Each outer and inner dysfunction (physical, psychological and spiritual) is connected to dysfunction of some energy centre. For example, energy form of traumatic experience (which represents a sole cause of all human problems) is always located in one of the chakras and disturbs its healthy function. Subtle energy channels that connect the person with the so called "lower astral spheres" are also located in chakras, where they create disturbances in normal functioning of certain chakra. Different levels of subtle bodies contain different types of energy disturbances and it is, therefore, useful to know at least the basic characteristics of known energy centres on all levels of energy bodies. So, apart from a physical body, human being is constructed of three levels of subtle bodies:
1. Level of human energy field (aura and chakras)
2. Level of intention (hara level)
3. Core star level
I will present here a short overview of basic characteristics of those levels and energy centres that are located in them, many of which are newly discovered and crucial for shaping the map of anatomy of energy body and its centres. This overview will also show possible dimensions of consciousness connected with each energy centre, together with healthy states of mind that accompany normal functioning of energy centres. I will also say something about their practical application.
AURA AND CHAKRAS
According to Barbara Ann Brennan, aura or human energy field represents "the energetic framework or grid structure upon which the physical body rests. Everything that is created in physical world must first exist or be created in the world of life energy. Every form that exists must first be formed in structured levels of the energy fields"(1). Consequently, aura is an energy matrix that envelops physical body and contains seven basic layers. Each layer is connected to one of seven chakras. Building material that forms aura is energy of universal energy field, experienced as energy of thoughts and feelings. Physical body is a carrier for material aspect of human being, while aura represents emotional and mental aspect. Each person's aura fills itself with the energy of universal energy field through energy funnels that we call chakras. In that way, chakras are the means of energy communication. They receive emotional and mental information of different frequencies, and they also transmit them in our environment. Each chakra regulates wide range of different bodily, psychological and spiritual functions. Since chakras are experienced as means of energy communication, they will serve as points of contact of our energy field with different forms of external influences. Since a wide range of literature concerning positions, colours and connections of chakras to endocrine glands is already available, I will deal here with some of their less known aspects. Here are the basic psychological and spiritual functions of each of seven basic chakras.
The first chakra is connected to the awareness of self as physical being. It feeds the physical body with earthly energies and gives it strength and tenaciousness. In psychological sense, this chakra contains the type of relationship that person has with its body. Persons who love their bodies and are satisfied with them have a healthy functioning first chakra. This chakra also contains the type of relationship that person has towards physical, material reality. Therefore, this chakra regulates our groundedness and the capability of handling and acting in physical reality. What we usually call "common sense" is also located in first chakra, together with the type of practical capabilities that some person has. In that way, first chakra holds the capability for practical realization of our ideas.
The second chakra has two aspects - the front and the back one. All the other chakras (apart from the first and the seventh) also share this configuration. All front aspects are connected with emotions and we call them "emotional centres", while back ones deal with will-power. The second chakra is connected to sexuality and self-worth. It is also connected to something that is known in psychology as "ego". However, human ego is not an unhealthy formation - it represents a psychological means of soul's individualization, means of its incarnation and creative realization through specific body and personality. Through ego, one becomes aware of who s/he is and what s/he is (what s/he's like), as different from other people. That's why ego holds as equally important place in the map of human soul as every other aspect. If we consider the human being from the level of spiritual reality, then ego creates individual consciousness, or the illusion of separation. However, as long as a being exists within manifested universe, it has an awareness of its own individuality. That is why ego represents a necessary instance of personality, because it allows individual being to perceive itself as separate unit and to take care of its own survival and personal realization. Ego will degenerate only when person has no spiritual insight whatsoever, meaning that s/he lacks the awareness of the original unity of all existing forms of life or seemingly non-living matter. People who lack contact with subtle dimensions of their own being can emphasize the importance of dimensions they are familiar with, where the needs of ego will become focus of their attention. That's why such people tend to attach themselves or cling to the objects that form the elements of their basic needs. Each loss of such object is experienced as personal injury, which creates suffering. That way people can fall under the power of their own ego. Instead or ruling it from the levels of their higher consciousness, ego gets to rule them.
