Alchemy and Its Earliest Origins

Spirituality is more than just an abstract thought that developed thousands of years ago. It is rooted in all forms of art, including science, astrology, astronomy, physics, medicine, and so on. As I’ve mentioned in other posts on alchemy, which you can find in my search bar, spirituality is simultaneously developed with the development of mankind.

Alchemy drew from different disciplines that shaped our early understanding of the universe and mankind, specifically from metallurgy, where they experimented with heating, melting, and purifying various metals. It also drew from medicine, where minerals, plants, and compounds were studied for healing purposes. Cosmology and astronomy were key to the study of alchemists, as they helped shape our understanding of patterns, mathematics, geometry, and cycles of time, which gave us a clearer structure of the order of the universe. In philosophy, alchemists explored the nature of matter and inner transformation. All these disciplines influenced scholars and practitioners for centuries through texts that were originally written in Greek and translated at different times into Arabic and Latin. Spiritual symbolism often emerged as a way to describe processes of change and refinement within the material world and the human spirit.

When we look at the timeline of the alchemists, they emerged during the Hellenistic period in Egypt, in Alexandria, to be precise. This was after the Egyptians had already experienced their golden age of enlightenment, spiritually speaking, and eventually, following its fall, a new era of development for humankind had to begin. Something I discovered recently, which I found quite interesting, is the Egyptian language and how it was eventually replaced after the Arabic conquest and the standardization of the language in the region. The ancient Egyptian language evolved through different stages over thousands of years. Early Egyptians wrote their language using hieroglyphs, as we all know, and later, more simplified scripts, such as demotic, were used for everyday writing.

Egyptian Language, Scholars, and Artisans

As time passed, the spoken language continued to develop, eventually becoming what we know as Coptic, the final stage of the ancient Egyptian language. My father, God rest his soul, had a degree in the study of ethnolinguistics, and discussions about different languages and how they developed in parallel with their people and culture were a familiar theme at our dinner table. Anyhow, Coptic was spoken but written largely using the Greek alphabet, with a few additional characters derived from early Egyptian to represent sounds that Greek did not have. So the language did not become Greek. It was simply a change in writing practice while the original Egyptian language continued to evolve.

Now, alchemy did not appear out of the blue. It formed in Alexandria between roughly the 1st century BCE and the 3rd century CE because a combination of various traditions came together in one place. This is important to remember because often we think of different fields as separate from one another, while the truth is that they are all in sync and together they evolve as humankind evolves.

As many of you know, Alexandria was a major intellectual center of the Hellenistic world. We are all somewhat aware, I hope, of the great library of Alexandria, which was gradually destroyed sometime between the 1st and 4th centuries CE because of political and religious conflicts in the late Roman period. Greek scholars, Egyptian philosophers, physicians, craftsmen, and metalworkers were all working in the same environment. What became “alchemy” as we know it developed out of the practical work they were already doing there.

Dyeing was also one of the important crafts that contributed to early chemical experimentation. Artisans who worked with textile dyes had to understand how substances reacted with heat, minerals, plant extracts, and salts to fix color to fabric. In Alexandria, artisans not only worked with textile dyes, but they also experimented with pigments for painting and decoration, cosmetics and perfumes, glassmaking, and metal purification.

The Metals and the Cosmos

Before I move on to my favorite part of this elaborate post, I think it’s worth mentioning my dream this morning at 4:30 am. I was too scared to fall asleep afterward, but somehow I’m still here, sleep-deprived, with a headache, bad allergies, and writing this post. Last night I had a dream where I was in my house and an unfamiliar Asian woman was sitting on my bed. She had a strange hat on and kept glancing toward the kitchen area as if she could see someone there, and it felt obvious that someone was present even though I couldn’t see them myself. When I asked if someone was there and who they were, she described the being telepathically as humanoid but bird-like. Almost at a loss for words, she said, “pigeon-like.” Instantly, when she said that, my mind associated it with the phoenix.

Then I decided to fly toward her, because flying is my favorite thing to do in dreams, and scare her with spooky ghost sounds, because I like to annoy people like that. Now, as I looked again at the fist alchemical image I chose for this post, I noticed it contains both a bird and a phoenix above it. I can’t make this up, but call it a nice synchronicity between the dream, its message, alchemy, and whoever reads this. It’s not the first time I’ve noticed such synchronicities with alchemical imagery and the mental and spiritual worlds we move through. I am truly mind-blown.

The Basic Metals | Alchemy

The seven basic metals became essential to the work of alchemists because they were some of the most visible materials that could be transformed through heat, melting, purification, and alloying. Now, there was no such thing or title as alchemist in the development of alchemy itself. Even an apothecary was an alchemist, experimenting with medicinal formulas while mixing herbs and extracts. Ancient craftsmen like blacksmiths, glassmakers, dyemakers, including herbalists, and others had already learned how metals changed when exposed to fire, minerals, and different mixtures. These transformations captivated early alchemists. To them, metals were not static substances but materials that could evolve, refine, and move toward a more perfect state.

Each metal was associated with a planet because of its character and qualities associated with it: gold with the Sun, silver with the Moon, iron with Mars, copper with Venus, tin with Jupiter, lead with Saturn, and mercury with Mercury. Sulfur, salt, and antimony were also studied because they revealed different properties of matter. Sulfur was very important and transformed through fire, salt was associated with stability and preservation, and antimony or stibnite found in rocks was used for purification processes that helped separate and refine other metals. Together, they helped alchemists explore how substances could break down, recombine, and transform, which was the heart of their experiments.

What I find so fascinating is that they didn’t have the tools or technology we have now, yet with simple pots, distillation processes, and simple separation methods, they were able to extract pure sulfur and antimony to create stronger metals. Iron, for example, is often found in ores that contain sulfur compounds, which make the metal brittle and weak. When the ore is heated in furnaces, sulfur burns off as gas, leaving behind purer iron. Once the sulfur and other impurities are removed, the metal becomes stronger and more workable. This purification process was essential for producing reliable iron tools and weapons.

Sulfur, Purification, Health | Alchemy

Also, purifying sulfur, separating it from rock and mineral ores with such simple methods as slow heating, melting, draining, or distillation, allowed them to use it in many ways. It was used in medicine, especially in powders and ointments, to treat skin diseases and infections because of its disinfecting properties. Purified sulfur was also an important ingredient in early pigments and dyes due to its bright yellow color. Later, it became a key component in gunpowder when mixed with charcoal and saltpeter, and it was also used in various chemical reactions with metals and minerals because it burns easily and reacts strongly with other substances.

So sulfur’s role was mostly in revealing and separating impurities during heating, or what alchemists called roasting. These processes helped shape metal purification and the development of stronger alloys such as copper and tin mixtures. But they also influenced other developments because the same principles of heating, extraction, and distillation eventually led to substances like ethanol, which became important for medicines, disinfecting, and the early foundations of pharmacy and public health. We would not have the world we have today if it were not for the alchemists. Yes, the philosophy was there, and most people did not understand it at the time, and many were even persecuted, but they understood the unity of the cosmos, the relationship between metals and planets, rocks, heat, and transformation, and how gold was attainable through the seven stages of alchemical work in the laboratory.

The same goes for every era and generation. We guide future generations through our own experimentations and discoveries, whether in technology, like AI, medicine, public health, or even in how spirituality is understood and continues to develop. Many will not understand and will do the same as they did with the alchemists. They won’t hold back from calling you a fool, ridiculing you, or worse. Even today, I almost gave up on writing this post. I had the overall idea, and the seed was planted weeks ago, as it usually happens with my posts. But I didn’t know where to begin. There was so much to say and so many ideas to put together that I almost gave up. Now that it’s done, I’m glad I didn’t stop. My head feels like it’s going to explode, but I know I’ll rest a little better having given it my best.

For the alchemists, the work in the laboratory was parallel to the development of the soul and the development of intellectual faculties, which also guided them in how to experiment better and make new discoveries. We often underestimate ourselves and think we don’t matter. Many times, I find myself cringing at the thought of calling myself a spiritualist or a spiritual teacher because of so many people’s ungrounded claims, distortions, or exploitations of teachings for selfish reasons. But lately, if I have to be honest, the crazier the world gets, the more at peace I feel with calling myself a spiritualist. At least I know my intention and what I can offer through my own growth.

The post What Did the Alchemists Do for Our Civilization Thousands of Years Later? appeared first on Sentient Muse.

Brace yourself. It is going to be a long one. Almost all esoteric doctrines, including yoga and Hinduism, discuss the four elements as the foundation of the physical phenomena in the Universe that we know and can observe. Circa 2013, on the first day of my yoga training here in New York City, one of the lead teachers began explaining how yogis understand the world through Hindu cosmogeny. She asked, “So what was in the beginning?” And while everyone knew about the Big Bang, she followed with, “And what came after the Big Bang? How did we end up with life here in our solar system?” The room went quiet.

