About us
A school devoted to the awakening of consciousness and the mastery of the self. Our path weaves Ancient Teachings, Alchemy and the 96 Universal Laws to reconnect with the deepest dimension of being: the Soul.
Our starting point is the most ancient of teachings: Γνῶθι Σεαυτόν — Know thyself. The ancients carved it on the temple of Delphi because they knew that without self-knowledge there is no true freedom. We live mostly asleep: reacting mechanically, driven by conditioning and fears that we mistake for free choices.
No man is more enslaved than the one who falsely believes himself free.
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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The path of Know thyself is a path of freedom. Spiritual alchemy teaches us to transmute each of our flaws into its opposite quality, lead into gold, transforming what is mechanical into what is conscious.
Who are we, deep down? If we observe ourselves honestly, we discover we are not a single block but a plurality of voices: like a matryoshka crowded with characters taking turns at the helm of our ship. One says "yes," another holds back, a third judges, a fourth flees. We believe we choose, yet often it is merely the loudest character making the decision, while the quieter, wounded parts remain submerged.
The real work, then, is that of an orchestra conductor: getting to know each voice, each instrument (how it works, when it activates, what it produces) and learning to make them play together, in a symphony consistent with our most authentic being. No part is to be eliminated: they are all to be integrated. Individuum, from Latin, means "undivided": something fragmented that we learn to reunify. Only then can we live a life congruent with ourselves and act from within: Aristotle's enérgheia, the pure act of action connected to being. True freedom is this: choosing how to respond to what happens.
The School was created to offer the tools for this awakening. What is learned here is a daily practice of observation, presence and work on oneself, one that allows us to become masters of our own carriage rather than being dragged by it. It is a laboratory in the most ancient sense of the word, from the Latin labor, oriented and conscious effort; an effort of the spirit, in which human will unites with the call to heaven. We live in an age where we fear artificial intelligence may escape our control; yet this is exactly what has already happened, for millennia, with our organic intelligence: the biological machine has taken command, and the Soul can no longer, on its own, disengage the autopilot. Realigning one's gaze with that of the Soul is the first act of freedom.
Practice begins with a simple image. Our life is a glass of water that looks clear to us: we believe we hold it in our hands and feel sure of many things. The exercises serve to shake that glass and see whether it was truly clear or merely settled. When the water clouds over, the work is doing its job. This is why the path is walked in a group: we are like elastic bands. Alone, when we tire and let go, the band springs back to what it was. When many hands hold it, the day one person lets go the shape remains, and when they return they find it still there.
The rails the School runs on are three forms of responsibility. Ethical responsibility: acting according to one's highest values even when no one is watching, because only then does one become an example for others. Loving responsibility, that is, service: a lit candle that lights another loses nothing, and everyone in the room sees better. Conscious responsibility: knowing oneself in order to respond to what happens. Responsibility comes from respondere habilis, being able to respond, and has nothing to do with blame.
What at first seems like mere training against mechanicity, at some point becomes a natural attitude: that seed has taken root and become a living plant within us. The School exists for this: to put into each person's hands the tools with which to find their own answers.
Ancient Teachings
The path draws from diverse traditions: Initiatic Science, Gurdjieff's Fourth Way, Hermetic Magic, Kabbalah, the Enneagram, Anthroposophy, Theosophy, Buddhism, Taoism, Shamanism. Different languages saying the same thing: from the Hindu OM to the Johannine Logos, at the centre there is always a creative sound that shapes life. The human being is its guardian and co-creator. Their task is to rediscover that programme of the soul, more ancient and profound than any acquired conditioning.
Structure & access
Seminars are held in person in Bari and online, allowing anyone to access the teachings regardless of their location.
The path spans 7 years (3 foundational + 4 advanced), with Sunday meetings at regular intervals. Each year builds on the previous one, guiding the student through a progressive and grounded transformation.
Introduction video
A look at the School
discover our path
Awareness & Alchemy
What we study and how we work: the two pillars of the path.
Awareness
- Self-knowledge — lower and higher nature
- Knowledge of the 96 Universal Laws
- Ancient Teachings: Initiatic Science, Fourth Way, Kabbalah, Hermetic Magic, Agni Yoga, Buddhism, Taoism, Shamanism...
