Awareness

Secret Societies: Inside The Most Mysterious Groups

Published

2 years ago

October 28, 2020

Secret societies have flourished throughout history and count Founding Fathers and royals among their ranks. By their very name, secret societies inspire curiosity and fascination. Thousands of these mysterious groups have been formed over time, and many have disappeared. Rich and poor, young and old, white and black people have joined mysterious, sometimes forbidden groups, and for what? In this article, we will shed light on the most mysterious groups and agendas behind them. Read on!

What Is a Secret Society?

A secret society is a club or an organization whose activities, events, inner functioning, or membership are concealed from non-members. Some of the societies may attempt to conceal its existence, others may not.

Alan Axelrod, the author of the International Encyclopedia of Secret Societies and Fraternal Orders, defines a secret society as an organization that:

is exclusive;
claims to own special secrets;
shows a strong inclination to favor its members.

Richard B. Spence, historian of the University of Idaho similarly defined three-pronged characteristics:

The group’s existence is usually not kept secret, but some beliefs or practices are concealed from the public and require an oath of secrecy to learn.
The group promises superior status or knowledge to members.
The group’s membership is in some way restrictive, such as by race, sex, religious affiliation, or invitation only.

Richard B. Spence also proposes a sub-category of “Elite Secret Societies” which are composed of high-income or socially influential people.

David V. Barrett, author of Secret Societies: From the Ancient and Arcane to the Modern and Clandestine, has used alternative terms to define what qualifies a secret society. He defined a Secret Society as any group that possesses the following characteristics:

carefully graded and progressed teachings;
teachings are available only to selected individuals and lead to hidden truths;
truths bring personal benefits beyond the reach and even the understanding of the uninitiated.

Now let’s take a closer look at the 3 world’s most mysterious Secret Societies.

3 World’s Most Mysterious Secret Societies

#1: Freemasonry

The first thing you should know about this organization is that it is the main wellspring of clandestine societies. It’s been around longer, has had more members and developed more rituals, rites, secret handshakes, legends and myths than almost any other.

The Catholic Church wishes it didn’t exist. No organization has been condemned by the Catholic Church more than the Masonic Lodge. The Catholic Church has imposed the penalty of excommunication on all Catholics who become Freemasons (or members of the Masonic Lodge). The 1983 CDF declaration states that Catholics “who enroll in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion.”

It’s a little-known fact that Adolf Hitler believed that the Freemasons were a tool of the Jews. In 1935, the German government dissolved all lodges and confiscated their assets. It is believed that the Nazis murdered between 80,000 and 200,000 Freemasons.

Many of the Founding Fathers (including George Washington and Benjamin Franklin) were Freemasons, as were many of other famous people, including 14 American Presidents, Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, John Wayne, Richard Pryor, Wolfgang Mozart, Mark Twain, and Oscar Wilde.

There are three levels of membership:

entered apprentice;
fellow of the craft;
master mason.

To this day, a Freemason signature is the elaborate secret handshake, or “grip”.

Elements of the order’s visual iconography have become part of everyday life – like the “Eye of Providence” on the back of the dollar bill. Some say the layout of Washington, D.C., is a giant reference to Freemasonry, filled with pentagrams and other Masonic designs.

Over the years, there has been a decline in members. It is estimated there are between 2 and 6 million freemasons globally.

#2: The Illuminati

This mysterious group has been the subject of fearmongering and bizarre speculations more than any other secret organization, though is existed less than a decade.

The story starts with Johann Adam Weishaupt, a law professor at a university in Bavaria, where he was the only teacher who wasn’t a Jesuit priest. In fact, he was so fascinated by Enlightenment thinking that he rejected religion. He wanted instead to establish a secret society of people who had the same views, beliefs, and principles as him, and who might help him advance his ideas.

He couldn’t afford the membership in the Freemasons, so he decided to start his own organization, which he called the Perfectibilists.

Within two years, he had changed the name of the organization to the Illuminati and convinced four of his students to join him.

