Throughout time, religious ideology and belief in the supernatural have both helped and terrified human beings. As prehistoric cave paintings have demonstrated, the belief in forces beyond our control and comprehension predates agriculture, civilization, alphabets, and other aspects of human life, which came about when the hunter-gatherers first tamed the land and the animals.

For all the fear that Christianity has bestowed upon occultism, the practice itself isn’t exactly harmful. In fact, it often serves as a spiritual experience for its practitioners, much like the belief in unorthodox deities such as Satan. Here are 10 strange and unusual occult practices from history.

10 Seances

Seances are occult practices conducted by mediums, almost always intending to contact the dead or persons who’ve crossed over to another plane. The French word “seance” translates to “sitting” in English, where practitioners would “sit” with spirits from another world.

Usually, practitioners sit in a circle of six to eight people, hold hands, and attempt to diminish any distractions which may hinder their desired result of summoning the dead. Sometimes, mediums report hearing otherworldly voices along with seeing ghosts manifest from another world.

At times, it is believed that the ghost speaks through the medium. Reportedly, ghosts have also used instruments to write, such as the famed Ouija board or pens or pencils that inscribe some communication on an object.

As the focal point of the seance, the medium is believed to make otherworldly contact with the dead. Some reports claim that a medium levitated in the air during a seance. However, it’s doubtful that modern science has developed any concrete evidence of such an event actually happening.^[1]

So what is it? Does a seance manifest real supernatural powers? Or is it just another case of people believing what they want at the expense of their reason?

9 Symbology

In the occult, symbolism carries a lot of meaning, whether to connect us to hidden worlds or to awaken things that are unconscious. The pentagram, one of the more popular symbols in our culture today, has a rich history that dates back to ancient Babylon. The star represented the pattern that Venus seemingly made in the sky as well as various beliefs. It has evolved to mean different things to different people.

Sigils are basically signatures of various deities, other angels, or demons. They are inscribed to manifest certain properties of those entities. This is one way that practitioners reach out to these powers for guidance or strength that they normally would not possess.

And then there is Baphomet, one of the best-known occult symbols, which dates to heresy and witchcraft trials of medieval times. It started with The Order in 1118 and served as a protective symbol for Christians when traveling in the Middle East.

Baphomet is the well-known goat with the pentagram on his head. Once The Order and the various Christian groups which subscribed to Baphomet became large enough to be considered a political threat to the Church, the symbol changed hands and was banned from the Church through a series of political maneuvers.^[2]

In time, this became a symbol of torture at the hands of the Church, which was administered to heretics.

8 Necropants

Necropants are an extremely odd bit of occultism stemming from Iceland. They consist of the skin of the legs and feet of the dead and are worn by the living. In fact, the Icelandic people of the 17th century were infatuated with rituals using the bodies of the dead, taking ribs here, skin from sheep there, and mixing it all together into these nightmarish, hodgepodge creatures that are left over to mortify us today.

When it came to necropants, a sorcerer had to get permission to use that person’s skin as pants for it to be the right thing to do. This would apparently bring the wearer greatness, good fortune, and even wealth, supposing they could stomach the macabre ritual.^[3]

At first, necropants were believed to be things of myth. But many of them have turned up and now reside in museums.

7 Divination

Divination is the attempt to gain foresight and knowledge about the future through various methods—from fortune-tellers to Magic 8 Balls to chance readings of a tea leaf or your palm. Psychics and tarot cards also fall under this category.

Sometimes, practitioners turn to crystal gazing. Other times, they stare into candlelight or even pools of water. These latter practices involve using the practitioner’s guidance and intuition to let the necessary messages come through and gain some sense of spiritual understanding about future events.

These practices have a long, dark history of bloodshed and oppression at the hands of the Church, which still sees divination as an evil incarnation of Satan. However, the occultist doesn’t see it that way.

Dating to St. Augustine of Hippo in the fifth century AD, who stated that any pagan traditions and religious practices were of the Devil, the Christian Church became increasingly brutal in its punishments of these practices. By the 13th century AD, any divination or attempt to understand future events was considered demon worship.^[4]

Between 1450 and 1600, the active period of punishing divination and similar practices, the Christian Church was responsible for the death, torture, and mutilation of tens of thousands of supposed “witches.”

6 Satanism

Although Satanism and the occult aren’t the same thing, both practices have borrowed heavily from one another throughout the centuries. The origins of true Satanism are quite mysterious as the Church has destroyed these cults rapidly wherever they popped up. But Satanic cults have been officially documented in Europe and North America as far back as the 17th century.

Satanism finds at least some of its roots in dark figures who were also synonymous with the occult throughout the centuries. Examples would be Hades, the ancient Greek god of the underworld, and Marduk. Thousands of years of worship of these figures have linked Satanism to occult practices because these figures are technically pagan gods and not Satan himself.

By the 20th century, Satanism was in full swing. The Satanic Church was established in America in the 1960s. Small cults have also sprung up worldwide. While the members of these groups don’t number in the millions like those of other religions, the strange and sometimes violent practices—like murder or suicide—by Satanic cults make it a well-known movement.

Despite their differences, Satanism and the occult are one and the same in the eyes of the Christian Church.^[5]

5 Human Sacrifice

Human sacrifice has occurred in some occult practices even to this day. In 1995, a 15-year-old girl named Elyse Pahler was lured to a eucalyptus grove and murdered. Her body was discovered eight months later. The suspects were 17-year-old Royce Casey, 14-year-old Joseph Fiorella, and 16-year-old Jacob Delashmutt.

This murder had all the hallmarks of an occultist or even a Satanic rape and killing. The teens returned to have sex with Pahler’s dead body over the ensuing weeks. When Casey confessed, he said that the rape and murder were sacrificial and for Satan. To the authorities, this was definitely an occult human sacrifice, not too unlike ancient times.^[6]

Many such instances have popped up worldwide. There was a media frenzy about these types of murders in the 1990s in the United States. A notable one was the Vampire Cult, led by Rod Ferrell, and its ritualistic and sacrificial killing of a Florida family. Ferrell was only 16 years old at the time of the murders.

The teens in this cult took drugs, performed blood and sex rituals, and eventually traveled from Kentucky to Florida to kill Naomi Ruth Queen and Richard Wendorf. Though rare, human sacrifice has definitely found its way into today’s society, often as an exercise in occultism.

4 Magick

Magick (alternate spelling to distinguish “magic” from “sleight-of-hand” or “stage” magic) in occultism entails efforts to call on extra-sensory forces to know and rule the “spirit” world and even control humans and inanimate objects. The term itself is an Early Modern English spelling for magic, used in works such as the 1651 translation of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa’s De Occulta Philosophia, Three Books of Occult Philosophy, or Of Magick. Aleister Crowley defines magick as the “Science of understanding oneself and one’s conditions. It is the Art of applying that understanding in action.”^[7]

Magick ceremonies and those who practice them are seen as channels through which supernatural power affects change in human events and conditions. Those who practice “white magick” seek to produce positive or favorable outcomes. “Black magick” practitioners intend harm and evil results. Aspects of ritual in magick include banishing, invocation, evocation, purification, consecration, and divination (already discussed in this list).

Magick is as old as humanity and had its beginnings in humankind’s attempts to control one’s environment, survival, and destiny, either by controlling natural forces or appealing to higher powers for help. Anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski defined magic as having three functions and three elements. The three functions are to produce, to protect, or to destroy. The three elements are spells and incantations, rites or procedures, and altered states of consciousness accomplished through fasting, meditating, chanting, visualizing symbols, sleep deprivation, dancing, staring into flames, inhaling fumes, taking drugs, and so forth. Magick is practiced universally by skilled individuals who are either born into their powers or train themselves to acquire their abilities.

3 Demonism

With demonism, a practitioner seeks to summon the power of actual demons to bend to their will. According to Christianity and some occultist practices, demons are fallen angels sworn to subvert all good things and to carry out only evil in the world.

The Christian religion dating back to the times of the Holy Bible and the first teachings of the early Christians speaks of these dark figures, and they have been a consistent theme in much of recorded history. Some dark figures, like Santa Muerte, Our Lady of Holy Death, an actual death saint, even appear outside of the Christian doctrine, dating back tens of thousands of years.

John Milton’s Paradise Lost, which was published in 1667, describes these fallen demons cast out of Heaven in the Christian doctrine.^[8] After having been thrown into the dark, fiery abyss, Satan speaks to the demons thus:

Fall’n Cherube, to be weak is miserable
Doing or Suffering: but of this be sure,
To do ought good never will be our task,
But ever to do ill our sole delight,
As being the contrary to his high will
Whom we resist. If then his Providence
Out of our evil seek to bring forth good,
Our labour must be to pervert that end,
And out of good still to find means of evil.

Since ancient times, occultists have believed that they can harness these dark spirits to do evil. The practitioners have used ritualistic incantations to summon different demons for various purposes in many cultures throughout history—starting from Satan, the leader of all demons, to Ukobach, the demon in Hell, which attends to the flames.

Ihrinwe (aka “The Lord of Blood”) is believed to be responsible for humanity’s most violent acts. Serial killers and brutal dictators have been thought to be under the control of this demonic influence, perhaps even causing most of humanity’s atrocities.

2 Old Moore’s Almanac

Dating all the way back to 1697 in Ireland, Old Moore’s Almanac is a fun little occult publication with apparent prophecies of the future. It’s one of the oldest continual publications which contain horoscopes and other such means for people to supposedly dictate their futures.

What was once an anonymous publication is now a magazine complete with an interactive website and plenty for anyone who wishes to see what occult wisdom has in store for them. It also gave weather forecasts.

In time, it spawned numerous replicas and fakes. By 1851, an Irish man named John Francis Nugent created a spin-off called Nugent’s Old Moore’s Almanac. He didn’t hide the fact that it was plainly a rip-off, even though the original publication had already been around for over a century.

Both almanacs were competitors until Nugent died in 1866. The editor for Old Moore’s Almanac also signed up to be the editor for Nugent’s Old Moore’s Almanac and worked for both publications for years.^[9]

1 Hermeticism

Hermeticism is the ancient practice of esoteric wisdom overall and contains a lot of texts and ideas under its umbrella. It is one of the oldest occult practices of all time, beginning with the intermingling of the Greco-Roman and Egyptian cultures and philosophy meeting mysticism.

While “popular” Hermeticism is the practice of more common things like astrology, “learned” Hermeticism is a bit deeper and more in tune with the modern concept of Gnosticism. The main goal was to gain a true understanding of God’s knowledge and make the natural out of the supernatural through understanding.

In a very real way, this fundamental concept was the obscure, humble beginnings of our scientific advancements today by taming the unknown and making it known. Alchemists, Freemasons, and Gnostics all fall under the branch of Hermeticism.

Scholars have suggested that alchemy was never about creating gold but about the lessons learned along the way. Mixing metals to forge gold was never intended to be a realistic possibility. Instead, it was symbolic of the pursuit of knowledge and the futility of attaining material things like gold and wealth.

Considering that Hermeticism comes from Pythagoreanism, which is based on mystical teachings of natural harmony, this is a good possibility. Pythagoras was obsessed with finding the secret fundamental substance of the cosmos, which is in line with the goals of all occultism. Alchemy grew out of this tradition.

However, Hermeticism differs from science in its aims. Where science seeks to study the natural world, Hermetics seeks to study the supernatural realm in hopes of gaining an understanding from that which isn’t readily apparent or intuitive. Ancient religions aside, Hermeticism is the all-encompassing concept of the search for a deeper, more fundamental knowledge that is the foundation of all occultism.^[10]

I like to write about dark stuff, history, and philosophy. Here’s a fun little bit telling the history of some of the more dark and esoteric occult practices.

People have lived along the Nile since the Paleolithic, or Stone Age. Tools recovered there date inhabitation as far back as 700,000 years ago. With such a storied history, the stage was set long ago for the development of a fascinating civilization.

10 The Daily Temple Ritual

To keep the universe running smoothly, a small army of holy men tended to the gods’ every whim with daily offerings across Egypt’s many temples.

Each temple housed a particular god in the form of an enshrined statue that had gone through an “opening of the mouth” ritual to imbue it with the quintessence of a deity’s spiritual entity. These gods received the rock star treatment from priests of varying rank and allegiance who made daily offerings of food, drink, and gifts. The priests also sang hymns and even washed and clothed the gods.

Ceremonies ranged in complexity. At Karnak, the daily procedure to venerate king-god Amun-Ra consisted of more than 60 formulae, or points of focus, including the application of oils, incense, and eye paint. There was also a yoga-like set of poses and strict guidelines for anointing the god-statue with kisses.

