Are You Neo-Ancient? Here’s How to Tell

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Lindsay Fauntleroy, author of the new In Our Element.

These crazy times call for the ones I’ve been affectionately calling Neo-Ancients. As confusion, worry, and fear run rampant, Neo-Ancients can be found gathering our inner resources as we prepare for assertive, clear, and directed action. Here are five clues you just might be part of this tribe:

1. Your schedule is cosmic
You don’t just set your intentions and goals on a monthly basis, but you pay attention to the fluctuations between Yin and Yang as you plan your year. You know active force, Yang, is at its height in summer, as well as during full moons. You know that stillness and reflection, the Yin, are amplified in the winter and during new moons. The Summer and Winter solstices and the Autumn and Spring equinoxes hold special meaning for you. Maybe you go all out with fasting, cleansing, meditating and aligning with your intentions at the change of each season. Or maybe your body takes care of it for you, by giving you a seasonal cold at these cross points. The shenanigans of Mercury Retrograde fill your social media feeds, and have on more than one occasion affected your plans. If your schedule is cosmic, you might be Neo-Ancient.

2. You use Soul Medicine
Neo-Ancients understand that health is not just physical—it’s emotional, mental, and spiritual as well. While conventional medicine is about 500 years old, it’s really a baby when compared to indigenous healing systems that considered the physical, etheric, astral, and spiritual planes. This means not only attending to the physical body, but also attending to heartache, lack of inspiration, confusion, anxiety, depression, and any of the myriad ways we might be out of alignment. Soul medicine includes using flower essences, essential oils, gemstones, herbs, yoga, meditation, and even music to facilitate inner and outer shifts. If you believe that health is about more than being “free from disease,” you might be Neo-Ancient.

3. You’re etherically sensitive
The etheric body is the first layer of the subtle body, and is like an electromagnetic envelope of energy surrounding our physical form. It’s the aspect of the subtle body that gets charged when you “feel” someone staring at you, your back aches because it’s cold outside, or your knee acts up every time it rains. Our electromagnetic bodies are in close synergy with the electromagnetic poles of the earth, and etherically sensitive folks are often affected by lunar cycles, changes of seasons, and chaotic weather. Because our emotions live mostly in our etheric body, etherically sensitive folks also tend to be very empathic—and can often sense when someone is feeling angry or sad even if they insist otherwise. Being in crowds can upset the nervous system of etherically sensitive folks, who might need to spend some time decompressing alone after lots of interaction with others. If any of this sounds like you, you might be Neo-Ancient.

4. Synchronicity has meaning
Neo-Ancients know that there is no such thing as a coincidence. Every moment has the potential to answer a question that was posed with intention (or subconsciously) to the Universe. These answers can emerge in so many unexpected ways: a random song stuck in our head that carries a potent message; being in the right place at exactly the right time; the friend you were thinking of that happens to call at that moment; the person on the train that catches your eye; the billboard you never noticed before that carries a special message just today, just for you. Neo-Ancients find a way to live in the meaning and magic of it all. If you have ever experienced the magic of synchronicity, you might be Neo-Ancient.

5. You believe in it all
You consider yourself “spiritual” instead of “religious.” You can drop Proverbs wisdom at a moment’s notice, and also know all 12 archetypal patterns of the zodiac. You can recite the original, modified, or personalized declarations of Ma’at.You have gained insight from the I Ching, the Tarot, Yogic philosophy, the Secret, the Buddha, Earthseed scripture, Nature, and your Highest Self in meditation. You light candles for your ancestors and pour libation. An Ifa reading once transformed—or saved—your life. Quantum physics has your mind blown.You believe in it all, because all is one. If your heart can hold yes/and instead of either/or in your spiritual practice, you are definitely Neo-Ancient.

Our thanks to Lindsay for her guest post! For more from Lindsay Fauntleroy, read her article, “Music Is Medicine: Exploring the Sounds of the Five Elements.”