Embracing a Daring and Independent Path Toward Gains

The Promethean Fire: Uranus and the Awakening of Consciousness

In the realm of astrology and mythology, few symbols are as potent and transformative as fire. The archetype of Prometheus, the Titan who dared to steal fire from the gods and gift it to humanity, captures the essence of Uranus in the horoscope far more aptly than its namesake, Ouranos.This Promethean fire represents our capacity to awaken to our divine heritage and become fully conscious of our own godlike creative powers. It is the spark of enlightenment, the flash of insight that shatters our previous understanding of reality and propels us towards a higher state of being.

The Price of Stolen Fire

Yet, as with all great gifts, this fire comes at a price. Prometheus' punishment—chained to a mountaintop, his liver eternally devoured by an eagle—symbolizes the consequences of unintegrated Uranian energy. It speaks to the loneliness, alienation, and despair that can arise when we glimpse our unrealized potential but fail to ground it in practical reality.This is the crux of the Uranian dilemma: how to harness the lightning bolt of divine inspiration without being consumed by it. The challenge is to come down from the mountaintop and implement our vision in a manner that serves the greater good, rather than becoming lost in the rarefied air of abstract ideals.

Uranus in the Natal Chart

In the natal chart, Uranus represents the area of life where we long to offer the world the gift of fire. It's where we experience radical breakthroughs and feel the urge to revolutionize and reform. However, if we resist these Uranian promptings, we may find ourselves becoming enemies of progress, only to have change thrust upon us from external sources.The house placement of Uranus indicates where we're most likely to experience sudden disruptions and quantum leaps in consciousness. It's where we feel the burning need to break free from conventional limitations and dare to think the unthinkable.

The Alchemical Transformation

The symbolism of fire extends beyond astrology into the realm of alchemy and spiritual transformation. Just as the alchemists purified both their physical materials and their souls through the intense observation of flames, so too can we use the Uranian fire to refine our consciousness.This process is not without its dangers. The fire that illuminates can also consume. The Buddhist concept of the mind "burning with the fire of lust, hate, and delusion" reminds us that not all inner flames lead to enlightenment. Discernment is crucial in distinguishing between the purifying fire of spiritual growth and the destructive inferno of unchecked passion.

Harnessing the Flame

Ultimately, the art of stealing fire—of integrating Uranian energy—lies in finding the balance between revolution and responsibility, between visionary insight and practical application. It requires us to become conscious stewards of our own divine spark, nurturing it carefully while also allowing it to illuminate the world around us.As we navigate the sometimes turbulent waters of Uranian transits and progressions, we would do well to remember that we are not merely passive recipients of cosmic fire. We are active participants in the great dance of creation and destruction, forever kindling new flames of consciousness in the eternal cycle of rebirth and renewal.

[1] https://cpalondon.com/books/the-art-of-stealing-fire-uranus-in-the-horoscope/

The land of the free has become the land of the medicated. In North America, the numbers are staggering: millions, perhaps tens of millions, bound to the tiny capsules and tablets that promise freedom from despair and madness—antidepressants and antipsychotics, the ubiquitous gods of modernity. These substances, prescribed with reckless abandon, whisper the same illusion of safety that once plagued humanity’s greatest leaps of faith: "Take these and you shall be made whole." But at what cost? There is no freedom without sacrifice, and these drugs—modern panaceas for the soul's unrest—do not heal without inflicting wounds of their own. The libido, that primal force, that lust for life, is among the casualties. Ah, libido! That intoxicating flame, that force beneath our feet that drives us to the heights of pleasure, creation, and destruction! And yet, it is precisely this divine fire that these pills seek to smother.

Over the past few years, a dark cloud has settled over our so-called enlightened societies. In England, the number of prescribed antidepressant items surged by a staggering 34.8% between 2015 and 2022, reaching a total of 83.4 million prescriptions—each pill a testament to our increasing reliance on the chemical numbing of the human soul. Indeed, this alarming trend is but the latest in a broader rise that has swept across the Western world for over two decades, with antidepressant prescriptions more than tripling from 1998 to 2018. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have become the new panacea, dispensed as liberally as sweets to children, and yet, the sickness of the spirit deepens. In Scotland, one in five adults now receives at least one antidepressant prescription—a damning indictment of the human condition in a world that pretends to care for well-being but instead suffocates the will to live.

In recent years, a most troubling trend has emerged in the realm of antipsychotic prescriptions—a veritable tide of chemical confinement that swells and engulfs the youthful spirit. In England, the numbers speak of a crisis: prescriptions for children and teenagers have doubled between 2000 and 2019, a staggering revelation of society's desperation to tame the untamed minds of its future. Both new and repeat prescriptions flow forth with alarming ease, as if the very essence of youth is now deemed a malady to be medicated rather than celebrated. They call this progress—this dulling of the senses, this numbing of desire—but it is nothing more than a surrender to mediocrity, a rejection of the vital force that drives us toward greatness. They would have us believe that the rise in prescriptions is the fruit of improved diagnosis, of broader treatment applications, but what they fail to admit is that this surge represents our collective abandonment of the struggle, our capitulation to a life without risk, without pain—and, ultimately, without joy.

Libido: The Sacred and the Dangerous

Beware! Not all that throbs with life should be followed without question. The libido, when left unchecked, can become a dangerous master. The ancient Greeks knew this. They sang of Dionysus, the god of ecstasy and madness, whose unbridled desires led to ruin as often as revelation. Libido is life-giving, yes, but also destructive. It must be harnessed, lest it burn us alive in its uncontrolled fury. But what do the medics of the modern world do? Do they offer us the wisdom to channel this force, to tame the wild animal within? No. They extinguish it. They tell you to swallow your desire, to numb yourself for the sake of sanity.

