Rosa Mystica - Pathway to Higher Consciousness

Preternaturalism

This essay establishes the clear distinction between preternatural and supernatural phenomena within the architecture of Rational Spirituality.

By exploring a documented case of apparent miraculous healing at Medjugorje, I hope to demonstrate how extraordinary experiences can be understood within a framework that neither dismisses them as mere fabrication nor requires suspension of critical thinking.

Instead, I propose that these experiences can be approached through the concept of quantum consciousness, offering a path to spiritual understanding that honors both transcendent reality and rational inquiry.

Through this exploration, I seek to reconcile seemingly supernatural events with a non-dogmatic understanding of spirituality that emphasizes personal transformation through the interconnected development of self-awareness, spiritual awareness, and higher consciousness.

To contextualize this exploration within broader religious traditions, it's worth examining how different faith systems approach the same fundamental questions about spiritual transformation.

Christianity could borrow insights from Islam. Sunni Muslims are much like Evangelical Christians. They interpret scripture literally. Shia Muslims, on the other hand, believe that one can memorize the Quran, learn Sharia Law, and follow the Five Pillars of Islam, but will not become true Muslims until they have been transformed.

Jesus also railed against “the law.” He frequently criticized certain interpretations and legalistic practices of his time, focusing on God's mercy and love rather than strict adherence to rules. For example, he rebuked the Pharisees for their rigid interpretation of Sabbath laws when they criticized his disciples for picking grain on the Sabbath. He taught that mercy and compassion are more important than ritualistic observance.

At the heart of our exploration lies the relationship between preternaturalism and quantum consciousness. While traditional religious frameworks interpret extraordinary experiences as supernatural interventions that violate natural laws, preternaturalism suggests these phenomena operate within expanded natural principles we don't yet fully comprehend.

Quantum consciousness offers a promising explanatory framework — one that acknowledges how consciousness itself may influence material reality at fundamental levels. Experiences like apparitions or near-death visions become neither fabrications nor suspension of physical laws, but rather manifestations of consciousness operating well beyond conventional understanding.

A Medjugorje Miracle

One August day in the 1990s, a group of pilgrims including a young man named Dominik decided to go swimming at the Kravica waterfalls near Medjugorje due to extreme heat, rather than follow the regular program of the International Youth Festival taking place at the time. I had the privilege of helping organize the first International Youth Festival in Medjugorje in 1989.

While swimming, Dominik reportedly slipped into the icy water and sank about 9-10 feet deep. Although he managed to surface several times, no one noticed he was drowning, with some people around him thinking he was just playing a game.

After about ten minutes, their tour guide became worried when he could no longer see Dominik. He swam to where he had last seen the young man and, with help from others, managed to pull Dominik out of the water. By then, Dominik's heart had stopped.

Despite 15-20 minutes of resuscitation that initially got his heart beating again, it stopped once more on the way to the hospital. Once there, Dominik was placed in an induced coma with medical devices taking over his vital functions.

What makes this story remarkable is that while he was unconscious, Dominik had several spiritual experiences. After he woke up, he shared that he had been able to see his parents in Slovakia while he was unconscious. He also reported seeing dark figures in the hospital that seemed to be trying to prevent his mother from praying at his bedside, and claimed he had seen a "person full of light, peace and joy" who he believed was the Blessed Mother.

What many consider miraculous is that the incident happened when approximately 40,000 youth attending the Festival were gathered in Medjugorje. According to Sister Emmanuel Maillard, who reported this story, Dominik recovered and returned to school just four weeks later. His Slovakian doctor reportedly described his recovery as "shocking" considering what he had endured.

I became acquainted with Sister Emmanuel, a French nun who founded a branch of her community at Medjugorje where she now lives. Sister Emmanuel was a close friend and unofficial spiritual advisor to visionary Vicka Ivankovic-Mijatovic, a close friend of mine. Sister Emmanuel has authored several best-selling books about Medjugorje. Her work focuses on documenting the spiritual experiences and apparent miracles associated with the Medjugorje apparitions.

