Our aura is the energy field that surrounds and radiates outward from the physical body.  This electromagnetic field is constantly moving, unfolding, transforming and shifting.  It is usually seen oval in shape and completely surrounds a person in rings or layers of light.  These rings of light are seen clairvoyantly as swirling patterns of liquid light with several colors shimmering through them.  For some of us, the aura may not be seen visually but definitely sensed or felt.  The aura has been actually photographed through the use of Kirlian photography, named after the Russian scientist Semyon Kirlian, who discovered it.  This invention can capture the flow of energy around a person and even the life force around plants and vegetables.   

A person who is able to do aura readings has the ability to gather information about the size, shape and intensity of the colors and apply it to the health of a person.  Knowing the different subtle fields and their colors, a healer can pick up a person’s passing thoughts, feelings and emotions, as well as information concerning their physical health and spiritual development.   

Many people who work with auras, especially in the field of healing have developed a natural sensitivity to the aura.  The aura can often show the onset of an illness, long before the symptoms begin to show.  In most healing classes, the student is taught to scan the client’s aura to locate the areas in the body that feel congested or depleted in energy. Through this ability to ‘sense’, healers often find their hands drawn intuitively to an affected part of the body needing treatment.   

It was believed for quite a long time that the many colors emanating from the etheric were coming from the chakras.  Thanks to science we now know this is wrong.  There is an intimate and dynamic relationship between the etheric system and the nervous system and every single cell in the body.  The body and the etheric are not separate systems.  , they work simultaneously together, each affecting the other.     

“as the student builds a pure physical body and a refined etheric, as he develops the emotional virtues and as he coordinates [223] and enlarges his mental body, he is continuously altering its rate vibration and changing its rhythm, which change demonstrates to the eye of the clairvoyant as mutation in color.” Alice Bailey 

Metaphysics teaches that the aura consists of 7 interwoven rings of light, known as the subtle bodies, each revealing a different aspect of the person.  The first ring reveals their state of health, the second their emotions, the third their intellectual makeup, the fourth their higher mind (imagination and intuition), the fifth their spirit, and the sixth and seventh reveal cosmic aspects.  These last two are much more difficult to see on most people.  

The aura overlays the etheric, which is known as the mirror image of the physical body.  It is usually seen as a bluish or cloudy haze around the body.  The etheric network of interlacing cords or nadis interpenetrate the physical body and vitalize it through prana.  Their job is to assimilate, transmit and absorb energy from prana and radiate it out around the nerves.  This web of energy is constantly flowing with information and  reveals the energy and health of an individual.  You could say the aura is our ‘antenna’ and is constantly at work protecting us from harm.  It measures about one-half to four inches out from the body.  

“In the etheric body, which is an exact replica of its denser counterpart, we have the organ of active radiatory fire, and . . . the vehicle of prana. Its function is to store up the rays of raditory light and heat which are secured from the sun, and to transmit them, via the spleen, to all parts of the physical body. . . . When the physical furnace burns brightly and when the fuel of the body (pranic rays) is adequately assimilated, the human frame will function as desired.” Alice Bailey (A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, p. 57). 

For your interest…. 

The spleen has an important role in dispersing prana throughout the whole physical body.  Prana is known as the Breath of Life.  It has an intelligence all its own and begins from our first breath till the end of our life.  The spleen is the main distribution center of pranic energy in your body.  Physically the spleen is approximately the size of your fist and located in the upper left part of the abdomen behind the stomach.  It looks dark red and feels kind of spongy.  It produces and stores blood cells and filters out debris.  It is part of the immune system and the largest organ composed of lymph tissue.   When the body is under stress, the spleen contracts and sends more blood to the rest of the body.  Or if an injury cuts an artery, the spleen will work hard to make extra blood cells to make up for the blood you lost through the wound.   

Clairvoyantly/esoterically, the spleen is seen as a disc with six spokes which absorb tiny vitality globules from the atmosphere.  After being drawn into the spleen, these globules are broken up into seven atoms each charged with seven types of prana.  These seven types are:  violet, blue, green, yellow, orange, dark red and magenta.  So each of the 6 spokes of the spleen takes up a specific color.  The last color magenta is actually the first of the atoms to be absorbed….its pranic energy is the life of the nervous system and the balancer of the etheric body.  Beginning in the heart, this prana is absorbed by the tiny fibers that pulsate through the physical, etheric, emotional and mental subtle bodies.  These ‘fibers’ are in fact made up of ‘invisible’ nerve matter.   

If this subject interests you might like these books:  

The Hidden Side of Things by C.W. Leadbeater

The Etheric Double by A.E. Powell

Spiritual Healing by Dora Kunz

Mind and Body by Priya D. Lal 

Now that we have a better understanding about prana and colors, let’s get back to the aura….. 

“The aura also absorbs energy from other energy sources around us, like sunlight and ozone, plants and  other people.  Many authors have suggested people can be classified by the colour of  their aura. For example, blue means a highly spiritual person,  trustworthy, honest, etc… Orange means an emotional type of person  etc… I have found this to be very misleading. The aura is such a  complex and changeable engine, it simply cannot be judged by its basic hue alone.  The aura is sensitive to colour. It reacts to the colours of clothing  and that of our surroundings, ie. wall colours. This explains why people  have strong preferences in colour. For example: If you like Pink or Red,  it means you have an active heart centre that is giving off lots of  Green. Red and Pink give off different types of green that are in  harmony with that aura.  Colours are widely used in hospitals and institutions to calm agitated  people and put them at ease. Pink is the most calming colour for this.  It is the emotional colour of love and happiness. Watch a mother’s aura  when she first looks into the eyes of her new baby, and falls head over  heels in love. At that special, joyous moment when they bond for life,  you will see this most lovely of auras, in all it’s glory.  There is a whole science devoted to the use of colours. This is called Colour Healing or Colour Therapy.” Robert Bruce   

Most people can be taught to see auras and usually see the etheric, closest to the body.  To see the other layers, gets more difficult.  As we move up through the layers, each one is twirling at different speeds.  The higher up we go, the faster they spin and the more invisible they become.   

But you don’t need to see all the other layers to understand the energy coming from yourself or another person.  The etheric contains information you need to know to diagnose an aura pretty accurately.  The problem you may encounter, that healers do, is picking up vibrations from your or a person’s clothing.  This is why healers usually scan the body very slowly.  With their hands, they can feel congested or depleted energy.  The most common sensations felt are:- pressure, warmth, tingling, cold, or electrical feelings.   

“Although color is usually thought as an absolute, it is really very subjective.  Because of this variation and because the aura is continually pulsating, two people observing the same person may pick up different colors.  Every emotion leaves its trace in the aura, so the colors fluctuate with your moods.  Often, however, one or two colors will remain predominant.  As you observe the aura for colors, allow the awareness of the color and its meaning to rise anew with each aura you observe.  Here are some common color associations. 

RED, energy, strength, courage

BRICK RED, anger

DEEP RED, sensuality

CRIMSON, loyalty

PINK, cheerfulness, optimism

ROSE, self-love

ORANGE, joy, vitality, balance of mental and physical

YELLOW, wisdom, creativity, spiritual

GREYISH YELLOW, fear

GREEN, ingenuity, compassion growth

PALE GREEN, healing power

GREYISH GREEN pessimism, envy

BLUE, spiritual, idealistic, imaginative, intellectual

GREYISH BLUE, melancholy

ICE BLUE, intellectual

PURPLE, spiritual power

ORCHID idealism

WHITE, highly spiritual (rarely seen)

BLACK, depression, death (rarely seen)

BROWN, earthly

DULL BROWN, low energy,

GREY, fear, boredom, repressed anger

GOLD, pure knowing and intuition

SILVER similar to gold, very developed psychically”

~by Diane Mariechild 

One of the first times I observed the aura was in an evening art class.  We had a visiting artist who didn’t waste anytime in getting us started. Placed before us was watercolor paper or something similar and a set of watercolors, 7 colors in total, a child would use.  

‘Breath slow and deep’ I remember her saying, ‘fill yourself as though your whole body is an empty vessel, breath again and again and allow your heart to absorb it, then send out bits of your essence in its current…now find your heartbeat…’  

Then, we were each told that we had 5 or 10 minutes to paint symbols or colors that expressed our innermost feelings on the paper.  For the next few seconds you could have heard a pin drop….here we were, on a Thursday night, most of us with no pep after a challenging day at work and we were to imagine and produce an artwork created from deep within?  But those frustrations, feelings and emotions were exactly what the teacher wanted.  She told us Soul art wasn’t just about love, laughter or joy.  An artist doesn’t ignore the irritants of their day by burying them under the rug….he or she brings them out in a vivid array of an assortment of colors.  ‘There are no limits to where your creation of the Self will take you’, she said.  Although I don’t remember exactly as it was told, our teacher said something like  ‘A negative becomes a positive when we are perceptive enough to see the wisdom of the emotion.’   

Once our watercolors were setup, we had 5-10 minutes to complete our painting.  With little time to think, our main guide was our intuition.  Artists who painted in exact detail now had their brushes flying every which way..the flow of energy and enthusiasm was contagious….what a way to express all our different emotions.    When time was up, we each took turns showing off our creation.  What we noticed was that most of us only used 2-4 colors.  The art teacher told us never to lose the sight, that like dreams, each persons symbols and colors expressed their true nature.  I sure wish I could remember her name lol!  

We weren’t to analyze or criticize each others work but to express the more positive impressions of the work.  It definitely brought about an atmosphere of fun and laughter, followed by deep felt insight.  It raised the energy levels of everyone in the room.  It was an incredible network of energies connecting and coming together.  I’m sure an inner shift occurred in many of us that night.  It just may have been what stimulated me to explore self-healing and the metaphysical world.  

If you’re interested, do try it!  This has nothing to do whether you are an artist or not.  What it will do is speak volumes about your own life experiences.  Not only that it allows you to feel and express your emotions in a productive way.  It also shows you how to ‘freeze frame’ an emotion and get it out of your system.  And you don’t need to show it to anyone!  This is your own art diary of heartfelt emotions and a valuable opportunity to deal with emotions in a healthy way. And it only takes 5 or 10 minutes of your time!!  Then, the next day or the day after that, you can reflect on your painting and see what emotions it evokes.  It’s fun to do with friends…..very close friends who know each other well.  

TO SEE THE AURA the person you want to ‘see’ should first of all wear a neutral color and if it’s possible, have them sit close to a white or lightly colored wall or surface.  The lighting shouldn’t be bright and not too dark.  If you wear glasses, it might be easier to see the aura without them. Ask the person to relax by taking 3 of 4 deep breaths in and out.  You shouldn’t be too close to the person, standing at least 10 or 15 feet away.  When you are ready you’re going to look past the persons head and shoulder area and focus on the wall behind them.  Don’t stare hard, use a soft focus.  As you continue to gaze past the outline of the body you should soon be able to see the aura become visible.  It will almost look like there’s a light or halo behind them.  If you change your focus to see the aura itself, it will disappear, but if you go back to focusing on the wall, it will eventually reappear.   It may take a few times before you see the aura, so don’t get frustrated.  Then again you may see it and not believe it, feeling that it had to be an after-image or that your eyes were playing tricks on you. 

Note:  You can practice seeing auras on plants, animals, clothes, crystals, etc. .   

The human aura, though, has a much stronger electromagnetic field…it gives off electric energy and receives magnetic energy, which is why we leave traces and imprints of ourselves everywhere we go.  It’s also why certain objects in our home or jewelry worn, absorbs our energy.   

Another way to practice seeing your own aura is to use a mirror.  I found the bathroom mirror great for this, but don’t let that limit you.  Dim the lights or whatever room you’re in, turn the light off but allow light to flow in from the next room or hallway.  Look in the mirror and focus just above the hairline and shoulder area.  The first thing you might see is your face or image in the mirror disappearing.  This is natural. As you continue to l a kind of whitish blue outline around your head.  If you can practice keeping your eyes open and gazing above your head in the mirror, you’ll eventually see other colors and shapes become visible.  This may take a few tries.  When you get real good at it, you can actually blink and the image will still be there.  

Note: Try looking at your aura after exercising and then after sitting/relaxing and write down your perceptions.  

Or try cleansing your aura, this visualization works and is simple to do…. 

GOLDEN RAIN 

Imagine that golden drops of rain are falling upon you. You are in a golden shower of rain. Feel these drops pass through your aura and above and around your head: feel them touch your physical hair and your head. Feel these drops pass through that part of your energy body that surrounds your shoulders, your back and your chest: feel the drops touch your physical shoulders, back and chest. Feel the golden drops pass through your energy-body at the level of your waist, your hips, your buttocks, feel them touch your physical waist, hips and buttocks. Feel the drops pass through your energy-field around your legs until they reach your feet: feel them touch your physical legs and feet. Let the golden drops run away, taking with them everything that does not belong in your energy-field. 

Your auras and physical body are clean 

TO SENSE AURAS work with a partner.  Relax and center yourself.  Stand about 5 feet away from this person and slowly walk towards them with arms extended and palms out.  When you feel their aura, slowly move your hands around your partner’s body, *about an inch or so away from it.  (Concentrate your energy on the center of your palms) Become aware of this person’s energy.  Notice how far away from the body you can perceive his/her energy.  Notice if there are any places that feel cooler or warmer than others.  Often in people who don’t get much exercise the energy around their legs and feel will feel cooler or harder to detect.  Notice any changes in the flow of energy.  (You may notice such changes in the solar plexus area, many diseases originate here) Places that feel very warm, indicate blocked energy, as do unusually cool places.  You will find that as you notice disruptions in the energy flow your partner will probably confirm them by saying something like, “Yes, I recently sprained my ankle, I just had a cold, or my back hurts.”  

*Note:  A very healthy and energetic aura can be felt as much as 3 feet away. 

PSYCHIC SELF-DEFENCE is a form of protection when we are overwhelmed by forces or bombarded and influenced by other people’s energies, old buildings, etc..  The body’s astral field is very sensitive to thoughts and emotions. More than likely you are a ‘sensitive’ and have on occasion been affected by invisible forces in the astral realm.  This can have a profound effect of flooding the mind with chaotic emotions!

Once you become aware of your own aura, you will start to notice how it responds and reacts to a home a room and even other people.  Have you encountered someone whose energy felt so close you needed to take a step back or two?  More than likely that was their aura intruding into your aura.  We are constantly sending out waves and vibrations, some filled with love, others filled with fear, anger, excitement and so on.  Imagine different auras with different thought/emotional energies all mingling together, for example on the bus or the train, going to/from work.  Ever suddenly feel drained or claustrophobic? 

This is an easy visualization to do when you’ve felt overcome or disrobed of your energy. 

Sit in a relaxed position in a comfortable chair.  Breathe slowly and deeply for a few moments, until the mind is quiet.  In your mind create a curtain of blue light, beginning from the floor of your feet, all the way up to the ceiling above your head.  Light up this curtain of blue with sparkling rays of silver which are bright and shiny, rather like currents of electricity flowing along a bare connection.  Allow this curtain of blue light to overwhelm you.  Draw it in through your nostrils and down inside yourself, until you are filled with blue.

