The Lion's Gate Portal

new age nonsense or new opportunity?

Aug 03, 2023

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I love symbolic systems, patterns, correspondences, connections, and repeating cycles. I've been this way since childhood. These things affirm design, divinity, eternity, and meaning in the universe and life. Some people receive this type of affirmation, comfort, and security regarding existential matters from facts, logic, and the scientific method. Those are wonderful too, but my brain, soul, and everything about me, right down to the double helix spiral of my DNA, is wired differently.

A genuinely great poem, a sublime painting, a breathtaking natural vista, or a glorious piece of music tells me, at a level of deep knowing, much more than facts or logic can ever convey.

Even small things like a feather, a stone, a bone, or a pebble can convey profound truths all on their own.

"To see a World in a Grain of Sand And a Heaven in a Wild Flower, Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an hour." ― William Blake

Science and rational thinking are for categorizing, naming, dissecting, analyzing, and organizing information. Science is terrific at discovering how things work, even why they work. But finding meaning is not the purview of science; that is the domain of mystics, philosophers, poets, dreamers, visionaries, shamans, and artists.

What does it all mean?

This is the fundamental question that keeps me up at night. Systems of symbols, esoteric knowledge, metaphysical metaphor, connecting correspondences, archetypal influences, and celestial philosophy dazzle the inner eye with their brilliant insights and startling connections.

Such esoteric systems include astrology, alchemy, tarot, numerology, gematria, kabbalah, and sacred geometry. They offer powerful insights into human consciousness, nature, and the meaning of existence. These ancient systems of inquiry and understanding also almost always point us to the Divine. Thus they are worth our attention and study.

The Lion's Gate Portal, New Age Nonsense?

Something doesn't necessarily have to be ancient to be valuable. I say this because the Lion's Gate Portal you hear so much about and see touted on social media is very new. Before 2010 or 2012, you will find very little about it. From the late 1980s through the late 1990s, only three or four articles or blog posts mention it. However, I Googled Lion's Gate Portal today, and there were 2,870,000 search results!

The earliest articles tend to be a bit New Agey and reference being in contact with an interdimensional race of "light beings" known as the Sirian High Council. Another early webpage about the Lion's Gate Portal claims it is a stargate that will propel you into the next reality and cause a cellular awakening within you. It also seems to initially incorporate the idea of the ascended masters and a mash-up of Mayan and Egyptian mythology around lions and lion deities along with the numerology of August eighth, or 8/8. That's all great, but it isn't a substantial spiritual insight or truth. It's a hodgepodge cobbled together.

The idea, concept, and lore around the Lion's Gate Portal have grown and expanded and become widely popular. That's because it meets a need that people are feeling. There's a longing within us as old spiritual holidays like Saint's Feast Days and older observances like the Ember Days have slipped away. Our traditional holidays are reduced from entire -tides, like the long season of Yuletide, the fifty days of Eastertide, or the Twelve Days of Christmas, to single-day holidays; thus, we are collectively looking to find new things that satisfy our need for sacred moments within the year.

Given the shifting spiritual landscape in the last century, the continued diversification within Western culture, the drift toward generic, positive-thinking spirituality, and the desire for human consciousness to evolve, it's not surprising that something like the Lion's Gate Portal would become popular.

Aker, as depicted in the Egyptian funerary text The Amduat. Via AncientEgyptOnline.

Using The Lion's Gate Portal

There are some factual things about the Lion's Gate Portal. It occurs as a season over several weeks. It happens when the sun is in the constellation of Leo (the lion) and Sirius, the dog star, returns to the early morning sky. This event is known as the rising of Sirius, and it ushers in the "dog days" of summer. All of these things are observable astronomical events. In other words, science.

Some of the symbolic systems I mentioned earlier get layered on top of these scientifically observable events. Everything from the numerological meanings of the number eight to the Egyptian mythology around Sirius being the cosmic home of the Goddess Isis. There is also the invocation of Aker, a minor Egyptian threshold and underworld guardian deity sometimes depicted as twin lions facing away from one another called Duaj / Tuau (yesterday) and Sefer / Sef (tomorrow).

The heliacal rising of Sirius representing our Inner Spiritual Sun, which holds our highest self or Christ-Consciousness, also comes into the mix.

While The Lion's Gate Portal may have started as a questionable New Age idea, it has grown and evolved and can offer us something of substance. Like all mythology, patterns of correspondence, and symbolic systems, the Lion's Gate Portal provides images, myths, language, and symbols that we can use for inner work. This season has now become identified with an opening to our higher self, a time during the year when we can focus on our personal and collective evolution. Who are we now, and who do we hope to become? What must we do individually to rise above our baser nature and instincts to become more spiritually developed and mature?

There are many ways to explore the symbolic image of the Lion/Lioness creatively; they represent many qualities and deities or can represent a totem or guardian figure. During the Lion's Gate Portal, delve into the meaning of the heat of the dog days. Explore it as the fire that causes pressure in the alchemical vessel to encourage the transformation of the lesser into the greater. The mythology and meaning of Isis is a rich and fertile field to work in. The numerology of the number eight can lead you in many directions.

The Lion's Gate Portal may be our newest "holiday," but like all special days, it offers something below that reflects something above in the spiritual realms. I encourage you to make art using anything that delights and is accessible. Work with found images, symbols, and colors. Collage, finger paint, or draw. Also, consider creating an altar or sacred space to evoke the Lion's Gate Portal and what it offers to you.

The Lion King, Art Journal, Jan Blencowe©2020

A Gift for You

Some of you have subscribed to Hedge Mystic in the last few days and were able to download my brand-new Lion's Gate Portal Guidebook.

Good News! I'm gifting everyone The Lion's Gate Portal Guidebook, and you can get it right HERE.

The Guidebook covers the weeks of late July through August, particularly emphasizing the Lion's Gate Portal.

What is happening on the earth and in the sky has always inspired human beings. We have sought meaning and connection with the ancestors, the spiritual realms, and the divine through those observations, experiences, and the mythology around them. The Lion's Gate Portal is an opportunity and invitation to look around you, connect and create as you follow your inner journey of personal and spiritual growth.

Enjoy the Lion's Gate Portal Guidebook. Let me know in the comments what you plan to do, what ignites your imagination, and what you learn as you engage with the Lion's Gate Portal.

The comments section is a safe and welcoming space to share your insights and experiences.

Comments and conversation are always appreciated and enjoyed, so feel free to let your voice be heard. I read them all and try to respond to each one.

Thank you for reading Hedge Mystic and participating in this vibrant and growing community of creative, spiritual humans. You are always welcome here, appreciated, and loved.