Last week, I watched news coverage of another senseless tragedy and felt something I couldn’t quite name. Not just sadness or anger, but a recognition that what we’re witnessing—the increasing cruelty, the deliberate destruction of innocence, the systematic dismantling of what connects us as human beings—wasn’t just political or social. It was something deeper.
If you’ve felt it too—that sense there’s an invisible current beneath world events, something orchestrating the chaos we see—you’re not imagining things. As Saint Paul wrote nearly two thousand years ago: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
What you’re sensing is what spiritual traditions for millennia have called “spiritual warfare”. This isn’t about religion or denomination. It’s about understanding the spiritual dimension of reality that most people either ignore or can’t see.
In this article, I want to help you understand this hidden dimension so that you can navigate these times with wisdom rather than fear. Once you grasp what’s really happening, everything changes—how you interpret events, how you protect yourself and your loved ones, and how you choose to respond from a place of conscious power rather than unconscious reaction.
The Three Dimensions of Spiritual Warfare
To navigate spiritual warfare effectively, you need to understand that it operates across three interconnected dimensions simultaneously. Understanding this helps you see how cosmic forces influence collective consciousness, which then impacts your personal experience.
The Cosmic Dimension
This is the ultimate backdrop of reality—the eternal tension between forces of creation and destruction, love and fear, light and darkness. This cosmic struggle provides the context for everything else. As Saint Teresa of Avila understood, “Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you, all things pass away: God never changes.” At this level, the outcome is already determined in favor of love and light.
The Collective Dimension
This is how cosmic forces manifest through human systems, cultures, and mass consciousness. You see this in how entire societies can be influenced toward unity or division, truth or deception, courage or fear. The manipulation tactics we’ll explore work at this collective level—shaping public opinion, cultural narratives, and social movements.
The Personal Dimension
This is where you experience the cosmic and collective influences in your daily life—your individual choices between love and fear, truth and illusion, connection and isolation. Saint John of the Cross called this “the dark night of the soul”—the personal purification process where you learn to choose light even when surrounded by darkness.
The Two Primary Forces: Satanic vs. Luciferic Attack
Here’s what most people don’t understand about spiritual warfare: you’re not facing one monolithic enemy, but two distinct types of spiritual forces working in coordination. The 20th-century mystic Rudolf Steiner extensively documented this distinction, and psychiatrist M. Scott Peck explored it practically in his groundbreaking book “People of the Lie.”
Satanic Forces: Attacking Through the Lower Centers
These forces target your base survival instincts, seeking to trap you in the lower aspects of human nature:
- Root chakra attacks: Survival fears, poverty consciousness, feeling unsafe or without belonging
- Sacral chakra attacks: Pleasure seeking, including sexual addiction, and the perversion of creative energy
- Solar plexus attacks: Substance addictions that numb spiritual awareness, power struggles
These forces manifest as obvious evils: murder, war, genocide, rape, violence. Their goal is to drag you into animalistic behaviors, severing your connection to higher consciousness entirely. As Saint Anthony of the Desert discovered during his battles with demons, “A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying, ‘You are mad; you are not like us.'”
Luciferic Forces: Attacking Through the Higher Centers
These are far more subtle and dangerous because they corrupt your spiritual aspirations themselves:
- Throat chakra attacks: Lies mixed with truth, manipulation through eloquent speech
- Third eye attacks: Spiritual pride, false visions, believing you’re more enlightened than others
- Crown chakra attacks: Messianic complexes, corruption of genuine spiritual connection
Luciferic forces seduce through promises of power, status, fame, money, and specialness. They whisper: “You’re different. You’re chosen. You’re special. You deserve to be above others.” As C.S. Lewis observed in “The Screwtape Letters,” “The greatest evil is not done in those sordid dens of crime, but in clean, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars.”
The Hierarchy of Deception
Satanic forces serve Luciferic ones. The crude attacks on your lower nature often distract while real corruption happens in your spiritual aspirations. This explains why so many spiritual teachers, priests, politicians, and leaders have fallen—not to obvious vices, but to subtle corruption of their genuine calling. When you’re being spiritually attacked, the same is happening with you!
