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The Nahua Cross of Life: Mexican Hieroglyph of the Nagual or Personal Guardian Spirit Many Christian symbols and archetypes have been found around the world in pre-Christian contexts, resulting in fascinating syncretic connections and ideological overlaps. According to Prof. Daniel G. Brinton, A.M., M.D., LL.D., D.Sc. in his book Nagualism: A Study in Native American Folk-lore and History (1894), "The sign of the cross, either the form with equal arms known as the cross of St. Andrew, which is the oldest Christian form, or the Latin cross, with its arms of unequal length, came to be the ideogram for “life” in the Mexican hieroglyphic writing; and as such, with more or less variants, was employed to signify the tonalli or nagual, the sign of nativity, the natal day, the personal spirit. The ancient document called the Mappe Quinatzin offers examples, and its meaning is explained by various early writers. The peculiar character of the Mexican ritual calendar, by which nativities wer...

Medieval Catholic Christian Magical Incantations: Historiolae or Narrative Charms During the Middle Ages, magical incantations were a popular means to ameliorate suffering and reduce fear. One such form of incantation was the narrative charm, based on a short mythical or legendary story. The mythical story (or narrative) provided the paradigm and context for the desired magical result. A narrative charm could be recited orally for the benefit of the recipient, or it could be used in a textual amulet. Modern scholars also refer to narrative charms as historiolae. The historiolae contained brief anecdotes about sacred, legendary, or mythic personages who had suffered in ways that foreshadowed the current sufferings of a person in the present day. These anecdotes therefore could metaphorically erase the barriers of time and space; past and present were no longer separate entities. Like the mythical personage featured in the charm, people who turned to such narratives held firm the hope of...

The Metaphysical Origins of Amber: Healing Stone of Divine Tears Helios was the ancient Greek god of the Sun, who drove the solar chariot across the sky. When his son, Phaëthon, attempted to drive the chariot without his father's permission, he lost control of the horses and drove the sun towards the Earth. Zeus had to strike down the chariot with a lightning bolt in order to save the Earth from burning up. The Milky Way was thus formed by the scorched path of the Sun across the sky. Phaëthon fell to his death, and his sisters, the seven Heliades, grieved and mourned for four months. The gods turned the sisters into poplar trees, and their tears into amber, which often washes up on the Baltic shores. According to Apollonius of Rhodes, in his Argonautica, the Celts said that the amber drops are the tears of Apollo himself, after his banishment by Zeus to the land of the Hyperboreans. Among the Norse and Vikings, amber was believed to be the tears of Freyja, the goddess of love and b...