Awakening the Third Eye
Third Edition
Samuel Sagan, M.D.
www.clairvision.org
Copyright © Samuel Sagan 1992, 1997, 2007.
Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of review or research
as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this book
maybe be reproduced by any process without written permission.
Clairvision is a registered trademark of Clairvision School Ltd.
Table of Contents
Introduction
A systematic method
Chapter 1 - Principles and Method of the Work
1.1 Do not force, do not concentrate, just be aware
1.2 No creative visualisation, no imagination, just awareness
1.3 Trust your experience
1.4 Don't analyse during an experience
1.5 Psychic protection
1.6 Practise, practise, practise...
1.7 Why delay?
1.8 Play with the techniques
1.9 Remain relative
Chapter 2 - The Mysteries of the Larynx
2.1 Throat friction
2.2 Purposes and effects of the throat friction
2.3 The mysteries of the larynx
2.4 Humming sound and the magic of bees
Chapter 3 - Awakening the Third Eye
3.1 What is the third eye?
3.2 First opening
3.3 Various experiences
3.4 Experiential references
3.5 If you are not feeling any vibration at all
3.6 More about the third eye
3.7 Third eye meditation
3.8 More humming/buzzing
3.9 How to organize your practice
3.10 The mysteries of the space
Chapter 4 - Channel Release: Let It Flow!
4.1 Channel release
4.2 Connected shaking
4.3 Connected rubbing
4.4 Vibration = etheric
4.5 General advice concerning the work on the meridians
4.6 Shou jue yin, 'Heart Constrictor Meridian'
4.7 Shou shao yin, 'Heart Meridian'
4.8 Shou tai yin, 'Lung Meridian'
4.9 More details on the paths of the meridians
4.10 The different levels of perception of energy circulations
4.11 Practice
4.12 Releasing negative energies
Chapter 5 - Seeing
5.1 The path of the seers
5.2 Concerning the practices of eye contact
5.3 Reconnection with the space
5.4 Eye contact with focus in the eye and 'seeingness'
5.5 To end any practice of eye contact
5.6 To blink or not to blink
5.7 A few common experiences while practising eye contact
5.8 What to do with your experiences
5.9 Watching the graspings of the mind
5.10 Grasping is the nature of the mind
5.11 Which state of perception is the altered one?
5.12 Atlantean climax
5.13 Eye contact, full technique: the triple process of vision,
including the vision of the heart
Chapter 6 - Channel Release 2
6.1 The work on the etheric body
6.2 Zu shao yang, 'Gallbladder' Meridian
6.3 The full technique of channel release on a meridian
6.4 Variation without rubbing
6.5 The sound of the vibration
6.6 Zu tai yang, 'Urinary Bladder' Meridian
6.7 The cosmos in your hands
6.8 Gestures of energy
6.9 The energy between your hands
6.10 Cosmic antenna
6.11 Ribcage practice
6.12 Zu yang ming, 'Stomach' Meridian
Table of Contents
6.13 Jnāna-mudrā and the energy in the lungs
Chapter 7 - Seeing (2)
