We are in the dog days of summer.  It's a season of campouts, when a tent pitched in a backyard offers cool relief from sunny days. Those magical nights are a bridge to the celestial realm. From stories written in the stars to the placement of the Sun, Moon and planets at the moment of our birth, to the impact Moon phases and Sun spots have on our human bodies? The bridge to the celestial realm awaits. 

Let's step onto it.

The Celestial Bridge

When I think of the bridge to the celestial, I picture the crystal rainbow from the Thor movie that stretched from Asgard to other realms.

The stars and our place among them has birthed questions we humans have pondered since ancient times. Tales have been woven from that vast blanket of light that speak of heroes, villains, cautionary tales, mythical beasts, revenge, and more. 

The placement of the moon, the sun, and constellations signaled the time to plant crops, hunt, store for winter, and hunker down. The sight of comets and meteor showers were often seen as omens, signs from the gods that seeded legends we repeat today.

We still look to the stars, the sun and phases of the moon to better feel our connection to the Universe. Those celestial bodies inspire the mystery of us, in a way that feels secret, sacred and sometimes haunting.

In fact, the cosmos inspired their own fiction genre known as Cosmic Horror. 

Heavily influenced by H.P. Lovecraft, Cosmic Horror focuses on the insignificance of humans, the unsettling nature of the Universe, and cosmic entities that can be threatening, or seem intimidating at the very least.

What to Read/Listen/Watch NEXT!

A Beginner's Guide to Reading a Birth Chart, ELLE Magazine, Madison Feller

Beginner's Guide to Reading a VEDIC Birth Chart, Melooha.com, Dr. Vineeta Phatak

Past Life in the Natal Chart, Astrologgia.com, Daria Rowe

Four Elements in Astrology, Moonletter.co.uk, Ben Belinsky

Sun Facts, NASA.gov

Solar Flares: Effects on Humans, Heath.com, Amanda MacMillan

Interpreting 5 Ancient Constellations Across Cultures, Discover Magazine, Joshua Rapp Learn

Orion Across Three Cultures, NightSkyTourist.com

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Have you noticed? Curious Cat is not a political podcast. It's a place where I explore strange, nebulous, mysterious aspects of life, death, history, science and spirit. I don't so much pick topics as my guides queue them up, set them like a golf ball onto a tee. I can't tell you how many times during morning minutes something takes over my pen and writes out what is next. Sometimes it's a name I've never heard of that I'm called to research, like Raziel and Azrael, other times they dictate a mini-monologue.

But, not being a political podcast, I am a citizen of the world and I see and feel the tension of this moment in history. And boy, we are inflamed, both on a collective level and within the individual. 

My guides said this was the perfect day to offer up an anti-inflammatory, a Benadryl-version of a podcast, or better yet, chicken soup for the soul.

Oh, and I'll share how sniffing your partner's sweaty gym clothes can reduce your blood pressure. :0

Let's get into it.

What to listen/watch/read NEXT:

The Magic of Trees, Curious Cat Podcast, Buzzsprout

Water Magick, Curious Cat Podcast, Buzzsprout

Manipulatives and Mental Health, Curious Cat Podcast, Buzzsprout

How to Use Humor to Manage Stress, Psychology Today, Clay Drinko, Ph. D.

8 Quirky Things That Can Help You De-Stress (and no, none of them involve deep breathing), US News, K. Aleisha Fetters, MS, CSCS

Behind Plant Stress Signaling, Goldbio.com, Adriana Gallego

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This week we are daring to trek on the bridge to Hell. Maybe you think as a collective we are fully in Hell mode as of late. Is Earth the Hell realm as some believe? Or is the only Hell concocted in our minds? What do near death experiencers have to say about Hell? What religions besides Christianity preach about Hell? Is the message the same or different?

And most important for those little sizzlers out there like myself, how do we avoid Hell altogether?

Let's get into it.

Hell 101

Let's begin with a little Hell 101. Or for tender ears H-E-double hockey sticks. 

