Truth, Love, and the Feminine Subconscious

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AMOR EST OCULUS VERITATIS
“Love is the eye of truth.”

The feminine realizes and comes into her power as she learns unconditional self-love. It is her realization that she can be ________ (a trait she deems undesirable) and still love herself which opens up space in her body to receive the energy of her masculine counterpart.

This is not a “resting on mediocrity” kind of unconditional love, but the realization that her mind and body are the vessels of divinity, and therefore, her careful and loving stewardship is required. She must love and appreciate herself FIRST and foremost. Through this lens of self-love, her energy becomes “lighter” and she is better able to perceive how to care for herself in all aspects of life. Her body then improves, as her love guides her toward healthier habits. Her mindset improves, as dark thoughts of hate/fear dissipate. And her spiritual life improves, as she begins to feel a protective softness permeating her life. In this way, her ability to both trust and love blooms.

A woman’s ability to cultivate this unconditional state manifests differently based on certain factors. Her subconscious mind develops a sense of self-love initially based upon her early years of witnessing how her father loves her mother. Seeing a respectful and loving exchange here is the foundation of how she will see herself in later years. It is the seeding of: “This is how the masculine loves and treats women.”

Next, the responsibility is on the father to outwardly show love to the girl during her girlhood. His palpable love, presence, protection, support, and interest in her life forms the second layer of her self-perception: “This is how the masculine loves and treats me.”

How well this process went for her will determine the level of difficulty she will have in cultivating unconditional self-love. For example, if love was withheld from her unless she “achieved” or presented a certain version of herself, she comes into adulthood with certain “conditions” that she feels must be met in order to love herself. This will manifest in all kinds of different ways and the process of externally meeting these conditions usually becomes the driver of how she carries herself into adulthood and what motivates her.

This is her subconscious patterning, or the “pattern” (paternal structure) that was placed upon the “matter” or material of her psyche during her formative years. And this subconscious patterning will drive her life until it is made conscious. More about this feminine and masculine “pattern upon matter” etymology in another one of my blog posts, I have linked it: Here

As a side note: The reason why the feminine psyche is developed based upon the love she receives, rather than the love she gives, is because she embodies the receptive element of reality. The masculine psyche develops in a similar and yet distinctly different and complementary way, which I may decide to write about at a later time. But as a little bit of insight: Her drive is to be the most prime material upon which a pattern may be displayed, replicated, and expanded. His drive, (through strength, truth, and love) is to embody a pattern worthy of replication. This is the drive, competition, and purpose of evolutionary sexual selection: The best patterns get replicated and physically manifested upon the best materials.

“Sultana” by Henry Clive

We are now arriving at the foundation of the true spiritual awakening process. This is not unconscious ideological/religious conditioning taking hold of the subconscious mind. Nor is it mass emotionalism disguised as transcendence through ritualistic worship, collective ecstasy, or emotionally charged experiences that feel transformative while merely agitating the ego.

Many religious systems are structured in psychologically potent ways. For example, Christianity presents a paternal God, the “Father,” who offers unconditional love to flawed humanity. Such frameworks can become especially compelling to individuals carrying certain emotional wounds or unmet subconscious needs. Without awareness, one may mistake emotional dependence or psychological absorption for genuine spiritual awakening. An individual who allows his or herself to be swept up with religion usually becomes an impotent cog in this machine.

True and effective spiritual practice is a measured, disciplined, and deeply conscious process of accessing and refining one’s own subconscious. Emotional delusion clouds perception and distorts truth. We must enter the subconscious realm not with fear or emotional frenzy, but with clarity, self-awareness, and the light of unconditional self-love.

This unconditional self-love becomes the light with which Truth can accurately be perceived. It is an undistorted lens that sees Truth objectively and not emotionally. The Truth cannot be bent, but flailing egoic emotions will seem to bend it. When in fact, this is the person’s consciousness being bent around their emotions which leads to failed accuracy. This is called cognitive dissonance.

The only way to perceive truth accurately is through the lens of unconditional self-love. The reason for this is that any misperceptions are caused by one’s inability to accept something truthful that challenges a sense of self that relies on conditions. Truth is all around us and is constantly trying to permeate vessels and awaken them, but those with cloudy self-perception will struggle with this. Unconditional self-love is the cleansing agent of the consciousness that will allow for accurate perception.

For example:

Consider a beautiful floor-to-ceiling window. It is beautiful, yet very dirty. It is hard to see through this window accurately. What does that sign across the street say…? That person is looking at me with a mean look on their face… what did I ever do to them?! Oh, it looks like they are running towards me with a weapon!

The dirty window is a clouded consciousness that has not been cleansed with unconditional self-love. Slowly but surely, we can clean this window and eventually we can read the street sign accurately. We can see that the mean-looking stranger was actually wearing a face of despair which was not a personal attack on us. And the weapon was actually the person’s flimsy attempt at self-preservation, which can do us no harm.

Therefore, the spiritual “work” is not trying to force an awakening, but rather removing all distorting obstacles to that force.

This is how these great powers work hand-in-hand: Truth and Love. The truths of life can only be accurately perceived through a clear lens, and the proper cleansing agent is unconditional love. 💌 IN AMORE VERITAS

Alchemical illustration from “Anatomia Auri” by Johann Daniel Mylius (1628)

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Inner Harmonic Coherence

Valerie3 Comments

“The merit of originality is not novelty, it’s sincerity.” – Thomas Carlyle (On Heroes, Hero-Worship and the Heroic in History)

Trust yourself, but earn your own trust first.

Inner harmonic coherence occurs when one’s internal dialogue, emotions, worldview, and actions are aligned with their worldly displays. This occurs when a person has developed and practiced the ability to be honest with oneself. We should always strive to be honest with ourselves, as this is where personal magnetism and power are derived. This is the genesis of spiritual growth and self-regulation which lead to unshakable material gains.

The act of speaking inner truth is an act of coherence, and this creates a stable energetic field (aura) around the physical body. Auric distortion occurs when the opposite happens. For example, a person feels one way but expresses something completely different in a moment when honesty is expected or assumed. Over time, these distortions create creases and rips in the auric field, having been bent so many times through misalignment. This is what causes energetic depletion. Dishonesty may be a social faux pas that seems to only affect one party in the interaction, but dishonesty affects the originating party on a very deep and spiritual level.

When there are no opposing pulls or “wrong notes”, you have coherence, which results in a strong inner resonance with oneself. The inside and outside are completely matched, and therefore harmony is present.

Inner-world coherence = Honesty with oneself.

It can be no other way. Either we are working with this process consciously and doing the work to constantly align our internal world with our outer displays, ensuring there is no inner delusion (dishonesty)…

OR

We are internally at war within ourselves, noting the constant chaos we are subjected to as a result of this inner conflict. We can use the contextual clues of our outer experience to pick up on how well we are apply this truth.

