07. ESSENE MEDITATION

Remains of an ancient sanctuary, built atop a still older Temple structure, consisting of three chambers 20' by 20', with an entrance porch about 16' by 20'. The eastern holy of holies section is raised above the other two, and is toward the east. The flowing wellspring of life was just behind this holy of holies, which fed water channels that surrounded, and purified, the ancient Temple complex. Essenes would not have entered this sanctuary without more purification washings, perhaps even a Tamasha immersion in the flowing mikveh near the entrance. (The Bethlehem "caves" are at the top left of the image.)

The Darkness Meditation – An Ancient Essene Practice

In this a monastic B'nai-Amen complex of the ancient Essenes, these Nazoreans would have spent their days studying and copying the sacred Nazorean scrolls, farming and gardening on the surrounding terraces, practicing spiritual disciplines such as yoga and meditation (learned from eastern Essene settlements in India), consulting astrological sciences (learned from Essene settlements in Persia), engaging in prayer, praise, and psalm recital from the Qulasta (Nazorean psalm book). At dusk and dawn they would have all gathered to celebrate the great Kushta ceremonies of brother- and sisterhood that bound them all together as a spiritual family in the Great Life.