The Mitchell Hedges Crystal Skull

Those of us who trudged the New Age path have long heard of Crystal Skulls, perhaps most prominently from Arthur C Clarke’s books and TV programmes. Such a mystical skull became the hallmark, of his collection of unexplainable artefacts and happenings. Recently the crystal skull has had enormous attention, with a mention in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skull. Presumably the producers saw it as next religious based mystery after the Lost Ark and the Holy Grail! Like all relics and artefacts pertaining to foregone teachers and higher truths, there is always conjecture as to their authenticity and context. The skull, supposedly from the Mayan Civilisation, also has controversy as to its age and origins. Prior to the skull arriving in Edinburgh in November 2008, there had been no shortage of speculation about the skull’s pedigree, but that did not daunt the interest of the large numbers of visiting enquirers. What is undisputed is that the Mayans had a remarkable understanding of galactic geometry set against immense time scales. It’s also generally agreed that quartz, of which the skull is fashioned, has connotations with meditation and higher vibrational mind states. Whatever you think of the skull’s origins, there is no doubting the association higher truth assigned to it.

The End of Time?

The insights of the Mayan civilisation are well recorded in their astonishing calendar, which has stood the test of time, etched in stone at several temple sites in Mexico and Guatemala. There have been major studies on the Mayan Civilisation in recent times and although the conclusions differ, there is agreement that the Calendar covers a vast time period of billions of years. The semantics of “The end of time” (as the Calendars does not record beyond 2012 or thereabouts.), has spawned a frenzy of fear and concern about the “end of the world”. There are others of us who interpret this as being the end of a epoch and of “time” as we know it. In parallel, Mother Earth too is suffering (as in “undergoing”) transformational changes. There may be a connection to catastrophic earthquakes, eruptions and floods alongside new weather patterns but not everyone foresees the “end of the world”; the end of “time” perhaps. Time as we know it is already in flux. We are all aware to some extent of how “time” is seeming to speed up, as predicted by the Mayan Calendar, producing all manner of “burn-out” syndromes in people whose awareness is limited only to a business calendar devoid of meditational “NOW”.

Deciphering the 2012 Mystery

One of the most respected decipherers of the 2012 mystery, Carl Johan Calleman, in his book “The Mayan Calendar and the Transformation of Consciousness,” discovers a numerology of breakthrough periods and dark times within the calendar which historic events seem to confirm. His main conclusion is that 2012 signifies the arrival of a time when humanity has the opportunity to attain enlightenment or at least a higher degree of consciousness. This concurs with the world’s greatest teachers, even though the ensuing religions often disguised the fact!

Forthcoming Skull Party?

The Maya also have traditions which acknowledge the existence of multiple crystal skulls. They are supposedly hidden under priestly guardianship until a time when it is both safe and appropriate to allow them to be revealed. The Maya further believe that there will come a time when these ancient crystals will emerge as a group, uniting to provide human kind with truth and guidance at a time of “make or break for humanity” This may be still be true whether or not the Mitchell Hedges Cranium is one such skull or not. These skulls would be a portent of changing times rather than the actual instigators. I doubt whether such an elegant cosmic model would base its ultimate unfolding on a silicate convention!

Histories and Mysteries

Returning to the main event, a highly professional presentation of Histories and Mysteries at the impressive Hub centre, on the Royal Mile of Scotland’s Capital, a stone’s throw from the Castle. Although this report features the skull as main attraction, as described by Bill Homann, it’s guardian, we were treated to fascinating Lectures by Philip Coppens, The Lothians: Land of the Gods, Sam Osmanagic, The Bosian Pyramids, Joseph Davidovits, Building the Great Pyramid, Dr. Harry Oldfield, Photographing hidden energy fields, Eileen Hall, sadly, representing her recently deceased father, Stan Hall, The Quest for the Tayos Gold Library.

Cris Winter

Cris Winter, holding the raffle prize, a bottle of Crystal Head Vodka!

The presence in Edinburgh of the most famous, beautiful and anatomically correct facsimiles of a human skull largely draws from the work and vision of Cris Winter, who has lived a passion for higher truth, based on a life of rich experience and a discarding of values only based on material considerations. Cris, on his various vision quests became a friend of Anna Mitchell-Hedges, daughter of Frederick Arthur Mitchell-Hedges, now referred to as the real-life Indiana Jones who led an adventure packed life. He was party to the discovery of lost Mayan cities and, as claimed by him, the Crystal Skull which now bears his name. How the skull was supposedly discovered is a another story. We add this to the mystery and debate which surrounds all esoteric artefacts, admitting there is a fair dollop of doubt as to the truth of many of the stories of the origin, age and powers of the skull. Cris is a resident of St Andrews, and though not born a Scot I have seen him as an ambassador to Scottish culture, dancing on an Aspen Colorado restaurant table, wearing kilt and full regalia. Its probably the respect awarded to Cris by his extensive networking connections that he has been able to fulfil his vision of bring the Skull to the UK, for the first time and in particular to the Hub of Edinburgh.