The Universal Strategy: Distract, Confuse, Divide, Frighten, Control
Across all levels and types of spiritual attack, five strategies remain consistent. Saint Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits and master of spiritual discernment, identified similar patterns in his “Rules for Discernment.”
Strategy #1: Distraction
The goal is to disconnect you from yourself, your heart, your values, each other, and universal truth. When you’re constantly distracted, you can’t access your inner wisdom or maintain meaningful connections. As the desert fathers knew, “The devil’s greatest victory is keeping souls too busy to pray.”
Examples you might recognize:
- Endless scrolling through social media instead of meaningful conversation
- Constant busyness that prevents quiet reflection or prayer
- Entertainment that numbs rather than nourishes your soul
- Technology that isolates you from nature and authentic human connection
Strategy #2: Confusion
Truth becomes impossible to discern when you’re flooded with contradictory information. People stop trusting their inner knowing, becoming paralyzed by uncertainty. As the Prophet Isaiah warned, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness.”
Examples you might recognize:
- Overwhelming floods of conflicting “expert” opinions on every topic
- The sensation that you can’t trust your own perceptions
- Simple moral questions that suddenly seem impossibly complicated
Strategy #3: Division
Watch how families turn against each other, communities split along bitter lines, even churches fracture over secondary issues. This isn’t accidental—it’s orchestrated. As Jesus warned, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation.”
Examples you might recognize:
- Family members who suddenly can’t discuss anything without fighting
- Communities where neighbors who once helped each other now won’t make eye contact
- Workplaces where collaboration becomes impossible due to manufactured conflicts
Strategy #4: Fear
Chronic anxiety keeps people in survival mode, making decisions from the primitive brain rather than wisdom. As Saint Padre Pio taught, “Pray, hope, and don’t worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayer.”
Examples you might recognize:
- Constant impending doom that makes planning feel pointless
- Relationships where love is replaced by fear-based control
- Abandoning values “just this once” for safety
Strategy #5: Control
Once you’re distracted, confused, divided, and frightened, you become susceptible to manipulation and lose your freedom of choice and personal sovereignty. You’re literally operating under what Rev. Michael Beckwith calls malicious hypnotism. History shows us how entire populations can be led to participate in unthinkable acts when their consciousness has been systematically compromised. As Hannah Arendt observed about the rise of totalitarianism, “The ideal condition for mob rule is never-ending uncertainty.”
Examples you might recognize:
- Accepting restrictions on freedom “for your safety” that never get lifted
- Following mandates without questioning their necessity or effectiveness
- Surrendering personal decision-making to authorities who claim special knowledge
- Participating in collective actions that violate your personal moral code
The Ongoing Battle for Hearts and Minds
Let me be direct about what we’re really facing: there’s a deliberate battle for the hearts and minds of humanity. This isn’t conspiracy theory—it’s what I’ve witnessed firsthand as a Venezuelan who watched my country systematically destroyed through the exact strategies I’ve described.
I’ve seen family members turn against each other over artificially manufactured political divisions. I’ve watched neighbors who once shared meals refuse to speak because they were programmed to see each other as enemies. I’ve witnessed an entire nation’s perception of reality manipulated through media campaigns designed to confuse, divide, and weaken the population until they became easy to control.
What happened in Venezuela is happening globally now, just more subtly. The same playbook of division, confusion, and fear is being deployed on a massive scale through social media algorithms, news cycles designed to keep you in constant anxiety, and information warfare that makes it impossible to know what’s true.
This is the battle for your soul—literally. These forces want to disconnect you from your heart, from your inner knowing, from your connection to love and truth. Because when you’re disconnected from your spiritual center, you become susceptible to manipulation, control, and ultimately, despair.
But here’s what gives me hope: the solution is simpler than the problem.
