Istanbul, the ancient Constantinople, is at once a magical place and a dark, shadowy, place. As most ancient cities go, its history is filled with human strife and suffering—and clearly evil and vile acts upon humanity by power hungry, fear-filled, leaders. Istanbul is no exception. But it is also magical, with its grand human achievement in art, architecture, literature, and religious devotion.

The city for over 1,000 years was the site of the “Eastern Rome” and beginning with the reign of Constantine I was the capital city of the Roman Empire. At this time, as well, it became the seat of the Eastern Christian church and held that position until the city was taken by the Ottoman Turks in 1453. Needless to say, every stone in the city old enough to have been present during these tumultuous times has a story to tell.

My hotel was situated right on the edge of the ancient hippodrome, a structure that held 100,000 people and was the site for numerous “Roman-esque” events such as chariot racing and gladiator type trials. Included in its colorful history were several horrid slaughters of tens of thousands of trapped citizens of Constantinople, who, for whatever reason, lost favor with the reigning emperor.

Looking out my window and seeing the tip of the Egyptian obelisk that adorns the center of the hippodrome track I wondered if the seating for the massive structure, long disintegrated, had been just about exactly where I slept each night. Needless to say I was not impervious to the effects of the negative energy flowing through the site due to the horrid loss of so many terrified lives. I was happy to check out of that hotel and head off to sunny Kusadasi after five rainy days in Istanbul.

There was much to see in Istanbul however, the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sophia, the Grand Bazaar, the Bosphorus…and thousands of displaced feral cats. Turkey seems to be full of them.

The World Congress for Regression Therapies was quite interesting. Filled with workshops of all sorts and many demonstrations of new and innovative modalities in the field of past life therapy it was four days of constant learning and meeting of old and new friends and colleagues.

Marion Boon, Hans TenDam, Trisha Cataeno, Rich Stammler, and Andy Tomlinson are but a handful of the talented practitioners that participated in the conference. Roger Woolger, the only other practitioner participating in the event that has a strong Jungian foundation as I do, could not attend due to a severe illness. My own perspective and method of practice is deeply informed by Dr. Woolger’s “Deep Memory Process” I was sorry to see that I would not have a chance to meet with him.

After the conference we all took a one-day sightseeing tour to Ephesus, an ancient Greek city, and later a Roman city, near the city of Izmir in Turkey—truly an amazing place.

Although an exciting trip full of adventure and learning it was wonderful to get back to the warm and loving familiarity of home—and a present life very much worth living.

 

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