Weishaupt took a pseudonym Spartacus, and the others assumed names like Ajax, Agathon, and Tiberius.

His goal was to cultivate in his followers a deep belief in the Enlightenment principles of reason, philanthropy, secularity, freedom of expression, individual liberty and morality. They would spread these ideas when they inevitably assumed positions of power.

Essentially, this small group of people in the latter half of the 18th century wanted to take over and rule the world, and they believed they could do it a little bit at a time. One approach was to join other secret societies – like Freemasons, when they could afford to – and to establish sleeper cells within them, recruiting others to their cause.

They were also big on rituals, secret symbols, handshakes, passwords, and initiations. That’s part of what gives the order such a mystique.

At their peak, in the early 1780s, the Illuminati were thought to number between 600 and 2,500 members, most of whom were unaware of each other’s identities.

In 1785, the Duke of Bavaria, fearful of the growing power of the secret societies, banned them all. This brought the Illuminati to the end, less than 10 years after they’d started their existance.

If this organization existed for less than 10 years than why do people still believe in their power more than two centuries later? Well, at least part of the credit for their fame belongs to John Robison, who in 1797 published Proofs of a Conspiracy, a book that claims that the Illuminati had infiltrated other organizations and the rumors of their demise had been greatly exaggerated.

This story spread like wildfire and made its way to America, where George Washington considered it an issue. Around the same time, Charles Brockden Brown was pioneering the American Gothic genre of fiction with novels like Ormond; Or The Secret Witness, which contained clear references to the Illuminati and their sinister activities.

While that panic eventually dissipated, the rumors stayed, mostly in the background. Then, in the 1970s, Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson wrote a series of popular science-fiction books known as The Illuminatus! Trilogy that reintroduced the Illuminati to modern readers. The books combined facts with fantasy. The authors found much of their material in letters sent to Playboy magazine’s forum section, which they edited for many years.

Those books elevated Illuminati fever to a new level, one which conspiracy theorists still embrace to an alarming degree, certain the secret Illuminati groups manipulate all parts of mainstream global life.

#3: The Rosicrucians

This is one of the most secretive orders that roots its beliefs back to ancient Egypt. Egypt was the birthplace, not of the Rosicrucians, but of the Ancient Mysteries and the Secret Doctrines, which gradually, slowly and almost imperceptibly, throughout the centuries of time, developed a system that became Rosicrucianism.

The Rosicrucians brought together into one organization the various associations of individuals previously known as the Hermetists, Pythagoreans, Magi, Platonists, Gnostics, Alchemists, and Paracelsians.

The Rosicrucian Fraternity existed in America prior to the First American Revolution. In 1774, the great Council of Three (the Fraternity’s ultimate governing body) was composed of Benjamin Franklin, George Clymer, and Thomas Paine. Thomas Paine was later succeeded by Lafayette, who, like Benjamin Franklin, was a member of the Paris Rosicrucian lodge “Humanidad.” In 1842, the Great Council of Three was revitalized by the novelist, George Lippard, who rewrote the exoteric ritual, giving it a patriotic-Christian basis. During the Civil War this Great Council was composed of Paschel Beverly Randolph, General Ethan Allen Hitchcock and Abraham Lincoln.

The Rosicrucians follow a doctrine that is built on esoteric truths of the ancient past. Those truths apparently include things that the average person cannot see and give believers insight into nature, the physical universe, and the spiritual realm.

They study many theories and beliefs but specifically, they seek knowledge and spiritual wisdom about the true nature of space and time, mystical power, metaphysical laws, spiritual alchemy and others.

They believe that there is one God, the Creator and source of all. That within each of us is buried a particle of the Divine Spark that is our soul. The Rosicrucians teach how to develop this Divine Spark through transmutation of one’s lower nature and increase the feeling of love within. The main goal of their teaching is to help the adherents to build this soul spark into a glorious, conscious Soul that forms a direct link between the individual and God. This state of spiritual development they term as Soul Illumination.