Eros Unbound: The Vital Force of Desire and Creativity

Freud spoke of the libido as the life force, the *Eros* that drives us toward pleasure, connection, and self-preservation. Jung, in turn, understood this energy as more than mere sexual desire. He saw it as the very fuel for our creativity, our imagination, and our spiritual ascent. The sacral chakra, nestled just below the navel, holds the keys to both our basest instincts and our highest potential. It is here that the raw energy of desire bubbles forth, demanding expression, demanding transformation. Sublimation—Freud’s great insight—allows us to channel this primal energy not just into the pursuit of fleshly pleasures, but into the creation of art, ideas, and higher purpose. To stifle the sacral chakra is to cut off this powerful engine, to dam the river of life that could carry us toward greatness. When the sacral chakra is stifled, when libido runs low—ah, how the spirit suffers. One finds themselves trapped in the dull gray of existence, devoid of the fire that drives the will. Freud would call this repression, the great enemy of the psyche. The energy that should be flowing toward creation, toward transformation, instead festers within, poisoning the soul. Jung would tell us that a blocked sacral chakra hinders not only sexual satisfaction but our entire individuation process—the sacred journey toward the Self. Wilhelm Reich, that audacious herald of liberation, boldly unveiled the fetters that bind the human spirit to a stifling existence. He posited that libido is not merely a base desire but the very essence of life itself—an energetic force capable of immense transformation. In his fervent writings, he declared that the repression of this vital energy leads to neurosis, a disease of the spirit cultivated by a society intent on conformity and subjugation. The libido, when low, does not simply mean a loss of sexual desire—it is a loss of *vitality*, a creeping numbness that strips life of its color, its passion, its meaning. One becomes, as Nietzsche would say, a "last man," content with comfort but robbed of greatness. The low-libidoed soul does not burn with the desire to transcend; it merely survives. And what, I ask, is more tragic than mere survival?

Antidepressants and Antipsychotics: The New Chains

These drugs—oh, how they soothe the mind, how they flatten the waves of discontent. Yes, they pull many from the abyss, from the nightmare of existence. But in the process, they rob us of our essential spark. Antidepressants, particularly the infamous SSRIs, dull the libido like rust upon the blade of the soul. Antipsychotics, those heavier shackles, suppress it almost entirely, as if the will to life itself were a threat to order. They undermine the sacred Svadhisthana, the sacral chakra, where the rivers of life flow most freely. The primal energies of creation, of eroticism, of passion—these are sacrificed for the hollow promise of balance. The libido, that inner fire, is reduced to mere embers, and with it, our connection to pleasure, our vitality, our very being.

How, then, do we restore this sacred force?

1. Break the Chains of Numbness: If it is within your power, if you have stabilized the storm within, work with your physician to safely reduce your dependency on these medications.

2. Return to the Body: The body is your temple, the gateway to the sacred realms of pleasure and power. Reconnect with it. Engage in practices that restore your sensuality—whether through dance, yoga, or any movement that stirs the blood. Remember that you are an animal, a being of flesh and sensation. To deny this is to deny life itself.

3. Stimulate the Sacral Chakra: The Svadhisthana, seat of creativity and sexual energy, must be awakened. Meditate upon it. Envision the warm, swirling orange energy that resides just below the navel. Let it grow and expand, infusing your entire being with the power of creation.

4. Seek Out Pleasure—Deliberately: In a world that numbs and pacifies, make pleasure a priority once more. Whether through art, music, touch, or simply enjoying the beauty of the world, actively engage with the sources of joy. Let the senses be your guide, for it is through them that the libido finds its way back to life.

5. Challenge Yourself to Create: Libido is not merely sexual—it is the drive to create, to give birth to new ideas, art, and beauty. Find a creative outlet, something that compels you to express your deepest desires. For in creation lies the key to the sacral chakra’s full power.

Embrace the Flame

And so, we find ourselves at a crossroads. To follow the path of numbness is to embrace mediocrity, to become a cog in the great wheel of the modern machine. But to embrace the flame of desire once more is to risk chaos, yes, but also to live fully, to engage with the world as a being of fire and passion. The choice, as always, is yours. But know this: the fire of the libido is not to be feared. It is to be harnessed, to be respected, but never extinguished. Let it burn brightly, for it is in the flames of desire that the soul finds its true power.

Antidepressants and antipsychotics—these chemical shackles—are offered to dampen the fires within, to numb the libido, to render us docile and manageable. Indeed, there are times when the storm within must be calmed, when the severity of one’s condition demands such intervention. Yet we must also ask: at what cost? When we silence the libido, do we not also silence the very force that drives us to transcend ourselves, to create, to conquer? For those seeking natural alternatives, there are ways to restore balance without sacrificing the vitality of the soul. Exercise, sunlight, and proper nutrition—these are the simplest remedies, and yet they are often overlooked. Practices such as meditation and yoga, particularly those focused on opening the sacral chakra, can help reawaken the dormant energy within. Herbal remedies—St. John’s Wort, ashwagandha, and Rhodiola—have been used for centuries to restore balance to the mind and body. But let us be clear: the seriousness of one’s condition must prevail. I am not here to offer medical advice, nor to suggest that one should shun the counsel of a physician. There are battles that require the sword, and there are battles that require the pen. So too, there are times when medication is necessary, but we must never forget the power of our own will to heal, to transform, and to rise above the circumstances of our condition.