Enter Philip Coppens

Philip Coppens, (right) with Cris Winter and the Skull

Cris co-opted the partnership of Philip Coppens, originally from the Low Countries but now a long standing resident of Lothian. Philip added his own extensive energy and contacts to the vision of Cris, and together they took the bold step of committing their names, reputations and a large financial stake to hosting the Histories and Mysteries conference in the new and prestigious Hub Centre.

Philip’s lecture was based on the mysteries of the Lothian landscape and there are schools of thought (including Calleman) that attribute human behaviour to landscape properties. Scotland still has many secrets embedded in its topography. Scotland is an ancient seat of learning and even in recent times has had more than it’s fair share of breakthroughs in discovery and learning (e.g. Steam Engine, Telephone, Television, Penicillin). Could it be that the strong turnout to observe the Skull is another example of Hibernian Discovery Syndrome?

Cris and Philip got the timing spot on, in the wake of the new Indiana Jones Movie. It also transpired that their timing coincided with an opening window time ascribed by the Mayan Calendar” as being nurturing to development of new insights and spiritual growth.

Philip took on most of the business development and offered the story of the H&M Conference, with the Skull as its main attraction to a wide selection of mainstream media with a positive uptake. Cris, alongside planning roles was regularly occupied in ensuring the skull would actually arrive. He also spent many weeks perfecting his audio visual presentation, incorporating Platonic geometry, colour and sound fused with skull crystal imagery, producing an unforgettable and magical experience. In the days prior to the show they were busy with sound and video interviews with very strong local coverage, as you’d expect.

Hundreds come to the Skull
There were visitors from several countries, including, USA, Italy, Sweden and myself from Lanzarote. Amongst the hundreds of attendees there was a strong representation from media, writers and leading lights of Scotland’s esoteric establishment. There were people from all walks of life, all ages and all prepared to stand in line in a draughty corridor for up to half an hour at busy times to heave their séance with the skull.

Meeting the Crystal Skull

In small groups we were given access to stand closely to the Skull without any glass or cage. Bill Homann had allowed the taking of photographs with near universal uptake! Dr Harry Oldfield had set up a photographic rig with the PIP camera he had developed. During his Conference talk he had showed slides of how this technology could pick up the subtle energy of life force, indications of body health, and energy connections between living organisms, including minerals. The rig was pointing at the skull and colour arrays were visible which modified as Bill’s hand moved towards and away from the crystal.

We enjoyed “The Happening Event”, a colourful AV presentation with a short guided meditation. For me this did not yield any meditative insights although in a private solo situation the result may have been different. Irrespective of any powers embodied in the skull, any meditation with it, directed to higher awareness could have had positive results. It is long established that consciousness is amplified and reflected by quartz, which has properties related to pulse, storage and vibrational frequency.

We were long past the days of New Age “candles and sandals”. Cris and Philip had selected professionals, specialists, the best venue, the latest AV gear, PR systems. They also arranged coverage by young multi media students, under the direction of Gerard Lohan, with state-of-the-art equipment. The eager students videoed the proceedings and interviewed the visitors as they flowed through.

After the main conference which was well attended, hundreds of citizens from Edinburgh and beyond turned up for the viewing day. They waited patiently for their turn to meet the skull on a personal basis . The visitors were good humoured, polite, not always hugely informed but open minded and enthusiastic. They had a common purpose; a curiosity and drive to witness the skull and were prepared to pay for the pleasure!

Another Skull with spirit Connections

Crystal Skulls are now so mainstream that a Canadian Company has launched Crystal Head Vodka. Here Cris Winter is holding a version of the recently relased product

What were the expectations?

The Mitchell Hedges skull is perhaps the best known of all crystal crania and even though there may be doubt as to its origins, purpose or even authenticity, what did we expect to have happen when we met it in Edinburgh?

· Did we think that inspirational insights of truth and guidance would broadcast into our psyche.

· Would we learn answers to life, the universe and everything?

· Perhaps we hoped it would magically cleanse our minds of negativity, providing insight and inspiration on request?

· Could it mystically empowered us to manifest, into our lives, whatever we wanted?

· Would we have the power to link and connect like never before?

· Did we think that we could not attain this without some outside assistance?

No-one knew what to expect. Talking to Cris the day before, I had a mind flash that, whatever the learning would be, from the “Crystal of Doom” meeting it would become clear later. It took me a few days to arrive at my impressions and conclusions of the skull visit and I list as follows.