Very slowly, change the curtain of blue light to red.  Allow the red curtain to envelope you as completely as possible.  Feel the warmth of the red vibrations against your skin, and see these vibrations as burning away all the negative energy in your aura.  Feel the energy pulsating inside you.  See yourself being completely revitalized. 

Hold this image for a few moments, then gradually change the red curtain of energy to a gold curtain.  Allow this to enfold you, at the same time drawing it into your very being.  Become totally absorbed by the golden light.  Hold it for a few moments, then very slowly allow the whole exercise to fade.

Relax in your chair for a few minutes.   

You may or may not feel immediate results but you will as time passes.  It has a remarkable effect on one’s aura, making it appear more vibrant and clear.  You could definitely try it and then look at your aura in the mirror.  This really is an exercise about getting rid of psychic garbage and a buildup of emotion/thought forces.    

And last but not least you could try the “Auric Egg”, it’s quite good too. 

First of all, pick a color you feel is powerful enough to give you spiritual protection.  It should of course be one with which you feel very comfortable with.  Then create an auric egg of color around yourself. 

See yourself objectively at first, sitting completely surround by the color of your choice.  Then, very slowly allow the color to obliterate you completely, until you can only see the colored egg before you.  At this point feel yourself inside the egg, surrounded by the beautiful color.  Make it a strong egg, with plenty of movement in the color.  Allow the energy to infuse you with vitality, to the extend that you can feel yourself almost vibrate.Continue this visualization for 10 minutes if you can.  This is easy enough to do everyday.

Links 

What is the aura  http://www.indianreikimasters.com/aura.htm

The human aura http://www.spiritdove.com/a_auras.htm

What color is your aura  http://www.blogthings.com/whatcolorisyourauraquiz/ 

Dowsing rods and the aura http://gerberink.hubpages.com/hub/Locating-Auras-with-Dowsing-Rods

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sddJAHN9m9Q 

Kirlian Photography http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDOi1BLoN3U

Stay tuned……

ravenstarshealingroom@gmail.com

“The Causal/Soul Body is named “Causal” because it is the originating source of each personality that incarnates in each lifetime. It is the source of your personality, causing it to be and exist. When your personality ends, the essence of you is absorbed back into the Causal Body. It is the first level of your individuality that is relatively immortal as the Causal Body exists for many millions of years, during your journey as a human through many incarnations or lifetimes. Animals have yet to obtain a Causal Body and super-humans that are liberated from the cycle of rebirth discard the Causal Body and move on to higher levels” http://www.energyreality.com/pgs/caus.htm

Your very first breath of life, anchors your soul in the Causal and physical body.  The Causal body is where your life plan, life tasks, karma and astrological makeup are stored as well as ‘permanently stored past life information’.  There is a very strong connection between the Causal, Astral and Mental fields, as well as several bodily pathways that include the brain, nervous system, endocrine glands and immune system.   

Many have described the Causal as multi-layered, round and similar to an onion…the most outer layers are easily accessible, the inner layers much more difficult to obtain. We all need the intelligence of this field to solve problems, help us evolve, find new directions, new methods and a new sense of self.  When we tap into this wellspring of information we discover an endless supply of wisdom and information.  The Causal contains several layers of survival information as well as a record of all our previous lives. 

The content of the causal body is the accumulation by slow and gradual process of the good in each life.  The building proceeds slowly at first, but towards the end of incarnation, – on the Probationary Path and on the Path of Initiation – the work proceeds rapidly.  The structure has been reared, and each stone quarried in the personal life.  On the path, in each of its two divisions, the work of completing and beautifying the Temple proceeds with greater rapidity…” Alice Bailey 

When I read this quote from Alice Bailey, I had a vision of Blacksmiths, Goldsmiths, the Mayas. Egyptians and Masons, who learned, with their hands, to take nature apart and put the pieces together in a new and more powerful combination.  It made me think of words like structure, patterns, architectural plans and how they are all fashioned geometrically in design.  I thought of crystals and how they’re put together and the way atoms are made of their parts.  I visualized the spiral structure of DNA resembling several layers of different parts put together.  I realized the creativity and skill of ancient monuments and world carved giant stones are embodiments of universal truths and the product of their creativity. They are, just like the Causal Body a timeline of many stories that exist within us and without.  I have learned that as we awaken and develop our soul power, we raise our vibrations and open up the channels to our Spiritual Self.   

“The collective unconscious is that set of building blocks from which human reality is made.  It’s as if there is a great reservoir outside of time and space, patterns or energy—from which everything is drawn or everything is made.Reality consists of patterns made upon this gridwork, and like a gigantic spiderweb, if you pluck one part of that web, other parts of it respond.” Stephen Segaller, Merrill Berger 

We live in a world of interrelationships…each of us is connected to every other being on this planet and as well to the many dimensions that spiral up to the original source.   Your Soul (Higher Self) is a dynamic, growing life-force existing in an intricate network of energies where all beings unite as one multidimensional consciousness.  Your higher self is the very essence of who you are and holds a wealth of knowledge from ALL your lifetimes.    

Our souls are connected to all other souls on earth and all other great beings in the universe.  Through our souls we have the ability to communicate with higher levels of consciousness through prayer and meditation.  When we are in this state we have a sense of unity with all things.  This is what the Causal Body is all about.  It is both individual and universal.  When in contact with your soul, there is a part of you that is detached, that is listening and watching all the events in your life.  This is where its power lies.  Your causal/soul body is both the observer and the participant at the same time.  You must observe yourself as you observe others, hear yourself as you hear others.  You must be able to see yourself as others see you and understand. 

 “Way down inside ourselves, we have never really forgotten our true nature.  We are spiritual beings and will always be spiritual beings.  The problem is that we do not remember consciously what it was like to be in the spiritual realm before we were born this time around.  And it is only in a rare moment that we vaguely recall our past life experiences on this earth—perhaps when we meet another person in a certain situation, or awaken from a dream with a recall that tells us that we have lived before.  This discovery on the part of the mind is a beginning.” William A. McGarey, M.D.

The causal body stores emotionally charged and repressed information from this lifetime and past life memories.  Connected to the etheric field (mirror of the physical body) it then has connections to the seven major chakras and seven major endocrine glands of the body.  The number 7 and the number 12 have great significance in the architectural building of the causal body or ‘temple of the soul’.  7 is the combination of 3 (The Divine) and 4 (matter)….its ultimate goal, unification.  The number 12 represents twelve soul types linked to the twelve astrological signs, known as the zodiac.  There is a tremendous history in the world of astrology dating back to Atlantis and the Egyptians.  It was the Greeks who fine tuned the daily movement of the planets and added mystical gods to each sign which were borrowed from the Egyptians.  Each soul sign holds the key to lessons you’ve learned in each lifetime.  Not only does each sign empower you, they also show weaknesses and repeating challenges that sabotage your effects.

Much of our daily life is concentrated on meeting our basic survival needs like keeping ourselves and our families fed and clothed and the daily routine of working for a living, paying the rent and the bills on time. Although we aren’t conscious of it, each day, we pass around the great astrological wheel, moving slowly through each of the 12 zodiacal signs for the unfoldment of our soul.  If we were aware of this, we would see how we affect other people, our environment, and our own lives. We would see just how important our own life is and how all things are connected.

I wrote this on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum as tink27 (Cosmic Tarot, Wheel of Fortune), “In a twenty-four hour period, we spin around the wheel of life as the risk-taker (Aries), the sensual self (Taurus), the inner-child (Cancer), the creative self (Leo), the analyzer (Virgo), the projected self (Libra), the secret self (Scorpio), the truth-seeker (Sagittarius), the ambitious self (Capricorn), the individualist (Aquarius), and the spiritual self (Pisces).

And it can be a continual turbulent rollercoaster if we aren’t balanced and can’t adjust to the many different changes in direction that can occur on a daily basis. I think this symbol can also reveal startling revelations if we are grounded and aware. The wheel of fortune can open doors to our higher desires. It can also force us to face our demons….to do a lot of soul-searching to discover what is blocking or isn’t working in our lives.”

We did not come here by chance.  We decided to enter the karmic wheel through birth with a will to fight, and with the courage to experience many trials and tribulations to change and heal our lives. The Causal body encourages us to become attuned to our own mental and spiritual well-being and is characterized by the twelve petalled lotus, which we’ve come know as the twelve soul signs or  the twelve great states of mind, known as the zodiac.

“The petals of the lotus open in a specific order depending on various individual factors, but in general the three knowledge petals are the first to unfold, followed by the love petals, and then the sacrifice petals. The three innermost petals are the last to open. They are activated by forces flowing from the monad during the third and fourth initiations. (See Figure 2.) These inner three enclose what is called the ‘jewel in the lotus‘.” http://www.fortunecity.com/roswell/leadbeater/0/golden.htm

 That Jewel within the lotus is similar to a seed that we not only nurture and give life to, but also a purpose. If you know the glyph of the Sun in astrology (a point within a circle) the jewel within the lotus could be this symbol, representing the many cycles of life, death, rebirth all condensed into one initial point. And it takes a lot of hard work, time and nurturing for a seed to begin to grow, so its essence wouldn’t begin to unfold until after many incarnations. The twelve petalled lotus is about weaving the knowledge of past, present and future into an intricate web of wisdom and understanding.

“The [astrological] signs are our spiritual needs. They are the dimensions of evolution, the ways in which we can grow. The houses show those areas of life in which the signs seek expression and development. They describe the experiences and circumstances of everyday reality through which we learn the lessons of all twelve signs and grow and develop accordingly. Without teachers in the school there can be no lessons. The planets represent personality functions or energies which initiate the activities that provide learning experiences, helping us to develop consciousness and fulfill our potential. The planets are intermediaries that bring the influence of the signs down to us, pervading our lives with their spiritualizing energies. They link the spiritual factors behind life’s expression to everyday experience. Signs are remote and set in the heavens, but the planets are nearby and less impersonal—as witnessed by their personification in the influential gods of Greek and Roman mythology, actively engaged in human affairs.” http://www.douglasbaker.com/astrology.html

Carl Jung believed that there is a repeating story in everyone’s life that is related to the ancient myths. He called these ancient myths, archetypes. Each archetype has its own special story that helps us find meaning in our lives. We have been fascinated by these myths which are multicultural in nature and have exchanged or cross-fertilized their information through time. Now, many of these old stories are rising up and being awakened and reborn.

We are in truth composed of a metaphysical and psychological anatomy. All your past lives have helped to mold and fashion who you are today. In fact I believe this information is stored in several different areas in the physical and spiritual bodies. When the Causal body recognizes information that may be pertinent to you right now, it releases that info via the body’s nervous system which affects endocrine glands and the autonomic nervous system, which affects the brain. All this occurs in less than a second! If we could see this visually it would look like colorful flashes of hyper energy overlapping one another.

Once in a while we are given glimpses of different lifetimes through our dreams, our intuition and through meditation.  The soul knows when the moment is right for you to access a past life and bring it to the surface.  If you feel stuck or there’s an area in your life that keeps repeating—pay attention and watch for clues!  Your Soul (Higher Self, Inner Wisdom) is always talking to you through your intuition and feelings.  It also communicates through coincidences and synchronicities – in the form of people, newspapers, books movies and anything else that will give you the message(s) you need to hear.  As you strengthen your connection to your higher self, you will experience many more insights, revelations and heightened awareness.

When we heal ourselves and create the reality we want to live in, we are happier and share our happiness with others, through a smile or a gentle act or conversation. We help brighten up others’ spirits, and they then pass it along to others. If this energy is strong, it can flow through many, many people. It is like the chaos theory: a minute change can have a huge effect in the long run.

Think of all the people you effect through your words and actions. Do you want your world to be filled with happiness, peace, understanding, joy? Then learn to accept these things in your life, in the present moment. If you feel they are too distant for you right now, then simply choose to be willing to allow these into your life.

I’d like to end this article with a wonderful reading, channeled by the late Edgar Cayce.  The whole reading is very long so we’re going to step into a conversation between God and the Master,(known to us as Jesus).  In the beginning of the channeling, we are told the Master had lived many other lives, namely Amilius, Adam, Enoch, Hermes, Melchizedek, Joseph, Joshua, Asaph, Jeshua and Zend.  “In none of these lives had the Master lived a perfect life, but he had done much to point the way to God.  Several times, he had given to the lost souls revelations from God which described God’s mysteries and which should have served as a blueprint for their salvation.  But each time, the meaning of the revelations was forgotten when the Master departed….Before the master returned [to earth] again to achieve his goal, God came to him and spoke lovingly and affectionately.  “My dearest son, you have done well.  You do not have to return to earth, you can stay with Me forever in heaven.”

The Master replied, “I thank You, Father, for Your love, but I also love my brothers and sisters.  I want to show them the way, which I have not yet wholly done.  I am ready now to live a perfect life in materiality.  I will not fail this time.”

God recognized the commitment and love of the Master for his brothers and sisters and was pleased.  However God also warned him, “Although I too think you are ready to complete the task you began long ago, you should know that your life on earth, even if it is perfect, will be one of suffering and difficulty.  You have set certain patterns in your earthly record, which, if you return, you must meet and finally overcome.  When you lived as Joshua, for example, you killed many people.  If you are to complete your earthly mission, you must heal and restore life to the people in the areas where you took life before.  And you must endure death and experience some of the agony you inflicted on others.  If you do all this and do not err, your mission will be complete.  You will have removed the penalty of death which you incurred as Adam.  The way for all to follow will be shown and they will not forget this time.  The bond will be restored between Me and My sons and daughters.” 

The master knew what lay ahead, but he praised God and humbly said, “I am ready.” 

The way was prepared for the Master’s entry.  Eve returned to be the channel for his birth and many others who had worked with the Master from the beginning returned to assist him in this epochal venture.” Edgar Cayce, Story of the Master retold by Glenn Sanderfur

Stay tuned to Subtle Anatomy Part V – The Aura

Great Links

http://humanityhealing.net/2011/06/the-causal-body-the-temple-of-the-soul/

ravenstarshealingroom@gmail.com

The mental body can be thought of as the essential pattern of the Soul. It can be described as a subtle “body” only in a highly metaphorical sense, and cannot be located in a spatial sense at all. This body is the instrument of abstract consciousness — that is, thought that does not involve forms and images of the sort we perceive with our senses — and thus makes it possible to perceive the core ideas or structures of experience, which exist outside of space and time.

http://www.plotinus.com/subtle_bodies_copy.htm

The etheric, astral and lower mental bodies, all correlate with our physical existence on earth.  Each one of us is a unique human being, with particular personality characteristics and a spiritual essence or soul.