Citations: [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8450889/ 

[2] https://pharmaceutical-journal.com/article/news/antidepressant-prescribing-increases-by-35-in-six-years 

[3] https://healthlibrary.telus.com/en/health-benefits-hub/get-your-copy-telus-healths-2024-drug-data-trends-national-benchmarks-report 

[4] https://www.gov.scot/publications/quality-prescribing-antidepressants-guide-improvement-2024-2027/pages/19/

[5] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10120815/

[6] https://pharmaceutical-journal.com/article/news/antidepressant-prescribing-increases-by-35-in-six-years

Where someone was sitting, I saw a blue light. Through that person, I saw another person and from that other person I saw someone else and then I saw Pluto coming closer and closer. Neptune is hungry— sirens abound in the deep, pulling souls under and carrying them to the Great Mother. It is in Neptune where souls do not rest but prepare for rebirth as Pluto breaks the silence. Neptune and Pluto stand between life and death, between physicality and the immaterial, and Neptune morphs beings and the world into what it truly is as a function of their wishes and desires. Neptune is often associated with self-delusion, a fantasy, or a fake reality: one that is not real— or at least not corresponding to what is experienced materially in linear time. People go to Neptune when they feel a longing to merge with something greater, surrender, and let go. Pluto shows the truth: the deep, traumatic, wretched, unacceptable, and denied truth. Pluto is how you can build strength in the face of an overpowering force like Neptune. Pluto shows the uncanny twang of irony pervading the words escaping each and every person's mouth which are the Freudian slips rooted in repression. It is as though each and every person knows the truth, but denies it. It is silence that Pluto illuminates: it casts an intimidating glow onto societal taboos and shows that silence often speaks louder than words. In myth and legend, it is men that succumb to the bewitching and alluring deception of the sirens whose voices lure men into the deep blue only to be consumed by them. Women are not so manipulated by these inner forces of nature perhaps because they are already familiar with another form of dual nature: the lunar/menstrual cycle and its creation and destruction. The rapture and the euphoria offered by sirens are regarded with cautiousness in a similar way as the Dark Moon. While the latter offers the secrets to rejuvenation and healing, the former exemplifies the devouring nature of the Great Mother which is not all too great if one is drawn towards it without consciousness or a light in the darkness. Sometimes a beautiful calm precedes a deluge— the Moon being ensconced in red while Neptune is engulfed in blue. An excess Neptune can invade the mind and body and blur one's inner boundaries. It is said that one should not visit Neptune through astral means. After all, Neptune is connected to various forms of escapism like drugs and alcohol, imprisonment (a spiritual form as well, like trapped words), and is also associated with one’s self-undoing as an extreme manifestation, so if the mind inhabits Neptune first, it is absolutely vital that they return to Earth as quickly and as safely as possible. It is where no soul should venture, but where depressed souls nonetheless tend to find themselves. The siren voices are not exterior; they are as every bit interior as our minds inside our bodies are or ought to be. Sirens represent the tendency to turn our ears toward self-delusion and untruth. They represent a lack of wisdom for navigating our inner waters just as it can in the outer waters in the mythic legend— giving into the slightest temptation and promise of wish fulfillment can be our own self-undoing. It is vital that our true voice be more powerful than the siren voices. It is crucial that we listen to our own inner voice, not the one which seems outside of us and which tries to steer and seduce us into delusion and irrationality.

More on Neptune:

Neptune houses the universal language of Time: vibration. The humming and drumming of Hypnos shakes mortal bodies into a state of procreation: whether new beings are created out of one’s head like Zeus or via the familiar procreative mechanism called the beloved sacral.

Kudos to Bell for bringing awareness and discussion toward mental health. While great progress has been made when it comes to the taboo of depression, there still exists a wide-ranging mental illnesses: some illnesses still fall on the wayside, hidden in a cloud of obscurity. Indeed, according to a study, “overall public stigma toward major depression significantly decreased in the 22 years of the study, whereas public stigma for schizophrenia or alcohol dependence remained unchanged” (Changes in Stigma Toward Serious Mental Illness Over the Past 20 Years). This blog post seeks to shed light on the still more stigmatized mental health disorders in our present day. While by no means a prescription nor a curative stance, I offer a way in which one can glean a different perspective on mental health throughout my work on the Violet spiritual program. It is namely inspired by Carl Jung and the ancients themselves.

The effect of social media on our mental health:

Jordan Peterson says in one of his podcasts that social media favours posts that promote divisiveness because it garners more engagement.

To stay away from the divisiveness of social media, I started journaling, listening to podcasts, and reading way more. I must’ve listened to about 140+ podcasts this past year by various YouTube spiritual podcast/long video channels like This Jungian Life, Plum Village, Eternalised, etc.

The effect I saw was more trust in others and in myself and better communication skills which resulted in much better mental health. When you develop your literacy and consciousness, many benefits are realized.

Social media is a way to face things you’re too afraid of facing IRL— e.g. good social skills on social media isn’t going to mean you’ll be just as suave IRL. Social media creates this artificial channel between you and the world. It’s a place where you remain in your comfort zone instead of doing the work outside of that.

I’ve also learned that real support groups do not come from social media. One of the ways in which they’re built is frequenting the places where you feel safe and comfortable— the gym, for example— and then creating lasting friendships. Social media provides a myriad of choice of people to interact with, but more often than not these do not create the depth and support people may need. People need a community, and with the advent of social media, a sense of community in people’s lives have been dissipating (The Negative Outcomes of a Changing Community and Social Media).

Mental Health and Education

Though many stereotypes exist around bipolar and other mood & dissociative disorders and which are not often explicitly represented in mental health activism, I have made it my goal to affirm that stigmas can also be broken for them as well. I strive to inspire others who are fighting similar challenges to see the strengths in themselves. To accomplish this, I have been continuously developing the Violet program which delves into each main energy centre of our bodies and works with the Dao in order to balance, harmonize, and heal our wounds which prevent full realization of our dreams.

“To fight stigma, it can be helpful to educate and inform others. Once people understand more about your medical condition, they will begin to see you realistically, rather than through the lens of their fears” (verywellmind).

Violet Revisitation - Some Written Pieces About Alchemy and the Realization of the Divine Self

A. For most, the unconscious is utterly unrecognizable and foreign to the person. They fear the dark and will engage in defence mechanisms against it. A rediscovery of one’s eternal Self is thus necessary. To remain conscious and to remember one’s eternal Self in the next realm is to do shadow work and to then to maintain harmony between one’s conscious and unconscious self, so that the two are working in harmonious unity.

