Chicago Gnosis Podcast
by The Gnostic Academy of Chicago
Free lectures on spirituality, religion, mysticism, meditation, psychology, kabbalah, alchemy, tantra, sacred sexuality, runes, dreams, astral projection, kundalini, yoga, the Bible, and more. From the Gnostic Academy of Chicago, a non-profit organization.
Episodes
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The Secret Path of Initiation 07 The Mysteries of Halloween
Like many other beautiful holidays, Halloween has become so commercialized by our modern culture that people no longer understand its actual meaning. Through its playful depictions of horror and the grotesque, humanity sees little more than pleasure-seeking and superficial amusement—a distracting...
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Highlights | Modern Society Gets Sex All Wrong
An excerpt from the Gnostic Mysteries of Chastity. Sex is sacred when divinity's requirements are met. See how by studying the following books of Samael Aun Weor: The Mystery of the Golden Flower The Perfect Matrimony Treatise of Sexual Alchemy
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Highlights | Truth and Lies About Kundalini Awakening
Have you awakened your Kundalini, or your Kundabuffer? An excerpt from the Lecture Q&A of What is Initiation? Questions: You talked about Kundalini awakening at one point. How common would you say that is in the gnostic world? What about people who claim to have a sudden Kundalini awakening? What...
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The Way of the Bodhisattva 11 Wisdom: Selfless Realization through Direct Perception
Perception has many depths, heights, and qualities depending upon its level of conditioning. The more conditioned our perception, the greater our limitations and suffering; the less conditioned it is, the more alert, clear, and free our state becomes. By eliminating mistaken ways of seeing and...
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The Way of the Bodhisattva 10 Meditative Concentration: Establishing Serenity to Access Insight
Those who wish to comprehend and eliminate the internal causes of suffering must cultivate meditative concentration: the ability to serenely focus attention upon one thing with continuous application, so that the mind settles, thoughts diminish, and clarity opens one's consciousness. In this…
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The Way of the Bodhisattva 09 Diligence: Conscious Action on the Bodhisattva Path
As practitioners conserve, elevate, and purify their energies through ethics and patient discipline, they need to enact and direct such forces for the edification of theirs and others' spirituality. Such empowered efforts amplify benefit for oneself, community, and world through the laws of…
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The Way of the Bodhisattva 08 Patience: How to Voluntarily Endure Suffering
Our modern world deifies, celebrates, and defends anger. However, the world scriptures detail infinite reasons why this negative emotion is destructive and harmful. Despite conceptual knowledge about anger's detriments, extricating this afflictive state from one's mind stream is a daunting task....
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Gnostic Anthropology and Cosmology | Mayan Precepts of Awakening
A continuation of Mayan Principles of Being, this lecture explores the nature of psychological forces, attention, divine states, and mystical reality within The Flight of the Feathered Serpent, a book of Mayan esotericism. To understand the clarion call of its author, it is necessary to confront...
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The Way of the Bodhisattva 07 Carefulness and Vigilant Introspection: The Ethics That Lead to Genuine Freedom
Real ethics is not a dogmatic system of principles, parameters, or prerogatives that one must strictly follow to achieve enlightenment. They instead constitute psychological ways of being that permeate our mind stream, atmosphere, relationships, and communities. By modifying our conditioned…
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The Way of the Bodhisattva 06 Generosity: The Chaste Power of Conscious Love
The sexual force is the power of divinity to create through love, constituting the basis for generating and cultivating genuine virtues. Learn how the Buddhist paramita of generosity is taught within the three levels of religion (introductory, intermediate, and advanced); the nature of giving...
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Guided Practices | Om Masi Padme Hum Mantra, Visualization, and Relaxation
A prayer, relaxation, and visualization exercise from the Gnostic tradition of Samael Aun Weor, specifically an esoteric pronunciation of the traditional Buddhist mantra Om Mani Padme Hum. This exercise accompanies the Becoming a Vessel of Compassion lecture from The Way of the Bodhisattva…
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The Way of the Bodhisattva 05 Becoming a Vessel of Compassion
“When the mind has achieved absolute calm and silence, it can concentrate on the Inner Self. This concentration is done with the help of prayer. Pray to your Inner Self. Try to converse with your Inner Self. Remember that praying is conversing with God. You can pray without formulae; in other...