The astral reacts to emotions, feelings, and memories that are recorded and triggered in and from the etheric field, which impregnates every cell, tissue and organ in the physical body.  The etheric field, apart from the astral body has it own nervous system which is composed of a vast network of energy lines colored with violet or gray forces of light that surround and interpenetrate the body anchoring itself in the heart, the brain, and spleen of the physical body. Every cell within the human body is permeated and enclosed by this etheric matter. The tiny vessels called nadis are similar to the nerves of the body except that they are exposed and vulnerable to the slightest vibration.  As these webs of energy known as the nadis or etheric nerves  criss-cross one another they form  major cross-over points that look similar to the hub of a wheel.  These major crossover points connect and breathe life into the 7 major chakras, which also underlie and control the endocrine glands.  

The astral body, (called the desire body or field of senses) is not only a reflector of your feelings and emotions, it is also your relations to people, animals, plants, your environment and the universe.  The astral field surrounds and envelopes the etheric field, extending as far out as a foot or so from the physical body, it is filled with colors, textures and shapes, constantly expanding and contracting, depending on a person’s mood and emotional state.  If we could see the emotional richness of this field, it would be a wondrous display of flowing colors, changing at the slightest shift in one’s mood and behavior.  

Have you ever thrown a small stone into a pool and watched as it gently disturbed the surface the water?  It sends out waves of ever-increasing circles, radiating out in all directions…..If more than one stone was thrown, the waves would splash in all directions….anyone close to that particular shore would have a good chance of getting wet.  This is one example the astral can affect others energy.  But there is another way too.  The waves from the water also sends out sounds or vibrations ….concentric circles resonating through the air.  If the sound of the stone was loud hitting the water, the vibrations in the air would be fast and erratic…a whirlwind of energy.  Just imagine how far those vibrations could go!

The astral field can be cluttered with passions, experiences, worries, regrets, negative self-images, memories, actions, reactions, emotions, analyses, hopes and fears.  From the time we learnt to express ourselves verbally, we have struggled to find words that would express our feelings that would be ‘acceptable’ to our friends, parents and teachers.  We began to wear masks to disguise our true feelings from others, to protect ourselves from criticism and disapproval.  Every time we do or say anything or have anything done or said to us, we add another distraction and our true self gets buried deeper and deeper.  The more we hold in and hold back our thoughts and feelings, this flux of energy can have a direct affect on the body’s nervous, endocrine, muscular and immune system.  

(Interestingly, the word endocrinology comes from the Greek words meaning ‘within’ and ‘I separately’ and this truly explains the role it plays in our lives.  Each of these centers has a symbolic meaning….looking at the seven endocrines from the top of the head down,  the pituitary is  considered the ‘master gland’, the pineal is known as the ‘third eye’, the thyroid represents ‘our power to choose’, the thymus is ‘the director of the immune system’, the adrenals are called the’ fight/flight center’, and the testes (male) and ovaries (female) continue our existence as a species. 

“It is…known that the most powerful chemical created in the body come from..[the] endocrine glands.  Likewise, it has been found that each is a neurohormonal transducer—able to convert electrical energy in to hormonal energy, and vice versa.  A neuro-hormone is a hormone that affects nervous system function or a hormone released due to nerve stimuli.” William A. McGarey, M.D.

“Whatever electricity is to man, that’s what the power of God is.  Man may in the material world use God-force, God-power or electricity…..” Edgar Cayce  

I’m getting a little ahead of myself here in regards to the nervous system, endocrines, chakras and aura, which we will look at in detail later.  But I felt it was important to have some understanding of the endocrine glands, which are both physical and spiritual ‘beings’.  These 7 spiritual/glandular centers have a consciousness of their own and each is related to the other 6 through our nervous system and the hormones in the blood.  Each one of us has a ‘group’ of amazing consciousnesses inside our being….each with its own history and experiences.  And, each center has its own attitude, responses, feelings and works differently in any given situation.  It is the nervous system and these seven areas of consciousness that make each of us unique, showing how we’ve communicated with spirit flowing through our bodies.  Carl Jung was one the first to see and understand this, birthing the concept of  ‘the archetypes’.  

“….the easiest way to work with the chakras physically and through their associated endocrine glands.  Each chakra is affiliated with a specific gland.  Endocrine glands produce hormones, substances that stimulate growth and development.  There are nearly 100 known hormones in the body.  Working with a chakra through diet, intentional healing, holistic processes, and other means can create optimum function for the related gland and the entire region related to that chakra.” Cyndi Dale 

As well, clairvoyants, healers and those developing a greater spiritual awareness are aware of the subtle fields and energy patterns that reflect what may be happening or what’s about to happen to a client’s physical and emotional levels.  Just as an illness can manifest in the subtle bodies, healing too often comes through the subtle fields before it can manifest in the physical, which is why many healers work, at least partly in the aura, without laying their hands directly on the physical body.  Sensing the subtle fields gives us a clue of problem areas that are excessive, weak, tense, blocked or held in by the client.  Healing relaxes, de-stresses and unclutters the mind.

Most of us are awkward in expressing our feelings at one time or another.  The reason is that we rehearse in our minds what we want to say before we say it.  The complexity involved with talking this over within ourselves is happening so fast we’re not even aware of it.  The problem with this is that we usually lose touch with the original, basic feeing that emotionally motivated us in the first place.  So when we express something different than what we originally felt, a split occurs between the body, mind, and our feelings and expressions.  

When two people interested in each other, come together, they immediately create and project hair-thin threads of auric energy.  These threads connect the two auras, feeding emotions and data from one to the other.  All communication between the connected individuals is accomplished through the subconscious mind and telepathy.  But when we are not expressing our true feelings, we are not being real, authentic, other people can feel this on a subtle level though they don’t interpret the feeling consciously.  

“The electromagnetic field that surrounds your Earth and moves through the entire universe is continually adjusted and affected by your every move, thought, and action. Thus you are part of the intricate web of energy that flows through the entire cosmos. As you can effect the energy of the entire cosmos, so too you can effect the energy of each other. You have the ability to send love to the farthest reaches of creation and at the very moment that you send the energy, your intention makes it so. Therefore in this way you move in unison with each other co-creating harmony or discord within the turning cycles of creation.” http://www.newagevillage.com/wiki/index.php/Healing_As_Energy_Transfer

This puts you right smack in the intricate web of energy that flows through the entire cosmos. Something so simple as an act of kindness will pulse along this intricate net of connections, sending and spreading positive feelings in all directions.  

*I still remember when I was in the ER with my oldest son who had accidentally stepped on an old rusty nail.  The wound had been cleansed and we were waiting for the nurse to give him a tetanus injection.  On the other side of the room was a woman crying and sitting all alone.  I felt so sad that I couldn’t do anything for her.  On impulse I sat beside her and held her hand.  I still remember the smile that arose upon her face, her eyes all watery.  The woman seemed so relieved, so happy.  I thought, I would cry too.  Words simply cannot explain what happened that day.  All I can say is that I’ve never looked upon simple touch as so simple after all.  When I spoke of this to my healing teachers and friends, they said healing energy was being transferred to the woman.  But I see it differently.  We are all energetically interconnected, there is no separation.  Energy is what we are and when we learn to dance with the energy and share it with others, this is what truly makes us what we truly are.  So don’t be afraid to ask others if they need a hug.  And don’t be afraid to ask if you need one.  And even beyond touch, don’t be afraid to smile and say hello to strangers walking past.  As a society we need to move beyond the fear we have toward each other.   

Emotions are what God used when creating the Universe.  Without emotions, art, music, the stars, singing birds, earth, angels and you would not exist.  The word emotion comes from the Latin meaning ‘to move out from’.  Energy must be free to flow in order for love to exist.  Just as the blood in your veins needs to flow in order to keep you alive, energy, e-motion, needs to flow to keep your soul qualities of love, health, abundance and creativity alive within in you.  

If you think about it, everything you desire is tied up in your emotions.  All the joy, all the abundance, all the love and all the peace, energy, enthusiasm and playfulness are all part of emotion.  When you suppress your feelings of sadness, grief, anger and pain, you also suppress the love and joy along with them.  Emotion is the key to creation and an important step in becoming your higher self.  

Suppressing your emotion will not make it go away.  The stagnated emotion will reside in your auric field, in the muscles and cells of your body…and begin to make up your energy.  This core energy has a resonance, and this will in turn begin to resonate with similar energy patterns.  These energies can be events or other people.  So no matter how you try you will not succeed in escaping the pain…you’ll take it with you wherever you go and possibly increase the load as years go by.  

I have learned that as soon as something starts to go ‘wrong’ in my life, it means that I am no longer in the upward spiral.  Almost every time something isn’t working for me it has lead to a release of something, and mostly it meant forgiving someone else and myself in the process.  I’ve also learnt that the release and expression of emotion is the key to allowing more love, joy and abundance in my life, I have also learned there is a fine balance between delving into my past and staying in it.  

One of the issues that everyone faces when clearing up their emotional debris is how to let go of the situation and the beliefs surrounding it.  To do this we have to understand the ‘mind’ and the mind isn’t just in the brain but in every part of the body.  It is constantly recording stimuli and input and experience.  The mind is the seat of all our beliefs, perceptions, experiences, memories and aspirations.  It is the most powerful tool we have in our possession and also the most difficult one to control.  A portion of the mind, is also connected to the autonomic nervous system which is always active, even while asleep, giving us the gift of life by keeping our organs and systems working together, by controlling our circulatory system, breathing, heart-rate, blood pressure, etc.   The autonomic is also the domain of your unconscious mind, your dreams and all your memories of present and past lives.  We’ll explore all this in Part IV of the Subtle Anatomy, the Causal Body. 

Within the soul and higher self lay all the answers as to why an event, relationship or circumstance happened and the reason why.   

“The key to healing lies in the unconscious.  If we can become aware of the memories stored in our bodies and bring them to mind, we can gain a different, nonrational understanding of how the past influences the present and our conscious minds and actions.  We can do it if we learn to tap into what I call the intuition network, to help us envision and create healthier lives, instead of allowing old memories and patterns of behavior to continue re-creating painful experiences.” Mona Lisa Schulz

***

footnote…

*The skin really is the body of the soul.  It is actually one of the richest sources of all the hormones found in the body.  So when we stimulate the skin we can cause a shower of healing chemicals into our blood stream.  One of the most important of these are growth factors or growth hormones.  By simply stimulating the skin we can produce these growth factors or hormones right into our blood stream.  Like the other organs, the skin is also the seat of emotions.  When we are deeply moved we say we were deeply touched.  We describe situations as sticky, ticklish or thorny, all these have to do with sensations in our body.  Therefore the experience of touch or sensation linked to a thought is really what an emotion is.  Once again, we can influence emotions, feelings and desires through our skin as a result of the release of these hormones.)

Great links…

http://www.kenpage.com/articles/creation.html

http://www.pathwaytohappiness.com/

http://www.energyenhancement.org/chakras/Chakra_general/elements%20of%20chakras.html#ten

Joan Borysenko, Ph.D.

In order for the Earth to thrive it needs the commitment, cooperation and integration of every living organism living on it.  This harmonization was proved by James Lovelock’s “Gaia Theory that every ocean, tree, human, animal, insect, etc. is actually a conglomeration of millions of cells combined to create the flesh, blood, oxygen and nerve endings of the earth itself.  Truly, it is a dazzling display of everything and everyone joining together to form one massive self-regulating organism, the Earth/Gaia itself.  

Right now as you are reading this hundreds of thousands of little beings are at work in a symbiotic union to help you adapt and thrive.  In fact your body is nothing more or less than a vast conglomeration of millions of cells that are constantly absorbing nutrients of all kinds from their environment.  It is through the cooperation of these complex organisms that you exist at all.  But how does this absorption happen…mostly through the senses, hearing, seeing, tasting and smelling the world around us.  We also feel it with every inch of our skin.   

This video “The inner life of a cell explained” really helps us see how these dinstinct little beings work together to produce and complete a human cell.   lhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3eJLj1V4R0 

We are truly partners in the creation of reality.  The power of life, the creative spirit lives around and within us.  We can never truly be separated from this creative power, although it can remain hidden from our conscious awareness.  We are infused with and connected to the power of all creation.  The same elements that form the Earth and the stars, also form our bodies.  The amount of water in the human body is similar to the amount of water on the body of the Earth.  The percentage of salt in our bloodstreams is the same percentage of salt that exists in the oceans.  Our bones are Earth’s mountains, our veins its flowing rivers, our energy bodies the Earth’s higher magnetic Self.   When we exploit the Earth’s resources or abuse it, we are only injuring ourselves.  Our real power emerges when we see the power of the whole and recognize our interconnectedness.   

“We with our lives are like islands in the sea, like the trees in the forest.  The maple and the pine may whisper to each other with their leaves…..But the trees also commingle their roots in the darkest underground, and the islands also hang together through the ocean’s bottom.  Just as there is a continuum of cosmic consciousness, against which our individuality builds but accidental fences….Our normal consciousness is circumscribed  for adaptation to our external environment, but the fence is weak in spots, and fitful influences from beyond leak in, showing the otherwise unverifiable human connection.” William James 

An important aspect of a living organism is its ability to adapt to its environment, in fact, this is how the whole process of evolution happens….our bodies are constantly being called upon to adjust and adapt to our surroundings.  Just as we need to be careful of the foods we eat, so too do we need to be aware and careful of what impressions we allow ourselves to take in to nourish our minds and emotions.  An organism needs a supportive environment that will provide for its needs and encourage its growth.    Interestingly, among all the animals around us, we are the only one that is not locked into our environment.  Our imagination, our reason, our emotions and strength make it possible for us not to accept the environment but to change it!  

This simple video shows the water can only stay on the penny as long as the drops continue to hold on to each other http://www.instructables.com/id/Water-Drops-on-a-Penny–Cohesive-Forces-of-Water-/ 

IN THE BEGINNING 

“We are going through a period as traumatic as the evolution of man’s predecessors from sea creatures to land creatures….Those who can adapt will; those who can’t will either go on surviving somehow at a lower level of development or will perish—washed up on the shore”. Lawrence Suhn 

The early humans depended on nature to provide the basic necessities of life.  Their consciousness was mostly visual.  They thought, felt and lived visually.  There didn’t seem to be much difference between the time of sleeping and daily activities, between visions and perceptions.  The only way he related to the world was through visualization.  The earliest record of the visualization experience was during the Ice Age – 60,000 to 10,000 B.C., cave dwellers in France, Spain, Africa and Scandinavia painted on the walls of their caves of what they saw.  Most of the paintings were of animals they hunted.  Apparently some of these rock images were imprinted with spear marks….we can imagine these cave dwellers gathering around the fresh painting either reliving a great hunt or preparing for future ones, visualizing the souls of the animals they would kill for food and clothing.  

Other drawings found in caves were pictures of men wearing animal masks.  Anthropologists believe these paintings may have depicted the tribal shamans—priest-magician-healer figures who again used images as a form of communication.  It was believed that the Shaman, putting on the mask of an animal, became one with the animal and gained power over it (instead of asking the animal to be an ally). These primitives were not like the Shamans of today, instead they were awed by a force they could not understand and so, tried to exert control over it by simple-mindedly imitating it.   