Perhaps our old Self needs to die so that we realize this tenet. And that is part of life: the biggest challenge is dying our first death and being reborn: a truly Plutonic experience. I don’t mean literal death. Then the subsequent times won’t be as scary, it’s just a part of life so that we come to know our true Self and where it belongs in the world. We already have and are in that place in the world, we just need to see it. Within this illumination of our place in the world and a simultaneous alchemizing of the deadened parts into gold. It can be a process of letting go of attachments that no longer serve us and harmonizing our polar opposites to harmonize our mental health as we work to materialize our visions.

B. The Dao in Simple Terms

I like to think of it in terms of free-will of the Self (when our Dao is balanced) or of fate.

You see, when we can balance the rational and conscious side of our awareness (left-brain hemisphere) with the intuitive and unconscious side of it (right-brain hemisphere), then we are in complete in control of ourselves. Right equals left; conscious equals unconscious. This is akin to mathematical simplification.

When such balance is attained, there is no surprise in store. What we envision something to happen from our will, happens. This is called being irrevocably mindful and in the present moment, if you prefer— but on a much deeper and bullet-proof level.

But when our Dao is not balanced, consciousness does not equal unconsciousness, and we repress and develop fear towards the objects that we delegate to the Unconscious because they threaten our sense of Self. At its extreme, it can cause massive anxiety and dissociation: the dissociative contents transforming into a dreamlike state. That is why it is in dreams where one obtains the secrets to self-actualization and to the attainment of their goals.

Great authors to check out for further learning:

Liz Greene- to understand archetypes, mythology, and simultaneously, your psychology

Demetra George- same thing, a big part being the divine feminine and some parts discuss its relation to the Kundalini

Jordan Peterson- bravely discusses the challenges of our society and the wisdom that can be derived from them

Georg Feuerstein- writes about the Tantra and the deeper aspects of yoga

Donald Kalsched- wrote an amazing book called The Inner World of Trauma

Great podcasts to check out:

This Jungian Life

Jordan Peterson

Myths, Baby!

Joe Rogan

Doctor Snipes

Plum Village

Eternalised

Sources:

https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2022/csm/1319/the-negative-outcomes-of-a-changing-community-and-social-media/

Why do birds sing? Although a seemingly insignificant, perhaps even rhetorical question, I believe that birds hold some important secrets for throat-chakra year. As I sat on a park swing this summer looking up at the sky, bird sang four beats of a note. I whistled back the four beats, and the bird and I took turns. I keenly remarked that the bird would sing the beat I missed, making sure that no beat was missed! We took turns about ten times. I felt like the bird’s chick, and that brief experience made me wonder whether it is through song that birds nurture and teach their chicks.

Throat chakra year has been a bit terrifying for me, to say the least. As a decade-long sufferer of social anxiety, of which the diagnosis really imparted a sense of shame and embarrassment (and negative consequences) almost every time I said this to others, I ought to be wont to give myself a little push this year: to own it, to say that I did make tremendous progress, and despite what may happen, to talk about my experience with it. I must begrudgingly accept that whatever happens, I will become stronger.

When I went into my throat-chakra year in the seven-year journey to opening up and reprogramming all my chakras (which all started in October 2021), I thought about playing it safe. Was it really right to take any risks? Should I just keep my mouth shut like I always did (except when I had something dramatic to say)? I am many voices, and really, I could’ve gone into the theatre. What happens when you don’t know what your true voice is? Well, while I don’t have a comprehensive answer to that question but figuring this out is certainly a goal of mine this year, below is what I’ve compiled so far to help those who need it to feel safe in using a voice (their own)… and maybe having a diverse set of voices could serve as an adaptive role, which can be put to good use (think leadership) or a mildly Machiavellian one— your call.

1. Be private: don’t overshare

I have intuited that a lack of security in using one’s voice is associated with a lack of security in one’s surroundings. People who have grown up in intrusive environments may not feel as though they are entitled to their fair share of privacy, which may predispose them to harmful environmental influences as they feel an uncertainness about how much of themselves they should keep to themselves. They may put themselves at risk of taking advantage of the outside world.

Developing a clear framework of what you’re comfortable with opening up about yourself versus what you’re not so comfortable about can help ease the pressure considerably and feel more secure in your voice. How much would you like to get to know someone before you let different parts of yourself come out? And what do you think you should always keep private? Listen to the video below for general inspiration!

https://youtu.be/ML9PoJ0mij8

A noteworthy comment from this YouTube video is the following (because it is important to protect yourself as you use your voice): “Being completely transparent with everyone is unhealthy. The reason why a lot of people don't have peace is that they're always getting bombarded with other people's opinions. Nobody's life is meant to be in full view for everyone.”

Note that physical boundaries are also important, if not more so than verbal ones. I’ve been the girl that people cheated off of me in school, so an example of a physical boundary, in that case, would be to hide my answers with a pencil case. A bird establishes its own territorial boundaries first AND THEN signals to other birds with their tune!

2. Know your truth— and stand by it!

My perception of people with high self-worth is that amid pressure, they have an unwavering sense of truth about how they should be treated. They are also not afraid to express how they feel about something! What do You think that people with high self-worth harbor that those with low self-worth don’t? Note that your answer to this question may synchronistically answer questions about what you should work on to improve your self-worth.

If our environment is one in which we don’t feel as though we ought to have our own opinion— it’s time to get out of it! Your environment is your best friend— or your worst enemy. It could make or break you and immediately favor certain opportunities over others. So choose wisely!

3. If you’re afraid of being toxic when you open your mouth (hey, no one’s perfect! Talking is a learning curve), learn Buddhism’s Right Speech

That’s Right, Buddhism (not Bootyism, sorry) can help you learn how to communicate better. Refer to my cheat sheet below that I wrote some months ago for how to cultivate Right Speech. Afterwards, with all the tips above, you should feel safer to speak up! As Violet Year taught us, we should first develop that inner security first— the ability to listen to our intuition and to build our own spiritual protection to assist us in the subsequent trauma-healing years.

