Abramelin: an ancient, rigorous, long-term ceremonial ritual to purify one’s inner sanctum, connect with their holy guardian angel, and inspire optimal performance in all aspects of life.
Abyss: a vast sub-ocean in the psyche associated with the unconscious mind; a threshold where individuals confront their deepest fears, desires, and inner conflicts.
Acontextual: lacking context or background information, making it difficult to comprehend or interpret.
Affirmations: positive statements that can help a person overcome self-sabotaging and negative thoughts.
Aftershock: a subsequent or delayed reaction to a painful experience, such as renewed feelings of distress, anxiety, or other responses triggered by the original event.
Alchemy: the art of simulating nature, synonymous with spiritual development; the lost science of accelerating natural processes for the magnum opus or philosopher’s stone.
Anima/Animus: the Jungian concept of an opposing inner self, representing the unconscious feminine side in men (anima) and the masculine side in women (animus).
Archetypes: fundamental, innate symbols, images, and behaviour patterns of the collective unconscious that recur in myths, dreams, and cultural narratives.
Art Therapy: an expressive therapy that uses the creative process of making artwork to improve a person’s well-being. Astral Plane: a mystical plane of reality like the etheric realm, distinct from the material world.
Astral Projection: using methods like visualization, deep meditation, or lucid dreaming to have out-of-body experiences in which one accesses the astral plane or etheric realm.
Atma Vichara: a yogic self-inquiry method that urges individuals to question and examine the core of their being, thoughts, feelings, and awareness deeply and repetitively.
Attachment Styles: patterns of behaviours affecting relationships that manifest as defence mechanisms in childhood and persist through adulthood.
Attachment Theory: a psychological framework that explores the interactions between a child and their primary caregiver, emphasising how early childhood relationships shape adult life.
Auxiliary: supporting elements that accompany a primary one, which may influence factors related to the initial element.
Bythos: a Gnostic principle attributed to manifesting the material universe, conceptualised as a self-reading book.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT): a psychotherapeutic approach to correct distorted thought patterns, based on how thoughts about situations influence feelings and behaviours.
Cognitive Dissonance: mental discomfort from holding contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values, sometimes experienced when confronted by knowledge without a context to relate to anything else.
Collateral Damage: secondary consequences of an event, such as sensations present during a traumatic experience that can act as auxiliary triggers, unconsciously re-enacting the original event.
Collective Unconscious: the deepest layer of the unconscious mind shared by all human beings, containing archetypes and symbolic representations.
Compartmentalisation: the isolation of disturbing thoughts, emotions, or beliefs into separate mental vaults to manage distress, cognitive dissonance, or acontextual experience.
Congruence: the alignment between different aspects of an individual, like thoughts, feelings, behaviours, and self-image.
Consciousness: the state of awareness that allows individuals to perceive, interpret, and interact with the world.
Coping Mechanisms: unconscious or preconscious strategies to protect oneself from distressing thoughts, feelings, situations, or memories.
Decluttering: identifying, acknowledging, and releasing emotional baggage stored within the unconscious mind, similar to tidying up physical spaces.
Déjà Vu: a phenomenon where an individual feels like they have experienced a situation before, even though it is happening for the first time, with a strong sense of familiarity.
Desensitising: the gradual reduction of responsiveness to a stimulus, achieved through repeated mental re-exposure.
Deshadowing: recognising, exploring, and accepting the aspects of the Self that have been relegated to the unconscious mind, consciously integrating them.
Dialectics: a method of examining contradictions to arrive at a more comprehensive understanding, often leading to the reconciliation of opposing viewpoints.
Divine Feminine and Masculine: complementary archetypal gender principles that transcend biological sex.
Ego: the conscious, executive principle mediating the psyche; a psychological mechanism characterised by self-interest and self-preservation driven by fear, which regulates perception, awareness, memory, and cognitive processes.
Empathy: the capacity to understand and share the feelings, perspectives, and experiences of others, sharing their emotional state—emotional empathy, not cognitive empathy.
Engram: a negative mental imprint of a painful or traumatic experience stored in the unconscious mind and the body’s cells, not the ordinary memory banks—using reverie, one can process engrams to desensitise triggers.
Epigenetics: the study of heritable changes in gene expression or cellular phenotype that occur without altering the DNA sequence itself—for our purposes, generational traumas that piggyback on DNA, activating certain genes.