With the development of language and the written word, rational thought became dominant.  Words became labels, allowing us to detach from our experience, analyze it, as well as causing our humanness to separate from nature.  With these changes came the birth of civilization, law, order, the development of philosophical and moral systems, and math and science.   

As knowledge and communication increased, people started to live higher social roles carrying their sense of separation and alienation from nature to its extreme.  If something couldn’t be perceived with their five senses, they considered it unimportant or even nonexistent.  They looked only on the outside of themselves…..e.g., what they looked like, the makeup they had on, the clothes they wore, the house they lived in….in other words, how other people saw them.  This is where we began to wear masks, in order to hide our true feelings from others and to protect ourselves from being judged, ridiculed or criticized.  The problem was, we forgot or became unaware we were wearing them anymore.  This façade passed onto our Personality and we became even more distant from ourselves and from our day-to-day experiences.  And so, wanting to be accepted by others, and be in their good books, we pretended to be different from our true selves.  And thus, we became trapped in a vicious circle, unable to communicate clearly with others and in the process lost the ability to communicate with ourselves.  The gap between our feeling, thinking and ability to act became so distorted that we were like different people trapped in the same body. 

It really does take a lot of energy to hold in and hold back our thoughts and feelings.  I loved what Dr. Philip McGraw wrote in his book “SELF Matters”, he used the analogy of a trying to hold a beach ball underwater to express how much energy it takes to suppress our authentic self.  He said “Remember how much effort and energy it took to hold it under you as it squeaked and wriggled from side to side, trying to avoid your suppressing hands and claim its natural buoyancy?  Isn’t this exactly what happens when you deny your authentic self its natural expression?  Just imagine the exhaustion you have accumulated, fighting that same fight every minute of every hour of every day of your life”.    

Now, in our present age, we think we have more problems than ever before but actually what’s really going on is we are becoming much more sensitive to a new set of values a new quality of awareness and a new way of being.   We are in fact becoming multi-sensory beings.   

“The world asks that we focus less on how we can coerce something to make it conform to our designs and focus more on how we can engage with one another, how we can enter into the experience and then notice what comes forth.  It ask that we participate more than plan”. Wheatley and Kellner-Rogers 

THE INTEGRATION OF NATURE AND HUMANS

 Modern psychics have taught us that everything in the universe is essentially pulsating energy, constantly changing and renewing itself. The Earth, too, goes through a cycle of deterioration and regeneration (birth/death/rebirth)…changing something old into a new form of life.  We could see this change as a form of death as it is the force of change.  But really and truly, I see it as a movement of pulling us away from one thing and pushing us into another.  And we are right in the midst of this tide after tide movement.  If we do not learn how to become adaptable and flexible within these currents, we will spend our time being tossed about like seaweed in a storm.    

“In its boldest outlines, we face a choice between two alternatives: going backward to a state of submission to nature, or going forward to accept our responsibility for nature.  I believe we must go forward, not backward, both for our good and for the good of the planet.  The most efficient way to define our responsibility is by the way of an image:  We are emerging as Earth’s nervous system.  Just as the nervous system of an animal has a specific role to play within and for the earth as a whole.  Indeed, one of the roles of the nervous system is to make a whole out of the parts of which the animal is constituted.  The nervous system of an animal orchestrates the activities of the digestive system, circulatory system, musculature, sensory systems and so on, in order that they act as a whole.  The nervous system identifies the self of the animal whose existence it supports and partially comprises.  At this moment in history, Earth is not a biological entity in its own right;  Earth is neither a plant or an animal.  In a purely formal sense, the Earth contains or houses a biological system, but this system is nothing more or less than the sum total of all living things on the planet.  But a total is not an entity.  We have the unique potential to transform the Earth into an entity with its own coherence and integrity—its own self.  This is something we should do, both for our own sake and for the sake of the natural planet.   

Making an organic entity out of the sum of living things on the planet is essentially a matter of resolving tensions between opposites.  To that extent, it requires thinking through what to the casual glance may look like contradictions or paradoxes.  For example, we are clearly only part of nature, and a tiny part at that, so it may seem impossible or paradoxical that we at the same time take charge of the whole.  We can help ourselves see through this apparent impossibility by reminding ourselves that the nervous system of any animal is a mere fraction of the whole, and that the paradox is resolved in a harmonious resolution of tension.  Biological entities are organic, organized: Their parts, all of which have interest of their own, come together to serve their various interests cooperatively.  This cooperation presupposes a primary tension between the interests of the individual cells in the first place, as well as a way to resolve these tensions for the mutual benefit of all.  Thus, the cells of the kidneys, for example, are both servants of the body as a whole, which provides their food, water and oxygen.  Similarly, the cells of the nervous system are both served by the body and are servants of the body: both masters and slaves.  

There is no magic involved in this; nothing supernatural is required.  Nervous systems have provided animals from time immemorial with an advantage in the evolutionary race; the advantage of cooperation.  Nevertheless, there is a tension.  Seeing how a whole can be made of its parts requires looking past apparent clashes of interest to the underlying unities.  Environmentalism  thinks in terms of the clash between humankind and the rest of the natural order. Environmentalism has witnessed the manifold injuries inflicted on nature by humankind, and it recommends that we repent, assume a posture of humility and try to make ourselves as small as possible (try to reduce our ecological footprint as much as possible) so that nature can reassert its power over us. In this vision one side or the other must triumph……I suggest that as long as the conflict between human interests and nature remains at center stage, the conceivable solutions to our “environmental” problems (whether or not they amount to a crisis) will be restricted to victory of one side over the other.  We must instead learn to see tensions, rather than clashes, between nature and humankind. We must look beyond victory for either side to a unity of the two sides.  In this unity, there is a special role for us to play:  we seek the harmonious resolution of tensions between humankind and nature.  Just as a nervous system enables your billions and billions of individual cells to be the single entity that you understand yourself to be, so too we can become the unifying information-processing system of the planet as a whole.”  Jeffrey E. Foss  Beyond Environmentalism: a philosophy of nature   

The nervous system is the most complex physical structure of all known works of nature.  Its billions of interconnections and electromechanical transactions allow us to think, create, love, act and become conscious of our intentions.  The slightest bit of information sets off a whole communication system that looks like and works as a network of miniature cables.  This massive network involves the brain, spinal cord, and all the nerves that radiate to every part of your body.  If you were to arrange all the nerves in your body in one line, they’d probably be about 62,000 miles long!!  The nervous system is in charge of and coordinates every activity in your body, including thought, speech, and language recognition; all your senses and the functioning of your muscles and organs.  

Every nerve in your body has a corresponding artery and as mentioned in Part 1 of The Subtle Anatomy, a corresponding etheric thread or nadis too.  The nervous system ends in the sensory organs (eyes, ears, taste, smell, touch) that provides us with information about our environment and about ourselves.  Without a nervous system you wouldn’t be able to feel happy or sad, or feel hot or cold, of if it was light or dark..

 The main transportation of the nervous system is the brain.  It is the best organized 3 lbs of matter in the known universe.  Tens of billions of tiny nerve cells transmit electrical signals from the nerves to the brain.  And each nerve cell in the brain is connected to many other cells in the brain and is affected by them.  The whole brain hums actively firing in circuits or loops, round and round like a pinwheel, throwing off sparks of energy on each cycle.  Great masses of nerve cells unite together to create a marvelous orchestra which plays thoughts of truth and beauty, which creates creative imagination.  

Carl Sagan on the Brain http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SHc67Hep48

 “As a net is made up of a series of ties, so everything in this world is connected by a series of ties.  If anyone thinks that the mesh of a net is an independent, isolated thing, he is mistaken.  It is called a net because it is made up of a series of interconnected meshes, and each mesh has its place and responsibility in relation to the other meshes.”  The Buddha

 Neurons http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvxXnQuvTD8&NR=1

 How your Brain Works http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ3401XVYww&feature=related

 “Our brain is designed to move information in space and time—from as far out in the starlit sky as our eyes can see to as far away on earth as our legs can walk, from as far back in real time as our memory can recall to as far forward in psychic time as our plans can project.” Robert Sylwester  

The information in the incredible video(s) (over an hour long) shown here, truly describes the significant global shifts occurring on our planet Earth right now.  Not only does it describe the significance of the end of the Mayan Calendar and of the Hopi Prophecies,  it also talks of the awakening or ‘quickening’ of human consciousness in our year, 2011.       http://vimeo.com/awakeningasone/the-quickening

Civilization has separated us from our own true nature, we have up to now suppressed our emotions and relied heavily on our minds to steer us through life.  Technology has expanded our minds to higher levels of understanding but it has also separated us from ourselves.  We are not attuned to the richness of our surroundings and we are not vibrating at a fast enough rate to channel the many creative rich currents coming our way.  Something deep down, hidden within us doesn’t want to change.  We have also reached a stage where the mind now recognizes its own limitations.  What we don’t realize is that nature is the one that knows what will happen tomorrow.

Now that we have a ground from which to work from, let’s continue to explore and move up the ladder of  the subtle human anatomy.  Let’s dive into the emotional side of our humanness and how our thoughts and emotions are the gateway to the earth’s field of energy and that of the universe.

to be continued…….

“……man moves in a whirlpool of forces of all types and qualities and is related to all other energies in the universe. This connection is made by what is called his etheric body, which is of much less dense physical matter, and is a mould and surround to the physical body itself. It has many functions in relation to its denser counterpart. It stores up radiatory light and heat for controlled transmission to the physical body; it forms a barrier between the physical and the dangerous astral planes which can only be transcended when consciousness is sufficiently developed to permit escape. The dense physical body composed of atoms, each with its own energies, light and force, is held together by and is expressive of the energies which compose the etheric body.  It is therefore not unexpected that disorders of the etheric body have dire physical consequences. Indeed etheric congestion may lead to many forms of disease and of mental illness……The etheric body is really composed of a network of fine channels or lines of force, and there are points where these lines cross one another and thus form centres of energy. Where many such lines of force cross each other is a large centre of energy, and where great streams of energy meet and cross, as they do up the spine and in the head, there are the seven major centres.”  ALICE BAILEY

 We are and have been discovering the etheric field is a powerhouse of energy. It stores up radiatory light and heat and feeds this to the human form in an even and controlled manner. The body’s crystallized form is composed of atoms, each with it own energies and is held together by and through the make-up the etheric body. It governs and functions all our organs and respiratory, circulatory, digestive, glandular, endocrine and nervous systems. Etheric congestion can lead to disease and mental illness. Therefore, everything that affects the body must pass through this field first. Some of the information contained in this field enters our awareness through our senses, thoughts and intuition. But some of the information stays hidden, affecting the choices we make and our physical body.

 “The unfoldment of the human consciousness is a gradual process of the accumulation of many lifetimes that are recorded and stored within the etheric body; an overlay of life after life, of being after being, and the realization that these lives are in themselves the sum total of all the energies body, mind and spirit intermingled into one whose main intent is to create and to manifest on the earth plane. These energies and forces, are activated and remembered through the universal archetypes and through  symbolic forms.” ravenstar

 The potential for everything we are meant to be is already imprinted into our etheric body at the moment of conception.

 “Conception is the bridge between the absolute and the relative, between that which is beyond time, space and matter and that which is in time, space and matter.  Crossing this bridge demands a commitment to being here and to participate full in life.” Debbie Shapiro

 Once the fetus begins to grow, the spine in the etheric and physical world is the first to develop, which is followed by the rest of our skeletal structure. Robert St. John states, “Our bones portray the primary pattern of that with which we started life at conception…containing the inherited traits, karmic patterns and all other factors which are imposed or drawn into the new life.  The spine is the centre of this structure.”

 In the beginning, the interplay of these energies were hard for me to understand and I couldn’t help wondering how anyone would be able to functionor even integrate such an erratic barrage of information.  Then one day I watched a friend gift-wrap a present and with a finishing touch, add a lovely ribbon.  I saw the force of these energies come intoplay.  Symbolically, when we gift wrap a present and tie it with a ribbon we are taking the lines of force and bringing them together.   What we have done is formed a cross with a bow in the center that sets into motion these contrary forces.  It also resembles the soul’s journey through the elements of life.  It is the dual motion of spirit and matter, the journey of the soul into human life.

 Now take this same analogy and apply it to the web of a spider upon a branch of a tree. Instead of seeing the web lying flat upon its surface see thethreads surrounding and engulfing its foundation.  To protect its home from the elements of life the spider weaves and joins the opposite sides together in an orderly manner, joining them at different intervals of the branch. These lines of force would travel up the spine or center of the branchbut not within it and would create several stages of force and energy that would bind and hold the web and branch together.  These centers of force would be tested again and again throughout the various seasons and the spider would have to time and time again make adjustments to these lines of force synchronizing and balancing them to the raging winds, pouring ran, and electrical storms that threaten to tear it from its foundation.

The etheric field then acts as a receiver, assimilator and a transformer.  As a transformer it steps down these highly charged currents of energy, interpreting and intuitively guiding us on our own personalized path of healing and well-being. This vital field, ‘hears’ things, ‘knows’ things, and ‘senses’ what should come next.   It knows your hopes and wishes for the future and an accumulation every lifetime and everything you did in the past.  It is the outer expression of our being and a direct reflection of our inner experiences.  All this remains with us, good and bad until
we choose to change the balance of our present and future thoughts.

“In every created thing on earth there is an internal and an external; one of these is not given without the other, so there is no effect without a cause…..The external is estimated from the internal and not the reverse.” Emmanuel Swedenborg

THE LOWER SELF OR PERSONALITY

Every person on the earth adjusts and reacts to the inflowing energies from the universe in a manner characteristic with the make-up (persona) of his or her own personality, according to their level of awareness or consciousness.

 Your basic personality is influenced by the first three subtle fields, the etheric, astral and lower mental body.  These fields do not represent the ‘real’ human being, they are reflections of it.  Though these three distinct fields interpenetrate each other, they vibrate at different frequencies, each one vibrating a little more than the last, creating a graphic expression or mould of the physical body. This crystallized design steps down the electrical vibration of the cosmic world and prevents the full expression of the soul.

 The shape of your human form reflects an array of basic behaviors (habits, thoughts, feelings, actions) from your past and present life.  It mirrors your subconscious needs for security, safety, nourishment and bonding and manifests in the real world for the need of logic, order and structure in your life, as well as orienting you to a specific time and place and the development of your five senses.

 Your inner life, feelings and responses to others are all formed in the ego’s struggle to maintain control.  As well, creative energy and ambition have motivated you to take risks and explore new ideas.  Courses of interest excite and expose you to new ideas and theories; they stimulate your plans for the future.  So you can see, with the ego, it reflects both sides of the coin.