It was a simple question, and maybe a scientist might have had a direct explanation, but it would obviously lead to more questions. Then she said, “The four elements came: Fire, Water, Air, Earth.”

While I thought I was more than prepared for such a discussion, having studied various doctrines at least five years prior, I was still taken aback by the simplicity and the insight, more of a bird’s-eye view, so to speak. There are countless cosmogonies written about the birth of the Universe. Just the thought of how much there is to read and study overwhelms me every day. But one thing I am getting better at is taking it one day at a time.

Twenty-first century teachers describe the four elements as the biggest beings in the Universe. While we probably think of the elements as resources we can exploit or dominate, in the spiritual or metaphysical realm, there is much more going on with them.

Water H₂O

We all know water as H₂O, a simple molecule made of two hydrogen atoms bonded to one oxygen atom, the substance that makes life possible on Earth. When I was in middle school, we were still debating or speculating whether there was water anywhere beyond planet Earth, and it was a big deal. But I mean, a big deal. Now that we have confirmed water on other planets and moons, the idea has become almost ordinary, but in my generation, this was something we could only dream of. Confirmation of water outside our planet came after 2005 with Cassini and even more in the 2010s. Even comets are mostly water ice, as well as many asteroids with hydrating minerals. We have also detected oxygen on Mars, Venus, and several moons in our Solar System, but not in the same quantities as Earth.

Now, beyond its scientific identity, water has often been seen as something that holds memory, emotion, depth, mystery, and the ability to cleanse and transform. Many cultures have viewed it as alive in its own way. So even though we can study it in a lab, there is another side or dimension to water that invites us to look past its chemical makeup and into the deeper form it carries.

Water for us moves downward, not upward, unless you are on Saturn’s moon Enceladus, where water from an underground ocean is forced upward through cracks in the ice, erupting into space in visible jets like giant sprays. Water has also been used as a symbol of purification and holiness, especially in Christianity, and with the new ritual of baptism that came with the Essenes or whoever the first Christians were.

While water seeks life and depth, fire seeks height and sublimation. Sublimation in science is the process by which a solid changes directly into a gas without passing through the liquid state. It is extremely important in the search for life on other planets because it helps scientists understand how, i.e., water ice or other volatile substances, can move, disappear, or reappear on a planet’s surface, which affects where life might exist.

In spirituality, sublimation is the process of transforming raw or lower energies of desire or impulsiveness into higher states of awareness, creativity, or spiritual growth. Just as a comparison of how our ancestors understood the elements. Fire was represented by the Stars in the sky, like our own Sun, our destiny, and water was a representation of our inner mystery, associated with emotion, memory, imagination, and feeling.

Here’s a Hindu text for reference, which I thought was worth noting, as stated in the epic Itihāsa, the Mahabharata.

“I am Narayana, the Source of all things, the Eternal, the Unchangeable. I am the Creator of all things, and the Destroyer also of all. I am Vishnu, I am Brahma and I am Shankara, the chief of the gods. I am king Vaisravana, and I am Yama, the lord of the deceased spirits. I am Siva, I am Soma, and I am Kasyapa the lord of the created things. And, O best of regenerate ones, I am he called Dhatri, and he also that is called Vidhatri, and I am Sacrifice embodied. Fire is my mouth, the earth my feet, and the Sun and the Moon are my eyes; the Heaven is the crown of my head, the firmament and the cardinal points are my ears; the waters are born of my sweat. Space with the cardinal points are my body, and the Air is my mind…

…And, O Brahmana, whatever is obtained by men by the practice of truth, charity, ascetic austerities, and peace and harmlessness towards all creatures, and such other handsome deeds, is obtained because of my arrangements. Governed by my ordinance, men wander within my body, their senses overwhelmed by me. They move not according to their will but as they are moved by me.”

— Mahabharata (translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli, 1883-1896), Book 3, Varna Parva, Chapter CLXXXVIII (188)

Water, baptism, and holiness

Baptism and the symbol of purification mark the culmination of the Age of Pisces, the era that begins with the coming of Jesus Christ and carries the themes of water, faith, sacrifice, and spiritual rebirth. All things that are represented by the sign of Pisces that astrologers know very well, better than I can ever say. The painting is by Leonardo da Vinci. Notice how Jesus’s feet are immersed in water as well as John’s, performing the holy ritual of purification on Jesus Christ. It actually reminds me of Temperance in the Major Arcana of the Tarot, representing healing, patience, and the reconciliation of opposites within, all things essential for one’s spiritual actualization.

While the 60s are said to mark the beginning of the Age of Aquarius, throughout this period, the Age of Pisces, water became more than a physical element. It turned into a holy tool, something capable of cleansing not just the physical body but the unseen realms around us. In Christianity and in many older traditions, water is blessed, prayed over, and infused with intention so it can cast out demons, break negative attachments, and support acts of exorcism and spiritual protection. Holy water in these rituals is used not just as a weapon but as a reminder of purity, surrender, and the return to one’s original state before fear and darkness take over. So water then becomes a bridge between the physical and the spiritual, emphasizing the same idea found in baptism, the teachings of Jesus Christ, and the esoteric understanding of water as the element of memory, dissolution, renewal, and transformation.

Water has the power to transform our identity on a cellular level, especially with the right intention in mind and spirit. Even a simple bath at home can become a powerful ritual of purification and healing. As long as we hold the truth in our hearts and remain honest before the holy, water will do its job and cleanse us of our sins, marking a rebirth in its own way.

John 3:5
“Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”

Matthew 3:11
“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

Nymphs – Greek Mythology

In Greek mythology, nymphs were seen as the silent presence within nature, especially inside water. They were the soft, watchful spirits of a spring, a river, or a sea, like the Nereids. They weren’t gods, just subtle beings that held the mood and intelligence of the water they lived in.

Above is one of my favorite paintings in the more realistic and classical style. I’ve looked at this painting for years, and every time I return to it, it remains one of my favorites, especially within the theme of mythical creatures and fantasy. I grew up swimming before I could walk (I mean that literally, lol), and I’ve always connected to water in a way that is hard to put into words. I mean this in the most humble way possible. I have no desire to dominate water or challenge it, like riding big waves, etc., but more to meet it in its most serene state.

Growing up in the southern tip of Albania, by the Ionian Sea in Vlorë County, where both my parents are from, Vuno, to be more precise, apart from stuffing my face with prickly pears, feta cheese, and grapes, living among the calm, turquoise waters of Jalë and the surrounding beaches helped us, as natives at least, build an understanding and relationship with this element that is hard to put into words. Everyone in my family and culture quietly understands and relates. Rich in salt, iodine, and sodium, these waters offered a level of cleansing and purification that felt almost indispensable for the temperament of my people, lol, especially on my father’s side, in Vlorë City.

Story time

Now, a little story time and a fun fact about my ancestry, since some of you have asked. The picture above is a more recent one. When I was growing up, there was nothing there except the military base at the very far right of the picture up the hill. Sometimes my family felt adventurous enough to hike down from the village, which sits high in the mountains, through the olive terraces, and then down the steep slopes toward Jale, shown in this image. The whole walk took a good 60–70 minutes if I remember it right. There are also beautiful surrounding beaches not included in the image, where my brothers and cousins would swim to. We were that brave. Haha.

Vuno was a key base for resistance during WW2, also involving Greek Himariotes, where my grandmother was raised, only about a 30-minute drive from Vuno, with many villagers listed on monuments for their sacrifices. Among these heroes was my great-aunt, Amalí Andoni, my grandfather’s little sister, who was killed by Nazis and Italian fascists at the age of 16.

This is how the story was told to me for as long as I could understand words. One night, when the moon was full, Aunt Amali prepared food for the soldiers in the resistance, as she always did. She was brave but stubborn. On the way to the partisans, the German soldiers spotted her and shouted at her in German (my grandfather would shout in German when narrating the story), but she was determined to keep going and didn’t stop, and she was shot in the back several times.

The partisans later found the man who had done it and brought him to my great-grandmother and said, “It’s him. This is the Nazi who killed your daughter. What do you want us to do with him?” And my great-grandmother replied, “Let him go, for he too has a mother who waits for him at home.” These kinds of stories became part of my values and how I was shaped while growing up.

My grandfather would tell me this story almost every year, and he would always tear up halfway through. December 5th was his birthday, and so I thought, in honor of him, Piro Andoni, who raised me, I would tell the story. While my family is filled with stories I like to keep for myself, here’s one more fun fact about my grandfather. He was raised as poor as a… well, a very poor child. He told me that growing up, he would read books only with the light of the moon because he was so poor that he had no electricity. My upbringing wasn’t so different, by the way. He read so much, though, and even learned a whole new language, Spanish, that he later became the Albanian ambassador in South America for 13 years.

