Insight into Balikli Göl, one of the most Sacred sites for the 3 biggest Religions

Greetings Psychonauts!

I bring you another chapter of my adventure around Turkey, this time we will investigate the ancient site of Balikli Göl or also named " The Pool of Abraham "

The Site is located in the Ancient City or URFA, also named Edessa, as it was known during the time of the Bible, this ancient city used to be one of the oldest and most holy centers of the ancient world, Edessa or now day Urfa is located between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers in what is know as the Upper Mosopotamian Fertile Crescent.

An important trading center of the Silk Road between China and India and the Mediterranean and one of the first settlements of christianity since A.D 200.

It is the Birthplace of the Prophet Abraham the father of the the 3 most important religions, Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

This is Abrahams Cave or also called the
It is also home to the oldest archeological site Gobekli Tepe located in the outskirts of the city center.

I would like to start this entry blog with one of the most important archeological and mythological centers in History.

The story began with a prophecy given by an oracle that a boy will be born in Urfa, who would kill the king, the King "Nemrut" frightened by this prophecy ordered every boy to be killed! King nemrut trowed Abraham into the fire, as he was falling the flames turned into water saving the prophet from the burning hell..

The Fire logs turned into fish, and they became sacred, multiplying by the thousands, across the entire sacred pool.

The tradition is to come to this place and give them food and in return the fish spirit will protect you, also there is a legend that if you spot a white fish, the gates of heaven will open and this will be the day of the return of the Messiah!!

I went ahead with the tradition and asked the Holy of the Holies for World Peace and the Transcendance of Humanity.

I went ahead and visited the sacred well, thats the exact location where Abraham was thrown into the fire, it is believed that those that drink from this Holy Water will be healed, they were hundreds of people waiting to go inside to drink from this holy water, it is the same one that connects the entire pool, and you could see the fish swimming along the sacred well..

There is one man standing protecting the entrance and a meditation mat for people to come in and pray to Allah, right next to it is a device to drink from the sacred well, i went ahead and participated in the ceremony, i sat down and paid tribute to the sacred holy spirit that binds all living lifeforms without denomination!

This is the plaque conmemorating the Namazgah

Detail of the inscription of the Holy of the Holiest

Entrance leading to the inner chamber where the holy things are happening :)

Anybody can decode the meaning of this?

As you look across the Baliki Gol Central Square, you can see later additions trough time such as the Rızvaniye Mosque built around 1700 by the Ottoman Empire.

Additions to the Complex were added trough time and to this days is one of the most beautiful parks and holy sacred precincts i have experienced in my life.

One of the extremely interesting religious importance objects located in the ancient city of Eddesa or what is known now today as URFA, is what is called the " Image of Eddessa "  the first iconography of the Prophet Christ imprinted into a cloth, in Eastern mythology this is called " The Mandylion "

The story goes, when the King Abgar of Edessa asked Jesus to come to cure him from a deadly illness, Jesus was too busy predicting around and doing his thing and couldn't make it to Eddessa, Jesus sent a letter with one of his disciples to Eddessa to cure the King, inside the envelope there was a cloth this cloth resembled the face of Christ..

The king placed the cloth inside the city well and used this to clean his face and body, automatically healing him, making this sacred water well one of the most holy places in Urfa, i had the chance to visit this water well and drink from it's holy waters, my stomach became extremely ill right after, and i had to go back to my hotel and lay down with pain, after a few hours i felt my body was cleaned and purged all the bad things that were inside my body, i have faith i was cured for many of my illness and discomforts..

The Image of Eddessa became the omega point for future representations of Christ such as the Shroud of Tourin and many of the future depictions of the prophet..

Something that is very interesting also and i will add a whole new blog entry on this subject is the connection between the sacred angel Melek Taus and the Bailiki Gol.

This is the Peacock Angel of Melek Taus, what is believed to be the sacred patron angel and savior of the Yazidi people of northern Irak and Syria, the Yazidi believe that Melek Taus created the Universe along with the Seven Mysteries or holy beings or angels, the holy book of the Yazidi Religion is called " The Black Book " for thousands of years the Yazidi have been persecuted by Islam and accused of being " Devil Worshippers " as being followers of
"Shaitan" aka " Satan "

The Yazidi belief system states that Melek Taus refused to bow to adam, he was cast to hell but repented, he wept for 7000 years and his tears filled up the sacred 7 jars, quenching the fires of Hell. They believe he was given free will to make good and bad choices and as a god we are all tempted by this choices.

