Portals: Truth vs Trend

Going through social media over the past couple of years, I’ve seen thousands of posts talking about “portal” days where the energy is apparently open, magical, and deeply transformative. You’ve probably seen the captions: “Powerful Lionsgate Portal energy today”, or “This 2/2/2 portal is opening new timelines”, followed by some ritual instructions, a manifestation audio, and a “book now” button.

The problem is that most of these days have absolutely no true energetic significance. They’re unfortunately not portals, they're content. And I say this as someone who works with real planetary timing, ancient tradition, and spiritual tools every single day.

So let’s talk about it properly.

What Even Is a Portal?

In traditional cultures, a portal was understood as:

• A moment in time when the boundary between physical and non physical realms thins.

• A cosmic alignment usually involving the Earth, Sun, Moon, or a fixed star that created an opening to higher frequencies, ancestral access, or divine inspiration.

• A sacred space in the body or land that could be activated through ritual or spiritual discipline.

These were not vague emotional moments but were mathematically observed, ritually honoured, and often feared. Portals were serious business - gateways of death, rebirth, revelation, and responsibility.

So Why Is Everyone Suddenly Talking About Portals?

Because it sells.

The word “portal” gives anything an instant spiritual upgrade. Add a triple number date -like 11/11 or 8/8 - and suddenly it feels sacred, whether or not there’s any astrological or historical basis. But most of the time, it’s just aesthetic language and hype.

Let’s break down where it goes wrong.

Modern “Portal” Trends: Where It Falls Apart

1. Repeating Number Dates (e.g. 2/2, 4/4, 11/11)

These are based on Gregorian calendar numbers, which are completely arbitrary. There is no astrological alignment happening on 2/2 or 4/4 every year. Nothing opens. Nothing shifts. It’s numerology stripped of context.

2. The Lionsgate Portal (8/8)

This one is the most hyped. Yes, Sirius, the brightest fixed star, rises heliacally around early August. But this doesn’t always happen on August 8, and it’s not an “energy upgrade portal” in the way most posts describe. Ancient Egypt did honour Sirius, but they weren’t celebrating it with Instagram rituals. It was linked to agricultural flooding and the rising of the Nile - very practical, grounded, sacred timing.

3. Every Full Moon or Astrological Transit Called a Portal

No. Not every full moon is a portal. Not every Venus Neptune conjunction is a spiritual gateway. The overuse of the word strips it of its power. There are some transits that create a liminal window - but they are rare, usually marked by eclipses, major solstice shifts, or fixed star alignments.

When Portals Actually Exist

If we clear the airy fairy stuff and go back to the roots, here’s where portals are genuinely valid:

1. Eclipses

Solar and lunar eclipses were feared and revered across ancient cultures. These are real portals of collapse, release, karma, and soul contracts. They initiate deep endings and beginnings and their effects can be felt for months. Some are destructive. But they are real.

2. Solstices and Equinoxes

These four points of the year mark the exact shift in Earth’s light rhythm. Civilisations like the Mayans, Druids, and Egyptians built entire temples around these dates. The veil between worlds is known to thin during these times, particularly the Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox.

3. Heliacal Risings of Stars (eg. Sirius)

Before artificial calendars, time was tracked by stars. The heliacal rising of Sirius (when it first appears in the dawn sky after being invisible) marked sacred timing in Egypt. These stellar alignments can be valid portals, but you need a deep understanding of astronomical timing, not just Gregorian dates.

4. Sacred Calendar Days (eg. Samhain, Vesak, Holi)

In many cultures, certain days in the lunisolar calendar were known to bring contact with ancestors, gods, or deeper states of consciousness. These weren’t Instagram made. They were embedded in the rhythms of the moon, seasons, and agriculture.

5. Personal Portals in Your Natal Chart

Perhaps the most powerful. If you’re going through a major transit, like your Saturn Return, progressed Moon change, or a Pluto square, you are in a real portal. These are deeply personal, not collective, but they mark a moment where your soul is reshaping itself.

What Ancient Cultures Actually Said About Portals

The Druids believed the Winter Solstice was a time where the Sun “stood still” and rebirth could occur. It was a true liminal portal.

The Mayans used the Tzolk'in and Haab calendars to track ceremonial “doorways” in time. These were not random, they were aligned with Venus and eclipses.

The Vedic system acknowledges muhurta, precise windows of cosmic timing when the soul is more aligned with dharma. These are sacred timings, not trends.

Mystery Schools across Egypt, Greece, and Mesopotamia taught that the body itself held portals - chakra gates, pineal activations, and breath pathways - but required initiation and mastery to open them.

The Body as a Portal

Let’s not forget: ancient wisdom says the most powerful portal is within. Your breath, spine, womb, heart, pineal gland, all have been called gates between the seen and unseen. But they don’t open just because it’s 3/3 or Mercury is trine Venus.

They open through discipline, ritual, devotion, and timing that matches your internal seasons.

So What Should You Do With All This?

Here’s the grounded way to approach it:

• Check if the date aligns with real sky events -eclipses, solstices, equinoxes, or rare transits.

• Ask if the energy is actually accessible to your body and soul, or if you’re just chasing spiritual FOMO.

• Tune in to your own natal timing - your transits, your returns, your cycles. These are your real portals.

Stop following every “portal day” like it’s gospel. 99% of it is just algorithmic spirituality.

Portals exist - but not in the way most social media spiritual people claim. The ancient world was precise, sacred, and aligned with the stars. If your “portal” isn’t rooted in the sky, your body, or real time, it’s probably just content.

Be discerning. The sacred doesn’t need to be sold. Love, Z