Welcome and blessings. This is Ayn Cates Sullivan, host of Wisdom of the Ages podcast show where we invite the sacred into modern day reality. Let me tell you why you’re going to be excited about this episode. My guest, Julie Loar has led 13 sacred tours to Egypt. I can hardly wait to hear about this because I really want to go. She has an amazing book called Goddesses for Every Day which is a big love of mine with my Legends of the Grail series and I know these goddesses will dance together today, or at least I hope they will. She’s won six national awards. She’s also the creator of a board game called Quintangled, which is all about archetypes. I’ll find out more about it, but it sounds fascinating.
I looked up the goddess for today. What I love about her book, Goddesses for Every Day is that there is a message for the day and then there’s contemplation. She’s from Mesopotamia. She’s quite unfamiliar but seems lovely. Her contemplation of today is, “If I don’t have the wisdom of a loving heart, what does it matter if I gain all the knowledge of the world?” I thought that was perfect for a Wisdom of the Ages show. With those wise words, welcome Julie Loar.
Thank you, Ayn. I’m just delighted to be here, have this conversation with you.
It’s so fun. Should we begin with the quest? Are you still leading these sacred tours?
I am. I have one planned for March of 2021. That will be number 14, which is a significant number in Egypt according to the myth of Osiris and his brother Set. That’s how many parts he cut him into and spread all over the country.
Oh my goodness.
It will be interesting to see. It’s one of the myths that was celebrated in the temples, the resurrection of the God Osiris, who was the vegetation God. So yes, they’re usually relatively small. I never have had more than 22 people, but 15 is the average. People tend to come from all over the country and the world in fact, and it’s always magical. We go from the top of Egypt to the bottom. I’m doing an extra day in Alexandria this time so we can actually spend some time with our feet in the Mediterranean and visit the new Library of Alexandria.
I work with a company that the founders of the company and that family were archeologists who literally live right across the street from the Sphinx and the pyramids and we get taken and have access to places that most people don’t, and this company is really revered. It’s a wonderful opportunity to meet new people and make a sacred journey to Egypt, which I expect most of us have lived there at least once, if not more. That information, the details will be up on my website very soon. I’m still tinkering with a few final details.
That’s fabulous. Do they fill up quickly?
You know, it’s interesting. Some people right away sign up and say they want to go and other people deliberate and sometimes there’s somebody that at the last minute finds out and signs up. I just trust the process. I know you know what I mean with that.
I think you should find out who’s supposed to be there and they will show up. This is interesting about the 14 pieces. If I remember that story correctly, wasn’t it Isis, the goddess Isis, who went around and collected the pieces of her husband who had been torn apart by Set?
Yes. It’s very interesting. I mean that particular myth and the annual ritual in the temple occurred about the same time interestingly, as the mysteries in Crete that occurred and so it’s fascinating. They’re both symbols. The Eleusinian mysteries that happened in Crete, acting out the story of Persephone and her mother and so Demeter and Persephone. It’s interesting, they’re very similar in terms of the symbolic journey into the underworld and a resurrection. They’re both resurrection myths.
But yes, the brother Set tricked his brother Osiris, who was the mate of goddess Isis, and he ended up chopping his brother into 14 pieces and spreading the pieces all over Egypt. Some people say it’s a lunar symbolism. Some people say it represents what were called the Nome’s of Egypt, the different, we would call them provinces. And yes, Isis found part of her brother and part of the myth is her journey to go around Egypt, collect all the parts and magically bring them back together.
She was the queen of magic and then she brought him back to life for enough time to couple with him and their son Horus the falcon God, was born as a result and he went on to be the triumphant son who rectified and got into a fight with his uncle and so redeemed his father in a way. Every year in ancient Egypt they would perform in the temple at Abydos, this ritual to literally bring Egypt back to life every year. That’s the short version of the story, but it was a predominant myth and ritual.
Can you think how that same story shows up in many different myths and legends and it’s very shamanic in a way, you know, that you would take time out, maybe during a quest in a certain time of a year where you would go and gather the pieces of your soul that might’ve been fragmented because of whatever reason, some sort of trauma or maybe they’d been left in a previous life, but what a fabulous myth. And of course here they appear in the Lucian mysteries and they appear in the Celtic traditions also. Yes, it’s fascinating. Absolutely fascinating. And what’s your lineage? Where do you come from?
Well, I grew up in Ohio and the interesting story for me is I was adopted. I was the product of a relationship between a Navy nurse and a Navy pilot during World War II. They ended up not getting married so I was adopted. It’s very funny because my whole life I was told I was German and I grew up predominantly … My mother, my adoptive mother was German. My adopted father, Irish and English so I did get some of the culture. But it wasn’t until much later when I was able to do a search after my parents had both died, that I found my birth mother and learned that I’m actually about three quarters Irish, and it was so interesting.
One of the most interesting things about that story is I, from a young age, was musical. No one else in my family could carry a tune, the adoptive family. At a very early age, 22, I became interested in tarot cards and astrology and began reading tarot cards. When I found my birth mother, we were just getting acquainted over the telephone. I thought, “Well, I better tell her these things I’m interested in, in case it’s a problem.” So I told her that I did astrology and read tarot cards. She became very quiet and I thought, “Oh dear, I’ve done it now.” And then she said, “It skipped my generation, but your grandmother and great-grandmother, Irish, both read cards.
Oh my goodness. How interesting is that? And you didn’t even grow up with them and somehow that was part of your DNA. How interesting.
Exactly. It’s the nature versus nurture story all over again. I was amazed by that.
The grandmothers passed along the gifts. Well, we have to take a break, but where can people find out about you and your courses, your gifts, all sorts of things?
My website is julieloar.com.
Okay. And that’s where your books and your courses and your trips and your game.
Yeah.
Okay. So we’re going to take a short break and then we’re going to talk more about Goddesses for Every Day and also Quintangled. So stay tuned. We’ll be right back.
To listen to the entire show click on the player above or go to the SuperPower Up! podcast on iTunes.
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