Bridger of Worlds
The Bridger of Worlds podcast is an in-depth walkthrough between the world of matter and world of spirit. I struggled with porn addiction for close to fifteen years, and all of this led me to discovering some very crucial and beautiful things about not only the physicality of my existence, but the spirituality of it as well. Since then, I‘ve been building bridges that have served me in feeling more whole and well-integrated. I’ve now made it my mission to share with you whatever it is I’ve learned.
Themes, topics and healing modalities such as spiritual embodiment, psychosomatic practices, Shadow Work, Masculine/Feminine energetics, conscious sexuality and archetypal meanings are brought to the forefront in order to raise awareness around what is out of sight because it is only from there that new life can ever emerge.
The greatest paradox of the human condition is to live amongst duality as we seek unity. This is a podcast honoring both and in doing so, creating the loving connections and honest-to-raw conversations we so desire in our lifetimes.
Bridger of Worlds
Cutting the Cord: Masculinity, Ego Death, and Inner Transformation
In this transformative episode of the Bridger of Worlds Podcast, Ioannis Kokkinos explores the evolution of masculinity—from unconscious reactivity to embodied, sacred power. Through archetypal insight and personal reflection, he unpacks the deep psychological and symbolic journey men must take to embody their Wild Masculine while honoring the wisdom of the inner Feminine.
This episode is a powerful initiation for men seeking emotional depth, spiritual clarity, and conscious action in their lives.
In this episode, you’ll discover:
- The archetypal path of the Masculine and Feminine within
- The Masculine Blade and the cutting of the umbilical cord as sacred initiation
- How birth and death mirror Masculine and Feminine polarity
- The importance of trust, safety, and embodied presence in healthy masculinity
- How to integrate the Wild Masculine with the Divine Feminine
- Why inner balance is key to purpose, sovereignty, and sacred sexuality
This conversation is essential for anyone exploring men’s work, masculine embodiment, and the spiritual rebirth of manhood in our modern world.
Hi everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Bridger of Worlds podcast. I'm your host Ioannis Kokkinos. Thank you so much for joining me. If you're on YouTube watching, thank you for tuning in and if you're on one of the podcast platforms, thank you for tuning in as well.
The Evolution of Masculinity
So today I want to talk about the evolution of the unconscious masculine into conscious masculinity.
And I want to bring in the stage of that, that speaks to the feminine as mother and feminine as eventually lover. So this is from the archetypal perspective. This is from the symbolic perspective because the first contact that we have, let's say with the divine feminine is our own mortal mother, right?
So we all have a divine feminine mother. We are all children of the great mother. And the great mother comes in many, many, many, many faces and expressions throughout the world, throughout cultures, throughout religions, uh, throughout cosmologies, right? And then of course we have our mortal mother, so I want to talk about it, yes, from the biological, psychological standpoint as far as boy becoming man, but also from the archetypal perspective as immature masculine or unconscious masculine, evolving into mature or conscious masculine as far as the great mother is concerned.
So we do have a tough job as men, and I say that because we are actually the polarity of death. When we bring in the masculine and feminine into the conversation, and we are not talking about light and dark, feminine and masculine because both are life and death, light masculine, light feminine are life. Dark masculine, dark feminine, are death. But when we are talking solely about feminine and masculine, feminine births and the masculine kills.
I know that's loaded. I know that's heavy. But let's unpack this. Because again, I'm talking about it from the polarity standpoint.
Symbolism of Birth and Death
So the best example and best analogy that I can use as far as what this birth- death axis means is basically when a baby comes into the world.
So as far as birth is concerned, right, we have this whole process of gestating inside our mother's womb for practically 10 months. Life is preparing to emerge. Life as preparing to birth. So symbolically that is the feminine. And then we need to use a blade to cut the umbilical cord between the baby and the mother when that birth occurs.
And that cutting of the umbilical cord is the masculine and is death. it is death that initiates new life. We always need to bring to the conversation life when we mention death, I know as a culture, we hate talking about death. We don't talk about it enough. Um, we. Avoid it. We fear it, we repress it, but death is not the end.
Death means transformation. So yes, the feminine is birth and the masculine is death, but through that death is also rebirth or resurrection. New life. When we cut the umbilical cord between the baby and the mother, this represents the new life, the new chapter of that human life. The baby cannot stay connected to the mother.
The baby cannot stay in the womb, the baby cannot remain with the umbilical cord. We are here to become sovereign, individuated beings, and this very much is the masculine polarity. When we are gestating inside our mother's womb, we are with our mother. We are literally one and merged with our mother.
So when the time comes to be birthed and we exit the womb, we exit from our mother and we enter the new world. This represents the unknown. This represents like the great initiation, the great adventure into the unknown. And this is all the Masculine's domain. This is actually the Great Father's domain, the archetypal father.
And this is also literally to be brought into our evolution as we grow into adults.