The second chakra is a centre where the emotional aspect prevails. Here we can find the most basic emotions, such as pleasure and satisfaction. That's why it is connected to sexuality - the front aspect with the quality of sexual energy, and the back aspect with its quantity. All problems with impotence and frigidity will be created by the malfunction of back aspect, while the problems with perversion will come from the front aspect. The background of such problems lies in traumatic experiences that have resulted with deep inferiority complex, or traumatic experiences that blocked healthy aggressiveness and disabled the person from manifesting full sexual potential. Apart from sexual problems, all other forms of dissatisfaction with one's life can be cleared by treating the second chakra.
Since the second chakra is connected with our awareness of self worth, our financial status will be directly connected with its function. There are numerous "objective" factors that influence the amount of income or means of earning money, but the main cause of someone's poverty is conscious or unconscious attitude that the person is unworthy. That's why all financial problems can be handled by energy and psycho-therapeutic treatments of the second chakra.
Concerning ESP, since the second chakra is an emotional centre, it is possible to use it to directly perceive other people's emotions, although it will be mainly those emotions that the person experiences in the particular moment. This means that psychic or sensitive person can feel the emotional state of another person through this chakra.
The third chakra (solar plexus) is connected to the awareness of self as a person. The first, the third, the fifth and the seventh are so-called mental chakras. While the first chakra is a centre of common sense, the third contains our ability to think logically - it is a centre of linear, analytical mind. If its activity is too strong, excessive use of analytical thought will lead the person into neurosis. That can be accompanied by many psychosomatic symptoms such as anxiety, heart problems, and pressure in solar plexus or sweaty palms, together with emotional states such as fear or stage fright. That's why in third chakra we find insecurity - the emotional state that became almost a kind of psychological epidemic. The cure for this feeling is in natural or healthy aspects of the third chakra, such as reason and self confidence, together with the awareness of one's original identity (I am myself). The third chakra can be used to centre the person in time and space and allow people to find their space in this world, direction of their life and their life mission.
Back aspect of the third chakra is connected to self-healing processes. It is activated when pathological processes appear in the body, and it is responsible for that familiar state of fatigue and tiredness connected to illness. That state informs us that we are ill, so we are forced to abandon our daily activities to allow our body to rest and heal. Persons that are successful in healing usually have strongly developed back aspect of the third chakra. The type of ESP that is available through the third chakra is direct perception of other people's thoughts.
Heart chakra, the fourth in the row, is connected to interpersonal relationships, or universal and personal love. With it, we are leaving the sphere of human personality and entering the transpersonal dimension of human being, which connects this chakra to the quality of the relationships that person, is capable of having. Since heart chakra is an emotional chakra, it contains higher emotions such as love, happiness and fulfilment. All forms of love, from infatuation to universal love, are located in this chakra. Generosity, humanitarianism, unselfishness and spontaneity are also inner states that are communicated through heart chakra. The front aspect of this chakra is connected to some of the softest and most subtle inner states, but it is less known that the back aspect is connected to courage and bravery, or brave or ruthless love. Combativeness, ruthlessness or firmness are characteristics of the back aspect. To have a heart to tell someone something that would probably hurt him/her, to confront the situation or to react in cold blood in the moments of danger are also capabilities that are connected to the back aspect of heart chakra.
Spiritually, heart chakra represents the centre that collects energies from higher chakras and transforms them by means of unselfish love so that they can be distributed into so-called lower chakras (lower anatomically - this is not a value judgment). Energies that are coming from lower chakras are being collected in heart chakra and transformed, so that they can be lifted to higher chakras. For that reason, openness of heart chakra is the crucial moment for achieving any kind of spiritual experience and inner transformation, in other words - the most important aspect of the capability to channel universal life energy. Through heart chakra, a sensitive person can perceive the degree of someone's openness, meaning - their capacity to give and receive love.
The fifth chakra, or the throat chakra, is connected to perception of the external world and our ability to communicate with the world around us. We communicate with material and with spiritual world through this chakra. It forms the communication models through which a person establishes contact with external world. That's why it represents the centre of mental, energy and verbal form of our communication model. For that reason the throat chakra can contain dysfunctions such as rigidity or formalism, stubbornness and prejudices that stem from not understanding the fact that the map is not the territory and that communication models are just models. They are not the reality that we are trying to describe through them.