Growing up, I would hear him on the typewriter every day, writing stories from his diaries and about each country he had visited in South America. He spoke fluent Spanish, obviously, and he also raised me with some South American musical influence, which is kind of funny to me now, lol. He was based in Argentina and had a weird obsession with actress Greta Garbo, who had very similar features to my grandmother, with high cheekbones, small but defined lips, and clear blue eyes. He wrote an entire book about her life and translated it from Spanish. He would often talk to me about Greta Garbo and what her career as an actress meant for her, which I now, as an adult, see more clearly. He traveled through the entire South American continent with my grandmother, Athina Andoni, for all those years.

Okay! Enough of me, because I’m already cringing. See you in the next one.

The post An Esoteric Dive Into the Water Element, The Age of Pisces, & Baptism appeared first on Sentient Muse.

Saturn

Brace yourself, as I’m going to make this post one of those posts that may be hard to read (or not), in other words, more woo-woo than you might expect. And this is maybe one of my favorite ways to speculate about space, our universe, and life in general. Of course, I will be guided more by my intuition, even after looking at it scientifically, especially regarding life on Saturn. I know, don’t shoot the messenger yet. Hear me out. When I say life, I may not refer to a tangible humanoid life exactly, one we can touch, see, smell, or hear with our senses. So give this a chance. I promise it won’t be boring.

Saturn has been with us since the beginning, even before the telescope was invented, because you can see it with the naked eye. Nobody actually discovered Saturn. It was simply there, glowing in the sky with a golden yellow light, waiting for us to notice it. When telescopes were invented in the 1600s, we learned it wasn’t just another star but a massive gas giant wrapped in those mysterious rings. It’s the second-largest planet in our solar system, made mostly of hydrogen and helium, the two main ingredients in this soup we call the Universe. Remember, hydrogen is the first and most abundant element in the universe, and hydrogen fusion in stars converts it into helium, releasing the energy that makes stars shine.

At the top of Saturn, as seen in the picture above, an actual photo of Saturn, there is a strange hexagon-shaped storm around its north pole. It is huge, over 20,000 miles across. Scientists don’t know exactly why it forms a perfect hexagon, but it remains one of Saturn’s most mysterious and beautiful features, and it makes the planet feel a little strange and magical in its nature.

What is it made of?

Planets in our solar system aren’t so different, but they aren’t made the same either. The gas giants like Saturn and Jupiter, according to scientists, have no solid crust or surface like we do on Earth because they are mostly made of hydrogen and helium. How do they know this? Because of their density. Saturn and Jupiter are massive planets, much heavier than Earth. Saturn has about 95 times Earth’s mass (in kilograms, the standard scientific measure of mass), and Jupiter about 318 times. But most of that mass is made of light gases, mostly hydrogen and helium. Because these gases are spread out over such huge volumes, their average density is very low. Saturn’s density, for example, is only 0.69 grams per cubic centimeter, which is less than water. In other words, if you could somehow put Saturn in a giant bathtub, it would float. This low density and the crushing pressures inside these planets prevent a solid surface or crust from forming, which is why gas giants are completely different from rocky planets like Earth.

The rocky planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, are made mostly of silicate rocks and a mix of metals like iron and magnesium, along with nonmetals like silicon and oxygen. Some, like Earth and Mars, have water and atmospheres rich in nitrogen, oxygen, or carbon dioxide. While the same elements appear across planets, the proportions are very different, giving each world its own personality.

So far, we have discovered around 90 elements in the universe, most of which appear in stars, planets, nebulae, and galaxies. The same elements you learned about in chemistry class, if you remember any. Hydrogen and helium dominate the cosmos, but elements like oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, neon, magnesium, silicon, sulfur, and iron are very common. These elements combine in various ways to form gases, rocks, ices, and metals, creating the diversity of planets, stars, and solar systems we see. Even the heaviest elements, like gold or uranium, exist in small amounts, sprinkled throughout stars and cosmic dust. So when we look at Saturn, Jupiter, or any distant star, we are seeing these same elements playing out in different forms and proportions.

So what makes these 90 elements differ from one another? It all comes down to the number of protons, neutrons, and electrons in their atoms. That’s it. That’s what differentiates the elements we know. When we study planets, stars, and galaxies, we are really studying these atoms and how they combine to form all matter. For instance, the dad of the Universe, hydrogen, as I like to call it, is the simplest atom, made of one proton and one electron orbiting it. A helium atom, on the other hand, the second most abundant element in the universe after hydrogen, is made of 4 particles in its nucleus (2 protons + 2 neutrons) and 2 electrons orbiting it. Remember, hydrogen and helium are the lightest elements in the Universe and make up the vast majority of stars (suns) and matter in the cosmos, about 98 to 99 percent.

Everything heavier than helium, which astronomers call metals, exists in much smaller amounts. These heavier elements are what build planets, rocks, and life. Even the Sun’s average density is lighter than Earth’s, about 1.41 grams per cubic centimeter, while Earth’s is around 5.5 grams per cubic centimeter. So while Saturn could hypothetically float in a bathtub if somehow we could fit it into one, the Sun on the other hand is slightly denser than water (which is 1 gram per cubic centimeter) and it would sink. So if you ever feel like life is getting heavy, remember that you could hypothetically inhale Saturn and swallow it whole if it were sitting in your bathtub.

Saturn in Mythology

Although Saturn spins much faster than Earth, completing a full rotation in about 10 hours and 33 minutes, which is roughly 2.3 times faster than Earth’s 24-hour day, Saturn is slow, at least from our perspective on life. It takes about 29.5 Earth years to orbit the Sun, while Earth completes its orbit in just one year, or 365 days. In Greek mythology, Saturn is known as Cronus, the Titan of time and harvest. Cronus ruled during a mythical Golden Age, a time of abundance and peace. But he was haunted by a prophecy that one of his children would overthrow him, just as he had overthrown his own father, Uranus. To stop this, he swallowed each child at birth: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon. His wife, Rhea, horrified, hid their youngest, Zeus, and gave Cronus a rock to swallow instead. Zeus grew up, came back, made Cronus spit out his siblings, and led them to defeat the Titans, becoming king of the gods. The Titans were older gods who ruled the world first, while the Olympians were the new gods, more like humans and closer to life on Earth.

Scholars often interpret the myth of Cronus as a story about time, change, and cycles. Cronus swallowing his children represents the old generation trying to hold onto power, while Zeus overthrowing him symbolizes the rise of the new generation, showing that change is inevitable. The myth also reflects human fears of loss, mortality, and being replaced, as well as the cycles of nature and the harvest, since Cronus was associated with time and agriculture. So the story of Cronos  isn’t just about gods fighting, but a symbol for how the universe moves from chaos to order. The Titans, like Cronus, represent the old, chaotic, primal forces of nature, and the Olympians, like Zeus, represent structure, rules, and a more organized cosmos. It’s like a metaphor for natural cycles, like seasons, growth, life and death, and the passage of time.

Astrology

In astrology, Saturn is the planet of structure, earthly law, life lessons, and karmic growth. It rules discipline, responsibility, and boundaries, showing us where we need to work harder, slow down, or face the consequences of our past actions. Because Saturn moves slowly, taking almost 30 years to orbit the Sun, it is linked to long-term cycles, major life milestones, and soul lessons. Many astrologers associate Saturn with past lives and karma, suggesting that the challenges it presents are echoes of lessons we haven’t fully learned yet. Saturn asks us to confront reality, accept limitations, and grow wiser through those experiences. It can feel heavy, restrictive, or even harsh, but it also rewards patience, perseverance, and maturity. In a mystical sense, Daddy Saturn is the cosmic teacher, showing us the patterns we carry through time and encouraging us to evolve, spiritually and personally, through the natural cycles of life.

Saturn is the teacher of time, so people influenced by it often seem wise beyond their years. Many Saturn-ruled souls, like myself, go through hard lessons early in life, which can make them feel older or more serious when they are young. As we grow, we start to loosen up and feel more playful, almost like becoming children again, but thanks to the wisdom we have gained. We also notice that life feels slower and more measured, and this can make us seem younger or more energetic than others. Saturn’s energy helps us follow life’s natural cycles and grow through experience, patience, and discipline. That’s why those ruled by Saturn may seem to age backwards, not literally, but in how they carry themselves and move through life.

Collective Intelligence of Saturn

So here we are. We’ve come to the woo-woo part of this post. Keep in mind that this is about the spiritual dimension or innerstanding of Saturn. Yes, I said innerstanding, not understanding, but you get what I mean. So, where do I even begin? Let’s start with a simple question:

I warned you about the woo-woo part. But hear me out. There have been so many, I mean so many cases of abductee reports describing atrocious experiments performed by these weird-looking aliens, and almost all the stories are similar. Now, having said this, and hopefully coming to some mutual understanding, let’s speculate on this civilization of Saturnians.

