Once the basic needs of life are met, most people turn to the pursuit of pleasure, fun, and enjoyment. These include finding comfortable places to relax and rest, tasty food and drink, entertainment, recreation, sports, arts, socializing, romance, taking consciousness-altering substances such as caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, and other drugs.

Read more here: » Motivation: Why are we moved to do what we do? Ð Part II

The mind is like a wheel which revolves endlessly with tremendous velocity. It generates new thoughts with every revolution. This wheel is set in motion by the vibration of psychic Prana or subtle Prana. The practice of Pranayama lessens the velocity of the mind and slows down the wheel gradually. Perfect control of Prana will bring the wheel to a standstill.

From "Easy Steps to Yoga" by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Control of Thought: The Mind and Control of Thought

We are all familiar with chemical addictions to intoxicating substances such as alcohol or cocaine. Sex, work and Internet use are also frequently mentioned as aspects of life that can be used addictively. The least recognized addiction in our society, however, may be the addiction to drama that manifests in so many relationships. While drama is a legitimate category of cinema and theater, as an addictive process in relationships it refers to an ongoing dysfunctional need to continually recreate unsafe and unhealthy emotional intensity in one's relationships.

Read more here: » Relationships: Are You Or Your Partner Addicted To Drama?

 Over the years, I've known a lot of ministers, healers, mediums and other spiritual folk. Just like all people, some were prosperous while others struggled with material lack. One group was not more selfish and the other more "spiritual." In fact, those who were adept at creating what they needed on a physical level also tended to be those who were able to create better health, relationships and general happiness for themselves. They were also better skilled at helping others to create the same in their lives, and they had the energy and resources to help others in this way. The difference between the two groups can be summed up in a now common but powerful term: Prosperity Consciousness.

Read more here: » Prosperity Consciousness: Introduction to Prosperity Consciousness

"Health" means more than physical ease; it is also ease of mind, heart and soul, and we take that "health" at mental, emotional and spiritual levels with us when we leave our physical bodies behind. Of course, there are no hard lines between any aspects of our beings. What we think affects our bodies, what we do physically affects how we feel emotionally; it is all inter-related

Read more here: » Extraordinary Health: Maximize Your Sense of Well-being On All Levels

Vedic Astrology: Vedic Astrology and Physical Health

Everyone is concerned with their health as well they should be. If you do not maintain your body properly then disease naturally has an open door to enter. Many of us put the emphasis on our physical health nowadays but, unless you have good mental & emotional health, you will still not feel whole or healthy. Even if you take care of your body and also study to develop a healthy mind, you will still feel incomplete without developing spiritual health In the eternal scheme of things we are spirit, not matter - with which we seem to constantly identify. How to be healthy spiritually is a matter of grave importance.

Excerpt from "An Introduction to Vedic Astrology" by Howard Beckman

Read more here: » Vedic Astrology: Vedic Astrology and Physical Health

Ayurveda and Herbal Medicine

Today, you may think in this technologically advanced society, (as I sit by my computer writing this, and you sit by yours reading it) there are a whole range of patented chemical drugs tailored for all ailments, so why use herbal medicines?

Herbs are as effective for healing today as they were in our grandmothers' day, and for thousands of years before that. We may live in a very different world today but the human body hasn't changed, in fact it's often struggling to cope with ifs new modern environment.

Read more here: » Herbal Medicine: Ayurveda and Herbal Medicine

Even though the basic principles of Jainism are framed from the religious and spiritual point of view, you can find scientific reasons for them.
Food should be ecological, evolutionary and ethical. They are supposed to drink boiled water only. As per Jain religion sour and spicy food is rajasik. Only satwik food keeps the mind clean, makes you samatabhavi, gives you equanimity. Alcohol, vinegar, molasses and wine and even honey is forbidden.

