Chicago Gnosis Podcast

Spiritual and Mental Health | How to Properly Nourish Body, Heart, and Mind (Or Else Die in Thirds)

"Dying is an art, like everything else. I do it exceptionally well." —Sylvia Plath, “Lady Lazarus”

Little do people acknowledge that before physical death, we first die in thirds (in bodily capacity, emotions, and mind—one at a time, or two to three if we’re reckless and daring). This depends on how often, quickly, and intensely we exhaust our resources through the abuses of everyday life, the latter which have produced an epidemic of physical and mental illness. However, healthy living is also an art, and a more preferable one with verifiable guiding principles, practices, and results. See how through an exploration of diet; religious observances around meat and vegetarianism; the five tattvas of esoteric Hinduism (or the energetic, spiritual elements in food); the three gunas of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras; the three brains and their proper and improper functioning within Gnostic psychology; the symptomologies and spiritual causes of physical, emotional, and mental illness; the imbalances of body, heart, and mind in ultramodern living; meditative exercises for conscious management and optimal self-maintenance; the nature of and need for true inner equilibrium to attain high initiation; relevant practices for developing greater personal and social harmony, and much more.

Spiritual and Mental Health | Spiritual Healing Through Divine Medicinal Masters

Genuine spiritual healers are rare. Likewise, the process for finding and vetting them is also arduous, uncertain, and time-consuming, usually without positive results given the prevalence of charlatans and “wolves in sheep’s clothing” (Matthew 7:15) who are eager to provide their services for a good buck. This is why it is more practical and beneficial to become one’s own healer, doctor, and master, since it is not only difficult to find uncorrupted traditions and practitioners with proven track records, but that real divine healers are not to be found primarily in the physical world, but in the internal worlds. Likewise, by awakening consciousness in the inner dimensions we inhabit during the normal hours of sleep, we also have more direct means of accessing and knowing the source of legitimate healing, which does not come at any price except a life of virtue and sacrifice for humanity. Discover and apply verifiable, reliable, and effective techniques from the Gnostic tradition of Samael Aun Weor to treat the spiritual causes of illness, thereby transforming oneself into a true Gnostic priest, magician, shaman, or healer.

Gnostic Anthropology and Cosmology | Mayan Principles of Being

The Mayans were not only advanced in astronomy, astrology, and mathematics, but also spiritual psychology. Explore the nature of our internal universe and the way to awaken consciousness through Mayan symbolism, mythos, and principles, beautifully demonstrated within The Flight of the Feathered Serpent, a revolutionary book of Mayan esotericism.

Spiritual and Mental Health | The Five Causes of Illness

While modern occidental medicine recognizes and treats physical symptoms of disease, such prescriptions often fail to address the internal causes of illness, primarily since health is not merely a physical reality, but a multidimensional problem. The Gnostic tradition, on the other hand, offers deeper remedies for the psychological, metaphysical, and internal causes of sickness that can safely complement the work of medical professionals without causing serious complications. This is because complete human beings are not merely material, but energetic, conscious, and spiritual, and by simultaneously correcting both external infirmities and their internal causes, symptoms are alleviated and the root of disease can be comprehensively cured. See how through an exploration of the Tree of Life: a map of our body, psyche, and mind; the three brains of esoteric psychology; and the art and science of meditation.

Spiritual Awakening | Awakening is Not Always Positive: Manifesting, the Law of Attraction, and Black Magic

“And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” —Daniel 12:2

Not all “spiritual” awakenings are positive, demonstrated by the pervasive testimonies of those who profess enlightenment while their lives fall apart. Much of what is promulgated as legitimate mystical experience is often the byproduct of psychological negativity and internal conditions of mind, not the liberated, spontaneous, and free consciousness that knows how to resolve problems with intuition (the ability to discern and know without having to think). Learn how to differentiate between the illusory perceptions of conditioned selfhood and the harmonizing, equilibrating states of divine reality through practical exercises from authentic spiritual traditions.

Spiritual Awakening | Kundalini Awakening? Think Again! How Most People Experience Kundabuffer Instead

Numerous spiritual traditions speak about the miraculous power of Kundalini, the transformative energy and intelligence of the Divine Mother. However, much propaganda abounds regarding its requirements, effects, manifestation, and evolution within the individual. What people don’t realize is that the widespread psychological imbalances, confusion, and dangers attributed to Kundalini is actually its opposite: Kundabuffer, symbolized by the tempting serpent of Eden (Genesis 3:1), the fiery serpents that afflicted the Israelites in their desert sojourn (Numbers 21:6), and the inverted tail that characterizes demons (Revelations 12:4). Kundalini is different: the brazen serpent of Moses that redeems and heals (Numbers 21:8-9); the prudence, serpentine wisdom, and dove-like harmlessness that guides authentic initiates (Matthew 10:16); the sacred power that uplifts the Son of Man (John 3:14) and the Pentecostal tongues of fire or Holy Spirit that descends upon the inspired apostles (Acts 2:3). The way to know and experience the difference depends on a person’s ethics, purity, and cooperation within a perfect matrimony, not expensive workshops, fees, or blessings from a “guru.” By fulfilling spiritual laws through the qualifications of the heart, it becomes possible to work with the real power of divinity, the sexual force that allows one to be truly born again (John 3:5).