- Understanding of Sacred Texts (primarily the Gospel)
- Symbolic study of Myth and Archetypes
Alchemy
- Transmutation of lead into gold: Shadow into Light
- Practical training with inner Alchemy exercises
- Applying the Universal Laws in daily life
- Transmuting one's everyday life
- Becoming conscious creators of one's own reality
The School's path is a spiral: each turn brings us back to the same knots from a deeper level. What was invisible becomes observable; what was observable becomes transformable.
The School's method
Presence & Observation
Only 5% of our life is conscious. The remaining 95% is governed by unconscious programmes, like an autopilot. The first step is to develop the Alchemical Double, the inner Observer: observing without judging. Because time does not heal. Presence does.
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Meditating here is a mental attitude: self-observation, divided attention, unfiltered introspection. Every time we unconsciously give in to a vice, an addiction, an automatic reaction, we are surrendering our sovereignty, the personal power that was bestowed upon us. Reclaiming it begins with a simple gesture: observing.
The Alchemical Fire
Unprocessed emotions become poisons that intoxicate body, mind and relationships. The Alchemical Fire arises from the friction between inner discomfort and conscious observation: it is the fire that ignites transformation. Knowing is not enough; one must become what one knows.
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The work is similar to postural exercise for the mind: we loosen the neural pathways of distorted thinking, the hypertrophic ones that make us react as victims, and strengthen the pathways of correct thinking, until the new posture becomes natural.
Our wounds are the very engine of evolution. But we cannot change our life without having changed our essence, otherwise everything will realign and return to how it was before. What is observed and named loses its power. The mechanism does not vanish: it becomes visible. And when it is visible, one can choose.
Taking Back the Reins
Gurdjieff describes the human being as a carriage without a master: the physical body is the carriage, the emotions are the impulsive horses, the mind the distracted coachman, and consciousness the sleeping passenger. As long as the passenger sleeps, the carriage drifts.
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The work on oneself consists in awakening the passenger: recognising one's automatisms, masks, conditioning, and gradually becoming masters of one's own life. From victims of the external, one becomes a conscious creator of one's own path.
"Man's fundamental condition is sleep; man is asleep, his consciousness is hypnotised, confused; he does not know who he is, nor why he acts…"— G. I. Gurdjieff, Views from the Real World
The Ascent
Ancient tradition describes the soul's journey as a Tree of Life with ten fruits, ten divine attributes that the human being must embody to return to their origin. To do so they must traverse seven initiations and orient themselves through their own Soul Ray, the unique note that connects each person to their divine nature.
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Along the way, the seven wounds of the soul (rejection, abandonment, betrayal, humiliation, injustice, abuse, negligence) are the raw material of the work: transmuting them means embodying the corresponding seven spiritual talents and building, piece by piece, one's own Philosopher's Stone.
Shedding what we are not is half the path. The other half is rediscovering the Word, the creative utterance, and using it consciously, with a mind connected to the heart.
Abracadabra — I create as I speak.
Seven years of inner work. The first three form a complete cycle; the following four deepen the operative practice.
Transmutative Alchemy & the Fourth Way
Gurdjieff's Carriage and the awakening of consciousness. The 96 Universal Laws, the Alchemical Fire, the three phases of the Great Work (Nigredo, Albedo, Rubedo). Self-observation as the first tool of transformation.
Enneagram & Numerology
The Sacred Geometry of the Soul: the 9 Enneatypes through the three centres (instinctive, emotional, mental). Passions, fixations and Numerological Archetypes. The Law of Polarity, the Tao and the discovery of one's Mission.
Kabbalah & Christic Teaching
The Tree of Life and the Sephiroth, Sacred Geometry and the Creative Word. The 7 Rays, the 7 Initiations and the initiatic life of Christ. Da'at, the hidden Sephira, and the path towards Shamballah.
Theosophy & Anthroposophy
The 7 subtle bodies and the Monad through the 4 kingdoms. Life after death: Kamaloka, Devachan and the law of Reincarnation. The formation of destiny, Karma and the Violet Flame of Saint Germain.
