Smoke belongs to the realm of one of the four fundamental elements of the universe, Air. It has long been considered an agent of communication which utilizes this vital element and, due to the loftiness of the air, humans often view smoke as a channel of communication between the physical and spiritual realms.

As such, resins have been burnt for many thousands of years, in civilizations spanning the whole globe. The smoke emitted from burning these resins fills the space, preparing it for ceremonial, ritual, or spiritual purposes.

What Are Resins?

Resin is essentially dried sap, collected from trees. It is considered to be trees’ lifeblood. It heals their wounds and helps provide protection against infection. There is a rich history, in many different parts of the world, of resin’s use for spiritual and healing purposes. It has appeared in ancient Egyptian texts, as well as appearing in the scriptures of the Bible and other historical documents.

When burned, they release a gorgeous fragrance and a holy smoke, both of which have been known to remove negative energies, and promote healthy, positive mind spaces. Depending on which resin one chooses to burn, one can feel a connection to a higher consciousness, a clarity or balance in oneself, or even a sense of healing.

Resins have also been used to bless a space as sacred, protecting it from the unwanted energies that fill other spaces in a person’s life, and helps disconnect it from the world. This is why most temples and churches have strong associations with the burning of incense and resins.

Here is a quick run-down of seven of the best resins for you to burn in your own sacred place. Each can be used for a variety of benefits so that you can turn your home into a space safe from the outside energies.

Amber

Amber resin is incredibly durable. It has been known to be found centuries after its creation, still completely intact. The Greek name for Amber was “elektron” which literally means “formed by the sun.” It also had connections to the sun god Helios, whose title was “the Awakener”.

Amber can awaken the soul, balancing your body’s energies, it can inspire confidence in many aspects of your life. This is a wonderful resin to burn if you are going through a period of uncertainty, Amber can shed its sunlight across many of your doubts.

Copal

This resin gets its name from the Nahuatl language (the language of the Aztecs) and literally translates to ‘incense’. It is still today used by indigenous people in Mexico and Central America for spiritual cleansing. As previously stated, resins are considered to be the lifeblood of trees, and as such is thought to appease the Gods when burned as a sacred offering to them.

The sharp scent that copal brings with it can cut through and clear the energies in the air around you. Continue reading →

Depending on your choice of theories, our universe is either infinite, expanding or just one of an infinite number of universes. No matter which theory you subscribe to, the universe is an astronomically large, complex, and beautiful thing.

For physicists who dedicate their lives to trying to make sense of the life’s deepest riddles, the study of the universe provides new answers and discoveries every day. Most of us have heard that light from stars comes to us from the past and that Jupiter is the biggest planet in our solar system. So instead, this list is compiled of eight amazing facts about the universe that aren’t commonly known.

Facts about the universe

1. Our Sun takes 225 million years to orbit the galaxy

   When you think about our solar system you think of the planets orbiting the sun, which exists as a fixed point. However, the sun actually orbits the Milky Way. To complete a full circuit of the galaxy takes as much as 225 million years, meaning that dinosaurs were just beginning to evolve last time the sun was in its current position.

2. Venus’ days are longer than its years

   Although our ‘Earth logic’ makes this fact sound like a paradox, it isn’t! Venus spins so slowly on its axis (it is also the only planet to spin clockwise) that a full rotation takes 243 Earth days, which is a full 19 days longer than it takes to orbit the sun. Continue reading →

Living in the public eye 24/7 can definitely have its downsides. For one, we can learn the most intimate details of a celebrity’s life without ever having met them. So it’s no surprise that some have been pretty open about their beliefs in the supernatural and reincarnation.

1. Helena Bonham Carter

No stranger to the weird and bizarre, Carter has a psychic friend on-call. Most recently they were used for de-ghosting her house and consulting about taking the role of Elizabeth Taylor in the BBC biopic “Burton and Taylor”.

“I told him I was in a real dilemma about the role, and he came back with the answer, ‘intellectually it makes no sense whatsoever, but emotionally it’s a nine out of ten’”. Her aunt is also an astrologer that she consults for advice as well.

2. Sammy Hagar

The former Van Halen frontman claims that he was visited by aliens as a boy and that aliens abducted him in 1967 to communicate telepathically.

“So I’m lying in bed. I feel like I’m dreaming that there are these little aliens- 2 guys sitting in this ship up on the hill behind us about 11 miles away… I could see that they had something plugged into me. I mean a wireless thing”. After the ordeal he woke up to white and then suddenly everything went black before he started shaking.

He also had a paranormal experience with his father. One night he awoke to a knock on his door where he saw his father visibly drunk, so he slammed the door in his face and told him to leave. A few minutes later he got a phone call from his sister saying their father had just died. It’s a shame we never got any Van Halen songs about these experiences.

