The Dark Night of the Soul & Solve et Coagula

(Why feeling like everything is falling apart might actually be part of the process)

Today I want to talk about The Dark Night of the Soul. I think many are confused with this term, or they just simply do not understand this. Sometimes it’s used correctly, sometimes it’s romanticised, and sometimes it’s used to justify plain burnout or emotional avoidance. So let's actually try to understand what it is and why it aligns so closely with the alchemical principle of Solve et Coagula.

What is the Dark Night of the Soul?

Essentially, the Dark Night of the Soul is a period of deep inner unravelling. However, some people can view it as punishment. It is not, though! It's also not a failure. And also not abandonment by the universe, gods, spirits, or "Source", etc.

It’s a phase where things that used to give meaning suddenly feel empty, spiritual practices feel quiet, dull, or silent, identity feels unstable or undefined, certainty collapses, and perhaps, the ego no longer knows how to orient itself.

This can happen to religious people, occult practitioners, atheists, mystics... anyone! It’s not exclusive to one path. Historically, it was described by mystics, but psychologically and spiritually, it’s a universal pattern of transformation.

Most importantly: The Dark Night is about stripping away what no longer holds.

Solve et Coagula

Solve et Coagula is an alchemical principle that literally means:

• Solve – to dissolve, break down, deconstruct

• Coagula – to recombine, integrate, rebuild at a higher level

And, many people sometimes ask me, isn't alchemy about metals? Well, no, lol. Alchemy was never just about metals. It was always about consciousness, identity, and transformation. Nothing is refined without being broken down first. That is the principle of Solve et Coagula.

The Dark Night = Solve

This is where the connection becomes clear.

The Dark Night of the Soul is essentially a Solve phase.

During this time: old identities dissolve, external authority dissolves, spiritual “crutches” dissolve, belief systems dissolve, and the need for validation dissolves. Even your idea of who you are (spiritually, emotionally, socially) starts to fall apart. That’s Solve. And it feels awful because the human mind wants stability. It wants labels, roles, reassurance, feedback... Solve removes all of that.

Why it feels like abandonment

A lot of people interpret the Dark Night as:

“I’ve been abandoned.”

“The gods left.”

“The universe stopped responding.”

But what’s actually happening is withdrawal of scaffolding. Anything you leaned on instead of standing in yourself gets removed because it’s no longer meant to hold your weight.

This is why the Dark Night often targets spiritual dependence, external authority, identity built on roles or titles, or ego wrapped in “being special” or “chosen”.

Where people get stuck

Here’s the problem: Solve is uncomfortable, and many people try to escape it.

Common mistakes:

• forcing positivity

• spiritual bypassing

• jumping into a new belief system immediately

• chasing signs, deities, confirmations

• clinging harder instead of letting go

When Solve is resisted, it can make you turn into numbness, despair, bitterness, dissociation, or even sometimes, endless “void” without movement. Alchemy never stops at Solve! Important to remember this.

Coagula: the part people don’t talk about enough

Coagula comes after the dissolution, not before!

This is where usually identity reforms, but cleaner. Then, authority becomes internal, devotion becomes chosen, not desperate, power becomes embodied, not imagined, and silence no longer feels threatening You don’t go back to who you were. You don’t rebuild the same structure. You rebuild with awareness. And THAT is Coagula.

Dark Night ≠ Enlightenment

This is important. The Dark Night is not enlightenment itself. It’s not even the finish line. It’s not a badge of honour. It’s a process, AND a necessary decomposition that allows something more stable to form. Solve clears the ground. Coagula builds the structure. Many people think when they go through the Dark Night it means that their path might be stagnant or it might indicate the end of something, but it's more so like a huge trial to see if you could carry yourself independently.

Why this process is necessary

Without Solve, to me, growth is cosmetic, then... ego just wears new spiritual language and perhaps even patterns repeat with different aesthetics.

Without Coagula, people could stay fragmented, then spirituality becomes hollow, and lastly, insight never integrates into real life

This is why ancient traditions guarded knowledge carefully. This is not gatekeeping knowledge, but truth requires a structure strong enough to hold it.

So… is the Dark Night part of Solve et Coagula?