9 The Holy Colors

The Egyptians produced a variety of quality handicrafts, which found their way throughout the ancient world. Based on an unassuming blue bead found in the grave of an extravagantly buried Danish woman in Olby, some items made it to Scandinavia as early as 3400 BC.

Plasma-spectrometry is used to detect the tiniest traces of elements without damaging the source material, and such analysis credits the beads to the Egyptian glass workshop at Amarna. In Egypt, blue symbolized the primeval sea from which creation bloomed. Abroad, glass fetched a high price and accompanied elite burials.

In exchange, Nordic peoples sent back their abundant amber, another mystical substance due to its sunlike sheen. Representing the Sun’s glory, pieces of sacred amber were interred with many pharaohs. According to researchers, the intermingling of items may have even shaped spiritual beliefs in Scandinavia.

8 Workers Signed Their Creations

Egypt’s laborers and draftsmen often marked their monuments with a spot of personal graffiti, sometimes humorous, to brag about the amazing structure they had just raised.

Thanks to informal graffiti records, researchers can piece together how workers tackled Egypt’s massive, man-crushing projects. First, they were organized by the thousands and then into smaller and smaller subdivisions, each assigned to a certain task.

Each gang—they’re literally called “gangs”—of workers adopted a moniker and suffixed their signature with the name of the king. This produced whimsical team names like “The Drunkards of Menkaure.”

This graffiti adorns tombs, pyramids, and other monuments. Some items bear different gang names on opposite sides, suggesting that the workforces competed in nonviolent gang wars to outbuild their peers.

7 Egypt’s Female Physicians

The ancient Egyptians were fairly keen on gender equality. Women enjoyed many liberties that disappeared in successive cultures, such as the right to own property (including slaves) and to execute legal documents.

Furthermore, women were well respected in professions that have become much more male-centric in modern times, such as medicine. Records reveal at least 100 Egyptian female physicians, including history’s first named female doctor, chief physician Merit Ptah, who practiced nearly 5,000 years ago.

Inscriptions on tombs tell of Peseshet, another great woman of similar renown. Peseshet was not only a physician but the overseer of physicians. As supervisors or clinicians, Merit Ptah, Peseshet, and other female doctors were much esteemed and ultimately immortalized in hieroglyphics.

6 The Blue Water Lily

The blue water lily (aka Nymphaea caerulea) oozed religious significance. A creation myth asserted that a primordial water lily emerged from the unformed chaos of the pre-universe and spawned the Sun god, progenitor of all life.

The flowers unfurl their petals each morning to display their golden centers before closing again in the afternoon. This daily cycle emulates that of the Sun. So the lilies are like tiny versions of the Sun god and the perfect sacred icon to ornament monuments and temples.

Images also depict denizens holding the lilies to their faces, sniffing them, or consuming lily-laced wine. Shamans also used the lilies medicinally and ritually to attain trancelike states. More recent research shows that the lily and its brethren plants contain a vasodilating ingredient that can battle erectile dysfunction, possibly explaining its appearance in erotic art.

5 The Egyptian Diet

To find out what the Egyptians ate, French researchers analyzed the ratio of two carbon isotopes in 45 mummies from disparate time periods from 3500 BC to AD 600. Certain plants draw in the carbon isotope carbon-12, while others “prefer” the heavier carbon-13. Since animals also eat plants, the carbon variants can elucidate Egyptian meat consumption.

As evidenced by the carbon makeup of their diets, which skewed vegetarian, the Egyptians noshed mainly on plants. Even though the Nile became increasingly arid, expert irrigation techniques provided plentiful plant-based foodstuffs.

Primarily, Egyptians followed a carb-laden, wheat, and barley-heavy diet, supplementing it with a touch (less than 10 percent) of Old World starches like sorghum and millet. Despite all the textual and hieroglyphic evidence for fishing, the Egyptians surprisingly ate very little seafood.

4 Egyptian And Nubian Culture Mash-up

Discovered in former Upper Nubia, the tomb of a middle-class Nubian woman suggests that the Egyptian and Nubian cultures freely intermingled after the former conquered the latter in 1500 BC.

According to researchers, the yet-to-be-deceased enjoyed the freedom to customize the burial they’d receive. For example, the aforementioned woman chose the funerary pupu platter. She was interred in an Egyptian tomb but eschewed the sarcophagus for a bed, a Nubian practice.

Similarly, she forwent the traditional Egyptian mummification process. Instead, as per Nubian convention, she was placed on her side in a pose similar to the fetal position. Finally, she shunned the ivory death jewelry favored by her compatriots and is rocking an Egyptian amulet around her neck. The amulet is emblazoned with the image of Bes, the domestic protector-god.

3 Health Problems In The Capital

Hieroglyphs showing the Egyptian good life are lies. This was deduced from the human remains in a cemetery in Tell el-Amarna, the former capital under Akhenaton. He was the pharaoh who unsuccessfully attempted a permanent switch to monotheism and successfully fathered King Tut.

The skeletons at the cemetery paint the average Egyptian capital-dwellers of more than 3,000 years ago as tinier and sicklier than expected. The collection of hobbit-sized bones revealed an average male height of 158 centimeters (5’2″) with females standing a few centimeters shorter.

The skeletons also show signs of overexertion and a clinical want of protein. Bone fractures were common, as were spinal injuries from the grueling workload. Younger populations were plagued with stunted growth and high juvenile death rates, with 74 percent of the children and teens displaying anemia, an affliction apparent in 44 percent of the adult population.

2 Marriage

Even though premarital sex was not considered taboo, a social expectation to marry existed. Egyptians did so at an early age, often before their 20th birthdays.

However, the state and religion had no influence regarding any facet of marriage. Rather, Egyptian matrimony resembled a social contract that regulated property, with each member legally entitled to their premarital possessions as well as joint ownership of anything that the couple procured while married.

Thanks to the egalitarian concept of Egyptian marriage, women could just as easily request a divorce as men—for just about any reason. In fact, women seem to have had the advantage. In female-initiated splits, the woman kept her possessions as well as up to two-thirds of the former couple’s joint property.

Divorce was common. But many people remarried afterward because neither divorce nor remarriage was considered unacceptable. As bureaucratic as it all sounds, texts and images paint the Egyptians as a romantic, compassionate, monogamous people.

1 The Aphrodisiac Lettuce

On the list of historical aphrodisiacs, lettuce looks the most like a typo. The first tomb depictions of the leafy green date to almost 5,000 years ago. Somehow around 2000 BC, it took on a sexual significance and became the calling card of Min, the god of fertility.

Supposedly, the imaginative Egyptians noted that lettuce stalks emerge from the ground straight and erect, resembling a certain part of the male anatomy. So they associated it with Min. Also, a chunk of lettuce cut at the base secretes a white, milky substance which the Egyptians likened to life-bearing liquids like mother’s milk or semen.

Odder still, the Egyptians didn’t generally eat lettuce. They disposed of the bitter leaves and pressed the seeds, wringing out a healthful oil used for medicinal purposes, cooking, and even the preparation of mummies.

Ancient cultures have been practicing healing arts for as long as we have written historical records. Many of these practices eventually led us to the modern medical standards we appreciate today. Although they paved the way for modern medicine, some of those practices were not only counterproductive and harmful, but they were often quite odd. Thankfully, all of the following have fallen out of use.

10 Cutting Teeth
France

The term “cutting teeth” isn’t only an idiom that means learning basic skills in a new line of work; it used to be a medical practice. When a baby starts to grow teeth, we call this teething, but this word comes from a medical practice that began in France in the 16th century. When a baby’s teeth would begin the process of coming through the gums, doctors would take a scalpel and slice open the tissue over the teeth to allow them to come through. Cutting teeth began in France but eventually spread throughout Europe and into the United States.

The practice began with French doctor Ambrose Pare, who examined the corpse of a child in 1575. “When we diligently sought for the cause of his death, we could impute it to nothing else than the contumacious hardness of the gums . . . when we cut the gums with a knife we found all the teeth appearing . . . if it had been done when he lived, doubtless he would have been preserved.” Unfortunately, the practice of cutting teeth was performed until the early 20th century, though it was a hotly debated medical topic. It is unknown how many children died from teething, but the lack of sterile tools and the trauma inflicted on the young children often resulted in death.

9 Mouse Paste
Egypt

In ancient Egypt, many people who suffered from common ailments such as toothaches or earaches found that mice were the best answer to their problems. Toothaches were especially common in Egypt due to the prevalence of sand in their diet. Sand would get into almost everything, including food. Because of the grittiness of the sand, eating it would often wear down the enamel covering the tooth, which exposed the nerves and blood vessels.

For some reason, the Egyptians decided that dead and often festering mice were an effective remedy for this problem. The dead mice would be mashed into a paste and applied to the afflicted area. For serious toothaches, a whole dead mouse would simply be applied directly to the tooth. Common sense tells us that this treatment cannot have worked in curing the aching tooth, and it most likely caused more problems. Applying rotting tissue to exposed nerves and blood vessels is a pretty good way to turn a tiresome pain into a full-blown infection.

8 Clay Consumption
Greece

In ancient Greece, it was a common practice to consume a particular type of clay that was found on the Greek island Lemnos called terra sigillata. Disks of clay were exported and sold as a medical remedy for stomach problems and diarrhea.

While some people do still consume clay today for their own strange reasons, most people don’t recognize clay consumption as a viable medical practice. That being said, the clay found on the island of Lemnos contains kaolin and bentonite. These two elements are used in modern medicines to treat patients suffering from diarrhea. People like Hippocrates wrote about the benefits of ingesting this type of clay, and as it turns out, the most famous classical physician was correct—at least in the identification of healing properties through the consumption of the special clay. Similarly, bark from the willow tree is used today to make aspirin. This was also likely identified by the likes of Hippocrates, so while it is good that we don’t eat clay all that often, we do benefit from the ancient practice any time we have a touch of Montezuma’s Revenge.

7 Retribution Or Compensation
Mesopotamia

In Mesopotamia around 1700 B.C., King Hammurabi created a codex of laws, some of which may already be familiar, like “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” Interestingly, when a surgeon performed a successful operation, he was awarded an appropriate amount of shekels relevant to the patient’s standing in the community. A failed or botched surgery might result in the loss of the doctor’s hand if the patient were of high standing and did not survive.

There were several types of doctors in ancient Mesopotamia. The ashipu, or sorcerer, would identify the patients’ ailments and determine which evil spirits inhabited them. They would then either prescribe spells or charms to expel the evil spirit or refer the patient to an asu, a physician. These physicians would apply herbal remedies and plaster casts to wounds.

The Code of Hammurabi directed retribution or compensation for surgeons only if they used a knife in their practice. This limited surgical options due to the understandable reluctance of a surgeon to cut a patient for fear of succumbing to the same fate. Since there was no prescribed retribution for non-surgical attempts, the asu treated their patients homeopathically more often than surgically.

6 Have Some Poo
Egypt

When we get eye infections these days, our first thought isn’t to rub animal dung into our eyes. The ancient Egyptians couldn’t say the same. The treatment for many ailments was, in fact, to rub the dung of various animals onto a wound or infection. Additionally, a mixture of dung and other ingredients was administered orally for myriad diseases and ailments. The dung of pigs, donkeys, lizards, and even children was used as an ingredient in various medicinal salves and oral treatments throughout ancient Egypt. One of the goals of Egyptian physicians was to create pus, which they believed was therapeutic in treating an infection. We now know that pus is merely a sign of infection, but the Egyptians were quite pleased with its presence.

Fortunately, we no longer rub poop into our eyes and wounds, but modern physicians do use feces in several medical treatments. To combat Clostridium difficile, which causes severe diarrhea and thousands of deaths per year, doctors implant feces into a patient’s bowels to replace the beneficial microbes lost during the course of the infection. New developments in this practice have led to the creation of frozen poop pills, which allow for the same treatment without the need to collect feces from a willing donor at the time of the procedure.

5 Partial Tongue Removal
Europe

Hemiglossectomy is a medical procedure that involves the removal of part of the tongue. It is practiced today for patients suffering from ailments such as oral cancer. The treatment works well in removing cancerous tissue, though it results in a visible deformity of the tongue. Fortunately, there are plastic surgeries and methods for improving the quality of life of patients who undergo hemiglossectomies.

Unfortunately for patents in 18th- and 19th-century Europe, the treatment was less about dealing with cancer and all about correcting a stutter or stammer. That’s right—doctors thought that the best way to treat someone with a stutter was to cut off half of his or her tongue. Since this clearly didn’t work to fix a stutter and many patients died as a result infection and blood loss, you have to wonder how many times this was done before someone decided that it just didn’t work.