7.1 The use of darkness
7.2 Use more candles and oil lamps, less electricity
7.3 In quest of the ultimate wall rendering
7.4 The white shawl
7.5 The basic technique for seeing an aura
7.6 Where exactly should you look while doing eye contact?
7.7 Channel release from time to time
7.8 Working on auras
7.9 Aura testing
7.10 Vata, pitta, kapha
7.11 Trans-verbal communication
7.12 More about seeingness
7.13 Intermezzo: which eye are you?
7.14 The yes/yes technique
Chapter 8 - Practices on the Etheric Body
8.1 The etheric layer as a whole
8.2 The life ether
8.3 Exploring different qualities of the etheric
8.4 Exploring the limits
8.5 Exploring the circulations of the etheric
8.6 The etheric vibration outside your body
8.7 Vibration meals
8.8 The vibration in your bath
8.9 Etheric excretion at the end of a bath
8.10 Loo practice
8.11 Releasing into the earth
8.12 Tree hugging
8.13 Crying
8.14 Sucking the citrus
8.15 Yawning
8.16 The right side of the ring
8.17 A note about wrist watches
Chapter 9 - Awareness
9.1 Centredness through vigilance in the eye
9.2 Inner alchemy
Table of Contents
9.3 Permanence in the eye
9.4 The harvest of permanence
9.5 Practice
9.6 Practice
9.7 Practice
9.8 Test
9.9 Intermezzo: changes in vision
9.10 The eye-heart awareness
9.11 When to start?
Chapter 10 - A Few Experiences on the Way
10.1 Tingling in various body parts
10.2 Let things come and go
10.3 If a meditation experience becomes too intense...
10.4 Feeling vibration higher up than between the eyebrows
10.5 Feeling heat
10.6 The breath stops
10.7 The pressure in the eye becomes uncomfortable
10.8 Controlling headaches
10.9 Other possible causes of headaches
10.10 Dizziness
10.11 Getting fed-up or emotional
10.12 Hearing sounds
10.13 When there is no energy, the energy is somewhere else!
10.14 After sattva: tamas. To fight tamas: rajas.
Chapter 11 - The Art of Tuning In
11.1 Tuning in
11.2 Drinking colours
11.3 Flowers, plants and elemental beings
11.4 Fighting mental rigidity
11.5 Trees
11.6 Practice
11.7 Sexually-related feelings
11.8 You are what you eat
11.9 A few suggestions on how to communicate with angels
Chapter 12 - Ley Lines, Earth Lines and Energy Wells
12.1 The first reflex whenever you hear cancer
12.2 Commonly observed facts about the lines
Table of Contents
12.3 Ley lines and earth lines
12.4 What are these lines?
12.5 Energy wells
12.6 Lines and spiritual practice
12.7 Dowsing the lines: the gear
12.8 Learning the eye-belly attitude for dowsing
12.9 Dowsing technique
12.10 Dowsing the lines: do's and don'ts
12.11 The belly signal
12.12 Feeling the lines without rods
12.13 Seeing the lines
12.14 The aura of the dowser
12.15 Diagnosing geopathic stress
12.16 Finding energy wells
12.17 Can one neutralise noxious earth lines?
12.18 A geography of enlightenment
Chapter 13 - Night Practice 1: Theoretical Aspects
13.1 Critical times
13.2 Initiatory death and the mystery of the threshold
13.3 Sleep and subtle bodies
13.4 Angels and the chiselling of the organs of clairvoyance
13.5 Night practice and the etheric body
13.6 Night practice and awareness in the eye (1)
13.7 Third eye flaring - a possible experience
13.8 Night practice and awareness in the eye (2)
13.9 Allow enough normal sleep
Chapter 14 - Night Practice 2: Instructions for the
Technique
14.1 If you are reading the instructions for friends
14.2 If you do not have much time
Chapter 15 - Night Practice 3: The Whys and Hows of
the Technique
15.1 Preparation
15.2 Phase 1: exhaling
15.3 Phase 2a: circulating in the body parts
15.4 Phase 2b: awareness and seeingness of the organs
15.5 Phase 3: awareness of the breath and countdowns
Table of Contents
15.6 Phase 3c: vibration in the nose while inhaling
15.7 Phase 4
15.8 Phase 5: recalling the images of the day
15.9 Phase 6: spontaneous images
15.10 Experiences during night practice
15.11 Taking the night at both ends
15.12 Morning sharing
15.13 A symbol used as a bridge
15.14 Keep recalling your dreams across the buffer zone
15.15 Use the memory of the third eye
15.16 If you can never remember anything
15.17 Variation for acupuncturists
Chapter 16 - Complementary Techniques
16.1 Neti
16.2 The use of rhythms
16.3 Fasting for openings
16.4 Proper management of sexual energies
16.5 Vaccinations
16.6 Telephone
16.7 Moxas on bai hui (Governor 20)
16.8 Pony tail
16.9 Blind walking
Chapter 17 - Protection
Protection level 1: Reinforcing the structure
17.1 Simple things first
17.2 Get enough sleep and rest
17.3 The right diet
17.4 The right physical exercise
17.5 Be happy!
17.6 Alcohol and spiritual work - a dangerous mixture
Protection level 2: Correct management of energies
17.7 Choose your colours
17.8 Find your spot
17.9 How to purify a room
17.10 Work in harmony with the Moon cycle
17.11 Frequent use of running water
17.12 Releasing energies into the elements
Table of Contents
Chapter 18 - Protection: Sealing the Aura (1)
18.1 The fight or flight reaction
18.2 Sealing the aura: why and when
18.3 Opening and closing the aura, introductory practice
18.4 Protection through being in the eye
18.5 The will centre
18.6 Practice
18.7 Eye-belly awareness
18.8 Walking from the belly
18.9 Stimulating the fire
Chapter 19 - Baby Work
19.1 The aura of a pregnant woman
19.2 The aura of a newborn baby
19.3 Babies are very aware in their eye
19.4 Watching baby fall asleep
19.5 Your baby as a meditation teacher
19.6 A few words to the travellers
19.7 How long does it last?
19.8 The fabulous babies
Chapter 20 - Protection: Sealing the Aura (2)
20.1 Where are you speaking from?
20.2 Speaking from different levels
20.3 What if you have to display authority?
20.4 The eye-belly power
20.5 Inhaling/exhaling
20.6 Closing the aura through deep exhalation
20.7 Drawing energy in and out
20.8 Exhaling when facing a crowd
20.9 The same protection using normal breathing
20.10 Sealing the aura
20.11 Practice
20.12 What if nothing works?
20.13 Permanent awareness in the will centre
20.14 Continual abdominal breathing
20.15 Stambhāsana
20.16 Practice
Chapter 21 - There Is No Real Protection But the Power
of Truth
Table of Contents
21.1 Power of Truth
Chapter 22 - Glimpses of What Comes Next
22.1 ISIS, the Clairvision techniques of regression
22.2 The vision of thought forms
22.3 The transformation of thinking
22.4 The quest for the Grail
Appendix 1: Paths of the Meridians
Gallbladder, Urinary Bladder, and Stomach Meridians
Table of Contents
9
Introduction
A systematic method
The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine
eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
6:22
This book describes a systematic process to open the third eye.
It has been written for those who cannot be satisfied with only an
intellectual understanding of spiritual realities and who wish to
gain access to direct experience.
The development of spiritual vision requires the patient building
of some new 'organs' of energy, of which the third eye is an
essential member. These new structures are not physical,
nevertheless they are very real and tangible. Once fully developed,
the perceptions coming through them appear clearer, sharper and
far more substantial than those coming from the physical senses.
A number of techniques will be described which aim at a
methodical cultivation of this new form of perception.
Our approach always emphasizes the superiority of experience over
mental concepts, of first-hand knowledge over belief. Truly, it is
not what you presume or accept as true that will bring about a
spiritual regeneration but what you experience directly. Therefore,
the reader is not asked to believe what is written here but to
practise the exercises.
No former spiritual training or background is expected before
starting the practices. I suggest that you temporarily forget all
you know so that you can engage in the techniques with fresh
awareness. Having shared this knowledge with hundreds of
students in the courses run by the Clairvision School in Sydney, I
know that it is not always those who have meditated for years
who enter the field of perception most easily. To some, spiritual
knowledge gives wings and provides keys to open all the doors; but
to others it is more like chains preventing them from absorbing
anything new. The more you are able to drop any preconceived
ideas, the easier it will be to 'see'.
It should be clearly understood that our aim is not to develop the
blurry atavistic clairvoyance of trance-medium psychics but to
10
step towards the vision of the Self. Even though several extrasensory
perceptions will arise as you practise the techniques, the
purpose is clearly to find the Self and to learn to see the world
from the Self instead of seeing it from your usual mental
consciousness.