The throat chakra is connected to attitudes about oneself, life, other people or God that form the outline of our world views. It is necessary to have such attitudes, but it is also necessary to be able to change them when they are not useful any more, or when one is mature enough the build a new world view. That's why healthy functioning of throat chakra is connected to mental flexibility, understanding and tolerance.
Front aspect of the throat chakra forms the type of our relationship with external world, our perception of and communication with that world. If our world view is filled with negative beliefs, we will tend to keep them suppressed to sustain the image of good and nice person, but such negative attitudes and beliefs will become evident in psychological projection mechanism. We shall transfer our unconscious beliefs to the outside world, and therefore experience other people or God as threats to our existence. The consequence of this will be the feeling of being constantly endangered by our environment. With some energy work on throat chakra and some psychotherapy the contents of our projections can be made conscious and cleared out.
Front aspect of the throat chakra forms the type of energy food from external world that people need. Since the throat chakra regulates digestion and metabolism, all weight problems can be treated by clearing and harmonizing this chakra. The same goes for addictions, from smoking and coffee, to alcohol, sex and drugs. Namely, the food that is really necessary to our being concerns exclusively information and energy that enables our personal and spiritual development. Everything else is needless and unnecessary, but contemporary society is faced with numerous types of addictions because in today's civilization spirituality is marginalized and considered irrelevant. It became a taboo subject, together with sex or death. However, precisely the lack of this kind of awareness and connectedness with spiritual levels of our being is the original cause of all addictions.
Back aspect of the throat chakra is also known as "the professional centre". It's openness and healthy functioning allows the person to find appropriate form for their creative realization, meaning simply - the profession that is best suited for them. The type of ESP possible through throat chakra is the so called "channelling". Back aspect of throat chakra allows connection with higher consciousness and communication with it through channelled verbal messages.
The sixth chakra or "the third eye" is connected to the world of ideas. It is the basis of our world views. Our capability for understanding mental concepts, creative visualization and our life philosophy are also located there. The third eye holds the synthetic mind, the capability to connect different concepts into a meaningful whole. Spiritually, the third eye holds the awareness of universal unity of everything that exists. This chakra is connected with intuition and ESP as capabilities that stem from the fact that, on the spiritual level, there is an interconnectedness of everything that exists, independent of its place in time and space.
Back aspect of the third eye is also known as the "executive centre", because it concerns our capability to bring our life philosophy to action. Back aspect also contains our talents. All spiritual initiations include the back aspect of the third eye, where they locate energetic inscriptions of new spiritual capabilities. The type of ESP that is typical for the third eye is clairvoyance that surpasses time and space. The clairvoyance is in fact a direct visual perception of events in the present, past or future.
The seventh chakra or the crown chakra has only one aspect, same as the first one. It is also connected to the spiritual consciousness as the third eye, but here we surpass manifested universe and the awareness of universal unity of all manifested forms. Here we perceive original, non-manifested reality that we usually call God. That's why the crown chakra represents the centre of awareness of our unity with God. At the same time this chakra is the centre of faith, peace and patience, or trust in positive outcome of some event when everything looks bad. It is the centre of service, devotion and letting go.
The type of ESP found in crown chakra is immediate knowledge. Person who is capable of using the crown chakra in such way can abandon ESP processes like channelling or visions - they just know if something is or is not, without any tangible or subtle indicator. The crown chakra is named after the presupposition that in ancient times only the persons with completely opened and developed top of their head could became kings, because they were connected to God. This characteristic of the kings became twisted later, because in the known history the persons who became kings usually got there by immoral means and brutal force. The only remainder of opened crown chakra was shinny metal surrogate on their heads, meant to impress the subjects with its glitter and high price.
LEVEL OF INTENTIONALITY
According to Barbara Brennan, the level of our intentionality is "...one quantum leap deeper into our original nature and one dimension deeper than the aura. Haric level is the foundation on which the aura is rests"(2). This level of existence is called the haric because of the centre of power located in the abdominal area, known from oriental martial arts. Haric level is the level of human existence connected to the accumulation of energy that is necessary for achieving our goals or our original intention at any given time. While the layers of aura represent different frequencies of emotional and mental vibrations, and chakras represent the means of energetic communication of those states, the points of energy radiation on haric level are the centres of energy accumulation where we store energy that is necessary for achievement of variety of goals. Haric level also allows us to create awareness of our real goals or our original intention, and the awareness of the means for realizing our intention in material reality.