4 Tobacco
North America

For Native American societies, tobacco was considered one of the best medicinal remedies for anything from chronic pain to tuberculosis. The leaves were smoked, eaten, or ground up and applied topically. Today, we don’t think of tobacco as a healthy thing. We have known for decades that smoking tobacco leads to ailments like lung cancer and cardiovascular diseases, but the tobacco in cigarettes is laced with an incredibly high amount of chemicals. The tobacco used by the Native American population for medicinal purposes was pure.

Even pure, tobacco is still a dangerous plant and can be hazardous when used medicinally. Doctors in the 19th century believed that the plant was capable of treating a number of ailments—ringworms, constipation, hernias, infections—when taken orally or rectally, or applied externally.

That being said, nicotine and tobacco are addictive substances. We don’t advocate their use, especially for medicinal purposes. If you would like to quit smoking, research smoking cessation and ask your doctor for help.

3 Grub Salves
Aboriginal Australia

The ancient Aboriginal Australians would grind up the grub worms of the witchetty moth (Endoxyla leucomochla) and use them as a salve for skin lesions and wounds. They would pack the crushed worms into any cut or abrasion that required healing. The paste made from the grub worms would actually help in the healing process. Once packed into a wound, a bandage would then be applied and the combination would keep out air and bacteria, which aided in healing.

Today, the grub is not used medicinally like it used to be, but it has become a staple in many aboriginal diets. Present-day Aborigines harvest and cultivate the moths. “Moths were cooked in sand and stirred in hot ashes, which singed off the wings and legs. Moths were then sifted on a net to remove their heads. In this state, they were generally eaten, although sometimes they were ground into a paste and made into cakes.” The grubs are considered a delicacy and if you ever visit one of these tribes, expect to be offered one. It is considered rude to refuse, so be prepared to chow down on one of these little buggers!

2 Counter-Irritation
Worldwide

The practice of counter-irritation makes a little bit of sense. When you scratch an itch, you are producing a counter-irritation to your skin; essentially causing a new irritant which is less painful or annoying than the initial itch you needed to scratch. In ancient medical practice, counter-irritation was far more nefarious. When someone sustained an injury, it was common practice to cut into the injury further and often reopen the wound on a daily basis to pour various concoctions into it—all in the hope that the new irritant would help to relieve the patient of the old irritant.

There are some modern examples of counter-irritation in medicine and homeopathy, like acupuncture. “Some proponents argue that the needles may stimulate the release of pain-killing natural chemicals, relax tense muscles, or inhibit the conduction of pain through counter-irritation. “

Additional examples of counter-irritation that are no longer recognized as medically viable are inserting a patient’s inflamed limbs into anthills. If no anthills were available, practitioners used to create blisters with a hot iron or acid. Another method of “Counter-irritation involved making a saw-shaped wound and inserting dried peas or beans into it. The doctor would then ensure the wound remained open, keeping it from healing, from weeks to months, replacing the peas and/or beans as necessary.” Leeches were also used as a means of bloodletting topically, orally, and vaginally to relieve “sexual excitement” in women.

1 Castration
Assyro-Babylonia

Medicine wasn’t always a science. In ancient Assyria and Babylon, it was more of a magical and spiritual exercise. Castration wasn’t a normal practice of the Assyrians or Babylonians outside of medicine. Generally, the removal of the testes was performed by a physician for one of a number of reasons, but the most common was to allow men to work in the harem as eunuchs. This wasn’t always voluntary. Unlike the harems in Turkey, which required the removal of both the penis and testicles, the Assyrians and Babylonians only required the removal of the testicles. Removal wasn’t necessarily always done and on occasion, “testicles were crushed or damaged in such a way as to destroy the function of the seminal ducts.” (Getting them removed is one thing, but the idea of having them crushed ought to make your stomach turn.)

The practice of castration was solely done by medical professionals only as a last resort and almost entirely for the creation of a eunuch. The Assyrians and Babylonians were very concerned with the nature of male genitalia because they were aware that they were integral in human reproduction.

In Assyria, it was a severe criminal act to damage a man’s testicles. If a woman were to crush a man’s testicle in a fight, she would have a finger cut off. If both testicles were damaged, both of her nipples would be torn off.

Castration isn’t normally performed for medicinal purposes any longer, but it has been administered via chemical castration as punishment for sexual crimes.

I am an amateur graphic artist, illustrator, and game designer with a few independently-published games through my game company, TalkingBull Games. I enjoy researching and writing about history, science, theology, and many other subjects.

In the past several decades, we have seen various groups of people try to create their own spiritual philosophies or medical phenomena. Most of them also claimed to be drawing from ancient traditions—usually a patchwork of pagan beliefs or a misunderstood application of Eastern philosophy and Eastern traditional medicine. Despite the bizarre and often misleading history behind them, these practices have become full-blown fads in many parts of the world.

10 Meditation Is About Focus Rather Than Clearing Your Mind

Meditation has become incredibly popular throughout the world. In the US, it enjoys a kind of fad status. Many people who romanticize Japanese culture say that meditation is great or that they practice it on a daily basis.

But many of them are confused about the point of meditation. They think that it’s supposed to “clear your mind,” which only shows how much they misunderstand the process.

Although meditation does confer benefits like helping you to breathe better, it was never meant to completely empty your mind. The point was to better focus your mind on what you needed to think about.

In general, meditation is about mindfulness. Religious people meditate to reflect on a specific religious doctrine. But you can choose to focus on anything. Of course, some who are practiced in meditation feel that this explanation is too simplistic.

While focusing your mind, the mind is also trained to wander and keep track of many different things in your surroundings. A true master of meditation can concentrate on something of primary importance to him while keeping a much lower level of focus on his surroundings.

9 Acupuncture May Be Unproven But Is State-Sanctioned In China

Acupuncture is a form of alternative medicine that the average person thinks of as pure quackery. Even if it did work, you would be hard-pressed to persuade the average American to allow a doctor to stick them full of needles to “make them feel better.”

In the US, many clinical trials have been done to prove or disprove claims about acupuncture by those people in Asian countries who swear by it. So far, none of these trials have produced conclusive results. Some studies suggest that acupuncture does help people to cope with pain, but there is no solid evidence that this is more than a placebo effect.

For these reasons, many people might expect that this form of medicine has gone the way of the four humors. Although it never caught on in the Western world, it has remained a popular and serious form of medicine in China, especially for pain relief.

In fact, some studies from China have claimed that acupuncture has been successfully used in lieu of traditional anesthesia in patients undergoing open-heart surgery. If true, this would certainly make acupuncture useful.

8 Yoga Can Be Extremely Dangerous

Many yoga practitioners believe that they are following an ancient tradition when they bend themselves into pretzels on a rented gym floor. However, yoga’s actual age isn’t clear-cut.

Although the philosophies of yoga, such as spiritual wellness, were recorded thousands of years ago and have been evolving ever since, the records of actual yoga poses and physical moves only began about 200 years ago. In fact, the vast majority of yoga poses were dreamed up recently by modern yoga instructors.

Some yoga instructors have pointed out that it is important to have a good understanding of anatomy if you’re going to teach yoga. That’s because the poses from older days were designed before we knew as much about health and the human body as we do today.

Although there isn’t anything inherently wrong with yoga, it can easily cause serious and lasting health problems if certain moves are done incorrectly, too quickly, or simply at all. Even experts and teachers often fall victim to these mishaps.

In the US, there are no regulations for certifying yoga instructors. So anyone can attempt to stand you on your neck and twist you into a pretzel.

7 Wicca Is Not An Ancient Religion

Many people think of Wicca as an ancient pagan religion. Young people are especially excited about the ancient revival tradition that they are following. However, like L. Ron Hubbard’s Scientology, Wicca is a made-up religion. The idea that it is a revival of old pagan religions is complete bunk.

Modern Wicca—as well as witchcraft in general—was created and popularized by a man named Gerald Gardner. Born in 1884, Gardner came up with just about everything associated with modern Wicca. Almost none of it came from ancient texts.

When devising his order, Gardner took inspiration from the writings of Aleister Crowley, the Golden Dawn, and other odd groups. But Gardner didn’t take much from actual traditions. He created his calendar of pagan holidays by taking important events from various pagan religions and trying to knit them together into one faith.

Gardner was also known for saying bizarre things and encouraging people who joined Wicca to say sensational things about themselves to get attention. He likely felt that the best way to spread his religion was to get people talking about it in the first place.

Although this may seem like an absurd strategy, it appears to have worked out nicely. Wicca has become quite popular, and most people, including those involved in Wicca, are blissfully unaware that this new religion is far removed from actual pagan traditions.

6 The Founder Of Chiropractic Had Insane Ideas

Many people around the world have gone to or regularly go to a chiropractor to “be adjusted.” However, there is an ongoing debate about whether chiropractic is junk medicine or a legitimate practice.

Its defenders argue that chiropractic can help to manage the symptoms of certain conditions, especially those with chronic pain. Although there may be some benefits to the practice, there are also legitimate reasons for people to be skeptical of chiropractic and look at it as sheer quackery.

The founder of chiropractic was a man named D.D. Palmer. He believed that 95 percent of the problems with the human body could be fixed with a chiropractic adjustment. Of course, this is ridiculous. Imagine thinking that cancer, allergies, or heart disease could be fixed by adjusting your spine.

However, Palmer believed wholeheartedly in his approach and did his best to pass it on to as many people as possible. Since he’s long dead, people might think that his beliefs have been repudiated by now. But that is simply not the case.

A large number of licensed chiropractors still believe in the insane theories of D.D. Palmer. Many of them also use chiropractic treatments on children, even if the child isn’t complaining about issues with his spine or posture. In the UK, modern chiropractors have treated many children for problems as simple as colds.

5 People Are Fully Aware Under Hypnosis

When most people think of hypnosis, they recall movies where someone swings a shiny object in front of another person’s face while repeating a mantra. Before long, the hypnotized person is in a semiconscious or mostly unconscious state in which they are willing do the bidding of the person hypnotizing them.

Of course, the hypnotized person remembers none of this when they are awakened. Scores of television and movie plots have depicted hypnosis like this, but it doesn’t really work that way.

Although hypnotism does put you into a strangely relaxed state of suggestion, it is more self-suggestion than anything else. Even with another person assisting you, hypnosis will never cause you to do something that you wouldn’t normally do. It would simply break the suggestion.

Depending on the given suggestions, some people do willingly forget after hypnosis. However, there is no reason that this would normally happen because people are fully aware during hypnosis. They are not in a comatose state.

There is still much to learn about hypnosis in general. Although the roots of the word may come from ancient Greece, the original theory of hypnosis began in the mid- to late 1700s. It didn’t become a full-fledged practice until closer to the days of Sigmund Freud.

4 Reiki Is Fantastic Nonsense That Does More Harm Than Good

Reiki is also known as therapeutic touch or energy healing. Those who believe in Reiki think that placing their hands in the air over someone’s body and holding those positions for several minutes can direct “life energy” to the person who needs to be healed.

Some of these mystics believe that those who are truly skilled at Reiki can heal someone from a long distance, which sounds like something out of a fantasy novel.

Reiki is largely based on the idea of chi (aka ki), which is present in both Japanese and Chinese mysticism. But like many new age practices, the true depth of the system is exaggerated. Most people believe that Reiki is based on ancient Japanese healing methods. But it was actually developed by a Japanese spiritualist in the 1920s.

In recent years, scientists have scrutinized Reiki and its practitioners have not come out looking good. In one test, actual and fake Reiki “healers” were instructed to make cancer patients feel better. By the end of the test, both types of Reiki practitioners had made the cancer patients feel marginally better.

Some people took this as proof that Reiki was real. Of course, most people came to the opposite conclusion. If the sham version of Reiki achieves the same results as regular Reiki, then any type of Reiki is clearly just a placebo.

3 Divining Rods Were Used For Bizarre Purposes

A divining rod (aka a dowsing rod) is a forked stick or sticklike object that is used by a person wishing to perform divination. As the person holds the stick in front of him and walks around, the divining rod is supposed to vibrate when the person has found what he is looking for.

Traditionally, a divining rod was believed to be a magical device that could find water, precious metals, and other ores underground. However, as its popularity increased, the divining rod was used for even crazier purposes.

In France in the 1600s, the divining rod was used to identify people who were heretics or lawbreakers. This quickly led to abusive practices and false convictions. Of course, personal bias likely decided most cases. Before long, the Catholic Church banned the divining rod’s use for such purposes.

2 Modern Astrology Is Incomplete And Misleading

Although astrology is widely known, its practice is almost completely and laughably dismissed by most people. On the other hand, you will always meet those people who have to tell you their sign, want to know yours, and then nod sagely like they knew it all along.

Of course, astrology was not always as much of a joke as it is now. Astrology evolved hand in hand with astronomy. Although ancient people may have believed that the stars determined their fates, they had incredibly complex calculations and systems to govern it all. It was also quite personal.