· Impressions and Conclusions
In attending the Histories and Mysteries Conference I definitely felt I was going on a sacred mission

· This mission was based on my belief, that the ancients had demonstrably greater access to branches of universal wisdom than we do (born out by other speakers at the conference).

· This wisdom is often engraved on their surviving creations.

· Whether the skull lived up to all of its greatest expectations would not change any of the above.

· On seeing the skull for the first time, I felt as though it was, at least in this instance, a catalyst to the event, rather than the focus of it.

· It crossed my mind that whatever powers, if any, the skull may have had it is still only an object and secondary to human intent and consciousness

· Synchronicities appeared at every turn

· I was aware of a tremendous affinity and like mindedness in all the people I met.

· There was a harmonious team spirit; everyone I met was helping without financial gain and was happy to do so.

· I felt as though I knew some of the people I met, even though I had not in fact seen them before.

· A huge amount of introducing was taking place.

· It’s a sign of times that Cinema and Alcohol Merchandising have adopted the notion of a Crystal Skull

· Many of us will be keeping in touch and working together

· I felt an affirmation that the path I had set myself was close to my heart’s desire.

· I had a growing feeling that the skull is a symbol of higher consciousness and that we all have access to this.

· We were all deeply yet subtly touched by the experience

From my own experience of those I met at the Edinburgh Hub, I’d say, far from just coming to see a piece of famous quartz, they were equally attracted to the notion of the associated higher truth. It matters little if they saw the Crystal Cranium as a portent or even that the Mayan Calendar predicted such things exactly at this time. With the crumbling economic edifices around us, perhaps it is time for new values in working together.

Did the conference get my vote as a resounding success, exceeding expectations? That would be a massive YES!

Stuart Forster (left) with Bill Homann and the Skull

Stuart Forster is a Director of Holistic Holidays

A company specialising in Life Change Retreats

Providing holidays that help quieten your mind, increase your awareness and change your life.

Get the Life you Want
Stuart Forster challenges us to make the most of time away from work. He suggests this festive season is great time to take stock and to start bringing about the life change we really want. He and his partner Lynne Oliver, have considerable experience and can show guests how. All you need is an open mind and the preparedness to learn to quieten it!

Background
Stuart & Lynne set up Villa Isis in rural Lanzarote as a holistic retreat centre nearly 10 years ago. They felt they could improve on the places they had been to and insisted the villa had to be mainstream, sumptuous, small scale, “home from home”, sunny all year, panoramic and easily accessible, which it is! While Lynne’s renowned yoga teaching seeded the project, she and Stuart gradually enhanced their understanding of what people needed in a retreat holiday. In the early days, guests chilled out and then went home, often to repeat the patterns that made them wound-up (dis-eased). Follow-up visits enabled Lynne to monitor individuals and she noticed significant results, especially via yoga, in helping the very common diseases and health problems of our time: fibromyalgia, M.E., arthritis, IBS, cancer recovery, asthma, high blood pressure, addictions, lower back pain, sciatica, neck and shoulder pain. She was also able to include counseling on health / emotional problems and addiction.

Need for Life Change (as predicted)
Stuart says “It is strange how the last few years have seen a sudden surge in the demand for “detox”, more than “de-stress”. Diet is important but Forster and Oliver think calming the mind is even more important. Our Google stats show us to be a leader on such pages with many new registrants of these terms following us in the last year. The new buzz word is “burnout”  which is the consequence of pressure based on a feeling that time is speeding up and there are not enough hours in the day to get things done. We still feel “up-against-it”, even though our technical productivity with email and SMS is higher than ever. Saturated and overactive minds strive to find self diagnoses, but the basic problem is to do with quietening the mind and learning not to “auto-react”. (Forster and Oliver have no doubt that these are vital areas to address. Moreover, there is a new consensus that a change in Life Values, aspirations and behaviour is absolutely necessary).
This has all been pre-saged by indigenous peoples and ancient cultures from around the world. The most compelling oracle is the Mayan Calendar, based on an irrefutable understanding of cosmic alignment. It’s a complex story but in, essence, points to systemic global change as we approach 2012, (the last date referred to in the Mayan Calendar is December 21st, 2012. (The opening date is 16.4 billion years ago, which equates with Physicists calculations of the “Big Bang” creation event!). The fact that the calendar stops on the Winter Solstice adds an extra focus to the end of December!
The predictions / calculations of the Mayan Calendar point to 2012 as being the end of time. This is not necessarily cataclysmic, but a vibrational evolution linked to our alignment with the galaxy. This new vibration, (many are aware of it), affects our perception of time as well as on the psyche and consciousness. The internet is full of accounts of new cosmic energies coming to Earth, like never before. Our own sun is demonstrating very unusual behaviour, as predicted! Forster and Oliver think it’s not the end of the world but the end of an era. They see an emerging capability which allows us to manifest the way our life works, based on our emotional reaction to our desired outcomes. Yes, it may take some believing, but it seems to be true. If all this is news to you, and it resonates, then you will probably need a long vacation to loosen up and get through the reading list you can pick up on 2012. (Forster recommends Johan Calleman’s masterful book on “The Mayan Calendar and the Transformation of Consciousness” but there are many others, with varied agendas).You can read Calleman and others at Holistic Holidays!

