The Solstice occurred this week, on 21st June, marking winter down here in Australia and Summer in the northern hemisphere. In some yoga circles, it is traditional to celebrate the changes of seasons - the summer and winter solstices and the vernal and autumnal equinoxes - by doing Sun Salutations.
            The Sun Salutation, or Surya Namaskara, is a series of poses performed in a sequence to create a flow of movement. ... The components of a Sun Salutation also make up a vinyasa -  the series of movements used between poses in Ashtanga, Vinyasa, and Power Yoga.
            Traditionalists trace the roots of modern Sun Salutations back to rituals called Namaskars performed more than 3,500 years ago. In particular, Namaskars were first described around 1500 BC in the Rig Veda, the oldest collection of sacred Hindu scriptures, composed of more than one thousand hymns rich with metaphor, myth, and instruction. The movements and mantras outlined in this 3,500-year-old Vedic tradition were rituals to be offered at sunrise and sunset. The earliest archaeological evidence of yoga culture was depicted on seals of Harappan, one of the most ancient urban cultures on the Indian subcontinent. That means that movement meditation may have been practiced in this swath of land across northeast Afghanistan, Pakistan, and northwest India around 3500 BC, more than 5,500 years ago.
            The Sun Salutation is best done early morning on an empty stomach - start your day with a feeling of grace and gratitude towards the Sun energy. Besides good health, Surya Namaskar also provides an opportunity to express gratitude to the Sun for sustaining life on this planet.
            Each Sun Salutation round consists of two sets. These 12 yoga poses complete one set of Surya Namaskar. To complete the second half, you need to repeat the same sequence of postures, only moving the left leg instead of the right. You might find several versions of doing Sun Salutation. However, it is best to stick to one particular sequence and practice it regularly for best results.

For an illustrated method, see: https://www.artofliving.org/au-en/how-do-surya-namaskar
Or, on You Tube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IUyY9Dyr5w

Credit for Image at Top of Page:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8ZppjVEwU1k/VA6sc70SbPI/AAAAAAAAHYM/-_ZY92KGK24/s1600/surya-namaskar.jpg

            In my article The Way of the Golden Sphere, I wrote, “The Egyptians often depicted illumined beings with a sphere sitting atop their head – when it was golden coloured, then the sphere represented the Sun, or the central Source of the All. (Another variant, the red orb, was used by a high-ranking official in times of war, linking it to the red of Mars).” See http://www.solarancestor.com/the-golden-sphere.html
            For a different perspective, it is interesting to note the theories of Gary Gilligan on his website http://www.godkingscenario.com/gks/ra-re-the-red-sun-god-gks-6 . Mr Gilligan proposes that a cosmic event over five thousand years ago left so much debris in space that the Ancient Egyptians actually perceived the Sun as red, allowing them to observe it more readily than we can in today’s sky.
            He does not deny the connection between the Sun and gold, or golden colour, as demonstrated by this short excerpt from his website:
“[…] consider the precious metal gold which was regarded as the flesh of the gods. It was closely associated with the Sun as the following quotes highlight:
             “With decorations in gold leaf or yellow paint to represent gold, which both form the flesh of the gods and as a colour had a close association with the Sun god.” (Robins, quoting on the gold funerary mask of an elite woman, The Art of Ancient Egypt, 2000, p 146)
            “Because of its warm glow and indestructibility, gold was thought to be the flesh of the Sun god Ra and contained supernatural powers.” (Discovery Channel, Age of Gold, 2004)
            “The colour yellow was often associated with the Sun-disk and with gold, or nbw. Gold was not only associated with the Sun, it was also the flesh of the gods.” (touregypt).”
[We can also note that the Egyptian word nbw gave its name to Nubia].
Mr Gilligan offers other ideas on why the Egyptians often preferred to use a red disc rather than a golden sphere. While all this is food for thought, Solar Ancestor agrees that gold, and the shape of the sphere, were important to the ancients as representations of the Source of the All, and remain so today in the Solar Sciences.