The Power of Heart Coherence: Your Secret Weapon
When I talk about “holding the light of the heart,” I’m not speaking metaphorically. I’m referring to a measurable physiological state called heart coherence—a condition where your heart, mind, and emotions operate in synchronized harmony.
Research from the HeartMath Institute has proven something remarkable: when you achieve heart coherence through practices like focused breathing and intentional love or gratitude, you generate a powerful electromagnetic field that extends several feet beyond your body. This field carries information that can positively influence others’ nervous systems, even without their conscious awareness.
Even more extraordinary: research in the field of consciousness calibration suggests that one person maintaining a coherent state where love prevails can offset the chaotic energy patterns of approximately 750,000 people. Let that sink in. Your individual choice to remain centered in love, presence, and coherence doesn’t just protect you—it helps heal the collective field of human consciousness.
This is why the forces of darkness work so desperately to keep you out of your heart. They know the heart chakra stands at the center of the upper and lower chakras, and that each person who achieves genuine love and compassion becomes a beacon of coherence and stability in an ocean of manufactured chaos.
Malicious Hypnotism: How Your Mind Is Being Hijacked
Part of what makes this spiritual warfare so insidious is the sophisticated technology being used to literally rewire human consciousness. Social media algorithms aren’t just designed to capture your attention—they’re engineered to gradually reshape how you perceive reality itself.
These systems study your psychological patterns, identify your fears and desires, then feed you a carefully curated stream of information designed to keep you emotionally reactive. They show you just enough truth mixed with distortion to make the lies believable. They amplify the most divisive voices while suppressing unifying perspectives. They create echo chambers that make you believe everyone thinks like you, then shock you with opposition that seems incomprehensible.
This is malicious hypnosis at a global scale—a systematic reprogramming of human consciousness that makes people more susceptible to fear, division, and external control. The goal isn’t just to sell you products; it’s to disconnect you from your inner wisdom and make you dependent on external sources for your sense of reality.
As someone who watched this happen to an entire nation, I can tell you: the antidote isn’t more information or better arguments. The antidote is returning to your heart, your center of compassion and unconditional love.
Why the Battle Is Intensifying Now
What you’re witnessing isn’t random chaos—it’s the inevitable intensification that occurs when humanity reaches a tipping point in consciousness evolution. As the mystic Pierre Teilhard de Chardin prophesied, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.”
Ancient wisdom traditions have long predicted this time of intensification. According to Hindu Vedic teachings, we’re living in the Kali Yuga—the “Age of Darkness” or “Iron Age”—a period characterized by spiritual decline, moral corruption, and widespread suffering. Yet this darkness isn’t permanent or ultimate. The Vedas teach that Kali Yuga is the final age in the cosmic cycle, and that it must reach its darkest point before the return of light and the dawn of a new Golden Age.
This understanding explains why everything feels so intensely chaotic right now. We’re witnessing the climax of the Age of Darkness—the final desperate attempts of forces opposed to human spiritual evolution to maintain their grip on consciousness. As more people awaken to their true nature and power, these forces become increasingly desperate, accelerating their manipulation tactics because they know their window of control is closing.
Yet simultaneously, we’re entering what many call the “Age of Integrity”—a time when truth can no longer remain hidden. This is why so much that was kept in darkness is now coming to light. We’re witnessing unprecedented revelations about corruption in institutions we once trusted: government agencies, pharmaceutical companies, media organizations, religious institutions, and corporate powers. Whistleblowers are emerging from every sector. Documents that were classified for decades are being exposed. The mechanisms of control and manipulation that operated in shadows for generations are becoming visible to anyone willing to look.
This creates what spiritual traditions call “the great sifting”—a time when everyone’s true spiritual orientation becomes visible. The sophistication of modern manipulation—from psychological warfare to technological hypnosis—represents the last desperate attempt of these forces to maintain their grip on human consciousness. But desperation makes them sloppy, which is why their methods are becoming more obvious to those who know how to look.