The name Rosicrucian is derived from rosa (a rose) and crux (a cross). The general symbol of the order was a rose placed on the center of a cross. The Rose Cross has a mystical meaning. The fully bloomed rose in the center of the Cross symbolizes illumination of the Soul.

The Bottom Line

These 3 mysterious groups are perhaps some of the most well-known secret societies but there have been and certainly still exist many more. With the explosion of the internet and the vast sea of easily accessible information that has come with it, it has become increasingly difficult to determine fact from fiction when it comes to these mysterious secret societies.

Positives and negatives could come from joining or taking an oath of silence with any group. It’s important before committing to any such action to diligently research to ensure one knows exactly what they are getting involved in and that it’s aligned with their highest good.

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Abundant Living

Abundance Haircuts In February 2023: Good And Bad Days To Cut Your Hair

Published

5 hours ago

January 31, 2023

Katya Ki

Abundance Haircuts In December 2021 Image

Abundance Haircuts is a sutra based on the Tibetan calendar. It reveals the negative consequences of cutting your hair on the bad days and the incredible benefits of cutting it on the good days. Dates of Abundance Haircuts are calculated according to extremely complex formulas by experienced Feng Shui Masters.

Most people in the Western world have never heard about abundance haircuts. While for Eastern people, it’s not a new practice. This article will share this powerful sutra and give you a calendar for abundance haircuts in February 2023, with good and bad days for haircuts. Pay attention to what day you’re picking for your next hair appointment – only choose good days for abundance haircuts in February 2023.

Why Is Hair So Important?

Since ancient times, people have given hair a sacred meaning. It was thought that people could connect with the Universe through one’s hair. Hair serves as an “antenna” and “guide” between our world and the world of Heaven. And so far, this knowledge has not lost its relevance. Hair connects us with Higher forces, cosmic energy, God, and Higher consciousness. By connecting through the hair to the Cosmos, we can fill ourselves with the energies of abundance and health.

Good Days to Cut Your Hair In April 2021 Image

There were many beliefs associated with hair; some of them have survived to the present day. For example: in any case, you should not get a haircut by yourself, as in this case, deformation of your energy field may happen, which can lead to health problems and energy loss. It is also not recommended to get a haircut on the days of a lunar or solar Eclipse: the hair can suffer, weaken, and lose shine and volume.

What Are “Abundance Haircuts”?

It has long been known that there are days when it is especially favorable to cut hair. Among these days, there are days of “Abundance haircuts.”

Abundance haircuts are a special ritual to attract abundance flows into your life. It is good to say abundance affirmations and mantras on this day. So you will strengthen the ritual haircut and make it a more effective and efficient force.

Here are examples of the mantras:

For wealth and abundance: OM TARE TUTTARE TURE MAMA BASU PUSHTIM KURU SOHA
Mantra for vitality and life force increase: OM TARE TUTTARE TURE MARITSE YE TSE BHRUM NRI DZA SOHA
For fame, power, and charisma: OM TARE TUTTARE TURE BODHI CITTA SOHA
Mantra for health and longevity: OM TARE TUTTARE TURE MAMA AYUR PUNYE JNANA PUSHTIM KURU YE SOHA
For magnetism and attractiveness: OM TARE TAM SOHA

If you are not a mantra practitioner, you can use affirmations instead.

Examples of abundance affirmations:

I deserve to be abundantly happy and healthy!
My abundance is constantly growing!
I always have money for everything I need!
Money comes to me easily and fast!
I’m grateful for my abundant life!

Abundance Haircuts In February 2023

Awareness

How To Cleanse Crystals: 8 Most Effective Ways

Published

7 days ago

January 24, 2023

SOLANCHA STAFF

how to cleanse crystals and gemstones image

One of the most important properties of crystals is their ability to accumulate and store energy and information. Therefore it’s essential to know how to cleanse crystals from negative energy and old information that doesn’t serve you anymore. In this article, we will share with you the 8 most effective ways to cleanse your crystals.

Why do We Need to Cleanse Our Crystals?