Vicka on her front porch where she gave talks to pilgrims

Preternaturalism

In our Substack's description, we state that Rational Spirituality's goal is to evolve “a non-dogmatic, preternatural (rather than supernatural) understanding of transcendent reality.” We believe authentic spirituality need not appeal to supernaturalism or religious legalism. Instead, mystical experiences can serve as metaphorical teaching tools that illuminate deeper truths when properly understood, or as instruments of mind control when misapplied.

The preoccupation with extraordinary interventions presents several theological and philosophical challenges:

• It can create a faith contingent on signs and wonders rather than on moral principles or spiritual truths, leading to instability when supernatural validation is absent.

• It risks reducing complex religious traditions to mere providers of otherworldly experiences, overshadowing their theological, ethical, and contemplative dimensions.

• It creates unhelpful spiritual hierarchies, elevating those who claim supernatural encounters above those with more conventional faith journeys.

• It can blur the lines between genuine spiritual discernment and psychological phenomena such as suggestion, confirmation bias, and the power of community expectations. Consider how participants at revival meetings report spiritual sensations precisely when expected to, their experiences validated and amplified by the group's collective response.

These psychological dynamics aren't limited to organized religious events. An example of this phenomenon occurred on a ski lift in the Colorado mountains. When one skis alone, you never know who you’ll meet on the lift. I met a young Evangelical Christian who asked me if, “I’d been saved?” In other words, he was asking if, since Jesus did it all, I had completed a successful end run around the cross.

The question itself reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of Christian theology — no Christian makes a successful end run around the cross.

This encounter illustrates how preternaturalism can manifest in everyday religious discourse. The young man's question wasn't merely theological — it carried with it an entire framework of community expectations and psychological conditioning.

His not-uncommon understanding of salvation had been shaped by a particular religious environment that emphasized certain supernatural beliefs while potentially overlooking deeper theological nuances.

The notion that one can be "saved" through a single profession of faith represents a kind of spiritual shortcut that bypasses the complex, lifelong journey of spiritual formation, which is central to this essay.

It reduces religious experience to a binary state — saved or unsaved— and implies that supernatural intervention (in this case, divine rescue from damnation) can be accessed through a formulaic acknowledgment rather than through the challenging work of living faith in everyday contexts and growing spiritually.

It also implies substitutionary atonement, which we reject. We interpret the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus not as “dying for our sins,” but rather as the promise of eternal life. At death, the body’s conscious energy (soul) survives eternally; energy is never destroyed, it can only change form.

This transformed energy — one’s soul — when attenuated by a sufficient level of higher consciousness, can re-appear in bodily form on Earth as an apparition. We believe this ability extends to all individuals who were “assumed or taken up to Heaven,” e.g. Mary, Joseph, John the Apostle, Enoch, and Elijah.

We believe preternatural events such as apparitions by the aforementioned are specific to the Judeo-Christian era and can be explained preternaturally by directed quantum consciousness. The visionaries see and converse with Mary while those closeby do not. Marija once noted that they are able to touch her as well.

At Medjugorje, Mary revealed that these will be her “last apparitions on Earth,” possibly confirming the end of the Judeo-Christian era.

Rosa Mystica and the Rose of Sharon

The apparitions of Rosa Mystica in Brescia, Italy, were to visionary Pierina Gilli (1911–1991). The Virgin Mary appeared to Pierina on multiple occasions. On July 13, 1947, Mary introduced herself as Rosa Mystica, a title that bridges both the Old and New Testaments.

In Judaism, Rosa Mystica is linked to Song of Songs 2:1, which states, "I am the Rose of Sharon." Additionally, Isaiah 11:1, which speaks of a shoot from the stump of Jesse, connects Mary to the lineage of Christ and the prophecy of the incarnation.