The Pattern Throughout History
These forces have been perfecting their methods for millennia. Jesus faced temptation in the wilderness. Buddha was attacked by Mara’s demons before enlightenment. Krishna battled demonic forces throughout his incarnation. Saint Francis experienced severe spiritual attacks. The pattern is always the same—the closer you get to the light and a genuine breakthrough, the more intense the attacks become.
This is why so many abandon their spiritual path just before major breakthroughs. As Saint John Climacus wrote in “The Ladder of Divine Ascent,” “The demons attack us more fiercely when we are close to God.”
Your Role in the Collective Healing
Understanding spiritual warfare isn’t about becoming paranoid or defensive and hanging crucifixes in your home. It’s about recognizing your power and responsibility as a conscious being during these critical times.
Every moment you choose to respond from love rather than react from anger or fear, you’re casting a vote for the future of human consciousness. Every time you refuse to participate in manufactured division, you weaken the spell that keeps humanity trapped in conflict. Every time you maintain heart coherence in the face of chaos, you’re literally broadcasting healing frequencies into the collective field.
This is why your spiritual development isn’t just personal—it’s a service to humanity and all life. The more grounded you become in love, truth, and presence, the more you contribute to the collective awakening that these dark forces are desperately trying to prevent.
Why Your Human Intelligence Isn’t Enough
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: these forces have been studying human psychology for eons. They are masters of manipulation and deceit who understand your weaknesses better than you do. Your human ego and intellect, no matter how sophisticated, cannot recognize much less overcome these deceptions alone.
As Saint Teresa of Avila discovered, “Let nothing disturb you. All things pass. God does not change.” This isn’t about being weak—it’s recognizing that you need help from beings who have successfully navigated these very battles. You need Divine protection.
Invoking Divine Protection
Every major spiritual tradition emphasizes calling upon ascended masters—Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, and others who have overcome these forces during their earthly incarnations and beyond.
When you invoke their protection, their enlightened consciousness creates a protective field around you. This isn’t superstition—it’s spiritual technology tested across cultures and centuries. Praying the Rosary, for example, raises your vibration to the level of unconditional love, according to Dr. David Hawkins’ research.
Saint Patrick’s famous prayer demonstrates this principle:“Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left…”
Recognizing When You’ve Been Triggered: The Path Back to Center
Before diving into the counter-strategies, there’s something crucial you need to understand: this isn’t about spiritual bypassing or suppressing your emotions. If you find yourself obsessively checking news, consumed with anger about world events, or feeling hopeless and reactive, don’t judge yourself – recognize that you’ve been influenced by the very forces we’ve been discussing.
When you’re triggered, polarized, or emotionally hijacked by external events, that’s actually valuable information. It’s your signal that you’ve temporarily lost your center and it’s time to consciously choose to return to love. This isn’t about pretending everything is fine or gaslighting yourself into “being spiritual.” It’s about recognizing that your emotional reactivity has been weaponized against you, and out of love for yourself, others, and the Divine, you’re committed to taking back control.
The path of the heart isn’t about perfect serenity – it’s about conscious choice. When you notice you’ve been pulled into fear, rage, or despair by external circumstances, that’s your invitation to return to your deeper commitment: to follow the way of love because that’s who you’ve chosen to become.
Your Spiritual Arsenal: The Counter-Strategies
For every weapon in the enemy’s arsenal, you have been given more powerful counter-strategies. As Saint Paul declared, “If God be for us, who can be against us?”
Against Distraction: Cultivate Sacred Presence
When you notice yourself being pulled into endless distractions, especially those that keep you from following your heart or taking action towards your vision, return to presence. Create sacred time for silence, prayer, and connection with what truly matters.
Practical tools:
- Begin each day with 10 minutes of silence before checking any devices.
- Use “presence breaks” throughout the day—three conscious breaths when you feel scattered.
- Create phone-free zones in your home, especially your bedroom.
- Practice single-tasking: do one thing at a time with full attention.
As Jesus taught, “Be still and know that I am God.”
Against Confusion: Anchor in Truth
Truth has a quality lies don’t possess—it resonates with your deepest knowing. When everything feels uncertain, get quiet and ask your inner wisdom what it knows to be true.
