by Matthew Koren | Jan 10, 2023 | Community Conversations
We covered a bit about tradition in our last post, yet there’s more to explore here. Do you ever question your traditions? What you do and why you do it? Do you ever wonder what other people in our human family do? Or theorize around what other possible ways of celebrating our holidays could look like? Well, so do we. We’re curious about it all; the traditions, the superstitions, the rituals and the rites. There’s something enchanting about a unified action that’s stood the test of time. In this blog post, we’ll cover some of the traditions that different folks adhere to. Whether they’re cheering champagne glasses or gobbling grapes, knocking bread on the walls or throwing ceramic dishes on the ground. We’re going to explore some of these traditions to feel into the myriad ways our human family celebrates and honors the shifting calendar year.
Cleansing Traditions
There are many ways to celebrate the year coming to an end, and the New Year coming. Some traditions, before the get into the celebrations, focus on the cleansing and purification (wink wink, nudge nudge; if you haven’t read our last blog post, get involved!). These traditions include the Puerto Rican tradition, where you’re meant to cleanse and clean your house to start out the New Year. Cleaning everything is believed to start your year off on a pure, unsullied canvas upon you can paint a brand new, brilliant masterpiece.
Another cleansing tradition emerges from the Irish tradition, where folks are encouraged to knock a loaf of bread throughout the walls of their home. This is, as lore has it, done to ward off evil spirits and keep the home protected for the year to come.
The last ‘cleansing’ tradition we’ll cover is coming from Denmark, and doesn’t necessarily cleanse your space as much as it creates some clean up for you to do, in case your home is already sparkling clean! It’s tradition in Denmark to throw old plates, breaking them on the ground in order to welcome in good luck for you and your loved ones.
Food Traditions
Now that we’ve covered some of the cleansing traditions, let’s explore the celebrations that incorporate the foods that bring us all together during the holidays. There are so many traditions around the world that encourage people to gather together with trust and love in their hearts. The common denominator here? Food. We have so many ways of celebrating our human family’s cultures, and the ones that involve food seem to always go over well.
First, we have Japan, where it’s customary to enjoy a bowl of soba noodles on New Year’s Day. Then there are folks in Haiti who share bowls of a pumpkin joumou soup while our friends in France slurp flutes of champagne. We’re not sure why yet, but it seems as if folks in Spain eat 12 grapes as a tradition. In Mexico, homemade tamales make the perfect New Years gift for your friends and neighbors. Down in Brazil, folks fancy a beach day on New Years day while up in Canada, you’re likely to find many people out on the ice going ice fishing. In case you’re looking for a tradition to really boost your luck in the upcoming year, be like the Greek and hang an onion on the outside of your door and take notice when it sprouts!
So there you have a few traditions from around the world, spanning from cleansing and cleaning traditions and superstitions, to different food traditions. Of course we didn’t cover everyone’s traditions, so if you have one to add to the mix, please include them in the comments below! Enjoy the New Year, however you observe it’s dawning, and blessings to you and all your loved ones, friends.
by Matthew Koren | Dec 15, 2022 | Community Conversations
It has been said, in many traditions, that the way you begin each new year will set the tone for the year ahead. Every country honors this calendrical change differently. Some folks celebrate with soul food and champagne, while others may focus on avoiding bad luck or tending their livestock.
In the US, we find ourselves living in a culture that focuses more on the celebration than the cleansing, don’t we? It’s important to know that each has their important role within the New Year experience. Of course, ringing in the New Year* with celebratory optimism and good cheer is a big win. Equally victorious, however, is the under-emphasized cleansing and clearing of our spaces.
There are some cultures that hold superstitions that cleaning on New Year’s Day will bring misfortune in the year ahead. Whether or not you’re superstitious, why not clean now, in December? It will surely feel better to celebrate with clean energy.
In this blog post, we’re going to cover some basics when it comes to ritualistic cleansing and purification for the end of the year. Our hope is that you read this and feel empowered to purify your space (and your Self, in the process), in order to enter into 2023 with optimal good fortune.
