Destiny: Polina Rud, The Cosmic Game of Snakes and Arrows

Summary

The podcast explores gyān caupar, an ancient Indian board game often linked to spiritual enlightenment and self-exploration. Polina Rud discusses the game's archetypes, its connection to consciousness, and how it serves as a divinatory tool guiding players toward cosmic consciousness. By delving into the 72 squares of the game, listeners can learn to reflect on their emotional and behavioral patterns in their journey of personal development.

Key takeaways

• 1Gyān caupar: Ancient Hindu board game that serves as a predecessor to Snakes and Ladders.
• 2The 72 squares of gyān caupar represent different levels of human experience.
• 3The game is compared to other forms of divination like the I Ching and Tarot.
• 4Polina Rud analyzes the game's spiritual references to deepen self-understanding and foster divine connection.
• 5The game symbolizes the psyche's journey toward cosmic consciousness.
• 6Rud is completing a PhD on artists resisting authoritarian regimes and has experience in trauma processing due to political violence.

Glossary terms

Source

Transcript excerpt

Welcome to destiny. Now here's your host, Cliff Dunning. You know, it's good to use tools for enlightenment or divination. And then if you haven't used ruins before, Nordic ruins, that's something to consider. Or I Ching. I was very much into iiching for a number of years, and I would, you know, use coins or similar objects to test the waters, see if what I'm doing was correct, get a sense of where my head was at when I was, you know, wondering what the heck was going on in my world. I'd use I ching. And these tools have been around a long time and they're connected energetically to your unconscious mind and your higher self. And in a similar way, astrology is also a divination tool that most people don't really take seriously, and that's because they're reading from the newspaper or they've gotten a book that aligns with their horoscope. But if you really want a great information, go to an astrologer where you give them the date, the time, and the location of your birth and they can give you a very detailed astrological look at yourself. And if you really want to get fancy, get a hindoo version of your astrology. And they'll tell you what gems to wear to reflect bad energy, what they call rahu or pair you for success. I used to wonder why some of my friends would be wearing these gold rings with garnets or gems on their hand. I was like, oh, well, I'm dealing with the rahu. And I actually did that. I'd say a decade ago, i'd wear a gem very you know, ten percent gold, ten care gold ruby on one of my fingers and it would reflect rahu, which was a negative influence. ...

Excerpt from Earth Ancients, Apr 22, 2026. Rights remain with the original creators. Hear the full episode at the source.