 So the three lower energy fields are the driving force of your life, their desire is to guide, control or direct and all of this is usually happening below your level of awareness.  They are, what was mentioned a moment ago, as the ego.  I’ve refrained from using this word (ego) because of our misunderstanding of it.  I remember going to a spiritual retreat in the mid 90’s.  The overall chant of the class was ‘abolish the ego’.  Somehow this didn’t sit right with me.  Our ego represents our identity, our ability to make decisions and reach our personal and full potential.  The lower self truly is very complex and needs to be strongly in place before the higher subtle fields can be understood and explored.  Without an identity, the foundation upon which it sits would crumble.

Each of us possess the identity of an individual soul that agreed to the arduous task of a long and ultimately triumphant journey towards the Light/God.  In order to make the journey we were given freewill to choose our own way.  Any suffering along the way is either caused from our lack of awareness, our ravaging thoughts or karma.

THE POWER OF THOUGHT

 Your thoughts are just that, your thoughts.  They knowing nothing for themselves because all that they are is just movements and patterns.  And these movements and patterns can distract us, especially when we are confused by pain and fear.   Our thoughts are by their very nature, restless and searching, when in this state they can prevent the mind from seeing the truth objectively and from making the right decisions.  A ceaseless barrage of thoughts can pull us apart, criticize and put us down.

This past article on my blog may interest you.  If the link doesn’t work, go to October 2010, Counting Your Thoughts,

http://ravenstarshealingroom.wordpress.com/2010/10/11//”>Counting-Your-Thoughts  it’s a meditation actually geared to watching ‘all’ your thoughts rather than ignoring them.

“Hopefully this exercise will help you to realize you are not these thoughts and feelings. Your undivided attention gave you power over them…..These needs, angers, desires, delights, guilt’s, don’t own you. You own them and you can easily learn to watch them with interest and let them go.” ravenstar

 THE POWER OF EMOTIONS

 The astral field has to do with our emotions.  Very often we cannot express our feelings to those closest to us because we are afraid of their reactions.  We fear being misunderstood and misinterpreted.  We fear being hurt, ridiculed, criticized, judged and we fear being wrong.  This is when we either close down and pull away or find someone else, a third party, to complain to.

 Yet how often are we able to listen to others without judging.  How often do we start by listening then jump in with our own reactions, defences and justifications?  How often have you been able to hear a person out, letting them express what their feeling, before making a comment?  We’re all guilty of it.

 “If you really want to hear someone when they trust you enough to talk to you, don’t listen to the words, hear how the words are spoken.  All too often, we cannot hear the words because we come to the conversation with our own ideas about who people are.  At the same time, we are determined not to let them see who we are.  In order for effective and valued communication to occur, you must believe that you are safe, and you must offer that same safety to the other person.” Iyanta Vanzant

 We’ve actually begun to tap into the the higher subtle vibrations or mirror of the physical body.  But before we go any further, we need to understand our connection to Earth and the place we were born or feel a bond to.    Stay tuned to the next article “The Earth and You”

To be continued……

 Everyone one of us carries within our brain and nervous system permanent recordings of the way we experienced life and how we adapted to it.  In fact your whole bodily system is made up of billions and billions of beliefs about your body, your intellect, your looks as well as the social and emotional environment you were brought up in. All this lays the foundation of who you are today.

 Our body, we have been told, is made up of a multiplicity of little lives, or cells, or atoms, each having its own individual consciousness. This corresponds to its self-consciousness. The consciousness of the physical body, viewed as a whole, might, from the atom’s point of view, be regarded as its group consciousness. ALICE BAILEY

 The etheric field has a close relationship with the physical body’s nervous system, a network of tiny branches or nerve fibers throughout the body that transfers messages to and from the brain.   A beautiful visual and analogy of this is described beautifully by Irina Tweedie in her book Daughter of Fire…

 “At first I thought my blood was getting luminous and I was seeing its circulation throughout the body.  But soon I became aware that it was not the blood.  The bluish-white light was running along another system which could not have been blood vessels.  For I could see the blood vessels too; they were pulsating with every beat of the heart, doing their work of supplying blood in the tissues.  But they were not the carriers of light.  This strange, unearthly light, clearly seen in a semi-transparent body, used other channels.  But of course!  I suddenly understood.  It was running along the nerves!  The whole nervous system was clearly visible, and the light was circulating in it just as the blood does in the blood vessels.  Only the circulation of the blood stops at the skin, but this light did not stop at the skin level; it penetrated through it radiating out, not very far, say about nine inches.  (It fluctuated, increasing and diminishing with some kind of flares.)  It came out of the body and re-entered the body again at another place.  There were points, like vortices of light in many parts of the body, and light came out of one of them and re-entered through another one.  As these points seemed to be countless, it looked like a luminous web encircling the body, inside and out.  It was very lovely, the Web of the Universe, I thought and I was fascinated by the unusual and very beautiful sight.”  IRINA TWEEDIE

 Cyndi Dale in her book The Subtle Body, offers us a different description by describing the etheric as a biomagnetic field which she says is composed of information from each organ and every bodily tissue.  She says….“The heart’s currents determine its shape, as the heart is the body’s strongest electrical producer.  The primary electrical flow is therefore established by the circulatory system.  As well, the nervous system interacts with the circulatory system and creates distinct flows, seen as whirling patterns, within the field”. CYNDI DALE

******

 The subtle anatomy, or subtle energy body is a highly sophisticated energy field, psychically seen as seven different bands or layers surrounding the human body in an oval-like shape.  Each layer deals with different aspects of ourselves, which are constantly changing, expanding and contracting as we go through life.  The widest part is around the head and the narrowest is under the feet.

 The body’s aura is made up of seven layers or bodies.  Each of these layers interpenetrates and works with the others.  The layers consist of the physical; etheric; emotional (astral); mental (thoughts, beliefs, ideas); higher mental (intuitional/compassionate); causal (lower levels of existence); and spiritual bodies.  What follows is brief description of each.  We will expand and spend more time with each one in the articles to come.

 The spiritual body (7^th layer) is the outer layer of the aura and represents the divine or true self.  It connects you directly to God, Universal Consciousness or Divine Mind.  Here we know we are part of the greater purpose or pattern of life, that there is no separation or duality….only pure awareness.   The Hundus call it the “Lotus of the Thousand Petals.”

 Next lies the causal body, 6^th layer.  This contains the record of all our previous lives plus the reason for our present incarnation.  When we reincarnate, we bring with us the knowledge of the path we have chosen to walk and the challenges we have selected to meet.  Unfortunately, from the moment of birth we are subjected to conditioning which makes us forget our life plan – like leaving the map behind and having to find our way without it.

 The fifth layer is the highest mental body.  It is at this level that we are able to get in touch with our intuition and listen to and trust this quiet inner voice, In the last several articles, we used visualization/meditation as a means to get in touch with our intuitive self and spiritual understanding.  Tuning into our intuition we can see through the truth of any situation, making the right decisions becomes easier, and this helps us to discover our true purpose.

 The fourth layer is filled with constantly changing thought forms that have accumulated over the years.  Learning to be in charge of our minds/thoughts is one of our most difficult and frustrating lessons we are to learn in life.  Why we can have up to 60,000 thoughts go through our mind in one day!  Every thought we have can go out into the atmosphere and affect other people.  Our thoughts are like a magnet. If we think negative thoughts, they will attract other negative thought forms and thereby amplify the original thought.  In the same way, positive thoughts will attract positive thoughts.  With diligence and patience we can decide what we allow our minds to concentrate on.  But be patient with yourself, this is a life-long process.

 The third layer, the astral field, has a connection with our emotions and feelings.  This isn’t how you relate to others, it’s all about how you feel about yourself.  The more authentic you are, the more you will be able to express your emotions and the more your energy will flow.  Emotionally sensitive people usually cry easily when criticized or watching a sad or scary movie.  When something unthinkable happens in their lives, they are at the mercy of their emotions.  At that split-second they cannot find a way to make a sense of anything.  We all can learn to see our sensitivities as a gift but first we need to be aware of how sensitive we really are.  As we continue to confront the challenges and changes life brings, it is important that we learn to master our emotions and not let our emotions become the master of us.

 Closest to the physical body – the first body – lies the etheric field which we discussed earlier.  This layer is the blue-print for the physical body, and disintegrates with it at death.  It is in this area that disease starts and can be ‘seen’ or ‘felt’ as a troubled area.  If this is not healed or treated, it will ultimately manifest itself as a dis-ease in the physical body.  The etheric contains the chakras and energy channels which we’ve already learned is connected with the nervous system. The chakras are energy centers, wheels of rotating energy which absorb prana or life force, from the atmosphere, break it up and distrubute it through the nadis to the nervous system, endocrine glands and circulatory system.

 As we can see these different fields of energy enable the soul to exist and be encased in the physical body.  It also is our ‘antenna’ that surrounds us completely,  constantly at work protecting us from harm.  If for example we become frightened in a crowded area, our aura usually contracts, forming a protective shell around our body.  Once our feelings of fear pass, the aura gradually expands to blend and merge with the the collective auras of the people in that area.  The collective energy field of a crowd is quite a sight to behold.  The beautiful display of color constantly moving and changing reveals the changing moods and thought patterns of the people present.  Amazing!

Some favorite links
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn1khdhaIq4

 http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Defining_the_Human_Energy_Field.html

 The Koshas (Subtle bodies)  Thanks Sabrina

http://singingheartyoga.blogspot.com/2011/05/5-koshas.html

http://www.aurora-dawn.com/yoga/koshas.html

To be continued……..

His disciples pondered on the image of the sieve without getting any solution which satisfied them all.  Some thought he was telling them that people like themselves in the world could expect only a temporary upliftment, some thought he was just laughing at them.  Some thought he was telling them there was something fundamentally wrong with their ideas.  Others thought that he might have been referring to something in the classics that he expected them to know. 

In the end, the whole thing dropped away from all of them except one woman, who made up her mind to see the master.  He gave her a sieve and cup and they went to the nearby seashore where they stood on a rock with the waters breaking round them. 

“Show me how you will fill the sieve with water,” he said.  She bent down, held the sieve in one hand and scooped the water into it with the cup.  It barely appeared at the bottom of the sieve, and then was gone.  “It’s just like that with spiritual practice, too,” he said.  “While one stands on the rock of I-ness and tries to ladle the divine realization into it.  That’s not the way to fill the sieve with water of the self with divine life.” 

He took the sieve from her hand and threw it far out into the sea, where it floated momentarily and then sank.  

“Now, it’s full of water,” he said, “and it will remain so.  That’s the way to fill it with water, and it’s the way to do spiritual practice.  It’s not ladling little cupfuls of divine life into the individuality, but throwing the individuality far out into the sea of divine life.” TREVOR LEGGETT 

*We carry inside us a huge reservoir of energy.  To see this symbolically, picture a library or a storehouse containing all memories from all lifetimes about any information that is helpful to you right now.  This wealth of information can be entered when we are in a relaxed and altered state.  It is in this place you can re-claim your knowledge, re-member who you are and re-connect with God, the Divine, All Is One.  You can do this on your own or you can ask for an inner guide or inner advisor to guide you to your own invaluable collection of unconscious wisdom.  

Personal growth begins with learning who you are and what you are—not merely your name, your age, place of birth or personality traits, not even the way you think and feel about things—but by learning about the ‘YOU’ inside of you.    

The visualization techniques of the two meditations in this article are to help you consciously unlock and tap into that ever-ending flow of creative energies that reside within you.  This is the place where Self touches God and is also known as the mystic’s “fine point of the soul”.   It is that center of pure awareness within us that never changes no matter what storms are brewing inside and out.   And contained within this ‘point’ is a sense of our true destiny, nature and purpose.  

When you are in alignment with your purpose, your mind opens to new possibilities.  What was confusing before becomes a clearly determined spiritual path.  You feel reconnected to an inner strength that leads to making major shifts in focus. Divine intelligence draws you to your invisible purpose, and you trust your intuition in making important decisions.  

“The circle said the psychologist Carl Jung, is a primordial image for humankind and a symbol of the self.  The circle is the vessel of our dreams, our psyches, our souls and our songs.  Using the symbol of a circle allows us to explore the concept of a central radiating core of life purpose and how change affects us as we flow from one state of activity to another.”  Carol Adrienne, Ph.D 

With these meditations, just allow your heart to be an open channel or highway.  All you need to do is allow the love/light energy to flow into your physical body.  Once you’ve done these meditations a couple of times you’ll be able to do them anywhere and anytime.  Within time, you will begin to vibrate with this intimate energy and catch glimpses of the innermost aspect of your Self.  

“When we are in this state of being where we are open to life and all its possibilities, willing to take the next step as it is presented to us, then we meet the most remarkable people who are important contributors to our life.  This occurs in part through the meeting of our eyes; it’s as if our souls instantly connect, so that we become a part of a life together at that moment.  Joseph Jaworski 

As physical beings, our life is guided by both our conscious and unconscious choices.  We are essentially two beings, combined yet separate, inside and out, positive and negative, mental and physical, passive and active, material and spiritual, yin and yang, male and female.  These two distinct beings tend to quarrel a lot, for they both have totally different goals.  And who is in control of these two beings?  You! 

So how do we take control of the controls and become attuned to ourselves?   Where do we find the balance?  The energy is not found in either of these directions, but in the ‘middle’.  It is this road, the poet Rilke keeps telling us, grows out in ever-widening circles.  Each step you take becomes a little broader, a little deeper, a little wider and more expansive than the rest.    By tuning into our Superconscious we become  co-creators with the Universe, with God, our spirit guides and every living thing on this planet.   

Take your well-disciplined strengths

And stretch them between two

opposing poles.  Because inside human beings

Is where God learns RILKE 

MEDITATION #1 YOUR TRUE NATURE AND PURPOSE

 “I promise that if you do this for three weeks, your life will change!  You must do it for three weeks because that is the amount of time it takes to change the blood in your body.  You want these thoughts to saturate your cells” Giorgio Cerquetti 

If you ever doubt your power to change your reality, simply stop and look at your life right now.  No matter how you judge it, you are responsible for creating it.  Every choice you made in this life has led you to this moment. 

These meditations direct you to a third source of guidance, a huge reservoir of information that operates at a “super-conscious” level.  Through the image of light you will awaken your awareness of God’s presence, the awareness of your spirit bathed, immersed in and totally penetrated by the light of God’s Spirit and life.  Immersed in this light you will ask for an awareness of your truth, of your true nature and purpose.  Like a compass, your whole being will turn in the direction for which it was made……then the wisdom of your total existence will become attuned to and supportive of your true nature and purpose. 

Read this visualization meditation over a couple of times to get a ‘feel’ for it, and then read it to yourself slowly or read into a tape recorder, relax and then play it for yourself when you are ready.  If there’s something you’d like to change, by all means do it.

 **************

  Sit or lie down, take a nice deep breath and relax.   Take a couple of moment with your favorite technique to bring your mind, your body and your spirit into harmony and focus or follow the technique below.

 Take a deep full cleansing breath….inhaing as fully as you can….breathing deep into the belly….and breathing all the way out….