Now, some of you are obviously going to laugh at this or say this is beyond woo-woo and crosses into pure sci‑fi. And there’s absolutely no way that there could be intelligent life on Saturn, especially based on our scientific findings. But what I’m here to tell you is that this isn’t entirely true. How do I know this? I’m not sure how or why. Maybe I’m 100% wrong for claiming this, but I was given an image to interpret, and like many other spiritualists or whatever they want to call us, I interpreted it. Perhaps it is a timely thing, or maybe a subconscious way of interpreting particular life cycles or strange phenomena at play. Either way, it is what it is. You can do whatever you want with this information. Who knows, maybe it’ll open the door to a new understanding of things, or maybe not.

Don’t miss this documentary on Saturn. Click here

The post The Mystery of Saturn | What is Saturn Hiding? appeared first on Sentient Muse.

This post is dedicated to my fellow devoted yogis or anyone aspiring to deepen their practice in yoga. With each passing year, I find it interesting to see how differently I show up on the mat, and thankfully, it’s with a greater sense of gratitude each time. When the world gets loud, both inner and outer worlds, there is nowhere else I find myself more grounded, calm, and with a clear sense of direction than on the mat. How many times have you said to yourself: even if the world burns to ashes, all is well, as long as I show up on the mat,  I’m moving in the right direction? Comment below if you happen to be a fellow yogi and somehow found this post, probably buried somewhere deep past page 7 of Google search, practically the dark web with better lighting.

Now, why is that? Have you ever wondered why? Is it just a feeling, or is it simply what yoga does to the body? There is an actual science to this, and we all kind of understood it vaguely from our Level 1 training. One of the first things we are taught about yoga is what yoga means, and that is to yoke or unite. As an advanced yogi, you probably have a better understanding now and what this actually entails. Yoga doesn’t lie. We show up as we are, and on the mat, we carry with us our fears, our doubts, our inner critic, our emotions, and everything else that comes along with being human. Eventually, we understand how to find the right balance of pushing too hard or not pushing at all. Pushing beyond our comfort zone is an essential part of being a yogi, and we understand that better with time, hopefully, as growth is not possible otherwise.

From a more esoteric and spiritual perspective, we can associate the act of uniting with two different forces, like Shiva and Shakti. As I’m sure you are already familiar, in Hinduism, all that is manifested or unmanifested is God. According to Hindu philosophy, God is Brahman, the unchanging, infinite, and eternal reality behind the universe. Brahman is beyond all names, forms, and limitations, yet it permeates everything. It is pure consciousness, the source from which all creation arises. The Hindus gave Brahman two distinct roles, though of course they are one and the same: Nirguna and Saguna. Nirguna Brahman is God without form, attributes, or qualities. It is pure and formless consciousness. Saguna Brahman, on the other hand, is God with form and attributes, which humans can relate to through devotion, such as Vishnu, Shiva, or Devi.

The Awakening of Shiva by Shakti | Yoga

Between the 12th and 15th centuries CE, the Tripuratapini Upanishad was composed by an author unknown. For some reason, the simple idea of books written by unknown authors excites me more than anything, giving me butterflies in my stomach. Anyhow, in this text of the minor Upanishads, we find the story of Shiva and Shakti. When we look at science, energy is everything. Science explains it better than we could have, as we have discovered that the entire manifested Universe in form is made up of atoms, with the exception of light, of course. Atoms are the building blocks of matter, and Einstein’s famous quotation E=mc² has already proved that mass is nothing but condensed energy. Einstein’s equation E=mc² means that mass (m) can be converted into energy (E), and the amount of energy equals the mass multiplied by the speed of light squared (c²).

Light, on the other hand, doesn’t contain rest mass, and it is not made of atoms; it is a form of electromagnetic radiation. It consists of photons, which are massless particles that carry energy but have no body or mass. Unlike matter, light can travel through the vacuum of space without needing a medium, which is why we can see sunlight across millions of kilometers. So while atoms make up matter, light is made of photons and is pure energy moving through space, capable of interacting with atoms but not composed of them. Photons travel at the speed of light. According to relativity, as an object approaches light speed, time slows down for it relative to an outside observer. Because photons already travel at light speed, time essentially “stands still” for them. From a photon’s perspective, its emission and absorption are instantaneous, no matter how far it travels. They don’t experience time.

For example, from our perspective (Earth), since the distance from the Sun to Earth is roughly 150 million kilometers (93 million miles), if we are traveling at the Speed of light (about 300,000 kilometers per second, 186,000 miles per second), Time = Distance ÷ Speed, it takes about 8 minutes and 20 seconds for sunlight to reach us. We see the journey unfold over time. Remember that photons have no rest mass, and according to relativity, time does not pass at light speed, so from the photon’s perspective, the Sun and Earth are effectively at the same point. Its journey is instantaneous.

Now, holistically speaking, you can travel to the Sun, not with your physical body, of course, but with your light body. How do I know? Because I’ve experienced it myself. And no, it was not intentional. I didn’t go to sleep and say, “Oh, I’m going to travel to the Sun tonight because life on this planet is just boring as hell lately, and I’ve got nothing better to do, so why not?” It just happened, and I still don’t know why, but I have a partial understanding of why it might have happened and what the whole experience meant, metaphysically as well as spiritually. And yes, I did see some things as I was approaching the surface of that thing we call the Sun. But that’s a whole other topic for another day, and I’m not even sure I want to discuss it. Rest assured, I’m slowly mastering the art of not giving a f*ck. It’s just that things take a little longer for me, and I’m learning to accept that.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way (whew!), let’s come back to Shiva and Shakti. Another way we can view these archetypes is that Shiva is regarded as pure energy or consciousness, while Shakti is condensed energy, such as matter, but flowing and dynamic. Together they form the cosmic dance. Energy becomes matter as matter is energized by consciousness. In yoga, the mat becomes a microcosm of this cosmic union. Through yoga postures, challenges, and movement, we embody Shakti and Shiva, the flowing energy of our breath and muscles, meeting the still awareness of our mind. Each posture is a tiny universe, a balance of motion and stillness, effort and surrender. In striving for alignment, steadiness, and wholeness in the body, we reflect the eternal union of energy and consciousness, seeking perfection, completeness, and above all, balance within ourselves.

A headstand is not just balance, it is completeness within, and a quiet self-assurance that grounds us beyond our fear. A warrior pose is not just strength but the flow of energy meeting still awareness, rooted yet expansive. Each posture, from the simplest stretch to the most challenging inversion, demands that we embody both Shakti and Shiva, moving and holding, striving for balance, alignment, and wholeness that mirrors the eternal union of energy and consciousness. So together, Shiva and Shakti symbolize the union of consciousness and energy, the balance of stillness and movement, potential and manifestation, the inner and outer worlds.

Building your own practice | Mindful movement

If you want to improve your practice, the first thing that I recommend is that you develop your own practice at home. Yes, going to a yoga class or another studio and practicing under the guidance of another is great, as we learn from their lineage of yogis and teachers and whatever unique practice they offer. But if you are on your way to finishing your teacher training or are already a teacher, you already know that holding your own practice at your own pace and in your own space is crucial. Showing up on the mat and showing up every day is, of course, necessary. Life sometimes gets too overwhelming, and yes, we may skip a day or two or sometimes a whole week, even though it’s very rare, as you know. And if it isn’t, we should try our best to make it so. Anyhow, why is this important? First and foremost, because your body will be your own best teacher. We are working with the challenges that are presented through the body to overcome the limitations that our mind imposes on it. Let’s say today you are able to do Elevated Lotus pose, but three years ago you couldn’t even do a proper forward fold and never imagined you could possibly accomplish something like it. Well, that’s the beauty of yoga: through persistent practice, we realize how we can overcome the limitations that our mind imposes on our practice and how much we can achieve.

The second, if not equally important, thing is to get a mirror so you can actually see yourself practicing. Yes, a mirror will do wonders, because if you think you’ve been doing three-legged dog right for the past seven years, you might reconsider once you get a mirror in your home. A mirror is a must if we want to improve, overcome bad habits in the practice, and heal old injuries that lead to those habits, whether in the way we come in and out of a posture or the way we hold it. Injuries play a big part in our practice, and traumas in the body play an even bigger role in many of the chronic injuries we struggle with. When I was five, I broke my right wrist, and still to this day I am starting to truly understand how that physical trauma to my wrist has affected my joints and muscles and the way my body has coped to compensate for it. When we develop a deeper personal practice, the body speaks for itself, and we have to learn to listen. A simple adjustment in the rotation of the shoulder can enlighten us as to why that chronic injury keeps bugging us for months or even years.

