Every so often I run across a song or music video that strikes me on a deep level and I listen to it or watch it over and over and over – basically until I’m absolutely sick of it and rarely listen to it any longer.

It recently happened to me again, but this time I couldn’t figure out why the song was speaking to me. The music video certainly had some Yin and Yang imagery that I appreciated and I loved the beat and feel, but I didn’t understand the lyrics. At first I thought it was simply about a breakup between lovers.

Scrolling through comments on the video led me in a different direction and then I finally looked up an interview with the songwriter – something I rarely do as I always feel that art is meant to be interpreted by the one taking it in. However, listening to Sharon den Adel’s reasons for writing the Within Temptation song Supernova led me to a much deeper understanding of the song than I had initially imagined there was.

[intro]

Hello, Spiritual Seekers, welcome to another episode of Think Spiritual. As always, I’m your host, Mark, and today I’m exploring the depths of another music video – this will certainly not be as raw as my talk about Disturbed’s If I Ever Lose My Faith In You video. Though I do hope it’s as emotional and meaningful.

And, I don’t know, maybe talking about the deeper meanings of music videos will become a regular thing I do. I certainly love music and the creativity of some music videos is completely open to being analyzed and interpreted just as I do with movies. And they’re shorter which would lead to less writing…maybe. Let’s get through this one first – one step at a time, Mark.

Today I want to bring Within Temptation’s song and music video Supernova to your attention. And the topic that I really want to talk about is Alchemy or Transformation, because that is what this song ultimately represents.

In Medieval times, the practice of Alchemy was more or less the predecessor to chemistry and was considered to be “magic”. Tales of transmuting lead into gold, elixirs of eternal life and the Philosopher’s Stone were all based on the whimsical art of Alchemy. If a magician could create gold, his kingdom would have unending wealth. If he/she could create an elixir of life, his/her kingdom would never die. Or perhaps they could create a substance that contained all the mysteries of the Universe and all knowledge would be instantly attainable.

Now, honestly, I know nothing about Alchemy beyond my own interpretation of it. Like most stories and processes I look at it and interpret it as it fits into my own life experience. For me, Alchemy is an emotional and spiritual process. Alchemy is the art of turning one’s life into what is most valuable and desirable.

So, how does this all fit into Within Temptation’s Supernova song and music video?

Well, the song is not about a romantic relationship breakup as I first suspected. It is, in fact, about coming to terms with the death of a loved one – in this specific case, it was about Sharon den Adel’s personal loss of her father and how she was hoping and waiting for one last goodbye from him.

I’m sorry, but if that information alone doesn’t provide you with an emotional, knee-jerk reaction, I think there’s something wrong with you.

Do you see how powerful it is for Sharon den Adel to take her emotional pain and to transmute it into the beautiful sound of this song and then into the visual elements of the music video? How much more interesting is it that when the band was writing the song that den Adel’s mother heard it and told Sharon how much she loved it…before she even knew who the song was written about?

That, my dear Heroes and Heroines, is genuine spiritual alchemy – taking your pain and loss and transforming it into beauty.

How many songs and paintings and books and movies would we be living without if not for the pain and loss of the artists?

Without mud, there is no lotus flower.

Without my pain and loss I would have no haze to drown in and no deeper places to go.

Without my pain and loss I wouldn’t be able to dive deep nor soar high.

Without my pain and loss I wouldn’t dream nor would I have gravity to drag me down.

Without my pain and loss there would be no Supernovas – those epic and fleeting moments of enlightenment and understanding that we all have from time to time.

Without my pain and loss there would be no Think Spiritual podcast or YouTube channel. There would be nothing to fuel all these weird thoughts and ideas and explorations and analyses.

Is it tragic when we experience pain and loss? Of course it is!

Is it sad that we experience pain and loss? Of course it is!

Is it necessary that we experience pain and loss? Yes, it is absolutely necessary. It’s part of our human experience. It’s part of our growth. It’s part of our alchemy – our personal transformation.

Do you not understand that we’re all being refined into gold?

And there we have it, my dear Watchers and Listeners, my interpretation of Within Temptation’s song and music video, Supernova.

Thank you Within Temptation and Sharon den Adel for sharing your pain and loss and your creative personal alchemy with us. I truly hope we can use your art to transform ourselves as well. And I truly hope that your “last good-bye” becomes a new “hello” when you pass through the veil and meet your loved ones beyond.

And thank you so much for joining me today on Think Spiritual. Please like, share, comment, criticize, subscribe to and support the channel at your leisure.

I have been your host, Mark, this has been a deeper look into a possible meaning of yet another piece of art and I know that if you continue to transmute your own pain and loss into creative works and stories and teachings, that you are already in the process of changing your Self and that your world will have no choice but to change with you.

Goddess blessings upon you. You have all the weapons and knowledge you need within you. I will see you on the next episode of Think Spiritual.