 And again….breathing in….sending the warm energy of the breath to any part of your body that’s tense or sore or tight…..and releasing the tension with the exhale….and breathing it out…..

 Feel your breath going to all the tight tense places, loosening and warming and softening them….then gathering up all the tension and breathing it out…..so that more and more, you can feel safe and comfortable, relaxed and easy, watching the cleansing action of the breath……with friendly but detached awareness.

 And any unwelcome thoughts that come to mind, those to can be sent out with the breath…released with the exhale….so that for just a moment, the mind is empty….for just a split second, it is free and clear space, and you are blessed with stillness……

 And any emotions that are rocking around in there….those, too, can be noted, and acknowledged and sent out with the breath….so your emotional self can be still and quiet….like a lake with no ripples….

 Now, direct your attention to a spot right in the center of your chest.  Here right at the center of your being, near your heart, visualize a glow ball of white light…..assume that this light is the being and presence of God.  Feel the warmth and compassion of that presence.  Feel the love glowing from that presence…..

 Visualize rays of gleaming light radiating from the heart of this divine presence within you….Slowly let that radiating light grow brighter and brighter.  Let this divine light begin to grow and fill your body.  Note that bright radiating white light moving downward into your abdomen and upward into your lungs and heart….  Notice the light of divine presence growing even brighter as it streams up through your neck and into your head.  Notice the light radiating and filling your arms and legs and your body radiating with the presence of God.

 Rest for a moment in the feeling of your whole body bathed and glowing with the bright light of God’s presence….

 Intensify your awareness of this divine presence.  Imagine that there is a dial that can dial the intensity of your awareness.  The highest number on the dial is 10, and you are now at 4.  As you turn up the dial see the light of God’s presence becoming whiter, brighter and more intense.  Now the dial is turned up to 5…..6…..7 to 8 to 9 and finally to 10, God’s presence is the brightest sun you could ever imagine…..

 You are a channel for this divine light—your whole being opened up completely; you allow it to pour through you unresisting.  See this bright light surrounding your body, completely filling the whole room…..

 At this point you are totally open and attuned to this light of God’s presence.  Allow yourself to be open and receptive to perceiving your true nature and purpose…..Allow yourself to understand your destiny, wordlessly and intuitively perhaps, but you will become attuned to your true nature……

 To receive this communication, put the question to God:  “What is my own true nature and purpose?”  Ask the question and pause to receive awareness of the answer in your heart…….

 Allow this sense of your destiny to grow and penetrate throughout your whole body and being.  Allow the vibration of this true nature of yours to penetrate every level of your existence, the levels you know and the levels you don’t know about……

 Now begin to imagine that your true nature and destiny is completely satisfied—you are attuned to your purpose and that is accomplished in every corner of your being…..

 Notice again the brightness of God’s presence flowing into every corner of your being.  Whatever pockets of darkness or shadow’s exist, let them be dissolved by the brightness and intensity of the light of God’s presence……

 Let this light draw back now to the center of your being.  Know that the light of God’s presence never leaves you,…..always dwells at the heart and center of your Spirit…..

 When you are ready, take a deep, full breath…..feel yourself in your surroundings….gently and with soft eyes…come back into the room whenever you are reading….know you are better for this…

 And so you are…….

 ********

 MEDITATION TWO

 THE LUMINOUS CHILD And The LAKE OF QUIETUDE

 This lovely meditation is from Dolores Krieger’s book “ACCEPTING YOUR POWER TO HEAL, THE PERSONAL PRACTICE OF THERAPEUTIC TOUCH”

 Although this meditation is in a healing book, it can be performed by anyone wanting to know their true nature and purpose. 

 “To do the following guided imagery, either have somebody slowly read it to you while you close your eyes and follow the imagery, or read the exercise into a tape recorder and then play it back to yourself.  In order for this exercise to be effective, there must be adequate pauses throughout it in order to give you ample time to conjure up in your mind the suggested imagery.  However the pauses should not be so prolonged that you lose the thread of imagery continuity.

 Do not program the experience.  Let every moment of it tell you its own story, and listen to it quietly.  Think of it as an experience to enjoy and to learn from, as you would learn from a friend.

 Sit in a comfortable position, one hand on your lower abdomen.  Center your consciousness.  Slow down and gentle your breath until you feel your lower abdomen respond and become still as a lake of utter quietude.

 There is not a ripple on the lake,  Look for an area of it that is shining.  Can  you see a pattern of light in this area of the quiet lake?

 Look closely at this pattern and notice that there is a childlike figure in the shining light….This figure is neither human or nonhuman; it is just a childlike figure that depicts a sense of innocent acceptance and simple serenity.  Don’t expect or program this figure to be anything in particular, just allow it to be on its own terms……

 Sensitively expand your own energy field and feel the presence of the figure.  Match its breathing pattern.  Trust it and identify with it, for it is of your own nature…….

 Ahead of you, see the glistening lake.  Step into the lake and take the hand of the luminous child by touching it with the energy center that overlies the space just above the palm of your hand………

  The child’s touch is as light as a butterfly.  Stay sensitive to this light touch and ask it to show you how to understand it….

 Now, feel at one with your deepest wish or commitment to help others and clearly form a question in your mind.  Ask the question of the child presence and then let it go as gently as a feathery fluff floating on the breeze.

 Listen carefully……….

 Do not allow the surface of the lake to ruffle, keep the surface calm and undisturbed.  Use slow, deep breaths to clear away pockets of tension.

 The touch of your luminous child is like cool flowing water on the placid surface of the lake.  An answer comes to you that is as clear and refreshing as the touch of the waters.

 After you receive your answer, take a deep breath and very slowly open your eyes.

 Know that this experience is only the beginning.

 There will be other times and other experiences…… “ Dolores Krieger

 ***********

“Except for the point, the still point,

There would be no dance, and there is only the dance”  T.S. Eliot

When I sometimes sit down to write an article I have no idea how I am going to write it.  At first my mind sees a jumble of words….how to shuffle them around, organize and make sense of them?  Time passes and I still can’t make sense of the words and their rhythm.  This is when I relax, close my eyes and allow myself to daydream (visualize) about the next paragraphs.  It’s quite remarkable how the article all seems to come together and usually not the way it was planned at all.  

Closing the eyes relaxes the body.  Daydreaming relaxes the mind.  With the relaxed mind holding imaginative thoughts our brain waves slow and the right side, the creative side of our brain is activated.  This is our intuitive network, our guidance system reaching out and grasping the creative flow of words and images from a different source.  

“When intuition comes, the brain releases endorphins and neuropeptides to all the nerves, the blood vessels, the heart, the lungs, the gastrointestinal trace and all the other organs.  And a systematic organization of specific emotions and memories in the brain is being transferred to specific organs in the body….An intuition network is in place inside every one of us”  Mona Lisa Schulz  

If you’re new to creative imagery, you may want to read through the ones you’d like to try a couple of times to get a feel for them or to ‘see’ them in the mind.  Just start where you are and do what you can.  If you can only meditate for a minute, then meditate for a minute.  During that minute your mind may constantly wander, don’t worry about it just keep bringing it back, gently and firmly….similar to the discipline and love you’d give a child or puppy. 

“It can be difficult for some people to hold a mental image for any length of time.  As soon as the concentration falters, the pictures fade, and/or are replaced by an incongruous image from the mundane world.  If this occurs, bring your determination and strength of will to bear.  Clear the mind and build the scene again, from the place where it disintegrated or better still, re-build it from the beginning.”  Patricia Crowther 

 Make your images as real as possible.  Allow them to form in your mind and bring them into sharp focus.  Notice details.  Enliven them with color.  If you can’t visually see the pictures, sense them, feel them, put emotions to them.  Get right inside the image and experience it as if it were actually happening—feel the excitement—bring them to life.  Your body is a mirror of the mind—let every cell express what you think and feel—your body will change according to those thoughts and emotions.  To be more specific, it will open and expand the nurturing energies of your heart.

 Creative imagery re-ignites our hopes, our ideals and passions—there is a future and that future is coming. That in itself is a very empowering realization.  It’s the place where magic happens.  It happens because we are focusing our senses, our awareness, our power on the object of our desire.  Our hearts and mind yearn for it and when we truly yearn for something we can make it happen. 

 “Meditation is a technique of calming the mind to access energy and insight, utilized by traditions from Zen to Judaism.  In this receptive, nonanalytic state, you’re using more of your intuitive equipment, particularly those sensors that let you detect your higher power.  Mediation has been proven to relieve pain and stress, and to boost our immune system.  It also yields quick results.  In just minutes, meditators have shown increased alpha activity—the relaxed brain waves—plus less anxiety and depression.  Not to worry.  You don’t require an hour twisted in the lotus position to feel energized (though feel free to meditate as long as you like).  A little quality time can revive you.” Judith Orloff 

LET”S GET COMFORTABLE

 This is an example of using the breath to relax and release any tension or stress before beginning a meditation/visualization.  If you have a favorite way of relaxing, that works for you, by all means use it.   

Before starting any time of meditation/visualization, find a comfortable place, a place where it is quiet and you won’t be disturbed.  It may be a chair, a bed or even the floor.  Make sure that you are comfortable, your clothing is loose, your arms and legs are uncrossed and you are in a comfortable position.  Allow yourself to become calm and focused.  Empty your mind of all thoughts and start concentrating on the breath.  Just focus on the breath and breathe deeply in through the nose and exhale from the mouth.  As you become totally aware of your breathing, allow it to become slow and rhythmic, like waves rolling in from the ocean.  With each inhalation, breathe in the wonderful sensation of peacefulness and calm.  Then as you exhale, slowly breathe out any tension or concerns.  Let your attention remain on your breathing as you sink deeper and deeper into the feeling of relaxation, breathing in peacefulness and calm, savoring the feeling of relaxation, and breathing out any tensions or concerns. 

(The vagus nerve is the major quieting nerve in the body. http://www.medicallecturenotes.com/2010/03/vagus-nerve.html  This nerve runs from the medulla in the brain down to the base of the spine.  It branches out to the heart, the respiratory and intestinal tracts.  When we concentrate on the breath and breathe deeply, the vagus nerve goes into action.  It immediately lowers our blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate and pulse rate.  Our natural response when we are angry or stressed is to breathe deeply.  This is how we activate the vagus nerve to quiet the body.) 

The following guided meditations literally speak for themselves.  Although simple, they are very powerful at regenerating and rebuilding your energy and health.  They give you energy when you think you have none and sharpen your intuition and mind.     

There are no guidelines or rules in doing any of these visualizations. They are a few of my favorites and very easy and simple to do.  You can read them, tape them, or change them to suit your style.  Once you’ve learned them you’ll be able to enjoy them anywhere, when you need to relax, heal or boost your energy.   

*All visualizations can be found in The Joy of Visualization by Valerie Wells 

VISUAL MEDITATIONS

 1. POOL COOL (length 15 minutes) 

Sit or lie down comfortably and close your eyes.  Let all distracting thoughts fade into the background…relaxing more and more.  Take a few deep cleansing breaths and relax into the center of your being.  

Imagine that you’re floating on your back on a raft in a swimming pool………The pool filter gurgles softly………..You trail one hand in the cool, clear turquoise water……….A gentle breeze plays across your body……….Overhead the sky is a sea of blue. 

The sun feels soothingly warm upon your body, it massages the soles of your feet………and tickles the tops of your toes.  

Cozily slippered in sun, your feet relax and your toes uncurl. (pause)  

Feel the magical energy of the sun on your ankles and legs……… feel the suns soothing energy on your knees and thighs…letting this healing force absorb all pain and tension, carrying it away……. 

Feel the warm glow of the sun on your pelvis and hips…………feel the warm glow of the sun on your stomach…easing all tension and pain……… 

The Sun’s warmth penetrates your skin and is soaked up by your body………..Wherever the sun touches, it absorbs all pain and tension and carries it away……… 

Beams of sunlight dance on your chest……….reaching gently into your heart to lift out all physical and emotional pain……… 

Feeling soothed by the sun, you breathe more calmly, more fully. 

Become aware of the sun massaging your shoulders, arms, and hands……….Feel them relax. 

The suns/ warmth moves up your neck to your throat………Any tightness in your throat melts away………. 

Feel the sun resting gently on your face, drawing tension from your temples and eyes……….Worry empties from your mind……..The sun warms the spot where your jaw hinges and your jaw relaxes, dropping slightly……….. 

Breathing in through your nose, you inhale the bright energy of the sun…………Feel the warmth and light of the sun fill your lungs and spread throughout your body……………Direct extra light and warmth to any area that is especially tense or painful…………Then breath out through your mouth, exhaling stress like a dark cloud that immediately evaporates……….Tension and doubt disappear in the light of the sun. 

In your mind, turn over on your stomach…………Feel the warmth of the sun on the back of your head……….your neck………and your shoulders………Release tightness in these areas, allowing the sun to lift it away…………. 

Slowly the sun’s warmth moves down your back……..Let it rest there, like a heating pad, until all aches are gone……………………….. 

Feel the sun on your buttocks and the back of your thighs………..The backs of your knees and your calves receive the warmth of the sun………and any muscle strain disappears. 

Feel the sun again on the soles of your feet……….Let the sun massage your feet and tickle your heels…….you are now completed relaxed from head to toe…………. 

Float on the raft in the clear turquoise water of the pool for as long as you want, whenever you want to relax.  No matter how cloudy it may be in your physical landscape, in your mindscape it is always soothingly sunny. 

2.  Fountain of Health (length 20-30 minutes) 

*Read this over a few times to find your own rhythm of where you’d like to pause.  

It was over five hundred years ago Ponce de Leon searched for the fountain of youth.  He may have been looking in all the wrong places.  It’s possible that the true fountain of youth and its counterpart, the fountain of health, won’t to be found in Florida or any other place on earth, because they exist within.  We have, built right inside us, the ability to repair, recreate and rejuvenate ourselves.  This wonderful visualization helps you to discover your inner fountain of health.  

*Visualizations like the one that follows have been shown to create a rise in T killer lymphocytes, the main component of the body’s immune system.  As well, endorphins,(the body’s natural painkillers) are released, elevating our mood and relieving tension and pain. 

 Lie or sit down, breathe and relax, allowing your thoughts to come and go…..going deeper and deeper to your favorite place within….

 Imagine that you’re walking on a path where rocky cliffs rise against a bright blue sky.  Hear the sound of your footsteps.  Is the path made of dirt or crushed rock?  Look down to see what kind of footgear you’re wearing.  Look at your hands.

 The crisp, clear day is invigorating.  Rounding a bend to your right, you find yourself at the opening of a cave.  Curious you take a few hesitant steps inside and find an old miner’s lantern.  You dig some matches out of your jacket pocket and to your delight, the lantern catches, casting a wide circle of golden light into the darkness of the cave.  You feel safe.