The “Self” card from the Supra: The Hidden Path of an Oracle card deck

One has to be willing to privately calibrate their internal world before parading an outer-world “result.” This is one reason why people accrue massive amounts of debt trying to keep up with a lifestyle they cannot afford, are in relationships that seem proper but are actually unfulfilling, and are sexually unable to express their deep desires, so they look to anonymous virtual sexual entertainment. They believe that the feeling they get from showing others a parody of success is more important than actually achieving something worthwhile.

Interestingly enough, this has become very normalized. But if you are reading this, I don’t think being “normal” was ever very compelling to you. So there it is. Search your inner world silently and honestly. Find the places where you say one thing but secretly feel another way. Find the places where you want others to think of you one way because, deep down, you need their validation to actually believe it yourself. Seek out the places where you are not accessing your own depth, but rather copying someone else that you find impressive. Be honest about the places where you are fully externally motivated rather than intrinsically motivated.

This honesty allows true inner growth to take place. As we do this internal audit, we inevitably arrive at the question: Why? Why do I have split energy that I feel I cannot express? Why do I trust someone else’s opinion about my own life? Why do I feel that being accepted is better than being my true self? Who am I trying to impress, and why?

This is where it starts to get really good. Now we are combing through the knots in the aura that are causing distortions. With that combing action comes a sense of true freedom and energetic release, which is also part of the reason why the sexual orgasm is such a sought-after experience. We can learn much about our inner world if we examine that specific area of our life alone.

If you are observant enough, these little twinges of self-delusion have a very specific harmonic discord which does not match your own unique coding, and this needs to be addressed immediately. It feels similar to playing a song on the piano and accidentally hitting the wrong note. A certain sensitivity is required here in order to perceive this disharmony and make the decision to address it.

Be gentle, be honest, and be absolutely relentless in your internal audit. The more relentless you are, the more clarity you will find.

And the harmonics of clarity are God-like. Divinity deals in clarity. Truthfully, darkness offers an immense amount of clarity because it is only in the depths of darkness that the brightest light can be witnessed. The darker the environment, the easier it is to spot the light, whereas the brighter the environment, the more difficult it is to spot the darkness. This is one reason why a person who seeks spiritual attainment is comfortable with the darker aspects of life.

This is also why life’s strangest and most confusing times can make or break an individual. It is during stretches of darkness that we are most able to witness our inner mechanics working. Our instinctual patterning will display itself during these moments, and we must be strong enough to be emotionally impartial and employ the tactics of self-observation.

The “Sincerity” card from the Supra: The Hidden Path of an Oracle card deck

One element to be aware of is that most people are living in this “split-energy” state, and so when one begins to live with more coherence, they become more visible. Their actions are quite polarizing for two reasons. First, those who are on this same path find the coherent person to be extremely motivating and inspirational. Second, those who are deeply repressed are repulsed by this person’s self-freedom. Either way, the outer world reacts sharply to those who have cultivated this inner harmonic coherence.

Set the tone for your life consciously, not based on those around you and not based on societal metrics. Search your inner terrain and bring something new and unique to the world. Bring that one specific thing that only you, in this specific time and space, can bring. The beautiful part is that if you are successful in this way, everyone around you ends up benefiting, including society itself, because now you have made a meaningful contribution rather than a copy of something that has nothing to do with who you actually are. What appears to the uninitiated as a selfish and self-serving mission is the most contributive and positive mission for both the individual and the collective. Society thrives when it is comprised of individuals who are committed to their own personal excellence and motivated from within.

The individual who is self-focused and intrinsically motivated can become a vessel for the most powerful force in the Universe: Divinity itself.

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The Right Tool for the Job

Valerie2 Comments

Our ability to be effective in life is largely correlated with the tools we have acquired. Our accuracy and precision are deeply affected by our ability to secure the right “tool for the job.”

When the goal in life is constant refinement, our tools should become increasingly precise. No matter where we begin, we can always gain more tools under one condition: we must make full use of what we have in the present moment. A true spiritual seeker will never be denied what they require, provided they take nothing for granted. Even a person who seems to start with absolutely nothing can gain everything with the proper mindset.

Consider an archaeological dig. First, large machinery is used to remove piles of dirt, marking the initial step in reaching the buried “treasure” beneath. The machine is operated from a driver’s seat, positioned well above the actual dig site.

Next, we might employ a shovel. We are now much closer to the action, with a tool in hand, gaining slightly more autonomy. The shovel is far more precise than the machinery. From there, archaeologists use increasingly smaller tools, such as brushes, picks, and trowels to gently remove layers of earth and reveal what lies beneath. Finally, at the very end of the excavation, the human body becomes the final instrument. We use our hands, and even our breath, to blow away the finest particles of dust.

We move from large, clunky machinery operated at a distance, to handheld tools that bring us closer, to delicate instruments of precision, until finally the human body itself becomes the only tool.

Photo from the European Cultural Skills Heritage Alliance

Machinery & Public Figures

We can use this process as an analogy for how we refine ourselves on the spiritual journey. At first, large and impersonal entities may guide us. These include public figures, organized religion, televangelists, and megachurches. We are far removed from the guides themselves, yet we seek their direction from a distance through live streams, videos, or large worship services. The “machine” is doing the work for us, and we are remaining on the surface. This is a shallow, surface-level, and theoretical state of being. This state of consciousness lacks direct experience and even shuns or demonizes it.

This is the stage where we begin breaking spiritual ground. We are far from the buried treasure, yet still attempting to access it in an impersonal way. At this level of consciousness, Source Energy (God, Goddess) is understood as something outside of oneself, accessible only through intermediaries such as pastors, priestesses, gurus, or avatar figures like Jesus.

Shovels & Family Tradition

Next, with the shovel, we move deeper into the mysteries using a more personal tool: family tradition. We place our trust in the spiritual systems practiced by our ancestors and immediate family. We participate in smaller religious services, family prayers, and seasonal rituals passed down through generations.

We have stepped down from the machinery and now stand with a tool in hand, directly engaging with these inherited practices. Yet this is still not direct contact with the mysterious treasure itself. We are still relying on a bridge to connect us to Source. We are closer, but not quite there. Many feel content to remain in this stage, especially if nobody else in the family has gone deeper into the mysteries. At times, this can feel like all there is and the excavation is complete. However, usually the “black sheep” of the family will feel an inner pull to keep going. This is when the next stage can begin.