Inner Conditioning and Masculine Development
So I'm not a psychologist, right? There's all sorts of information out there, as far as child psychology is concerned, but what I've taken from all of that is basically we have our inner subconscious conditioning that happens from family dynamics. What we learn from our mothers, , our fathers, our immediate family, right? But as a symbol that actually represents the feminine, that represents our unconscious because whatever happens as far as conditioning and programming are concerned, that is what will be suppressed. That is what will be forgotten from our conscious minds when we are adults. So that represents the feminine, that represents our inner experience. Our inner experience as adults is shaped by what we learn from young ages , and even the time inside our mother's womb.
So as men, let's say, and we want to develop into conscious masculinity, we want to learn how to hold space. We want to learn how to create space. We want to learn how to create safety.
The Role of the Feminine in Masculine Growth
This will have to touch base with our inner mother, not so much our mortal mother, but the conditioning and the programming that we learned as children.
And the more we held on as children, the more we had a hard time letting go as children, the more we will struggle with this as adults. And this speaks to our inner feminine energy. So even as men who want to be in their masculine if from young ages, if they didn't learn how to let go or if they didn't get that safety established within themselves, they will have a hard time being in their masculine because their feminine will constantly feel unsafe and afraid.
This doesn't matter because actually this feminine wound or this feminine trauma within man will serve the development and the evolution of man's masculine. And as man's masculine evolves and develops and becomes more conscious and present, that will in turn serve his feminine. His feminine will feel more safe, his feminine will be able to let go, will be able to surrender more easily and freely because there's inner trust. Right. , We need to establish trust within ourselves, and we can also, of course, relate that to the masculine and feminine within us. The feminine in us needs to be able to trust the masculine within us because the masculine is to provide safety, and the feminine is to surrender, is to let go when that safety is established.
But here's the kicker.
Embracing the Masculine Polarity
The masculine also takes action in order to end life, right? So symbolically, at some point, we all need to use that blade once again in order to cut certain cords, in order to cut certain umbilical cords. So we obviously have a literal umbilical cord when we were born from inside our mother's womb.
But then we have cords in life. We have situations, we have circumstances. We have people that we are corded to because we have not actually taken a certain action in order to sever this cord because we are afraid on some level of death, and that is the masculine.
And it's interesting because back in the day, right, men were very easily able to embody this energy when they were hunters, when they were out in the woods, you know, killing animals in order to feed their family. They were much more in tune with this wild man or dark masculine, which I talked about last week.
This blade is phallic in nature, right? So last week I talked about the symbolism and the nature of the phallus. The phallus is actually a blade, and I know that's not an easy image or something we'd like to imagine, especially when we are moving through the Creative Erotic Act.
But that blade, obviously, is to be used with discernment and honor and reverence, because that blade is actually meant to cut away old life. So last week I talked about the phallus that creates space in order to clear old life. So the seed can be planted for new life. We can apply the same symbolism to the blade, right?
So the blade cuts old life, which is necessary because if old life is taking up space, new life cannot come in. So we need to use the blade. We need to embody the energy of death in order to cut away old life. And this can be very scary, especially as men who really want to feel in tune with their masculine polarity.
The Balance of Masculine and Feminine Energies
Yes, the masculine is the space holder. Yes. The masculine is to provide safety. Yes, be the provider, be the defender, but the masculine also needs to learn how to wield his metaphorical sword, his metaphorical blade. He also has a staff. Right. So all these phallic objects are phallic for a reason.
They're long, hard, and erect because the masculine, first and foremost is that stationary energy, the absolute in order for the dance of life, the dance of feminine, and the movement to move around the stationary. Right?
So like even in the Creative Erotic Act, the penis is erect, stationary, solid. Right?
It's that shape for a reason. And then the yoni, the vagina, right, the vulva, everything is just expanding, stretching, opening, closing, expanding. Right? So it's like. Feminine is the shift. Feminine is the change where masculine is the stationary constant. So we see this again through our genitals, right? So it's all energy.
Like I said, this energy, this act was happening way before we even came here. So. Through evolution man became man with his genitals. Woman became Woman with her genitals, and we are able to create life in this manner. But with that creating of life also comes death. And I think men have a very hard time because I think they know.
They know deep within themselves. They know unconsciously that they are the polarity of death, but this does not at all mean to be an abuser, a killer, right? So we do see a lot of men being killers, being abusers. Being rapists, right? Um, because they have that energy of hurting and harming because that is the energy of death. But we are to use that energy of death consciously, of course. Right. So this is what the work is. This is why it is so pivotal to really connect with the masculine and the feminine within, because it is only when we go within. And we first and foremost accept that this is a part of us, can we then actually take some form of control over it.
It does not at all mean that we all have a unconscious need to like kill someone, right? When I say that as men, we are death, but that is the polarity. Masculine is death, but for the sake of life, right? So I talked about it in last week's episode. I talked about it before. The phallus enters, the blade enters to cut away old life in order to seed a new life.
This is why men have to become very conscious of their masculine. And of course this is speaking to the dark masculine, to the wild masculine. Definitely touch base with last week's episode. So I think a lot of men are struggling. I think a lot of men are suffering because they do not know how to accept this part of themselves.