After decades of investigation, the Vatican approved devotion to Rosa Mystica in July 2024. The apparitions, in other words, were deemed consistent with Church doctrine. In 1991, I visited the sanctuary at Brescia located about an hour’s drive east of Milan. Since my visit preceded the Church’s pronouncement, there weren’t many pilgrims around.

The term mystical refers to something hidden or symbolic, underscoring Mary’s connection to divine mysteries and transcendent role in salvation history. Saints and theologians, such as St. John Henry Newman — an Anglican priest before converting to Catholicism — have described Mary as nurtured in “God’s mystical garden,” embodying perfection and grace.

God’s mystical garden bristles with quantum consciousness.

Higher Consciousness

Higher consciousness represents an evolved state where individuals perceive reality as a unified whole. It transcends dualistic thinking and egoic attachments. This state often arises through practices like meditation, contemplation, or service, which dissolve barriers between thought and feeling, leading to unity within oneself and with the universe.

We will show how including devotion to Rosa Mystica (or to any other aspect of the Divine Feminine archetype) in your spiritual life can become a pathway to higher consciousness.

The following three aspects evolve concurrently as they inform and enrich each other:

• Self-awareness deepens spiritual understanding by revealing egoic patterns that hinder transcendence.

• Spiritual awareness opens doors to higher consciousness by connecting individuals to universal truths.

• Higher consciousness enhances self-awareness by offering clarity about one's role in the collective evolution of humanity.

Rather than evolving in isolation, they form a synergistic system of mutual influence. Here's how this feedback loop might work:

Self-awareness is often the entry point for personal development. By observing one's thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, individuals begin to uncover patterns and beliefs shaped by the ego. This introspection:

• Reveals limitations and attachments that block spiritual awareness.

• Encourages practices like mindfulness, prayer, or meditation, which naturally lead to deeper spiritual and existential questions.

As self-awareness grows, individuals may begin to sense that their personal identity is part of something larger, prompting a shift toward spiritual exploration. This might explain why so many materialists suffer low self-awareness and seem connected to an easily manipulated hivemind.

Spiritual awareness builds upon self-awareness by expanding the focus from the individual self to the interconnectedness of all things. It involves recognizing that there is more to existence than the material world and the egoic self. This awareness:

• Inspires practices that quiet the ego and deepen self-awareness.

• Opens pathways to higher consciousness by fostering a sense of unity with others and the universe.

As spiritual awareness deepens, individuals may experience moments of transcendence or insight that elevate their understanding of reality, feeding back into both self-awareness (by dissolving egoic illusions) and energize higher consciousness.

Higher consciousness represents a state of expanded perception where dualities dissolve, and individuals experience oneness with existence. This state:

• Provides clarity about the nature of the self (enhancing self-awareness).

• Reinforces spiritual truths about unity, purpose, and interconnectedness (strengthening spiritual awareness).

In states of higher consciousness, individuals often gain insights into their own patterns of thought and behavior (self-awareness) while simultaneously experiencing an elevated sense of connection to universal principles (spiritual awareness). These insights then guide further personal growth.

This process forms a cyclical or spiral dynamic:

• Self-awareness reveals egoic patterns and prompts questions about meaning and connection.

• These questions lead to spiritual awareness, which fosters practices that quiet the mind and expand perception.

• As perception expands, individuals access higher consciousness, gaining insights that deepen both self-awareness and spiritual understanding.

• The cycle repeats (spirals) at increasingly refined levels. In a spiral, each turn represents a deeper level of integration among the three concepts as they evolve together over time.

This feedback loop is not linear but rather iterative and evolving. Growth in one area naturally fuels growth in the others, creating a dynamic that drives holistic development.

This model underscores that personal transformation is not a step-by-step process but an ongoing interplay where these dimensions amplify one another in an ever-deepening journey toward wholeness, spiritual growth, and enlightenment.