As Outside, so Inside…
When it comes to the clearing and cleansing, there’s a dance of reciprocity to acknowledge. We first decide, internally, that we’d like to cleanse ourselves and start the year with energy anew. Next, we go through a process of cleansing our outer world.
This could look like removing any clutter from our home and office and sweeping the floors (always moving towards, & eventually out your door, energetically). After clearing the space of physical objects that aren’t necessary or are holding denser energies that aren’t aiding in your development and evolution, we can then move into the subtle realms.
Smudging your home and office is an essential aspect of purification. White sage is a wonderful plant ally for this work; burning the sage and focusing your intention on clearing your space of any negative energy, you can move around your space, allowing the smoke to purify every corner, nook and cranny.
Burning and Bathing
Now that the physical space has been cleared, the non-physical can be cleansed as well. Clearing the skies of our hearts and minds is an integral component of our spiritual evolution.
Perhaps you experienced some hardship this last year. Perhaps there’s some lingering feelings that are weighing you down. This is the perfect time for a cleansing in all realms! So write it down; any phrases that include words like ‘ought’, ‘should’, ‘have to’ or ‘must’…draft them and prepare your fire. Wherever you can create a safe place to have a fire, create it with intention. Offer any burnable items that you found in your cleansing process, and allow for the transmutation to take shape.
After holding space for a transformational fire, one can then move into relationship with water. If you have access to a natural body of water, like a lake, river or the ocean, that is wonderful. If not, a shower or bath can work wonders, as well. The key aspect here is setting the intention to be cleansed, asking for support for this cleansing for the Highest Good, and entering with a willfulness to be changed.
There you have it, a simple guide to working with the elements to cleanse in preparation for the New Year. May this serve you, and those around you!
*Where does this phrase even come from, you may ask? In 1850, Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote “Ring Out, Wild Bells”; a poem that emphasized the importance of honoring beginning and endings with the sounding of bells. Share with your friends and loved ones this holiday season; who doesn’t love a poetry reading!?
Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.
Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
Ring out the grief that saps the mind
For those that here we see no more;
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.
Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.
Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes
But ring the fuller minstrel in.
Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.
Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.
Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.
by Matthew Koren | Dec 8, 2022 | Community Conversations
On VICE, the Modern Mystery School, and the Lineage of King Salomon
One of my initiates asked me to comment on a recent article that attacks the Modern Mystery School and its leadership.
Suffice it to say, I disagree with Wilding’s choices in this article and his distorted portrayal of the Modern Mystery School. They do not match my personal experience at all.
First, I’ll say that this is not the first article falsely accusing the Modern Mystery School of being a cult or sexually exploiting people (particularly women). We’ve received this kind of attack a few times since the school opened its doors to share esoteric and metaphysical teachings in 1997. It is expected and encouraged for people to question us, as we have nothing to hide.
I repeat, we have nothing to hide. The secret teachings of the Western Mystery tradition are open to all who have ears to hear.
I can assure you that the Modern Mystery School is not a cult. By implying that the Modern Mystery School is a cult, Wilding is suggesting that I and many others were tricked into being in a cult because we must be stupid or brainwashed. Let’s address that false assumption first.
‘Cult’ is a simple and overused word used by simple and overused minds. It’s been used to describe Greek life at universities, football clubs, religions of all kinds, as well as social/community organizations to the point of meaninglessness. Due to its careless use, including Wilding’s, its lack of meaning ranks up there with the word ‘News,’ which now has to be trademarked so corporations can avoid lawsuits over their misrepresentation of what news used to be: actual, factual, and unbiased. By his choice of words, Wilding has debased and degenerated his own work. What a way to treat your own research, trying to find any behavior that can fit mildly within the category of cult. Especially with how generous a word ‘cult’ is due to its extreme LACK of meaning, and WIDE open interpretation. It took Wilding MULTIPLE YEARS to piece together a few snippets of evidence to support his claims. This is because, again, we’re not actually a cult.
