It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Tinder says AI lets the app 'get a better sense of your personality; your vibe, and what really matters to you' - Copyright AFP Martin BUREAU
Tinder said Thursday that it is testing a “Chemistry” option that uses artificial intelligence to help with matchmaking in the popular dating app.
The iconic system of users “swiping” to show interest in Tinder profiles remains at the core of the service created in 2012, but AI promises a more personalized quest for romance, according to Tinder.
“We’re using AI to surface more relevant connections, and continuing to raise the bar on safety so that people feel confident taking the next step,” Spencer Rascoff, chief executive of Tinder and its parent Match Group, said in a statement announcing a slew of changes to the platform.
Tinder said AI enabled the app to “get a better sense of your personality; your vibe, and what really matters to you.”
The tool will learn about users from information in their accounts, and Tinder plans to eventually let people augment that by answering questionnaires and providing access to photo archives, according to the company.
Chemistry is among new features designed to help Tinder users spend less time in the app and more time connecting in real life, according to senior vice president of product Hillary Paine.
“What you are going to see is more of an evolution that is mirroring what modern, young daters are looking for,” Paine told AFP.
A music mode lets people give greater weight to musical tastes while seeking promising profiles, while a new astrology mode makes star signs a factor in the mix.
Tinder is also testing in-person events where subscribers in its home city of Los Angeles can meet, along with virtual video speed dating sessions, according to Paine.
“We’re hearing and we’re seeing that Gen Z-plus wants to be social,” Paine said of those born in the Internet Age.
“We’re trying to get them off the couch, out of their apartments and into the real world.”
Tinder is also using AI to detect potentially inappropriate messages and to scan faces to check they are actual people.
A survey published by Forbes magazine last year found that 78 percent of users expressed feeling emotionally, mentally and physically exhausted from using online dating platforms.
“With more than half our users under 30, we’re building alongside a generation that wants dating to feel more authentic, lower-pressure, and worth their time,” Rascoff said.
This card is attributed to the letter Nun, which means a fish; the symbol of life beneath the waters; life travelling through the waters. It refers to the Zodiacal sign of Scorpio, which is ruled by Mars, the planet of fiery energy in its lowest form, which is therefore necessary to provide the impulse. In alchemy, this card explains the idea of putrefaction, the technical name given by its adepts to the series of chemical changes which develops the final form of life from the original latent seed in the Orphic egg.
This sign is one of the two most powerful in the Zodiac, but it has not the simplicity and intensity of Leo. It is formally divided into three parts; the lowest is symbolized by the Scorpion, which was supposed by early observers of Nature to commit suicide when finding itself ringed with fire, or otherwise in a desperate situation. This represents putrefaction in its lowest form. The strain of environ ment has become intolerable, and the attacked element willingly subjects itself to change; thus, potassium thrown upon water becomes ignited, and accepts the embrace of the hydroxyl radicle. The middle interpretation of this sign is given by the serpent, who is, moreover, the main theme of the sign.1
The serpent is sacred, Lord of Life and Death, and its method of progression suggests the rhythmical undulation of those twin phases of life which we Call respectively life and death. The serpent is also, as previously explained, the principal symbol of male energy. From this it will be seen that this card is, in a very strict sense, the completion of the card called Lust, Atu XI, and Atu XII represents the solution or dissolution which links them.
The highest aspect of the card is the Eagle, which represents exaltation above solid matter. It was understood by the early chemists that, in certain experiments, the purest (i.e., most tenuous) elements present were given off as gas or vapour. There are thus represented in this card the three essential types of putrefaction. The card itself represents the dance of death; the figure is a skeleton bearing a scythe, and both the skeleton and the scythe are importantly Saturnian symbols. This appears strange, as Saturn has no overt connection with Scorpio; but Saturn represents the essential structure of existing things. He is that elemental nature of things which is not destroyed by the ordinary changes which occur in the operations of Nature.
