We are part of a divine family. — Some time ago, someone educated me on something about spirituality that, at the time, I found to be truly ridiculous. He was a well-read Filipino occultist, acquainted with local folk Christian traditions. He said that if there is a “God the Father” and a “God the Son”, then it follows…

How do you capture an elemental spirit? — Mainstream thought seems to be biased towards a materialist perspective. In other words, many of us are used to thinking that for something to be real, it has to be measurable. But so many things can’t be measured! Functions of consciousness, especially spiritual experiences, are hard to capture. Nevertheless, they…

A reflection on “The Fool” in tarot. — The mythic journey begins with the hero in a familiar place. After going on an adventure, the innocent child returns as a wiser adult. This is what is represented by the tarot card called “The Fool”. In “The Holistic Tarot”, Benebell Wen interprets the upright Fool as someone who has…

Old myths are echoed in church halls. — My understanding of Catholic mythology is based on the stories I was raised with. It’s interesting to note that this spiritual system follows a template of belief that is shared across cultures. Here it is: God is the highest good, the first thing that ever moved. All things exist within…

Bridging the gap between material and spiritual. — A few months ago, I published an essay called “Toward a psychological study of occult phenomena”. There, I talked about how science is biased towards the notion that everything can be reduced to the interaction of small parts. This materialist paradigm can’t explain things like consciousness or paranormal phenomena such…

Spirituality is an important dimension of the human experience. — The All is mind; the Universe is mental. — The Kybalion The old sages and shamans have always understood that there is a world beyond the self, and that all people across all dimensions, share this world. The individual is part of their environment and they can’t be observed separately…

Who are the people attracted to woo woo? — In the past year, I was involved with a local New Age collective. My occult studies were discovered by a tarot reader, who connected me with other readers. Eventually, I met angel workers, crystal healers, and witches. It’s interesting how they often called it the “spiritual community”. True enough, New…

Don’t blame the stars for your bad choices. — If I’m being honest, I’m quite hesitant to share this, knowing how most people feel about astrology. Within academic circles, it’s well-established that astrology doesn’t hold much empirical value, but anywhere else, it’s intuitively understood to be relevant and useful. …

An essay about my favorite cocktail: the Negroni. — The first time I met the Negroni was at a fresh, neon-lit college bar. I asked the bartender for their strongest drink. “We have a drink made entirely of alcohol,” she said. Without knowing what it was, I ordered it. It was ridiculously cheap for such an elegant drink. Every…