For the record, I graduated from a very good undergraduate institution—one that produces the 3rd most PhD’s in the country and the most Rhodes scholars. I scored very highly on my SAT, and by most common standards am not considered stupid. I can tell the difference between signing over my life insurance policy to a maniacal leader who abuses his (the abusive leaders are typically male, right?) followers, and an organization whose stated goals are self-improvement and world peace.
Having been trained as a research psychologist and having written a scientific thesis based on experimental data I collected of my own research design, I’ve reached my own conclusions based on my observations of real results in the world, not my baseless beliefs, hopes, or dreams.
To this end, Wilding may have missed, by error of omission or negligence, that many of the initiates in the Western Mystery tradition are scientists conducting scientific studies on the phenomenon of consciousness, which most people assume is immeasurable. It is not, which is why intuitive intelligence is studied by PhD scientists at Heartmath Institute (see also Cardiac Coherence) and precursors to quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity were studied by Tibetan Buddhists thousands of years ago.
Second, the summary view that we are a sex-cult is contrived and downright false, pieced together from Wilding’s interviews in an obtuse fashion, and does not reflect the full context of the information given to Wilding by his interviewees. In other words, he “cherry picked” bits of the interviews and included only those snippets that supported his bias.
For this point, you may be particularly interested in a post by one of the people, Liane Salgado, who was quoted in the article. She articulated to Ipsissimus Dave and our community that she felt like her comments do NOT support this conclusion and she wished she hadn’t spoken to Wilding at all. You can read that by clicking on this link. It’s no surprise to me that one of Wildings sources of information wants nothing to do with him, due to his careless and biased presentation of her words in way that do not reflect her true perspective of and orientation toward the Modern Mystery School.
If reporters told you that Mahatma Gandhi sexually exploited women, would you believe them? If reporters told you that Mother Theresa exploited the poor, would you believe them? Yet, sensationalist authors are propagating both of these narratives in misguided attempts to sell newspapers, books, and magazines. And yes, I’m comparing Founder Gudni and Ipsissimus Dave to Gandhi and Mother Theresa because I respect men that dedicate their life to serving the greater good, which they do at great personal cost to themselves and their families.
If someone thinks it, that doesn’t make it true. Such “thinking” is really assuming something is true, perhaps because you heard it “from somewhere.” But did you check it out for yourself? Americans think a lot of things about cultures they’ve never experienced. We know because less than 10% of Americans have their passports. Lots of people think the world is flat right now, or that Canadians live in igloos. Where is the evidence? Where is the critical thinking? It’s not that they are unintelligent (I know at least one flat-earther that runs Whole Foods store that books 4M in revenue a month), it’s just that their assumptions and worldview simply lead them to different conclusions than those who KNOW from personal experience and critical inquiry.
Third, this author’s completely disrespectful desecration of our most sacred and secret warrior initiation right at the beginning of the article is just the beginning of his careless and biased fantasy story, which clearly demonstrates a gross misunderstanding of what an initiatory wisdom tradition does.
Anyone willing to do a modicum of research will find that vision questing and ceremonial burial are an active part of indigenous lineages RIGHT NOW in the USA and around the world. I know those indigenous people would be horrified if someone wrote about their secret and sacred oral traditions, and the symbolic renewal process of dying and rebirthing as effected through this type of ceremony. Especially when it is so ignorantly labeled as ‘bizarre.’
Clearly Wilding does not care about sacred things, and obviously has no knowledge of them. As a 3rd Step Ritual Master and Guide in the Lineage of King Salomon, in the face of such ignorance and disrespect, I am compelled to defend the Modern Mystery School and this lineage so that truth can neutralize his fictitious claims.
It’s especially insulting that I need to debase my day by taking time from my clients, my employees, and my businesses to even respond to his MERE OPINION and judgement of this sacred lineage due to the degree of shameless ignorance and disrespect he dumps on my doorstep, which amounts to GROSS MISCONDUCT in the name of journalism.
Due to this lineage’s tireless attention to, and protection of, the purity of these teachings, countless lives have been saved, altered, and transformed for the better.