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Guided Practices | Awakening Compassion Through Concentration, Imagination, and Prayer
This spiritual exercise is known in some gnostic circles as the prayer for the irradiation of love, a direct means for awakening, developing, and empowering bodhichitta. Such an exercise can be practiced any time to inflame and inspire the consciousness towards alleviating humanity's suffering.…
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The Way of the Bodhisattva 04 Cultivating Bodhichitta Through Intention and Practice
“People are weary of so many theories, now they want practical matters. They do not want more theories, or more intellectual vagueness, or more exploitation. So, let us come to practical facts. Let us come to the point.” —Samael Aun Weor, The Major Mysteries Enacting enlightened, compassionate…
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Guided Practices | Relaxation, Self-Observation, and Ham-Sah Pranayama
Learn a simple relaxation exercise combined with self-observation and sexual transmutation, whereby one stills the mind, heart, and body, separates from the ego, and transforms creative energy to awaken consciousness. This exercise of Ham-Sah Pranayama accompanies the lecture on Bodhichitta:...
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The Way of the Bodhisattva 03 Bodhichitta: Alchemical Medicine for the Soul
While a Mahayana text, The Way of the Bodhisattva encodes tantric teachings about harnessing the creative sexual energy. Literally the seminal force in Tibetan Buddhist tantric texts, bodhichitta is the power of awakening enlightened compassion through selfless love, especially within a perfect...
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Gnostic Mysteries of the Bible | Alchemical Nativity of the Magician Christ
Christ was a divine magician (from the Persian magoosh, magushan, or high “priest”), demonstrated by his self-mastery and command over the elements (transforming water into wine, walking on water, healing the sick, etc.). His transformative abilities were also symbolized by the principles of...
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Guided Practices | Preliminary Exercises for Meditating on Melchizedek
This guided practice accompanies How to Meditate on Melchizedek. Learn how to prepare the body, heart, and mind for meditation, for by entering the eight steps of Raja or Royal Yoga, meditators can receive divine help from the mysterious Master Melchizedek. To learn more, you can reference the...
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Introduction to Gnostic Studies | How to Meditate on Melchizedek
On any Saturday the 13th, meditators can concentrate upon, visualize, and receive special spiritual help from Melchizedek: a mysterious Biblical figure representative of the earth’s divine intelligence. The guest instructor provides the necessary practical skills to perform this meditation, so as...
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The Way of the Bodhisattva 02 Bodhichitta: Liberation through Enlightened Compassion
"There is no loftier mission than to approach the Godhead nearer than other mortals, and to disseminate the divine rays among mankind." —Beethoven to Archduke Randolf when composing the Missa Solemnis Learn about the rare and impactful nature of bodhichitta: the joyful attitude that selflessly...
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The Way of the Bodhisattva 01 Introduction
For as long as space endures And for as long as living beings remain Until then may I too abide To dispel the misery of the world. ―Shantideva Compassion and generosity are the hallmarks of the most elevated souls, fully manifested within beings like Buddha, Jesus, Krishna, Moses, and all the...
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Spiritual Awakening | Guru Yoga in the Aquarian Era
The Age of Pisces was defined by a conservative adherence to lineage and tradition, since the deepest spiritual knowledge was never written down, but secretly transmitted from master to disciple. Only initiated candidates could receive tutelage under the auspices of a qualified adept, whereby the...
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Gnostic Meditation 08 Working with the Master Melchizedek
Celebrate both the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur: Oct. 2nd) and an upcoming Gnostic holiday (Saturday, December 13th) in relation to the spiritual Master Melchizedek. Discover how to atone for one’s defects and receive divine blessings from this enigmatic initiate on any day, but especially every...
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The Secret Teachings of Opera | The Sacred Feminine, Redemption, and Temptation of the Gods in Mefistofele (Act IV and Epilogue)
After tragically failing Margherita, Faust longs for the perfection and beauty of Ancient Greece (Arcadia, the prelapsarian world of Eden) where Mefistofele transports him to administer a more subtle, daring, and intense temptation: that of remaining in the lower heavens of the gods (initiates of...
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The Secret Teachings of Opera | The Fool, Lust, Insanity, and Pain of the Ninth Sphere in Mefistofele (Act III)
Margherita (the trapped and conditioned feminine consciousness), has lost her reason due to Faust’s abandonment and the death of her (divine) mother, since the sleeping potion had deleterious effects. Driven to insanity, the distressed Margherita, having born Faust’s child, drowns it in a pond to...
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The Secret Teachings of Opera | Seduction, Black Magic, and Witches’ Sabbaths in Mefistofele (Act II)
Through the gifts of his newfound diabolic companion, Faust recuperates his vitality and youth, capitalizing on his new abilities in the effort to seduce Margherita, a beautiful but naive young woman from town. To assist in the magician’s sensual escapades and dangerous liaison, Mefistofele...
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The Secret Teachings of Opera | Divine Tests, Temptation, and Holy Negation in Mefistofele (Prologue and Act I)
Like Beethoven, Arrigo Boito composed only one opera (Mefistofele), yet whose mystical allegory, musical power, and masterful lyricism continues to resonate with audiences worldwide. This clever yet profound opera also inspires, alarms, and, quite frequently, amuses. Based on medieval legends and...