Statue of a nymph emerges from the waters, 2nd century AD. Found in recent excavations at the Gymnasium of Amastris, (modern Amasra) Turkey

Precise Tools & Personal Practice

At this next stage, we gently set the shovel aside, recognizing that it may now do more harm than good. Continuing with a larger, less precise tool could damage the treasure we seek to uncover. Rather than rejecting our family traditions or deeming them useless, we honor how far they have brought us. Now, kneeling at the site, we require something more refined.

We enter a quieter, more sacred space: personal spiritual practice. Our tools become metacognition, intuition, self-discipline, at-home altars, malas, personalized routines, and silence. These tools are intimate and hand-held, reflecting our inner world, connected to all that came before us, yet distinctly our own. We come to understand that the occult practices which may be demonized by those at prior stages of development are actually deeper ways of understanding ourselves and connecting with Source Energy. Every major religion has a mystical ‘arm’ waiting for the serious practitioner to unveil.

It is mainly the fear of accountability, radical self-awareness, and responsibility that keeps people stuck in earlier stages. Fear itself often becomes a primary tool within certain forms of religious programming. This can serve a protective purpose because those who attempt to practice spirituality with greater precision while still operating through fear are more likely to make serious mistakes. The inner distortion of certain practitioners is part of what has given the occult a reputation for being dangerous.

Here, we should not seek to sever our connection to what shaped us. Instead, we refine it. Here, we come to understand that no one is coming to save us. We are each responsible for our own soul’s development. We step into this stage with reverence and gratitude, aware of the responsibility we now consciously carry. And yet, we must still continue…

“The Hand of Mysteries” by Augustus Knapp

Human Hands

Finally, at the end of the dig toward the mysterious treasure, we see that the tools that kept us balanced, focused, and refined may leave our hands for a moment as we reach to dust off the treasure with our bare hands. We need to touch the treasure directly, intimately experiencing its power with our hands. The final moment of excavation occurs when we use our breath to gently blow away the dust, reach into the ground and pull the treasure up with our hands. Softly embracing that which took many stages to finally bring forth, as digging to the core of the treasure with only our bare hands was never the goal (and this would not have worked anyway). Fittingly, we are on our knees as we do this, almost bowing to the process itself with immense gratitude for the entire path. Now we hold, in our own hands, that which contains all truth, all mystery, and all divinity. 💎

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Divine Architecture

Valerie4 Comments

“The human body is the principal source of proportion among the classical orders of architecture.” – Leonardo da Vinci

To endure the tests of the Earth and the elements, a structure must adhere precisely to the immutable laws of materialization if it is to remain upright. It must be simply perfect, or it will not stand the tests of both Saturn (time, pressure) and the elements. The same laws that allow a structure to stand also govern beauty, the human body, and the architecture of consciousness itself.

These laws of materialization are the same laws that we must learn to engage with through the processes of rising consciousness. Beautiful structures are the crystallization of invisible energetic laws, just as is a perfected human body. This is because beauty arises from geometric and mathematical harmony, and adherence to these same laws is the reason any structure is able to literally stand rather than collapse.

Palais Garnier, Opera House

(Paris, France)

Stunning architecture that takes your breath away is the framework of the Divine mind. It is the vibration of beauty made visible through the medium of stone and glass. Just as the beauty of a flower is the vibration of the Divine made visible through the medium of Earth. As is the beauty of a bright, healthy human body the framework of the Divine, made visible through the medium of skin and bones.

Beauty is a spiritual principle. Beauty is a pattern. A tight, specific, Divine pattern which can express itself through every material on Earth.

Architects tap into the Divine mind when they build temples, high-rising buildings, palaces, museums, and anything else that is both functional and visually stunning. Both of these criteria must be met.

Of course, as humanity moves from Golden Ages to Iron Ages, we witness the degradation of these architectural arts. The collective consciousness “forgets” the purpose of divine architecture and the truths are lost for a time. However, consciousness will always have to rise again, as humans will always require shelter from the elements to thrive. Not just survive, but thrive. And so, as the human Will develops the capacity to stretch toward the Divine, the human ability to build proper protective structures increases. The rudimentary shelter in the jungle evolves into something more functional, and so it continues to build upon itself until we are able to build the most proper housing for ourselves. The cadence increases, rushing toward a rebirth of consciousness, which is now so chronologically far from the last Age of Gold, that it feels brand new again. And so, humanity rediscovers itself through these divine impulses to build beauty. Humanity seems reborn, and we call it a “Renaissance.”

We then seek to build that which will please and serve the Divine impulse which has been growing in proportion to our protection from the elements. The human Will then seeks to move beyond that which is merely functional and desires to create that which is perfect. The absolute intelligence required to do this is god-like, as the creation of anything on Earth is a gift from the Ultimate Creator. So, as intelligence and consciousness grow, our ability to create beauty around us grows.

At the peak of these Golden Ages humanity reached a fever pitch of creating perfected architectural forms. And importantly, the knowledge of why we were doing so remained consciously intact.

However, like a wave, this pitch dulls slightly over time, fading until the reasoning behind the building of such structures is lost. We may retain the ability to make sound enough structures that do not collapse, but we lose the Divine metric, the living proportion that mirrors the enlightened human body, mind, and energetic system.

We may observe an example of this wave of consciousness by studying the construction of the Santa Maria Del Fiore cathedral in Florence. 

By the early 1400s, the Florence Cathedral had been under construction for decades. The main problem was the enormous central space of the nave: the church needed a massive dome to cover it. No one had ever built a dome of that size without using temporary wooden scaffolding from the ground up and such scaffolding was not feasible at that scale.

The builders struggled because the traditional techniques used for smaller domes would not work. Many architects believed it was impossible. And yet, when the human Will encounters an opportunity for expansion, nothing is impossible. 

Enter Filippo Brunelleschi. 

Without scaffolding, he designed a self-supporting, double-shell dome using a herringbone brick pattern and innovative machinery. The result was a structure of immense beauty and mathematical precision, a testament to human ingenuity aligned with the laws of the material and the Divine.

Pictured here, Brunelleschi’s dome still crowns the city of Florence to this day.

Today, because of those who came before us, we can stand inside cathedrals of Divine proportion. We can witness the revelation of Divinity as mathematics solidified through physical materials. Humanity once understood that approaching the Divine should be beautiful, as a way of showing reverence. Yet modern humanity is content to call any old refurbished strip mall a “church.”

The spiritual aspirant should seek the embrace of any perfected edifice, using it to align one’s auric field with symmetry, divinity, balance, and beauty. If one cannot perceive the beauty of temples, this is a result of one’s own dullness. A remedial solution would be to simply spend as much time around physical perfection as possible. A person who is oriented away from truth and beauty will feel physically ill when confronted by them. This tonic is pure and straight to the heart. Consider it a Divine miracle that the state of one’s energetic field is so easily revealed in the presence of Divine proportion.