Practical tools:
- Limit news consumption to once daily, from sources aligned with your values.
- Before accepting any information you hear or read online, do your own research. Then ask: “Does this expand my heart or contract it?”
- Practice body wisdom discernment: physical contraction often signals deception, while peace indicates alignment.
- Keep a “truth journal” to record what your inner wisdom consistently confirms.
As Jesus promised, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
Against Division: Build Bridges of Understanding
When you see division being sown, actively work for connection. This doesn’t mean avoiding difficult conversations—it means refusing to let external forces turn you against people you’re meant to love.
Practical tools:
- Before engaging in any divisive conversation, silently invoke protection and set an intention for understanding.
- Practice the “heart circle” approach: communicate to connect rather than to attack or manipulate.
- Look for shared values beneath surface disagreements
- Use “I” statements and avoid generalizations about groups of people.
As Gandhi taught, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”
Against Fear: Choose Love Consistently
Perfect love casts out fear. When you’re grounded in love for yourself, others, and the divine, fear loses its power to control your choices.
Practical tools:
- When anxiety arises, place your hand on your heart and breathe slowly while focusing on gratitude.
- Make a daily list of three things you’re grateful for to build your “love frequency.”
- Practice heart coherence meditation: breathe in appreciation for 5 counts, breathe out love for 5 counts.
- Ask in every situation: “What would love do here?”
As Saint Thérèse of Lisieux discovered, “I will spend my heaven doing good on earth.”
Against Control: Embody Sovereign Freedom
True freedom comes from alignment with divine truth, not from external circumstances. When you know who you are and whose you are, no earthly power can control your soul.
Practical tools:
- Develop non-negotiable daily spiritual practices that connect you to your divine identity.
- Practice saying “no” to requests that compromise your values, even when it’s uncomfortable.
- Regularly examine your beliefs: which ones are truly yours versus inherited from others?
- Invoke divine protection daily using prayers like Saint Patrick’s Breastplate.
- Remember: you always have the freedom to choose your response, regardless of circumstances.
As Viktor Frankl wrote from the concentration camps, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.”
The Ultimate Truth About Victory
Here’s what you need to understand about spiritual warfare: the outcome has already been determined. From the highest spiritual perspective, Light has already defeated darkness. Love has already conquered hate. Your job isn’t to win the war—it’s to participate in the victory that’s already been secured.
This doesn’t mean the battle isn’t real or your choices don’t matter. It means you fight from a position of true power rather than desperation. You engage with confidence rather than fear.
When you understand this, everything shifts. You stop seeing yourself as a victim of spiritual attack and start seeing yourself as a participant in divine victory. You see the innocence of those who have been deceived and manipulated. This is the starting point of true spiritual warriorship.
Your Call to Conscious Engagement
The world needs people who understand what’s really happening and are willing to engage consciously in the spiritual dimension of reality. The question isn’t whether you’re in this battle—you are, simply by being alive in these times.
The question is whether you’ll fight consciously and strategically or stumble through blindly.
As Mother Teresa reminded us, “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” Your daily choices to choose love over fear, truth over deception, unity over division—these aren’t small acts. They’re participation in the greatest battle ever fought.
Ultimately, the only protection you have against the forces of darkness is to hold fast to your heart light. Start where you are:
- Develop daily spiritual practices that connect you to divine protection.
- Learn to discern the difference between your thoughts and external influences.
- Find spiritual community for support, safety, and accountability. My Sacred Heart Meditation Circle is a great option.
- Use your voice to speak truth and educate and encourage others.
- Choose love consistently in every decision, no matter how small.
Remember Saint Francis’s prayer: “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.”
The forces arrayed against humanity are ancient and powerful, but they are not ultimate. Your feeling heart is always connected to the source of all love, wisdom, and power, and equipped with everything needed for victory.
The only question remaining is: Will you answer the call to be a spiritual warrior and steadfastly keep the light of your heart alive?
If you’re still reading, that’s exactly what you’re being called to do.
From my heart to yours,