However, the biggest mistake of modern astrology isn’t its lack of complexity or understanding of the ancient systems. The biggest problem is that modern astrologists probably have the signs completely wrong.

Modern research has shown that ancient practitioners of astrology based their predictions on the current constellation and star positions at that time. Since then, the constellations have shifted their relative positions in the sky.

The old astrological chart no longer makes any sense. Many people would need to move over an entire month to properly fit with the current constellations. Also, a new star sign called Ophiuchus has entered the zodiac due to the shifting skyscape.

1 Feng Shui Has Become Fraudulent Big Business In China

Most people know of feng shui as the spiritual practice of rearranging objects around the house to achieve the best energy flow. This energy flow is supposed to help your physical comfort and strength as well as your luck and prosperity.

In China, feng shui is far more than interior decorating. It is big business in which “experts” are often consulted before buildings, roads, or other structures are built. Any major changes to the environment or landscape usually require consultation with a feng shui expert.

Many people who believe in feng shui as part of their spiritual heritage have become frustrated and upset by this perversion of feng shui. A lot of people, including con artists, have entered the profession as feng shui “masters” because there is little to no certification process.

As a result, many Chinese have become distrustful of a group that was once honored. Even more bizarrely, Chinese law dictates that villagers must be compensated by the government if any major construction or changes to infrastructure disrupt the village’s feng shui. Some of these claims have been challenged due to suspected fraud, but it is surprising that the law still exists.

Ancient Egypt is mostly recognized for its pyramids, hieroglyphs, and mummies. A rich culture that lasted for over 3,000 years before Christ, it left behind tons of relics, which provide insight into the civilization. Thanks to translations of documents and inscriptions as well as beautiful images, we know a lot about ancient Egyptian life.

Thanks to the ancient Egyptians’ practice of mummification, they learned much about the human body and seem to have developed advanced medical knowledge. Centuries ahead of their time, a lot of the practices that doctors used in ancient Egypt would not be unfamiliar to us today. Doctors may no longer use spells and amulets as the ancient Egyptians did, but in many other ways, a visit to the doctor’s office may not have been so different thousands of years ago.

10 Taking A Pulse

When we walk into a doctor’s office today, there are a few things that get checked every time, namely blood pressure, temperature, and pulse. The pulse can grant insight into the health of the circulatory system. Yet to understand it, there first needs to be an understanding that arteries and veins run throughout the body. This is common knowledge today, but for early medicine, it was a huge breakthrough.

Likely as a result of their mummification practices, ancient Egyptians had knowledge of the circulatory system. They understood its connections throughout the body and that it carried this “pulse.” They did miss one factor in that they didn’t seem to know that the heart itself is a pump. They saw it as a reservoir for the blood. Nevertheless, they knew the importance of the vascular system and were able to use it to help treat and diagnose illnesses.

The idea of measuring a pulse was far ahead of its time, and it would be centuries before it was picked up elsewhere in the world. In their knowledge of the vascular system, the Egyptians also counted the number of vessels reaching each part of the body. Their numbers were not accurate, however, as they didn’t realize how tiny arteries and veins become. But their counting may have allowed them to locate larger blood vessels, which would have been useful in case of injury or during surgery to stop bleeding.

9 Turn Your Head And Cough

Yes, men have been enduring this awkward exam for centuries, it seems. The Ebers Papyrus, a medical manual from ancient Egypt, mentions the diagnosis of a hernia, stating it is a “swelling appearing on coughing.” There are even images from ancient Egypt of figures with both umbilical hernias, which protrude from the stomach, and the all-too-graphic images of hernias in the scrotum.

Hernias happen when part of the bowel protrudes through the stomach’s muscular wall. They’re often caused by straining or lifting heavy things. Considering that the Egyptians gave us massive stone monuments like the pyramids, they were accustomed to lifting heavy things and may have been very familiar with hernias.

Their treatment for hernias, however, seems less known. The Ebers Papyrus does mention using heat on the area, but it’s not entirely clear if the heat is meant to be just a soothing treatment or if it refers to cauterizing the area to seal the muscles after minor surgery. With so many images of people living with hernias, one could wonder if they were even treated at all.

8 Tampons

Many would assume that tampons are a modern advancement that gives a woman on her period freedom. It is true that tampons were not used until recently in many Western cultures. There were even advertising campaigns as late as the 1980s touting the benefits of tampons and trying to convince American women that they were safe. These campaigns even referred to the ancient Egyptians’ use of them as proof that they are ancient and natural.

Often referred to as a tyet or an Isis knot, cloth tampons were made by using scrap fabric, often cotton, rolling it up, and tying a string around the center. The name “Isis knot” refers to the goddess Isis, who according to legend, used a tampon while pregnant with Horus to protect him while in the womb from attacks by the god Seth. Ancient Egyptians also used other cloths similar to today’s pads, which was common throughout many early cultures. Yet the benefits of the supposedly modern tampon may be something that Egyptian women knew all about.

7 Fillings

Cavities were actually rare in ancient Egypt. Since sugar wasn’t a part of the Egyptian diet, they did not have the tartar development and other issues that we do now. They did, however, wear their teeth down. Flour and grains were ground with stone, and despite their best efforts, small pieces of stone were always in the food. Living in a sandy desert likely added some grit as well. This wore down the teeth and could lead to cavities or infection. These infections could actually lead to death if the bacteria entered the bloodstream. Nefertiti’s sister, Horembheb, supposedly suffered from bad teeth and had lost all of them by the time of her death, likely due to infection.

Different fillings and ointment recipes are found in the Ebers Papyrus. One describes how to treat “an itching tooth until the opening of the flesh: cumin, 1 part; resin of incense, 1 part; dart fruit, 1 part; crush and apply to the tooth.” The idea was that this would drain the infection. Other filling recipes included honey, which has antibacterial properties, and ocher, a paint pigment heavy in iron, and ground wheat. Other times, the filling was simply cloth.

In 2012, a mummy was CT scanned, uncovering a cavity that had been filled with linen. The man was still suffering from the infection at the time of his death, however. Ancient Egyptian doctors did their best to treat cavities and to stop them from getting infected, but going to the dentist was never any fun.

6 Prostheses

Mummies in Egypt have been found with the world’s oldest known prosthetic limbs, toes, fingers, and so on. Prostheses to replace missing parts was essential to Egyptians for a couple of reasons. One was the Egyptian belief that after death, the body needs to be whole and preserved for them to be able to return to it in the afterlife. This is why mummification was so important and likely why prostheses existed. By replacing the lost limb, the body would be made whole again.

Of course, having a prosthesis would help a person maintain some functionality in life, and there is evidence that prostheses were also made for living patients. This shows how Egyptians used amputation to treat infections and injuries, and it appears that people sometimes survived the surgeries. The most famous of these patients was a lady found with a wooden big toe. The area under the prosthesis had healed, showing that she actually used the prosthetic toe in life. It likely helped her walk and balance once the old toe was lost. It is considered the oldest known prosthesis ever discovered.

5 Government-Controlled Medicine

Access to medical care was very well-controlled by the ancient Egyptian government. Doctors were educated through a specific curriculum and were members of a “house of life,” which was usually was associated with a temple. These were medical institutes that trained doctors and also functioned as medical practices where anyone could go to receive treatment.

Also, as mentioned before, there were medical manuals like the Ebers Papyrus and the Edwin Smith Papyrus, in which ailments and their treatments are outlined as well as recipes for medicines. This shows us that doctors shared cures and treatments as a part of standardized care. Doctors in ancient Egypt could be male or female and appear to have chosen specialties, much like our doctors do today. With access to well-trained doctors, Egyptian citizens had better health care than almost anyone else at the time.

Even workers’ compensation seemed to exist. There are descriptions of medical camps set up near construction projects and quarries so that injured workers could receive treatment. It appears that if the injury occurred on the job, the employer would cover the cost of care. Workers could even receive supplemental pay if they were unable to work. Thousands of years ago, this was a very complex way to approach health care and is amazingly similar to how we look at it today.

4 Prescriptions

Having to take your medicine is apparently as old as civilization itself. Thankfully, now we have a spoonful of sugar to help it go down. The ancient Egyptians weren’t so lucky. Often, medicines were trial and error. Some things ended up working really well. Others may have done more harm than good.

The Egyptians knew that honey worked well on wounds. (It’s still used today for skin ailments.) They also knew that mint could calm a stomach. Yet other items like lead and feces may not have been such great ideas. Whether they worked or not, there are dozens of recipes for medicines preserved in the medical papyri, along with instructions for their dosage and use. Patients in ancient Egypt would have been sent home with these concoctions and instructed on how to use them just as we are now.

There were medications for all sorts of issues, made from a wide variety of materials. Minerals like copper, clay, lead, and salt were used. Herbal remedies included fennel, onion, linseed, and mint. Other (lets call them “organic”) items included hair, skin, blood, feces, and more from various animals and even humans. These elements were usually combined in recipes for the fullest effect. There seem to have been many recipes for constipation. Some advise simply eating more figs (not so bad), while others prescribe castor oil, which we still use today, mixed with cold beer. A remedy for tapeworm contains equal parts lead, petroleum, ta bread, and sweet beer. It may have worked to kill the tapeworm—and hopefully not the patient.

Poultices were also a very popular treatment, with external concoctions applied for everything from baldness to stomachache. Milk was common in these, as were multiple kinds of dung, from cow to sheep to goose. Clays and lead are often included as well. Human secretions were sometimes included, from urine to milk to blood. In the case of anxiety, one cure states to rub the afflicted person down with the “milk of a woman who has born a son.” It’s not clear it if it worked.

3 Circumcision

The practice of removing a male infant’s foreskin has come in and out of vogue over the centuries, sometimes viewed as a religious practice and other times as medical. For centuries, the Jewish culture was identified with this practice, as Christians did not use it. Today, is is widely practiced by doctors in most Western countries regardless of religion.

The ancient Egyptians seem to have practiced circumcision widely. Images show doctors performing the procedure on patients. Egyptians were very interested in personal hygiene and often shaved off their body hair to stay clean and avoid parasites and conditions associated with uncleanliness. This may be what led them to start practicing circumcision throughout the culture.

Circumcision was so common that uncircumcised penises were actually a novelty. Writings describe soldiers’ fascination with the uncircumcised penises of the conquered Libyans, often collecting them from the slain to bring home and show off. Thankfully, that practice has been lost.

2 Surgery

The ancient Egyptians gained a wealth of knowledge of human anatomy and the workings of the body through their mummification practices. By operating on the dead, they were able to see issues in bodies and make associations with illnesses in life. These skills allowed them to practice surgery. Later cultures in the Middle Ages would lose this knowledge completely, as autopsies were illegal for religious reasons. Their willingness to cut into a body put the Egyptians centuries ahead medically.

Many mummies show surgeries that actually healed, from trephination to the removal of tumors. Scalpels used for surgery were either copper, ivory, or obsidian. Obsidian was particularly special, as it is a volcanic glass that keeps an edge better than most modern metal and is still used today. Patients were given alcohol and sedatives before a procedure, and since anesthesia didn’t exist, one could only hope to pass out. Mandrake root could be used as a sedative, and poppy juice, an opioid, was used for pain management.

The main issue with survival rates was that without the knowledge of blood transfusions, patients would often bleed out if the surgery was too complicated or too long. Cauterizing vessels with hot blades helped slow the bleeding. After surgery, antibiotic ointments such as honey and copper helped stave off infections. The patients who survived their ordeals may have been the first in history to have undergone medical surgery.

1 Opioids

Poppies, still grown today to produce powerful drugs, have long been known for their pain-relieving abilities. Opioids today are still the leading pain medication, especially in cases of severe pain management. Though the poppy juice used by the ancient Egyptians wasn’t quite the morphine or OxyContin of today, it was still a very useful drug at the time. In the ancient world, pain relievers were not easy to come by, and being able to treat pain was huge medical advancement.

Poppy juice, as mentioned, could be used for surgery, often mixed with beer or wine. It would provide relief to patients with nervous issues and sedate them, reliving depression and anxiety. It appears it was also used across the board as a fever reducer and painkiller. The juice, a milky substance drawn from the poppy seed pod, is not as strong as modern opioids but was still effective. The fact that it was less potent might be why ancient Egyptians don’t seem to have developed the addictive problems seen today. Poppy juice was rarely used outside medicine, but it was an effective painkiller and a very useful tool to treat and maintain the health of the ancient Egyptian people.

