Version 1.0 · For trained practitioners. Not a self-help resource.
© 2026 Widdows Consulting Ltd
Foundational Principles
Draft — pending editor review
Historical Recurring Cycles
Ancient
Egyptian mystery schools, Greek Eleusinian mysteries, Vedic seers
Classical
Medieval Christian mystics, Islamic Sufis, Jewish Kabbalists, Buddhist contemplatives
Indigenous
Shamanic traditions worldwide, vision quests, plant medicine ceremonies
Yoga/Vedānta
Awareness of kosha models, 8-limbed path, samādhi stages, ego-bypass risks
Modern
Psychedelic research, transpersonal psychology, consciousness studies
Contemporary
Neuroscience validation, integral theory, secular mysticism
A working cartography for practitioners
Transpersonal Diagnostics™ offers seven provisional territories as a language for describing experiences, clarifying support needs and considering appropriate responses. The territories are proposed organising categories, not a claim that all people or wisdom traditions follow the same journey.
Accounts from different settings may share recognisable features, including changes in perception, sense of self, imagery, connectedness and everyday integration. Similarity of description does not establish an identical cause, meaning, spiritual attainment or destination. Differences between traditions are substantive, not merely different names for the same experience.
Experience in context
Experiences arise within relationships, bodies, practices, histories, communities and environments. These contexts may help constitute what occurs, rather than simply provide an interpretation afterwards. The framework therefore attends to both the person’s account and the circumstances in which the experience takes shape.
Comparative use without equivalence
Cross-traditional correspondences are invitations to careful comparison, not declarations of equivalence. They remain open to correction, refusal and non-correspondence. Tradition-specific understanding and community authority take precedence over a practitioner’s wish to fit an experience into the map.
The practical question is not “Which universal stage has this person reached?” but “What is happening, what does it mean to this person, what support is needed, and what lies within our competence?”