Furthermore, he is crowned with the crown of Osiris; he represents Osiris in the waters of Amennti. Yet more, he is the original secret male creative God: see Atu XV. "Redeunt Saturnia regna." It was only the corruption of the Tradition, the confusion with Set, and the Cult of the Dying God, misunderstood, deformed and distorted by the Black Lodge, that turned him into a senile and fiendish symbol. With the sweep of his scythe he creates bubbles in which are 1The Qabalists embodied in the Book of Genesis, Caps I and II, this doctrine of regeneration. NChSh, the Serpent in Eden, has the value 358: 50 also MShICh, Messiah.
He is, accordingly, in the secret doctrine, the Redeemer. The thesis may be developed at great length. Later in the Legend, the doctrine reappears in slightly different symbolism as the story of the Flood, elsewhere in this Essay explained. Of course, the Fish is identical in essence with the Serpent; for Fish=NVN=Scorpio=Serpent. Also, Teth, the letter of Leo, means Serpent. But Fish is also the Vesica, or Womb, and Christ~and so on.
This symbol resumes the whole Secret Doctrine. beginning to take shape the new forms which he creates in his dance; and these forms dance also. In this card the symbol of the fish is paramount; the fish (Il pesce, as they call him in Naples and many other places) and the serpent are the two principal objects of worship in cults which taught the doctrines of resurrection or re incarnation. Thus we have Oannes and Dagon, fish gods, in western Asia; in many other parts of the world are similar cults. Even in Christianity, Christ was represented as a fish. The Greek work IXThUS, "which means fish And very aptly symbolizes Christ", as Browning reminds one, was supposed to be a notariqon, the initials of a sentence meaning "Jesus Christ Son of God, Saviour".
Nor is it an accident that St. Peter was a fisherman. The Gospels, too, are full of miracles involving fish, and the fish is sacred to Mercury, because of its cold bloodedness, its swiftness and its brilliance. There is moreover the sexual symbolism. This again recalls the function of Mercury as the guide of the dead, and as the continuing elastic element in nature. This card must then be considered as of greater importance and catholicity than would be expected from the plain Zodiacal attribution. It is even a compendium of universal energy in its most secret form.
Death (tarot card)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Death card" redirects here. For the playing card, see Ace of spades.
Death (XIII) is the 13th trump or Major Arcana card in most traditional tarot decks. It is used in tarot card games as well as in divination. The card typically depicts the Grim Reaper, and when used for divination is often interpreted as signifying major changes in a person's life.
Description
Some decks, such as the Tarot of Marseilles and the Visconti Sforza Tarot omit the name from the card, calling it "The Card with No Name", often with the implication of a broader meaning than literal death. There are other decks that title Death as "Rebirth" or "Death-Rebirth."
The Death card usually depicts the Grim Reaper, the personification of Death. In some decks, the Grim Reaper is riding a pale horse, and often he is wielding a sickle or scythe. Surrounding the Grim Reaper are dead and dying people from all classes, including kings, bishops and commoners. The Rider–Waite tarot deck depicts the skeleton carrying a black standard emblazoned with The White Rose of York.
In the background are two towers and a rising sun.
According to Eden Gray and other authors on the subject, it is uncommon that this card actually represents a physical death, rather it typically implies an end, possibly of a relationship or interest, and therefore an increased sense of self-awareness.[1][2]
In fact, Gray interprets this card as a change of thinking from an old way into a new way. The horse Death is riding is stepping over a prone king, which symbolizes that not even royalty can stop change.[3]
The card, drawn in reverse, can be interpreted as stagnation and the inability to move or change, according to Gray.[4]
13. DEATH.—End, mortality, destruction, corruption; also, for a man, the loss of a benefactor; for a woman, many contrarieties; for a maid, failure of marriage projects. Reversed: Inertia, sleep, lethargy, petrifaction, somnambulism; hope destroyed.
