Ancient fire altar in Amasia

Simin Uysal

Roman coin with the fire altar and the temple 

I was thinking there was nothing more left to learn about Amasia until last week when I started silently wondering about whether having a small fire ceremony would be possible and where we could do it.

My friend, without having an idea about my thoughts, showed me a short article in a magazine the same night, about the historical findings related to a fire altar in Amasia!

This ancient Roman coin, produced in Amasia during the reign of Severus Alexander (222-235 AD) depicts a temple and a fire on the mountain where the remains of the citadel is still standing. The fire altar has been unearthed in 2007 by the archeological excavations by the local museum. Interestingly, it is believed to be dating back to 334-330 BC to the Hellenic period. The museum thinks that the fire cult has been strong in Amasia during Helenic and Roman periods and is associated with Zoroastrianism.

Well, my question seemed to have been answered by the ancestors of this beautiful land. This city continues to amaze me!

The citadel still standing on Mt Harsena

Dreaming with the ancestors in the Land of Thousand Gods

Simin Uysal

It was almost two years ago when I had a powerful and mysterious dream. In the dream, it was twilight and I climbed a hill with an unidentified person beside me to see a cubic stone which I knew belonged to the ancient Hittites. I woke from the dream with a sense of urgency yet without a single clue about what to do. I am living on the same land where the ancient Hittites did almost 3,500 years ago and I've started reading about the Hittite civilisation but could find nothing related to this stone. I had no idea then that this dream was the mark of an adventure involving the ancient Gods of Anatolia, Pharaoh Ramses II and the Amazons!

Although I didn't know, the adventure began when I received an email from a dear friend of mine two months ago, asking me to work as a communication expert for a few weeks in an internationally funded project in the Black Sea region. I agreed but the timing felt interesting as I've been working on a book on a tight deadline. The task required traveling back and forth to the project site for almost six weeks and staying there during weekdays. We decided to drive together and during our journey, she suggested we visited Hattusha,  the ancient capital of the Hittites on our way. I started having goosebumps while approaching the ancient city though the dream was long forgotten. We parked the car and started walking up the hill and entered the remains of the Great Temple. I was feeling very much excited and I saw it.....a green nephrite stone was there right before my eyes! I started recalling the dream. 

Green Nephrite Stone 

I was still unsure about its significance and decided to think about it later as we had other interesting points to visit. As we were driving uphill towards the upper city, overlooking the planes, we saw a rainbow which felt like a message from the greatest deity of the Hittites, the Storm/Sky God Teshub . After walking through the Lion Gate and seeing another rainbow, we headed towards the sanctuary of Hattusha, Yazilikaya (inscribed rock in Turkish) to visit this holy place at the gates of Hattusha, the City of Thousand Gods.  

Lions Gate at Hattusha

There are two chambers in the temple and Chamber A was most impressive, where we saw a rock-cut relief of 64 gods. Mountain gods were also there with their scaled skirts symbolising the rocky mountains. We even saw the goddess Shaushka (Mesopotamian goddess Inanna/Ishtar). Walking between the ancient gods and goddesses, we finally reached the storm-god Teshub and the sun-goddess Hebat where Teshub stands on two mountain gods and the sun goddess stands on a leopard. e made our offerings and proceeded to Chamber B which was in better condition and the 12 Gods of the Underworld could be clearly seen carved on rock on one side and King Tudhalia IV of the Hittites in the embrace of God Sarruma on the other.  We made our offerings again and continued our on our journey northeast.

Twelve Gods of the Underworld 

King Tudhalia IV in the embrace of God Sarruma

I arrived at the project site which is a beautiful town by the Green River (ancient name Iris) and most impressive mighty Mount Harsena where the rock carved stones of ancient kings watch over the town. It is also the place where the ancient geographer, philosopher and historian Strabo was born around 63 B.C. According to Strabo, the name Amasia comes from Amasis, the queen of the Amazons, who were said to have lived here. The name has changed little throughout history: Amasia, Amaseia, Amassia and Amasia are all found on ancient Greek and Roman coins. Today, it is called "Amasya" in Turkish and all have the same pronunciation. 

As I was briefed on the project, I learned the water coming from the mountain was being wasted because of the leakages in the system and the sewerage was being discharged directly into the Green River causing it great pollution. And  it was most saddening and heart breaking for me to see the river polluted so badly and precious water being wasted in this beautiful place. The project is for building a wastewater treatment plant which will be commissioned in two months time,  renewing the sewerage system and directing it to the plant instead of discharging directly the Green River and detecting and repairing the leakages. I believe the project will help the Green River which flows through three cities and many towns for 500 kilometers until it reaches the Black Sea, become cleaner.