Hermetic Philosophy & the 7 Principles
Hermes Trismegistus and the Emerald Tablets. The Kybalion and the 7 Hermetic Principles: Mentalism, Correspondence, Vibration, Rhythm, Gender, Causation. Mental Transmutation and Magic through the 5 Elements.
Emerald Tablets & Archetypal Magic
The Propositions of the Emerald Tablets, Astral Wounds and Spiritual Talents. The incarnatory process, Astrological Archetypes and the 7 Keys of Inner Realisation.
Operative Magic & Shamanism
The shamanic journey and the drum as a vehicle of consciousness. Kundalini awakening, Third Eye activation, White Theurgy and the Hebrew Letters. Final integration of the path.
A personalised journey, built around the specific evolutionary goal of the person undertaking it. It may arise from a moment of crisis, a delicate transition, or the drive to accelerate a transformation already underway.
In the School you work together with others: you study the Laws, train with exercises, and the group acts as a mirror. In the Individual Path you work on a specific knot of your own, with the focused listening of a guide. Those attending the School who encounter a deep block can dissolve it in the individual path; those starting from the individual path often feel the need for a broader framework. That is why they work well together.
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The School
- Structured and shared educational path
- Manifesting one's Soul in daily life
- Ancient Teachings and the 96 Universal Laws
- Universal tools of Alchemy and self-observation
- Shared journey with other participants
Individual Path
- Personalised journey based on your evolutionary goal
- Arises from a moment of crisis or a delicate transition
- Work on the Unconscious through targeted sessions
- Illumination of shadow areas
- Intimate and concrete transformation
The Initiatic Test of the Four Elements measures Fire, Air, Water and Earth, the maturity of the three centres, attention and will, and gives you your Elemental Code. The temperamental profile test, after Hippocrates and Galen, calculates how far you are sanguine, choleric, melancholic and phlegmatic, in percentages.
The Guides
They have walked for years the path they now teach. They lead individual and group journeys dedicated to awareness and transformative Alchemy.
Anna Carla Digregorio
Guide & author
With a degree in Pharmacy, for over eleven years she managed a large Parapharmacy in the heart of Bari, transforming it into a centre dedicated to Integrated Health. Her journey led her from healing the body to healing the being: a natural passage, where science meets awareness.
Nicolaos Anifantis
Guide & author
A solid background in industrial pharmaceutical production, combined with a long research path that interweaves science, tradition and spirituality. From the chemical laboratory to the inner laboratory: a journey where scientific rigour becomes a tool of transformation.
Eleonora Digregorio
Collaborator · lessons and experiential seminars
Ambula ab intra — walk from within. Eleonora supports the guides in lessons and experiential seminars, bringing her own daily practice and a sensitivity cultivated through the School's path.
Our events
Moments lived together, between teaching and nature.
Meetings and events
Presentations, conferences, festivals and seminars from recent years.
The 7 Chakras — Loving Oneself
8 July 2023 · Masseria Chinunno, Cassano (BA)
The School in person
Moments from lessons, circles in nature and gatherings
Lesson calendar
Seven years of progressive deepening, structured in annual cycles. Each lesson builds on the previous one, and what you study is then tested in everyday life.
Next lesson
9:00–13:30 · MeetingRoom, Via Argiro 135 (3rd floor), Bari
Bring a pen and your “Know Thyself Notebook”
The contribution
30 € / lesson
Pay as you go, no commitment
180 € / year 210 €
Years 1-3 only · 7 lessons, 1 offered by the School
Also available online · Start, pause and resume whenever you like
Where lessons take place and whether you can join once the path has started: see the FAQ.
The Book
Anna Carla Digregorio and Nicolaos Anifantis gather in these pages the heart of the School's teachings: a practical path to recognise and dissolve the inner blocks that separate us from our authentic Abundance.
Ricchezza, Abbondanza e Mission
The keys to inner realisation
The universal Laws of prosperity and spiritual evolution become concrete tools to dissolve blocks and release limiting patterns. Archetypal keys and ancient wisdoms guide us to recognise Abundance as a natural state to live in.