Another important key in yoga is to practice what is often called muscular engagement or even bandhas, which means energy locks in the body. It is not just about holding the outer shape of a pose but about scanning the body with the inner eye to activate the right muscles within it. For example, when I am practicing an open twist in a lunge, I notice that engaging my inner thighs, almost as if I were hugging into the midline, completely transforms my posture. My core aligns naturally, and the pose becomes more stable. Practicing this kind of mindful engagement helps us protect the joints, heal old patterns in the body, and unlock new depth in familiar poses. This is done through graceful movement, with a sense of strength yet also lightness in the body, supported by mindful breathing. Relaxing within the postures is just as important, because if we hold unnecessary tension, we can create more bad habits or even injuries.

Relaxing in the postures does not make us weak, but rather allows the posture to settle into the body so it becomes more natural over time. This balance of effort and ease is especially important in the lineage of Vinyasa, which in the West is called Flow yoga. The last tip I can give for now is to be mindful of your joints. Your joints are your guiding stars in yoga. They are especially important in how we guide the body through circular movement on the mat. Your elbows, shoulders, hips, knees, ankles, and wrists are the roots of your body. Without these roots, you cannot create or hold any shape on the mat. Joints are where movement originates, connecting bones, muscles, and ligaments into one functional system. They act as bridges that allow energy to flow through the body. If a joint is unstable or misaligned, the entire posture can be thrown off, leading not only to poor form but also to injury over time.

In yoga, paying attention to our joints means learning to stabilize them through muscular engagement while keeping them mobile enough to allow fluidity in the practice. Circular movement is especially helpful, because it lubricates the joints, warms up the body, and prepares us for deeper poses. When we practice this balance of stability and mobility, our movements become more meaningful, our postures feel natural, and we protect the health and resilience of our practice.

The post How to Develop Supersensible Anatomy | A Yogi’s Study of the Body appeared first on Sentient Muse.

First and foremost, let me begin by saying that everyone is capable of time travel. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say that we are all traveling through time to some extent, whether we are aware of it or not. While our understanding of time is perceived through sensorial feeling and imagery, time is more than that. We feel the passage of time as a ticking clock and observe change through mental imagery of the past, but we forget that time is actually distance and not just quantitative, but qualitative distance. In fact, time changes us. It changes us emotionally, psychologically, biologically, cellularly, and chemically. Also, quantitive and qualitative are not two separate functions. They are two aspects of a single function.

Logic & Intuition

While logic and intuition are often seen as separate, I’m going to say that they are, in actuality, part of the same human faculty. Just as logic is sensible and based on reasoning, so is intuition, although it moves faster through time. Intuition does not lack reasoning or groundedness. In fact, it highlights them even more. It simply behaves differently or is experienced differently in the human body. While logic is a slower, step-by-step mental process, intuition often arrives as an overload of information all at once. This is why many people still feel confused about how to navigate intuition versus logic. Intuition remains a mystery to this day, but I plan to unpack some of it here.

Let’s look at a simple logical conclusion that can be drawn. Any animal producing milk to nourish their offspring belongs to the class Mammalia, as milk production is the distinguishing characteristic of mammals. In etymology, the word intuition comes from the Latin “intuitio,” meaning “a looking at,” “contemplation,” or “a consideration.” It derives from the verb “intueri,” which means “to look at,” “to contemplate,” or “to gaze upon.” So now the question is: What are we really looking at?

We are looking at first and foremost, the quality of the information. While, yes, intuition travels fast, there is still a mental process involved. You have answers that you may not fully understand yet, as the information is loaded in your psyche, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have broken it all down and integrated it all at once. Also, intuition is a faculty that you cannot force. It develops as both you and I shed conditioned behavior. Conditioned psychic factors limit our minds and, therefore, our behavior, and keep us stuck in patterns that hinder expansion, understanding, or enlightenment.

While many schools out there will teach you how to develop the faculty of intuition and so forth, I wouldn’t waste my time or money on them. There is one key factor in developing your intuition, and it lies in your heart. You cannot develop intuition if your heart remains closed and you’re still using force, pride, and power to go after what you want. We have to overcome force and power in all their forms, especially when we are tempted to accomplish our goals at any cost, even if it means overwhelming someone else to get what we want.

Gentleness needs to prevail, as nothing good is truly obtained by force. Life without force, energy without pressure, and action without aggression are some of the most important things that need to be mastered if we want to develop and evolve spiritually. The moment we choose force, force becomes evil. Also, we will certainly have a hard time developing intuition if we still hold resentment, hatred, or envy in our hearts.

Time Travel | A Holistic Look

There is always an element of mystery when it comes to time travel. Most people, mainly because of Hollywood’s influence, look at time travel as something that is done at will either because of some superpower or a sophisticated and advanced technological device. Now I’m not completely eradicating the idea that in the future people will find the technology that will help them time travel because I don’t really know anything. In this post I want to talk about what I know and what I know is that anyone is capable of time-traveling.

First, when we think of time travel, the imagery that most likely comes to mind is a line that either goes backward into the past or forward into the future. Well, it doesn’t really work like that. Time travel is a holistic psychic phenomenon that may or may not occur at will, but that is not even important right now. When you think of time travel, I want you to imagine a circle or a sphere rather than a line that goes backward or forward. Time travel is, first and foremost, a psychic phenomenon that involves both past and future, not exclusively one or the other.

There are many elements that are key in time travel. The first element that plays an essential role in time travel is our connection and parallel importance to a person, place, or event. This involves more than one psychic factor aligning. And just because I’m saying “psychic,” it obviously doesn’t exclude a place, thing, or event that may have involved more than one person. The psychic factor is the sum of it all, the nectar of the experience, so to speak.

Having said that, now we can move on to the most important role of time travel. Time travel has a purpose. It is not done simply to prove that we can defy the laws of nature. And it is certainly not done to change something that has already occurred. Time travel serves the purpose of future course correction, especially to prevent us from falling victim to a catastrophic event or a very dangerous personal situation.

The mind works in mysterious ways indeed, and we are still only beginning to understand the intrinsic psychic and psychological mechanics behind it, especially in regard to the fourth dimension. Understanding the fourth dimension has been a popular subject since the 19th century with many psychics and mystics sharing more enlightened ideas or even channeled information. Charles H. Hinton, a British mathematician and writer was the first to popularize the idea of the fourth dimension and linked it to mystical and philosophical ideas. This is another topic that I’d like to indulge in another post, but essentially the 4th dimension helps us have a deeper understanding of the past, present, and future and what links them all.

Now, the question remains: can I time travel, and how can I time travel now? Perhaps you can. I cannot tell you yes or no. That is not up to me or anyone else to decide. What I can tell you is that time travel has a purpose. If the purpose behind it is to protect you from an unforeseen dangerous situation, your mind will work wonders and help you get all the answers you need to first course-correct and then understand the relationship between past and present so that you become enlightened. This means the past is revealed through a parallel event, place, or person in the present, allowing the future to be course-corrected for your highest good and therefore for everyone else involved.

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Fear, Madness, and Deception

This may be my favorite topic to speculate on. Although it is more than controversial in nature, especially with so many different interpretations out there, I’d love to dig deep and hopefully offer a clearer, more grounded perspective. While dogma and ritual are deeply rooted in religion, particularly when it comes to demonic and angelic orders and their place in spiritual and esoteric studies, I’ll do my best to avoid coming across as dogmatic in any way.

Although the Devil is mostly known as a single figure from the Bible and seen as the personal adversary of God, the one who deceives, destroys, or tempts people into sin, his role is much more active than people realize. Before I get started, I want to clarify an important distinction. There is a difference between disobedience, suppressing parts of ourselves we deem as negative, or subconscious impulses to question authority, and outright denial, destructive intent, maliciousness, and spite, whether rooted in ignorance or not.

What I am referring to in this post are the fearful, the neurotics, and the psychotics. When I say psychotics, I’m not referring to those clinically diagnosed at an early age, which is very rare by the way, or those born with neurological divergence. I mean those who choose illusion over truth, worship their delusions and weaponize madness against others. I had close encounters with a truly fearful neurotic a while back. Fear consumes every fiber of their being, and the way they move through the world is not the same way you and I move. These people are dangerous, unpredictable, and faithless, and what they carry is corrosive, not just to others, but to the world around them. Malice doesn’t even begin to describe it.

Also, when I say dangerous, I don’t necessarily mean they’ll become physically abusive, although that may very well be the case sometimes as they can become very animalistic. These people do not accept the concept of truth or loyalty. They rejoice in your pain and in seeing you become as fearful as they are. As they try to plant the same fear that has taken root in their own bones, they fool themselves into feeling elevated or somewhat adequate. These are the last people you’d want to collaborate with, especially in business. Their behavior goes far beyond mere malice.