Amasya - The Green River and the Rock Tombs

The waking events finally seemed to be catching up with the dream. The green stone, as I learned later, is believed to be a present from Pharaoh Ramses II to the Hittite King though noone seems to be sure about its significance! When I think about the "nephrite", I am reminded of "nephritis", a kidney disease caused by toxins where the kidneys are inflammation can no longer purify the blood. The green nephrite stone, served as a great metaphor for the Green River, like the veins of the Earth carrying and circulating waters and the metaphoric existence of nephritis and it certainly inspired me on this assignment with the most unusual and inconvenient timing. 

I felt this was a perfect opportunity to approach this assignment with Sandra Ingerman's teachings in "Medicine for the Earth". Being assigned the task of a "communication expert" of the project and having had the dream where I believe the spirits of the land supporting this, I thought, I had to first communicate with the Green River, Mount Harsena and the spirits of the ancestors. I took long walks by the river, sat with the trees on the mountain, carefully followed my dreams of the night and spent time with the inhabitants of the town before sitting behind the computer to write my report. 

Walking by the river and watching others, I saw the depth of the trance we are in and how disconnected we are from nature which we are part of. Technology and modernity provide us with many comforts I am thankful for but our current way of life clearly does not support all of life, even the elements which give us life. With these feelings and thoughts on my mind, I started wondering how the ancient peoples were actually more evolved than our technologically advanced modern society. I decided to visit the local museum for some inspiration. As soon as I stepped inside, I saw an ancient statuette of the Storm/Sky God Teshub on display and recalled the recent visit to the temple where I saw King Tudhalia in the embrace of God Sarruma. I left the museum with a feeling of curiosity about this King. 

When the Hittites came to Anatolia, to the "Land of Thousand Gods", they adopted the local beliefs and gods of the local Hatti civilisation. The existence of a god (or seeing everyhthing as sacred) for everything tells me a lot about their way of life in balance with and honouring nature. I later read it was the Hittites were the ones who constructed the first reservoirs, water ways and sewerage made of earthenware pipes in Anatolia. King Tudhalia IV, as I saw in carvings of the temple, was the one who has built 10 reservoirs. Water cult was an important element of the Hittite belief system and those who damaged water pipes or polluted the water were punished. The Hittites also carved shrines near springs and rivers which were considered as sacred, for honouring water deities. 

3200 years old Hittite reservoir built by King Tudhalia IV, discovered in 2002

There is clearly much to learn and be inspired from the ancestors of the land. We have all the resources we need for taking care of all life we are living with. It is not difficult but requires us to wake up. 

I prepared my report with these feelings. The core message of the awareness raising actions is simple: "Water is sacred and everyone is responsible". 

A press conference was held at the building site of the waster water treatment plant last week. I was pleasantly surprised to be greeted by a sweet friendly black dog when I arrived at the site which has become a sign (or a tail wag) from the universe since my beloved black dog died of old age a few years ago. This was not the only good sign because a ray of light between the mountain peaks started lightening exactly the area we were standing while the mayor was speaking and saying "as a municipality, we are dedicated to honouring nature. we owe this to our descendants." I was also pleasantly surprised to learn the municipality have started producing electricity from the solid waste because I worked on a solid waste management project around 2009 involving rehabilitation of the dumpsites to protect soil and ground water and also recycling of solid waste. 

Working in the narrow cobbled streets of the town the next day and enjoying the warmth of the November sun, I came across a door with the figure of the Hittite Sky God carved on it and inscribed "Teshub's Mansion". My heart was smiling with the confirmation that the ancient gods and ancestors of this land were supporting every action honouring all of life. Ancient peoples of Anatolia had ceremonies and rituals and shrines. They also honoured the gods/spirits as a way of life, in everything they were doing as daily activities. After the Hittite civilisation disappeared and Phyrigians established their state on the same land, they continued honouring the ancient mother goddess of Anatolia, Cybele by considering everything under the sky as her temple. 

The relationship between ancient peoples and nature is most inspiring. They did not have electricity, car or smart phones but they were smarter than us today to know their lives depended on honouring all of life. 

