Athena's Attic of Secrets

Image generated using AI by Athena Rocar I’ve been rewatching Stargate SG-1, the classic sci-fi show that ran from 1997 to 2007. If you're unfamiliar, it's about a group of humans traveling through a network of portals (Stargates) to other worlds. They explore new civilizations, make friends, and usually end up helping those civilizations fight off a group of power-hungry alien overlords. You know, classic sci-fi stuff. In the episode Meridian, Dr. Daniel Jackson gets exposed to a lethal dose of radiation while saving a planet. As he’s dying, his friends come to say their goodbyes. But then something unexpected happens: a mysterious woman named Oma Desala appears and offers him a choice: die, or ascend to a higher plane of existence and live as energy among the Ancients. Very on-brand for sci-fi spirituality. Oma often drops Zen-like wisdom, and one phrase in particular jumped out at me: “If you immediately know the candlelight is fire, the meal was cooked a long time ago.” Tha...

Background Image by wirestock on Freepik.com We all have one—even if we’ve never taken the time to write it down. Your money story isn’t about budgets or spreadsheets. It’s the narrative you carry about money—how you think about it, how you feel around it, how you spend, save, avoid, or obsess over it. It’s a story that often began long before you ever earned a paycheck. Most of us inherited our money story without even realizing it. It's shaped by how we were raised—whether there was plenty, not enough, or just enough to get by. It’s built from watching our caregivers interact with money, from overhearing their fears or frustrations, from experiencing wealth, lack, or instability firsthand. Money isn’t just numbers—it’s emotional. It’s deeply personal. And it influences our daily decisions, our relationships, and even our self-worth. Different Stories, Different Realities Talk to ten people about money, and you’ll hear ten completely different takes. Some will say, “I never have e...

Photo Credit: Athena Rocar Egg Cleanse. Sounds like a diet, but it is actually a spiritual ritual that has been performed for thousands of years and by many cultures around the world. An egg cleanse is used for clearing away heavy energy, psychic disturbances, or unwanted spiritual influences. In modern practices, the egg cleanse is attributed to Hoodoo practices, but the practice of using eggs in folk magic developed before Hoodoo became a central practice during the 1600s - 1800s of the American South. There is little recorded history of the origin of the egg cleanse, but many cultures developed similar practices throughout time. The use of chicken eggs to perform the cleanse occurred with the introduction of chickens to other continents, originating in Southeast Asia. The egg cleanse that we know today most likely developed from the Latin American traditions of folk magic or healing called limpia. The colonization of the America's from 1495 to the 1800's, mixed with the blen...

Image by freepik on Freepik.com Reiki history has always fascinated me. Over the years, I’ve purchased and borrowed countless books, scoured the internet, and sought every scrap of information I could find. When I first began learning Reiki, I was taught that Madam Hawayo Takata was a disciple of the Usui Reiki system and that her teachings were exactly as Dr. Chujiro Hayashi, her teacher, had been taught by Mikao Usui himself. However, as I dove deeper into Reiki’s history, I came to an unfortunate conclusion: I believed that Takata was a fraud. Today, I am ashamed of that thought. It couldn’t be further from the truth. Let me be clear: without Takata, Reiki would not exist in the Western world today. It would have remained a closed, deeply traditional practice solely within Japan. With that understanding, let’s dive into the history that changed my mind and my heart. The Story of Hawayo Takata Hawayo Hiromi Takata was born on December 24, 1900, in Kauai, Hawaii. Her name "Hawayo...