The Corrosion of Willful Delusion | Demonic Possessions

Psychotics have always existed. These are individuals who can also suffer from destructive visions and hallucinations. Like schizophrenics, they are driven by complete self-denial, which, as I have observed, is the root of most psychotic phenomena and mental illness. A psychotic came to me recently and said, “You don’t know who I am, you don’t know who I am?” She showed me an AI-generated image of a beautiful woman in heaven who looked nothing like her and an Islamic god. “I am her,” she insisted. “I am this Goddess from this heavenly realm, and Allah, my god,” she showed me another picture of a random Sufi god found on the internet, “has sent me here to meet the Devil,” and she showed me a picture of a snake. “Do you know the Bible story of Adam and Eve?” she continued, insisting that she was like Eve when she saw me in shock. She also showed me an image of a random man on Facebook and claimed he was her husband. As she seemed highly upset and insisted that I knew her, I replied, “I’m sorry, I must have forgotten,” a couple of times, and she eventually stopped.

Clearly, the poor woman has lost her mind. But what strikes me most about her behavior is not just the delusion. It is her arrogance, her hostile demeanor in how she’s willing and ready to provoke other individuals, her vanity, her extreme sense of entitlement and self-importance, and the total denial of reality and her actions. To test her once, I mirrored her behavior, and she couldn’t stand it even for one second. I have noticed this in many psychotics, not just her. They cannot tolerate being shown exactly how they interact with others. Self-denial is their only means of survival, the only way they can keep living inside their bubble of illusion, which they prefer instead of humbling themselves and breaking free from their strong unrooted beliefs and coming to terms with reality itself.

Now, there are rare cases where people experience psychosis due to long-term brainwashing, such as in cults or other similar manipulative environments. The strong beliefs, mental toll, and stress can be overwhelming for the individual; hence, they may develop neurosis or some form of psychosis. These phenomena were seen as demonic possessions in the past. But for the most part, an individual who deliberately and willingly chooses to stay in a psychotic state, worshipping their delusions, no matter the excuse or trauma, commits a willful act of evil. Do you need to empathize with such individuals? I am in no place to tell you what to do. I’l let you be the judge of that. Hitler, for instance, was high functioning, but in a constant state of psychosis and paranoia, and he had millions of followers.

I want people to understand that there is a big difference between people who are born with certain mental or cognitive impairments and those who develop psychotic traits later in life. There is a clear distinction here between the two. The latter selfishly acts out of self-preservation. These are the same individuals who you will often see struggle with various addictions and will have no problem abandoning or neglecting their children while doing so. If you work with such individuals, you’ll often hear them say they’ll change, but they never do.

Demonic Sprites

“Woe to the one who disturbs those who rest.” In the Spiritual world, or the world of archetypes and the unseen, there are orders and forces that match frequency, energy, and vibration., including demonic forces. They all play their role in the material plane of forms. Let’s look at a brief scientific preview of our world before it came into being and into form, from the formless to the form, simply for contemplative reflection and perhaps as a catalyst for insight.

About 4.6 billion years ago, a massive cloud of gas called a solar nebula collapsed under gravity. The cloud was made up of mostly hydrogen and helium, the main two elements in the Universe, and with some heavier elements of previous stars. Scientists speculate that the collapse was triggered by a nearby supernova explosion. In spiritual science, the phenomenon of collapsing under gravity is called love.

From this collapse, all the material about 99.8% got pulled to the center and formed the sun. The pressure and heat from Hydrogen (1 proton, 1 electron, 0 neutrons, the most abundant element in the universe) atoms smashing into each other at the center ignited nuclear fusion, creating helium, and our star, the sun, was born. Helium is the second most abundant element in the Universe, with Hydrogen being the first. Helium releases energy in the form of light and heat that we feel on this planet, and particles (neutrinos).

The remaining 0.2% of the material formed a spinning protoplanetary disk around the sun. Tiny grains of dust and ice in the disk stuck together over time, forming planetesimals (baby planets). Through collision and gravity, these planetesimals grew into planets, moons, asteroids, and comets we know today. Interstellar dust consists of small particles made up of various elements heavier than hydrogen and helium, such as carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and others. Dust plays a significant role in the formation of planets and comets through the process of accretion. So the saying we are all made of stardust is scientifically and poetically true.

Now some may ask, why am I even bringing up all these scientific facts into the picture? Because there is a natural order of things, and most forget that everything in nature, everything in the Universe that has substance, has its place and its purpose. Now going back to Demonic Sprites. Many will play with certain forces undermining the consequences of summoning and disturbing them in the first place. They lack foresight and foolishly disturb such forces to bind them to some absurd purpose of their own. Secondly, they bind them for a selfish and malicious purpose to afflict another, completely undermining that individual’s spiritual rank. To use and work with such demonic forces to afflict and hurt others developed much later in humanity as it was not the original design at all.

Also, most true initiates don’t need to boast about who they are, and what kind of powers or protection they hold, and they certainly won’t boast about having power over both worlds, lower, higher, east, and west, or whatever you want to come up with. In literature and folklore sprites or elementals are forces of nature and would never really bother anybody if humans just left them alone. Still, to this day, people play around and work with such demonic forces until it is too late and the consequences are too severe to go back and undo what was already done. Until it’s time to pay the piper.

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Pseudo spirituality

The goal of spirituality has always been the same since the beginning of time, and alchemists described it best. The simple goal of spirituality and/or religion is to bridge the gap between earthly and heavenly realms or between man and God. Laws, morals, and values all go beyond the physical. They are metaphysical and imply a spiritual nature, as they refer to ideals that transcend nature or even call for us to act contrary to it. They also shape our behavior in significant ways. In fact, we all have a spiritual identity, including the many different cultures around the world, as it is not necessarily endowed to us through nature or genetics.

In ancient times, we looked up to the stars for the key to our own mystery, which is more than natural and reasonable if you ask me. Gold, often symbolizing the divine, was seen as a way to connect the physical with the celestial. Man, as in humankind evolved or descended as for some on this little blue planet without a proper handbook and had to make sense of its purpose and destiny while also meeting its primary need for survival.

We can’t deny that there is a spiritual crisis happening, especially in the West. While many paths can lead to this union of heaven and earth or self-actualization, a more fitting term for our times, there are also many paths that can waste our time and lead to spiritual bypassing and cyclical neuroticism, a term I came up with as I was writing these words. While funny to some, it’s quite sad actually, as these outdated, superficial, and fabricated ideologies are passed on to the next generations, hindering true growth in our society as a whole.

Probably the clearest red flag you may want to watch out for is those new-age self-proclaimed Gurus or yogis, etc. Anyone who claims to be some sort of superior and divine being or God descended from another realm or planet, or anything absurd like that, my advice is to run. Run, and run fast.

Before heaven, know Earth

There have been very intelligent and spiritually evolved humans, way showers, 33rd-degree masons, philosophers, etc., who, through discipline and absolute dedication, mastered the art of meeting with God, or these heavenly realms, so to speak. And if there’s one thing worth noting in these people, whether in their teachings or in the way they speak, it’s their humility and core understanding of how to be more human, first and foremost. If I want to meet God, I must learn how to be more human. If I don’t understand who I am or what I am, then I am neither here nor there.

There have also been spiritual leaders who have left a lot of texts and material for us to study, but discernment is crucial as some of these teachings, do not serve me nor you in anyway whatsoever but are completely fabricated by their imagination. Our imagination is indeed the key to our evolution as humankind, including scientific discoveries, but it is also true that many teachings left behind are pure entertainment and completely fabricated without sound logic, reason, or the necessary scientific validation behind them.

There is no fast track to spiritual enlightenment or to meeting with God. God is always there and is in no hurry. The Lord Himself told me that. A little humor there, but jokes aside, it’s not about how fast you get there, but rather how you show up. Spiritual growth is not a competitive endeavor. If you were able to meet with God today, how would you show up, and for what anyway? Would you show up full of unresolved emotional issues, anger, confusion, resentment, etc.? Take a good minute to think about it or feel it through.

Spiritual bypassing | The hidden danger

Spiritual bypassing was discovered by a clinical psychologist, and it is used as a defensive maneuver to avoid facing ourselves and the real issues that lie within us. I can speak from experience, as for many years, I was heavily dedicated to so many different religious, metaphysical, and spiritual studies that never truly helped me engage in real vulnerability, or help connect with myself, but they sure helped me do one thing and do it very well. And that is to escape myself furthermore while subconsciously trying to solve those same psychological issues by depending on other people. And that my friend is a recipe for disaster.

Fool’s gold vs. True gold | Escaping the illusion

The best thing we can do when feeling overwhelmed by life and the things that happen to us is to simply accept that we don’t always have the answers we seek, and that is okay. When we take a journey somewhere, we know where we’re heading, but we can’t make sense of everything happening around us, at least not until we’ve arrived.

In fact, this reminds me of dream interpretation, which I’ve always found very fascinating. I have a few dream journals from years ago, and when I read them now, I can make total sense of everything that happened in those strange dreams, despite the confusion and overwhelming feelings I had while first experiencing them. Just like dreams, life and spirituality, often don’t make sense when you’re in the middle of them. But clarity comes with time, distance, and real integration.