This book should be taken as an introduction, a first thread,
towards a completely different mode of perception and thinking.
It has been written to serve the vast number of human beings who
are presently ready to connect with spiritual realities and to step
into a new form of consciousness. The techniques it offers are
designed for people who are part of the world. They do not invite
you to withdraw from your daily activities but to start
performing them with a different awareness and a new vision,
thereby implementing the line of Proverbs 3:6: "In all your ways
know Him", said by the Talmud to contain the entire essence of
the Torah.
After saying these words it may be important to state that the
Clairvision School is not a 'New Age' organisation. Its methods and
techniques are based on quite different principles from those
usually found in the New Age movement. In particular at no time
do the Clairvision techniques use any channelling, creative
i m a g i n a t i o n o r p o s i t i v e a f f i r m a t i o n s . N o h y p n o s i s o r
autosuggestion is used either. The techniques of the Clairvision
School are based on a direct awakening of the body of energy, and
the philosophy and background of the school are to be found in
the western tradition of esoteric knowledge. If you happen to
experience intense openings and realisations while putting our
techniques into practice, it is quite possible that you too have a
connection with this tradition. In particular it is expected that
many will have clear awakenings in the third eye while reading
the book.
Awakening the Third Eye is one of the introductory books to the
Clairvision Corpus, the body of knowledge which is the
background of the Clairvision School. The Clairvision Corpus
contains both experiential and theoretical knowledge in the field
of consciousness and the mysteries of human nature, with a special
focus on transformation and inner alchemy. Alchemy can be
defined as the art of raising the level of vibration of matter.
Inner alchemy therefore refers to a form of spiritual development
in which the ultimate purpose is not to abandon any connection
Introduction
11
with the manifested creation and dissolve oneself, but to build up
a vehicle in which the fullness of the Self can be experienced
permanently, even while living in the physical world. This body of
immortality corresponds to what the Christian tradition has called
the glorious body and to the paramam vapuḥ of the Upanishads. It
is similar in many ways, if not identical, to the lapis
philosophorum or philosophers' stone of the alchemists, and to the
Grail, heart of the western esoteric tradition.
Awakening the Third Eye lays the foundations for an experiential
approach to a work of inner alchemy. Many of the techniques
given in the beginning are not to be regarded as 'alchemical' in a
strict sense, but as a necessary preparation without which the
more advanced phases of the work would not make any sense.
Rather than first developing theoretical aspects at length,
indications will gradually be given throughout this book and the
following ones to clarify the purposes and principles of a work of
inner alchemy. The nature of our topic will also provide ample
opportunities to develop various aspects related to subtle bodies.
Clairvision School
www.clairvision.org
Introduction
12
Chapter 1 - Principles and Method of the Work
1.1 Do not force, do not concentrate, just be aware
Any authentic spiritual work has finding the Self as a primary
aim, and the Clairvision techniques are no exception. The essential
purpose of the process is to 'be more'. It is common to hear that
human beings are only using a small fraction of their potential.
Their lives are confined within a limited range of thoughts,
emotions, sensations and other modalities of conscious existence,
and yet in most cases they remain completely unaware of these
limitations. Plato's myth of the cave, even though formulated 24
centuries ago, remains perfectly relevant: if you have always lived
inside a dark cellar, to you this cellar is not a cellar, it is the
whole universe. You can't even conceive of the wonder waiting for
you if you were to step out and walk in the real world. The work
suggested in this book is all about stepping out of the cellar and
starting to behold the magnificence of the world as seen from the
third eye.
In India, the coconut is considered to be of deep symbolic
significance and is used in fire rituals (yajñās) because it has 'three
eyes'. Two of these are 'blind', meaning they can't be pierced to
reach the milk, while the third one, in the middle, opens to the
inside of the fruit. Similarly, the third eye is fundamentally the
gate that leads to the inner worlds. Therefore this eye allows you
to know yourself to a depth that surpasses all conventional
methods of psychotherapy or any method based on analysing with
the discursive mind.
Developing the third eye is a direct way of expanding your
conscious universe and discovering your essential values, so that
you may fathom your own mystery. Moreover, it is simple. Simple
does not necessarily mean easy, but this work does not require
complicated theories or lengthy discussions. Its direction is
essentially experiential, for the purpose is clearly to be more. And
being is the most simple thing in the world. A constant
preoccupation while writing this manual was to relate theory to
experience and to give techniques and keys to enable you to
perceive for yourself.
13
The first three chapters are devoted to getting into the main
aspects of the practice. The remaining chapters are more or less
independent of each other, so that it is quite possible to read them
in the order that feels most natural to you.
Before starting the first technique let us give some basic advice
regarding the principles and method of the work.
You should not be confused by the fact that our purpose is a new
clairvoyance, or vision of the Self. Truly, the Self is already there,
waiting for you in the background of yourself. You are not going
to 'build' the Self and its vision, you are going to reveal them or
rather allow them to reveal themselves. Spiritual development is
certainly a fight, but the main weapon in this fight is letting go.
In this perspective of opening it is not appropriate to concentrate,
to try hard or to force. If you were to do so, what would happen?
You would operate from your ordinary mind, meaning that
fraction of yourself with which you presently think - the
discursive mind that goes on talking in your head all the time. You
have been conditioned from an early age to do everything from
the mind. Therefore if you try to 'do' the perception business, you
are likely to remain caught in your talking mind - a layer which
is notoriously unfit for any form of spiritual perception.
Stop doing. Be fully aware, but just aware. Allow what is hidden in
the depths to come through and be revealed to your consciousness.
Don't do anything, let things happen. Flow with what comes.