The Secret Teachings of Opera | Spiritual Nights and Gnostic Soteriology in Fidelio (Act II)

Every disciple of the straight and narrow way that leads to life (Matthew 7:13-14) must inevitably experience the afflictive consequences of their former actions. The question becomes if they do so with resignation, acceptance, and perseverance, so that by consciously and patiently paying what one owes before the divine law, spiritual debts are reconciled and wisdom is cultivated. However, the process is a prolonged and grueling one, designated by some authors as “dark nights of the soul.” In such moments of despair, loneliness, and abandonment, the practitioner lacks inner illumination to guide them forward in the psychological work, or as Christ exclaimed on the cross: “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46). While spiritual nights are painful and experienced by everyone in the Gnostic path, they are a necessary step towards self-realization, for ordeals and tests are fundamental for proving one’s candidacy in the mysteries. As Beethoven demonstrated in his life and his only opera, the initiate can overcome the punishment of the law through tenacity, negotiation, forgiveness, and supreme faith in divinity. See how in the conclusion of Beethoven’s only opera, whereby Florestan seeks his liberation from the prison of karma with the help of his courageous wife Leonora, the divine soul that descends like an angel from heaven to redeem the fallen Sophia.

The Secret Teachings of Opera | Theophany and Spiritual Descent in Fidelio (Act I)

Disguised as Fidelio, a male prison guard, Leonora seeks access to her incarcerated husband's secret cell in the effort of freeing him. Like other metaphors in religion, the gnostic mythos describes the descent of divine light into the prison of the mind, seeking to liberate and elevate Pistis Sophia (the revolutionary consciousness) back to her rightful spiritual hierarchy. In the same manner, Leonora (the "light of Leo," Helios, the Sun, Christ), disguises herself within the world of forms to perform a very sacred mission: the redemption and liberation of her forsaken husband Florestan, wrongly imprisoned due to political rivalry. Don Pizarro, the corrupt politician who governs the prison and Florestan's persecution, symbolizes the gnostic archons, karma, and metaphysical laws that punish and oppress Pistis Sophia's efforts towards self-realization. Discover how our own inner divinity (Leonora, the divine embodiment of the Christic light) makes super-efforts to orchestrate the greatest work in the cosmos: the liberation of the psyche from suffering and the complete development of our human potential.

The Secret Path of Initiation 06 The Venustic Initiations

Mastery is not the end of spiritual development, for while an individual can acquire, cultivate, and express their soul in this physical world, such a laudable achievement does not signify perfection in mastery. While many masters exist in Nirvana, heaven, or bliss, few are willing to renounce their happiness, return to this physical world, and guide humanity out of suffering. However, this is the essential requirement for incarnating Christ, the divine forces of boundless, enlightened compassion represented in many religions. Discover superior stages of initiation symbolized by Christ’s mystical life in the Gospels, or how a developed human being enters a true inner revolution against their own psychological defects, thereby performing a tremendous humanitarian mission.

The Secret Teachings of Opera | Karma, Archons, Aeons, the Demiurge, and Salvation in Beethoven's Fidelio

Beethoven's only opera encodes tremendous metaphysical truths gleaned from his own inner spiritual development on the initiatic path. What is more remarkable is that he conveyed gnostic principles on the demiurge, archons, aeons, and redemption without physical access to classical gnostic texts. This is because as a master of meditation, he was privy to knowledge inaccessible to the mind, personality, or senses, and through his psychological work, was able to witness, live, and portray first hand the very root source of such knowledge informing the conception and documentation of the Gnostic Gospels and Nag Hammadi corpus. He composed Fidelio not only to musically uplift humanity's level of being, but also to teach the realities of divine law (karma), atonement, and the esoteric spiritual work for candidates of the mysteries. Such wisdom is elucidated by Samael Aun Weor's rich commentary on The Gnostic Bible: The Pistis Sophia Unveiled, which serves as the basis for future viewings of Beethoven's masterpiece. Discover the deep insights of this truly gnostic opera, and how a prophet of music demonstrated true love for divinity and the overpowering realities of Pistis Sophia's salvation (the penitent soul who longs for and aspires to the light).