We must also seek to keep our homes in Divine order, however it may fit our own individual Will, but consciously curated and upheld to the status of a temple. And it goes without saying that if our homes can be the dwelling place of Divinity through beauty, soundness, and structural perfection, so may our own human bodies be.

“Man only becomes fully human when he has become a work of art.” – Friedrich Schiller (German, 1759-1805)

The Bathing Pool by Hubert Robert (c.1777-1780, French)

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On the Necessity of Focus

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By Valerie A. Cody

Valerie

The ability to focus is one of the greatest tools we have on our spiritual journeys. It is a complete and total necessity to higher attainments in our physical realm and our inner world. We must do everything we can to cultivate this ability, and as you will likely notice immediately upon setting out on this task, our modern world is built upon the normalization of distraction.

Few take the time to notice their failures of focus. It can feel productive to be scattered; the taking in of information can feel productive. And it is, to a certain point. But informational overload is counterproductive and leads to stagnation or over-intellectualism which will halt any real growth. Worthy are those who cultivate the ability to recognize and take meaningful action.

The success metric is simple: physical, tangible, real-world results. Does your frenetic thinking lead to action, or does it remain in the realm of the mind? Focus and concentration are the engine, the drivers of daily execution of meaningful actions.

When we set out on the spiritual path, we should begin with a daily meditation practice, a tool which asks us to be single-minded in our efforts. Here is where we must apply the skills of focus and consistency. The serious seeker will almost immediately find that they are distracted and unfocused when attempting meditation. This is a good thing and a sign of progress, for without the realization that one is not focused, one cannot become focused. It is always the conscious recognition of what we are not that leads to the ability to become that which we desire to embody.

We should not enter into spiritual practice as an escape from reality, but rather as a way to become even more aware of reality. If we enter into the consistency of a focused spiritual tradition with the goal of seeing rather than feeling “better” – all truths will eventually be revealed to us. As we work with and through the animal nature inherent in humanity, divinity begins to reveal itself. We become worthy of this witnessing through our commitment to “seeing.”

We should seek to open our eyes, to awaken. If we enter into an established spiritual tradition with this mindset, even those religions which have been coated and lacquered with half-truths and literalism (and coded to conceal Divine Truth as a means of controlling the masses) we will eventually be awakened to Divine Truth. This is because we all have an inner thread that connects us to the Divine, and this thread will begin to vibrate and seek resonance with its counterparts when we make this mindset shift. But we must be willing to seek Truth above comfort, and self-sovereignty over the perceived safety of the hive mind. This is the way it must be done in the modern sea of willful ignorance and weaponized distraction.

One very beautiful aspect of this path is that actual truth will lead to unexpected places, which is a testament to the fact that our rational minds struggle with the perception of truth. This is because the mind is accustomed to preserving our sense of self, or ego, which is a necessary component of becoming a self-realized individual. However, the mundane ego can cloud our ability to perceive truth, as it is fundamentally a self-preserving mechanism. The deeper and more mystical aspects of life require a calculated abandonment of rationality, and this is where we meet Divinity.

True and worthwhile spiritual practice will almost always be unsettling at first. I make this distinction because not all spiritual practice is pure enough to make any difference whatsoever in the lives of its practitioners. Some practices instead seek to comfort and lull the individual into a deeper state of sleep, offering a narrative in which someone else has made a sacrifice on their behalf and thus they are “saved.” Happiness and peace are neither the immediate result nor the goal of rigorous, catalytic, and truly transformative practices. And again, that is a good thing.

We do not come to Earth fully formed and flawless; we come to perfect ourselves through life experience. How can one perfect oneself if one does not see the flaws? When we enter spiritual practice with the mission to detect our flaws, we have found the true path. A proper spiritual practice is a luminous, truth-serving, emotionless mirror. When we embrace this, we clear our channels so that we might become a conduit for divine light. We become the perfected surface upon which divine light can reflect.

Through “hard work and perseverance” it “blossoms unexpectedly.” This is written in Latin on these emblems. They are #9 and #59 from the book “Selectorum Emblematum” by the German poet Gabriel Rollenhagen.

When we enter spiritual practice to “feel better” or “find peace,” this is usually a trap, as the common interpretation of these words often amounts to covering over what is unsettled underneath. It is a glossing over of the work required to create true change within one’s body, soul, and perception.

Seek not this glossy covering.

Seek instead the consistent work and focus required to build inner strength that will eventually lead to spiritual transformation. Take the long way. Take the difficult path. Take the path of real and total obliteration of all internal weakness. We must not seek to paint ourselves with the coverings of religion, virtue signaling, or the outward appearances of peace. We must enter deeply and profoundly into the self. We must tie, or “yoke,” ourselves to spiritual practices that are harsh and reveal our true reflection. Then, and only then, are we capable of the change necessary to align ourselves with our true will and Divine Will.

Here is where peace is eventually achieved. It is not through the acceptance of flaw, but through its eradication. This distinction is enormous. The proper path transforms that which is dull into that which shines. We should be unsettled by mediocrity, and to accept our flaws under the guise of inner peace is a waste of human potential.

In the end, we must face ourselves. Until we do, anything we attempt will simply be an external projection of our flaws, embodied as emotions and reactions to “triggers,” which prove that we are neither self-possessed nor self-controlled. The ego will do anything to avoid facing itself, and this is why the sincere seeker eventually employs the steady mechanism of spiritual practice. Self-focus ultimately meets its divine core, and that is the point at which individuality merges with Divine Will, allowing us to discern and define our unique destinies.

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🕰️The Sacred Art of Time-Keeping

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By Valerie A. Cody

Valerie

The documenting of the passage of time is one of the most intricate and important of the ancient mysteries. This is due to the fact that methods of keeping rhythmic and cyclical time over large spans such as centuries and millennia were esoteric practices neither meant for nor shared with the masses. These were “behind the scenes” actions that informed outward practices such as yearly religious rites – but the calculation, formulation, and dispensation of time-keeping was implemented by the ruling classes.

The ruling classes set the calendar year after year, as seen in the creation of tools such as the Gregorian and Julian calendars. We see interest-piquing nuances such as leap year and the beginning of the calendar year falling in winter rather than spring, as nature would dictate. When we peer, even for a moment, into these oddities, the mysteries of time-keeping begin to reveal themselves to the curious and spiritually minded individual.

However, these truths were not meant to be observed or examined by the commoner. They were meant to be blindly celebrated in public mass rituals so that certain traditions, especially agricultural ones, could be maintained. Such as the celebration of the ancient Roman holiday of Ceraelia in the spring, which denoted it was time to plant seeds in the ground. If seeds were not planted at the correct time, the harvest would not beat the frost in later months, and the food supply would be shortened. Thus, it was in the interest of the time-keepers to let the masses in on certain mysteries that ultimately benefited the aristocracy.