In the physical world when you want something you have to strive
for it. But in the spiritual worlds everything is reversed, as on the
other side of a mirror. If you want something you have to let it
come to you. It is a new skill which has to be developed. It could be
called 'active letting go' or 'creative letting go'. It is the capacity to
be transparent and to let states of consciousness be revealed
through you.
Just be aware, and everything will happen.
1.2 No creative visualisation, no imagination, just
awareness
In the context of the Clairvision techniques it is advised that you
never try to visualise or imagine anything. If images, lights,
spiritual beings or anything else comes to your vision, that is fine.
But don't make them up, don't try to induce them. Do not actively
visualise any pattern into your field of consciousness.
Chapter 1 - Principles and Method of the Work
14
One of the reasons is: suppose an angel comes to you, truly. If you
have been trying to visualise angels every morning for a few
months how will you know whether it is a true angel or one that
you have made up.
The problem is not to get into the perception of images or lights.
If you put the techniques into practice, visions will come. The real
problem is, once these visions come to you, how to discern what is
real from what is a fancy of the mind. So the advice is: be
spontaneous! Never plan or try to attract a vision. Just practise
the techniques and then see what comes. This will make it much
easier to reach the stage where you can rely on your vision.
This approach should not be understood as a criticism of the paths
that use creative visualisation or imagination. There are many
ways. What is true in the context of one particular system of
development does not necessarily apply to others. In the Clairvision
style of work the motto is "just awareness".
1.3 Trust your experience
Something good to remember is that when there is nothing to
believe, there is nothing to doubt either! Since you are not trying
to make anything up, don't waste your time worrying about
whether you are really seeing what you are seeing. Trust your
experience.
Keep on practising according to our sober principles and your
clairvoyance will flourish, growing in precision and reliability. As
perceptions start repeating themselves it will become easier and
easier to trust them.
1.4 Don't analyse during an experience
Do not try to analyse as soon as something happens. Otherwise you
will lose your perception immediately, because you will be caught
straight back into the discursive mind. One of the keys to
perception lies in the cultivation of a superior form of stillness,
the capacity not to react when something takes place inside.
Once the experience is over you will have plenty of time to analyse
it. Anyway, it is not necessarily by analysing or discussing an
experience that you will derive the most benefit from it.
Experiences of consciousness are like seeds. It is when you ponder
on them silently, and digest them, that they will mature into
greater realisations.
Chapter 1 - Principles and Method of the Work
15
1.5 Psychic protection
Ordinarily, most people are psychically unprotected, for two main
reasons. Firstly they are not able to see when a negative energy is
around them and when caution is required. Secondly they have not
been trained to seal their aura to make it impermeable to external
influences if needed.
Being the organ of subtle perception and intuition and the main
switch of the body of energy, the third eye offers true answers
to these two problems.
Firstly it allows you to detect when your energetic environment is
such that prudence is needed.
Secondly it should be clear that our method does not only teach
you how to open your eye but also how to close your aura. From
the very first techniques the vibration in the third eye will begin
to awaken a higher density of protective energy in your aura. This
is not based on positive imagination or autosuggestion but on the
tangible perception of a vibrating energy all around you. Not only
during meditation will you be able to awaken this protective
energy but also in the most varied situations of your daily life,
such as taking a bus, walking in a busy street or dealing with your
boss or employees.
More systematic methods of sealing the aura will be developed at
length in Chapters 17, 18, 20 and 21 on protection. The capacity to
detect ley lines (Chapter 12) will also be of great help in
establishing a sound protective environment.
1.6 Practise, practise, practise...
I don't think much will be gained just by reading the 22 chapters
of this book. Whether you are young or old, healthy or sick, the
key to success in your spiritual quest lies in three words: practise,
practise, practise... It is certainly not necessary to withdraw from
activity and meditate all the time in order to reach a high level of
spiritual practice. You can follow this book without devoting more
than ten to twenty minutes daily to meditation exercises. But a
number of practices will be suggested that are designed to be
implemented during your daily activities. Try to make them
habits, and to incorporate this work as much as possible in your
natural way of life.
After exploring many different ways of self-transformation one
often comes to the conclusion that it is not so much the method
or the style of work that matters, as far as realisation is
Chapter 1 - Principles and Method of the Work
16
concerned. What makes all the difference is your capacity to
persist along a path. Looking at the lives of a number of great
masters, one discovers that they did not necessarily start at a high
level. Sometimes they had to face far greater obstacles than those
you may find on your way. But they persisted, persisted,
persisted... to the point where no obstacle could resist and huge
enlightenments opened to them. 'Supernatural persistence' is one
of the most essential qualities a seeker can develop. The people who
seem to get into high states of consciousness without having to go
through any spiritual discipline are usually people who have gone
through long and intense processes in their former lives.
Whatever level you may be at, it is by constant attention to all the
aspects of the practice that success will come to you.
"Those who say they will die first and then rise are in error. If
they do not first receive the resurrection while they live, when
they die they will receive nothing." (The Gospel of Philip,
Tranlated by Wesley W. Isenberg, in The Other Bible, Harper and
Row, 1984, p.96)
1.7 Why delay?
Start the practices as you read the book.
In terms of self-transformation, tomorrow means never.
Whatever can be done, do it right now.
Wasted time is known by God.
1.8 Play with the techniques
If so many sages have striven towards spiritual enlightenment, it
is because it is the greatest fun one can have on Earth. If your
views on spirituality are grim and austere, then you are
completely missing the point. The most enlightened masters I have
met were men and women who laughed a lot. So please, be really
serious with the Clairvision techniques: play with them. If you can
get as involved and serious as a child who is playing (and if you
persist) then your chances of success are great.
1.9 Remain relative
One of the fascinating discoveries that results from understanding
the writings of highly enlightened people is that they have seen
the world in completely different ways.