 Drawn irresistibly deeper into the cave, making your way is easy with the aid of the lantern.  You reach the back of the cave where the vaulted ceiling and the floor meet.  Raising the lantern high, you discover a tunnel just a little taller and wider than you are.  You enter.  The light of the lantern reflects off the rough-hewn sides of the tunnel, revealing a thick vein of gold.

 At the end of the tunnel are steps cut into the rock leading down.  Count each step as you descend.  The last step is inlaid with the numbers of your birth-date spelled out in turquoise. 

 Ahead stretches a hall, at the end of which is a flickering glow.  As you hurry down the hall you hear a musical splashing sound that gets louder and louder, stirring greater and greater excitement with you. 

 Bursting through the end of the hallway you find yourself in a high-ceilinged oval chamber.  In the center is your very own fountain of health.  It shines and splashes merrily, the water cascading down over seven golden tiers, each round tier increasing in diameter from the spire at the top to a large pool at the bottom.

 The water glows with a powerful inner luminescence that lights the entire chamber.  The floor, walls and domed ceiling of the chamber are made of amethyst, rose quartz, and crystal-clear quartz.  Thick veins of gold and silver run through them.  The chamber hums with vibrant energy. 

 In the fountain, subtle colors shift and slide through the streams of water, raspberry pinks, mint greens, champagne golds.  As you near the fountain the spray from the splashing water mists your face and arms.  On an amethyst ledge near the fountain is a champagne glass.  You pluck it off the ledge and use it to catch the water as it splashes merrily from one tier to another.

 Bringing the brimming glass to your lips, you sip this liquid of life and health.  As it glides across your tongue it effervescence titillates your taste buds with a flavor at once sweet, tart and mysterious.  With each swallow this elixir of youth cascades down your throat and flows through your body where it is absorbed. 

 The water from the fountain of health cleanses every cell in your body, reminding of its right to be healthy.  It melts away stress and disease.  It revitalizes every part of your so that you feel your body come alive.  It feels like thousands of lights blinking on within you and twinkling like stars. 

 You climb into the large golden pool at the bottom of the fountain.  Youth juice sluices over your body from the tiers above, rinsing away tension lines and firming your skin.

 Once you’ve discovered your fountain of health, you can visit it anytime you want to.  Just picture the quartz chamber with the fountain of health shining and splashing in the center.  Then treat yourself to a drink of youth juice and bath in the health-restoring waters. 

3.  WISHING WELL (10-15 minutes)

 This is truly one of my favorites in defining a wish and making it real.  Read this over a couple of times and find your rhythm of movement and pauses.

 Take a few deep breaths, and allow your body to let go and relax. 

 Picture or sense yourself on a moss-covered path in a forest.  Afternoon light shimmers through the branches, turning the leaves a rich green and dappling the path.  The energy of aliveness and growth is all around you. 

The path curves to the right then slants uphill to a grassy knoll.  At the crest of the knoll is a wish well made of stone.  A brass plaque is inscribed with the word Wishing Well, and above the words is your name.  You smile.

 Reaching into your pocket you find three gold coins.  You hold them in the palm of your hand, feeling their coolness and their weight.  You examine the first coin.  On one side, in raised letters, is a single word that embodies the essence of one of your wishes.  Whatever you wish for see the word centered on the coin.  Encircling it is a garland of intertwined yeses.  Turning the coin over you discover a picture of  your wish with a halo of light around it.

 Rub the raised surfaces of the word and the picture between your fingers.  As you rub the coin, picture yourself in your wish.  Happy feelings come alive within you.

 When you’re feeling so glad you think you might burst, drop the coin in the well.  It flips over and over as it falls, and then disappears in the depth of the well.  After a few seconds you hear a muffled ‘plop’ as the coin hits the water below.  Your wish has been received.

 Do the same thing with the two remaining coins.  If you sih you were better at generating original ideas, see the word Creative on one side, encircled with yeses, and maybe on the other side a picture of you with a light bulk shining over your head.  Rub the surfaces of the coin and drop it into the well, listening for the sound of it hitting the water.  Do the same with the third coin.

 After you’ve made your three wishes and heard them fall into the water deep in the well, know that your wishes will come true.  Believe in them!  Look forward to them!

 All this wishing has made you thirsty.  You notice a wooden bucket tied to a rope that is wound around a winch.  You grab the winch handle and turn, lowering the empty bucket.  It hits the water with a satisfying splash, and you unwind it a little more to let it fill with water.

 As you hoist up the bucket, it is so heavy with water that you have to grab the winch handle with both hands.  Up it comes, until you can pull the bucket over to rest on the edge of the well.

 You drink the clear, sweet well water, a toast to wishes coming true.  The water satisfies not only your physical thirst, but your mental and emotional thirst as well.  This is how clear and sweet your wishes are, and how satisfying it is to have your wishes come true.  You have wished well, indeed!

 4.  Light Might (15-20 minutes)

 Light is essential, active and powerful.  It illuminates, helping us to see and be seen.  It casts out old limiting beliefs and attitudes, lighting the way to new knowledge.  It encourages growth both metaphorically and literally.  Without sunlight there’d be little growth.

 This meditation increases the quantity and quality of light in your life, attracting and magnetizing what you want in your life.

 Find a comfortable position, close your eyes, relax and breathe deeply, let go of all thoughts and tensions and allowing the relaxation to deepen…….

 About a yard in front of you, between your chest and your forehead, picture, or sense a small ball of light about the size of a ping-pong ball.  It’s bright white and glimmers with energy.  It vibrates with power.  It hums with potency.  Even though it’s small, it shines with such intensity that it lights up a large area around it.  Why it even lights up you!

 As this ball of vibrating white light floats in mid-air in front of you, bobbing slightly as if eager, you begin to feel an inner glow.  It seems to tickle your sense of fun and makes you feel optimistic.  You wish the ball were bigger.  The instant you have that thought, the ball of light begins to expand.  It grows to the size of a honeydew melon, then to the size of a dinner plate.  It expands to volleyball size.  You realize you can make the ball of light as big and bright as you want, just by thinking about it.

 The ball of light grows bigger and brighter until it’s just slightly taller and wider than you are.  The light has powerful magnetic appeal and draws you to it.  You step into the light as easily as stepping into your living room, and it feels just as familiar.  As soon as you enter the light, you feel simultaneously excited and peaceful.  You’re sparked by the idea that anything you want to have, or do, or be is possible.  Yet at the same time you feel relaxed, confident that what you want will come to you.

 You both hear and feel the hum of light.  Pinpoint bursts of light dance around you, tickling your fancy. You feel bubbly, like a glass of champagne.  The light shines on you and through you, realigning energy, revitalizing, healing.  It sparks ideas.  You feel whole and healthy.  Protected.  Empowered.

 You realize that the high energy of the light creates such a strong magnetic field that as long as you’re filled and surrounded with light, it will attract what you want.  Think of something concrete you want to have—money, love, a job, a computer, a car, a home, etc.—really want it so that you beam brightly with desire, shining your light on the object of your desire and drawing it to you.  The light expands to completely surround your goal.  You have illuminated, attracted and protected your goal.

 Step into your ball of light the first thing every day.  By putting yourself in the light you can see and be seen more clearly, feel energized, attract what you want, solve problems more easily (because you see the light) and avoid or reduce mishaps.

 It’s also helpful to put a ball of light around anyone or anything in your life that you want to protect or empower:  loved ones, friends, employers, doctors, your car, airplanes, your home, your work site, meetings, letters, business projects, your checkbook, investments etc.  There’s plenty of light to go around.

 Light is powerful and empowering.  When you surround and fill yourself with bright white light-might, more things go right!

Every sensation you ever experienced is recorded in your body forever.  Sounds, smells tastes and feelings speak of where you come from, what is living in you now and why you do the things you do, sometimes out of necessity rather than choice.  Your mind doesn’t store past experiences or dreams in words, numbers or letters but in images and sense impressions.  It then translates those images into words with the native language you speak.    

This guided meditation/visualization is designed to help you experience and develop the richness of all five senses as well as different levels of emotional, mental and spiritual awareness.  As you practice it, you will notice ‘you’ are controlling the mind, rather than the mind controlling you.  You will be at the controls as this meditation guides you in becoming aware of images and symbols, as well as old and deeply buried fears, anxieties and sorrows.  It is really more a journey in self-awareness than of meditation and it often gives a greater realization of the soul and its independence of the body. 

“Imagery further maximizes your potential by helping you to develop greater energy, concentration, memory, confidence, work efficiency, athletic ability, and intuition.  Finally, the images teach you to access a higher reality of consciousness, independent of the illusion of your five-sensory world, an interface between this dimension and the one above where lies greater knowledge, truth, and happiness—your paradise.” William Fezler, Ph.D. 

I highly recommend you read over this meditation/visualization once or twice before trying it.  Don’t be afraid to eliminate some of my explanations or change it around and make it your very own.  You can record it or read it, it’s up to you. 

SELF-AWARENESS MEDITATION

Let all the tension that has collected in your muscles from the stresses and strains of the day drain slowly away as you settle yourself in the chair where you are sitting.  Take several deep breaths, and as you exhale feel all the accumulated tension in your body flow away.  As you relax your body, let your eyelids close, or keep your eyes focused on one particular place in order to avoid distractions.  Beginning at the top of your head, visualize the tension that remains there as drops of water forming a trickle and then a stream that is slowly flowing down from your shoulders and arms and chest and every portion of your body until it all drains out of the bottom of your feet……As the tension flows away from your body, feel yourself becoming more and more relaxed, more and more in tune with the natural rhythm of your body, which is the rhythm of your breathing…..breathing in fresh air and life-giving oxygen and breathing out stale air and tension….breathing in…..and breathing out…..slowly and evenly. 

Imagine yourself standing on the worn stone steps of a beautiful old monastery.  Look down at the steps and notice the texture and color of the stone, and the uneven cracks running through them…..The ornately carved oak doors of the monastery slowly open, and as you look up, you see the aged, frail figure of a monk standing on the threshold……Your eyes take in the heavy brown cloth of his habit, and the pale skin of his elderly wrinkled face.  He smiles at you and raises a hand in a welcoming gesture. 

[The monk or guide usually appears as a figure which helps a person through the tangled, hidden byways of the unconscious mind.]  

Follow the monk as he turns and walks through the doorway into the monastery…..As the doors slowly close behind you, they bring a veil of stillness down around you and you become aware of the quiet, calm atmosphere of the monastery……Follow the old man as he makes his way slowly down a shadowy passageway, lit only by flickering lamps strategically placed on the stone walls either side of  you.  Dark shadows reach across the floor in front of  you.  Your heart quickens in anticipation as you hasten to keep up with the old monk, whose shuffling footsteps echo off the walls……You emerge into a huge, round, brightly lit hall.  The high, domed, stained glass ceiling allows a cascade of colour to pool down upon the marble mosaic floor, which appears to glisten and sparkle as if it , too, is made of glass……As you look around you notice that the walls of the hall appear translucent.  They shimmer like mother-of-pearl……You notice several monks moving contemplatively around you, chanting to an accompaniment of chimes.  For a moment you remain still, listening to the chanting. (pause) 

Smiling, your elderly guide gestures towards a doorway on the other side of the hall……You obediently walk across the cool marble floor towards it.  By the time you reach the door it is already open……Through the doorway you can see a narrow wooden staircase leading upwards.  Move towards it, and stand for a moment at the foot of the stairs. (pause)

Watch the sunlight stream in through a high window on the landing above you, throwing shards of bright light across the floor and walls.  In the distance you can still hear the rhythmic chanting of the monks. (pause) 

Begin to ascend the stairs, one step at a time, feeling a rush of excitement as you climb higher and higher……Follow the staircase as it turns to the left.  A few more steps and you find yourself standing alone on the first landing, gazing curiously down the long narrow passageway in front of you……There is a sweet fragrance in the air, and a sense of peace and well being overwhelms you.  You become aware of an extremely strong, familiar feeling of having been here before. 

As you look along the passageway you notice three doors on the left side and two doors on the right.  At the every end of the passage, facing you, there is one door.  Pause for a few moments before moving to the door of your choice.  (pause) 

Before choosing a door it is important to realize that at this level you are given the opportunity to deal with old patterns of negative thoughts and emotions.  This second level is known as the unconscious or instinctive center.  Although this center is situated in the  1^st chakra, it has connections to all 7 chakras of the body.  Think of it as a library or repository of knowledge and memories from all previous lifetimes.  Once the door is chosen,  you can enter, explore and reorganize it consciously. 

Visualize the door opening inwardly, welcoming you inside…..Upon entering the room of your choice, close the door gently behind you.  Relax for a few seconds and take a couple of slow deep breaths.  Now look around the room.  Is it bright or dark?  If it’s dark, reach for the light switch next to the door and switch it on.  

How large or small is the room?  Observe the walls, the windows, the furniture, the rugs on the floor……Sit down on a chair for a few moments, taking in the whole atmosphere.  This is a challenging process as it has been known to resurrect memories tucked away or just as soon forgotten.  

Now get rid of or change anything you do not feel comfortable with….. Fill the wastebasket and gladly throw the garbage out.  If the color(s) on the walls are in need of repainting, see the walls instantly changed to the color of your choice.  Rearrange the room to your liking, or simply remove an item of furniture or anything else you find unpleasant from the room……Before you leave the room you must feel comfortable with it.  This is the first step towards rearranging the memory levels of your mind.  The more you work on different rooms at different times the better you will have access to your intuition, your hunches and inspirations.  

Now it’s time to leave this room.  Move towards the door.  Pause for a moment to have a last look around….. Open the door and move into the corridor, closing the door behind you as you leave……Before moving away from the room, mentally prepare yourself for the next level – that of ‘intellectual awareness.  This is the level at which ideas will come to you.  You feel strongly inspired at this level and may even decide that you do not wish to go any further.  Should this be the case, do not in any way question the apprehension you feel, simply leave and return to the ground floor, the first level.   

Now continue along the corridor to the staircase at the end…..Climb the stairs very slowly, allowing your hand to brush against the cool stone wall.  It feels solid and secure beneath your fingers.  Once again the feeling of anticipation rushes through you……Within moments you reach the next level. 

At the top of the stairs you move directly into a small study……There are shelves and shelves of books around the walls, and a desk, upon which you notice a writing quill resting in an inkwell.  There is a blank piece of parchment lying next to it……A fire is burning brightly in the fireplace, which is surrounded by a beautifully designed mantel.  You can feel the heat from the fire……Sit in the armchair for a new moments, allowing the peace and serenity of the study to wash over you.  At the same time reflect upon your visit to the monastery, and your reason for coming. 

This level is often productive of symbols, ideas and over-whelming feelings.  Many different images and feelings can come to you, reflecting the present situation in your life.  Make your mind completely open to them……Don’t judge or censor as they come through, and don’t acknowledge or interpret them……Rise from the chair and move over to the desk.  Take the quill firmly in your hand and scribble on the parchment any thoughts, images or feelings you have at the moment.  Simply get them down on paper but avoid the temptation to elaborate on them…….Be brief, you will be inspired and guided to add more detail to these later, when this meditation has ended.*  

Now take a good look around the room…..Feel contemplative, mentally alert, and completely open to the impulses from the next level – that of spiritual awareness.  Make a mental note of what you have written on the parchment…..and move away from the desk. 