This is the Yazidi people an indigenous group living in the mountains of Mesopotamia, one of the most interesting anglo indigenous groups living in the world, a modern day nomadic tribe.

Why i connected the Yazidi to this story is because in the Holy Sacred Book of the Yazidi called " Kiteba Cilwe " or Book of Illumination written from his own words, states this:

                " I was present when Adam was living in Paradise, and also when
                     Nemrud threw Abraham in the Fire.. I was present when God
                          Said to me  " You are the ruler and Lord on the Earth.
                                God, the compassionate gave me seven Earths
                                                throne of the heaven. "


The Yazidi account of creation believed that GOD created Melek Taus from his own illumination (Ronahi) and the 6 remaining archangels were created later, God ordered Melek Taus not to bow to other beings..

God then ordered the rest of the Archangels to bring him ( AX - Dust ) from the ( Earth - Erd ) to build the body of Adam, which in detail we can clearly see a resemblance to the mayan creation myth of the Popol Vuh.

We can clearly see the depiction of Mayan mythological man created out of mud, mirroring many of the oldest living cultures of antiquity..

I strongly believe the Yazidi are one of the straight descendants of the original settlers of Gobekli Tepe, clearly we can see motifs of peacocks carved into numerous totem like 3D murals @ Gobekli Tepe..

The Yazidi minority are currently under attack, in the past several months, there has been thousands of murders by the Isis terrorist group, towards the minority Yazidi population..

Just last month i had the chance to visit the Syrian Refugee Center in Urfa and i had the chance to participate and experience hand to hand experience with syrian kurdish and yazidi refugees.. 

I think society needs to be more aware of the situation and protect one of the most special minority groups known to man.. 

Moving forward on the Baliki Gol Complex..

People coming from all over the Arab world and around the world as a pilgrimage to one of the most holiest place on Earth.

There is an incredible energy surrounded all over this place, even the damn toilets look like an ancient lost kingdom from a fairy tale movie..

I became at one point a tourist attraction with dozens of tourists wanting to take their photo next to me, i went with the flow and cheer people up by making jokes and laugh, many offer me cigarettes as a respect gesture, so as i try to quit my new smoking habit became extremely difficult..

Here are some pics with the pilgrims..

Many of the people interested in taking photos were teenagers, sometimes adults would come and ask me to take a photo with me, there was one guy that came up to me with 2 wives and ask me to take a photo, at that time my friend from Italy try to be on the same picture and the guy told him get out of here..
Intense moment..

Here is some more with more locals, transmitting the high vibrations..

Even the beautiful teenagers would come to take a photo :)

Blasting some high vibration with the local kids, teaching them about the things of the other continent and sharing with them some profound moments, they invited me for drinks but it was late so i couldn't make it.. will never forget them.

Across the temple there are numerous tombs of holy saints to the islamic traditions, such as this one the Tomb of Shazeli Ali Dede, an african saint and mystic..

This is the famous spot where the daughter of Nemrut was killed and this specific spot became a holy site.

The sacred water fountain is the exact spot where the daughter of Nimrut died..

So there you go guys, next time you are in Turkey and you would like to visit the Syrian border city of Urfa and learn about ancient history and experience thousands of years of antiquity don't  miss it!!!

Snapped a few pictures of the arab community visiting the site, many of them were refugees from Syria..

This place is one of the most holy pilgrimage sites for all Muslims, equally to Mecca..

So there you go people i hope you enjoy this short blog entry into one of the most beautiful sacred temples in the Middle East..

All photos are mine taken with Iphone 5 using instagram, lumix gh1, Go Pro Hero and Sony Cybershot TX Series, if you would like to use them make sure you add credits to them or send me link of article :)


Till Next Time and Keep looking up in the SKY!!

-- Guillermo Alarcon --
Thursday, October 23rd, 2014
Houston, Texas USA