From Brittanica dot com comes this definition; "Hell, in many religious traditions, is the abode, usually beneath the earth, of the unredeemed dead or the spirits of the damned. In its archaic sense, the term hell refers to the underworld, a deep pit or distant land of shadows where the dead are gathered. From the underworld come dreams, ghosts, and demons, and in its most terrible precincts sinners pay—some say eternally—the penalty for their crimes. The underworld is often imagined as a place of punishment rather than merely of darkness and decomposition because of the widespread belief that a moral universe requires judgment and retribution—crime must not pay. More broadly, hell figures in religious cosmologies as the opposite of heaven, the nadir of the cosmos, and the land where God is not. In world literature the journey to hell is a perennial motif of hero legends and quest stories, and hell itself is the preeminent symbol of evil, alienation, and despair."

Show Sources (what to read/listen/watch NEXT)

What is Hell? from Brittanica.com

Peter Schuurman.com - The Problem with Saying We Go to Heaven

13 Locations Where You Can Travel to Hell and Back, TravelAtelier.com

17 Places That Are Actual Gates of Hell on Earth, Forbes

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With this video game we call reality getting wild lately, I thought it was a good moment in time to dance on the bridge to Heaven. If near-death-experiencers are right in their accounts, Heaven is our true home, all of us. It is rife with colors, music, and unconditional love.

We need a bit of that chicken soup for the soul right now, don't we?  

Let's channel our inner Led Zepplin and climb the stairway or bridge to Heaven.

Heaven 101

Heaven. Nirvana. Eden. Paradise. Cielo. Valhalla, Zion, On High Empyrean, bliss, Elysian Fields. 

The concept of heaven is shared by cultures across the globe.

In Old English - heofon - meaning "home of God" 

German? Himmel - heaven or sky

Ancient Greeks had a few names for heaven, Elysium, Ouranos (which referred to sky or heaven)

In Hebrew, Shamayim

In Hinduism, Svarga, which is the celestial abode of the gods

In Māori - Kiko-rangi, which was presided over by two gods

Show Sources and Materials - what to read, listen, or watch NEXT 

A Brief History of Heaven, Joe Boyd (The Deconstructed Pastor), Substack

The Story behind, Knocking on Heaven's Door, SteamIT

The story behind Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven, American Songwriter

Archosanti: Arizona's grand experiment in sustainable living approaches 50 years, Lauren Schieler, Cronkite News, Tucson Sentinel 

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When I say the word 'imagination' what comes to mind first? What age were you when you last used your imagination? I mean used it and then bragged about your skills to someone else? Were you a kid in school?

I think of SpongeBob, shaping his hands into a rainbow saying slowly, "Imagination!"  

What if I told you it's not just the stuff of childhood? In fact, it may be a superpower. It is definitely a bridge between an idea and reality.

Let's get into it.

Imagination 101

Middle English: via Old French from Latin imaginatio(n- ), from the verb imaginari ‘picture to oneself’, it is the ability of the mind to be creative or resourceful. This root definition of the term indicates the self-reflexive property of imagination, emphasizing the imagination as a private sphere.

Google charts the use of the word 'imagination' and its low point, the time when it was least used? The early 1980s was the low point of the use of the word imagination, followed closely by 1944. 

Wow.

Singularity Hub dot com asks this;

" You can easily picture yourself riding a bicycle across the sky even though that’s not something that can actually happen. You can envision yourself doing something you’ve never done before—like water skiing—and maybe even imagine a better way to do it than anyone else."

They continue, "Imagination involves creating a mental image of something that is not present for your senses to detect, or even something that isn’t out there in reality somewhere. Imagination is one of the key abilities that make us human. But where did it come from?"

Show Sources & Materials (Interesting stuff to read, listen or watch NEXT)

 The Magic of Trees, Curious Cat Podcast, iHeart Radio

Dream! Dream! Dream! Curious Cat Podcast, Buzzsprout

New theory demystifies evolution of human imagination, News-Medical.net, Sally Robertson

Imagination as defined and described by University of Chicago

The FOUR Types of Imagination, NewScientist, Adam Zeman 

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A few weeks back I showcased a retro episode, my first conversation with Derek Condit from Mystical Wares. In it, he spoke of his personal experiences with Sasquatch, one happened on a hiking trail with his daughter. I hope you caught that, his telling and later his theory about cryptids, including Sasquatch. I've been hearing it repeated more lately, but Derek was the first person I heard say this, that cryptids are interdimensional. What's that mean? They jump between dimensions. Sounds like a bridge between our physical world and theirs that they cross at will, doesn't it? 