Entrainment: tuning an individual’s psychological rhythms with external cues, such as speech patterns or behaviours.
Esoteric: intended for or likely to be understood only by those with a specialised interest or insider knowledge, often involving symbolism, allegory, and metaphors.
Etheric Realm: a non-physical dimension or plane of existence that interpenetrates and interacts with the physical world, accessible through altered states of consciousness.
Fixed Mindset: a belief that one’s abilities, intelligence, talents, and characteristics are genetic—innate and unchangeable.
Flow: a merged state of action and awareness where individuals experience effortless control, time distortion, and a loss of self-consciousness—athletes call this ‘the zone.’
Gaslighting: psychological manipulation that undermines another’s perception of reality, causing them to doubt their own thoughts, feelings, memories, or sanity.
Generational Patterns: unconscious behaviours, beliefs, values, and attitudes passed down from parents to children.
Generational Trauma: psychological wounds passed down from one generation to another through coping mechanisms, entrained behaviours, epigenetics, or direct exposure.
Grandiosity: an inflated sense of one’s own importance, superiority, or abilities, characterised by a tendency to overestimate one’s talents, achievements, and potential.
Growth Mindset: the belief that abilities, intelligence, and talents can be developed through effort, perseverance, and learning from mistakes.
Hero’s Journey (Monomyth): a narrative framework for the universal tale of going on an adventure, facing a crisis, receiving a reward, and returning home a hero.
Higher Self: a self-actualised aspect of one’s identity that embodies enlightenment and unity with the divine.
Human Condition: the collective state of human existence, encompassing various dimensions, such as its physical, emotional, psychological, social, and spiritual aspects.
Id: the primitive, instinctual part of the psyche that operates on the pleasure principle, seeking immediate gratification of basic biological and psychological needs.
Individuation: the philosophical, mystical process of integrating the conscious and unconscious aspects of the psyche for psychological wholeness and self-actualisation.
Inner child: the emotional and psychological aspects of one’s childhood experiences that influence one’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviours in adult life.
Inner Critic: the part of the psyche that engages in self-judgement and negative self-talk, representing internalised criticism from others, a voice of the superego.
Integration: the coordination of unresolved aspects of oneself into a more cohesive and harmonious whole.
Introjection: imposing thoughts, beliefs, or behaviours onto another person, aligning their mental and emotional states with those of the introjector, leading to a loss of autonomy.
Introspection: the examination or observation of one’s own thoughts, feelings, sensations, and experiences.
Invalidation: the overt or subtle act of dismissing, rejecting, or denying someone’s thoughts, feelings, or experiences.
Jungian Psychology: a school of psychology that emphasises unconscious processes, symbolic meanings, and integrating the unconscious aspects of the Self.
Kintsugi: the Japanese art of golden repairs, repairing broken pottery or ceramics with gold-filled lacquer to celebrate the vessel’s history and enhance its value.
Magnum Opus: the overarching goal of the alchemical process, representing the quest for personal transformation and spiritual awakening, often symbolised by the philosopher’s stone.
Major Arcana: the trump suit of the tarot deck, typically containing 21 cards representing fundamental aspects of the human condition, archetypes, and life stages.
Memento Mori: a Latin phrase meaning ‘remember you must die’, a reflection on mortality, impermanence, and the importance of living fully in the present moment.
Mindfulness: a mental practice and state of awareness characterised by paying deliberate attention to the present moment with openness, curiosity, and acceptance.
Monad: a fundamental unit representing the comprehension of the nature of reality, consciousness, and the cosmos; a primordial, indivisible entity from which all reality arises—similar to Jung’s concept of Pleroma, divine oneness of all.
Monomyth: see Hero’s Journey
Mystical Revelations: experiences in which individuals perceive direct insights, truths, or spiritual messages beyond the realm of ordinary perception.
Narcissism: a coping trait characterised by grandiose self-importance, craving for validation and admiration, lack of empathy, and lack of a functioning ego to mediate the Self.
Negative Self-Talk: murmuring, complaining, or talking to oneself negatively or with derogatory terms, including the projection of negativity onto situations and others.
Neural Path: the connection formed between neurons (nerve cells) in the brain, creating pathways for the transmission of electrical and chemical signals.
Neuroplasticity: the brain’s ability to reorganise itself by forming new neural pathways throughout life, allowing neurons to adapt to injuries and new experiences.