Juliette Wood, Folklore 109 (1998):15–24, "The Celtic Tarot and the Secret Tradition: A Study in Modern Legend Making" (1998)
Sunday, March 08, 2026
Starseeds, government plots and an alien mantis: Inside New Age spirituality's new age
(RNS) — Thousands converged in Los Angeles for the Conscious Life Expo, where influencers and cultural shifts are fueling cosmic belief systems often featuring extraterrestrials.
Actors bow after performing the play “Judgement Day” at the Conscious Life Expo, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026, at the LAX Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. (RNS photo/Kathryn Post)
LOS ANGELES (RNS) — “This ship was huge. It was like a city-sized ship. And there was hundreds of beings on board,” said Debbie Solaris, a military veteran and one of six panelists sharing their alien encounters with a packed room at the LAX Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles on a recent February Friday. “They had larger heads, larger eyes,” she said, describing one alien group. “Very big auras, lots of colors.”
Panelists’ testimonies had the arc of conversion narratives; after her out-of-body experience in 2012, Solaris traded her career in environmentalism for one as a galactic historian.
“I knew at that point that my life changed,” said Solaris, hands folded, eyes upward, her long, dark hair contrasting with her fuchsia blouse. “My life was never going to be the same.”
At the 24th annual Conscious Life Expo, which convened more than 5,000 New Age spiritual seekers from Feb. 20-23, Solaris’ experience wasn’t fringe. The event, which has previously featured speakers like former presidential candidate Marianne Williamson, psychedelic pioneer Ram Dass and “Plandemic” filmmaker and conspiracy theorist Mikki Willis, originally focused on topics like astrology, health and wellness and sustainability when it launched in 2002. While UFO discussions have long been part of the milieu, as the conference nears its quarter-century mark, some of its most popular speakers claim to be vessels channeling aliens, or to be aliens themselves.
Fueled by social media influencers and a post-pandemic cultural shift, the expo’s content has become more cosmic and, often, more conspiratorial, attracting a diverse audience hungry for meaning outside of institutional religion.
The shift
“I think it’s evolved to much more of a religion about aliens,” said Michael Satva, the 43-year-old, warm-eyed son of Expo co-founder Robert Quicksilver and co-producer for the event.
Conscious Life Expo co-producer Michael Satva, left, talks to vendors, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026, at the LAX Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. (RNS photo/Kathryn Post)
On the first morning of the expo, Satva wore an understated black hoodie and gripped a glass bottle sloshing with brown liquid — “a cacao mix of some kind from one of the exhibitors,” he explained — as he checked on booths selling life force energy tools and high frequency skincare.
“I’m constantly surprised how little the Boomers know of what’s happening,” Satva said about New Age’s new turn and the generation who birthed the movement during the spiritually experimental and culturally unsettled 1960s and 1970s.
“They have no idea how it’s evolved over time, because they, you know, they came up with their version of it, and then they never really went beyond that,” Satva mused.
For Quicksilver, Satva’s father and an energetic man in his 70s, the expo has always been about bringing together alternative spiritual beliefs and practices (meditation, healing, UFO lore, ancestral myths) into a loosely organized, non-dogmatic community, he told RNS.
Raised in an ultra-orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn, New York, Quicksilver embarked on a spiritual journey that, in the 1970s, led to Thereaveda Buddhism. After operating a chain of spiritual gift shops, he co-founded the expo in 2002, when the Whole Life Expo — the current expo’s predecessor — shuttered after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Conscious Life Expo attendees receive a red-light therapy and “5D Quantum Sound” experience at the LAX Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. (RNS photo/Kathryn Post)
“It’s about planetary transformation,” said Quicksilver, who described the expo as a place where “freedom and creativity and brainstorming and visionary ideals” converge and lead to love-filled unity.
Artifacts of this founding spiritual vision remain visible around the expo. Through the hotel doors, attendees are greeted by loudspeakers playing ethereal sounds and a hotel lobby transformed into a festival stage bedecked with psychedelic paintings. Down the hall are booths offering crystals, palm readings, tinctures and amulets. The air is thick with the smell of essential oils. In one booth, people climb into collapsable infrared saunas that come up to the neck; in another, a man claiming to be the reincarnation of Jesus Christ sells metal and crystal gadgets promising divine healing — his room-size pyramids can cost up to $100,000.