Nicole Gentempo is a freelance writer and certified sommelier who loves to explore natural beauty, cultures, and wines around the world. With a broad European history background, she enjoys writing well-researched, in-depth articles that delve into a locale or a wine. She has written on subjects from viticulture, regions, and history to market trends and food pairing. As a traveler, she is often found in a canoe or sailboat, her love of the outdoors and water giving her the opportunity to present places from a unique perspective, often sharing them with a glass of wine.
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The Shaolin are a historically secretive people. From their humble beginnings in the Henan providence of China, their culture has continued to push the limits of the human mind, body, and spirit.

After a terrible fire in 1929, much of their scarcely recorded history was lost. But a monk named Jin Jing Zhong compiled decades of living knowledge. With blessings from the head of Shaolin, the Training Methods of the 72 Arts of Shaolin was created. You might question how many of these were real, but they’re all fascinating.

10Pulling Out Nails
Bo Ding Gong

Drive a nail into a plank of wood, then remove it with three fingers. A student will practice this for months. If one can remove the nail easily with the thumb, forefinger, and middle finger, then one can progress to removing the nail with the thumb, ring, and pinky finger. Immeasurable strength from even the weakest appendages is a true axiom of Shaolin training. Every finger on both hands must be trained to produce large bursts of strength as well as matching muscular endurance.

Over time, the nails are driven deeper into the wood. When this becomes easy, the wood is dampened before the nails are inserted, and they are allowed to rust. An advanced student in this technique would train by removing rusted nails driven in to the hilt with two fingers, or perhaps one. The fingers of the student must possess the strength to depress the wood itself to successfully remove the nail. Upon mastery, the fingers will be strengthened enough to take on more difficult techniques, such as the Diamond Finger.

9Striking With Foot
Zu She Gong

If someone has ever told you to “go and kick rocks,” it probably was not in a pleasant way. That exact activity, however, is step one to this Shaolin discipline. Anyone who has, accidentally or otherwise, lost the inertia battle to a heavy object knows the toe-shattering pain it can cause. Zu she gong belongs to the hard force of yang, and students will begin training this technique by kicking small rocks like soccer balls—in bare feet.

The purpose of this mastery is to develop the strength and resilience of one’s foot, until kicking a pillow would feel the same as kicking a boulder. In combat, it is said in Shaolin texts that one will be able to kick an opponent as far as the stones one trains with. Such a hardened, developed kick to the lower portion of the body immediately shatters the opponent’s balance. A kick such as this to the head could easily be deadly.

8Skill Of Light Body
Jin Shen Shu

Though the “Skill of Light Body” has become a popular mythos in martial arts films, it is a very real Shaolin practice. Shaolin testaments make reference to men of 100 “jins,” or 50 kilograms (110 lb) resting on branches like butterflies or bees—even gliding like sparrows. This is a truly fascinating practice of Shaolin, complete with a very unique and seemingly impossible training routine.

The training begins with a massive clay bowl filled with water and a student walking along the rim carrying a weighted backpack, perhaps with lead soaked with pigs blood. Students will walk along the rim of this bowl every day for hours. On the 21st day of each month, a “calabash-sized” dipper of water is removed. Additionally, more iron (or bloody lead) is added to the backpack. While the water initially prevents the bowl from tipping and swaying, it becomes increasingly difficult and awkward for the student to navigate the circumference without falling in, out, or over.

The apprentice must continue this until the backpack weighs a total of 5 JINS (2.5kg), and the bowl is entirely empty. When the student can master this, the process is repeated, the large clay bowl is replaced with a large wicker basket filled with iron chips. More weight is added to the backpack, and one must repeat the training until the basket is entirely empty.

These are just the first two steps. Advanced training methods include walking across grass without crumpling it. Further training is exclusive knowledge passed orally through generations. In 2014, a monk managed to run atop a lake on sinking plywood planks for over 385 feet (118m)

7Skill Of A Golden Cicada
Men Dan Gong

The Skill of a Golden Cicada is also widely known as “The Iron Crotch,” and it is not fun.

Initial training beings with intense meditation, aimed to clear the mind of all distain and anxiety for the literal torture to follow. A benchmark, albeit strange, of this mental training is being able to spontaneously summon an erection during meditation—but by concentrating qi to the base of the navel, not by having inappropriate thoughts (hopefully).

From here, the de-sensitivity training beings. One must flick one’s own testicles. Thousands of times. When this is no longer painful, the training upgrades to more extreme methods, which can involve rolling pins, punches, kicks and even blows from weapons directly into the crotch. Some monks even tie ropes around their testicles, pulling great stone weights across fields to master this skill. With careful healing and massage therapy to the tissue, damage to reproductive health can be reduced but inevitably not prevented.

As odd it is may seem, this technique can be combined with the broader family of iron techniques to strengthen all weak points of the body. This can render a monk’s external surface uniformly resilient to strikes. The strength to accomplish the Skill of a Golden Cicada is truly something to behold.

6Method That Reveals The Truth
Jie Di Gong

At its core, this technique is a series of difficult evasive and tactical tumbles. Falling face down upon a stone floor without flinching, somersaults that contort and warp the spine, and even maneuvers that “bounce” the student off the ground are steps on the road to mastery. When one has mastered these “eighteen somersaults” one may progress on to an additional 64 more complicated (and dangerous) tumbling techniques.

Great masters who have perfected this technique can do an uncountable number of somersaults in an uncountable number of ways. Not only does is this said to strengthen Qi, but skin, bones and muscles grow stronger as well.

5Ringing Round A Tree
Bao Shu Gong

A student will require an unusual training partner for this study—a fully grown tree.

The exercise is simple enough; wrap one’s arms around the tree, and pull until your energy is entirely expended. After the first year, progress will begin to show. The first step to mastery is the ability to shake loose a few leaves of the tree. Another year of the student shaking leaves from the tree must pass—the same intensity, without stopping. The student must continue throughout their life with this practice, only reaching mastery once they have completely uprooted the tree

Even the small trees used for this training requires immense, constant force over the course of years to loosen the roots. If a master of this practice ever clasps his opponent as he does the tree—fatal injury can occur easily.

4Iron Head
Tie Tou Gong

There is a reason head-butting is forbidden in sports such as mixed martial arts—the risk of traumatic brain injuries. The iconic Shaolin “Iron Head,” however not only recommends these sort of blows but prescribes them as a regular training regimen. Students strengthen the frontal bones, temporal bones, and top of the skull to a near superhuman rigidity, rivaling that of stone.

The objective is fairly basic: Knock objects into your head, and your head into objects slowly and gradually over years to strengthen the bones in the skull. With dozens of micro fractures, combined with healing and repetition, the bones reshape to the pressure, and can become incredibly resilient. However, this can take dozens of years of daily practice to achieve, each time with the risk of permanent injury.

The first basic training regimen recommended in the methodology of the Shaolin involves wrapping one’s head in silk and gently banging the head against a stone wall. After one year, the student will remove a few layers of silk and continue the process for a minimum of 100 days; after that, the silk is removed completely. From here, students will practice with more extreme methods, such as knocking their skulls together for hours, cracking frozen blocks atop their heads, and even sleeping in headstand positions. Specific exercises and techniques to strengthen the temples, mouth, and eyes follow this technique as well.

In a rare example, a Shaolin monk has held an electric drill to his temple for 10 seconds and emerged unscathed.

3The Iron Bull Technique
tie Niu Gong

Training for the iron bull technique, at the most basic level begins with scraping one’s own stomach. Daily and nightly, with the fingers and palms at first, and blades. This is done during training and rest alike. After sufficient skin hardening, one proceeds to strikes to the core and continue knife-scraping the stomach and obliques.

When blows no longer render pain, hammers are used. Wooden at first, gradually upgrading into iron. A monk will stand motionless as fellow students deliver full force blows to the stomach with iron hammers—this will continue for quite some time. There are more advanced training methods, such as “knocking a bell,” where a monk will absorb blows from a log battering-ram weighing hundreds of kilograms.

It is said masters of this technique will be able to endure strikes, cuts, slashes, and even stabs to the stomach without a single scratch—even the ability to withstand blows “delivered by the Immortals” themselves.

2One Finger Of Chan Meditation
Yi Zhi Chan Gong

After 40 years of intense Shaolin training and meditation, Xi Hei Zi would wander the country, visiting every monastery in the northern and southern provinces, and no man was able to overcome him. The legend claims it is due to this technique.

At the very beginning when Xi Hei Zi started training, he hung a weight from a tree branch on a path that he traveled each day. Each time he passed the weight, he would thrust his finger into it—from the maximum possible distance, his fingertips just barely grazing the surface. The weight would swing. After years of this, and constant meditation, he discovered that when thrust his finger, even if he did not physically touch the weight, it would swing.

After this, he would meditate, while striking his fingers at lamps. At first, the flame would only sway, but he would practice for hours nonetheless. Soon, he could extinguish the flame. He would place paper shades around the lamp, and is said to have been able to pierce the paper and extinguish the flame from a distance. After 10 years of this training, he replaced the paper shades with glass ones. When he could extinguish the flame without breaking the glass, his aim was attained.

1Diamond Finger
Ya Zhi Jin Gang Fa

As a young man, the monk Hal-Tank visited Chicago, where he demonstrated his skill: a handstand—his entire body weight—atop one index finger. The weak muscles in the index finger should crumple, and the bones should snap under the strain. This is quite an amazing feat for a young man, but what truly makes this feat incredible is when the monk was documented performing this skill over 50 years later. Nearly 90 years of age, the legendary monk Hal-Tank was able to replicate his incredible one-finger handstand—his Diamond Finger. His poise is breathtakingly peaceful during the act—deep in meditation, he balances unflinchingly atop his fingertip.

Until his death in 1989, he was still the only man able to perform this technique. Though he is now deceased, this legendary monk provided a rare, documented demonstration of Shaolin skill and a fascinating glimpse into the world of Shaolin.

Richard is a freelance television and film producer based in Los Angeles, California.

Chinese medicine, holistic therapies, and ritualistic shamanism are often viewed as pseudoscience. But they are actually very ancient practices that have been around for thousands of years. However, due to raised interest worldwide, our scientists are now running huge numbers of research trials to try and discover if there is any truth in these strange areas of knowledge. Because of the advancement in technology, such as brain imaging, we are now able to study the brain patterns of people actively practicing meditation or receiving acupuncture, shedding light on what is happening in the brain and body. Here is a Top 10 rundown of the best scientific research to date.

10Acupuncture

The ancient technique of sticking needles into the skin at strategic points has origins dating back thousands of years, the first documented record being around 100 B.C. It is still widely used in China today to treat the root cause of conditions as opposed to the symptomatic approach of Western medicine. However, acupuncture is gaining recognition fast in the West with the British National Health Service stating that acupuncture encourages the body to produce pain-relieving endorphins. Acupuncture is now available for free on the NHS in some areas of the United Kingdom.

So, the question is, if the UK NHS are providing acupuncture to patients, surely there must be some clinical evidence to prove its efficacy? There is! There are over 3000 clinical trials studying the benefits of acupuncture in a vast array of illnesses and conditions. For example, the British Acupuncture Council says obesity has been studied in numerous acupuncture trials with positive results.

A pain management review of acupuncture was published by Manyanga et al. in 2014.^[1] The review looked at 12 trials comparing acupuncture to standard care in osteoarthritis (plus placebo and no treatment at all). The results showed significant pain reduction, improved mobility, and better quality of life. And the longer the treatment period, the greater the benefits. The review team from Canada concluded that there is evidence to support the use of acupuncture as an alternative to traditional painkillers in people suffering from osteoarthritis.

So, it’s a big tick for acupuncture, as long as you can overcome the horror of hundreds of needles sticking into your skin at one time.

9Meditation

The National Center for Biotechnology Information currently has over 4000 published papers listed for the search phrase “meditation efficacy,” 400 alone over the last year. Although meditation has been practiced for centuries, particularly in Eastern cultures, it is only recently that the effects of meditation are being studied more widely within the scientific community. Specifically within the field of neuroscience. Some studies have shown that meditation produces positive benefits such as more patience, self-confidence, happiness, less judgmental attitude, calmness, release of anxiety and depression, and a general increased comfort with life’s uncertainties. These benefits, in turn, bring more physical vigor and energy for life. Sounds great, but where is the science?

Here is some carried out by a professor of Physiology, a professor of Anesthesiology, and a professor Pharmacology. The aim of the study was to find out the effect of “Osho dynamic meditation” on the stress hormone levels and whether it has any anti-stress effect. Osho was an Indian guru who introduced dynamic meditation to the world in 1970. Dynamic meditation includes several stages—deep, fast chaotic breathing, EXPLODING! (letting it all out), repeating the mantra “Hoo, Hoo, hoo” whilst jumping up and down, ten minutes of silence, and then dancing. Really, it’s true. It is said to decrease aggressive behavior, anxiety, and depression.