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Spiritual Awakening | Spiritual Sleep and Mystical Death: Why We Are Unconscious and How to Positively Awaken
The Greek brother-deities Hypnos (sleep) and Thanatos (death) symbolize the deep significance of these phenomena in relationship to spiritual awakening. By learning about the ways humanity is unenlightened or unconscious, it becomes possible to develop our complete potential and awaken to the...
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Spiritual and Mental Health | Psychological Equilibrium
To enter spiritual initiation, one must have inner balance, fortitude, and wisdom from practical experience, because the ordeals for proving one’s candidacy in the mysteries are arduous. Without psychological equilibrium, any adversity, accidental or ordained, will throw a person into chaos and...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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…
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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...
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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...
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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....
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Spiritual Awakening | Chakras Are Good, But Not Everything: Spiritual Empowerment on the Path of Sanctity
"For every step that we take in the development of our occult powers, we must take a thousand steps on the path of sanctity." —Samael Aun Weor, The Major Mysteries While New Age doctrines fixate upon awakening psychic powers, what many so-called "spiritual" advocates fail to recognize is the...
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Spiritual Awakening | Inspiration, Aspiration, Expiration, Respiration: The Power of Breath and Sacred Sexuality
Every New Year brings about its impending challenges, conflicts, ordeals, and sufferings. Likewise, there is hope for rejuvenation and a revitalization of purpose despite the debts and psychological baggage of the past. For meditators, every effort to empower our spirituality promises the...
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Introduction to Gnostic Studies | Cultivating an Effective Spiritual Practice
New guest lecturer! Many people often turn to spiritual practice when dissatisfied and disillusioned by materialism. However, they may not know where to start when confronted with the abundance of information out there, or, after practicing for some time, do not get the results they hoped for. In...
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The Secret Teachings of Opera | Kamaduro and Karmasaya in La Bohème (Acts III and IV)
Karma is the law of cause and effect within every dimension of nature. However, while people study this divine law within diverse religious and philosophical traditions, they often ignore how our common use of sexual energy determines many deleterious outcomes for ourselves within the domains of...
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The Secret Teachings of Opera | Love and Adultery in La Bohème (Act II)
Act II builds on the suspense and burgeoning relationship between Rodolfo and Mimi, newfound neighbors and bohemian lovers in the Latin quarter of Paris. Their spark of divine love is juxtaposed with the contrasting passion and suffering of Marcello and Musetta, the latter whose adulterous…
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The Secret Teachings of Opera | Lust and Fornication in La Bohème (Act I)
While revered throughout the world for its impassioned arias and romantic motifs, La Bohème conveys troubling messages regarding the nature and trajectory of modern living, particularly concerning sexual relations. Discover how Puccini, a Masonic initiate, encoded within his supercilious and...
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The Secret Path of Initiation 05 The Major Mysteries
After demonstrating maturity, ethics, and integrity in the probationary path, candidates of initiation are granted the opportunity to advance in greater degrees of spiritual development. Through a perfect matrimony, a couple can strive, overcome, and develop themselves in the beginning stages of...
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The Secret Teachings of Opera | Alchemy, Kabbalah, Tarot, and Psychology in La Bohème
While alchemy, kabbalah, tarot, and psychology have developed as distinct traditions throughout history, they share profound roots within the esoteric mystery schools of antiquity. Rather than forming a new age hodgepodge or vague constellation of disparate belief systems, these principles convey...
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Articles | The Advent of Samael
Learn and celebrate how one individual changed the world. Article Text: The Advent of Samael References from Glorian Publishing Who is Samael Aun Weor? (Articles and Resources) Samael: The Fifth Angel (Course) Get Spiritual Strength Through Blessed Food and Drink: Have Eucharist at Home
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To Thine Own Self Be True 10 Master Your True Self
All of the principles outlined in this course point towards a specific goal: divine realization upon the inner path of spiritual initiation. By mastering our psychology, sexuality, and sufferings in daily life, we become radically distinct individuals characterized by the highest ideals, embodied...
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Introduction to Gnostic Studies | Karma: The Eternal Law of Action and Consequence
Guest lecturer! Amidst the complexities and difficulties of life is a simple truth: every action produces related consequences. While true in physics, this dynamic is even more profound in relation to our behaviors, mindset, social interactions, and psychology. See how to affect genuine spiritual...
About this show
Free lectures on spirituality, religion, mysticism, meditation, psychology, kabbalah, alchemy, tantra, sacred sexuality, runes, dreams, astral projection, kundalini, yoga, the Bible, and more. From the Gnostic Academy of Chicago, a non-profit organization.
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