By viewing self-awareness, spiritual awareness, and higher consciousness as part of an interrelated construct, we see how they collectively drive human evolution — both individually and collectively — toward greater understanding, compassion, and unity.

Rosa Mystica Accelerates this Process

The inclusion of a stream of consciousness influenced by the mysticism of the Divine Feminine archetype, as embodied by the Virgin Mary under her title Rosa Mystica, could theoretically accelerate the evolution of higher consciousness.

Our new hypothesis rests on several interconnected ideas:

Rational Spirituality’s theory of Quantum Coalescence (QC) posits that consciousness plays a pivotal role in shaping reality by influencing the coalescence of quantum states into classical outcomes. The theory suggests that human intentionality acts as a non-physical operator, bridging quantum uncertainty and classical reality.

The archetype of the Divine Feminine, particularly as expressed through the Virgin Mary under her title Rosa Mystica, symbolizes purity, grace, and spiritual nourishment. This archetype embodies qualities such as receptivity, intuition, and interconnectedness — key components of higher consciousness.

Devotion to Rosa Mystica aligns with QC's emphasis on focused intentionality as a means of influencing reality.

Mysticism, as embodied by the Divine Feminine archetype, resonates with QC's principles through its focus on interconnectedness and transcendence. The Mystic archetype is deeply attuned to universal energies and symbolic awareness, serving as a channel for divine wisdom.

By embracing this archetype, individuals may enhance their intuitive connection to the quantum field, thereby facilitating a deeper interaction between consciousness and reality.

The integration of QC with mysticism could theoretically speed up the evolution of higher consciousness by:

• Enhancing Intentionality: Devotions inspired by Rosa Mystica, however expressed, align with QC's emphasis on focused thought as a mechanism for influencing quantum states.

• Deepening Interconnectedness: The Divine Feminine archetype fosters unity with universal energies, breaking down egoic barriers that hinder higher consciousness.

• Expanding Perception: Mystical experiences associated with devotion to Rosa Mystica could provide insights into the nonlocal nature of consciousness, aligning with QC's framework.

By merging Quantum Coalescence with an openness to mysticism idealized by Rosa Mystica, individuals will create a powerful feedback loop between spiritual practice and quantum influence. This synthesis could accelerate the evolution of higher consciousness by harmonizing scientific insights with archetypal wisdom, fostering a deeper understanding of reality's interconnected nature.

Conclusion

The journey toward higher consciousness is not dependent on extraordinary external validations but rather unfolds through the integration of self-awareness, spiritual awareness, and an evolving perception of our place in the universe.

This holistic approach transcends the binary thinking that characterizes much religious discourse, from apparitions at Medjugorje to chance encounters on ski lifts.

As the Judeo-Christian epoch draws to a close, as suggested by Mary's message that Medjugorje represents her "last apparitions on Earth," we are witnessing not the end of spirituality but its evolution into a form more aligned with both our rational capacities and our deepest intuitions about the interconnectedness of all existence.

In this growing understanding, the preternatural is not a violation of natural law but an expression of it at levels we are only beginning to comprehend — a quantum consciousness that bridges the seen and unseen aspects of our complex reality.

True spirituality, therefore, lies not in chasing miraculous interventions or formulaic salvation but in the patient, ongoing work of expanding consciousness itself — a journey that each person undertakes not through supernatural shortcut but through authentic engagement with the mysterious ground of all being that unites us all.

There’s more on Marian apparitions and the Medjugorje secrets [here]. In addition to proclaiming that these will be her last apparitions on Earth, Mary also revealed that World War III will not take place.

However as I write this in early April 2025, the war tocsins once again are sounding in the Middle East.

Since October 7, 2023, we have been forced to confront our mistaken conflation of Zionism and the State of Israel with Spiritual Israel and the Jewish people. The mask has fallen. We must now recognize that Biblical Israel and the State of Israel are fundamentally different entities.

From “Gog, Magog, and the Armies of Satan.” The complete essay is [here].

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