I’m currently working on my Dimensional Shift novel, where my heroine, Aria Chandler is sent to another dimension via a portal in the Hoia Baciu Forest in Romania. Aria appears on Majestic Island in dimension 444 and is used as a bartering chip by the Majestic King. The Majestic king wishes to end the barbaric practices of female sacrifice perpetrated by their Develo Island neighbors. He offers Aria and the blessed Ayahuasca brew to his enemy in exchange for peace.
Throughout history, human sacrifice has been practiced in a variety of cultures. Some cultures utilized sacrifice to appease deities with ritual killings, while others sacrificed domestic servants so they could be buried with their masters. Sacrifices were often conducted before the gods or the people in power. Criminals and prisoners could also be sacrificed to appease the gods. There is a section in the Pyramid Texts that seems to indicate that in Predynastic times, the ruler could gain magical powers from the gods through human sacrifice. The utterances in the Pyramid Texts (273-274, also known as the Cannibal Hymn) describes the pharaoh as a god who devourers other gods. “A god who lives on his father and feeds on his mother…who lives on the being of every god, who eats their entrails…Pharaoh is he who eats men and lives on gods.” There’s no evidence to suggest ancient Egyptians and pharaohs normally practiced cannibalism. Nevertheless, during Egypt’s First Intermediate Period that was wrought with famine and drought, a governor of the 3rd Nome of Upper Egypt left a message on his tomb that mentioned people eating their children to survive. In ancient Egypt, it is well documented that slaves were often sacrificed over the graves of nobles and pharaohs to protect the privileged and ward away evil spirits. In ancient China, slaves were often buried with their sovereign. Servants of pharaohs were said to be willing participants who considered it an honor to be buried with their ruler. During a retainer sacrifice, the person was often poisoned. The burial of servants with their masters was mostly abandoned by Egypt’s 2nd Dynasty.
Human sacrifice is widely known to have been used by the Aztecs who sliced out their victims’ hearts and allowed their blood to flow over temple altars. When Spanish conquistador, Hernan Cortes arrived in the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan in 1521, he described a gruesome ceremony where Aztec priests removed the hearts of victims and offered them to the gods, while sending the dead victim down the steep steps of the Templo Mayor. This temple is described as having two round towers made of human skulls that flank the structure. The temple was dedicated to the god of war and the god of rain and agriculture. In 2015 and 2018, archeologists discovered that 80,400 men, women, and children were sacrificed for the inauguration of the Templo Mayor. The ritual killings of war captives intentionally showed the strength and might of the Aztec empire. Sacrifice was used as an intimidation method to keep people in line through fear, which is how King Raison rules Develo Island in my new novel.
The Canaanites and Phoenicians worshiped the fertility god, also known as Baal, Nimrod, and his title, Prince, Lord of Earth. He was sometimes seen as a sun god. In fear of Baal, humans were sacrificed in an attempt to pacify him to prevent calamities. Some priests told the people that Baal, the chief god of Carthage, was responsible for droughts, plagues, earthquakes, lightning, and more. The Bible indicates that Baal is Beelzebub, one of the fallen angels. Children and babies were also sacrificed to the Canaanite god Moloch. (The word Moloch most likely comes from the Hebrew word Melekh, which means king. Thus Moloch could, in turn, be Baal, the history isn’t clear) Children sacrificed to Moloch were often killed by fire or by placing the baby in the searing, hot metal arms of a Moloch statue. Children were also sacrificed by being buried under the foundations of a Baal altar. Music was played at some of these ceremonies to block out the sounds of the grieving parents. The Burning Man festival has several elements and symbolism that draws upon ancient pagan worship and is considered the largest occult festival in the U.S. At the festival, a large wicker man is burned on the Saturday of the event.
We also see human sacrifice mentioned in the Bible with Jephthah killing his daughter and Abraham’s dilemma over being ordered by God to sacrifice his son, which he nearly does. Then there’s the king of Moab who gave his son as an offering. The Bible also implies that the Ammonites offered child sacrifices to Moloch, the god of fire. The Bible however repeatedly forbids sacrifice because it is evil. To read examples in the Bible that forbid this practice: https://www.openbible.info/topics/human_sacrifice
The international community condemns human sacrifice, although its highly unlikely that secret, ritualistic killings have come to an end. Satanism and other dark magic, occult practices come to mind. Unfortunately, human sacrifice is found in ancient history throughout the world. Scientists from the University of Auckland and Victoria University of Wellington found that human ritual sacrifice preserved political hierarchies and helped the elites to maintain power. As we see in today’s world, the elites continue to try and rule through fear.
To read more about Dimensional Shift:
Hoia Baciu Forest: https://lahilden.com/majestic-island-and-the-hoia-baciu-forest/
Ayahuasca – https://lahilden.com/ayahuasca/
Multiverse – https://lahilden.com/multiverse/
A special thank you to: http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/humansac.htm,http://www.ancient-egypt.org/from-a-to-z/h/human-sacrifice.html,https://www.history.com/news/aztec-human-sacrifice-religion,https://bigthink.com/philip-perry/researchers-discover-a-new-reason-why-ancient-societies-practiced-human-sacrifice,https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/05/science/ritual-human-sacrifice.html, http://www.ancientdestructions.com/baalbek-temple-human-sacrifice-worship-baal/, https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends-asia/identity-moloch-0011457
