians, most men actually know very little about life and death, and what they really are. On the whole, their approach to both is rather cursory and superficial. Many men waste their lives away while fearing death, without properly investigating either of them.Asclepius’ demise at the hands of Zeus shows the ultimate powerlessness of man against the natural order and the forces of decay, destruction, and death. Even the most skillful physician cannot hold death off indefinitely, and in the end, the grim reaper always claims his due.
ASKLEPIOS (Asclepius) was the god of medicine. He was also the patron god, and reputed ancestor, of the Asklepiades (Asclepiades), the ancient guild of doctors.
Asklepios was the son of Apollon and the Trikkaian (Triccaean) princess Koronis (Coronis). His mother died in labour and when she was laid out on the pyre, Apollon cut the unborn child from her womb. From this Asklepios received his name which means “to cut open.” Asklepios was raised by the centaur Kheiron (Chiron) who instructed him in the art of medicine. He grew so skilled in the craft that he was able to restore the dead to life. This was a crime against the natural order and so Zeus destroyed him with a thunderbolt.
After his death Asklepios was placed amongst the stars as the constellation Ophiochus (“the Serpent Holder”). Some say his mother was also set in the heavens as Corvus, the crow (korônê in Greek). Asklepios’ apotheosis into godhood occurred at the same time. He was sometimes identified with Homer’s Paion (Paeon), the physician of the gods.Asklepios was depicted as a kindly, bearded man holding a serpent-entwined staff. Although he is largely absent from ancient Greek vase painting, statues of the god are quite common.
Asclepius Snake Therapy:
Asclepius symbol of healing was a snake. It is said that Asclepius arrived once, in his temples of worship, transformed into a snake. The Asklepios name has not yet interpreted, but it is likely to be associated with the snake. In Greek language “Ασκλ” produced by Ασκάλαβο, meaning snake, lizard, reptile. In many myths of Asclepius a snake kisses the patient and than the patient healed.
Example from the Greek mythology: A patient, with a bad wound on his toe, moved by Asclepius assistants in to the temple and than slept. While a little awake, the patient saw the sacred snake to coming out from a sacred place and licking his wound. After an hour he woke up healthy.
Today science can give as a lot of clues about how the snake venom can used as an alternetive medicine for many diseases. Modern research supports the idea that a snake poison neurotoxins and hemotoxins may have a lot of health benefits and can be used to create drugs that can treat heart disease, alzheimer’s and memory loss.
So how the ancient Greeks adjust the venom in the first place? Amazingly they may have drank it. Evidence have shown that the Ancient Greeks may have discovered the healing powers of the snake venom long before we did!
Asclepius Dream Healing:
Ancient Greeks gave special importance to sleep, that’s because of the dream mystical powers and therapeutic properties. Therapeutic sleepiness practiced in Asclepius treatment centers. It was a ritual practice, the patient had to sleep in a sacred place in order to receive a revealing dream for therapeutic purposes. After a physical and mental cleansing process, the patient must sleep in the sacred place and seeking a revealing dream, a meeting with the Divine inside the dream for wellness and healing.
In preparation were other parts like, special diets, fasting, bathing, musical events, gym, massage, inhaling fumes (probably psychotropic substances) and conversations with the monks and doctors of Asklepios. Patients drank tea from herbs and other therapeutic mixtures, and indeed, as mentioned, sometimes the sick become well with this process, without even having to continue and sleep. After the teas, the patient had to stand in the Sacred Fountain. The water of the fountain was used for body cleansing and symbolic psychic purification. Religious tests also take part to strengthen patient faith and soul, so can be ready to approach the Divine.