3. Shirley MacLaine

You just have a list about celebrities and the supernatural without Oscar winner Shirley MacLaine. Continue reading →

This interesting art of body marbling is starting to gain popularity recently. Body marbling stations are popping up, especially at festivals; it is already called ‘body-painting of the future. It turns your body into a work of art by simply dipping your arm (or another limb) into a barrel or a bucket where marbled image on the surface transfers to the skin. This dip-dye results in the most trippy temporary tattoos.

Body marbling uses the same techniques as the traditional marbling style. The water is decorated with paint that floats on the surface. Even the visuals look similar with the dripping and the dragging of the paint. One big difference is the kind of paint that is being used for body marbling. This is a water-based paint which is non-toxic for the skin and also safe for clothing. Often neon or UV-active colors are used which gives an even more fascinating effect under black light.

The term ‘body marbling’ was first used by the pioneer Brad Lawrence. While he was a student at college for creative studies he got diagnosed at the age of 23 with acute tendonitis in both arms.

This made painting and drawing increasingly more painful. Lawrence sparked an interest for abstract art and ultraviolet colors. The bottles which he used for this form of art reduced the pain in his arms. This method of painting inspired him to begin the company Black Light Visuals which led to what we now know as body marbling.

To marble your body you will have to follow three steps:

– The first step will be dipping your skin into a salt solution. This creates a prime layer and helps the paint get absorbed better into the skin. While waiting for the salt water to dry completely, the colors can be chosen and the design can be made on the surface of the water. Using dripping, scratching, twirling and turning techniques a unique psychedelic pattern is created.

– The second step is dipping your skin into the hydro-dye in one motion. The print is set immediately so the skin can be retracted straight away. Do this slowly.

– The third and last step is to put the skin in a water bin to rinse the excess paint off. Let this dry and voila, your temporary tattoo is ready.

Normally the paint stays on the skin for approximately 8-10 hours. This depends of course on how you treat your skin.

These videos demonstrate this intriguing new trend. Would you give body marbling a try? Let us know what you think about it.

On Friday September 9th, the planet Jupiter shifts into the sign of Libra. Jupiter changes signs once every year; so this is a significant shift in energy.

Jupiter is the largest planet in the zodiac and it’s energy brings expansion, abundance and good fortune.

Jupiter is blessings the vibration of Libra.

Now it’s important to understand that we all experience Libra energy; albeit in our own unique ways. This transit is good news for everyone.

Libra rules partnerships; which means it’s going to be a lucky time for love. However when we are flowing with this energy it’s crucial to understand that the most important relationship you’ll ever be in is the one to yourself.

As we move into this gentle, loving and beautiful energy it’s important to take a look at yourself in the mirror and love who is looking back at you.

This may mean saying something like, “I don’t like the way my hips look; but I love myself anyways”…

We are just beginning this year long journey so it’s totally okay to feel like you have a long way to go.

Continue reading →

Our memories are at the heart of who we are. Whether the memories have are painful or happy, they shape the person we become and help us make sense of the world around us. However, as we age our brains adhere to the entropic principle of the universe, meaning that we slowly begin to forget moments from our lives.

This ‘natural amnesia’ becomes a source of great sorrow and hurt for many people as they struggle to recall their childhood or how they felt during significant moments in their life. Whether memory loss is caused by a head injury, aging or a degenerative brain condition, such as Alzheimer’s, finding out how to get them back from locked compartments in our minds has puzzled scientists for centuries.

A team of scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) released a set of results from their memory study, which could begin to answer how we retrieve ‘lost’ memories.

The research team, led by Susumu Tonegawa, set out on the project to start answering an age old scientific question; were ‘lost’ memories caused by damage to specific brain cells, or by a ‘blockage’ in its storage?

‘Brain researchers have been divided for decades on whether amnesia is caused by an impairment in the storage of a memory, or in its recall,’ says Tonegawa. ‘The majority of researchers have favored the storage theory, but we have shown in this paper that this majority theory is probably wrong. Amnesia is a problem of retrieval impairment.’

The research itself was conducted on mice, which meant giving them amnesia. To do this the team shocked the rodents every time they entered a particular room in a maze – named chamber A. By doing this the mice would ‘freeze’ when they approached the room, as they remembered the previous shock.

By analyzing the mouse’s brain, the team was able to pinpoint the neurons that activated the memory of the shock. Once pinpointed the mice in one group were be given a chemical called anisomycin. This chemical inhibits the synaptic strength and prevents protein synthesis necessary for memory coding.

Continue reading →