“There are a lot of quacks here, too,” said Marcy LeBeau, who, at, 70, is retired and living in Long Beach. LeBeau, whose iridescent purple nails would stand out anywhere else, has been attending the expo for decades. Raised Catholic, she now identifies as spiritual and said that, although you must “sift through” conference offerings, she keeps coming back to reach a “higher level of existence” by learning to “expand your consciousness.”
At a nearby booth in the exhibition hall, a psychic wearing flowing robes and a glittery headdress sits next to a giant, inflatable blue mantis. He’s a real estate agent in the D.C. metro area, but here he offers to channel wisdom from alien mantis beings.
Attendees peruse the exhibition hall during the 24th annual Conscious Life Expo, held at the LAX Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. (RNS photo/Kathryn Post)
The influencer effect
In the last five years, the concept of channeling insights from extraterrestrials has gained traction in some corners of New Age Spirituality, thanks in large part to the influx of online influencers.
“I’m seeing groupies here this year,” said Stacey Shell, an entrepreneur who has been at the expo for five years. “I’m seeing people that are doing keynotes and panels who are bigger influencers.”
Sometimes, it’s those influencers who are broadening the expo audience. Gina Aguero, 33, from San Antonio, Texas, said she came to the expo because of influencer Althea Lucrezia Avanzo, who says she channels light language — a vibrational form of communication she expresses through sounds and hand gestures — from higher-dimensional extraterrestrial beings.
“Finding her really helped me heal my inner belief systems at the time that were making me really sick,” said Aguero, who added that she also channels light language. “This conference is actually really broadening my horizons.”
Avanzo’s content first began to take off around 2020; that’s also when Elizabeth April, a 33-year-old influencer with blonde hair and a bright smile and another featured speaker at the expo, began posting about aliens.
“I really kept it low-key, the alien thing, super low-key, until, honestly, 2020,” April told RNS in a call ahead of the event. “2020 is when I was like, yep, like, I’m talking to them. And I also feel like I am one, you know, and I’m here to awaken others who are like me. And that video blew up on my channel.”
People attend the 24th annual Conscious Life Expo, held at the LAX Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. (RNS photo/Kathryn Post)
April, like a growing number of other expo attendees and panelists, calls herself a “starseed,” nomenclature for an incarnate galactic soul on earth to aid humanity. She has 371,000 subscribers on You
Tube, and, according to her website, she monthly channels the Galactic Federation of Light, “a group of advanced beings who watch over Earth, radiating unconditional love and support.” Asked about her growing following, April attributed the movement to a broader awakening that began during the COVID pandemic.
“I think 2020 really woke a lot of people up to their own abilities, to their own leadership, to their own powers,” said April.
The conspiracy side
That was the same period when many in the New Age spirituality space noticed a discernible uptick in hardcore conspiracy theories like QAnon, which frames Donald Trump as a savior combating an elite ring of pedophiles. Matthew Hannah, a conspiracy movement expert and author of a forthcoming book about QAnon, said the pandemic exacerbated the anti-institutional sentiment in New Age spirituality. “A lot of people in that kind of alternative health, alternative spirituality community really got turned off by what they saw as government overreach, and this really quickly coded as the deep state, which is working with Big Pharma to force vaccines on us,” he said.
Though QAnon isn’t a staple at the expo, conspiracy often is. Satva acknowledges there’s a “dark, twisted side” that can show up in some of the conspiracies at the expo that “we try to just not engage in.”
“Not that we’re in denial of it, but that our core message is more about bringing solutions and love and light,” he added.