The study measured the plasma cortisol levels (stress level indicators) before and after 21 days of meditation. The results showed a significant reduction at trial end. Thus, it was concluded by the team that Osho dynamic meditation did indeed produce an anti-stress effect, which could be attributed to the release of repressed emotions, psychological inhibitions, and traumas. The study team says that dynamic meditation could be used for the improvement of stress, plus stress related physical and mental disorders.

Incredible and almost unbelievable? How about this one: Dr. Zoran Josipovic of NYU has been using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study the meditating brains of Buddhist monks.^[2] Neuroscientists believe the brain is split into two networks—the extrinsic and the intrinsic. They do not function at the same time. They switch. The extrinsic network is where everyday tasks originate, like putting the kettle on or taking part in exercise. The intrinsic network or the “default network” as scientists are now dubbing it, is linked with emotions and inner thoughts. It is also the area of the brain where the most activity is seen during fMRI in patients suffering from Alzheimer’s, depression, or autism, indicating that this is the area being attacked by these conditions. So far, study results have shown a clear disconnect between the two brain networks in experienced and proficient meditators such as Buddhist Monks. The hope for the future is that as it is now proven that the intrinsic brain can be purposely isolated from the extrinsic during meditation, it opens up a new pathway of research for various brain disorders.

Happy, meditating monks and a possible future solution for Alzheimer’s? Neuroscientists say yes. So, it appears that meditation might be mind blowing in many positive ways.

8Sound / Music Therapy

Music is an important part of many people’s lives. It is mood enhancing and can lift your spirits, or can be a more calming, relaxing influence. Research has shown that just listening to music can reduce stress levels and increase production of the antibodies needed to fight off invading viruses and boost the immune system. However, more recent science is proving that music and sound therapy may have a far greater impact on human health than was previously believed.

Music Director Anthony Holland teamed up with his science colleagues at Skidmore College in 2013, looking at the idea of tuning forks, which cause each other to resonate in unison. They discussed that if finding the right frequency can cause a crystal glass to shatter suddenly, maybe it would be worth investigating if the right frequency could be found to shatter an organism, like a cancer cell for example. Having discovered the magic frequency, in 2015 Novobiotronics published a paper on their lab-based trial on leukemia cells with very promising results. In their findings, they report a 61 percent reduction in cancer cells. It is still early days, but Anthony, a musician at heart, is optimistic that this research could be music to the ears, as well as all other potential cancer dwelling areas of the body.

Ultrasound is a well-known form of sound therapy, but how about histotripsy? Histotripsy is “non-invasive, mechanical tissue ablation”^[3] which uses sound energy to blitz cancer cells. The mechanical process of histotripsy is a focused ultrasound causing microbubbles to form under extreme pressure. These bubbles then oscillate furiously creating huge amounts of energy which causes the targeted tissue to normalize. William W. Roberts, M.D., associate professor of Urology and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Michigan, reveals that in their current research, they are looking at how patients suffering with from liver cancer, prostate cancer, congenital heart syndromes, and thrombosis might benefit from histotripsy.

7Energy Healing (Reiki)

Reiki is a Japanese technique for reducing stress and promoting healing. It is the “laying on of hands” and is based on the idea that an unseen life force energy flows through centers called chakras. Sometimes this energy gets blocked, the chakras become unbalanced, and this can be rectified using Reiki.

Slightly too eccentric for some tastes, famous cardiovascular surgeon, Dr. Mehmet Oz brought energy healing into the limelight when he invited Reiki master Julie Motz to treat patients during open heart surgeries and heart transplant operations. Dr. Oz believes “Reiki has become a sought-after healing art among patients and mainstream medical professionals.”

But has it? Is that true? A trial from the University of Arizona compared Reiki against physical therapy to see how it fared with increasing limited range of movement in patients suffering from shoulder pain.^[4] The study proved the concept that a ten-minute Reiki session is as effective as manual physical therapy in improving range of movement in patients with painful shoulder limitation. The research team even suggests that it might be beneficial for physical therapists to train in Reiki so that they could reduce the need for manual work on patients!

In Brazil, scientists at the Institute for Integrated and Oriental Therapy in Sao Paulo evaluated the immediate effect of Reiki on abnormal blood pressure after a 30-minute Reiki session. They saw a positive reduction of blood pressure, suggesting Reiki could be used in the control of hypertension.

A further study from Turin, Italy, looked at the effects of Reiki therapy on pain and anxiety in cancer patients attending a day oncology unit. Reiki sessions of 20 minutes showed a reduction of blood pressure, and overall it was considered helpful in improving well-being, relaxation, sleep quality, pain relief, and reducing anxiety. The research team writes that offering Reiki in hospitals could help with patients’ physical and emotional needs.

Hands up who didn’t believe in hands on healing? Hands up those who still don’t!

6Qigong / Tai Chi

The ancient practice of Tai Chi has been growing in popularity over recent years, but in China, this art form (or health and well-being exercise) has been part of daily life for millions of people for thousands of years.

But does it work and what does it do? So far it is commonly accepted that Tai Chi has some fitness and general wellness benefits, particularly in older adults. In 2016, a team of researchers conducted a study into the specific effect of mental attention in an elderly population before and after participating in a 16-week Tai Chi program.^[5] Set mental ability tasks that were performed showed a significant improvement in the participants who had committed to the 16-week Tai Chi program.

What about Qigong? Qigong is lesser known than Tai Chi, but it is actually the foundation on which Tai Chi was created. Thus, the principles are similar, focussing on well-being, general health, and improved cognitive function. Earlier in 2017, a German team investigated EEG brain activity during Qigong Training. The EEG imaging clearly showed significant changes in brain activity, concluding that Qigong induces a relaxed, attentive mind, as well as the participant being “centred” (a state of mind different to “mind-wandering”).

5Mantra Chanting

Mantra is a Sanskrit word for “sound tool,” and “Om” (or Aum) is probably the most well-known mantra of them all. Similar to listening to music, where the vibrational frequencies resonate with our brain evoking emotions, it is believed by many cultures and individuals worldwide that the vibrational frequency of a repeated mantra induces movement of both physical and emotional energy, stirring our emotions. But do they actually do anything?

In 2011, a study carried out at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, looked into the neurohemodynamic effects of “Om” chanting using fMRI.^[6] In this study, they observed a significant deactivation in the limbic system of the brain when the participants were chanting “Om.” The limbic system is the part of the brain responsible for both our higher mental functions and primitive emotions. It includes the amygdala (emotional center) and the hippocampus (home of long-term memory and emotional response). The research team compared their results to those of a different study looking into the neurohemodynamic effect of VNS treatment (vagus nerve stimulation) used to reduce epileptic seizures and to target treatment-resistant depression. Similar observations were recorded in the VNS trial, with significant deactivation of the limbic system. Therefore, the effect of chanting the mantra “Om” is at least equal to electric shock treatment when it comes to creating inner peace and calm. Is that what they call a no-brainer?

4Telepathy and ESP

Have scientists proved that telepathic communication is no longer science fiction? Well, almost. An international research team has developed a way to say “hello” with the mind, by recording the brain signals of a person in India, converting them into electrical brain stimulations, and relaying them to recipients on the other side of the world.^[7] It’s telepathy of a fashion using a process called synaptic transmission. EEG is used to record electrical activity by firing neurons in a participant’s brain. The subject’s conscious thoughts are recorded by EEG, decoded by a computer, and emailed to researchers in France. The stimulation is then delivered to three other participants using a process called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) which applies pulses to the recipient’s brain. The recipient and research team are then able to decode the signals into words.

But is that really telepathy? The scientists say not entirely. They prefer to call it the “transmission of information from one brain to another using non-invasive but still physical mechanisms.”

Another study defining telepathy as “the communication of impressions of any kind from one mind to another, independently of the recognized channels of sense” wanted to explore the neural basis of telepathy by examining a “famous mentalist” and another subject with no known special ability. Both performed a set telepathic task whilst undergoing fMRI. The results showed the two participants’ brains were firing in completely different areas, the famous guy showing activation of the right parahippocampal gyrus (which is part of the intrinsic system linked to emotions and inner thoughts), whereas the other guy showed activation of the left inferior frontal gyrus (extrinsic system—where the performance of everyday tasks are handled). The study team says that the findings suggest that the limbic system of the brain is significant in the study of telepathy and further systemic research would be beneficial.

In the 1990s, the CIA famously closed their remote viewing studies which were part of the Stargate program, even though it is still muted that their research turned up some interesting findings. As early as the 1970s, Stanford Research Institute was carrying out research into perception augmentation techniques on behalf of the CIA. In 1975, Stanford concluded in their final report, “Our data thus indicate that both specially selected and unselected persons can be assisted in developing remote perceptual abilities to a level of useful information transfer.”

3Hypnosis

Hypnosis is widely known across the world, usually as an aid to combat addictions like smoking, or to lose weight, or get rid of phobias. It is also popular as a stage act. But research is being done to test the benefits of hypnotherapy and the claim that it helps us to improve our lives. A lot of people are either afraid or don’t believe. Is it mind control? Is it the devil’s work? Or is it a real tool that can be used to improve many aspects of our lives?

In 2007, a research team at Mount Sinai School of Medicine published their trial results showing that the use of hypnosis before surgery in breast cancer patients not only reduced the amount of anesthesia administered during the operation, but also pain, nausea, fatigue, discomfort, and emotional upset at discharge were greatly diminished in comparison with standard procedures. The time and cost of the procedure were dramatically reduced also, and the team concluded that, overall, the present data supports the use of hypnosis with breast cancer surgery patients.

In addition, researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine scanned the brains of hypnotized subjects and could see the neural changes associated with hypnosis. Fifty-seven brains were scanned in total using a guided hypnosis technique used clinically to treat anxiety, pain, or trauma. Altered levels of activity were recorded in distinct sections of the brain, and David Spiegel MD, the study’s senior author, concludes this is confirmation of which parts of the brain are involved in this kind of treatment. Consequently, he enthuses that how we use the mind to control perception and the body can be changed using this very powerful means. He also suggests that it has taken 150 years to acknowledge that the mind has something to do with pain and controlling it. “It is now abundantly clear that we can retrain the brain,”^[8] Spiegel writes.

Spiegel and his team are about to begin a new trial looking into the benefits of hypnosis on fibromyalgia. They will be recruiting soon, and participants can apply here.

2Acoustic Levitation

Acoustic or sound levitation has been the stuff of legends since time began. From the pyramids of Giza to Machu Pichu, there has always been speculation as to how they were built, with believers and non-believers disagreeing over whether some form of ancient levitation was involved. However, that debate may be about to change. Argonne National Laboratory has been experimenting with acoustic levitation or “containerless processing method” in order to increase the solubility of molecules used in pharmaceutical drugs. Currently, solubility is low which means that drugs are not as effective as they could be. If they could be transformed into something more soluble, like an amorphous form, efficacy levels would dramatically increase.

Argonne’s revolutionary acoustic levitation trial has achieved just this, creating great optimism for the future. Admittedly, the technique cannot yet move huge slabs of stone, but the small quantities of pure amorphous forms being synthesized can potentially be useful in the optimization of clinical products. Rome wasn’t built in a day, so who knows what the future holds?

How about a larger object? Researchers from the University of São Paulo in Brazil, and Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, UK, published a paper in Applied Physics Letters, 2016, describing their acoustic levitation work. They demonstrated that acoustic levitation can levitate spherical objects much larger than the acoustic wavelength in air. The spherical object is a two-inch polystyrene ball which we might not find very impressive, but this demonstration is one of the first to levitate an object larger than the wavelength of the acoustic wave.^[9] “At the moment, we can only levitate the object at a fixed position in space,” says Marco Andrade, co-author of the study. “In future work, we would like to develop new devices capable of levitating and manipulating large objects in air.“

Maybe this is this how they built the Pyramids? What did they know that we have forgotten? Scientists are now busy working on it at least, so hopefully we will find out soon.

1Aromatherapy

The term aromatherapy probably evokes an image of a health spa, or those gift sets we get at Christmas from a lovely aunt, but we don’t necessarily want. However, aromatherapy is an ancient method used in Egypt, China, and India for over 6000 years to enhance health and promote feelings of well-being. Our ancient ancestors believed that different scents influenced different systems in the body. For example, lavender scent was thought to relieve stress and calm the body. Lemongrass was used to ward off insects and relieve body aches.

Aromatherapy gained a lot of attention in the 20th and 21st century in therapeutic, cosmetic, aromatic, fragrant, and spiritual use. And its role in mood, alertness, and mental stress became the hot topic amongst the scientific community recently, with some researchers looking at brain activity using EEG patterns and fMRI. Several studies published interesting results such as patients with depression required smaller doses of antidepressants after citrus fragrance treatment, and the scent of orange oil reduced anxiety in dental patients.