In the Indian tradition for instance, take the Jnanis and Sri
Aurobindo. In the works of Sri Aurobindo, the world is presented
Chapter 1 - Principles and Method of the Work
17
as the progressive incarnation of a divine perfection. Death is a
mockery, and the Work aims at physical immortality through an
enlightenment of physical matter. To the Jnanis, on the other
hand, incarnated life is a fatal mistake. Actually to the Jnanis the
whole universe is a mistake, a sort of transient, foul and
nauseating emanation. And the only purpose of life is to take a
one-way ticket out of it as quickly as possible.
Sri Aurobindo was universally acclaimed in India as one of the most
enlightened yogis of all time. But do not think that the Jnanis are
shallow. A jnana-yogi such as Nisargadatta Maharaj, to take a recent
example, has deeply impressed his generation, East and West, by
the immensity of his states of consciousness.
There is no easy way around this fact: depending on where you are
looking from, you see the universe and its finality completely
differently. Please ponder upon this, for it seems to me one of the
best antidotes for dogma. Whatever your views are, don't make
them a prison. Always leave space to change your mind and your
system of the world.
To the people who wish to engage in the Clairvision style of work,
I particularly recommend two main bodies of writings: those of
the Gnostics, and those of Rudolf Steiner. The reasons for this
choice are that they both arose from vast enlightenments, they
are full of wisdom and practical information regarding the path of
inner alchemy and the western esoteric tradition, and last but not
least... they are totally irreconcilable on a number of key points! If
you want to operate with the two systems, you have no choice but
to remain relative as to the value of mental conceptions.
Once more, it is not what you believe or what you have read that
will change your spiritual life, it is what you can experience
directly. Hence the work suggested in this book, which aims at
giving you the capacity to tune in and reach your own perception
of spiritual worlds.
Chapter 1 - Principles and Method of the Work
18
Chapter 2 - The Mysteries of the Larynx
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:1
And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of
his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword.
Revelation 1:16
2.1 Throat friction
This practice consists of breathing with a friction at the lower
part of the back of the throat, while keeping the mouth slightly
open. The friction is generated during both inhalation and
exhalation. It creates a 'wind' type of sound. There is neither
humming nor buzzing, nor any form of chanted sound. The sound
is roughly the same while inhaling and exhaling. If you can, try to
make it a low-pitched sound; it will be easier to sustain over long
periods of time. But before giving more indications and tips on
the throat friction, let me make a few points extremely clear.
Don't try to start a quest for the perfect throat friction. Just do
a 'kind of' friction sound and let it adjust itself with time.
If you try to do it too perfectly you will probably end up doing it
all wrong. (The same applies more or less to all the techniques of
this book.) By being too finicky your mind is likely to get in the
way. So just breathe with some vague friction in the throat and
everything will be fine! Just read the indications given below, and
then you can come back to this section in a few weeks to find out
more precisely where your friction is taking place and adjust the
details.
Throat friction, tips and traps
• If you wish to have an immediate demonstration, you can visit
the Clairvision School's Internet site (section: Clairvision Knowledge
Bank), where you will find sound files of throat friction. But
again, keep in mind that any vague friction sound will be enough
to carry you through the exercises of Awakening the Third Eye.
• It does not matter whether you are breathing through the nose
or the mouth, or both at the same time, but the mouth should
remain slightly open. In this position the lower jaw is loose and
19
relaxed, which generates a certain condition of energy and can be
enough in itself to induce a slightly altered state of consciousness.
The friction comes from area L (for larynx)
• The throat friction is more comfortable and more efficient
when it comes from the back of the throat, not from the mouth
and palate [area M on the figure - M for middle of the mouth]
nor from the area close to the teeth [area F - F for front of the
mouth].
If you were to produce your friction from the middle [M] or the
front [F] of the mouth, the sound would be higher-pitched and
somewhat shriller or even whistly. Experiment and compare each
one.
• The correct friction comes from the larynx and the lower
pharynx, meaning the lower part of the back of the throat [area L
on the figure]. Then the (correct) sound is lower pitched, deeper
and more internalised than if it came from the front of the
mouth.
• Another possible mistake would be to generate your friction
from the upper pharynx (nasopharynx), meaning at the back but
at the top of the throat, behind the inner nasal cavity [area N on
the figure]. In that case, which is incorrect, the friction would
resonate more in the nasal sinuses than in the throat.
Chapter 2 - The Mysteries of the Larynx
20
• Often when performing the throat friction you can feel a tiny
but distinct vibration in the larynx by gently touching your
Adam's apple with your fingers. (The Adam's apple is the external
protuberance of the larynx, in the upper part of the middle of
the throat. It is more marked in men than in women.) In the
beginning this vibration under the finger is often felt more
clearly during inhalation than exhalation, even though the same
sound is produced during both.
• How deep should the breath be? Its depth and rhythm should be
as normal. Slightly deeper breathing may be implemented in the
beginning, in order to generate a clearer friction. But you do not
need to hyperventilate: this technique does not aim at creating the
type of breathing used in rebirthing. Our purpose is to activate
the energy of the larynx through friction. The emphasis is not on
breathing but on awakening the larynx of energy.
• The purpose of the throat friction is to reinforce your
connection with the 'energy', a term that may sound vague in the
beginning but will become more and more meaningful as you keep
working on your third eye. As you become more accustomed to
this friction practice, you will only have to tune into the flow of
energy around you and the right intensity of the breath will
follow automatically. Depth and rhythm will vary, for it is the
nature of energy to vary, and it is our purpose to learn to flow
with the energy.
• The energetic action of this friction breathing will be greatly
enhanced if your neck is straight and vertical, in line with the
rest of the spine. The more perfectly upright your neck is, the
more power is released in the larynx. This can be experienced as a
sudden intensification of the vibration that sometimes takes place
when slightly moving the neck, thereby coming closer to the
perfect uprightness.
• The mouth is only slightly open, but still it is important to
make sure that it remains open, and more precisely that the lower
jaw is relaxed so that the upper and lower teeth do not meet.