Read more here: » Jainism: Pure And Simple Life

Hinduism and Marriage

According to Hinduism, a marriage between two persons is a sacred relationship that is not limited to this life alone. It extends across seven or more lives, during which the couple help each other progress spiritually. The adage that marriages are made in heaven is very much true in case of Hinduism. Two souls come together and marry because their karmas are intertwined and they have to resolve many things together upon earth in order to ensure their mutual salvation. 

Read more here: » Hinduism and Marriage: Marriages in Hinduism

Chinese astrologers refer to the Moon's Nodes as the Dragon's Head and Tail and give it tremendous attention as to the placement in the natal chart. Sadly, practical modern astrologers tend to ignore its very existence and in the process, lose a wealth of valuable information. To my knowledge, the Dragon, in itself, holds as much, if not more, facts and power than the entire complexity of a whole astrological chart! This article give you the knowledge to understand the Dragon in your personal horoscope.

Read more here: » Astrology: Dragons throughout the ages - Dragons importance in Astrology.

Herbalism: Herbs, Plants, Oils - A list of herbs and their purposes, including old folklore usages

This is a list of some of the thousands of herbs that I have found, there are many more. They are in alphabetical order so just scroll down the list.

From The Busy Witch.

Read more here: » Herbs, Plants, Oils: A list of herbs and their purposes

 ÓÉAs they placed my body in the ambulance, I floated along with it. I was not attached to it in any way that I could determine. I just thought everything was so interesting. The driver turned on the siren and we started for the hospital. The attendant began trying to revive my bodyÉÓ

Read more here: » Near Death Experience: Patsy's NDE (Near Death Experience) Story

Precepts: Teachings regarding personal conduct; rules of conduct, especially for the ordained. Also called kai. In the Mahayana school there are ten precepts that must be avoided: killing, stealing, lying, drinking alcohol or selling alcohol to be drank, speaking badly of others, praising oneself while disparaging others, not willingly giving spiritual or material aid, anger, or disparaging the Three Treasures (Buddha Gautama, the Dharma, and the sangha).

 (See also: Precepts , Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)

Chai

(Chinese, "fast") In Taoism, rites of fasting, repentance, or purification. The term refers to rites on behalf of the living and the dead, including exorcism, protection from illness, securing houses, and recitations for salvation. Unlike related folk rites involving animal sacrifice and alcohol, the Taoist rite stresses the offering of petitions and confessing of sins.

(See also: Chai , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Past Life Therapy is not for the weakminded or frail-hearted. It leads a person into the depths of his own psychological makeup, but the return trip is well worth the cost of the journey, and that cost is almost always a deflation to the person's ego! After all, who wants to believe they have committed acts that were harmful to others? Or wants to remember terrible crimes in which they were a participant, or tortures in which they have been a victim in one lifetime and perhaps returned to gain revenge in subsequent lives?

Read more here: » Past Life Therapy: The New Psychiatry - Past Life Therapy

An newspaper interview about Indigo Children with Jan Tober, one of the authors to The Indigo Children. She says this generation of kids are "Masters."

Read more here: » Indigo Children: The New Kids Have Arrived!

Acupuncture:

a branch of ancient Chinese medicine that treats many conditions including diseases, drug or alcohol addiction, and sinus problems by stimulation of needles to directly manipulate a network along 12 major pathways or energetic meridians, connecting specific internal organs with energetic points on the network. Acupuncture regulates, or disperses Ki (also referred to as Chee, Chi, Ki, Qi, and Qui), the vital life energy that animates all living organisms, and results in a correcting and rebalancing Ki to relieve pain and restore health.

(See also: Acupuncture , Alternative Medicine, Body Mind and Soul)

MISTLETOE

The Encyclopedia Britannica cites Pliny the Elder as the authority for Druidic mistletoe lore. As a tea it was considered both an antidote for poison and a cure for sterility and barrenness. Thus, to kiss someone under the mistletoe is symbolic of its purpose. Some scholars call mistletoe the golden bough of classical legend.