To speak of my personal experience: before this work I was a renaissance man without a cause. I did what I wanted without much regard for others. I was selfish, and narrow-minded. Now, 9 years later, I know way less than I thought I did, and I spend much more time inquiring, meditating, LISTENING rather than judging others (and I used to judge with the best of them). As a result, I’ve run my own businesses for years that provide real jobs to people, helping to raise families, and generally contribute to conscious capitalism in my community—a way of doing business that uplifts and honors the human condition.
What if all entrepreneurs and executives, and the businesses they run, judged their success by increasing not just financial capital, but also environmental, social, and spiritual capital? How quickly would the world change if we changed our definition of GDP (which is to say, changed our MINDS) from a measure that values destructive growth to a measure that values regenerative systems? A fundamental teaching of the Hermetic lineage is that ALL IS MIND. When we harness the power of our mind by our will, our world can change overnight—the same way it changed when we all decided to “lockdown” in service to the greater good. For better, or for worse, we have the power.
Fourth, we’ve had tens of thousands of people come through the mystery school since 1997, and some of those people are still active today. Again, this work is not easy, but you’ll note that we must not be a very good cult because we don’t impose on others’ free will, nor does the organization financially exploit its students. We don’t ‘brainwash’, and we don’t manipulate.
Instead, we challenge our initiates to stand up for themselves and do the deep inner work we are each called to do. Not many people are willing to do that. If you are part of the majority that would rather blame others for your life results than take responsibility for not doing the practices taught by this lineage in order to eliminate your negative ego and change your life, you have not received the message we espouse. Every wisdom tradition in the East and West teaches radical self-responsibility—I challenge you to show me a tradition that promotes victimhood as an access to self-empowerment and freedom.
None of our programs are mandatory, but there are prerequisites to be completed prior to taking higher level teachings. There’s a difference. Would you say that colleges and universities coerce their students to financial ruin by forcing them to take mandatory pre-requisites for their higher level courses and charging them increasing tuition annually? Does it surprise you that you don’t get your degree if you’ve taken most but not all of the credits required? You do realize that your PhD is not guaranteed even after you’ve completed all the required credits? You typically then have to submit your own research to a peer-review process. If you can defend your research and methods, only then are you awarded a PhD in your field.
Would you say your accountant or lawyer is being financially taken advantage of because he or she needs to take continuing education classes lest they lose their license? Would you let them represent you in front of the IRS or a judge in a court of law if they didn’t demonstrate their current technical understanding of the topics at hand?
So even if you spend the money, you are not guaranteed a status—you have to perform. Same thing in our lineage. You have to take action. You have to practice and stay current in your activities and techniques to remain certified.
Further, most professionals, particularly those who spend >$100k on their MBA’s would not be in shock at the price tag for a top-tier program, taught by not one, but three of the most highly trained and educated master teachers in our organization. Here is what some people have said about the School of the Mage program:
- “School of Mage is so much more than a PhD program, which costs well over $100K. Worth every single penny in every class.”
- “How much is it to work with Tony Robbins?”
- “Totally life changing program.”
- “Some coaches cost much more to work with for just one year.”
Fifth, now that that’s out of the way, allow me a moment to vent about Wilding and VICE (founded in part by Proud Boy Gavin McInnes): Since you’ve made it this far, I know that you’re more intelligent and discerning than Wilding is. I realize all the above is pretty straight-forward. However, it needs to be addressed since he has debased the conversation to such a degree by his terrible editing of interviewee content that didn’t quite fit the narrative he was trying to portray in this dribble of an article that carries on for tens of pages.
Shame on VICE, not that I’ve ever heard of them before this. My colleagues had to tell me this piece was even written. 500k readers? Doesn’t quite compare to Epoch Times 1.3 million subscribers, and they’re blocked by China for their nonpartisan and truthful reporting. What about NYT’s 7M digital subscribers? And that doesn’t even include their print subscribers. I feel compassion for the lengths Wilding and his fellow writers must go to grab attention to fund their failing ad money machine. I hope they can find a less desperate editor in another more reputable news organization that values something more than clicks on a website or eyes on an article.