How does it work? The complete mechanism of action is still being studied, but put simply, a biological signal is received by receptor cells when a scent is inhaled. The signal goes to the hypothalamus in the brain, which causes the brain to release messengers like serotonin and endorphin—hormones related to pleasure. So there does seem to be some logic.

One of the most recent publications, dated 2017, is from the University of Calabria in Italy, who published their clinical evidence and possible mechanisms of aromatherapy in treating the behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia in patients with Alzheimer’s.^[10] Their results provided substantial evidence for symptom relief of agitation using aromatherapy in dementia patients, and positive effects were seen in the brain. There is also promising evidence for the effectiveness of aromatherapy, more specifically bergamot essential oil, for managing chronic pain associated with Alzheimer’s Disease.

It seems that science is suggesting that lovely smells make us happier, calmer, and more relaxed. So, giving someone a bunch of flowers is not only a loving thing to do, but it also has a positive effect on well-being. It’s official.

Kathryn has lived in “Coconutland” for the past ten years. She was born in “Farmlandshire” where she grew up and was totally oblivious to the existence of places such as South East Asia. Kathryn, (or Katy) has run her own IT business for 12 years which is not very exciting. She also wrote a book about search engines in 1999, worked as a journalist for a glossy holiday magazine—a bit like Country Life but with coconut trees and beaches—and now just writes about everything and anything she finds interesting. When she is not writing, she can be found swimming in the sea, dancing on the sand, or drinking a cold beer.

We live in a wonderful time of mass media. The news is at our fingertips, and entertainment is ever present. Unfortunately, advertisers slip in suggestions for us and we usually follow along without even a second thought.

For some of us, our parents taught us certain things because they learned from someone else down the line. No matter, we all do things in the name of our health.

But do we really know whether the healthy things we do for ourselves are beneficial? The following list may challenge your health practice beliefs, leaving you to question everything you do to stay healthy.

10 Hand Sanitizer

Teachers at schools all around the nation are seen squirting dollops of hand sanitizer on their students as they line up for lunch. This is after they have held the yearly school supply drive for parents to scramble to get a list full of items that includes hand sanitizer. Maybe those teachers would think twice if they knew the dangers of using this product.

At its least obtrusive, hand sanitizer creates wrinkles on the hands of users because it dries out the skin. It also contains chemicals (aside from the usual alcohol) which can be very harmful if used frequently.^[1]

Most importantly, the use of these products is creating more resistant bacteria and viruses (superbugs). Soon, it won’t be worth using hand sanitizer other than to relieve our anxieties.

9 Taking Antibiotics

Much like hand sanitizer, the frequent use of antibiotics is helping to create resistant bacteria. Soon, these drugs will be of no use to people with bacterial infections. For the common cold, we just have to wait it out with rest and plenty of fluids anyway.

Another adverse effect of antibiotics like rifampin is the risk of pregnancy.^[2] Many women know that their birth control pills are rendered useless while taking certain antibiotics. However, there are a few who do not know this fact and risk pregnancy just by taking these drugs.

8 Drinking Filtered And Bottled Water

Fifty years ago, people would have been amazed at the concept of making money from bottled water. They probably would have flat-out refused to drink water from amusement parks, which charge outrageous prices.

But now, we have become numb to the use and prices of this product. However, bottled water companies do not want you to know that they filter out minerals that we need to be healthy when they purify their water.

Most importantly, fluoride is added to city drinking water. When it is removed, the health of our teeth is in jeopardy. So next time you get a cavity, you might want to consider changing your drinking water preference.^[3]

7 Taking Painkillers

Lots of people take medicine to make themselves feel better. In fact, pharmaceutical companies are the leading industry in the United States. It is no surprise that doctors prefer to prescribe medicine instead of having their patients choose a more homeopathic method to solve their issues. For doctors, it’s easier and may be more lucrative if they receive compensation from a drug company.

Unknown to many, large numbers of elderly patients are addicted to the painkillers prescribed by their doctors. Further, prolonged use of narcotics, such as codeine, can change the brain chemistry of users. In some cases, these changes may be irreversible and possibly cause the onset of dementia.^[4]

6 Taking Benadryl

Benadryl is an over-the-counter medicine that seems to have no adverse effects if taken appropriately. However, recent findings have produced worrisome news about this frequently used medication.^[5]

Although Benadryl helps with allergic reactions, prolonged use can lead to a significantly higher risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease in later life. Living with cats or Alzheimer’s, which is it going to be?

5 Going To The Doctor For The Common Cold

By no means should you avoid going to the doctor if you believe that there is something seriously wrong with you. But consider the consequences first. The main place that viruses and colds end up are in health-care facilities.

Why? Because that is where everyone goes to get better.^[6]

Even if health-care workers remain diligent about disinfecting, the likelihood of picking up a bug by going to the doctor’s office is extremely high. Next time you want to see your physician because of a cough, you may think twice.

4 Eating Fish

The health food craze has taken hold, and many people eat things just because they are told that certain foods are healthy. The switch from red meats to alternative sources of protein has been a common practice for many years.

Chicken and fish are recommended as the best ways to acquire protein from meat. However, eating some types of fish frequently can be very bad for your health. It can even fill you with poison unknowingly.

Some types of fish contain mercury, which can cause serious issues if ingested.^[7] Next time you see someone eating a package of tuna, you might want to say something.

3 Eating Margarine

Butter is our weight loss enemy. Or so they want us to believe. At the beginning of the health food craze, margarine was invented. Meant to be a healthy, fat-free alternative to butter, margarine was soon found on every grocery store shelf.

Many have been eating this product for years. Despite recent findings about the harm it does, it is still found in thousands of refrigerators around the world. However, butter does not contain trans fats like margarine does.^[8] Mmmm, butter from now on.

2 Going Gluten-Free

The most recent food craze seems to be gluten-free. It is understandable that people with real allergies to gluten should shop for foods that don’t contain it. But should others buy into this fad?

Many believe that gluten-free means healthy when many of these foods are anything but. Just because a cookie contains no gluten does not mean that it is good for you. It still contains sugar and butter, making it just empty calories. We might want to think twice when we see gluten-free advertising the next time we go to the store.^[9]

1 Swimming In A Pool

Yes, exercise is extremely beneficial for our health. Many doctors will recommend swimming as a very good alternative for individuals with joint pain. However, heavy exercise in pools is not a recommended workout.

It can cause strain on the heart, and body temperature is not maintained well.^[10] Even Michael Phelps trained in a pool for only a portion of his workout each day to get ready for the Olympics. Bet you never thought your doctor would say that working out was bad.

I am an author of two books so far, I have a master’s degree, and I love to write. Maybe my sense of humor can be shared with others!

Have you ever wondered how some people defy the sands of time and age gracefully? Longevity isn’t just a matter of genetics. Lifestyle choices also influence it. As we explore ten longevity practices worldwide, you might find some surprising secrets that could contribute to a longer, healthier life.

Related: 10 People Who Live Happy but Bizarre Lifestyles

10 Olive Oil: The Liquid Gold of Longevity

Let’s take a culinary detour to the sun-soaked hills of Greece and Italy, where the olive tree reigns supreme. These folks have been onto something for centuries—drizzling olive oil on everything from salads to bread and probably even their morning coffee (okay, maybe not the coffee, but you get the point).

So, why is olive oil the unsung hero in the longevity playbook? It’s not just about being the Beyoncé of healthy fats. It’s loaded with antioxidants that combat those pesky free radicals. Think of it as your own personal superhero swooping in to save the day, one drizzle at a time.

Olive oil is like the James Bond of the culinary world: effortlessly suave and versatile. Whether you’re sautéing, dressing, or even moisturizing (yes, some swear by it for radiant skin), olive oil is there for you, multitasking its way into a longer, healthier life.

9 Embracing Ikigai: Japan’s Blueprint for a Long and Joyful Life

Ikigai is the magic potion that blends passion, mission, vocation, and profession into pure life satisfaction. It’s not just about finding something you love but about aligning that passion with what the world needs, what you can be paid for, and what you’re darn good at.

Imagine waking up every morning with a grin that says, “I’ve got this life thing figured out!” That’s the Ikigai glow. The Japanese aren’t just sipping green tea and practicing martial arts. They’re weaving their passions into the very fabric of their existence. Ikigai is a lifestyle, a philosophy, a commitment to squeezing every drop of joy out of life.

So, next time you’re feeling lost in the hustle and bustle, take a leaf out of the Japanese playbook—find your Ikigai. And who knows, you might outlive a ninja or two!

8 Sipping to Centenarian Secrets: The Red Wine Chronicles of Longevity

The elixir of life, or as some might call it, the “adult grape juice”—red wine has long been celebrated as a longevity secret in various corners of the globe. Take a stroll through the vineyards of the Mediterranean, and you’ll find folks toasting to life with a glass of this ruby nectar.

The French have made an art of sipping their way to a ripe old age, crediting their love affair with red wine for cardiovascular health. It’s like their fountain of youth, poured from Bordeaux to Burgundy.

In Italy, where the air is filled with amore, the locals swear by a daily dose of red wine to keep the doctor away. They believe the antioxidants in every sip combat the ravages of time, turning wrinkles into mere wine-induced smile lines.

And let’s not forget the Spanish—passionate about life and their Rioja. The secret to their longevity? A glass of red wine shared with friends, or as they say, “Salud, amor, y pesetas, y el tiempo para gozarlos”—”Health, love, and money, and the time to enjoy them.”

7 How to Master Hara Hachi Bu: Eating for Longevity, Japanese Style

Have you ever heard of the ancient Japanese secret to staying slim and living long enough to see your great-great-grandkids? It’s called “Hara Hachi Bu,” and no, it’s not a new martial arts move or the latest sushi trend. Hara Hachi Bu is the art of eating until you’re 80% full—a practice that seems like common sense until you find yourself face-to-face with a mountain of irresistible tempura.

Imagine you’re at a bustling izakaya in Tokyo, surrounded by the savory aroma of miso soup and the sizzle of yakitori skewers. Hara Hachi Bu kicks in just as your inner glutton is ready to declare war on that all-you-can-eat sushi spread. It’s like a ninja warrior whispering in your ear, “Hold on there, hungry warrior, leave some room for the ninja turtles of your digestive system.”

The brilliance of Hara Hachi Bu lies in the balance between satisfaction and restraint. Instead of stuffing your face like there’s no tomorrow, channel your inner samurai and master the art of mindful munching. By stopping short of a food coma, you not only save your stomach from feeling like a sumo wrestling ring but also unlock the secrets of a longer, healthier life—all while enjoying the gastronomic wonders of the Land of the Rising Sun.

6 Unveiling Ayurveda: Ancient Wisdom for a Modern Life!

Picture lounging on a yoga mat, sipping herbal tea, and feeling as zen as a sloth on a Sunday afternoon—that’s Ayurveda for you. This traditional system balances your mind, body, and soul. Ayurveda is more about finding your dosha, or energy type. It’s like being sorted into a Hogwarts house, but way more practical.

And let’s talk about those herbal concoctions—no, it’s not a potion class, but close! Ayurveda prescribes herbs and spices like turmeric and ashwagandha to strengthen your inner magic. It’s like the wizardry of wellness!

Ever heard of oil pulling? Ayurveda swears by it. Swish, swish, and voila—your pearly whites are as bright as the Taj Mahal at sunrise. It’s the kind of routine that makes your dentist wonder if you’ve discovered the Fountain of Toothpaste.

So, if you’re looking for the secrets to a long and vibrant life, consider taking a cue from Ayurveda. It’s a timeless tradition that’s kept people feeling fabulous since before Instagram filters were even a thing. Namaste for that!

5 Sauna Serenity: Sweating the Stress Away with Global Glow-How

Sauna sessions, a time-honored tradition in many cultures, are like the spa day your ancestors never knew they needed. Take a cue from the Finns, who practically invented the art of sweating it out in style. Imagine being surrounded by the comforting warmth of a wooden haven, feeling the stress melt away like butter on a hot pancake.

In Finland, saunas are a way of life. It’s where business deals are sealed, friendships forged, and, let’s face it, where you get to show off your impressive tolerance for heat. The sauna experience is a symphony of relaxation and camaraderie, where the only competition is who can endure the heat without breaking a sweat—literally.

But the Finnish don’t have a monopoly on sauna wisdom. Across the globe, from the Russian banyas to the Japanese sento, people have been basking in the glory of heated rooms for centuries. Sauna sessions promote circulation, cleanse the pores, and leave you feeling as rejuvenated as a cat nap on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

So, consider indulging in a sauna session next time you’re feeling stressed or just need an excuse to flaunt your towel-wrapping skills. Your body will thank you, and maybe your newfound glow will have people wondering if you’ve stumbled upon the fountain of youth.