I am making this post to reflect on Violet Year which is currently at its 7-month point and which marks the start of a spiritual journey that I have undertaken and that which incorporates a few key spiritual elements. I am offering this journey to my followers so that they, in turn, are able to manifest their own loftiest goals.

In large part, Violet Year is about uniting the masculine with the feminine. In other words, it is about cultivating a better relationship with our anima or animus. As mentioned in the previous post, the animus is the male counterpart of a woman’s psychology, whereas the anima would be the female counterpart of a man’s. When women develop a better a relationship with their animus, they are able to harness the Mars principle, which involves achieving their goals with zest and determination instead of being held back by fear or a lack of energized will. Note that none of this is intended to be gender discriminatory, but rather based on the Tao in Taoism and its interpretation on masculine and feminine energy. In reality, if we are biologically female for example, we can choose to work with our anima instead depending on the gender we choose to identify ourselves with instead. This is one example of the diverse uses of the anima/animus. Or we may disregard this theory completely and look to another self-healing process in our journey. Cultivating a better relationship with my animus is what I have done personally and which has bled into a significantly enhanced performance in physical fitness. Fitness is an area that comprises one of my primary focuses with this journey.

When men develop a better relationship with their anima, they are able to tap into their creative side and they are also able to have a more controlled handle on their emotional states. Their moodiness (which may be as a result of suppressing their feminity), if manifested, goes down or is welcomed into a creative form, while their confidence in their femininity and their self-expression increases. As this is occurring, there is the Venus principle that is at work. I am stating this at the risk of bringing up gender expectations, but as mentioned before, this is not the intention of Jungian's concepts of anima/animus, although it could be a valid criticism otherwise.

With a destructive relationship to our animus/anima, we are unconsciously seeking to destroy ourselves from the goals that we have put forth in front of us. Luckily, there is a way that one can restore a harmonious relationship, or if such hadn’t been done before, to cultivate one in the first place with the unconscious sects of their psyche. Below are some activities that one can employ in the attainment of this:

1. Active imagination

Reading the following excerpts from the book The Invisible Partners by John A Sanford gives us a technique for contacting the anima and animus:

2. Dream interpretation

Being able to decode dream symbols and its metaphorical meanings requires practice, but it can prove to be extremely worthwhile in the manifestation of your goals and dreams. Click the links below to understand the stages of the the anima or animus which can suggest ways they get a hold of the ego during dreams:

(Anima for males): https://frithluton.com/articles/anima/

(Animus for females): https://frithluton.com/articles/womans-animus-development/

3. Self-interview

The easiest way to forge an understanding as to the complexity of our own animus or anima is via 3. Self-interview. The interactions we have with influential of the opposite sex will tell us about the current relationship we have with these counterparts of our psyche:

3. Self-interview

a. List a few figures of the opposite sex in your life. This can include anyone from professors, trainers, a parent, older siblings, aunts, uncles, celebrities, etc. I challenge you to also think of figures whom you feel strong emotional response towards.

b. What is your relationship like to each of these figures?

c. What do you like about each one of these figures?

d. Is there someone whom you have developed a massive crush towards? Someone you have been in a relationship with that took a long time to get over? What is it about this person that you like the most?

To reconstruct our answers into something of value toward our goals and dreams, skim your answers and determine the overall tone of them. Answers being dominated by hatred, envy, repulsion, and other strong and negative emotions come to represent our shadow self: the projected parts of ourselves that we are not comfortable accepting. Or they may simply be parts not connected to our shadow self, but rather traits that sting our wounds and traumas like salt. If there appears to be a dichotomy or contradiction with one or more of them; for example, both loving and hating a person simultaneously, they may signify our anima/animus. The probability of such being the case goes up when they hold traits and/or abilities that we are not capable of yet but that we are awestruck by and admire. The intention afterward, of course, is to strive to face our fears to unify ourselves with our animus/anima so that the attainment of our goals is far nearer.

In the facing of our fears and by periodically working through the three Jungian-based methods to check in on our relationship with our anima/animus, we must begin to cultivate self-acceptance. Moving from the divine perfection that is initially characteristic of the color Violet, into lower colors of the spectrum, the proceeding one being Blue-Green Year, one must come to terms with human fallibility. 

Violet represents our crown and third-eye chakras, the crown being the embodiment of divine perfection and balance while the third-eye seeks to unify the feminine and masculine principles. The color blue rules the throat chakra, the vessel to speak our truth, and green presides over the heart chakra, whereby after the above-mentioned processes, we are ready to connect with others. Blue-Green Year is all about defining what we are looking for in our connections with others, how we aim to express that, and the parts of ourselves that we are NOT willing to sacrifice in the attainment of this. Below is an excerpt expressing a devil’s advocate POV regarding the present culture’s toxic positivity, reconsolidating the violet-blue-and-green components as we begin thinking about and preparing for Blue-Green Year (letting go of perfection and harnessing self-acceptance and expression).

“I really wonder if 'the all positive, no negative vibes' groups of people ever manage to find someone real, people who feel free to express differing points of views, because it is truly through their narrows lens that the most audacious part of me slips out under complicated and a surely unsuccessful duress to suppress it. I, therefore, do not expect perfection from myself, nor can I feasibly surround myself with people who live in a delusional fantasy that perpetuate the idea that they will find anyone incapable of committing any behavior that they deem faulty on some level. Neither do I expect perfection from others. It is a tiring, illusory, and a deplorable environment to be in when it perpetuates that dynamic. It is also practically impossible to hear out the wounds one harbors that compel them to turn their backs to 'negative vibes'', for they are not ones to open up about why, either, by very virtue of avoidance in the first place."