In the French comic strip, Asterix le Gaulois, the tribal wizard, Panoramix, using his golden serpe, collects mistletoe for potions. These potions faithfully confer superhuman strength on the drinker, much as spinach does for Popeye. It's inevitable that we should think of physical strength as virility (maintaining erection) and from virility to fertility is a matter of course.

The word is Anglo-Saxon misteltan (the -tan being a "twig") from German Mistel, "mistletoe", a diminutive of Mist, "dung". For the mythic mind, excretion and birth are synonymous. Mistletoe was assumed to be the oak's product - hence, fertile. This also reflects, as we've seen many times before, the association, by the Unconscious, of supernatural powers with any "product" of the body.

We nature-deprived postmoderns should bear in mind that mistletoe is botanically unique. It is the only highly-evolved flowering plant that is parasitic; this unusual botanical fact should automatically alert the M/magic(k)all mind to the possibility that it must have unusual pharmaceutical properties as well. A cure for barrenness, of course, and an aphrodisiac are two entirely different things. There is no known chemical substance that has a specific, predictable aphrodisiac effect on human beings. We have too many complicated and individual reactions for that. Everyone knows, for instance, that alcohol isn't really an aphrodisiac. It simply releases inhibitions, some of which may be sexual, but not necessarily. Most drugs don't stimulate the sexual centers at all. They cause fatigue as they wear off and it is the fatigue (or lactic acid) so generated that acts as the stimulant.

Amongst the Germans the decorating of trees for religious effects goes back to pagan times. The Teutonic religions, however, borrowed much from the more advanced Celts and "tree-worshipping" is always associated with the latter. In the 8th Century it was St. Boniface who dedicated the fir tree to X, thus profaning the sacred oak of Odin (we see how the Teutons and the Druids had already joined forces). But the custom of bringing greenery into the house during the winter solstice is an ancient custom, long preceding Xtianity.

(See also: MISTLETOE , Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul,)

About the mind and how the mind can be controlled.

From "Easy Steps to Yoga" by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Mind Control: Mind, Its Mysteries and Control

They go by many names, such as Star Kids, Indigos or Crystalline Children. Whatever they're called, believers say this group of prodigies started appearing about 30 years ago and may now make up as much as 90 percent of the population under ten. They also exhibit strange side effects, like a higher resistance to pollutants but an increased sensitivity to sugar and food additives. These are babies born with an inherent knowledge of art, language and spirituality, possessing an impressive wealth of wisdom. Some will even go so far as to say these kids are not only prime candidates for the gifted and talented program, but the next step in human evolution.

(See also: Indigo Children, What is Indigo Children, Parenting Indigo Children, Adult Indigo, Indigo Children Channeling)

Read more here: » Indigo Children: Alien-ated Youth - They're the next step in human evolution. But they're just like everybody else.  

MERCURY

Alchemical mercury is the universal aspect of a substance, as distinguished from its individual character (sulphur). For instance, in herbal alchemy, mercury is always methyl alcohol, which is the "spirit" that is equally obtainable from all plants. Whereas the plant's oil or "elixir" is always unique. In mineral alchemy, mercury is quicksilver. In animal alchemy, mercury is consciousness (or the élan vital).

(See also: MERCURY , Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul,)

Soma (Sanskrit) In Hinduism, the moon astronomically; mystically, a sacred beverage of initiates, "made from a rare mountain plant by initiated Brahmans" (TG 304).

As the moon, Soma is an occult mystery, for the moon as a symbol stands for both good and evil, yet more often a symbol of evil than of good. Astrologically, Soma is the regent of the invisible or occult moon, while Indu represents the physical moon. "Soma is the mystery god and presides over the mystic and occult nature in man and the Universe" (SD 2:45). Soma or lunar worship was once purely occult and its rites were based upon a minute and profound knowledge of nature.

According to Hindu tradition, Soma as a sacred juice gave mystic visions and trance-revelations, the result of which union was Budha (esoteric wisdom). This sacred beverage was drunk by Brahmins and initiates during their mysteries and sacrificial rites.