Occultism: the study of secret practices, such as alchemy, magic, extra-sensory perception, astrology, and divination.
Paradox: a statement, proposition, or situation that appears self-contradictory or logically absurd, but may point to a truth.
Personal Unconscious: the part of the psyche that holds unresolved emotions, hidden desires, and repressed memories that influence thoughts, behaviours, and dreams.
Philosopher’s Stone: a substance with transformative properties; a legendary product of nature with life-giving attributes, the least of which is to turn base metals into gold.
Pleasure Principle: the driving force behind human behaviour—the indulgence of instinctual desires and avoidance of pain.
Pleroma: the totality of divine powers; source of all existence.
Preconscious: the part of the mind just below the level of conscious awareness, encompassing thoughts and memories that can be brought into consciousness with minimal effort.
Premeditatio Malorum: a Stoic exercise of visualising adversities or worst-case scenarios, preparing individuals mentally and emotionally for challenging situations.
Projection: a coping mechanism in which an individual attributes their own unwanted thoughts, feelings, or impulses to another person.
Psyche: an ancient Greek term meaning the soul, now synonymous with the mind due to psychology’s scientific approach to studying the soul.
Psychopathy: antisocial personality disorder, characterised by impaired empathy and bold, disinhibited, egotistical traits.
Quarantine: full repression, a defence mechanism in which particularly disturbing or conflicting emotions, memories, or thoughts, are sequestered from the conscious mind.
Rehabilitation: the process of restoring someone to health after an illness, injury, or addiction, involving forms of therapy, medical care, or psychological support.
Remote Viewing: a learned mental skill that enables individuals to access and perceive information about distant targets using their consciousness, similar to astral projection.
Re-parenting: a method of healing emotional wounds from childhood by nurturing the inner child in ways one’s caregivers didn’t.
Repressed Memories: memories that have been unconsciously blocked and quarantined due to their association with a high level of stress or trauma.
Resilience: the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties.
Reverie: a state of deeply focused attention that enables one to revisit, not just remember, traumatic experiences and process them.
Ritual: a practice performed in a prescribed manner imbued with personal significance or to achieve a specific outcome.
Sabaoth: a figure in Gnostic cosmology who rose above his narcissistic creator’s influence through self-realisation and pursuing divine unity.
Sacred Space: a physical or conceptual location imbued with spiritual significance or symbolic meaning within religious, cultural, or personal contexts.
Schadenfreude: the feeling of pleasure or satisfaction derived from the misfortune, failures, or suffering of others. Friedrich Nietzsche called it ‘the revenge of the impotent.’
Self: the central organising principle of the psyche, embodying wholeness, integration, and transcendence beyond the limitations of the ego; the psyche itself.
Self-Help: practices, strategies, and resources that empower individuals to enhance their well-being, achieve personal goals, and lead more fulfilling lives.
Self-Love: nurturing, accepting, and caring for oneself unconditionally, bringing appreciation, compassion, and respect for one’s own well-being.
Shadow, or Shadow Self: the unconscious aspects of the personality the ego does not identify in itself, containing repressed or disowned qualities, traits, and feelings.
Shadow Work: a process of introspection aimed at uncovering and integrating the unconscious aspects of the psyche, known as the shadow.
Stoicism: a philosophical school of thought emphasising virtue, resilience, and tranquillity in the face of challenges, advocating for a life guided by wisdom.
Superego: a regulatory mechanism overseeing the ego, composed of the morals internalised from society and family, as well as cultural norms and values.
Synchronicity: the serendipitous occurrence of events that appear related but have no discernible causal connection.
Synergy: the combined and enhanced effect produced by the cooperation or interaction of multiple elements.
Taboo: a cultural prohibition or restriction against certain behaviours, practices, beliefs, or subjects considered unappealing or unthinkable.
Tarot: a deck of cards, typically containing 78, with symbolism and art used for divination, spiritual guidance, and self-reflection; a popular card game in parts of Europe.
Triggers: stimuli associated with trauma or painful memories that elicit strong emotional or psychological reactions.
Unconscious: a vast and complex part of the mind that is inaccessible to the conscious mind, yet significantly influences behaviour, emotions, and experiences.
Valence: the unconscious adoption of another’s personality traits as a coping method, including parents, friends, enemies, or even characters; an introject.