When you have become familiar with the vibration between the
eyebrows (introduced in the next chapter), come back to this
point: try to practise the throat friction with your mouth tightly
closed, and then with the mouth slightly open, alternating the two
positions to feel the difference in your energy. You will notice
that as soon as the lower jaw is relaxed and slightly dropped, a
Chapter 2 - The Mysteries of the Larynx
21
completely different condition of your energy is generated in
which the connection with the vibration is enhanced and a general
opening is favoured.
Note also that this slightly open position of the mouth is not
taken to force you to breathe through the mouth instead of the
nose. Breathe through the nose, the mouth or both at the same
time, as feels most natural to you.
• Beginners sometimes feel that this technique makes their throat
dry or slightly irritated. If so, produce the friction lower down in
the throat. Beginners often make the friction higher up in the
throat, closer to the palate, which is irritating to the throat. In
any case, by practising for a few minutes several times a day this
inconvenience will soon be overcome. (High quality honey can also
be used as a soother and awakener.) With practice this friction can
be maintained effortlessly for hours.
After a few days of practice the throat friction adjusts itself
naturally and all irritating sensations disappear.
• It should be emphasized that the focus of this technique is on
the larynx, not on the breath. In no way can it be regarded as a
practice of hyperventilation, since the intensity of the breath is
just your normal one. It is not even a breathing exercise as such,
since it is only the mechanical action of the air on the larynx that
is used, without especially trying to connect with the process of
respiration. The friction is used to create a stimulation of the
vibration in the larynx, but at a later stage of the practice it
becomes possible to awaken the same vibration in the larynx
without making use of the breath.
• Why is the protuberance of the larynx called Adam's apple, and
why is it more marked in men than in women? It is said that
when Adam tried to swallow the piece of apple of the tree of
knowledge, it remained stuck in his throat!
2.2 Purposes and effects of the throat friction
The throat friction is a sound of energy. It quietens the mind and
when mastered, instantaneously induces a 'tuned-in' state of
consciousness.
One of its main actions is to amplify any psychic phenomena. The
way we will use the throat friction in the following chapter will
be to connect it with the area between the eyebrows to strengthen
your awareness of the third eye. In later practices the throat
friction will be connected with different structures of the body
Chapter 2 - The Mysteries of the Larynx
22
of energy to help reinforce them.
What does 'connecting' mean? It is a feeling that is easier to
experience than to describe. Suppose you are trying to connect the
throat friction with the area between the eyebrows, for instance.
In the beginning there is a simultaneous awareness of them. Then a
resonance automatically takes place between the two. The area
between the eyebrows seems to vibrate together with the throat
friction. Then a 'mixing' takes place. The throat friction combines
with the feeling between the eyebrows. There is a communication
of energy between the larynx and the third eye. That is what is
meant by 'connecting'.
There follows a simple but essential experience: the perception of
the third eye quickly becomes more distinct and tangible. This
result is clear and instantaneous. The effect of the throat friction
is to 'give shape', make things more substantial. Therefore,
whenever you connect the throat friction with a chakra or any
other organ of energy the organ becomes more perceptible. The
larynx makes things manifest, it reveals them.
A similar effect will be observed when working on auras. You first
have to build up the inner space and engage the process of seeing.
Then some exercises will show how your perception of nonphysical
halos and auras is instantaneously boosted when combining
throat friction and vision (see Chapters 5 and 7). The lights and
colours will appear significantly 'denser' and more tangible.
The throat friction can also be used to establish a linkage between
different structures of energy. Not only can you connect the
friction to the third eye or any other organ of energy, but you
can also enhance the connection between different organs of
energy, and link them through the friction. For instance in the
chapters on channel release you will work at establishing a linkage
between the energy of the hands and that of the third eye. And in
the chapters on protection you will learn to connect the third eye
with belly energies.
As you advance along this path you will discover several other
miraculous functions associated with the larynx. For instance, the
larynx of energy is a wonderful purifier: it can digest all kinds of
toxic energies. It also plays a major role in the metabolism of the
nectar of immortality. I recommend that you do not treat the
throat friction as routine, but regard it as a sacred quest for the
mysteries of the larynx.
Chapter 2 - The Mysteries of the Larynx
23
2.3 The mysteries of the larynx
One finds in the Sanskrit literature some surprising stories about
the voice. The rishis, or seer-sages of ancient India, were said to
have many extraordinary abilities called siddhis. One of them was
the vac-siddhi (vac = voice), by which whatever the rishi said
would come true. Sometimes just by uttering a word, a rishi could
materialise a whole army and change the course of history. It
followed that the spoken word was regarded as sacred and
unalterable, which was not without its problems at times. For
instance in the Mahābhārata, the longest poem in the recorded
history of humankind, the five Pāṇḍava brothers attend a
tournament where one of them gains the most beautiful princess
as a wife. Returning home, the brothers announce to their
mother, the virtuous Kunti, "We have brought back a treasure."
Then rather unfortunately the mother exclaims, "Good, let it be
shared between the five of you," after which the princess has to
become the wife of the five men, taking turns with each, and
supposedly without being partial to any of them.
The creative power of the voice is clearly expressed in Sanskrit,
where vac, voice, is often regarded as a synonym for śakti, which
is the creative energy, the power of manifestation. In various
trends of ancient Greek philosophy one finds a similar concept in
the logos. The primary meaning of logos is 'word', but it also
means creative principle. Later, in the gospel of John (originally
written in Greek), it is also the term logos which is used to
characterise the creative principle by which the creation was
manifested: "In the beginning was the logos (Word), and the logos
was with God, and the logos was God." (John 2:1) Note that the
first book of the Old Testament also presents a picture in which,
at various stages of the genesis of the world, God uses the power
of the Word to create: "And God said, Let there be light: and there
was light." (Genesis 1:3) "And God said, Let there be a firmament
in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the
waters." (Genesis 1:6) "And God said, Let the earth bring forth the
living creature..." (Genesis 1:24), and so on.