ENCYCLOPEDIA :
AESCULA′PIUS (Asklêpios), the god of the medical art. In the Homeric poems Aesculapius does not appear to be considered as a divinity, but merely as a human being, which is indicated by the adjective amumôn, which is never given to a god. No allusion is made to his descent, and he is merely mentioned as the iêtêr amumôn, and the father of Machaon and Podaleirius. (Il. ii. 731, iv. 194, xi. 518.) From the fact that Homer (Od. iv. 232) calls all those who practise the healing art descendants of Paeëon, and that Podaleirius and Machaon are called the sons of Aesculapius, it has been inferred, that Aesculapius and Paeëon are the same being, and consequently a divinity. But wherever Homer mentions the healing god, it is always Paeëon, and never Aesculapius; and as in the poet’s opinion all physicians were descended from Paeëon, he probably considered Aesculapius in the same light. This supposition is corroborated by the fact, that in later times Paeëon was identified with Apollo, and that Aesculapius is universally described as a descendant of Apollo. The two sons of Aesculapius in the Iliad, were the physicians in the Greek army, and are described as ruling over Tricca, Ithome, and Oechalia. (Il. ii. 729.) According to Eustathius (ad Hom. p. 330), Lapithes was a son of Apollo and Stilbe, and Aesculapius was a descendant of Lapithes. This tradition seems to be based on the same groundwork as the more common one, that Aesculapius was a son of Apollo and Coronis, the daughter of Phlegyas, who is a descendant of Lapithes. (Apollod. iii. 10. § 3; Pind. Pyth. iii. 14, with the Schol.)
The common story then goes on as follows. When Coronis was with child by Apollo, she became enamoured with Ischys, an Arcadian, and Apollo informed of this by a raven, which he had set to watch her, or, according to Pindar, by his own prophetic powers, sent his sister Artemis to kill Coronis. Artemis accordingly destroyed Coronis in her own house at Lacereia in Thessaly, on the shore of lake Baebia. (Comp. Hom. Hymn. 27. 3.) According to Ovid (Met. ii. 605, &c.) and Hyginus (Poet. Astr. ii. 40), it was Apollo himself who killed Coronis and Ischys. When the body of Coronis was to be burnt, Apollo, or, according to others (Paus. ii. 26. § 5), Hermes, saved the child (Aesculapius) from the flames, and carried it to Cheiron, who instructed the boy in the art of healing and in hunting. (Pind. Pyth. iii. 1, &c.; Apollod. iii. 10. § 3; Paus. l. c.) According to other traditions Aesculapius was born at Tricca in Thessaly (Strab. xiv. p. 647), and others again related that Coronis gave birth to him during an expedition of her father Phlegyas into Peloponnesus, in the territory of Epidaurus, and that she exposed him on mount Tittheion, which was before called Myrtion. Here he was fed by a goat and watched by a dog, until at last he was found by Aresthanas, a shepherd, who saw the boy surrounded by a lustre like that of lightning. (See a different account in Paus. viii. 25. § 6.)
From this dazzling splendour, or from his having been rescued from the flames, he was called by the Dorians aiglaêr. The truth of the tradition that Aesculapius was born in the territory of Epidaurus, and was not the son of Arsinoë, daughter of Leucippus and born in Messenia, was attested by an oracle which was consulted to decide the question. (Paus. ii. 26. § 6, iv. 3. § 2; Cic. De Nat. Deor. iii. 22, where three different Aesculapiuses are made out of the different local traditions about him.) After Aesculapius had grown up, reports spread over all countries, that he not only cured all the sick, but called the dead to life again. About the manner in which he acquired this latter power, there were two traditions in ancient times. According to the one (Apollod. l. c.), he had received from Athena the blood which had flowed from the veins of Gorgo, and the blood which had flowed from the veins of the right side of her body possessed the power of restoring the dead to life. According to the other tradition, Aesculapius on one occasion was shut up in the house of Glaucus, whom he was to cure, and while he was standing absorbed in thought, there came a serpent which twined round the staff, and which he killed. Another serpent then came carrying in its mouth a herb with which it recalled to life the one that had been killed, and Aesculapius henceforth made use of the same herb with the same effect upon men. (Hygin. Poet. Astr. ii. 14.)