Various researchers and traditions present different maps of haric level. Chinese Taoism speaks of three dan tien or centres of power. Barbara Ann Brennan speaks about hara line and three energy centres on that line, two of which can be connected to the system of Chinese dan tien (centre that she calls "the dan tien" is the lower dan tien from Taoism, and centre she calls "the soul seat" could be the Taoist middle dan tien), but her third centre is not the Taoist upper dan tien, but something completely different. Diane Stein, Reiki Master, speaks of thirteen energy centres on hara level, but in my experience her real contribution to the anatomy of haric level is the discovery of so-called causal centre and the point she called earthly chi. The structure of the haric level that I am going to present here, using mentioned sources and personal discoveries, looks like this.
The foundation of the haric level is hara line that looks like a laser beam that goes from above, from the sphere we could call heaven, through the centre of our body towards the centre of the Earth. Hara line is our axis that holds all the atoms and molecules of our physical body together. It also allows us to contact the source of our intention and represents the foundation for each of our activities. Every time we discover the pure original intention that lies behind our actions, our mental states or situations we find ourselves in, we are connecting our consciousness with hara line. To be aware of our original intention, hara line has to be straight and unbroken, and firmly connected to the centre of the Earth.
According to Taoist teachings, there are three sources of power in nature - Heaven (universe), Earth (planet) and Man. Haric level reflects this model. There are three sources of energy on hara line, together with three dan tiens, which are the points for energy accumulation and action. The first source of energy that fills three dan tiens is located approximately one meter above our head. This centre's energy frequency is of specific kind and therefore we call this point the source of heavenly chi. Barbara Ann Brennan calls this centre "ID point" or the individuation point, because it represents God's manifestation through individual being. At the same time, ID point carries the possibility of connecting with non-manifested reality. I would add that the source of heavenly chi allows charging of three (or total of six) dan tiens as centres of energy accumulation with the aspect of universal energy field that we call heavenly or spiritual. It is a very fine and high frequency whose most typical effect is the state of freshness, peace and relaxation.
The second source of energy on hara line is located approximately one meter below our body and is called the source of earthly chi. This frequency of the universal energy field is necessary for survival of the physical body, and it's typical effect is the feeling of warmth, strength, alertness and power. Both sources of energy enable contact with numerous other frequencies (and characteristics) of heavenly and earthly chi that can be stored in six dan tiens or sources of power. The third source of energy is human being himself, with energy centres that Taoists call dan tien.
The lower dan tien represents the centre for accumulation of energy needed for achieving our goals and actions in physical reality. It is located approximately two centimetres below the navel and, according to Barbara Brennan, it looks like orange golf ball. This power centre became famous through Eastern martial arts - karate or kung fu practitioners act from that spot when they perform things beyond the usual human physical capabilities (breaking bricks etc.). Lower dan tien gives bodily strength and agility, i.e. capability to realize our pure original intention in material reality by means of the most skilful action.
The middle dan tien Barbara Brennan calls "the soul seat". The centre of the energy form of what we usually call the Soul is located here. This dan tien is stationed little above heart chakra, but in a different dimension, and looks like a candle flame with diffuse bluish light. The energy accumulated in the middle dan tien allows us to create awareness of our real personal goals, our souls' longing, whatever it may be. Soul longs for fulfilment that is achieved through physical and psychological health, happy relationships with other people, realized creativity, work for common good and ritual life in harmony with God. Only we know the specific forms and means of our inner fulfilment. Middle dan tien gives us the energy necessary for creation of this awareness and achievement of our personal needs.
The upper dan tien is located two centimetres above the third eye and looks like a shiny diamond. It accumulates the energy necessary for creating awareness of our spiritual goals, and the energy necessary for fulfilment of our spiritual needs. The lower dan tien enables correct perception of our bodily needs and capabilities, the middle dan tien enables perception of our psychological needs and the upper dan tien enables correct perception of spiritual reality and our personal spiritual needs. People who have this dan tien functioning properly are aware of their spiritual path, their teachers and guides or spiritual tradition they might belong to. On the other hand, this centre is known under the name "scanner", because it allows development of capabilities of direct extra-sensory perception and influencing material and energy processes, independent of time and space.