Sixth, on to other less obvious points the article covers which you wouldn’t know unless you asked me and which I’d like to comment on:
No one in the school has ever encouraged me to start my own spiritual business. I started Spirit in Transition in 2015 as a rebrand of my prior business coaching/consulting practice. I did this because I chose to, and, for the record, it is not my only source of revenue. In fact, all of our Ipsissimi (that’s the plural form of Ipsissimus in the Latin conjugation, for the record) have been and are successful business people in various businesses outside of the Modern Mystery School.
As a successful business person myself, I know how difficult it can be to run multiple businesses. Especially a business where you’re trying to actually help people! If you evaluate the highest grossing industries in the world, you’d likely find entertainment, drugs, and porn grossing far more cash than self-empowerment and metaphysics. I don’t feel the need to go find the data here, but let me know if I’m wrong. Our Ipsissimi and the Council of 12 women have been able to help 10’s of thousands more people than I. They are not doing this because it is a “lucrative business,” or as a “job,” or as a way to “make money”. They do this because they are fully committed to a mission of empowering people, bringing these ancient teachings alive to those who seek, and helping us be active contributors to the awakening of the human collective, so that we can create a better world. We call this the mission of Shamballah, which is a world of peace, harmony, love, sustainability, and joy. I’ve got so much more work to do to catch up with these gentlemen and gentlewomen!
I spent a lot of time vetting the mystery school and this lineage specifically, including studying with Laurie Secrist, Gudni’s former wife, and business partner/instructor for the Rocky Mountain Mystery School in Ogden, UT (mentioned in the article). After I attended the Adept and Ritual Master programs with both organizations, I realized from experience where the true magick lies. I am a Guide for the Modern Mystery School today, and not Laurie’s Spiritual Mystery School (Triolite Foundation), because I can feel the difference.
As an aside, since he mentions it, Gudnason and Secrist are not the only ones to have had contact with the Galactic Federation. The US Gov’t/CIA and Stanford University have been trying to infiltrate the Galactic Federation for years. Maybe our own government should attend Galactic Activation so they can learn how to contact the Galactic Federation directly, rather than instructing remote viewers to spy on them.
Seventh, as far as the sexual exploitation is concerned, all I can say is that it’s my job to consent to how I have sex and who I have sex with. If I feel pressure to have sex with someone, then it’s up to my own sense of empowerment and confidence to choose to continue, or hit the abort button. I’m told I’m sexy too, but no one thus far has invited me to an orgy, as part of sacred temple or otherwise. Now that I live in Florida, I’m working on my beach body, so I hope I do get the next invite.
In all seriousness, from what I’ve seen, there are no orgies happening at the Modern Mystery School. Also, there has been no indication to me that any official activities have involved sexual intercourse. If I was witness to, or an object of, objectifying or sexual commentary over the course of my studies at the School, my assumption would be that its intent is to liberate me from damaging and repressive societal programming around sex. Being a sexually liberated gay man, I feel I have transformed my relationship to sex in this regard. However, most people still have a tumultuous relationship with their sex.
Passion is a very powerful force for change and transformation. Harnessing and expressing passion does not mean whipping out your sexual organs and smashing them together with others’. Intercourse can actually dissipate or release energy, which would be the opposite of building the energy. Also, while I have your attention talking about sex, just because I wink, whistle or drool at you doesn’t mean I want to have sex with you. Maybe if Wilding had more sex, he’d intuitively know the difference. But most gay men are still learning that lesson so I don’t judge him too harshly on this point. I believe, and this is my most pessimistic view, that we all suffer from some degree of sexual frustration, disillusionment, and trauma. Hopefully, through the incredible and visionary work of the Modern Mystery School, we can all change that.
I can’t think of any organization anywhere that more effectively normalizes this aspect of our culture. The Modern Mystery School is expert at deprogramming learned negative connotations to, and indeed elevates, the beautiful energy of passion and eros to manifest our desires and to express pure Agape love.