There is a consensus in the leading students of the topic that, as we approach 2012, there will be an opportunity for human consciousness to change on a global scale. (Stuart thinks the signs are now very real. You can talk to him about this on 0208-123-9250) If you feel there is some truth in this outline account, then you will also feel to consider making changes. The ways things are going, it will be hard not to!
I’m dreaming of a Lost Christmas?
As the festive Season approaches against this cosmic backcloth, we have a choice as to how we address a celebration which has little relevance to its original meaning. The December festival owes as much to the Roman Mithras and the Druidic cults as to the supposed date of Christ’s birth. In any event, the Christmas we celebrate pays only a passing homage to guiding light in the world, via our luminous stars and tinsel angels. Some of us do feel a warm affinity with singing traditional carols amid candle-lit décor, reflecting on times gone by. (Stuart adds that he loves playing the organ for Christmas Carols at Villa Isis and believes people like a good sing, expecially if they know the words and have a couple of winter warmers first!) Much of this nostalgia is based on the receiving of presents although St. Nicholas, underwritten by credit card companies, still has a strong following with his bottomless sack and mysterious chimney navigation. Yet there is a deep yearning for something spiritual around The Winter Solstice (Dec 21st), whichever tribe you subscribe to. Is our Christmas dream not connected to the birth of an understanding of how we can be directed to our higher aspirations? A holiday is a great opportunity to stop the machine and escape for some solar maintenance and a new map!

Christmas for a Change
Christmas is a popular time for clients to escape to Holistic Holidays in the Canary Islands sun yet Forster and Oliver have noticed differences in the way their guests adopt the Festive Season. These days the news is packed with climate change, eco damage, fundamentalism, failing banks, brain burning gismos, faltering economies, excessive prices. People need to distance themselves from it all. “HoHo” guests are taking the opportunity to reconfigure and update their operating systems. Once they feel lighter in themselves from yoga, therapies and letting go, they may also take steps towards addiction counseling (addictions come in many forms). They see a more specific agenda arriving, inspired by learning how to manifest the life you want while coming to terms with downsizing, divorce, managing on less, but appreciating more.
After all, what better investment could you make than in the Life you’d like to have, once you realise you can have it!!
We’re also seeing more men (and therefore budding relationships!) on our holidays as Life Change is a more universal goal than yoga and therapies!

Higher Resolution?
In coming to Villa Isis at Christmas, guests are effectively saying that they want to return in better shape than they arrived. They also like the idea of some fun festive celebration, but first and foremost, they want a healthy regime with the possibility of yoga, shiatsu, Reiki, Massage, Kinesiology crowned with guidance on life change which has become noticeably more in demand.
Don’t think that we are suggesting that you deprive yourself of life’s pleasures. Do think about having more to your life and not depriving a higher level of enjoyment and fulfillment potential that is your right! OK, we all like a party and a bit of indulgence, but when it comes to January and the age old New Year’s resolution, we’d like you to consider upping the stakes on yourself.
In the past, we’ve all pledged to quit smoking, tone down the booze, lose weight, get healthy from January 1st. It’s rarely successful, especially when the post Christmas depression has set in, and all we’re left with is guilt.
We invite you to promise yourself that you will change your life as your New Years resolution. Then you have something really positive to look forward to. By coming on a holiday such as ours for a week, (or two, even better), we can help you chill out in the sun, take you to some stunning natural locations,  pamper you with therapies We can help fill the Christmas void with real camels and a clear view of the heavens! On top of that help you to set your desires and goals in such a way that you will be excited at the results you can expect.

We’re calling it a Higher Resolution.
What more could you want than the life of your choice?

For more information please contact
Stuart Forster or Lynne Oliver
Holistic Holidays
Villa Isis, Lanzarote

We are pleased to arrange press visits as part of ongoing holidays for agreed major features. If you would like to discuss a particular aspect of the above for an article, please speak to Stuart .

They are unusal as yoga DVDs, insofar as the teacher has 40 years of yoga experience, study from the UK and USA with a knowledge of anatomy and physiology. You will find the series also useful as yoga therapy, helping you use your yoga practice to cope with life’s aches and pains.
Watch short Video
on the Making of Yoga in Hawaii
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It makes you pleased that Gore didn’t become President since it seems he is doing greater things in his present role!