In Greek thought, primordial time was personified as the figure Chronos, from which we get the term chronological, meaning “of a record of events starting with the earliest and following the order in which they occurred.” This figure, Chronos, emerges at the beginning of all things, pre-dating calendars and even pre-dating seasons and agriculture. In later philosophical and symbolic traditions, Chronos becomes intertwined with the Titan Kronos and is depicted as devouring all things, a symbolic expression of the idea that nothing escapes duration. Everything that arises within time is eventually dissolved by it. The image of time consuming its own creations reflects an ancient recognition that creation and decay are inseparable. Time gives form, and time reclaims it.

As this lineage moved forward into the modern world, time was increasingly abstracted and compressed into mechanical measurement. Clock time became a regulated system of hours and minutes, severed from celestial observation and seasonal rhythm. What was once an intimate relationship with cycles of growth, decay, and return became a quantified structure imposed upon daily life. In this way, modern clock time can be understood as a spiritual narrowing of Chronos, a reduction of infinite duration into manageable units, useful for organization, yet often disconnected from the deeper rhythms that once governed human life.

Divine timing is perfect, but our human methods are simply a workaround to understand the cycles of the divine, which we attempt to quantify as time. Our methods are imperfect. This is why we have leap years, daylight savings time, and why ruling entities of the past such as Pope Gregory XIII and Julius Caesar introduced certain calendars, the Gregorian and the Julian, respectively.

The Julian Calendar was an imperial time-keeping tool introduced by Julius Caesar in 45 BCE. This is a solar calendar, which would not surprise anyone who has realized that the Bible itself is a solar book, keeping the cycles and mythologies of the sun, humanized for mythological reasons as a “son of God.” This calendar was a way to impose order, unity of expectations, and ultimately control upon the growing Roman Empire.

The core features of this calendar were a 365 day cycle with holy days, shortened to the colloquial word “holidays,” celebrated at astrological and astronomical points, and a leap year that added an extra day every four years.

To fully understand the reasoning behind this solar time-keeping method, one must understand the apparent path of the sun’s yearly cycle. In our modern era, the twelve signs of the zodiac have been mocked into the ground. They have been bastardized and ridiculed by the masses to the point of extreme parody at best, and demonized (literally) by the church itself – even though the church’s actual mechanism of keeping its sacred holidays such as Easter and Christmas is astronomical and astrological in nature.

The sun takes 365.2422 days to complete its yearly cycle around the ecliptic. The ecliptic is the band of twelve constellations that make up the zodiac wheel and are marked through the months of the year. This emphasis on twelve appears repeatedly in myth, a theme explored in my post on the Eternal Legend: here. This is known as the solar year and is what modern calendars use to track time, with the sun as the marker. Keep in mind that while we are using Earth’s relationship to this particular luminary – other planets mark time in their own cycles, which is why we observe astronomical phenomena such as retrogrades and “returns.” Again, the ruling classes rely on the social degradation of these very real events to keep the masses from understanding the underlying cycles that govern physical reality.

Back to the Julian Calendar.

Because this precise decimal calculation needed to be rounded so it could be applied to daily life, this calendar settled on a fixed point of 365.25 days in a solar year. This minute inaccuracy accumulated, and the calendar became imperfect to the point of outward flaw. It was off by one full day every 128 years.

Enter Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 with the Gregorian Calendar, which is still in use today.

If we look carefully here, two secrets are revealed at once. First, the tracking of time is controlled by the aristocracy, papacy, and emperors via royal decree. Second, and most importantly, religious holy days are astronomical and astrological.

By 1582, the pope and religious authorities recognized that the holiday commemorating their risen savior, Easter, had drifted about ten days from its original equinoctial set point. This was due to the imperfection of the Julian Calendar and its accumulated error. As a correction, ten days were skipped and leap years became more selective, and so the Gregorian Calendar was imposed upon society.

The church saw it as critically important to ensure that Easter remained aligned with its astronomical markers, which are: the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox. This alone should prompt the serious truth seeker to look further into the mysteries of religion. If the rising of a dead savior occurred on a specific day, celestial positioning should be irrelevant, and yet it is not. A scholarly and inquisitive examination of Christian holidays reveals the astronomical and astrological foundations beneath the myths of the church.

The idea that masterful astronomical time-keeping functioned as an arm of the elite is still intact today. We can observe this subtly through the emphasis on expensive timepieces as status symbols. This very real signification extends further to considering that one of the richest men on the planet, Jeff Bezos, is funding a forty-two million dollar monolithic clock in the Sierra Diablo mountain range in West Texas known as the 10,000 Year Clock.

The tracking and control of the collective perception of time has historically been the realm of the elite, but this does not mean that everyone must remain within its grip. Through contemplation and understanding, one can transcend these imposed frameworks. With a sincere connection to inner truth, we may orient ourselves into a more conscious relationship with time, which should be a goal of every true and meaningful spiritual practice.

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The Legend is the Key

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By Valerie A. Cody

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The legend is the key, and the key is the legend. 🗝️🗺️

Tradition gives us the legend; self-study gives us the key. Through introspection, we discover that just as the words legend and key are synonymous to the cartographer, they are likewise inseparable within the terrain of our inner world. Both guide us. Certain enduring legends (whether myth, holy scripture, or word-of-mouth lore) consistently point toward the same essential truth: the power that resides within us.

The reason these two are ultimately one and the same is because the key itself is what I will call the Eternal Legend. Once this reality is recognized, its fragments begin to align effortlessly with the allegories embedded in our time-tested myths. We can observe this, for example, in the ancient alchemical legend of “turning lead into gold.” Within this vast, intricate, and beautifully orchestrated narrative, the alchemical laboratory is the human body itself, and the beakers and chemical reactions symbolize internal processes of transformation. Each element within each legend functions as a key, revealing the Eternal Legend – ready to be accessed by the conscious and spiritually attuned individual. I wrote more explicitly about this Eternal Legend: here.

This process of extracting self-knowledge through archetypal depiction is delicate. It demands a rare pairing of both healthy skepticism and openness. In practice, this means cultivating the ability to test ideas in the physical realm without abandoning the inner one. We must avoid being enamored with the fairy tale while also refusing to throw “the baby out with the bathwater,” so to speak.

Some may linger too long in the waters of imagination and risk dissolving into self-created delusion. Others may under develop the capacity for openness and discard wisdom along with the myth. Inner refinement arises from holding both capacities simultaneously and in balance.