Credit for Images at Top of Page:
LEFT: http://www.touregypt.net/images/touregypt/ra3.jpg
RIGHT: http://www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk/images/ra.jpg

While Andrew Tomas may be best remembered for his involvement with UFO agencies, it should be noted that he spent many years in India and Tibet, studying with Lamas, and in fact met the Dalai Lama. He also met, and greatly admired, Nicholas Roerich. In his book Shambhala: Oasis of Light (which is now hard to get) he wrote about the little known Arhats and Mahatmas who dwell in Tibet and the Gobi Desert and guide the world from an unseen plane. Following are a just a few selected quotes from that book.
            “At another time Nicholas Roerich saw a Tibetan book wholly dedicated to the prayers to Shambhala, edited by the Panchen Lama. Asia has been acutely conscious of the verity of Northern Shambhala for long centuries. ‘The Lord of Shambhala lives and breathes in the heart of the Sun,’ wrote a Himalayan Mahatma. (p.54)
            “This supposition is confirmed by the words Mahatma Morya in the conclusion to Agni Yoga: ‘The streams of this Fire were seared upon the Stone in its great flight before the face of the Sun.’ If this is a reference to the Chintamani Stone, are we given to understand that Nicholas Roerich made a space trip towards the inner planets and the Sun?” (p.64)
            “According to Damis, the people of this city could utilise the power of the Sun. The Wise Men were able to levitate themselves from the ground to the height of three feet and even glide in the air. Apollonius watched a ceremony during which the sages struck the earth with their staves and then became airborne. Parallel phenomena were reported from Tibet by the savant [Ms. Alexandra] David-Neel in this twentieth century, thus validating the story of Philostratus.” (p.94) [My bracket added].
            “ ‘It is the lack of desire of the Terrestrial Ruler to cooperate with the Lord of the Sun and the Spirits of the Planets that has created a cosmic crisis … The exalted beings of the Sun and other worlds say to Satan – let your lamp shine but do not obstruct other and more glorious lights in starry space!’“ (p.146)
            “In the translation of the great philologist Professor max Muller, the name Moru is identified with the Morya Dynasty of India whose descendant, according to the same source, is to restore the Solar Dynasty … The Venerable Mahatma Morya wrote a letter to [Alfred Percy or ‘AP’] Sinnett in 1882 in which he described a ‘Raja-Sun beyond Jupiter.” (p.159) [My bracket added]
            “ ‘When evil reaches its peak and the scales go down under the weight of hatred, ignorance and moral filth, then Shambhala will request the Dhyan Chohans to move the astronomical body beyond Jupiter closer to make it luminous. The new radiation will transform all life on this planet,’ the lama added.” (p.151)
            Tomas also wrote much about the luminaries of Ancient Greece and Rome, including Apollonius of Tyana. I will write more about them in future blogs, including the relevance to the Sun as well as Planet X.
Credit for Image at Top of Page:
http://www.delo.si/assets/media/picture/20100718/ledenik_segrevanje.jpg?rev=1

            Over the past few decades it has become popular for New Age writers and spiritual people to make reference to the ‘Silver Cord and Golden Bowl,’ spoken of in the Biblical Book of Ecclesiastes (the same book which gave us the beautiful words of “To Everything There is a Season.”) When read in the whole context of Chapter 12, clearly the writer, the great wise King Solomon, was referring to what happens when the spirit is separated at death.  The Bible, of course, was translated from Hebrew to Greek, to Vulgate Latin and later to Old English.  As translated from the original Hebrew in The Complete Tanakh:
“Before the silver cord snaps, and the golden fountain is shattered, and the pitcher breaks at the fountain, and the wheel falls shattered into the pit.[1]”
[ עַד אֲשֶׁר לֹא יֵרָתֵק (כתיב יֵרָחֵק) חֶבֶל הַכֶּסֶף וְתָרֻץ גֻּלַּת הַזָּהָב וְתִשָּׁבֶר כַּד עַל הַמַּבּוּעַ וְנָרֹץ הַגַּלְגַּל אֶל הַבּוֹר ]
The first English translators saw this ‘fountain’ as the source of life and an energetic field which they called the Golden Bowl.
            While there is a lack of consensus among Biblical commentators and translators of newer English versions, such as the ‘New International Version,’ spiritually minded New Ageists generally agree that it is a sphere corresponding with the aura. In other words, we live inside a sphere. As I have pointed out elsewhere, we have two parts to our unseen nature, often called the spirit and the soul, or which I prefer to describe by their ancient Egyptian names, Ka and Ba. The Ka is an etheric double of our physical body, while the Ba is the divine component and source of our Vital Life Force, or Soul. I see it as our Golden Sphere.
            Many Christian paintings show saints as having a golden halo around their heads. This most likely comes from the same intuitive concept – that we have a ‘Golden Sphere.’
To read the entire article, CLICK HERE
 
Credit for Images Above:
LEFT: https://previews.123rf.com/images/dipressionist/dipressionist1012/dipressionist101200097/8476555
RIGHT: http://l7.alamy.com/zooms/5764640741fa4c0aa566bae13738e53b/
FOOTNOTE:
[1] http://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/16473