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By Stephen William. He is a UK based Medium and Healer and Author of “Nostradamus His Prophecy Finally Explained.”
Available on Kindle now.
Available on Kindle now.
Well as a Spiritualist and a Mystic, I believe that the answer to both questions is yes! In the following article I would like to explain how I came to these conclusions.
Virtually all modern main religions believe in some form of life after death. However ancient peoples also almost without exception believed in and used communication with the deceased. Ancient peoples were certain the deceased possessed supernatural knowledge or the power to influence the living, leading to two main forms of interaction:
- Veneration & Petitions: Communicating with ancestors to ask for guidance, protection, or everyday favours.
- Divination: Communicating the dead to uncover secrets or predict the future.
These deeply localized practices were expressed across the ancient world: One of the best examples of this is Ancient Egypt.
The living wrote direct pleas to deceased relatives and ancestors on bowls or papyrus. People deposited these at tombs hoping the deceased would intervene in legal disputes or stop nightmares etc.
Ancient Egyptians also practiced spiritual mediumship and divination, believing certain individuals could bridge the mortal realm with the divine and the dead. These practitioners entered into altered states of consciousness. The primary term used for these spiritual intermediaries was:
Sau : Translating roughly to "amulet-man" or "protector." These individuals frequently acted as mediums, healers, and diviners. They used rituals and dream interpretation to communicate with the spirits of the dead. In the Bible, Joseph the son of the first Israelite Jacob, in Genesis interprets the Egyptian King’s dream successfully and is made his chief advisor and Vizier (Prime Minister) to ward off the predicted famine in the dream . This a good illustration of the use of mediumistic practice at that time.
Other cultures such as the Mesopotamian ,Greek, etc, as well as the ancient peoples of the rest of the world did as well. So as modern mediums demonstrate this form of spiritual proof, this demonstrates the origin of modern religions being rooted in Spiritualism and Mysticism. Joseph the Israelite lived in a time before Moses apparently banned spiritual mediumship. So why did Moses apparently ban this obvious proof of the reality of spirituality?. As I explained in my recent article on Moses, the Israelite people of the time lived in a land where some of their neighbouring tribes/nations had very immoral practices built into their national religion including human sacrifice and slavery- based temple prostitution. To accept spiritual messages and guidance from mystics of those nations , even if they were not part of the official priesthood and disapproved of the ritual murder and forced sex, could cause Israelites to be polluted by ideas contrary to Moses’s teachings.
In addition to this, even Israelite mediums who were not part of Israelite religious priesthood and in many cases as today, were women ,such as The Woman of Endor were officially forbidden. She of course was who King Saul consulted in desperation to contact the then dead Samuel after his own male religious advisors could not help him. Women’s opinions spiritually inspired or not as we are aware, 3000 years ago had nothing like the respect in ancient cultures, as they have today in the developed world.
ONE OF THE MANY POST MEDIEVAL PAINTINGS OF JOSEPH THE ISRAELITE WARNING THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN KING HIS DREAM MEANT EGYPT WOULD EXPERIENCE A GREAT FAMINE. BEFORE MOSE’S BAN ON DIRECT SPIRITUAL CONTACT AND FORETELLING THE FUTURE, DREAM INTERPRETATION SEEMS TO BE ACCEPTABLE PRACTICE FOR EGYPTIANS AND ISRAELITES ALIKE. OF COURSE JOSEPH’S FATHER JACOB LATER TO BE NAMED ISRAEL IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE ACTUALLY WRESTLED WITH A SPIRITUAL BEING.
So that is the first above question answered. The very human desire for people to contact their deceased loved and trusted relatives and friends led to what is now religion. So did ancient people frequently confuse or combined spirit guides with gods? I believe that they did.
In early animism, the line between an ancestor, a local nature spirit, and a distinct deceased spirit appear to be blurred. As communities grew, localized spirits and personal guides often evolved into, or were absorbed by, recognized gods and goddesses.
Several historical and anthropological factors explain how this overlap occurred:
- Lack of Distinction in Animism: Early beliefs focused on animism, where the world was apparently alive with various non-physical entities. A guiding voice, a dream messenger, or a protective presence was often treated simply as a "spirit" or a local entity rather than fitting into a strict hierarchy of higher or lower beings.
- Evolution of Ancestor Worship: Anthropological theories suggest that many early polytheistic pantheons grew out of ancestor worship. A wise elder or a notable family guide could be revered after death, and over centuries of oral storytelling, these mighty dead were elevated to the status of gods or patron deities.
- Blurry Definitions of Deities: In many polytheistic systems, the boundary between gods and spirits was fluid. For instance, the Greeks had the concept of a daimon, a morally neutral, supernatural intelligence that acted as an intermediary between the greater gods and humanity, providing personal guidance or warnings. It has also occurred to me that as a modern medium ,that our spirit guides are often from a different race and religion from ourselves. Their different appearance in facial appearance and complexion plus their different clothing, may well have to spiritual ancient people who had never travelled far from their village and local area and never seen someone of a different race, that they were not actually normal humans ,but were gods. Their description to their friends of their appearance and great knowledge would possibly have elevated them to a god -like status in the mind of the listener.
- The Bicameral Mind Theory: Bicameral means “two chambers” Some neuro-historical theories, like psychologist Julian Jaynes's research on the “bicameral mind,” suggest that ancient humans did not perceive inner thoughts or guidance as coming from themselves. Instead, they interpreted these inner voices or spirit guides as external commands from literal, separate gods. However, as modern mystics we know there is a spiritual dimension to existence, which we can prove by giving information about passed people and future events ,which cannot be guessed at. I should mention the “Bicameral Mind” is an unproven theory and us mystics can confirm that although humans have their own individually created thoughts , they can receive spiritual contact without having two hypothetical “mental chambers” to their mind!
I truly believe that mystics and spiritualists are the “guardians” of spiritual belief for the future. Even the long- established religions of today ,evolved over the centuries from their origins as the Biblical stories of Jacob, Joseph, Moses, etc. have demonstrated. And how was this achieved? By direct spiritual and mysticism of course! Even God’s name was changed from the El as he was revealed to Jacob, to Yahweh as he was revealed to Moses. Mystical experiences that not only changed religion ,but the history of the world.
Modern mystics come from all ethnicities and religious backgrounds and many retain the cultural identity and practice of their birth religion as I myself do. Yet we are open to not only direct spiritual contact and knowledge, but also to the wisdom and teachings of our mystical colleagues religious backgrounds . We are secure in the knowledge that they all came from the same source at some time in the past, by our experiences in the present.
©Stephen William International Copyright.
If you wish to read my book, it is available on this link at Amazon.
https://amzn.eu/d/0eJF8fz5