Aim for inner Abundance, and Wealth in matter will follow. Realisation is not a destination, but a state of Being. Anna Carla Digregorio & Nicolaos Anifantis
What you ask us most often
Answers to the most common questions for those approaching the School.
Why a school? Can't I study on my own?
You can, of course, and every search is precious. But there is a substantial difference. The self-taught person gathers fragmented information from different books, videos and courses: half-truths that risk never composing into a complete picture. As Gestalt psychology teaches us, when our brain lacks data, it reconstructs it according to the most convenient model, not according to the real map.
A school instead offers a progressive structure, a consolidated method that has been travelled for centuries by those who preceded us. Like Virgil for Dante, the guides who have walked that path know where one falls, how to get back up, what escapes the eye. If the inner journey is a journey, could you ever reach the destination with an inaccurate map?
What is the difference between a course and a school?
A course teaches, a school educates. You leave a course with information; you leave a school autonomous, like children who after a while can do on their own what the teacher used to repeat every time. Here the autonomy is emotional and mental: the ability to discern for yourself whether a teaching holds up, without needing to ask anyone for confirmation. At first you stumble, but that is the destination.
Is prior experience or spiritual training required?
No. The path starts from the foundations and accompanies each person from wherever they are. The only requirement is what in alchemy is called the thirst of the soul: that inner drive to know oneself more deeply which, once it arises, does not rest until it finds an answer. No prior reading or specific skills are needed.
How long does the path last and how is it structured?
The School spans 7 years: 3 foundational and 4 advanced. Even just the first 3 years constitute a complete path. Each year includes 7 lessons at the foundational levels and 3 at the advanced levels, at intervals of about six weeks. Lessons take place on Sunday mornings from 9:00 to 13:30.
Where do the in-person lessons take place?
At MeetingRoom — Via Argiro 135, 3rd floor, Bari. The venue is a few minutes from the central station and a short walk from the Gestipark Battisti (Ateneo) car park. On Sundays the blue-line parking spaces in the centre are free: arriving in good time, you can park right next to the venue. We ask for the utmost punctuality: we begin at 9:00. Arriving a few minutes early leaves time to sign the attendance sheet and pay the fee.
What should I bring to the lessons?
A pen and a dedicated notebook, which will accompany you throughout the entire cycle of the School: we call it the “Know Thyself Notebook”. In it you record insights, self-observations and exercises: over time it becomes the written mirror of your journey. Re-reading it over the years is one of the most powerful tools of the path.
How much does it cost?
The contribution is 30 € per lesson, payable each time. For those who prefer, an annual package is available (years 1-3, 7 lessons) at 180 € instead of 210 €, with one lesson offered by the School. There are no ties or obligations: we embody the principle of free choice. You can start, pause and resume whenever you wish.
Can I follow the lessons online?
Yes. Every lesson is recorded and made available through a reserved YouTube link, active permanently. You can rewatch the lesson as many times as you like, at your own pace. The in-person experience is naturally richer, but the online option ensures anyone can follow the path regardless of their location.
Can I start even if lessons have already begun?
Yes. Thanks to the recordings, you can catch up on previous lessons and join the path at any time. There are no barriers or time-bound prerequisites.
What do you actually study?
The heart of the path is the study of the 96 Universal Laws, the laws that govern the macrocosm and the microcosm. But knowledge is only half the work: the other half is alchemical practice, that is, the concrete transmutation of oneself in daily life. Among the tools: the Enneagram, Kabbalah, symbolic study of myths and archetypes, Hermetic Magic, self-observation exercises and guided meditations. Each year builds on the previous one, creating an organic and progressive path.
Is it a religious school?
No. The School integrates teachings from multiple spiritual traditions, from the Gospel to Eastern wisdom, from Hermeticism to depth psychology, seeking the common thread that unites them. Our approach is one of reductio ad unum: bringing the plurality of teachings back to a single underlying truth. We treat it as a spiritual science, to be verified through practice and direct experience.
Contact
If you feel something in these pages resonates with you, write to us. We will be happy to reply.
Thoughts & Inspirations
Words that have marked the journey. From masters of all ages, and from those who walk with the School today.
Learn by playing
Quizzes, scenarios and memory · 5-minute games · we recommend starting with The Awakening