One of the key properties of all crystals is the ability to absorb and store the surrounding energy. And when you get a crystal, you should understand that it already carries certain information. That is why physical and energetic cleansing should be carried out before use.

When Should We Consider Crystal Cleansing?

You should consider crystal cleansing when you:

have just bought a new crystal from a store;
received a crystal as a gift;
have inherited a crystal or gemstone jewelry (usually, such a crystal carries the energy of the former owner);
just found the crystal (since you don’t know what happened to the crystal, who owned it, and what events and information it captured, you should consider cleansing it before using it);
use crystals for healing or cleansing the energy of the house (healing crystals must be cleansed regularly);
had a negative person touching your crystal;
feel that the crystal has lost its properties and power (if you often use your crystals, they overflow with different energies and need to be cleaned);
didn’t use your crystal for a while (even in this case, the crystal still continues to absorb the energy surrounding it).

In all these cases, crystals can accumulate and store a huge amount of old information and stagnant or negative energy that not only adversely affects the owner but also minimizes the crystal’s healing and other properties.

How to Cleanse Crystals?

There are many ways to cleanse crystals. You can choose the most suitable option or use several methods at once. It is best to cleanse crystals on the waning moon – the moon’s power will make the cleansing especially effective. But if you don’t want to wait, do it anytime you need it.

Here are the 8 most effective methods to cleanse your crystals.

#1: Sea Salt Cleanse

One of the most effective methods of crystal cleansing is sea salt cleansing. Sea salt has the ability to pull out all the negativity.

How To Cleanse Crystals With Sea Salt?

To do this, you will need a glass or ceramic container. Put your crystals in this container and cover them with salt completely. Leave the crystals in the salt for a day. After that, you should throw out the salt, and rinse the crystals in water.

IMPORTANT! Use dry sea salt! Salt solutions can damage the appearance of your crystals. Not all minerals can be allowed to directly come in contact with salt!

If you are unsure how the salt will affect your crystals, you can use an alternative sea salt cleanse option. Pour salt into a deep container. Wrap your crystals in a piece of cloth and just fill it with salt. Or simply put a napkin on top of the salt, and place your crystals and jewelry on it. This method is no less effective and will help avoid troubles with your crystals’ appearance.

#2: Water Cleanse

This is the easiest and most affordable way to cleanse your crystals. It would be ideal to wash your crystals in spring water. But even regular water is also suitable for this purpose.

How To Cleanse Crystals With Water?

Just hold the crystals under cold running water for 10-15 minutes, and the water will carry away the extra heavy information that has accumulated in them. It is good to combine such cleansing with visualization. Imagine that water is washing out all the negativity from the crystals. After that, put the crystals on a dry surface but do not wipe them.

Important! Not all crystals go well with water. Before you choose this method of crystal cleansing, make sure to check the list below.

Never cleanse these crystals with water:

Angelite
Calcite
Carnelian
Galena
Halite
Hematite
Labradorite
Lepidolite
Lodestones
Malachite
Mica
Moldavite
Muscovite
Obsidian
Opal
Pearl
Pyrite
Selenite
Turquoise
Ulex and some others.

3. Fire Cleanse

Did you know that fire has a powerful cleansing effect? Therefore, it’s very effective to use fire for crystal cleansing.

How to Cleanse Crystals With Fire?

Take a candle of the color of the crystal you want to cleanse (for example, for cleansing rose quartz, you will need a pink candle). Light it and draw a couple of circles with a candle over the crystal, and then move the crystal over the candle. If it’s possible to hang the crystal on a chain, then you can move the crystal through the flames a couple of times.

When performing the fire cleanse, visualize how all negative energy and information burn in the flame of fire. Then put your crystals next to the candle until it burns completely.

#4: Crystal Cleansing With Earth Element

Another effective way to cleanse your crystals is to use the power of the Earth. Earth is the home for all stones, the place of their birth, so in their native element, they are not only cleansed but also gain strength.

How To Cleanse Crystals With the Earth Element?