Um, this is about the wild man integration, and dark masculine integration. So first and foremost, we need to bring in our inner feminine to the conversation because the feminine is the nurturer. The feminine is that softness to the masculine's hardness. We do want to be hard as men.
We do want to be firm. This is what sets, you know, the container, the boundaries. This is how we are rooted. This is how we are anchored. But this can also become a problem when we become , too rigid, too unemotional. Not tapped into our feelings, not tapped into our humanity. We're too cerebral.
We're disassociated from our body, our cocks, right? So we always need to bring the feminine to the conversation. 'cause she's the balance. She's the counterpart to the masculine. She's the opposite, compliment to the masculine.
The Journey from Inner Mother to Inner Lover
So bringing it back to, you know, from moving on from the world of mother and into the world of lover, let's say, as far as the archetypal feminine is concerned.
When man truly becomes individuated through this energy of death, through this inner death, which is basically the ego death, it's the child ego conditioning that dies and we become individuated, which in Jungian terms represents the union of the anima and the animus, the union of the feminine and the masculine, can then, man, move on. Move on. From the world of mother and into the world of lover, and this first and foremost represents his inner lover because his masculine is no longer a boy. His inner masculine is no longer a boy that needs the mother. His inner masculine is a man that now wants to be with the feminine as lover.
And that feminine has undergone a death as well. Because of the masculine, the evolution of the feminine happened within man and the evolution of the masculine happened within him as well. And this really all starts with going beyond with whatever it is we learned, we never truly aligned with, something never quite sat right?
We get called to a great adventure.
The Archetypal Father's Love
And as men, when we start to move through that great adventure, we are actually entering the world of the great father. So if we touch base with this, when we are children, it's kind of the same thing, right? When we leave our mother's womb and we leave Mother's World, we're leaving the womb space, right? We're leaving the very safe, very nurturing space that is the mother into a more uncomfortable space, a more un nurturing space, but that is the father's love.
It is his greatest lesson is that through discomfort. Through struggle, through challenge. This is really how we get to look within ourselves in order to find strength, love, and integrity. Right? It can be difficult of course, because we don't necessarily like to be challenged.
We don't necessarily like to, um, you know, always feeling like we're struggling. But it is necessary. Nonetheless, there is struggle in life. There is strife. Think of the seedling that is trying to push and break through the surface in order to continue becoming let's say a flower, right? When we are birthed, we have to struggle, right? There's a certain strife, a certain struggle that happens when we come out into the world, and this will continue. And we have to learn how to work with it. We have to actually embrace struggle, pain, and suffering.
Not because we're martyrs or that we're here to just struggle and suffer, but once we accept it and once we learn how to hold space for these processes of life, this is really where we discover the archetypal father's love and as children, of course, we want and need our father's love as well, right? When we come into the world, this is the first person, ideally other than our mother, that we get to meet. And that is meant to love us unconditionally. But we were not in our father's body. Um, the father's a stranger almost right.
When we come into the world, we don't know who our father is, whereas our mother, we were merged with her for practically 10 months. So we have to, in a sense, get to know our father in order to get that love, that bonding, that closeness. And he is actually meant to move with us through the unknown, which is opposite to our mother.
Now this is child psychology. This is like from the inner child's perspective, but archetypally speaking, it's the same thing. Because when we grow as men, we are to leave behind or heal or you know, decondition from our subconscious patterning, we are to make our unconscious conscious.
And that also speaks to leaving behind the feminine as a symbol and moving into the masculine as a symbol. But we don't fully leave the feminine behind because with the masculine comes the feminine, but it's no longer mother. It's no longer the unconscious, it's lover. It's feminine as lover because the feminine has undergone an evolution, as I already mentioned, along with the masculine.
When we hold space for our inner experience, our emotional world, whatever we've denied, whatever we've rejected. This in turn serves our masculine. And because it serves our masculine, because our masculine is awakening, our masculine is developing, this will in turn serve the feminine.
And this is how we actively use the blade. This is how we actively use the staff to let go, to cut, to sever, to clear away old life. This is how symbolically speaking, the phallus erects. So what does that mean? Boy is no longer boy. Boys don't get erections. Men get erections. Boys have penises that stay non erect.
Men have erect penises in order to initiate death to create new life.
Conclusion and Farewell
I hope I didn't lose you with this episode. Um, it's, it's deep symbolism, it's poetry, it's metaphor. Take what you need, leave the rest. This is my understanding of things and I'm here to share what I've learned, what I've concluded. Um, yeah, so that's really something I wanted to offer as well because it does speak to the previous episode along with some of the previous episodes as far as the masculine and feminine are concerned.
So I'll leave it here for today. Um, thank you for tuning in. Thank you for watching. Thank you for joining me here on this great adventure that is this podcast. If you are on YouTube watching, please hit that like, subscribe, leave a comment below. I'd love to hear from you. I also have my socials. I'm on threads, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram. I'd love to see you over there as well. If you're on one of the podcast platforms, uh, you can send me a text, you can share the episode. I so greatly appreciate that. I will be back next week with an all new episode. As always, every Thursday I am here and please remember that you are the medicine and I'm just the messenger.
Thank you very much.