Several persons, whom Aesculapius was believed to have restored to life, are mentioned by the Scholiast on Pindar (Pyth. iii. 96) and by Apollodorus. (l. c.) When he was exercising this art upon Glaucus, Zeus killed Aesculapius with a flash of lightning, as he feared lest men might gradually contrive to escape death altogether (Apollod. iii. 10. § 4), or, according to others, because Pluto had complained of Aesculapius diminishing the number of the dead too much. (Diod. iv. 71; comp. Schol. ad Pind. Pyth. iii. 102.) But, on the request of Apollo, Zeus placed Aesculapius among the stars. (Hygin. Poet. Astr. ii. 14.) Aesculapius is also said to have taken part in the expedition of the Argonauts and in the Calydonian hunt. He was married to Epione, and besides the two sons spoken of by Homer, we also find mention of the following children of his : Janiscus, Alexenor, Aratus, Hygieia, Aegle, Iaso, and Panaceia (Schol. ad Pind. Pyth. iii. 14; Paus. ii. 10. § 3, i. 34. § 2), most of whom are only personifications of the powers ascribed to their father.
These are the legends about one of the most interesting and important divinities of antiquity. Various hypotheses have been brought forward to explain the origin of his worship in Greece; and, while some consider Aesculapius to have been originally a real personage, whom tradition had connected with various marvellous stories, others have explained all the legends about him as mere personifications of certain ideas. The serpent, the perpetual symbol of Aesculapius, has given rise to the opinion, that the worship was derived from Egypt, and that Aesculapius was identical with the serpent Cnuph worshipped in Egypt, or with the Phoenician Esmun. (Euseb. Praep. Evang. i. 10; comp. Paus. vii. 23. § 6.) But it does not seem necessary to have recourse to foreign countries in order to explain the worship of this god.
His story is undoubtedly a combination of real events with the results of thoughts or ideas, which, as in so many instances in Greek mythology, are, like the former, considered as facts. The kernel, out of which the whole myth has grown, is perhaps the account we read in Homer; but gradually the sphere in which Aesculapius acted was so extended, that he became the representative or the personification of the healing powers of nature, which are naturally enough described as the son (the effects) of Helios,–Apollo, or the Sun.
Aesculapius was worshipped all over Greece, and many towns, as we have seen, claimed the honour of his birth. His temples were usually built in healthy places, on hills outside the town, and near wells which were believed to have healing powers. These temples were not only places of worship, but were frequented by great numbers of sick persons, and may therefore be compared to modern hospitals. (Plut. Quaest. Rom. p. 286, D.) The principal seat of his worship in Greece was Epidaurus, where he had a temple surrounded with an extensive grove, within which no one was allowed to die, and no woman to give birth to a child.
His sanctuary contained a magnificent statue of ivory and gold, the work of Thrasymedes, in which he was represented as a handsome and manly figure, resembling that of Zeus. (Paus. ii. 26 and 27.) He was seated on a throne, holding in one hand a staff, and with the other resting upon the head of a dragon (serpent), and by his side lay a dog. (Paus. ii. 27. § 2.) Serpents were everywhere connected with the worship of Aesculapius, probably because they were a symbol of prudence and renovation, and were believed to have the power of discovering herbs of wondrous powers, as is indicated in the story about Aesculapius and the serpents in the house of Glaucus. Serpents were further believed to be guardians of wells with salutary powers. For these reasons a peculiar kind of tame serpents, in which Epidaurus abounded, were not only kept in his temple (Paus. ii. 28. § 1), but the god himself frequently appeared in the form of a serpent. (Paus. iii. 23. § 4; Val. Max. i. 8. § 2; Liv. Epit. 11; compare the account of Alexander Pseudomantis in Lucian.) Besides the temple of Epidaurus, whence the worship of the god was transplanted to various other parts of the ancient world, we may mention those of Tricca (Strab. ix. p. 437), Celaenae (xiii. p. 603), between Dyme and Patrae (viii. p. 386), near Cyllene (viii. p. 337), in the island of Cos (xiii. p. 657; Paus. iii. 23. § 4), at Gerenia (Strab. viii. p. 360), near Caus in Arcadia (Steph. Byz. s. v.), at Sicyon (Paus. ii. 10. § 2), at Athens (i. 21. § 7), near Patrae (vii. 21. § 6), at Titane in the territory of Sicyon (vii. 23. § 6), at Thelpusa (viii. 25. § 3), in Messene (iv. 31. § 8), at Phlius (ii. 13. § 3), Argos (ii. 23. § 4), Aegium (ii. 23. § 5), Pellene (vii. 27. § 5), Asopus (iii. 22. § 7), Pergamum (iii. 26. § 7), Lebene in Crete, Smyrna, Balagrae (ii. 26. § 7), Ambracia (Liv. xxxviii. 5), at Rome and other places.