In my epic novel, Atlantean Secrets, you will find startling
descriptions of the mysterious power of the voice cultivated by
Atlantean initiates, through which they could influence nature,
perform healings, and accomplish a whole range of miraculous
feats. Rudolf Steiner in his teachings has also left many indications
Chapter 2 - The Mysteries of the Larynx
24
related to the power of the voice. An aspect he has particularly
developed is the polarity between voice and generative organs, for
which he describes many consequences as far as the evolution of
humankind is concerned.
Apart from Steiner's indications, certain simple facts show that
there is a connection between the voice (and therefore the larynx)
and sexual energy. For instance, it is when the sexual organs
develop, at puberty, that the male voice changes pitch, due to the
action of the male hormone testosterone. In women, alterations of
the voice can also be observed following menopause.
In astrology, the voice organ is related to the sign of Taurus and
the sexual organs to Scorpio. The polarity between the sexual
organs and the larynx is indicated by the opposition between the
two signs.
Taurus is ruled by Venus, Scorpio by Mars. Venus and Mars form a
couple, with dialectically opposed functions.
Taurus-Scorpio axis on the zodiac
Another connection between voice and organs of generation can be
found in ancient Hebrew, where one of the words for voice is
yediah, coming from the root yadah, meaning to know. And it is
certainly no coincidence that the biblical way of referring to
sexual intercourse is yadah, to know. For instance: "And Adam
knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bore Cain..." (Genesis 4:1)
In acupuncture the point qi chong (Stomach 30), located on the side
of the pubic bone, has among its symptoms: sore throat after
sexual intercourse. One can find several other connections in
traditional Chinese medicine between sexual energy and throat. For
instance, among the organs it is the kidney that is said to be the
storehouse of sexual energy. And in the throat one finds the
Chapter 2 - The Mysteries of the Larynx
25
tonsils, which also have the shape of a kidney. When there is a
release of 'fire' by the kidney, it may result in an inflammation
of the pharynx (pharyngitis) or of the tonsils (tonsillitis).
But let us return to Steiner and look at his views on the future of
the voice organ. Steiner considered that in the trend of human
evolution, the importance of certain body parts is slowly waning
while some other organs will play a more and more essential role
in the future. The sexual organs belong to the first category,
while the larynx definitely belongs to the second.
Steiner has often mentioned that around the middle of Lemuria
(the epoch that preceded Atlantis), a critical event took place in the
occult history of humankind. Until then the libido of human
beings was still directed entirely towards procreation, so that each
human being was able to generate offspring of its own. In other
words we were all hermaphrodites. One single being could give
birth to another being without having to be fecundated by anyone.
Note that the concept of primordial human beings as
hermaphrodites is found not only in Steiner but also in several
myths of various traditions.
Then Steiner describes how, in the middle of cataclysmic
alterations of planet Earth, human beings lost half their
procreative energy. They stopped being hermaphrodites: the sexes
were separated. Each human being retained only half of the
procreative energy and from then on had to find someone of the
other sex in order to have a child. What happened to the other
half of the procreative energy, the one that was no longer
available for procreation? According to Steiner, it was redirected
towards a different function: catching the Ego, or Higher Self.
Until then human beings had been living like blobs, completely
disconnected from their Ego. And it was by the redirection of half
of their sexual force that they established the beginning of a
connection with the Ego. They became spiritual beings.
Such a vision suggests quite an interesting way of looking at the
relation between sexual energy and spirituality, and at sexuality in
general. For example it presents the sexual instinct as a quest for
the 'lost half'. And at the same time it suggests that the lost half
is not ultimately to be found outside, in a union with another
being, but in a full communion with one's own Spirit. It also
suggests that the sexual energy and the energy that allows us to
connect with the Spirit are of fundamentally the same nature, and
Chapter 2 - The Mysteries of the Larynx
26
that the latter is nothing other than a refined and redirected
form of the former. This conception fits quite well with the
Taoist systems of inner alchemy, in which one works at refining
and transmuting the sexual energy in order to generate the
embryo of immortality, the subtle body in which the fullness of
the Higher Self can be experienced permanently.
But let us return to the voice. Steiner describes how, after human
beings had half of their sexual energy redirected (around the
middle of the Lemurian epoch), some new organs appeared in the
human body. The larynx was one of them. This establishes a direct
connection between the transformed and spiritualised sexual
energy and the larynx: as long as the hermaphrodite's sexual
energy was 100% directed towards procreation, the larynx could
not appear. Once part of the sexual energy was refined in order to
start 'catching' the Spirit, the larynx started to develop.
Now, if we try to understand the present function of our larynx,
we see that through the voice we express our thoughts and our
emotions, which is a way of giving them a more defined form. As
soon as you start practising the exercises given in the first
chapters of this book, you will realize that the throat friction
makes the third eye more tangible, as if shaping it. You will tune
into your third eye, and as soon as you start implementing the
throat friction, the third eye will immediately be perceived more
clearly and more intensely.
Steiner predicts that in the future of humankind, the larynx's
capacity to give form will become extreme, and the creative power
of the word will manifest even in the physical plane: just by
saying a word, the corresponding object will be materialised. Even
though staggering if one measures its implications, this concept is
after all no different from the vac-siddhi or creative power of the
word which, according to the Sanskrit texts, the ancient Indian
rishis had mastered. This suggests that human beings are gradually
gaining the capacity to create, similar to that of the Elohim in the
Old Testament. In other words it presents human beings as creative
gods in the making - a theme that runs through the whole of the
western esoteric tradition, starting in Genesis when, Adam having
eaten of the tree of knowledge, the Elohim exclaim: "Behold, the
man is become as one of us." (Genesis 3:22) All these considerations
on the larynx lead one to think that there may be some symbolic
meaning behind the fable that Adam's apple was the piece of the
Chapter 2 - The Mysteries of the Larynx
27
fruit of the tree of knowledge that remained stuck in his throat.