The adventure continues and I will be training municipal staff on commmunication techniques in a few weeks time. My dream followed by the recent developments, have restored my hope in these projects and now I am working with lots of wonderful  inspiration from Medicine for the Earth (which I think needs to be taught in schools and workplaces!) which Sandra Ingerman teaches and shares with great generosity with the world. I feel that I am now a completely different communication expert than I've been in the past twenty years :-)

The door inscribed "Teshub's Mansion" 

Teshub - Storm/Sky God of the Hittites

  





     

    
    

The Tale of Fairies from the Land of Beautiful Horses - Cappadocia

Simin Uysal

A few months ago, I had a dream where a white dove appeared and said "Follow me". I  naturally started looking for stories and the search led me to the fairies of Cappadocia. 

Cappadocia (meaning the Land of Beautiful Horses), in Central Anatolia, is a popular touristic place with its importance in early Christianity, rock houses, wine, underground cities and also for its dreamy volcanic rock formations which are  sculpted by wind and water, called the Fairy Chimneys.  
Here is the tale of fairies from this dreamscape:

"Once upon a time, scary giants used to live on our Great Earth. Humans were always scared from them and they were careful not to enrage them. To keep the giants pleased, they used to leave offerings for them on the altars on high mountains. But the giants would get angry from time to time despite the offerngs and send great waves of fire and thunders. These waves of fire would burn down everything the humans had. 

Humans, who do not understand the reason behind the rage of the giants, started leaving more offerings and praying more. Nothing they did seemed to calm the giants down. 

One day, the Sultan of Fairies comes to visit this land. The suffering of humans gives him great sadness and he decides to help. He gathers all the fairies to tell them about his plans. "Our human brothers and sisters are in a difficult situation and we need to help them. If we can put out the fire of the giants, they will be scared and will go to hide underground so will never bother the humans again" he announces. Upon hearing this, all the fairies started carrying snow and pieces of ice to the boiling fires on the mountain. After days of hard work, finally they succeeded to put out the fire. Finally, the giants were scared and fleed to hide underground. 

Humans and fairies celebrated the victory of the fairies together and started living peacefully together. Humans were living in houses carved in rocks while the fairies were living in the small chambers at the top of these caves."

The tale does not end here though. There is more and it continues with a love story:

"Humans and fairies living together peacefully, have their own separate sultans. The sultan of the humans has a handsome and brave son named Revan and the sultan of fairies have a beautiful daughter named Gülperi.

One day, Revan decides to travel to underground to take revenge from the giants who have caused much suffering to his ancestors.  He  easily passes through all the doors leading to the underworld with ease. But when he arrives at the final door which he opens with great anger, a giant rock rolls over leaving him trapped inside a room. He understands he is trapped by the giants but it is too late. Handsome Revan, unable to find a way out this trap starts waiting in despair. 

Meanwhile, the daughter of the fairy sultan is having the same dream night after night where a handsome young man is desperately asking her to save him. Intrigued by her recurring dreams, she tells them to her nanny who, after carefully listening says: "your dreams are true. There is indeed such a young man who is trapped in the underworld and you need to save him" Upon these words, Gülperi gathers her guardians and goes looking for the young man. They find him unconscious in the chamber he was trapped and carry him to the fairy sultan's palace where Gülperi helps him heal with medicine unknown to humans. 

When he finally opens his eyes, Revan sees the most beautiful girl he has ever seen. They fall in love. Gathering his strength, Revan returns to his palace and asks for his sultan father's permission to marry Gulperi. Sultan becomes thoughtful upon this since there has been no marriages between the fairies and humans until then and decides to consult the circle of elders.  

After heated discussions, the elders decide this marriage is impossible because the fairies live in the sky, the humans on earth and fairies are immortal whereas the humans are not. This would bring humans to an end, they conclude. This marriage is impossible and the young man must be under their spell.  
      
Upon this decision, the sultan decides to declare war on the fairies to protect the humans and to force them out the land. He jails his son so he can't run to warnl the fairies. 

The fairy sultan becomes very sad upon hearing the war plans of humans. He gathers his people and says "we saved humans from the cruel giants but humans are weak and forgetful and now they want to fight against us and they want us to leave. I know they will wake up to their fault someday. If we fight against them, they will suffer a lot and their losses will be great. However, if we leave now the cruel giants of the underworld may take advantage of this and return to attack them again. We need to continue protecting humans but they should never recognize us." And he asks all his people to shapeshift into doves. 

The fairies, now in shape of doves, continue living in the small chambers right above the rock carved houses of humans. Gülperi, in shape of a white dove, never leaves the sad prince alone and continues to fly and perch outside his window everyday."