Sources

1. Man and His Symbols by Carl Jung

2. The Invisible Partners by John A Sanford

3. This Jungian Life Podcast: recommended podcasts about the a. Anima, b. Animus, c. The Mother Complex, and d. The Father Complex

The Spiritual Experience

No true spiritual experience wherein one goes through a lasting transformation is easy. In meditative realms, one punctuates the boundaries of things that one knows and holds true for themselves. The process may involve being catapulted into an altered state of consciousness due to an abrupt confrontation with the truth and synchronicity. Black holes usurp the illusory time and space and one communicates with oneself in an empty and desolate space. Most of the time, spiritual progress can be forged slowly but surely and most importantly, safely. No psychedelic is required in order to produce such results. 

Delving into an experience where space and time collapsed proves formidable. The true essence of being "outside of time" signifies that one carries with themselves a basin. This basin gets filled with the present moment's thoughts, intentions, and subliminal processes occurring at the mental, emotional, astral, and physical levels. To be outside of time is to be with timelessness– it is to unite the Self with ego consciousness. The basin shows one's infinite possibilities or pathways in life which are in flux at every single moment. The basin, therefore, has a prophetic element to it just as it could reflect the true intentions of one's past. This is most likely what divination methods such as the tarot and I Ching harness. 

Introducing Violet

It is from this experience that I'd like to introduce a spiritual being that I've come across. Her name is Violet, and I met her as I was astral projecting: it was in a world where one transcends the visible and where time loses its linearity. Violet is endowed with many characteristics that give her symbolic flavor.

The initial impression that I got from Violet was one of wisdom, strength, resilience, and evolved intelligence. She could have represented a future version of a collective group, and who's to say that time is not simultaneous when their simultaneity could very well lie just in their color (or frequency) fabric. Some physics theories proclaim that time is actually simultaneous and not occurring as we would normally perceive it (as if going in a linear fashion). Tuning into our highest selves is, therefore, not unlike tuning in to a specific radio station frequency. To arrive at communication with all of one's psyche in the most immediate sense, we must understand the power of three. I would suppose it has to do with the concept of contradiction first. We can get some idea of how this functions not only from my very first post here but also from this excerpt of a book called Dionysos by Richard Seaford.

Wielding the third component achieves "synchronous communication" with ourselves. Reading about Nietzsche and our sense of will, I think, would be this third component.

The Animus and Anima

This is where I'd like to introduce the concept of animus and anima, both discovered and developed by Carl Jung. The animus is the male counterpart of a female's psyche, whereas the anima is the female counterpart of a man's. Violet is a spiritual being whose animus is in harmonious cooperation with her predominant female aspect. For men wanting to engage in the meditation, later on, imagine that Violet is, instead, male and has a perfectly balanced anima. The animus goes through specific stages which I will not talk about at-length here, but the takeaway is that it often appears as the logical part of a woman’s psyche: it is the part of her associated with logos which, in essence, mean reason and rationality. If a woman is possessed by her animus, then she may be overcome by rigid and inflexible beliefs. At its best and most balanced, however, she is able to harness logic and reason to her benefit.

The Mythology

I also remarked that Violet, who not only suggests that to transcend the perception of the visible must attain unity and harmonious cooperation of their opposites (with the anima/animus being one significant part of this process), also has two cats– one is on the left and the other is on the right. I relate them to the mythic Egyptian cat Goddesses whose names are Ubasti (or Bastet) and Sekhmet.

Although Violet has a well-integrated animus, she is not without a well-developed divine feminine instinct. When self-awareness is suddenly thrown astray due to illness or trauma, one typically meets the instinctual, primitive, or irrational sects of their consciousness. If one then acquires normal functioning afterward, one realizes that every action was programmed in some way, whether deliberately or not. If one does not know the power that our programming has on virtually every instinct that we have, then our own self-programming becomes tainted by accident. It is, therefore, quite important and crucial that one goes through at least one experience in their life where there is a confrontation with truth so that one can live the life that they want. It is so that they can live a life with utmost constructive intention.

Sekhmet is a powerful warrior goddess who brought disease and destruction, but who nevertheless was revered for her healing powers and for protecting Pharaohs in the afterlife. She exemplifies the more destructive and violently serial qualities of our nature which can be satiated and brought to a gentler form. This gentler form is referred to as Ubasti and the two form the same soul. Pagans have used Ubasti for protecting women during childbirth as well as to shield against evil spirits undermining the fertility and procreation power of the female. Both are associated with the sun God Ra, with Bastet symbolizing the fertilizing component of the sun and Sekhmet the fiery and breathy part of it.

Could Sekhmet and Ubasti indicate a dichotomy that resides in feminine instinct? Like Dionysus, who portrays the frightening dichotomy between pleasure and pain, with which it may appear to be indistinguishable upon deep exploration, do Sekhmet and Ubasti place themselves at opposite ends of a spectrum? Sekhmet, the fierce protector who ravaged Egypt with disease and who destroyed the enemies of Ra, suddenly becomes the fierce protector of the female's most creative region, in the sense that it really does create. The sacral houses fertility and is the vessel of procreation, that which must be vehemently protected to secure the survival of the human race. The fit of rage so evident in Sekhmet's demeanor may actually be a defense against the destruction and an undermining of a woman's fertile power. Only when the intention to protect this part of ourselves is understood can it be channeled down into its softer counterpart, Ubasti. 

A Modern Portrayal

Some lesser physical qualities of Violet include a spitting image of Natasha's Black Widow costume, perhaps to symbolize the warrior aspect of Sekhmet imbued with revenge, strength, and fearlessness, and Cleopatra's hairstyle and facial features. There is doubtlessly an alluring and seductively murderous component to the former, seeming to suggest the erotic quality that couples with revenge that Sekhmet secretly endures, especially in association with the sacral.

Violet is not concerned with revenge, however. She, therefore, more effectively illustrates the gentler form of this dichotomy, Ubasti. With Violet's balanced countenance and manner of expressing herself, she also demonstrates a fragment of sexuality so often ignored as the carnal is often overrepresented. She represents, rather, sacred sexuality, which does involve awareness and attention to the higher metaphysical meaning and implication of divine feminine instinct and which encapsulates all that is mentioned in this article about the sacral. This does relate to exalted spiritual experiences where confrontation with truth is experienced: it is precisely the confrontation with truth that one can see what lies beneath the oversimplified and young interpretation of sexuality.