Those three dan tiens are the basic power centres on the haric level. They are located at the front of our body, in level with the hara line. However, there is more to be found on the haric level, on the back side of the hara line. A few interesting centres located there are already known by the names of "causal centre" or "assemblage point", while the third one is my personal discovery and can only be connected to Taoist point named "ming men". Still, I will call them the back dan tiens, because they are also the centres of energy accumulation. The difference between front and back dan tiens is that the front dan tiens accumulate energy necessary for execution of certain energy activities, while the three back dan tiens accumulate energy for correct energy perception.
The upper back dan tien (causal centre) is located behind the neck part of the spine. With it, we perceive ourselves as energy, non-material or spiritual being and we are aware at each moment of the original intention of our existence as a spiritual being embodied in matter. So, when we are doing something we know why we do it, the purpose of each of our actions is clear to us. This centre enables the presence in present time and space and provides our consciousness with reasons for our existence in that particular time and space. Popular new-age idea of life "here and now" has its equivalent in this centre.
The upper back dan tien functions harmoniously if the person's posture is straight. Our spine has to be straight, without hunching in the upper part. If our posture is upright, then we dominate the situation we are in, and we have an awareness of the solutions to eventual problems that we encounter. The person with a straight upper part of the spine is awake and present and it is not easy to shake her. Kings and aristocracy always stated their class position with upright posture. Servants and subjects bow their heads to follow other people's orders, while persons with upright posture control the situation. That's why the true aristocrat is the person who is aware of their goals and is capable of achieving them in material reality. Our original nature is aristocratic because it contains awareness that we are not just physical beings, but much more than that. The source of nobility is in our spiritual nature, and not in the money or some illusionary idea of our own importance. Awareness of the original spiritual goal of our existence, centeredness in here and now, and the capability to control the situation are the basic characteristics of this dan tien.
The middle back dan tien is located behind the middle part of the spine, somewhere between our shoulder blades. It is known as an "assemblage point" from the spiritual development systems described by Carlos Castaneda (3). Castaneda's teacher Don Juan refers to the assemblage point as being the centre of our perception of the external world. Large part of the training that Don Juan's disciples go through deals with accumulation of energy in assemblage point with the purpose of entering the state of heightened awareness and seeing the world as an energetic phenomenon, and human being as luminous balls made of energy. Accumulation of energy in assemblage point leads to its movement or fluidity, which allows the disciple to change perception of the world at will and switch from one sphere of reality to another. With the power of intention, we can change our perception and become aware that we are the ones that create the external circumstances of our lives with our perception of the world. Assemblage point, named by the idea that all human perception is gathered in that centre, thus becomes energy counterpart of one popular contemporary presupposition - human beings create their own reality, be it external or internal.
The lower back dan tien is located near the kidney zone, or the lower part of the spine. This centre concerns the way human begins perceive themselves as persons and physical beings, here through the level of intention. Castaneda is talking about the original intention of our existence as physical beings when he says that the person who chooses the spiritual path becomes a warrior. Basic characteristics of this centre are awareness of ourselves, our inner states and our actions. The warrior is a person who controls his/her passions, acts without regret, makes no mistakes and is immaculate. Awareness of ourselves and our actions allows systematic perfectioning of our behaviour according to the ideal that we named "the warrior of light". So, this centre is connected to one already familiar and popular spiritual process, usually called self-observation.
CORE STARS LEVEL
Core stars level is connected to the original essence of our being. Beyond aura and chakras which are the means of energy communication, and beyond the haric level where we find the awareness of our goals and accumulate energy necessary for their realization, we find core stars level that represents the level of our true original nature. It is the level of our real individual essence, independent of ego, soul and all other levels of personality. Our true identity is our divine nature. This nature contains seven basic dimensions that are manifested through seven core star centres. Core star centres unveil the fascinating world of our original nature, with all of its limitless potentials. Energy of core stars centres permeates all lower level energy bodies, and all cells and atoms of our physical body. They are not the points of energy communication or energy accumulation. Like the stars themselves, they are the centres that radiate their own energy.