At Rome the worship of Aesculapius was introduced from Epidaurus at the command of the Delphic oracle or of the Sibylline books, in B. C. 293, for the purpose of averting a pestilence. Respecting the miraculous manner in which this was effected see Valerius Maximus (i. 8. § 2), and Ovid. Met. xv. 620, &c.; comp. Niebuhr, Hist. of Rome, iii. p. 408, &c.; Liv. x. 47, xxix. 11; Suet. Claud. 25.)
The sick, who visited the temples of Aesculapius, had usually to spend one or more nights in his sanctuary (katheudein, ineubare, Paus. ii. 27 § 2), during which they observed certain rules prescribed by the priests. The god then usually revealed the remedies for the disease in a dream. (Aristoph. Plut. 662, &c.; Cic. De Div. ii. 59 ; Philostr. Vita Apollon. i. 7; Jambl. De Myst. iii. 2.) It was in allusion to this incubatio that many temples of Aesculapius contained statues representing Sleep and Dream. (Paus. ii. 10. § 2.)
Those whom the god cured of their disease offered a sacrifice to him, generally a cock (Plat. Phacd. p. 118) or a goat (Paus. x. 32. § 8; Serv. ad Virg. Georg. ii. 380), and hung up in his temple a tablet recording the name of the sick, the disease, and the manner in which the cure had been effected. The temples of Epidaurus, Tricca, and Cos, were full of such votive tablets, and several of them are still extant. (Paus. ii. 27. § 3; Strab. viii. p. 374; comp. Dict. of Ant. p. 673.) Respecting the festivals celebrated in honour of Aesculapius see Dict. of Ant. p. 103. &c. The various surnames given to the god partly describe him as the healing or saving god, and are partly derived from the places in which he was worshipped. Some of his statues are described by Pausanias. (ii. 10. § 3, x. 32. § 8.) Besides the attributes mentioned in the description of his statue at Epidaurus, he is sometimes represented holding in one hand a phial, and in the other a stalf; sometimes also a boy is represented standing by his side, who is the genius of recovery, and is called Telesphorus, Euamerion, or Acesius. (Paus. ii. 11. § 7.) We still possess a considerable number of marble statues and busts of Aesculapius, as well as many representations on coins and gems. There were in antiquity two works which went under the name of Aesculapius, which, however, were no more genuine than the works ascribed to Orpheus. (Fabricius, Bibl. Graec. i. p. 55, &c.)
The descendants of Aesculapius were called by the patronymic name Asclepiadae. (Asklêpiadai.) Those writers, who consider Aesculapius as a real personage, must regard the Asclepiadae as his real descendants, to whom he transmitted his medical knowledge, and whose principal seats were Cos and Cnidus. (Plat. de Re Publ. iii. p. 405, &c.) But the Asclepiadae were also regarded as an order or caste of priests, and for a long period the practice of medicine was intimately connected with religion. The knowledge of medicine was regarded as a sacred secret, which was transmitted from father to son in the families of the Asclepiadae, and we still possess the oath which every one was obliged to take when he was put in possession of the medical secrets. (Galen, Anat. ii. p. 128 Aristid. Orat. i. p. 80.)