So what is truth? Essentially, truth is the thing in its absolute nature, both matter and energy. Truth is that which is, regardless of seeming or appearing. It’s its nature, essence, substance, origin, and purpose. A recurring theme we find in all spiritual teachings is to be able to rise above illusion and beyond appearances and overcome any prejudice or self-deceit that clouds our judgment and impairs our reason. And ultimately free ourselves from any addiction or obsession with what is not true and that which we have not yet learned to recognize as false.

This journey of uncovering truth and seeing beyond appearances is exactly what the ancient alchemists, yogis, and mystics dedicated their whole lives to. In fact, the symbol of gold has always represented the pursuit of purity, enlightenment, or divine essence. Purity, not in a moral context per se, but purity from our own self-perceptions and distortions.

Gold, the metal of the Sun

Gold is considered the metal of the Sun, both in alchemy and in ancient cultures like Egypt. Why the Sun? Because the Sun, with all its brilliance, is the source of light, clarity, and life. It sees all, nourishes everything, and hides nothing. To align with the Sun spiritually means to seek that which is real, and burn away illusions. It means to stand in the light of truth. Gold reflects that light because it’s incorruptible, it doesn’t tarnish and carries a glow that speaks of something rarefied and divine.

In ancient Egypt, Gold was not just a precious metal, it was sacred. It was used in temples, tombs, and sacred texts because it represented the eternal and the incorruptible. It was believed to connect the earthly with the divine, just like the goal of spiritual practice.

In alchemy, the making of gold was more about turning the dense and heavy parts of ourselves, like fear, ego, and shadow aspects into something balanced, radiant, noble, and whole. Gold was the final stage, a state of being.

So when we talk about truth, we’re not talking about fool’s gold, which can be found on the outside or only looks shiny on the outside but is hollow underneath. We’re talking about the gold of the being, that part of ourselves that has gone through major stages of transmutation and refinement, and the unshakable knowing that comes from facing ourselves, burning through illusion and denial, and living from the light within.

The post How Gold Became the Metal of the Sun and Its Spiritual Meaning appeared first on Sentient Muse.

Other than the impulse to create some order and keep count, our ancestors used Astrology not only as a way to measure time but also as a metaphysical science, myth, and poetic reflection of life. Life comes in cycles and they also reflect our solar system’s journey around the zodiacal belt.

Our solar system, including planet Earth, (I have to specify for some) completes its journey through the zodiacal belt in approximately 26,000 years, from Aries to Pisces. As the Earth moves in its 365-day orbit around the Sun, the Sun appears to move through the zodiac, passing through one constellation each month.

We have prehistoric records of 40,000 years or more depicting the cyclical nature of stars. Scientists believe that over time, in thousands of years, the stars move but really slowly, so the constellation will shift over time, but we’re talking hundreds if not millions of years to be visible. Also, keep in mind that some stars in the constellations we observe are 6.6 Billion years old or older. Earth alone is known to be 4.5 Billion years old.

Astrology & Astronomy

Modern science is more grounded in evidence-based observation, mathematical modeling, and physics, while myth and metaphysical science are symbolic, intuitive, and archetypal and differ from the empirical and structured science we know today. Our ancestors looked at astrology as having another purpose.

Astrology was more than observing the constellations and their cyclical movements because more importantly, it held the keys to our own mystery. Astronomy evolved from astrology, adopting a scientific approach with the Greeks and Indians.

Astronomy is the foundation of modern science because it was the first field to use mathematics, physics, and precise instruments like telescopes, principles that shaped all sciences, including microbiology. Both are essentially two sides of the same coin. Alchemists believed that the planets and stars influenced earthly substances and human destiny.

Sacred geography was important in Ancient Egypt, especially considering the alignment between the Pyramids of Giza and the Orion Belt. Ancient civilizations did not separate astronomy from geography, alchemy, or astrology. Stonehenge was designed to track the solstices and lunar cycles. In medieval times, different regions of the Earth were believed to be ruled by different zodiac signs, like Aries associated with England, Leo with Italy, etc.

Observing the sky

When it comes to the nuances of the observer, there are many adjacent and creative ways we can attempt some structure in all that we are in a position to observe and reflect upon. All of these different nuances pertain to a certain realm, proclivity of the mind, or dimension, so to speak.

Anytime we strive to illuminate ourselves and others, we are trying to measure something from two points of view. Our curious ancestors interpreted the cosmos through a structured order, cosmogony, and used it to understand and measure all that was observable and in motion, including time.

In fact, historically speaking, astrology originated in Mesopotamia, in the 3rd millennium B.C. Mayans were also great at observing the sky and created their own calendar. They were also known to have obtained complex scientific methods, such as time travel.

Time travel was an important topic for the Mayans and the Palenque site is one of the most important because of its Archeological records of time travel. I visited the Palenque archeological site in Mexico in 2021. On the same day, my grandfather, who was an ambassador in South America for over 12 years, passed away and appeared in my dream speaking his last words.

Mayan astrology, besides being the most important due to its historical, and architectural influence, is also considered one of the most forward-thinking kinds of its time. A little fun fact about Mayan astrology is that recently I happened to discover I’m the Vulture. My friend is earth and my foe is death. Pretty reasonable I’d say, no? My strengths are knowledge and wisdom, and my weaknesses are being jaded and cynical, which have finally helped me make some sense of myself lately and have been a great relief, honestly.

Chinese Zodiac

Let’s look at Chinese Astrology, for instance, which in my opinion, is maybe one of the best to use in the context of our topic and the different nuances or views of the observer. The Chinese zodiac, originating from the 5th century BCE, does not have any important ties to the stars and it does not count years in a linear fashion as most of us are used to. When they think of years, they think of repetitive cycles; Oh, this is the year of the Rat, next year will be the year of the Ox, etc. Years have names and repeat every 60 years and correspond to the five repeats of each of the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac.

For instance, if you are Tiger (Fire), your last 60-year cycle was from Feb 9, 1986, to Jan 28, 1987. The previous before that was from Feb 13, 1926, to Feb 1, 1927. Each zodiac animal repeats five times corresponding to each of the five elements. The five elements in the Chinese zodiac are wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. Only two Chinese zodiac animals are associated with each element, one of which is yin (feminine) and the other is yang, its complimentary (masculine).

For my Astrology geeks, my birth year in the Chinese zodiac is Rabbit and the element fire. The original element associated with Rabbit is Wood and its corresponding yin/yang force is Yin (feminine). Tiger is also wood, and it is its counterpart, yin/yang force, yang (masculine). So if you are a Tiger, specifically a Water, Fire, or Earth Tiger, come find me. I’m your little Fire Rabbit. Rawr. Just kidding. (Wink)

The illuminated and ideals

In more occult studies, each of us has a certain molding of human thought, or disposition of the soul, because of its various conditioning of factors, like genetics, and more, that makes us open to becoming illuminated by a certain order and variety of ideals, whether scientific, philosophical, or mental in any way.

These mental constellations or unique lenses from which we observe will naturally include opposing world outlooks or views. All of the different nuances can be linked with each of the planets, and their movements around the 12 constellations or as seen in the Chinese zodiac, with each of the 12 zodiacal animals and their distinctive attributes.

Every philosopher, new age thinker, great poet, writer, artist, or anyone with any influence in human history and thought will observe and interpret the order of the illuminated soul with its corresponding ideals. Some for instance will like Schopenhauer and his metaphysics of human will but others won’t. Others will operate through the realm of spiritism, psychism, etc. Each of us is so attuned to our own disposition that we cannot become aware of what arises from within and appears as the real inner solution of the riddle of the Universe.

Nuances of the illuminated

A mystic, including female mystics, is someone who when the soul quiets down will seek inwardly for the divine light. They are so attuned and have such a natural disposition and fine perception of how one feels through this or that experience, that something behind it or around it flows into their soul.

Others are illuminated by the world views of Realism. Their whole mode of perceiving and experiencing the world easily enables them to talk to others about the world. They are neither Mystics, Occultists, Spiritists, Sensationalists, nor Idealists, etc., but equipped with very fine perceptions of the external reality around them and of the intrinsic qualities of things, including the sublimity of nature because, with their whole personality, they are in touch with the reality of things they see.

Also, there are those who are illuminated by the realm of materialism. They are people who have feelings and perceptions only for the material. There are also occultists of materialism, who are our modern-day scientists but wouldn’t like being called occultists. They don’t understand that there are other ways and methods you can use to arrive to the atom. The atom remains in the occult until through illumination, meditation, concentration, etc., the powers rise up and illuminate them.

So, as the observer, our ancestors inherited the lens of astrology not merely to predict, but to perceive the rhythms of existence. Whether astrology is the first lost science or one of many, its presence reminds us that knowledge was never only about measurement but also about connection. Perhaps, as we discover celestial imprints, we are not just looking outward but also inward, toward something we once knew.