4 Siesta Bliss: Unveiling the Art of Spanish Napping

In the delightful land of siestas and sangria, the Spanish have mastered the art of the midday nap, turning a quick snooze into a cultural institution. Siestas aren’t just a break from the hustle but a cherished tradition that speaks to the Spanish love for leisure.

Imagine a sun-drenched afternoon in a charming Spanish town, where the rhythm of life slows down and the siesta hour beckons. Armed with a knack for relaxation, locals retreat to the cool shade for a brief rendezvous with their pillows. It’s a rejuvenating siesta that recharges both body and spirit.

The Spanish siesta isn’t a mere nod to laziness. It’s a wise response to the scorching afternoon sun. While others may power through their post-lunch slump, the Spanish wisely embrace a cultural siesta to escape the heat and replenish their energy.

So, next time you struggle with that post-lunch lethargy, take a cue from the Spaniards and indulge in a mini siesta. It’s not a sign of weakness but a nod to a centuries-old tradition that celebrates the beauty of a well-timed nap. Because, let’s face it, life is too short to ignore the allure of a Spanish-style siesta! ¡Buenas noches and sweet dreams, amigos!

3 Costa Rican Pura Vida: The Quirky Elixir of Longevity

In the quest for the elixir of life, Costa Rica unveils its not-so-secret weapon: Pura Vida. This captivating phrase is a way of life that has catapulted Costa Ricans to the forefront of the longevity game. Pura Vida, translating to “pure life,” isn’t just a saying. It’s a daily mantra that permeates every aspect of Costa Rican culture.

Picture strolling down a sun-kissed beach, the waves serenading your every step, and suddenly, a local passes by with a radiant smile and utters those two magical words, “Pura Vida.” It’s not just a greeting but an invitation to embrace the simplicity and joy of existence.

Costa Ricans have mastered the art of stress-free living, trading in the chaos for a laid-back, carefree attitude. It’s as if time slows down in this tropical haven, allowing its inhabitants to savor life’s flavors without rushing through the menu.

So, what’s the secret sauce? It’s a blend of sunshine, community spirit, and a dash of “Pura Vida” attitude. In Costa Rica, longevity is more than the years you live. It’s savoring each moment with a side of genuine happiness. So, here’s to Pura Vida—where every day celebrates the pure and simple joys that make life extraordinary.

2 Sip to Longevity: The Secrets of Chinese Tea Culture

In the ancient tapestry of longevity practices worldwide, one cannot overlook the aromatic charm steeped in Chinese tea. As the elixir of vitality, Chinese tea is a tradition, a ceremony, and a sip of timeless wisdom.

Imagine being reclined in a silk robe, surrounded by the subtle melodies of a traditional guqin, and cradling a porcelain teacup that holds not just leaves but the secrets of longevity. Chinese tea isn’t merely a liquid. It’s a journey through the emerald hills of longevity, hand-plucked by the wise hands that have cradled generations.

The art of sipping tea in China isn’t rushed. As the leaves pirouette in the hot water, they release not just flavors but the essence of life itself. With each sip, you’re not just drinking tea but imbibing the stories of centuries, soaking in the resilience of the leaves that have weathered storms to bring you this moment.

So, let the fragrant clouds of oolong or the robust embrace of pu-erh be your companions in the quest for long life. In Chinese tea, every cup is a celebration of life, health, and the delightful dance of time.

1 Chasing the Northern Lights of Longevity: The Icelandic Art of Clean Living

In the chilly realm of glaciers and geysers, the secret to longevity isn’t just hidden in the breathtaking landscapes of Iceland—it’s also woven into the fabric of their daily lives. Icelandic clean living is the pristine air and stunning vistas. It’s a lifestyle that contributes to the longevity of its people.

Picture strolling through Reykjavik, and you can’t help but notice the locals taking deep breaths of the crisp Arctic air. In Iceland, clean living starts with clean air, and they’ve got an abundance of it. Maybe it’s the oxygen-rich breeze that keeps their minds sharp and their spirits high. Or perhaps it’s hard to age when you’re too busy marveling at the Northern Lights.

Clean living in Iceland embraces the country’s natural resources. Hot springs aren’t just for tourist selfies—they’re a way of life. The Icelanders have mastered the art of soaking away stress and toxins, turning every dip into a centuries-old fountain of youth. So, next time you’re reaching for that expensive anti-aging cream, maybe consider a trip to an Icelandic hot spring instead. Your skin—and your sense of adventure—will thank you.

Throughout the ages, different cultures have had vastly different sexual practices, ranging from mundane to bizarre. Like culture itself, sexuality is more than just a means of procreation; it is an expression of the dominant ideas of the time and can tell us a lot about what’s floating around in the collective zeitgeist of a particular society—and ourselves as a species. So it goes without saying that if we peer into the sexual lives of the distant past, we find hints of ourselves, no matter how different they may have been in their expression of this fundamentally universal human activity.

Babylon (or Babylonia) was one of the first civilizations in existence, a region of settlements that is believed to have been initially established around 4000 BC.^[1] Famous for the Code of Hammurabi, Babylon was a society rich with culture, including a detailed writing system, accounting with mathematics, a diverse cuisine, and, of course, sex, with even the wild and lusty Greeks viewing the Babylonians as a sex-obsessed culture. Here is a glance into the world of Babylon, told through the lens of ten facts about sex in the ancient civilization.

10 Sex With Strangers

Greek sources tell us much about the sex lives of the Babylonian people, and needless to say, Babylon had some sexual practices which would make us in modern times raise an eyebrow, with even the Greeks thinking them a vile culture when it came to their sexual norms.

One of these practices was having sex with strangers, as told by the Greek writer Herodotus. He describes a bizarre and unusual practice in which Babylonian women were sent to a temple, once in their lives, to have sex with a complete stranger.^[2] It’s almost as if it could be seen as a rite of passage for women in ancient Babylon, and this was apparently a very widespread practice, accepted and performed by pretty much every single Babylonian woman. Note that some historians have disputed the specifics of Herodotus’s account but do accept that cultic prostitution existed in Babylon. (More on that below.)

9 Temple Prostitution

Temple prostitution was replete throughout the ancient world in and around the Fertile Crescent.^[3] This practice dates all the way back to the ancient Sumerian culture, which began in 4500 BC and from which Babylonian culture sprang up. Babylon is believed to have had dedicated temples set up specifically for prostitution. These divine brothels were more than just a place where people bought sex—this was a truly religious experience for the ancient Babylonians.

The exchange here wasn’t even sex for money; it was a communal, ritualistic practice to give thanks and worship to the gods of ancient Babylon. This was both quite a unique practice for the Babylonians and similar cultures in the ancient Middle East and a staple of their religious lives.

8 The Sin Of Chastity

In an interesting twist from the Judeo-Christian culture we’ve erected since the days of ancient Babylon, in Babylonian culture, it was actually sinful not to have sex.^[4] According to Herodotus’s account of women being sent once in their lives to a temple for sex, the first man to throw a coin into her lap got to have sex with her. Whether he was rich or poor, young or old, she was obliged to indulge him, irrespective of his or her social status. Herodotus also wrote of less formal prostitution outside of the temples, wherein a man would allow someone to have sex with his wife or children, so long as the sex was paid for.

So basically, if anyone wanted sex in ancient Babylon, it was theirs for the taking. While some sources today have referred to this as rape, it was widespread and socially acceptable in Babylonian culture, which had a near-fetish for fertility. This was a deep part of their religious experience, acts of offering and worship to their sex goddess Innana (also known as Ishtar). Just think about that: There was a culture on Earth where it was considered a sin to turn down sex, proving, once again, that if humans can dream it, and it’s sexual, they will do it.

7 Debauched Dinners

Orgies and prostitution were pretty common in the ancient world, and Babylon was no exception. However, free love and open sexuality weren’t restricted to massive annual or semiannual festivals, and sex would take place in common settings. Herodotus tells us of lavish, steamy dinner parties and how they would go down. Essentially, the ancient Babylonians would have orgies that started off as simple dinner parties but, bit by bit, would progress into something that would take on a more sexual nature.

As the dinners would proceed, Herodotus noted that women would undress piece by piece, until they were totally in the nude.^[5] From here, we can only imagine the wild nights that ensued, and Herodotus noted that it was customary for dinner parties to lead to completely socially acceptable prostitution, which even the Greeks thought absolutely bizarre.

6 Consecration

The Code of Hammurabi says much about the sex practices of the day and the laws that concerned them. In ancient Babylon, every marriage needed to be consecrated with sex, and a marriage wasn’t official until the newlyweds actually had intercourse.

Etched into a surviving stone tablet from 1754 BC, Hammurabi’s Code says, “If a man takes a woman to wife, but has no intercourse with her or does not draw up a marriage contract, this woman is no wife to him.”^[6] So if you wanted to take a woman’s hand in marriage, drew up a marriage contract, and handled the whole nine yards, none of it was actually official until some actual sex took place.

5 Sex Everywhere

The Babylonians weren’t bashful or shy when it came to getting down and dirty; they would do it anytime, anywhere, and seemingly with anyone, whenever they wanted. Babylonians would openly have sex in the center of town, go for a midday excursion out in the countryside, or even climb up atop a rooftop and decide to do the nasty overlooking the city.^[7]

It really didn’t matter much, and nobody minded, as they were an extremely sexually open culture. From temples to rooftops, to the good, old-fashioned bedroom, the Babylonians did it everywhere. One can only imagine an entire city of people having sex all over the place, a rather bizarre mental image indeed.

4 Marriage Markets

Marriage markets were another peculiar part of Babylonian culture. Massive markets would be set up, and women of age were sold off to the highest bidder. Herodotus is once again the writer who handed down our knowledge about these markets, describing in detail exactly how they operated.

Apparently, all of the women would sit down, and, not unlike a modern beauty pageant, one woman would be asked to stand and take the center stage, at which point the men in the audience would begin to place their bids on her, until she was sold. This was done in a particular order, too, starting from what was considered the most attractive and working their way down to what was considered least attractive woman.^[8]

Considering everything else we know about Babylonian sex culture, this was most probably a meat market of sorts, where men would buy the wives that they happened to desire. They would soon need to have sex with them to make the marriage official, of course.

3 Eye For An Eye

The Code of Hammurabi remains famous to this day for its general tone of “an eye for an eye,” explicitly stating which punishments were just and right for which transgressions and wrongdoings. Of course, sex was no exception to this . . . and sometimes their idea of what constituted “an eye for an eye,” was unusual, to say the least.

In a similar legal text dating back to the ancient days of Babylon, we’re told of another policy, whereby if a man is the father of an intact virgin, and another man has sex with her, the father of the virgin is then allowed to take and do with that man’s wife as he pleases. He would then be justly entitled to “ravage her.” However, in Hammurabi‘s version of this same situation, if a man had sex with a father’s untouched virgin (who is betrothed to another man), the man would be put to death and the woman would be spared to live.^[9]

2 Adultery

It might surprise you given what’s been covered so far, but adultery carried a high price in Babylon. Such a crime would warrant a punishment of execution, and not exactly a nice method of execution, either: A wife caught cheating on her husband would be forcibly drowned. Hammurabi’s Code tells us what the prescribed punishment should be in quite great detail, saying that if a wife of one man is caught red-handed in the act of cheating, both her and the man she was cheating with should be bound with rope and thrown into the water until they both drowned.

However, supposing the husband of the wife wanted to spare her life, he could opt to not press charges and forgive her, and in this case, the king at the time would reserve the same right to opt to spare the man she was cheating with. If the husband who had been betrayed did not care to save his wife, however, the king was powerless to save either life, and both would be sentenced to die.^[10]

1 Homosexuality

Like most other cultures on Earth before the Judeo-Christian domination which took place after Constantine made Christianity the official religion of ancient Rome, the Babylonians felt no sense of social stigma about homosexuality, and like the ancient Greeks, they practiced it openly and freely. They did, however, have specific homosexual acts which were thought to bring about bad fortune, though others were thought to bring good fortune. It has been noted by scholars that Babylonian men sometimes liked to assume the role of women in sex, but to do so was looked down upon.^[11]

Since anal sex wasn’t off limits, the ancient Babylonians even used heterosexual anal sex as a form of contraception, meaning they understood the processes that led to pregnancy, and it’s also very possible that homosexual sex served as an alternative to this same end; to avoid pregnancy. Nonetheless, the Babylonians were kinky freaks by today’s standards in a lot of ways, and very little was off-limits.

I like to write about dark stuff, history, horror, and murder. Also sex.