The Love Potion by Evelyn De Morgan

In the heart of the Palenque jungle at the Mayan Ruins in Mexico, a burial site of a Mayan   King-Priest has columns heavily carved with astrological inscriptions, showing the mothers bringing their children to the priest for advice on their conditions.  In many cultures, the doctors are expected to know  essential oils and astrology as they are  an important part of  medicine and ancient healing practices, along with herbs,  prayers,  gems and metals.

Join us at the caravanserai as our travelers hear stories of the powers and romance of Perfume

"...No mere river of water can be compared to this perennial stream of the caravans, that has carried a half of human history from stage to stage, from wasteland to wasteland and climate to climate, on the puny strength of men."               Freya Stark. Rome on the Euphrates Explorer and Traveler 1893 - 1993

"I will get me to the mountain of Myrrh and the hill of Frankincense".   (Song of Solomon)

Along the Caravan Trade Route, the sky is our Map and Calendar

As travelers on the caravan, the night sky is our map and calendar. The phases of the Moon and the Constellations foretell the time when we will arrive at our next destination. 

Our Caravan stops at the Nexus of Two Major Trade Routes and it is here that our journey begins....

Here we join other travelers along the two oldest trade route, the Silk Road, (also called the Spice Road) from the Orient, where the east and west meet at Anatolia, Turkey.

Built around 1400 by the fierce and powerful Tamerlane, the magnificent Registan is the most famous landmark in the mysterious city of Samarkand, the jewel of the Silk Road from Europe to China

After the camels and horses are fed and watered and we visit the baths, we join the others.  For three days we will have food and drink, a bed and shelter. Our shoes will be repaired and our horses will be re-shod as a courtesy to travelers by the Turks.  They offer us this protection as they want to stimulate trade by insuring safe travel along the trade routes.

We Stop at the Oldest Caravanserai along the Caravan Route

We are staying at the oldest Caravanserai along the trade route, the Ribat-I-Mahi Caravanserai. It was built by Gazneli Mahmet between 1019 and 1020 on the Tus-Surahs road here in Anatolia, Turkey. 

It was built eighty years before the Crusades in Jerusalem. The Holy Land was still held by the Arab regimes.  It was before the time of the great English King, Richard the Lionhearted.

Now it is the year 1293, almost at the end of the Crusades.  

In 1099 the Knights Templar and the Knights of St. John begin escorting Christian Pilgrims along the European routes to the Holy Land during the First Crusade. 

It is after the time of Saladin, the Kurd who became the Sultan of Egypt and retook the Holy Land from the Christians in 1187.   Saladin's reputation in Europe as a chivalrous knight is celebrated in the14th century epic poem about his exploits.  

He was the only Muslim referred to in Dante Aligheiri's "Divine Comedy" as one of the "great hearted souls", a figure "solitary, set apart."  

                                                                        Saladin

Saladin was recognized, even by his opponents, for his knightly courtesy, piety, and justice.

Now it is the time of the last crusade.

The caravanserai's were meeting places for an exchange of ideas and spiritual traditions, as well as trading goods.  They were fertile places for the seeding of new ideas and an exchange of information about beliefs. 

The great Persian poet Jalaluddin Rumi, born in 1207 in Tajikistan, and a life long resident of Konya, Turkey, lived during this time and often used the image of the caravan in his mystical poetry. 

"Come, come, whoever you are
Worshiper, Wanderer, Lover of Leaving,
Ours is not a caravan of despair
Though you have broken your vows a thousand times...
Come, come again, Come.
-Rumi

We Meet with Other Travelers to Trade Stories

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The Caravan Route is our Map and the sky is our Calendarai.com  

Please contact us with any questions or requests about our services.  Lynne Crandall - Astrologer and Aromatherapy Consultant 

Tel: 517- 381-0848                 

lynnecrandall@whiteroseofprovence.com                        

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