Consider the following enduring myths found across cultures:

  • King Arthur and the Twelve Knights of the Holy Grail
  • Jesus Christ and the Twelve Disciples
  • Hercules and his Twelve Labors
  • Odin and the Twelve Aesir
  • The Twelve Gods and Goddesses of Mount Olympus

The number twelve symbolizes wholeness, cycles of growth, and the integration of diverse energies into a unified whole. Each legend depicts a journey through these twelve forces, externalized as disciples, labors, or deities. Hidden within these narratives are the elements of the Eternal Legend: the path of self-mastery.

Doppelmayr | Novus atlas coelestis, Nuremberg, 1742 (photo by Sotheby’s)

Through careful concentration, self-discipline, and fidelity to a single path, we distill the key that unlocks all other legends. Once we grasp the Key of Truth, it fits any legend (lock) that contains the same truth. Truth is singular, geometric, and not subject to opinion. This is not “my truth” or “their truth”—it is the singular and everlasting Truth. This mindset must be applied rigorously, and we must continually align ourselves with it.

Once the key of internal knowing is grasped, the repeating pattern becomes unmistakable. These legends are variations of a single story, threaded through cultures and centuries. Engaging with them inwardly, especially the tradition that first cradled us at birth, offers our greatest opportunity for self-initiation into the Eternal Legend.

The mythology of religion and legend functions as a natural form of protection for the Eternal Legend. Those who mock these symbolic containers of wisdom reveal, almost immediately, their inability to engage with what lies beneath the surface. In this way, the profane exclude themselves by default, as the disposition required for deeper understanding has not yet been cultivated.

Likewise, those who approach these stories purely literally also bar themselves from their deeper truths. While learning through legend often begins in childhood, seeding the subconscious with principles meant to mature over time, true understanding requires a later unfolding. These truths are designed to blossom through lived experience, reflection, and inner inquiry.

When myth is clung to only at face value, we witness a consciousness that has not completed this maturation. It remains fixed at the threshold, unable to look directly into the myth itself and extract the carefully concealed key.

We must choose depth over breadth and mastery over superficiality. When we resist the tendency to be a “Jack of all trades, master of none,” we begin to touch the essence of enduring wisdom. This principle is why, a few years ago, I wrote an Instagram caption reflecting on a phrase from the Rosicrucian diagram Of God and Nature: “Whoever learns one, learns all. Whoever learns all, learns nothing.” That caption can be read: here.

To journey toward the Eternal Legend, we must become fluent in the language of symbology. The study of symbols is, in itself, an initiation. Through archetypes and symbols, we learn to see beyond surface interpretations and access the enduring truth within sacred texts. This capacity is only available to those who are unsatisfied with superficial understanding. Such dissatisfaction arises from an inner orientation toward truth, a discomfort in the presence of obscurity. This surfaces as curiosity and becomes the driving force of the search.

To move toward the Eternal Legend, we must stoke the inner fire. This fire is the spiritual energy that allows us to burn through the surface of outward teachings and reach the living spirit beneath them – beyond fable, beyond nursery-rhyme meaning. Once reached, the core does not burn. It glows.

Spiritual fire consumes what is illusory and extraneous, but it does not consume truth. Truth is not flammable; only what is superfluous, ephemeral, or fraudulent is reduced to ash. This is why focused attention (especially in the beginning) is essential when studying a spiritual tradition. Scattered attention produces only smoke and confusion. Focused attention, by contrast, becomes concentrated heat: a precise laser rather than a wildfire burning indiscriminately in all directions.

This fire becomes our own source of light, illuminating the paths we must traverse. It requires no borrowed flame; we carry it ourselves, using it to fuel and illuminate our own unique purpose.

The legend and the key are one. Myths are living templates of human experience, and the legend is unlocked from within. The stories of old serve as vessels of remembrance, revealing how we may consciously participate in the Eternal Legend. Through deep engagement, sustained focus, and the disciplines that refine us, we awaken to a simple and enduring truth: the power we seek outwardly has always resided within.

Doppelmayr | Novus atlas coelestis, Nuremberg, 1742 (photo by Sotheby’s)

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The Kiss of the Authentic

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By Valerie A. Cody

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We are qualified to speak about that which we have experienced, alchemized, and solidified into wisdom.

When we set out on the path of self-realization, we are, in a sense, raising our hand and volunteering for challenge. We are not simply bestowed with higher attainments in life without the matching lesson, which must be learned in one way or another. Trials reveal, build, and refine the deeper layers of the self. So when we inevitably encounter difficulty, we face a pivotal choice. We can allow the circumstance to exert its force upon us, shaping us according to its strength and our lack of awareness, or we can use awareness to bring the situation under conscious command. Through awareness, we become the one who shapes. This process of meeting the obstacle, studying its nature, and working our way through it is how we grow into the self-realized individual.

Living this process effectively consecrates our life’s purpose with the kiss of authenticity. Without this essential element, we risk the hollowness that leads to contrived expression and eventual loss of vitality. Authenticity is the byproduct of lived experience, and lived experience must be integrated before it can be transmitted. This “kiss” is the energetic imprint of a person’s completed alchemical processing. It quietly slips past the viewer or listener’s rational mind to press gently into the subconscious, where the body recognizes truth before the mind can interfere. The tonality of this messaging can be whisper-soft, yet devastatingly accurate.

An innate sense for proper timing is necessary here. When we release the energy of a lesson before it has been fully realized, we do not embody the wisdom, and so the kiss is not present. We must come to understand the difference between embodied action and empty movement. Although “busy work” is mostly empty, it can still teach structure and consistency to someone who hasn’t found their deeper direction. That discipline becomes meaningful and useful when it is paired with a clear sense of purpose.

This “kiss” is rare in the modern world, as many hurry to share their insights before the lessons have been fully integrated. There is a reason for this. The gaining of wisdom creates an inner pressure, and that pressure is necessary to transform a person. Yet it is this very same pressure that creates the urge to express through the throat before the lesson has risen to the higher centers of the body. This is a test of the aspirant’s purity and willpower. The question becomes: Do you wish to gain recognition/favor, or do you wish to gain knowledge? Choosing to prioritize the former over the latter will cause one to lose both – as the potency of the lesson is not preserved, and so the would-be wisdom is scattered to the wind.

”Portrait of a Lady in Allegorical Guise, Holding a Dish of Pearls” by Pierre Mignard (17th century).

The utilization of proper timing grants the aspirant both the former and the latter. When we share work that has been kissed by authenticity, it is ultra-powerful and this exchange of distilled wisdom is one of the ways in which the human race evolves. This specific resonance within a message or creation is easy to recognize precisely because it is rare, like a pressure-formed jewel or pearl. This rarity is what gives rise to masterful literature, useful invention, legendary art, and powerful rhetoric. It reflects a refined dimension of the throat center: the precision of timing. Proper timing is neither late nor early—it is exactly “on time,” perfectly synchronized with both the Zeitgeist (the German word for “spirit of the time”) and the individual’s unique purpose. When this is cultivated to its highest expression, it can produce visionaries, capable leaders, and powerful speakers with the ability to shape collective reality.