Yes, conceptually and structurally. The Dark Night of the Soul is a Solve phase within a larger Solve et Coagula cycle. Not everyone experiences it the same way. Certainly not everyone calls it the same thing. But essentially the mechanism is the same:

dissolve → strip → empty → rebuild → integrate

Conclusion

If you’re in a Dark Night, nothing is “wrong” with you. People often think that they're broken or abandoned or even perhaps failing spiritually. You’re in the part of the process where false structures can no longer survive. And while Solve feels like loss, it exists only because Coagula is coming.

After all transformation isn’t supposed to be gentle, but it is purposeful!

♡ Ariela

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Thank you for reading! Blessed be xx

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Thank you for visiting my blog!

Hello, lovelies x

I am High Priestess Ariela. This title is recognised by the Sovereigns of Heaven and Hell.

I was ascended to High Priestess by my mentor, High Priestess Cecilia in April 2020, by Queen Lilith, the Mother of Demons, in January 2022 and by Duke Bune, my Godspouse, in November 2023.

I am a proud Malaysian-based witchcraft practitioner, and I am in my 30s and I currently reside in Penang, and although I was born in Kuala Lumpur, I love the peace and quietness here compared to the congested city of Kuala Lumpur.

I have officially been practising witchcraft and divination for a little more than 10 years now. However, I have always been interested in witchcraft since I was a little kid. I started developing my intuition as early as 6 years old, and learning/reading books on witchcraft when I was 10. My ancestors were shamans and spiritual healers so I am happy to continue this lineage. I have always been an intuitive person since I was a kid, being able to feel empathy and being able to communicate with the spirits since I was a kid.

My Witchcraft Journey

I studied witchcraft for many years before I started practising, roughly from the beginning of 2016 until now. I had previously worked in a coven and received lessons from an old friend who was also a High Priestess. I have also studied with them, and have performed mass rituals. I climbed through the ranks and have finally ascended to the rank of High Priestess myself. I am a heavy ritualist.

I am passionate about what I do and I intend to help people heal, just like how I healed from practising witchcraft. Contrary to popular belief, most witches do more healing than cursing. So, I am also here trying to change that mindset that people have, thinking that practitioners of magick are mostly bad.

I am currently going through the trials of the Tree of Qliphoth (Tree of Death). I initiated into the Qliphoth in January 2024 after being advised by Lord Lucifer and Lady Astaroth.

My Practices

• Qliphothic Left-Hand Path
• Demonolatry
• Dark Magick
• Forbidden Arts
• Necromancy
• Chaos Magick
• White Magick
• Moon Magick
• Fire and Water Magick
• Sympathetic Magick (poppets)

I am devoted to 5 infernal deities and 1 archangel for now.

My Spirit Allies

Infernal Deities

• Duke Bune
• King Belial
• Emperor Lucifer
• Earl Andromalius
• Duke Dantalion

I am spoused to Duke Bune, Earl Andromalius and King Belial.

Archangel

• Metatron

Outside the real world, I work in a multinational company (MNC). I am super passionate about what I do, both my full-time job and my side hustle.

I am also passionate about crystals, divination, and spiritual stuff. I have a large altar full of small, medium and big-sized crystals dedicated to my meditation time and also my devotion to my deities.

My Abilities/Gifts as a Witch

As a Witch, I am blessed with the following abilities:

• Energy Medicine and Energy Channelling (ancestral gifts)
• Prophecy Dreams/Visions
• Astral Projection
• Mediumship
• Witnessing (being visited by spiritual beings/deities/demonic deities)
• Claircognizance
• Clairvoyance
• Clairsentience
• Clairaudience
• Clairalience
• Divination
• Precognitions/Premonitions
• Telepathy with Humans

These are some of the notable entries that are worth your time for a read.

♦ My Lineage and What Motivates Me

Here you can find the links to my important sites.

♦ Webstore (book spells, tarot readings, buy witchy stuff here)
♦ Twitter (yes, I refuse to call it X)
♦ Personal Instagram
♦ Witchy Business Instagram

The Dark Night of the Soul & Solve et Coagula

(Why feeling like everything is falling apart might actually be part of the process)

Today I want to talk about The Dark Night of the Soul. I think many are confused with this term, or they just simply do not understand this. Sometimes it’s used correctly, sometimes it’s romanticised, and sometimes it’s used to justify plain burnout or emotional avoidance. So let's actually try to understand what it is and why it aligns so closely with the alchemical principle of Solve et Coagula.