Applying Violet: The Meditation

To get to know Violet and what it means to us individually, we must first understand her messages, which bring together Jungian, Egyptian myth, and occult philosophical topics together. It leads us along a path of finally acknowledging the taboo. 

To start the following meditation, I would suggest drawing a triangle. On each end of the triangle at the bottom, you may write down or sketch any symbol, so long as you treat the bottom as sort of a spectrum. The triangle will permeate the third eye and crown chakras since this symbolism is accessing our most enlightened self. There is a reason why triangles are often associated with spiritual enlightenment. The other components of this meditation seek to balance the sacral and the solar plexus chakras.

To give an example, you may draw a lioness on one side to symbolize Sekhmet, and a cat on the other to depict Ubasti. Whether one is drawn on the left or right side is going to affect the meditation is open to interpretation, and one should do whatever feels instinctively right in that moment. Mythologically, the eye of Ra appears on the right, and since cats are both associated with that eye, perhaps it does not matter. On the other hand, we can probably associate Ubasti with the more protective and gentler aspects of the psyche, therefore, she might feel more at home on the left as that's traditionally associated with the eye of Horus. 

In this meditation, you must understand that you are Violet. If Violet appears to be separate, then it would indicate that she is a dissociated part of you, which means that you should find the missing pieces to complete the integration and, therefore, unify your Self and Violet.

To begin, get seated in a lotus position. You can have the triangle out in front of you to symbolize that you would like to understand the fundamental properties of opposites like yin and yang, and how to balance them.

Close your eyes and meditate for a few minutes. When ready, get into a tabletop position. Proceed to do about five cat-cow poses. It does not matter how many times you do so just as long as you go at your own natural pace and rhythm. These poses, perhaps unsurprisingly, tend to wake up Ubasti and Sekhmet in those who need to hear their messages.

Then continue with the following procession:

Downward facing dog for a few breaths

Plank pose

Chaturanga into cobra pose

Lower forearms to sphinx pose and spend several breaths in this pose. Feel the current of energy rise up and about. Let yourself be the Sphinx!

Afterward, in any order one wishes, one should do the following poses:

Low lunge

Crescent pose

Butterfly pose

Cobbler pose

Wild-leg fold

Garland pose

You may also do additional yoga poses listed in the pictures. The trick is to do whatever feels right and intimate with your own body-mind awareness.

End the yoga meditation in the lying down pose: savasana. 

In this last pose, take time to reflect upon your meditation while breathing deeply. Did you feel an energetic current? Which cat did you identify most with? Did you arrive at any epiphanies? What messages or flashes of insight did you receive? You may write these down after. 

You can repeat the meditation as often as you'd like as needed. The purpose of the meditation is to help you understand your higher self as well as the significance of sacred balance. It is also to release energies that no longer serve their purpose for us, as is often the goal of meditation.

Sources

“Cat Headed Beings - Sekhmet - Bast.” Cdn.preterhuman.net, cdn.preterhuman.net/texts/other/crystalinks/cat.html.

Seaford, Richard. Dionysos. London ; New York, Routledge, 2007.

‌“Why Was Sekhmet Important to Ancient Egyptians?” TheCollector, 31 May 2022, www.thecollector.com/why-was-sekhmet-important-to-ancient-egyptians/. Accessed 15 June 2022.‌

“Ubasti.” TheFreeDictionary.com, www.thefreedictionary.com/Ubasti#:~:text=Also%20known%20as%20Bastet%2C%20Ubasti%2C%20and%20Pasch%2C%20she. Accessed 15 June 2022.

1) On the nature of dreams

Dreams can simulate whole realities and they are able to maintain constancy somewhat. The people you see in them seem to have their own wisdom, life story, and autonomy. You know, however, that upon waking up, they were dissociated parts of you as you are the one having that dream. Often, the people in your dreams either represent a part of you or someone very close to you. Either way, with dream interpretation, dream characters are often closer than they appear.

In meditation, you realize that there is so much of the world that you are not completely conscious of– for if you were, you would be able to shape and formulate your dream landscape. That is why some of us can manifest– because we are conscious of the process leading up to that manifestation. To be conscious doesn't always mean to be conscious of the world outside us– but also within, and how it is embedded in the external.

In meditation, it is normal to have spirit guides that take the form and personification of animals. They are energy and through our associations we can give them particular bodily/personality qualities and characteristics. You may dream about animals sometimes and they symbolize something. In meditation, however, we are more conscious of it. We are not dreaming, yet we are feeling and healing the energy that may partake, unconsciously, in our dreams.

2) On God

I believe in God as in which nothing is greater than. God is all-encompassing, he is the Self, he is the Collective Unconscious, and to disrespect God is to disrespect our Self. Carl Jung said that the Self is the center of our personality. I am equating God to the summation of all selves, the one and ultimate Self, as neurons are tiny brains inside a bigger brain.

I believe in archetypal energies. According to my belief, inspired by Jung, God is all of them at once. God is the sacred circle of infinity, but he has been personified. He embodies the polarity of both man and woman and is actually the union of all polarities. In one experience of mine, I finally understood that to believe in God is to actually believe in oneself. If you don't believe in anything or anyone, then your fate will be dismal… you will forget your true purpose. Once you start believing, life forms; the essence of which is divine, harmonious, and balanced. To believe in Self is to believe that one can Be.

We are not supposed to know our truest essence, per se; rather, we are to simply live it. Though we are free to make our own rules, it is a test for ourselves to see whether our true purpose is truly our true purpose– to test whether or not we're willing to carry it with us wherever we go, even when circumstances may contradict that. For a lot of us, that purpose has to do with love!

God created us in "His" own image; so too, do we create God in our own image. What is the underlying revelation about this?

3) Plant & Animal Consciousness : A Meditation

That which has not occurred yet, is contained in the Unconscious.