With practice, we can become masterful in this distillation process. We create an inner environment that is prepared for it. Over time, we develop an intuitive sense for correct timing, and the more we engage with the process, the more familiar we become with the taste of truth. Through this, inner strength builds, and often the simple internal recognition of “not yet” is all we need. This willingness to wait displays true willpower and allows us to pass the “purity test” with increasing ease.

”Romeo and Juliet” by Frank Bernard Dicksee (1884).

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🃏House of Cards or Holy Temple?

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As we work with our earthly forms, we should ask ourselves: Are we building a house of cards, or a Holy Temple?

The House of Cards
A house of cards forms when we build our lives, our worldview, our spiritual practice, or even our bodies without first anchoring ourselves in truth. The unsteady “house of cards” metaphor reveals the inherent instability we risk when basing ourselves on anything other than alignment with Universal Truth and our individual purified will.

This unstable foundation may have an outward veneer that attracts interest or attention, but when we walk up to it, even the light tread of our slippered feet may be enough to shake it to the ground. This structure relies on sleight of hand, on smoke and mirrors that divert us from noticing its deformed fragility. Those who are drawn to them are also disconnected from integrity themselves, and so they delight in the spectacle without noticing its bizarre angles, its distorted walls, or the way it violently sways in the winds of truth. And those who build them separate themselves from the nourishing, glistening material of veracity. 

This kind of builder prioritizes the weak, false facade because it seems easier and faster to produce than the strong, steady, deep-rooted framework of the Holy Temple. The house of cards seems to thrive in a time when the art of paying close attention has withered. The skill of discernment, the ability to see the materials and methods used in this kind of construction is underdeveloped and atrophied. Few pause long enough to notice the warped floorboards…to open the doors and discover they lead nowhere…to take a second look out the window and sense something uncanny…to lift the decorative painting into the light and see that it is actually ugly. The house of cards fools many because the “fool” is content to be fooled.

The Holy Temple

It takes a desire to build with integrity and truth to construct a Holy Temple. It requires the willingness to sacrifice the pace, expectations, and easy applause of the masses. It demands an inner connection to what is true and an unwavering refusal to build upon anything less than the shining blueprint of one’s unique spiritual patterning. We all have an inner connection to truth, but it requires spiritual discipline, concentration, discernment, bravery and vulnerability to express it.

The spiritual aspirant builds their Temple in silence. They check their construction daily with a discerning eye. They do not allow emotional or egoic projections to solidify into the structure. They select only the finest materials. Everything has its place, so if a deviation occurs, it is immediately noticed and corrected with accountability and precision. These deviations are moments of disconnection from truth which are born of erroneous perceptions, emotional distortions, or spiritual delusion. All are symptoms of internal impurity.

The Holy Temple is balanced. Its walls are steady and beautiful from every angle. The Temple radiates harmony and healing, decorated with the curated artifacts of lived personal experience. Its structure sparkles with cleanliness and integrity, upheld by Ionic, Doric, and Corinthian pillars which represent wisdom, strength, and beauty in perfect proportion.

At the edge of the village, the aspirant builds their Temple from the ground up using their internal guidance system. To onlookers, the process seems strange. What are those materials? Why that floor plan? Why choose that plot of land?

This is reflected in the way that sites of ancient sanctuaries, temples, and even cities were said to have been chosen via “omens” such as lightning strikes or bird flight patterns. The teaching was that “God chooses the place, not the builder.”

To those who have not contacted their own inner point of everlasting truth, the Temple and the builder appear odd…until it is finished. 

When the Holy Temple is finally complete, its height…its materials…its undeniable beauty is mesmerizing to the once confused and gossiping onlookers. The truth of the matter is now immediately apparent and attractive. Now, dwelling within the finished structure, the Temple Master sits in command of their surroundings, unthreatened by storms, winds, or the footsteps of passersby. The integrity of the structure is sound and unaffected by external circumstances. The Temple is fitted with a specially coded lock, one that opens only for the truest seekers with the purest intentions. Any misshapen key fails, and so the Temple becomes a sacred fortress: solid, sovereign, and self-protecting for the builder who labored in truth.

This lock-and-key symbolism is, of course, also a reference to sacred sexuality. It speaks to the feminine aspect and responsibility on this path – her need to be fitted for truth, steady in her own architecture, and capable of discernment. For more on this feminine topic, I highly recommend the work of Claire Nakti.

And just as the house of cards attracts those who delight in ignorance, the Holy Temple calls to those who wish to align their own foundations in truth. To them, the Temple is a distant reminder. It is an invitation to rise.

We see this process echoed in the building of King Solomon’s Temple in the Biblical books of 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles. As with all Biblical stories, we can learn the allegorical, metaphorical, and mythological message within the parables. In the narrative, Solomon does not design the Temple himself; he receives the plans from his father, David, who received them from God. This transmission from God to David to Solomon, is a symbolic depiction of DNA genetic patterning. Solomon receives the plans through his father because this is how exoteric teachings point toward an esoteric truth without revealing it outright to be distorted by the spiritually profane. 

Note: I only share the Bible verses below to show that the scriptures of Abrahamic exoteric religions point to esoteric truths using allegorical language and etymological symbolism. The outright words and public rituals are for mass consumption (such as during Catholic “mass”), and so are useful in that context. It is important that those who may be oriented into these traditions go deeper into the teachings in order to avoid being caught up in surface-level understanding. For this in particular, I recommend the teachings of Manly P. Hall.

📜1 Chronicles 28:11–19 (King James Version)

11 Then David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch, and of the houses thereof, and of the treasuries thereof, and of the upper chambers thereof, and of the inner parlours thereof, and of the place of the mercy seat,
12 And the pattern of all that he had by the spirit, for the courts of the house of the Lord…
18 …and for the chariot of the cherubims…
19 All this, said David, the Lord made me understand in writing by his hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern.

Notice the repeated use of the word “pattern.” I discussed the etymology of this word further in another post: 🍦here.

Certain spiritual ideologies expand on this idea by translating the construction of Solomon’s Temple into the process of perfecting the human energetic system, physical body, and soul. The emphasis on craftsmanship, geometry, and the sacred tools of measurement are used to guide the process of self-refinement.