You can see the fairies in their new shapes especially in the dovecotes carved in the soft rock in whatever space allowed. Their droppings fertilize the land, producing sweet fruits and tasty wine. If they believe you are peaceful and loving enough, you may even be able to see them in their original shapes while walking around the fairy chimneys at dusk or dawn. 

A Fairy Chimney in Cappadocia

     




        

The Queen of Serpents and the Mythical Doctor

Simin Uysal

"Once upon a time, there was a young man named Tahmasp who fell into a well and accidentally passed to an underground cave and fell asleep in despair. When he opened his eyes, he found himself surrounded by many snakes. Feeling terrified, he closed his eyes and prayed this to be a dream. When he gathered his courage and opened his eyes, he saw a beautiful woman, in the form of half woman and half snake. She was Shahmaran, the Queen of Snakes, who knew many secrets of the history of mankind, had eternal  life and deep wisdom.

Shahmaran takes the young man as a guest, feeling scared that he would tell her place to humans. She tells him stories about the history of mankind day after day for years which he greatly enjoys. They fall in love but one day, when she has no more stories to tell, the young man wishes to return to his parents. Shahmaran releases him upon one condition. He would not tell anyone where she is living. She also advises him not to bathe in the presence of others otherwise his secret would be revealed because his skin would turn into snakeskin, covered with scales. He accepts and returns to parents.

He keeps his secret for many years until one day the sultan of his country becomes very sick. His vizier insists that the only cure is eating the flesh of Shahmaran and sends soldiers around the country searching for the person who knows her place. The vizier is a very ambitious man who does not really care about the sultan but wants to acquire the secrets of the world and long life through eating Shahmaran's flesh. A wise man advises that people be ordered to go into water or baths in groups so the one who knows Shahmaran's place will be caught. Tahmasp is caught and has to reveal Shahmaran's place when he is forced to get into water by the soldiers where his skin gets covered with snake scales which is a sign that he had seen her.

Shahmaran is captured and brought to sultan's palace where they see each other with Tahmasp again. She consoles her lover who is feeling very guilty and ashamed for revealing her secret. She has a secret plan for passing her wisdom and secrets to her lover and announces that whoever eats from her tail will acquire all her secrets and wisdom, the one who eats from her body will be healed and whoever eats from her head will die instantly. Upon hearing her words, the vizier chops her into three pieces with his sword and orders the pieces be cooked immediately. When the meat is cooked, the greedy vizier eats from the tail, Tahmasp who is feeling guilty and ashamed eats a piece from her head so he could die, too and the sultan eats from the body. Shahmaran's wise plan works and the greedy vizier dies instantly, the sultan is healed and Tahmasp acquires all the secrets and wisdom of Shahmaran and becomes the Lokman Hekim, the mythical doctor and pharmacist to whom the plants and trees sing and talk revealing their medicine."

Shahmaran is the only symbol which is widespread in all parts of Anatolia. Her pictures are hung on the bedroom walls of young girls and women especially in south and southeastern regions. One can find it rather surprising to see the survival of Shahmaran who has an identity resembling a mother goddess in a shamanistic form  in the folklore and belief system of Turco Muslims of Anatolia until today.  I believe this is due to a number of reasons: First of all, she could easily be merged with the Mother Goddess cult of Anatolia, something which has been widespread throughout the geography for thousands of years. When we turn to Persia, for example, where the story  is also told, we see Shahmaran depicted as a male figure. Secondly, the half human half snake figure has an important place in the mythologies of Turkic tribes. The males are called Erbüke, while the females are called as İşbüke and they are ruled by the Mother Snake, a goddess who lives in the underworld and knows the secrets of everything.           

I came across this well known story after having an interesting dream where I was served the cooked meat of  a snake, seasoned with herbs. It was the most delicious meal I had and the taste lingered in my mouth for weeks. Snake meat is NOT and has never been a part of my diet and I actually have no idea what it tastes like.  While the idea of eating snake meat does not feel even remotely possible for me, it led me to research on snakes to understand the dream.

After spending days to think and research about the dream from Asklepios, the god of healing and his snakes at Bergama (ancient Pergamon) in İzmir to the ancient Hittite myth of the Storm God Teshub slaying the giant serpent Illuyanka, nothing seemed to fit until reading this ancient story from Anatolian mythology from the south a few days ago. I was able to find (or find again) and share this beautiful Anatolian story thanks to my dream.

Shahmaran statue in Tarsus - Southern Turkey

 

RICE AND PRAYERS

Simin Uysal

A few weeks ago I received troubling news about my health coupled with other problems. Seeing all of it as an opportunity to evaluate areas of my life requiring change and taking action for realizing those changes at once, I have also found myself still feeling sad and doubtful.   