Core stars level is one dimension deeper than the haric level and represents the foundation for all other levels - haric, aura and physical body. The model of star centres that I am going to present here is much different than the only other model that is known to me, which was developed by Barbara Ann Brennan. She mentions one energy centre on this level, called "the core star", and she states its characteristics. I have started exploring this level under her influence, and at first I have just adopted her ideas considered them final. Nevertheless, my personal development, together with the development of my closest associates, spontaneously moved towards deeper engrossment of star level, which brought about completely new model of this dimension. Our experience of the core star level at this point presents it as consisting of seven basic energy centres, where each of them represent one of the basic aspects of our original nature. Each star centre is also connected to one of the basic levels of God's creation that we usually call Heaven.
The first star centre, if we observe them through their connection with heavenly spheres, is located on the central bodily axis, half way between the soul seat and throat chakra. The first level of our original divine nature is unconditional, universal love that is experienced as our original essence. That's why I named this point the love centre. It is characterized by the potential for achieving completely fulfilled and happy relationships with other beings. Here, love exists by itself, without the need for external stimulus. It is a building material of the whole universe. Therefore, the love centre also contains the source of five elements (air, water, fire, earth and ether) that build the universe. Here, elements can be experienced in their purest form, where they represent pure consciousness (air), pure feelings (water), pure energy (fire), pure action (earth) and pure communication (ether). Mystics have always claimed that God has created the manifested universe as crystallised love, and it is not unusual that the five elements have their source in the centre connected with love. Each star centre also contains one primordial code, where the love centre holds the type of our primordial relationship.
The second star centre, as well as all the others, is also located on the central axis of our body, but this one is little bit above the navel. That centre is named by Barbara Brennan to be "the core star" and it is connected to the aspect of our original divine nature that we call creativity. So, I've named this point simply the creative centre. It contains the total of our original creative potential. It also contains the source of satisfaction. Life satisfaction is directly connected to realized or not realized creative impulse. There are numerous ways of realizing creative impulse in practice, but in this creative centre we can find the so-called "love of the life", that Swedish mystic Emmanuel Swedenborg talked about. It is the type of creative activity that is the most suitable for us, i.e. our primordial creative impulse. Creative centre also contains basic archetypes of creative realization. In ancient times, the esoteric science recognized them as the twelve signs of zodiac. Each of the signs represents one specific type and field of creative realization, or one of basic God's identities.
The third star centre is located between the second chakra and the lower dan tien. I've named it the peace centre. This star centre contains the original healthy matrix of all organs of our physical body, our aura and hara level centres. We can consider it to be the guardian of the original purity and perfection of our physical body, or it's sanctity as a kind of God's temple. Many spiritual people consider the physical body and the matter to be something filthy, low or even evil. But, if we look at the matter through the eyes of the third star centre, we experience matter as equally worthy and sacred as all other forms or levels or existence. The body is a sacred creation, the temple of the spirit, and the material world is the means of God's manifestation and creative realization. That is why the body has to be sacred tool to the enlightened beings, to use it as means of their own realization in the material world. Term "bodhisattva" can be applied to this star centre. Bodhisattva is an enlightened being that lives in physical body. To reach enlightenment, together with other prerequisite conditions, physical body has to be healthy and purified. Also, for the enlightened soul to realize itself in material reality, it has to have a healthy and pure body. The work on bringing this centre to awareness and its opening and purification will create very powerful reactions in physical body. That's why the peace centre plays a crucial role in each process of healing the body.
Apart from harmonizing our body organs and energy bodies with their original perfect matrix, another important function of this centre is bringing the person in the state of complete peace. Inner peace will also connect us with the truth that lies beyond all dualities, all movement and processes. By discovering primordial polarities that are inscribed in this centre and by their neutralization it is possible to enter the state of deep peace. This state allows human beings to connect with that part of their nature that just is by itself, as it was originally created by God. So, together with connecting with universal love and original creative impulse, entering the state of peace represents another way of experiencing our original nature. Energies of ten planets of our planetary system also have their source in this centre. Each planet represents one field of personal realization, i.e. the type of consciousness and activities that are the reflection of original needs of every human being.