Leave the study and walk back towards the head of the stairs.  Your eyes search for the way up to the next level (spiritual awareness). There do not appear to be any stairs to the next level.  Stand for a few moments contemplating the way forward.  (pause) 

You suddenly realize that the only access route to the fourth level is through your imagination.  

Imagine yourself standing and holding out your arms while staring upwards……Imagine an intense white light above you, as if shining through the ceiling……Allow that bright light to slowly descend and envelop you…..Feel the light all around you, flowing into every cell of your body, realigning energy, revitalizing and healing you.  You feel totally disorientated and lose all sense of your surroundings…..Almost at once you feel the bright light gradually fading into nothingness and you find yourself standing in a beautiful sanctuary, in the center of which there is a comfortable chair.  Sit down in the chair and enjoy the peace, the quiet and the solitude…..Feel totally at peace in that sanctuary, allowing your imagination to create whatever it wishes……Be aware of every aspect of your surroundings, the sweet fragrance wafting over you in the stillness……Remain there for as long as you wish.  (pause)……It may be that you will lose all sense of time, for time does not exist at the fourth level, where all the answers lie. 

When you are ready to leave, simply allow the quiet sanctuary to slowly fade from your consciousness……Find yourself standing at the top of the stairs at the third level. 

Move slowly down the stairs, taking in your surroundings as  you descend…..eventually reaching the second level.  Without pausing, continue to move down the stairs to the ground floor and the first level……Pass through the small door into the spacious round room with the domed ceiling and the mosaic floor.  There you are greeted by your guide, the elderly monk…….This time pay attention to his aged, line face.  Notice his eyes, which are warm and friendly.  Feel secure and safe with him, for next time you must greet him as an old friend. 

Follow the old man across the mosaic floor, this time paying attention to the intricate detail in the design of the patterns on the floor……Follow him back along the shadowy passageway until you reach the monastery doors……Open them, and move outside into the cool, fresh breeze that gently caresses your skin and touches your hair…..Turn and bid your guide farewell…..Mentally ask him if you may return…..He nods his answer with a smile and then closes the doors. 

Breathe very slowly and deeply a few times, and dissolve the exercise in your mind.  Relax for a few moments in your chair and slowly open your eyes. 

*If you do feel inspired to recall the writing you did in the study, close your eyes and let the words you wrote present themselves to you again.  You may see them, hear them, intuit them.  Whatever form they appear, record the message(s) as they come to you.  Don’t pay any attention to the style of your writing, simply let the words flow in a continuous movement.  If images come to you, write them down.  When the flow of words stop, your writing is done. 

What feelings do you find within yourself now that you have remembered what you wrote in the study?  How did you feel while you were writing them?  As you think about this, write whatever additional feelings and thoughts and memories and observations come to you.   Put this writing away for a couple of days and then read it again with fresh eyes.  What presents itself, may surprise you.  

 The gentle repetition of a mantra is a technique used for concentrating and focusing your energy.  It points you to pure awareness, allowing you to let go of any attachment that would draw you away from the present moment.  Paying attention to a mantra, either spoken aloud, whispered or thought upon, anchors you to your center, silences the mind, allowing spirit to hear the inner voice and make contact with the Divine. 

Words have a tremendous effect on the body and mind. Silently reciting or chanting a mantra activates a large group of nerves in the throat area, and the creative power of the thyroid gland.  The current of sound (thought by the heart and spoken by the tongue) then flows to the thymus gland, stimulating the body’s nervous system.   This vibrational awakening stirs old brain cells and triggers layers and layers of knowledge stored in the DNA and deep inside the cells of the physical body. 

 “I begin my daily yoga practice with this mantra:  “Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo”.   It’s meaning, in essence, is “I call upon the divine teacher within”.  This mantra may be chanted out loud three times in this way: 

 Take a deep breath and exhale “ong namo”, on the same tone; take another short or half breath and exhale the last three words of the mantra.  Dev is chanted one half tone higher than ong namo guru and the name is the same tone as ong.  I like this mantra because it centers me and affirms my inner wisdom.  I sometimes repeat it before doing readings or other psychic work.  DIANE MARIECHILD

 A mantra should not be confused with an affirmation.  Affirmations are used to let go of unwanted and unneeded ‘stuff’.  Repeating a positive phrase stimulates the release of toxins, negative thoughts, old memories and suppressed emotions…..we observe and ‘feel’ the emotional distress in our body, heal it and release it.  Eventually there is an enery change and we discover the thought(s) that are/were controlling us.  

If you’ve read other articles in this blog, you’ve probably noticed the mention of the medulla oblongata more than once.  This tiny structure at the base of the brain stem is truly the seat of life in the body.  Respiration and circulation are controlled by this center and it is the place where cosmic energy enters and feeds the entire body with prana/chi.  

“It’s like having a door open in the back of my head.  The door is tiny but what’s in back of the door is huge.”  Cythnia Gale

 When we invoke a mantra, the medulla oblongata acts like a tuning fork, vibrating in sympathy with our own ‘sound’.  This creates a physical sensation that vibrates in the body and mind, immediately normalizing the heartbeat in which the entire body automatically adjusts and responds.  In a spiritual sense, Jim Kepner (psychologist and author) spoke of  “a feeling of something opening up behind me, or sort of like falling back into another space behind me…almost as if something were shifting in the bones at the back of my neck.” 

*****

“…Take a comfortable, deep breath and then hum a low note quietly to yourself.  Pitch the note near the bottom of your register so that it resonates inside you.  How does that feel in your body?  Can you feel a sort of tingle or vibration deep inside.  Take another deep breath and quietly hum a high note near the top of your register.  How different is that as a sensation within your body?  Did you notice different parts of your body react to each note?  Did you find the high note or the low note more comfortable?  

For meditative purposes, it is accepted that a lower note is more in harmony with your body and that it is easier to relax with a lower note than a high piercing one.” TARA WARD, Meditation and Dreamwork 

A SIMPLE EXERCISE – INTO THE WORLD OF SOUND 

“How often have I sat down at out-of-tune pianos….winced at the first notes as I pressed the keys’ nevertheless….I have found that from that moment I started to enjoy the music my ear started to correct the inaccuracies.  My listeners, too, as they adjusted themselves inwardly to these out-of-tune sounds, experienced the odd phenomenon, with all the intervals suddenly seeming to be in tune.”  Peter Michael Hamel 

Cover your eyes and plug your ears with your hands.  Listen to the sounds of your breathing for ten full breaths.  Then gently put your hand on your lap, palms open, and keep your eyes closed.

 Now pay attention to the sounds around you.  Listen closely to every single sound, you may be surprised at all the sounds you’ve never paid attention to before. 

At first you may tend to identify and label where the sounds are coming from, what they are.  That’s okay.  Just identify as many sounds as you possibly can.

 Now begin to listen without identifying them.  Observe the sounds rather than labeling them ‘annoying’ or ‘beautiful’ or ‘harsh’ or ‘soothing’  Listen as you would to an orchestra or rock group.  You hear the total effect without indentifying the individual instruments and voices.  You are in the midst of an orchestra of sound. 

Without identifying the origin of the sounds, notice the subtle textures.  One sound is often made up of many other sounds.  Pay attention to the variations in pitch and intensity.  How many different ones do you notice. 

Floating as you are in an ocean of sound, your body becomes very still and your spirit opens up.  Notice your connectedness to this vast ocean of sound.  Notice what you feel.  Then return to the world of sound. 

You are a listening post to this universe of sound.  Again note your feelings as you listen.  Do you feel stillness, love, a sense of being part of a harmony?  Then return to the world of sound. 

Alternate between the sounds themselves and the sense of harmony you feel with them.  Back and forth.  Two sides to a single harmony. 

Know that God’s power underlies and sustains each sound.  It is the divine harmony sounding around you.  Listen to the divine symphony. 

Rest in this world of sound

Rest in God/All is One.  

CHOOSING A MANTRA 

http://www.sanskritmantra.com/simple.htm 

“First  of all it’s better not to use a real word.  A mantra should not hook you into any train of thought or emotional pattern.  “Although some words such as “peace” or “calm” might sound very comforting, the problem is that you may be tempted to think about their meaning and what the words mean to you.  The purpose and power of a mantra lies in your ability to lose yourself in its rich, sonorous sound and the way it vibrates around and through your body.  If you are thinking consciously or unconsciously about the word, it stops the mantra from doing its job.”  TARA WARD

Counting your breaths from one to ten and then starting over again will work and long as you don’t make it into a competitive game or criticize yourself when you lost count and congratulate yourself when you don’t. 

It is best to choose a mantra that you don’t recognize or is in a language that is foreign to you.  Beginners are usually shown a mantra with no more than one or two syllables.  The first reason for this is to keep it simple and secondly it keeps us focused.  

Here are some examples of one or two syllable mantras…… 

MAH – NUM

VO – HUM

SAT NAM

RAHM

LAH – NEE

SOHM

WONE

VEE – NONG

PRAH

DA – YAM

RAH – MAH

SHAH – LOON

OM 

And these too….. 

AUM MANE PADME HUM (Sanskrit)

KYRIE ELEISON (Greek)

NAMU AMIDA BUTSU (Pali)

DOMINE MECUM (Latin) 

All these expressions qualify as ‘sacred’ and, their unfamiliar language removes any emotional patterns.  

When you’ve chosen your mantra see it in your mind’s eye.  How does it look to you?  How does it make you feel?  Take a deep cleansing breath and say it out loud or speak it softly.  Let the mantra continue until you have finished your breath.  Then take a deep breath and repeat it again until your breath runs out.  Do this at least 3 times or more.  Notice what feelings and sensations your mantra creates and where you feel its vibration in your body.  

Start again and really feel the word vibrate through and around you.  Lose yourself in the sound and feel it spread outwards from you body in a beautiful gow of energy.  Merge with the sound and become one with the sound itself.  When you do this you’ll find yourself unware of when you’re breathing in….this is because the sound seems continuous as its vibration spreads wider and wider.  Stay with this as long as you can.  It creates a magnetic flow through the body.  Once you feel/sense your conscious mind is totally engaged in the chant “bring it down into the subconscious by whispering.  While chanting in the subconscious offer it, too, up to superconsciousness [with eyes closed gaze upward] at the point between the eyebrows, until you feel your entire being vibrating with the words, the melody and the rhythm. 

…..to spiritualize a chant, keep it rotating in the mind—for days at a time.  If necessary: not only in meditation but as you go about your daily activities.  This practice is also called Japa.  Christian mystics, too, speak of the continuous “prayer of the heart,” and of “practicing the presence of God.”  All this is japa. ” J DONALD WALTERS, Superconsciousness, A Guide to Meditation

 The following Sound meditations are from Kripalu’s Self Health Guide, an great book based on Kripalu’s Eight-Step Approach..  These are very simple and great for those just starting. 

MEDITATION ON THE SOUND OF OM

 Choose a quiet place where you won’be be interrupted or disturbed.  If you’d like, dim the lights, light candles and/or incense to create a space of calmness. 

If you need a chair use one, if not sit comfortably on the floor, spine erect and chin parallel to the floor, tucked in slightly.  Sitting cross-legged is best or if you have one, a meditation bench.  It is more important to be comfortable than correct.  

Take a couple of breaths and let your shoulders and neck relax.  Close your eyes abd begin breathing calmly and slowly, taking about 10 deep breaths slowly in and out.  

Let all your concerns go….if a thought comes up, visualize it on a blackboard and erase it away.  Another idea is to imagine putting each thought into a bubble and let it float away. 

Drop all expression from you face and consciously relax various parts of your body, especially the face, shoulders abdomen, and hands. 

Continue taking slow, deep breaths for two to five minutes, practicing the focusing of your total concentration on your breathing.  Then gradually allow your breath to return to normal and feel yourself becoming very still within.  Remain with the sensations in your body rather than with any thoughts that may flow through your mind. 

Mentally repeat Om very slowly.  Feel the vibrations of the thought/sound.  Listen with your whole being.  After several silent, mental repetitions of the sound, very softly begin to chant the sound aloud by taking a full deep breath in and sounding Om on the exhalation, making each repetition as long as is comfortably possible. 

As you continue to chant, experience the effects.  Feel the peace that is created by the vibration.  Imagine that the sound is flowing from deep within your abdomen that you are opening up to let it flow out.  Feel all worry, fear, and tension dissolve. 

Remain still for a period of time, enjoying the feeling of quiet and peace within and around you.  When you are ready, gradually open your eyes. 

Practice this technique until you begin to feel that you are gaining some control and concentration.  Then move, if you wish to a more complex technique. 

MEDITATION ON THE INTERNAL SOUND of So’ham 

So’ham (pronounced “so-hahm”) is an easy but powerful meditation technique that is also based on awareness of breath.  It is one of the most scientific approaches for learning the deep concentration and inner stillness necessary to experience meditation. 

Take time to prepare yourself as you did in the previous meditation and consciously relax the various parts of your body.  Allow your consciousness of external surroundings to fade as much as possible.  Then practice a few minutes of Yogic Deep Breathing, focusing your attention on the breath. 

After approximately two to 5 minutes, allow the breath gradually to return to normal, keeping your concentration on it.  Watch your normal flow of breath with unattached objective awareness.  Remain releaxed, not trying to control your breathing in any way.  Without expectations, just watch the breath flow in and out.  You will notice that the breath automatically begins to become slower and more shallow. 

After a slow, gentle breathing rhythm is established, begin to hear within, the sound of so’ham (“I am That”).  Do not actually make the sound, but imagine that it is the sound of the breath, “soooo” on the inhalation, and “haammmm” on the exhalation.  Let the brething and the sound absorb your mind as completely as possible. 

After a few weeks, add concentration on the point between the eyebrows (known as the ‘third eye”).  Begin by practicing so’ham for about ten minutes and greadually make your sessions longer.  Each time the mind wanders away from the technique, gently lead it back until the periods of mental stillness increase. 

Links 

Lots of Mantras to choose from on youtubehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UCzhN2clis&feature=related 

Excellent! There is a wealth of information in this fantastic and excellent pdf article (108 pages) on Mantras. http://www.wahmusic.com/images/book/chant_sample.pdf

This is a fabulous Mantra Meditation site http://www.mantrameditation.net/

 Simple Mantras http://www.sanskritmantra.com/simple.htm

 Beautiful youtube mantra on So’ham http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKNzaWGm0o8

 What is a mantra http://ezinearticles.com/?What-Is-a-Mantra,-How-Does-It-Work,-and-Why-Would-I-Want-to-Use-One?&id=5315769

 The Practice of Tantric Mantras http://satyamyoga.com/mantengl.htm