Square: moral integrity
Compass: spiritual guidance and sacred boundaries
Level: inner equilibrium
Plumb line: uprightness and alignment with truth

These symbols remind us that a Temple (outer or inner) cannot be built or accessed without spiritual discipline, discernment, and a steady devotion to the blueprint placed within us. This is the same truth I wrote about earlier in this essay: each of us has a unique Divine blueprint. The actions required to build this Holy Temple can appear strange to others, because often the required actions will place us outside of traditional conformity and societal conditioning. When we follow Divine impulse, we act from a place of deep, wordless knowing. The fruits of that knowing often emerge only later, shaped by our faithfulness to the instructions we received long before we fully understood them.

”LOYALTY TO A UNIQUE CHARACTER” is written in Latin across the top of this document. Pulled from “General Ahiman Rezon and Freemason’s Guide.”

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🧶The Entwining of Consciousness

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By Valerie A. Cody

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A diptych is a two-sided altarpiece. One side depicts a deity or sacred scene, the other presents something more earthly, such as a self-portrait, an ancestor, or an influential figure like a patriarch or monarch.  The two panels are bound together by a hinge or spine, much like a book or a locket. Historically, diptychs (unlike the larger triptychs used for liturgical altars) were placed upon personal shrines within the home. During the late Medieval Ages and the early Renaissance era especially, commissioning a “donor portrait” diptych was common. These works of art represent, whether consciously or subconsciously, the seeker’s desire to fuse with the Divine. 


The Wilton Diptych, c. 1395-1399, displayed at the National Gallery in London. Commissioned by and depicting King Richard the 2nd on the left, and the Virgin with Child on the right.

The hinge of the diptych is both utilitarian and symbolic. Outwardly it’s just a joint, but symbolically it represents the “axis mundi.” It is the same motif we see in myths of a central pillar where heaven and earth meet. Specifically, I will be exploring the Nordic myth of Odin and the tree Yggdrasil below. In esoteric anatomy, this axis is the human spine: The subtle corridor where instinct can be transformed into insight and the Divine descends into form.

Placing a diptych on an altar is a physical reenactment of an inner reality. One side shows the Divine, the other the human, and the hinge becomes the meeting-point between them. It is the place where consciousness can move upward or downward without severing itself from the body. Like the nervous system itself, the “hinge” keeps us anchored while we reach upward. It prevents the seeker from dissolving entirely into transcendence, and instead supports the weaving of the heavenly and the earthly. The diptych becomes a symbolic mirror of this inner ascent, showing how human consciousness joins with Divine consciousness through a shared axis. This movement is an internal anointing: a rising, consecrating current within the subtle body.

Exoteric religions echo this inner process through outward sacraments. In Catholicism, a consecrated oil is placed on the forehead of worshippers as a sign of blessing. This is a symbolic reflection of an esoteric secret that happens within. The “inner oil” is a subtle essence recognized across spiritual traditions, it gathers and rises through the spinal channel, enlivening centers of perception as it ascends.

Even the Catholic term “chrism” reveals this esoteric heritage: it is related to Christos, “the anointed one,” and literally translates to “oil.” What is enacted externally as ritual anointing is a representation of the inner refinement and elevation of one’s own subtle essence.

 It is the sacred elixir:

  • the milk-and-honey fluid of the mystics
  • the Shekhinah descending and rising
  • the serpent-fire of the yogis
  • the pneuma carried up the ladder of Jacob’s dream

As the internal chrism rises, it anoints the brain (the inner temple) and opens the higher centers of vision and gnosis. This is how the seeker moves from belief to knowledge, from worship to union. Thus, the spine is the metaphysical hinge through which human consciousness weaves itself with Divine Will.

This ascent is the basis of many mythological journeys. For example, in the Nordic myth of Odin and Yggdrasil, Odin sacrifices himself by hanging himself upside down on the tree (named Yggdrasil) for nine nights. He does this so that he may gain the knowledge of the Nordic Runes. The understanding is that in order to properly intuit Divine knowledge (rather than be spun off into delusion), one must purify themselves. This myth is a good example of the internal annointing because Odin is hanging upside down, which mimicks the act of raising of the inner chrism.

The “Ascent Myth” follows this pattern:

  1. A lower world: Ordinary consciousness, instinct, matter
  2. A middle journey: Trials, purification, initiation
  3. A pinnacle or summit: Revelation, union with the divine
  4. A return: The enlightened hero re-enters the world transformed

This motif mirrors the movement of energy up the spine, from lower instincts to higher perception and finally to Divine union. The spine has 33 embryonic vertebrae, which alludes to why this number is used in certain fraternities to denote a “rise” in rank amongst one’s fellows.

The Feminine and The Masculine

Although the ascent of the chrism is a universal mechanism, the masculine and feminine bodies conduct this ascent in different ways. These differences are not oppositional but complementary expressions of the same spiritual physics. This is why we see symbolism in the form of the sun/moon or fire/water. 

In the masculine form, the generative essence gathers like pressure. It behaves alchemically like steam building within a sealed vessel: focused, upward-driving, and linear. This is why Hermetic texts describe the masculine path as the “fire rising.” It is the solar current that pushes toward illumination through intensity and disciplined direction. When conserved and sublimated, this pressure moves through the spinal axis as a concentrated surge. 

In the feminine form, the same essence does not accumulate as pressure but diffuses as luminosity. It spreads through the subtle body like light filling a chamber, illuminating her inner space before rising higher. The feminine stores life‑force in a more distributed, oceanic way; therefore, her spiritual ascent is not a push but a glow. It brightens the womb, the heart, and the imaginal centers before lifting toward the crown. The internal tide of intuition rises not through force but through fullness. Women are inherently generative and naturally retain more essence; because of this, she can often achieve this ascent without the same strict conservation required of a male aspirant. The ascent can feel spontaneous, almost trancelike, as she channels connections, ideas, or inspiration for art and poetry (her unique interests are a reflection of her own personal essence, genetic inheritances, and Will) — manifesting works that seem to emerge from a source larger than herself, flowing naturally from the wellspring of her preserved essence.

When this life-force is preserved (through purity of input, rest, love, intention, lowered overstimulation), its substance becomes the raw material of inspiration itself. It refines into completely unique ideas, concepts, inventions, and art. These creations are as singular and unique as a fingerprint. This is because the same generative essence that produces physical life (via pregnancy), when redirected inward, produces physical rejuvenation, as well as psychic, intellectual, and spiritual life. The life-giving essence is the same; only the direction changes. 

The diptych is a medieval spiritual device and its impact depends on how it is used. Through spiritual fidelity and consistency, we invite the Divine to enter and reshape our awareness. With pure intention, even the most modest object can reveal profound treasures to the worthy, truth-loving aspirant. When regarded merely as decoration, it may yield only ephemeral wisps of wisdom. When viewed as a symbol of our desire to weave our consciousness with the Divine, the diptych can inspire devotion to our internal ascent.

A page from the Aurora Consurgens, a Medieval alchemical manuscript. It uses visual symbolism to convey this mystery.

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