The fourth star centre is located somewhere between the creative centre and plexus chakra and it resembles a golden ball that is, similarly to the lower front dan tien, located in front of the central vertical axis. This centre collects the energies of the first three star centres and enables the discovery of the appropriate form through which we will realize the potentials inscribed in the first three star centres. That's why at first I called it a "coordination point", but later I have changed it's name to realization centre, because it describes its basic characteristic more precisely. Characteristics of this centre are so fantastic that they look more like magic that any usual human function. Namely, this centre is capable of finding the appropriate form for realization of any idea we might have. As the magic hat from which the magician pulls our rabbits, pigeons, scarves or various other items, so this realization centre will provide solutions for any problem we might have. Basically, it can form the way to realization of any of our justified and natural goal.
Type of awareness that comes from this centre is connected to the perception of our original identity that says "I am the God manifested". I have to emphasize that the way the people experience themselves through this centre is far from any egotism, grand mania or disguised Satanism. It is the awareness that God is within us, not outside of us, and that we are the God manifested. We are the kings of our earthly kingdoms, and that's why the source of unconditional fulfilment that the unity with our divine nature brings is inside of us, not outside. By clearing this centre, we can achieve high degree of freedom, because can will de-identify ourselves from external sources of fulfilment, and centre ourselves in our original nature. Such people are not dependent of any external stimuli; they are not tied to certain persons, places, their aesthetic criteria or spiritual teachers who are outside the borders of their own being. That's why the realization centre brings about unlimited and unconditional inner fulfilment that people usually experience as the state of ecstasy in the zone of solar plexus that expands towards the other parts of the body and outwards, to our environment. Such inner fulfilment creates the need for celebration, i.e. creating some form of ritual life. The need for ritual life must not be forced upon the people from the outside, but chosen freely and accepted by each individual. Such people will live their ritual lives without the feeling of obligation or compulsion, and with obvious pleasure, because they have chosen the lifestyle that brings them most fulfilment freely, on their own. The primordial code that is possible to discover by connecting with the realization centre is our primordial identity.
Aforementioned four star centres form some sort of a whole, and they are connected to first four levels of Heaven. They very much resemble earthly existence, manifested universe or secular life, because those spheres of higher astral worlds represent some sort of energy matrix according to which the material world was created. Namely, everything that was created by God can be called Creation. First four levels of Creation are completely connected to manifested world and secular life. Secular life has its foundation in relationships based of love, in creative work, in acting for common good and in ritual life that is harmonized with our divine nature. But, apart from this four, there are three more levels of heaven and three star centres whose characteristics are more subtle, and they are connected to a spiritual life and the levels that exist independently of material universe. Mystics and spiritually oriented persons find those levels to be the focus of their attention and interest. Their character is more abstract and they sometimes require special lifestyle to be recognized and incorporated into everyday life. However, the so-called "secular life" is no less important than spiritual life. Harmonious secular life represents a healthy foundation for spiritual life, and for that reason all levels of existence should be equally present.
First of the three upper centres, or the fifth star centre, is located on the top of the forehead, a bit above the upper dan tien, and it is called the sacred centre. Humility, grace, compassion and forgiveness are the basic characteristics of the consciousness achieved through this centre. It has a hyper-personal dimension and it is accompanied by the feeling of belonging to large cosmic brotherhood of enlightened beings that are in the service of general, universal goals. Those goals are always concerned with unselfish help to others. The type of fulfilment this centre brings is the capability to rejoice in another person's happiness and successes, and deep inner pleasure that appears as the result of unconditional giving and helping to others. Activities and ways of helping here are more passive, and are usually in the form of spiritual activity such as prayer, caring or healing. The sacred centre also brings the consciousness of self as a being of light, free space traveller that is moving towards the source of light together with other souls, towards the unity with God. This centre contains the source of seven (and more) healing rays that many advanced healers state as important tools for their work.
Next, the sixth star centre is located approximately 10 centimetres above the head and it is called the unity centre. It is characterized by the consciousness that is free of any process or opposition, i.e. by the return to the state of original unity. Through this centre it is possible to enter Samadhi, the state of unity with God. However, while the fourth star centre allows for experiencing God's nature in its manifested aspect, unity centre allows for the experience of God in all of it's aspects, even in the non-manifested state, as it really is outside all forms, be it material or energetic. There is not much to be said of the original nature of God, however - there are things to be said of the practical value of the experiences gathered through this centre. Since in the unity centre the existence of opposites is experienced as illusion, here we encounter what we popularly call the faith.
