The ancient Egyptians knew a thing or two about magic. In Jewish lore, when God gave magic to the world, he gave one part to the Jews but the rest to the Egyptians.

The God Ra would travel on a barge attended by the priests and fed milk. Ra's earthly form was in a small statue less than a foot high.

The priest took the said statue and inspirited it with Ra's essence. Hence the story in the Bible of not having effigy of the gods etc. in other words, don't be like an Egyptian.

Inspiriting was achieved by breathing the spirit into the statue. To breath is to inspire; here, we have a link between inspiration and inspiriting with a work or an object.

To be inspired also alludes to being possessed by an idea, muse or faerie that works through you.

In yoga, breath or prana is the link to the cosmic deity. In the Far East, chi is very similar.

The motion of waves, the flow of the seasons, the observable movement of the planets from the earth, life and death all have this signature of breath. It seems unavoidable in the universe; it is the very nature of things. We have it in the boom and bust cycles in economics and patterns of plagues, pandemics, and war if we look close enough.

So be inspired; know that to be inspired also requires you to have a period of no inspiration.

So take a deep breath.

Vic Hyland www.vichyland.com