"The 'Soma' plant is the asclepias acida, which yields a juice from which that mystic beverage, the Soma drink, is made. Alone the descendants of the Rishis, the Agnihotri (the fire priests) of the great mysteries knew all its powers. But the real property of the true Soma was (and is) to make a new man of the Initiate, after he is reborn, namely once that he begins to live in his astral body . . .; for, his spiritual nature overcoming the physical, he would soon snap it off and part even from that etherealized form. . . .

"The partaker of Soma finds himself both linked to his external body, and yet away from it in his spiritual form. The latter, freed from the former, soars for the time being in the ethereal higher regions, becoming virtually 'as one of the gods,' and yet preserving in his physical brain the memory of what he sees and learns. Plainly speaking, Soma is the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge forbidden by the jealous Elohim to Adam and Eve or Yah-ve, 'lest Man should become as one of us' " (SD 2:498-9&n).

"A 'soma-drinker' attains the power of placing himself in direct rapport with the bright side of the moon, thus deriving inspiration from the concentrated intellectual energy of the blessed ancestors. . . .

"This which seems one stream (to the ignorant) is of a dual nature -- one giving life and wisdom, the other being lethal. He who can separate the former from the latter, as Kalahamsa separated the milk from the water, which was mixed with it, thus showing great wisdom -- will have his reward" (BCW 12:203-4).

"This Hindu sacred beverage answers to the Greek Ambrosia or nectar, drunk by the gods of Olympus. A cup of kykeon was also quaffed by the mysta at the Eleusinian initiation. He who drinks it easily reaches Brahma, or the place of splendor (Heaven). The soma-drink known to Europeans is not the genuine beverage, but its substitute; for the initiated priests alone can taste of the real soma; and even kings and rajas, when sacrificing, receive the substitute. . . . We were positively informed that the majority of the sacrificial priests of the Dekkan have lost the secret of the true soma. It can be found neither in the ritual books nor through oral information. The true followers of the primitive Vedic religion are very few; these are the alleged descendants from the Rishis, the real Agnihotris, the initiates of the great Mysteries. The soma-drink is also commemorated in the Hindu Pantheon, for it is called King-Soma. He who drinks of it is made to participate in the heavenly king, because he becomes filled with it, as the Christian apostles and their converts became filled with the Holy Ghost, and purified of their sins. The soma makes a new man of the initiate; he is reborn and transformed, and his spiritual nature overcomes the physical; it gives the divine power of inspiration, and develops the clairvoyant faculty to the utmost. According to the exoteric explanation the soma is a plant, but, at the same time it is an angel. It forcibly connects the inner, highest 'spirit' of man, which spirit is an angel like the mystical soma, with his 'irrational soul,' or astral body, and thus united by the power of the magic drink, they soar together above physical nature and participate during life in the beatitude and ineffable glories of Heaven.

"Thus the Hindu soma is mystically, and in all respects the same that the Eucharist supper is to the Christian. The idea is similar. By means of the sacrificial prayers -- the mantras -- this liquor is supposed to be transformed on the spot into real soma -- or the angel, and even into Brahma himself" (IU 1:xl-xli).

The mystical drink has been known in all ages and among all peoples. The ancient Teutonic tribes, whether of the Germanic or Anglo-Saxons, spoke of their divine mead, the drink of the gods. The Hindus spoke of Soma, the direct distillation from the moon and from the overseeing and guiding eye of the sun; the Greeks of the Homeric age spoke of ambrosia or nectar, a drink of the gods which renewed their understanding and gave them inspiration as well. Another branch of the Greeks belonging to the Dionysian and Orphic branches of mystical thought, spoke equally mystically of the mystic wine, and also of the mystic cereal, partaken of during the Mysteries, and it is from this last that the mystical wine and cereal or bread of the Christians was taken over almost completely from the Dionysian Eucharist, only among Christians even from quite early times it became degraded into actual blood and flesh of Jesus.

