The Changing of the Light

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Sunday, 24 December 2023

Written by Alberto Villoldo PhD

As we come to the darkest time of the year (in the Northern Hemisphere) and the lightest time (in the South) we are called to reconnect with Father Sun, the source of all light. I would like to share with you my favorite sun meditations, but first a little history…

We have used sunshine for therapeutic purposes for thousands of years. The Ebers Papyrus, an Egyptian medical text dating back to around 1550 BCE, has references to heliotherapy for treating skin conditions and other ailments. The Greek physician Hippocrates, regarded as the father of Western medicine, recommended exposure to sunlight for healing. In Rome, solariums, open-air enclosures for sunbathing, were used for therapeutic and relaxation purposes.

In Ayurvedic medicine, an ancient system of natural healing from India, sunlight is considered essential for balancing the body and promoting overall well-being. In Europe in the 19th and early 20th centuries, heliotherapy gained popularity as Dr. Auguste Rollier, a Swiss physician, established clinics in the Alps where patients received sun exposure daily. Heliotherapy was vital for the treatment of tuberculosis during the early 20th centuries.

Today, the benefits of sunlight have been eclipsed by the need for sun protection. And we live a large percentage of our lives indoors and lather ourselves with sunblock whenever we go outside, rightfully terrified of skin cancer. Yet the rates of skin cancer among Australian Aboriginal peoples who spend their entire lives outdoors in the sun is a fraction of what it is for Westerners! Could it be because they do not have been exposed to the toxins and assaults on their brains that we have?

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Alberto Villoldo PhD is a medical anthropologist who has spent the last 30 years investigating the healing practices of the shamans of the Amazon and the Andes. He is the founder and director of the Four Winds Society, and author of Shaman, Healer, Sage, Mending the Past and Healing the Future with Soul Retrieval, The Four Insights and Yoga, Power and Spirit. Alberto is founder of the world-renowned Four Winds Society and of the Light Body School. In his teachings and writings, he shares the experience of infinity and its ability to heal and transform us, to free us from the temporal chains that keep us fettered to illness, old age and disease.