Finally, in summary, the efficacy of these teachings are in the results that this royal and divine lineage has created for those initiates who have applied the teachings to their daily lives (i.e. do their Adept practices, meditate and pray directly to God, know themselves AS God, etc.). You can find numerous posts from those on Facebook who disagree with the article’s characterization of the Modern Mystery School, Founder Gudni Gudnason, Ipsissimus Dave Lanyon, and Ipsissimus Hideto Nakagome (the Japanese part of our school was barely mentioned, maybe because we’re so good at liberating women in otherwise repressive cultures).
In the Adept program (Empower Thyself), we teach you to use your own discernment to eliminate your negative ego. Your negative ego loves sensationalist (aka garbage) reporting, because it’s dramatic and validates your own small opinion of yourself. Those of you who have attended Empower Thyself program may remember that your negative ego wants you to remain small and powerless, right? Feel free to contact me if this sounds fun! I’d be happy to share these teachings with you. 😉
OK, the actual end of this rant *ahem* I mean, rebuttal…
This 5000+ year old lineage is about self-empowerment and restoring free will/choice to a world full of victims. When you are ready to take responsibility for yourself, then you will find the application of these teachings will produce tremendous results for you.
But you will not get results simply because you paid money to receive the teachings. Empower Thyself is an initiation, just the beginning. You have to do the work to effect the results you want to produce in your life. You have to work the magick!
One last thought—Yes, we are a threat to people. Liberating and empowering ideas have been demonized and repressed for centuries by people who want to control and dominate others. Download the latest list of banned books, try to search for Tiananmen Square massacre from the internet in China, study the Inquisition, ask yourself why the government didn’t promote healthy diets and exercise as a way to combat COVID-19 in addition to vaccinations. It’s socially acceptable to NOT take responsibility for yourself. It’s even easier to blame someone else for your own disempowerment. I hope that you WAKE UP and start asking yourself the hard questions, like the questions we ask ourselves in the study of Universal Kabbalah: Who am I? What am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? What is my purpose?
After all, these questions will liberate and heal your soul.
“Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged. For you will be judged by the same standard with which you judge others, and you will be measured by the same measure you use. Why do you look at the splinter in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the beam of wood in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, Let me take the splinter out of your eye, and look, there’s a beam of wood in your own eye? First take the beam of wood out of your eye and then you will see clearly to take the splinter out of your brother’s eye.” ~Matthew 7:1-5
Watch, next they’ll call us ‘Bible Bangers.’
My name is Matthew Koren, and this is where I stand.
by Matthew Koren | Sep 28, 2022 | Community Conversations
Alright, so everyone’s pretty familiar with the age-old archetypal relationship between student and teacher. The transference of key teachings, bestowed upon the student by the teacher, becomes a vehicle for the ongoing circulation of ancient wisdom.
Arguably the most valuable of ancient wisdom we have access to today are the Hermetic Teachings. Why, might you ask? Well, these teachings can be traced back as source code material for nearly all esoteric and ancient teachings, from every people, on every continent. Indeed, that’s a wide range.
In a reverent dedication to Hermes Trismegistus, three investigative students created a piece of work that has become a very powerful resource. This work is called “The Kybalion”, and it offers a summary of the teachings most fundamental. These teachings are the Hermetic Principles, and they’ve been promulgated through this treatise by the Three Initiates (whose identity spur their own air of mystery) since 1908. This crucial source of ancient wisdom has been a doorway for students of life to enter into a whole new way of living. So, are you ready to approach this door? Through this threshold awaits a new way of seeing, doing and believing.
Of course, as with most things in life, it’s important to embody one’s learned wisdom. So, you’re encouraged to read up about these Principles and then explore what it looks like to experience the understanding of them as a felt sense.
The propagation of these teachings is key for the ongoing development of an empowered populace. So, it’s only important to study these teachings insofar as the seeds they carry can be sown in the fertile ground of your mind and heart. Only then, when these seeds can germinate within you, can they grow to become mature and actualized. Only then, will you become a walking expression of the Arcane Truths.
Throughout the next few blog posts, we’ll explore the Principles and how you may notice their presence in your life. Once you enable the witness to really acknowledge the Principles at play, you’re free to play! Witnessing and observing (as with most things) comes first. So, enjoy the next few blog posts where we’ll dive deeper into the Principles.