The evident meaning must be connected with the old occult thought that wine, or the mead of the northern peoples where the grape and soma were unknown or uncultivated, all had the meaning of the inspiration of initiation, a kind of ecstasy of vision and knowledge brought about through initiation, of which the physical intoxication of wine, mead, or the soma juice has all the lower and materialized aspect, every spiritual thing having its material counterpart, every right-hand thought or rule in occultism having its left-hand or sorcerer perversion or counterpart. Thus in the highest initiation, even today and from immemorial time, the holy drink or potation was entirely mystical, and had a dozen of these significances, all bound up together; yet despite this fact, for some of the lower initiations where a student found difficulty in throwing off the physical and astral influences, a harmless -- when administered rightly -- drug or drink was given which temporarily stupefied the lower quaternary; but it is to be noted that this substitute of the physical drink came about when neophytes began to find it very difficult to do what their more spiritual forerunners had done: raising themselves solely by inner aspiration up to inspiration, by inner insight up to the epopteia or vision.

Thus the question whether the mystical drink was an actual drink, or merely a mystical one, cannot be answered by a simple yes or no. Originally it was entirely mystical, later it remained as mystical as ever, but the body with its grossness, and the astral influences with their terrible power over the men and women of the time, were temporarily reduced to quiescence by a preparation known to initiates to have the power of bringing about the condition required, without any permanent or even long after-effect, very much as a sedative will be given by a physician today. It is of course true that if this drink, however relatively innocent in a single instance, were to be constantly repeated, it would have developed into a drug habit.

Some of the later peoples in their initiations actually did use a kind of physical soma which had the effect of bringing about a dulling of the restless brain-mind for the time being, so that the inner powers were temporarily freed from the clogging influences of the astral light and the body.

The use of drugs in initiatory ceremonies of any kind, however, is a relatively late and degenerate practice, and has never at any time been, nor will it ever be, introduced by the Mother-Lodge coming down to us even from the middle of the third root-race. With it the old tradition burns more brightly than ever that the true soma, the true mead of the gods or wine of the spirit, is the raising of the human into the spiritual by aspiration, training, and strict following of the traditional laws of discipleship, so that finally the neophyte feels the sunlight from above stealing through the moon of his mind.

So strongly is this the case, that even today in theosophical occult studies, drug taking of any kind is strictly forbidden, including alcohol, for alcohol is a drug, a product of natural decay and decomposition, and while less spectacular and violent as a rule than drugs such as opium and its derivatives, it is far more easily procurable and is therefore more specifically pointed to as objectionable. The idea of the occult student is to have the body absolutely normal, healthy, clean, and functioning in the smoothness of health, so that even overeating is seen to be a harmful thing, because it clogs the body, dulls the mind, and could even actually lead to physical disability.

There is and has been a great deal of confusion, not only at present but throughout the ages, about these matters, and several mystical schools have even chosen the language of the tavern and drinking house as the cloak for conveying occult or semi-occult teaching. A noted example is the Sufi school with its poems lauding the flowing bowl and the joys of the tavern and the bosom friends therein, and the beloved's breast. Here the tavern was the universe, the flowing cup or wine was the wine of the spirit bringing inner ecstasy, the bosom of the beloved was the raising oneself into inner communion with the god within, of which the Jewish bosom of Abraham is a feeble correspondence. The friends of the tavern are those perfect human relations brought about by a community of spiritual and intellectual interests, and the associations of the tavern are the mysteries of the world around us with their marvels and arcana. Nevertheless in various countries as the fourth root-race ran toward its evil culmination, the mystic became translated into the material, the spiritual degenerated into the teaching of matter, so that indeed in later Atlantean times the drugging of initiates was common, and the results always disastrous, this being one of the sorceries for which the Atlanteans in occult history have remained infamous. Yet even in the fifth root-race, due to the heavy Atlantean karma still weighing on us, many nations as late as historic times employed more or less harmless potations to bring about a temporary dulling or stupefying of the brain and nervous system -- a procedure always vigorously opposed by the theosophic occult school which has never at any time allowed it.

(See also: Soma , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)