This containment bespeaks itself everywhere, especially within every "living" being. Of course, however, one can say everything is living, but has been reduced and impurified down to man-made modification that most things are no longer in its pure form.

The quintessential tree in the garden, the prototypical flower in the pot, the human being, the squirrel, the branches– all contain a form of consciousness. They are not less conscious just because they do not possess a brain. Though as far as we know, they are unable to distinguish themselves as an entity from which ego arises, I believe they hold a different level of consciousness than we ourselves normally operate on and that I was able to become one with during a meditation, I think (as far as my definition and experience of oneness goes).

Welcome to the beginning of a step-by-step process suggesting one way to accept yourself for who you are and to cultivate a solid sense of self-esteem and confidence.

Violet's Protocol came to me one week in October 2021, seemingly out of nowhere, after deep yoga meditation where I employed the use of geometrically-significant sacred symbols and where I then perceived a myriad of synchronicities, a remarkable cold-air sensation in the space between my brows (the so-called third-eye) and sudden spiritual insights. The mystical insights were intertwined together that naturally constructed a beautifully neat storyline.

Inspired by their profundity and mystical and magical aura, I feel driven to share them. In the first year of Violet's Protocol, called Violet Year, one must harness, understand, and master the violet spirit within. One should also balance their Animus, or Anima-- depending on the gender one predominantly identifies themselves with (if any). Physical strength and agility are also developed in order to build a physical shield as well. It follows that one will enter into the Silver-Turquoise Year (which will be 2023 for me), whereupon verbal expression may become much easier, with more knowledge and innate comprehension of oneself. One can thus open their heart to the world after having formed a spiritual shield in the prior year. One should feel safer to. 

The next phases of developing self-confidence that I've discovered during this meditation are The Pink Year, where one will develop a sense of stoicism, maturity, grace, and poise and carry themselves that way; and afterwards, The Infrared Year. The latter year concerns itself with sexual exploration, the entertaining of wild desires, and the luxuriation of one's most basic and primitive senses. Finally, one will enter the Yellow-Orange Year, where one will have achieved an unshakeable confidence, insurmountable self-love, and a manifestation of their dreams that were previously held back by low self-esteem. One can still get to enjoy and bask in all the previous colors they have explored, but each year, the focus shifts. Each step is intended to logically follow the previous one in order to create a cohesive and healthy sense of Self. I am initiating this process, reflecting deeply on every step and octave, and will thus share them to humanity in hopes that this will be fortuitous. I believe it will be.

Here is one such post of reflections from the first couple of months of The Violet Year.

A) Fundamental Properties of Universe and Psyche

During my meditations, I have observed a few fundamental properties of Nature and, perhaps by extension, the Universe. One of which is the concept of balance. The second is polarity and opposites, which tie into balance (the yin and yang, the man and woman with nature supporting and appreciating diversity, electrons and protons, etc.). The intent of polarity is to balance the natural systems. 

The concept of soulmates (a manifestation of polarity) is an interesting one as it implies that there are individuals, who are said to form a bond so whole and strong that their beings merge into oneness. This is akin to amalgamation of two opposing forces into unity: one completes the other. Two cannot become one if their essence and nature of what they represent were not congruent, and yet they should be the embodiment of the antagonistic component symmetrical to each other.

The third is symmetry. Polarity signifies two opposite sides forming the same whole. This can be exemplified by the left and right hemispheres of the brain. In functioning in synchronicity, one side can perfectly complement the other. The intent of symmetry is harmonious unity.

The fourth is evolution. Anytime you try to fuse opposing sides you get change, transformation, and new perspectives. The intent of evolution is renewal and continuity.

B) Of the meditation experience in October 2021

There was a sense that we are not always necessarily who we look like (in a literal sense even), that our face is just a mask to hide our inner world, and that you can only start to see the truth when you truly look into someone's eyes while letting your guard down. A face can hide the pain, the wounds, and what we choose to forget. Once we find our Ugly; our Shadow, we have a choice. We can either love it or hate it. If we hate it, we live a lie. If we love it, then we can be anything we want to be and suddenly we know that not all is as it appears, not even to ourselves. There is either a huge freedom in knowing that or a sense of bewilderment and fear.

We take on whatever appearance we want, but beneath is a soul that is the Mirror of Truth. It's sometimes tucked away; some people are sitting on it. A woman doesn't see her inner blue twinkle because she is snuffing out the flames of darkness by sitting on her Shadow. She needs to overcome this darkness so that the presence of light begins to shine through. The Shadow is necessary to have light. In physics,  shadow is the absence of light whereas blue denotes a presence of light operating at a certain wavelength or frequency. The Mirror of Truth always finds a way through the eyes, though. When you are dreaming, if you look in the mirror, you'll see one of your true selves. It's not a randomly fabricated event: it's one of the most authentic experiences of our lives.

Do we confront our Mirror of Truth, or do we let it dictate our lives without us being aware of it? The choice rests in our hands at every moment, in every place. Let us not fear ourselves and let us instead embrace and love ourselves down to every wavelength, cell, and atom. We live in a world of creators who are not aware that they are artists of their own world. Life's purpose is a process of waking up to our Unconscious.

C) A Metaphor for the Unconscious

What you don't see is the repressed. What you don't see is what your mind blocks you from seeing, because perhaps you don't want to relive it, perhaps because there was pain and suffering, or because you know it's true but you don't see that fact at the same time.

On Tiamat, a planet where what you can't see suddenly is what you see in a split second, where suddenly the blinders from your vision get removed, you either faint from shock or come back a new person with new insights. It is a world of opposites, different from the world you are currently used to. Your secondary yet more powerful state of consciousness and being exists on that planet right now. She or he lives a separate life than you do, yet there is a communication network between you two. She lives the opposite life as you, influenced by what you're going through at this very moment. She knows the other side, and if you make contact with her, she can tell you what it's like. She walks the opposite path as you yet she is still part of you-- just what you cannot see.