What is the Dark Night of the Soul?

Essentially, the Dark Night of the Soul is a period of deep inner unravelling. However, some people can view it as punishment. It is not, though! It's also not a failure. And also not abandonment by the universe, gods, spirits, or "Source", etc.

It’s a phase where things that used to give meaning suddenly feel empty, spiritual practices feel quiet, dull, or silent, identity feels unstable or undefined, certainty collapses, and perhaps, the ego no longer knows how to orient itself.

This can happen to religious people, occult practitioners, atheists, mystics... anyone! It’s not exclusive to one path. Historically, it was described by mystics, but psychologically and spiritually, it’s a universal pattern of transformation.

Most importantly: The Dark Night is about stripping away what no longer holds.

Solve et Coagula

Solve et Coagula is an alchemical principle that literally means:

• Solve – to dissolve, break down, deconstruct

• Coagula – to recombine, integrate, rebuild at a higher level

And, many people sometimes ask me, isn't alchemy about metals? Well, no, lol. Alchemy was never just about metals. It was always about consciousness, identity, and transformation. Nothing is refined without being broken down first. That is the principle of Solve et Coagula.

The Dark Night = Solve

This is where the connection becomes clear.

The Dark Night of the Soul is essentially a Solve phase.

During this time: old identities dissolve, external authority dissolves, spiritual “crutches” dissolve, belief systems dissolve, and the need for validation dissolves. Even your idea of who you are (spiritually, emotionally, socially) starts to fall apart. That’s Solve. And it feels awful because the human mind wants stability. It wants labels, roles, reassurance, feedback... Solve removes all of that.

Why it feels like abandonment

A lot of people interpret the Dark Night as:

“I’ve been abandoned.”

“The gods left.”

“The universe stopped responding.”

But what’s actually happening is withdrawal of scaffolding. Anything you leaned on instead of standing in yourself gets removed because it’s no longer meant to hold your weight.

This is why the Dark Night often targets spiritual dependence, external authority, identity built on roles or titles, or ego wrapped in “being special” or “chosen”.

Where people get stuck

Here’s the problem: Solve is uncomfortable, and many people try to escape it.

Common mistakes:

• forcing positivity

• spiritual bypassing

• jumping into a new belief system immediately

• chasing signs, deities, confirmations

• clinging harder instead of letting go

When Solve is resisted, it can make you turn into numbness, despair, bitterness, dissociation, or even sometimes, endless “void” without movement. Alchemy never stops at Solve! Important to remember this.

Coagula: the part people don’t talk about enough

Coagula comes after the dissolution, not before!

This is where usually identity reforms, but cleaner. Then, authority becomes internal, devotion becomes chosen, not desperate, power becomes embodied, not imagined, and silence no longer feels threatening You don’t go back to who you were. You don’t rebuild the same structure. You rebuild with awareness. And THAT is Coagula.

Dark Night ≠ Enlightenment

This is important. The Dark Night is not enlightenment itself. It’s not even the finish line. It’s not a badge of honour. It’s a process, AND a necessary decomposition that allows something more stable to form. Solve clears the ground. Coagula builds the structure. Many people think when they go through the Dark Night it means that their path might be stagnant or it might indicate the end of something, but it's more so like a huge trial to see if you could carry yourself independently.

Why this process is necessary

Without Solve, to me, growth is cosmetic, then... ego just wears new spiritual language and perhaps even patterns repeat with different aesthetics.

Without Coagula, people could stay fragmented, then spirituality becomes hollow, and lastly, insight never integrates into real life

This is why ancient traditions guarded knowledge carefully. This is not gatekeeping knowledge, but truth requires a structure strong enough to hold it.

So… is the Dark Night part of Solve et Coagula?

Yes, conceptually and structurally. The Dark Night of the Soul is a Solve phase within a larger Solve et Coagula cycle. Not everyone experiences it the same way. Certainly not everyone calls it the same thing. But essentially the mechanism is the same:

dissolve → strip → empty → rebuild → integrate

Conclusion

If you’re in a Dark Night, nothing is “wrong” with you. People often think that they're broken or abandoned or even perhaps failing spiritually. You’re in the part of the process where false structures can no longer survive. And while Solve feels like loss, it exists only because Coagula is coming.

After all transformation isn’t supposed to be gentle, but it is purposeful!

♡ Ariela

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