Namely, lack of opposites, or abandoning duality, completely excludes the existence of any doubt. Since there is no difference between subject and object, and there is no process, the doubt is also gone, because the doubt is also a process by nature. However, the faith that stems from the sixth star centre is somewhat different from the faith in it's traditional religious sense. Real faith has to be the consequence of personal spiritual experience. Faith in the declaration made by anybody else, even if it's the top spiritual authority, does not come from the domain of personal experience, and by that alone it can't be called - knowledge. If we lack personal spiritual experience, we shall not be able to harmonize ourselves in the correct way to our own spiritual nature and live accordingly. Obviously, we are not talking about the faith founded in family or national tradition, or faith because it would be good to believe in something for some reason. This faith comes from total lack of doubt in God as our own deepest original nature.
From that kind of faith shall be able to build characteristics such as optimism, trust, letting go, security, peace, lack of fear, anger or sorrow because of separation from God. The reasons for alienation are gone, and we are now able to live in harmony with ourselves, other people and nature. Ecological awareness stems form the fact that, essentially, all life forms are equal and all of them are interconnected. Spiritually, the people whose sixth star centre is purified become aware of themselves as "the kings of heavenly kingdom", the creators of their universe, where everything that exists is themselves and is connected to them. God is one, but that doesn't mean that there is only one true God. It means that everything that exists is God, that there is nothing that is not God. God is omnipresent and represents the original true essence of everything that exists and everything that doesn't exist.
The seventh star centre takes us even deeper into the mystical nature of God. It is located approximately 20 centimetres above our head and it connects us to the seventh level of Heaven. When we are "in the seventh Heaven" then we have the feeling of floating and we feel no suffering. We feel perfectly safe as a perfect human being. Those are the most typical characteristics of the seventh star centre, so its name could be the centre of perfection. Here we experience ourselves as perfect being that is its own source of love, happiness, knowledge or truth. We are the love we're looking for; we contain all the necessary knowledge, and are the complete and perfect being, unconditionally fulfilled by ourselves. Existence is experienced as God's dream, as an illusion created for the purpose of self-recognition. Here we can find the awareness of non-existence of suffering. The difference between the realization centre (which also contains the awareness of oneself as God) and the seventh star centre is that through realization centre we consciously create our own reality, and here all creation is unnecessary. We already are complete and realized beings and each action will just break the original balance and perfection.
The difference between the sixth and the seventh star centre lies in the fact that the sixth centre is connected to the perception of God's original nature, where the seventh centre contains no perception at all. Here, we are talking about experiencing God through the state of complete freedom and ease. That's why this centre is accompanied by the experience of passivity, non-action, simplicity and complete safety and protection. Since the seventh star centre is by nature mystical, it may seem that it has nothing to do with the material world and secular life. But the possibilities of its practical application are numerous. The feeling of safety and protection, the capability to achieve our goals through conscious non-action, peace and self-confidence, love for oneself, satisfaction and polymath are desirable inner states that definitely represent healthy foundation for any specific activity. That's why this centre is some sort of creative and spiritual role-model (teacher) that exists in us and that can lead us to complete self-realization. It is the perfect matrix of ourselves, so we can conclude that God manifests itself through this centre as the perfect human being.
There are another seven star centres above the ones we have discussed here, and this probably forms the sequence that stretches itself to infinity. However, I think that it is unnecessary to speak about the star centres above the seventh. Persons who manage to become conscious and to purify the seven basic star centres will be able to discover themselves the characteristics of the ones beyond those seven. The nature of higher star centres is such that it is better to keep quiet about them, not because of the attempt to mystify them, but because they are so subtle that it is difficult to talk about them. That's why the personal meditation on energy centres is the only right way to achieve immediate experience of dimensions of consciousness we have discussed here. The map I have presented here can serve as auxiliary means, but map is not the territory. For that reason, I would like to recommend the practice to my readers, since only through practice, and not verbal information, it is possible to gain true experience and knowledge.
1) Barbara Ann Brennan:" Light Emerging - the Journey of Personal Healing", BANTAM BOOKS, 1992, page 13.
2) Barbara Ann Brennan: "Light Emerging - The Journey of Personal Healing", page 29.
3) Carlos Castaneda: "Magical Passes - The Practical Wisdom of the Shamans of Ancient Mexico", HarperCollins, 1998, page 6.
Tomislav Budak, August 2000.