A vendor booth at the Conscious Life Expo at the LAX Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. (RNS photo/Kathryn Post)
People visit vendors in the exhibition hall during the 24th annual Conscious Life Expo, held at the LAX Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. (RNS photo/Kathryn Post)
Satva and the other expo organizers say they want to balance a commitment to anti-censorship and a desire to focus on positive values. They’ve named the basement level of the expo “The Rabbit Hole,” a tongue-in-cheek nod to the expo’s edgier content. And while they’ve asked some speakers not to return, they also expect that those who bring “dark energy” with them will ultimately lose followers.
On Friday evening, former rock musician Sacha Stone held a late-night lecture deep in the bowels of “The Rabbit Hole.” A self-described human rights advocate, Stone is better known to critics as a New Age conspiracist who platforms vaccine disinformation and anti-establishment, Illuminati-style conspiracy narratives. In his cutoff shirt, white skinny jeans and bare feet, Stone paced around the platform, gripping the mic and gesticulating as he blasted through his fast-paced 90-minute lecture that touched on anti-gravitational technology, an alien base under Romania, human control of the climate and the pizzagate conspiracy.
“The planetary reset is now imminent, courtesy of the revelation, by God’s grace, of the ritual Satanism, the pedophilia, the trafficking, the cannibalism going on in the basement of our power centers,” he declared to his audience of mostly middle-age women.
Sacha Stone presents in “The Rabbit Hole” during the Conscious Life Expo, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026, at the LAX Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. (RNS photo/Kathryn Post)
Noelle Cook, author of “The Conspiracists: Women, Extremism, and the Lure of Belonging,” said Stone is emblematic of the blend of MAGA enthusiasm, conspiracy and New Age spirituality she unpacks in her book, noting that he was featured in former Trump adviser Michael Flynn’s Christian nationalist ReAwaken America Tour. While he doesn’t use the QAnon label, his belief in a Satanic global elite and industrial-scale child trafficking illustrates how these ideas are repackaged for New Age audiences.
“The danger comes when you’re not discerning,” said Cook, whose book profiles women at the Jan. 6 insurrection who embraced New Age spirituality. “Most of the women I was studying were not actually seeking extremism. They were seeking a purpose, identity and some coherence in their life.”
“Cinematic stories”
The merging between New Age beliefs and conspiracies — dubbed “conspirituality” by researcher Charlotte Ward and sociologist David Voas in 2011 — is inescapable at the expo: in panels offering secret knowledge; in stories of an elect group on a mission to aid humanity; and in warnings of a coming, global dimensional shift.
While the expo largely avoided political content this year, some speakers described cosmic narratives that echoed End Times religious teachings. At the final panel, titled “Something Is Coming!” panelists described a time of coming chaos, possible solar events and a potential collective shift into a new age.
“Between 2025 and 2030 there will be an event involving the sun, and it may destroy parts of the surfaces of the whole earth,” said UFO investigator Linda Moulton Howe. Self-styled polymath and entrepreneur Robert Edward Grant added that “2030 will be our year No. 1,” telling panel attendees to expect a “profound shift” in 2029.
During the Q&A, a woman shared fears that her husband would not ascend to the next dimension with her, referencing New Age beliefs about shifting from a limited, 3D state to a better, higher dimension. “I’m excited about it, the 3D to 5D, the consciousness. I’m thrilled I’m going there,” she said. After a pause, she added, “I don’t think my husband is coming with me.”
A panel during the 24th annual Conscious Life Expo, held at the LAX Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. (RNS photo/Kathryn Post)
Despite the panel’s content, the tone was light. Panelists joked about buying toilet paper and suggested preparation should be about personal spiritual alignment, not selling stocks.
That levity was also present at Saturday evening’s “Judgement Day” play, written by Quicksilver. Longtime expo speakers donned alien masks and face paint, their extraterrestrial characters deciding that humans were worth saving despite their faults, in part due to their “sacred bond with the planet, its living creatures and each other.”
“I think these larger, more cinematic stories help create a new identity and a new framework for society and for the world,” said Satva. “With AI, nobody knows what’s real anymore. So, if you don’t know what’s real, might as well enjoy and believe in something much more fun and exciting.”