To cleanse your crystals with the Earth element, bury the crystals in the ground for 3 to 7 days. The energy of the Earth resets all the information accumulated in them. If you don’t have your own yard, then you can use a regular pot with soil in it. Bury your crystals in the soil. After a few days, dig up your crystals and wash them with water.

#5: Fumigation

How To Cleanse Crystals With Incense?

To cleanse your crystals, you can use incense sticks or dried herbs. Suitable options: lavender, sage, incense, juniper, myrrh, wormwood, and cedar. Light the incense and while it’s burning, carry your crystals through the running smoke several times. Then put your crystals next to the burning incense stick until the incense is completely burned. Do not forget to ventilate the room after this cleansing ritual, to get rid of all the negative energy after cleansing.

#6: Sound Cleanse

Sound can create certain vibrations that purify and balance the energy around. For these purposes, you can use singing bowls or bells.

How to Cleanse Crystals with the Sound?

Arrange crystals in a row or in a circle, and then play the singing bowl or ring the bells to create a sound vibration.

#7: Cold Cleanse

Cold cleansing or freezing is another simple way for quick cleansing.

How to Cleanse Crystals with Cold?

To do this, put your crystals in the freezer for 2-3 hours. After this simple action, the negative information contained in your crystals will be destroyed with cold.

#8: Crystal Cleansing with Other Crystals

Yes, you read it right! You can cleanse your crystals with the help of other crystals with cleansing properties. For this purpose, you should use transparent crystals of a pointed shape.

How to Cleanse Crystals With the Help of Other Crystals?

Place your cleansing crystals around the crystal that you want to cleanse. Make sure that the sharp ends of the cleansing crystals are pointed at the crystal that needs to be cleansed. Leave the crystals in this position for at least 6 hours.

The Bottom Line

You can choose any of the methods above or use several of them at the same time. The most important thing is to perform crystal cleansing regularly. If you constantly wear crystals in the form of jewelry, you should consider cleansing them every 1,5-2 months. If you wear crystal jewelry from time to time, you can cleanse it every 6 months. If you use crystals in your healing work, then you should cleanse them each time before and after the session.

Spirituality

10 Types of Spiritual Bypassing That Slow Down Your Growth

Published

2 weeks ago

January 20, 2023

Katya Ki

How do you react to misfortunes or sad phases in your life? Do you deal with the pain or remain with unresolved wounds for fear of becoming vulnerable? Well, chances are, you are spiritually bypassing.

The Origin

Spiritual bypassing is an old term coined by John Welwood, a Buddhist teacher, author, and psychotherapist, in 1984. It refers to the tendency for persons to avoid, sidestep, or escape uncomfortable issues facing them. Welwood noted that persons resorted to this behavior to rise above their shaky emotional or personal foundation, hence, obtaining enlightenment.

What of Today?

Spiritual bypassing is quite common in the 21st century. Here, we see people covering up their low self-esteem, loneliness, or anger with spiritual practice. The only difference is it is a short-term cover-up. Spiritual bypassing facilitates a buildup of negative emotions into full-blown unrest and uncertainty.

Is Spiritual Bypassing Negative?

Often, we associate spirituality with positive aspects of our lives. You know, feelings of inner peace, contentment, or fulfillment. But, spiritual bypassing confirms that there are dark and painful areas in spirituality. Yes, it creates a false feeling of security and satisfaction, blocking any efforts for emotional healing.

Types of Spiritual Bypassing

Do you often resort to spirituality to bypass the unpleasant phases of your life? Here are the ten possible ways: –

#1: Optimistic Bypass

An optimistic bypass will insist on seeing life as a glass half full. This person is always focusing on the sunny side of life, ignoring the other half that is not so pleasant. In turn, these persons never engage their anger, inner conflict, or aggression. For, they fail to see that life isn’t always a happy fairytale.