I was feeling lonely, too and missing my mother and grandmothers who have passed away years ago. One night during those days I went to bed with all these feelings and worries. It really does take time for me to sleep so I was in bed as usual, spending time in that zone between wakefulness and sleep. Watching the images rise and fall, I suddenly found myself surrounded by rice, mounds of rice. I had no idea why I was seeing so much rice and did not ask why because I was truly enjoying it. I was filled with feelings of happiness and of being loved and supported. I woke with the most positive feelings in the morning and my optimism was back in place again. 

It did not take long after this dream before the good news started arriving and it turned out that my health issue was not as bad as I thought it was and I only needed take a few actions (including more swimming which is my favorite) towards better health. 

With all the positive developments following the rice dream which I enjoyed greatly, I started thinking deeply about rice within the past week. 

I made lists about what rice makes me think about but its significance was not obvious at first. Then I started remembering. 

I think almost every Turkish person was made to swallow a few grains of rice by their mother or grandmother before a major exam at some point in their lives. I recall the first time seeing my grandmother whispering prayers and chants to rice when I was nine or ten years old. One day, I slowly approached her chair and asked "what are you saying Grandma?" She did not reply me right away. She first finished her mysterious words then turned to me with a smile and said"prayers."  

Feeling even  more curious I wanted to learn more. "I am praying seven times to each grain of rice" she explained, "so they are filled with love, blessings and prayers for support, protection and clarity of mind." "Where did you learn to do it Grandma?" "From my mother and she from hers."

All through my school life, I was frequently given seven rice grains to swallow on the morning of major exam, by my grandmother. Sometimes she would wrap in a tiny piece of cloth and attach it inside my clothes with a safety pin. 

So the rice, with all the positive feelings I had around it, feels like a message of love and blessings from my grandmothers now. It was their way of saying "You are not alone. We are here. We love you."

Today is Mothers Day but I am not feeling sad like I used to be during previous ones. Instead, I am feeling grateful for having a loving mother and grandmothers and saying prayers of love and gratitude. I will be cooking rice today and other delicious recipes I learned from them. 


    

WHERE TURKISH NAMES COME FROM

Simin Işık Uysal

I recently saw a dream where I felt happy and cheerful using my "belly name". When I decided to use it and announced I would be doing so, some non Turkish friends asked me what  a belly name is. Belly name is the name given to the baby while the umbilical cord is being cut and the baby is called by this name until its real name is given. This belly name may or may not be included in official records but can be used with the real name. The real name is generally given later by an elder  with a ceremony. The tradition is still followed in Anatolia but goes back to ancient Turkic practices in Central Asia where the child would be given his real name (and his horse) by an elder or the shaman only after doing something significant and/or brave.

Choosing a name for the baby is a most important event among the Turks for it is believed that one's name can affect one's fate.

Turkish names in Anatolia are chosen from nature, feelings and from religion or history. What I like most are the names from nature. I have friends called River, Universe, Daylight, Rosebud, Eagle, Hawk, Falcon, Dove, Sun, Sea, Iron, Rock, Mugwort, Fire, Earth, Wind, East, West, North, South, Flower, Mountain, Cypress, Sycamore, Cloud, Crescent, Moon-Water, Moon-Sea, Gazelle, Lion. I also have friends and family called Love, Freedom, Real (Reality), Leader, Happy, Brave, Soulful, Wise, Sweet, Spring, and Dream.

There are also names given to a baby to protect against illness and death. The ancient Turks called dying as "flying" or "to fly". It was belived that after death, a person's meat-essence (body) would go underground and the light-essence would turn into a mist or a crane bird to fly to the skies. So to let the baby's soul to stay in the body, they would call him "Dursun, Duran, Durmuş" which can be translated as "May he stay, The One Who Stays, The One Who Stayed" or "Yaşar" -"The One Who Will Live". Or they would simply call him "Ölmez" - "Not Dying".

In some cases, like when the child becomes ill, his name is changed with the belief that "he could not carry his name" or "his name proved to be heavy for him."

The word for child in Turkish is "çocuk" and in some places "bala". The word "çocuk" comes from "çoçka" meaning "baby pig" and has been used  as a general word to describe everything small. I also feel that, as the pig is not considered welcome, the word may have been used to protect the children against evil spirits. The word "bala" means "baby bird" and is used in Azeri Turkish and eastern Anatolia.

When I translate my names into English, it is "Silvery Light". Do you know what your name means?