Let's spend the next hour diving into that compelling, complicated, fascinating space together!

About that conversation with Derek Condit from Mystical Wares...

He said that cryptids are interdimensional creatures. They coexist with us, intermingle, but we remain largely unaware, or blind to them. Why? Maybe when we're vibrating low - operating in fear and anger, they aren't visible. But when we are vibing high, they are seeable to us, or they sense our positive energy and drop their invisibility for a few tantalizing seconds? Not long enough to open the camera on our phones, but they change our bellybutton perspectives in that quick instant. And if they're interdimensional, doesn't that explain the lack of artifacts they've left behind for us to find and study? 

But wait, I think I jumped ahead.

Show Sources and Links (what to read, listen, watch NEXT)

A Cultural Phenomenon, The Biologist, Royal Society of Biology

What Exactly ARE Cryptids? SmoreScience.com

The hunt for Japan's 'ghost' wolves, BBC, William Park and Johanna Airth

The Hovey Photo, Bigfoot's Back! Bigfoot Encounters dot com

Seven species that used to be cryptids, Indiana University Bloomington, Leecy Davis 

10 Obscure Cryptids and Why You've Never Heard of Them, Listverse, Edward Smith

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The Silk Road isn't just a unit from middle school history, it's more than a trade route, also. This geographical location is quite possibly the first intersection of Eastern and Western cultures and was instigated by what else? The desire to make money and acquire exotic goods. 

The Silk Road, besides being a geographical bridge, changed mysticism, lore, legends, and history forever. I remember learning the basic facts in school and spitting them back out for exams, never thinking deeply on the importance of this span of history. In fact, it was only recently that I considered this swath of land and its impact, even to the present. But first? Some facts.

 What to Read/Watch/Listen to NEXT!

The East/West Dichotomy, Wikipedia

China's Trade Route That Changed The World, Learn Chinese Now, YouTube

UNESCO has an interactive Silk Road map

The Silk Roads, smarthistory, The Center for Public Art History

Did you know? The medical knowledge exchange due to the Silk Road, UNESCO

Hogwarts Is Here, online hogwarts lessons, and one on the Silk Road!

Marco Polo series on Netflix

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Hi there! I'm traveling this week, so I thought it was the perfect moment to re-share with you one of my favorite episodes. I hope you love rediscovering the information Derek shares, and my gosh, doesn't my voice sound different? I've also added a link to my latest interview of Derek below.

Made and offered in love.

Derek Condit of Mystical Wares: Intuition & Magic of Unconditional Love, Curious Cat

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Have you ever seen a ghost? Curious to experience a sighting, but hasn't happened for you yet? Or are you one of roughly half of the population that that flat out doesn't believe? 

I had a spirit call Mama! in an old London hotel one night. I woke up fully to see the ghost of a little girl in a white dress standing beside my spot on the bed. In a cab ride to Heathrow days later, my kids said a white orb had followed me around the room the entire stay. 

Ghosts and spirit contact goes back thousands of years. Have we gotten any better at it? 

Let's get into it!

What to Read/Listen/Watch NEXT

Majority of Americans believe in ghosts, aliens, the devil: Survey, The Hill's Tara Suter

Are ghosts real? A psychologist examines the evidence, Barry Markovsky, University of South Carolina

Experts explain our love of fear and fascination with the supernatural, Andy Ober, University of Arizona

Inside the World's Spookiest Hotesls, Tripadvisor

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Should we attempt to make contact with aliens? Dead ancestors? Go with pals to a haunted locale and channel our inner Zak Bagans? And what to make of the new trend to play a certain strain of music/sound that people are calling an alien dog whistle?

Where is the most likely place to have a Bigfoot run in? And should you bring gifts? 

In the weeks to come, we will be crossing the bridge to the supernatural. We will look at how long humans have sought connections, the methods we've used, and perfected, the trends, the risks and how to mitigate them, and the hot spots across the globe. 

This week we look to the skies and oceans in search of aliens.

Let's get into it!

What to Read/Listen/Watch NEXT

YouTube Video on the Strange Hole in Mount Adams - is it a UFO Hangar?

The Higherside Chats Interview with Diana Pasulka

The Higherside Chats Interview with Ryan Bledsoe

States with the most UFO sightings, NY Post

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