#2: Aggrandizement Bypass

Do you know of a spiritual leader or seeker who seems overly enlightened and superior? Chances are these individuals struggle with personal insecurities and deficiencies. For, aggrandizement bypass is a self-delusion that convinces the self-proclaimed spiritual gurus that they have achieved a level of enlightenment or higher being.

#3: Victim Bypass

Are you a victim of your gifts? If these gifts hinder you from living a healthy or happy life, you could be a victim bypass. For example, a victim bypass may identify as an empath and use their gift of compassion to others to the extent of neglecting their happiness. Likewise, a victim bypass may disguise as an indigo child, a gifted healer, or a Starseed.

#4: Psychonaut Bypass

A psychonaut bypass exploits psychedelic drugs to escape their painful reality. In turn, they get into a psycho-spiritual crisis that hinders them from pursuing personal development.

#5: Horoscope Bypass

Do you love astrology, or are you dependent on it? Well, if you struggle with fear or self-doubt to the point of living an indecisive life, you could be relying on others to predict the outcome of your life. For this, a horoscope bypass trusts the predictions of a psychic or an astrologer. It becomes destructive when this trust supersedes their inner feelings to make significant decisions in their lives. In turn, their obsession with astrology makes them incapable of coping with traumas.

#6: Saint Bypass

When growing up, kids learn that spiritual leaders are saintly, kind, and compassionate. Only, these leaders have weaknesses and dark sides like any ordinary human being. However, a saint bypass holds on to this holier-than-thou notion from their childhood, even when they are now adults. In turn, a saint bypass will sacrifice themselves to appear sweet, approachable, heavenly persons.

#7: Spirit Guide Bypass

A spirit guide, whether an angelic or godly being, serves to protect humanity, right? Well, this belief is quite soothing to the mind but constricts the soul. That is, we forgo the need to be resilient, courageous, or take charge of our safety. We become like children under the protection of the parent. Living this way deprives us of the ability to grow our spiritual character. Instead, we should look to the spirit guide to learn more about our spirituality, not babysit us.

#8: Guru Bypass

A guru bypass is overly attached to a spiritual teacher or guru, to the extent of worshipping them. They accept all the teachings from their spiritual guru as absolute truths. Eventually, the guru bypass never grows spiritually. Further, they fall prey to manipulation or any ill-intentions of their spiritual leaders.

#9: Finger-Pointing Bypass

When on a spiritual journey, we develop clarity of mind. Here, we intuitively determine when someone is lying, honest, or trying to manipulate us. More so, we can tell reality from delusions and make rational decisions. A finger-pointing bypass uses this ability to declare them as self-righteous. In turn, they are quick to finger-point anyone who has a contrary opinion or acts differently from them. In essence, a finger-pointing bypass is procrastinating. They find fault in others instead of working to correct and improve themselves.

#10: Prayer Bypass

Finally, a prayer bypass ignores their responsibility. Instead, this person entrusts a higher being to deal with their problems. For example, this person will pray about a sickness they have without taking any steps to seek medical attention.

What Next?

Does any of the above types of spiritual bypassing resonate with you? Here are some tips you can use to stop this negative tendency: –

#1: Be Open Minded

Know that all spiritual seekers are human beings, hence, bound to make mistakes at some point. Then, be willing to learn and receive correction from others.

#2: Deal with Any Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive dissonance arises when our beliefs are challenged or misaligned with reality. You will experience cognitive dissonance as your change your attitudes and beliefs from spiritual bypassing. That is, you may feel guilty, anxious, or ashamed for letting go of your thoughts that do not align with what you now know to be true.

When this happens, you should examine your life for areas that do not add up. For example, you should question a narcissistic leader who preaches compassion but uses physical abuse against you.

#3: Seek Honest Feedback from Others

Discuss spiritual bypassing with your friends and loved ones. Let them tell you what they see in you that suggests that you could be a spiritual bypass. View the feedback as positive criticism, and use it to grow spiritually.

The Bottom Line

Spiritual bypassing is not easy to detect. It disguises itself as a caring, compassionate person. Take time to evaluate yourself. Acknowledge the tendency and start your healing process.