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In antiquity, magnetism was predominantly known to the Greeks, from which the name originates. The Chinese also learned a great deal about magnetic theory, magnetic fields, or energy fields of the human body. Thus, many healing modalities were created using the power and knowledge of magnetism. Everything that exists possesses its own magnetic field, including water and cells. When I trained in Ancient Thai Yoga massage in Chiang Mai, Thailand, I came across the subject of meridians. Thai Yoga Massage is a combination of assisted yoga postures, Ayurvedic principles, and elements of Chinese and Tibetan medicine, and was founded by Jīvaka Komārabhacca. The human body generates subtle electromagnetic fields that correspond and are influenced by the movement of energy or qi within the meridians.

Like magnetism, which operates through positive and negative polarities, the meridian system centers on the balance between opposing forces, yin and yang. Disruption in this balance can obstruct the flow of energy, leading to various illnesses of the mind-body complex. From a spiritual perspective, magnetism, like an invisible drawing power, is the soul’s invisible pull toward its destined path or higher self, which acts as a guiding force toward spiritual growth and alignment with universal truth. For the Alchemists, magnetism was the secret fire that binds elements and facilitates transformation and spiritual ascent.

The Moon & Ecosystems | Magnetism

On a scientific level, we can observe the Moon’s magnetic pull on Earth, which regulates the ocean tides, breeding cycles, stabilizes and prevents extreme climate variations, and plays a significant role in creating conditions favorable for the evolution of life on Earth. Esoterically, it is associated with imagination, revelation, creation, intuition, and emotion. When we look at nature, its way of maintaining health is to ensure an adequate system of circulation and ventilation. This principle applies to the human body, as well as to the animal and plant kingdoms.

Healthy ecosystems depend on water and air circulation. For example, rivers oxygenate aquatic environments, and wind helps pollinate plants and disperse seeds. Nature also has the mysterious power of restoring and purifying itself, including its atmosphere, waters, and soil. Therefore, nature is continuously healing itself. Perhaps not according to our timing, especially when abused or interfered with in some way, but it does indeed have the capacity to restore balance and heal.

Although we are consumers of various ecosystems, we are still an integral part of ecosystems and hold the same restoring and healing capabilities within ourselves. As we observe our internal attitudes, we can instinctively and intuitively recognize various psychosomatic imbalances of the mind-body complex, which may be caused by either the depletion of our own energy resources or unforeseen circumstances that create energy blocks in the body. The key lies in acquiring the skills and the power to transmute all dissonances by forming new patterns and harmonious structures through true growth of mind. This is only possible through an increase of balance of mind and faculties of discrimination.

Balance of Mind | Light & Dark

Whether we like it or not or intentionally do so or not, we are all here to explore the phenomena of life. Many of us think that we are well-informed if we can differ from other people. Whether we differ in the way we view life, politics, science, or religion, we all believe that because we differ, we are superior in our mental process including certain justifications. From a holistic or spiritual point of view, this can only lead back to more limiting identities.

Now the mind that truly outgrows an idea, remains forever tolerant of that idea. This doesn’t mean that you still firmly believe in that idea, but you can understand why someone else believes it. Perhaps it was of help to you some years ago, but not anymore. The danger lies, especially with people who put themselves in leadership positions, when they remain rigid in the identities that make them differ in their own mental processes for too long.

Fortunately, life happens, and discovering the diversities of mental phenomena is part of the human experience and the evolutionary path of the human soul. It is about the diversity of thought in action for the enlightened mind and the common good. The enlightened mind, when it outgrows an idea that once served it, doesn’t necessarily discard it, but recognizes its place and value, building upon it. It sees it as part of the foundation of things, and hopefully, through that understanding, it overcomes our instinct to conflict and uses our energy resources in a constructive way.

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Life has its ups and downs, and none of us are immune to the wavering unfolding of good times and bad times. We all have our own unique struggles that we have to face, and it doesn’t matter whether we are rich or poor, happy or sad; life is almost always challenging our inner and outer strength. In fact, as I’m writing these words, the Major Arcana Card, No. 8 in Tarot, comes to mind. It is a beautiful depiction of not only strength as we all understand it but also a metaphor for taming those hidden aspects that arise from the depths of our being, very much like the 12th house in astrology.

A symbol of inner power and the ability to overcome internal struggles, according to the tarot, the strength card is all about mastering our own inner beast. In fact, as depicted in the image below, a woman without fear is gracefully taming the Lion’s jaws. These are all representations of suppressed fears, ancestral fears due to trauma, inner doubts, and hidden adversaries. We all need courage, courage of heart, and resilience to face so many unexpected challenges that mirror these same internal struggles. Like the 12th house in astrology, the emphasis remains on hidden enemies and subconscious patterns. True strength comes from within, and it depends on how well we are willing to align with our own transformative journey of addressing and integrating the inner nemesis.

The 12th House | Astrology 101

In the science of Astrology, the sky is divided into twelve sections called houses. Each house is represented by the 12 zodiac signs we know, and they deal with different areas of life, such as relationships, career, and personal growth. The 12th house, in particular, is associated with hidden aspects of life, such as secrets, subconscious patterns, and unresolved issues. It also deals with isolation, self-sabotage, and spiritual growth, often highlighting areas where we need to confront inner challenges and hidden adversaries.

If you look at a natal chart, many will have planets in the 12 house, in other words, Pisces planets or afflicted Neptunes with squares and oppositions. So if you have any of these in your chart, you are subject to having been a pretty mean person, especially in a past life, and also subject to having a very large debt to return to other people as far as learning how to be nice to people. You are also subject to having enemies coming out of the woodwork. People who would say things, do things, write letters, and make phone calls to either make your life miserable or spread rumors and gossip about you that are untrue to other people to make you seem like a bad guy or gal.

12th House Vibrations | Karmic Debt

The 12th house in the Pisces vibration is a very strange vibration because it covers a wide spectrum of energy. The Piscean vibration can be very spiritual and intuitive and loving, giving and supportive, or the reverse would be total manipulation, total dominance, total usery, rejection, dejection, and just infatuation. So, depending on which side of the fence you have your Pisces planets, your 12th house planets, or afflicted Neptune, meaning squares or oppositions on that Neptune, you qualify in this topic. Specifically, people with 12th house planets are going to be more subjected to dealing with enemies in their lifetime, which means people coming out of walls who will either spread lies about you, rumors, or gossip.

It’s like being arrested for something and having the newspapers pronounce you guilty, even though you haven’t even been tried yet. There are many people in prison today as we speak that are indeed innocent; they’re not guilty of the crimes they are in jail for, but the way our Judicial system is set up is that sometimes the innocent pay the price. This is where Karma comes into play. If we did do something wrong in a past life, we may have to serve the sentence in this lifetime.

Now, obviously, these are rare cases, and hopefully, they do not happen all that often, but if we are convicted of something that we did not do, it is indeed karmic and is often associated with karmic debt in the realm of spirituality. It is really weird how things work sometimes and how the Universe will take care of people like that, but the 12th house is a weird house because it also rules institutionalization. If you have afflicted planets in the 12th house, you could very well end up in jail, in a hospital, in a crazy house, or subject to some weird institution, or your Karma is visiting people who are in jail, in the hospital, or whatever the case may be.

The Light of 12th House Vibration | Astrology 101

If you have squares with 12th house planets, in astrology, this means that you have a debt to people that you might not like very much, but if they end up in a hospital or jail or somewhere that no one else can help them, sometimes it’s your Karma to visit them, to send them the care package, flowers or whatever. Because squares represent a debt between you and individuals you know. Likely, our prisons are filled with people who have oppositions to Pisces planets and Neptune who have been arrested and convicted of drug dealing or drunk and driving, etc., so if you have oppositions to Pisces or 12th house planets, depending on your lifestyle, you could also end up in jail.

Now, the lesson here is that often, we look at our lives and want to blame other people, but this is how Karma works. If someone has all these planets under stress, they are subject to being in such a daydreamy state, living in a fog, where their life is an illusion and a cartoon, and where they are not in control of any of it. It gets out of hand to a point where other people get angry at them, enemies, people who were wronged in a past life, and they will make a couple of phone calls to the police or to the hospital or whatever the case may be. These are heavy debts, but this is how Karma returns.

If we adhere to the light, to the positive side of Pisces energy, and we do have these 12th house planets under stress, we could very well be New Age teachers and heralds. You are naturally gifted as a psychic and intuitive and as a spiritual teacher, astrologer, or healer. Still, many remain traumatized by drug rehabilitation centers, emotional or mental problems, accidents, prisons, etc. The good thing is that we are all directors and writers of our own script in life, and the greatest lesson is to be coherent in what we actually want or where we want to be and to have courage of heart and access this higher power despite our karmic debt, tendencies, inclinations, and so forth.

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