Interestingly, Steiner foresaw a crucial step in the long-term
evolution of the larynx: the sexual force having been completely
transmuted, the procreative function will no longer be
implemented from the sexual organs but from the larynx. Human
beings will then have gained the capacity to speak their children
out.
Another of Steiner's visions which is quite consistent with several
other sources of the western esoteric tradition, is that with the
final transmutation of the sexual energy into the creative power
of the voice will come the end of death: physical immortality. The
end of the sexual organs means the end of the separation of human
beings into two sexes. In the gospel of Philip, one of the most
exciting of the Gnostic gospels, it is unequivocally stated that if
'the woman' had not been separated from 'the man', she would not
have to die with 'the man', and it is the separation of the sexes
that caused the beginning of death. The same text further
indicates that as long as Eve was in Adam, there was no death. It is
when she was separated from Adam that death began. If 'the man'
becomes whole again, it will be the end of death.
This can be put in parallel with the gospel of Thomas, in which
Jesus tells his disciples that it is by making the two one that they
will become the sons of man, and move mountains by saying,
"Mountain, move!"
Then the 'lost Word', on which the Masonic tradition is based, will
have been recovered, and the Temple rebuilt forever.
The alchemists often defined their art as a way of speeding up the
natural processes of evolution of nature. For instance they
considered that all the metals were on their way to becoming gold,
and that by transmuting base metals into gold one does nothing
other than achieve within a short time what nature would
otherwise take a long time to accomplish. I will have several
occasions in this book and others of the Clairvision Corpus to come
back to the inner significance of the gold of the alchemists.
According to them, their gold was 'no common gold'. At this stage
we could use this concept of 'speeding up' to define inner alchemy:
inner alchemy aims at achieving now, transformations that
humankind will only complete much later in its natural course of
evolution.
Chapter 2 - The Mysteries of the Larynx
28
The throat friction is designed to achieve an alchemical
transformation of the larynx and start tapping from its creative
power. In particular, in the Clairvision style of inner alchemy the
larynx is used extensively to give shape and to 'densify' various
structures of the body of energy, as you will start experiencing
with the practices of Chapter 3.
2.4 Humming sound and the magic of bees
Sit in a meditation position, with your back extremely straight.
Become aware of the cervical part of the spine, in the neck, and
aim for a perfectly vertical position aligned with the rest of the
back.
Keep your eyes closed.
Become aware in the larynx.
Start chanting a continuous humming, buzzing sound, making
your throat vibrate. Make the sound while both exhaling and
inhaling. Make short inhalations and long exhalations.
Remain aware of the physical vibration generated in your larynx
by the buzzing.
Continue the practice for a few minutes. Then remain silent and
motionless for a few more minutes, just feeling the vibration in
the throat.
Tips
• This technique can be quite intoxicating. If practised long
enough, it induces a slightly exhilarating altered state of
consciousness. The effect is strongly reinforced by being aware in
the third eye at the same time, according to the principles
developed in the next chapter.
• One way of practising this exercise is to make your humming
sound resemble the buzzing of a bee. Then the practice becomes the
bhrāmarin technique of Hatha-yoga. If this proves difficult, don't
worry. Any humming sound will do, provided you create a
tangible vibration which you can feel when placing your fingers
on the protuberance of the larynx.
Bees, who are great experts in humming/buzzing sounds, are
highly alchemical little creatures. Their connection with the sexual
energy of plants is easy to observe. For instance, they help many
plants to reproduce, by carrying pollen (the plant equivalent of
semen) from one to another. They take the nectar from the
reproductive parts of plants and turn it into honey.
Chapter 2 - The Mysteries of the Larynx
29
Honey is a remarkable substance in many ways. It keeps for years
without any preservation process - a very long time, especially if
you compare it to the lifespan of a worker-bee, which is about one
or two months. So the bees take a sexually-related product and
turn it into a non-perishable substance. This of course reminds us
of the alchemical processes by which the sexual force is
transmuted and which result in the formation of the body of
immortality. On a simpler level, royal jelly, another product of
the hive, is highly sought after and regarded as a substance of
longevity.
Honey, interestingly enough, has always been considered an
excellent remedy for the throat, and bees a symbol of eloquence.
In Hebrew one of the words for voice is dibur, coming from the
root daber that gives the verb ledaber, to speak. And bee is dvora,
coming from the same root. (The name Deborah comes from the
Hebrew dvora, bee.)
Chapter 2 - The Mysteries of the Larynx
30
Chapter 3 - Awakening the Third Eye
3.1 What is the third eye?
The third eye is the gate that opens to the space of consciousness
and to the inner worlds. It is also the main organ through which
the body of energy can be awakened and governed. So, practically,
the third eye acts as a 'switch', which can activate higher
frequencies of the body of energy and thereby lead to higher
states of consciousness.
From a therapeutic point of view, it has been my experience over
the years that many clients get better when they connect with
their third eye, whatever the nature of their problem. Due to its
function as a switch, as soon as it is activated the third eye tends
to set into motion several circulations of energy. This
automatically results in correcting a number of physical and
emotional disorders, a process that could be described as a kind of
self-acupuncture. Moreover, even the beginning of third eye
awakening tends to put people in touch with more profound
aspects of themselves, which in itself has a major healing action.
Of course, I am not suggesting that it is enough to connect with
the third eye to heal everything, but still the potential of this
centre is so enormous that I would not be surprised if in the
coming decades, more and more 'third eye therapies' were
developed.
From a spiritual point of view, in both the Christian and Hindu
traditions one finds texts that compare the body to a temple. If
we were to develop the analogy, we could compare the third eye to
the temple's portal. By crossing the portal one goes from the
profane to the sacred, from the stage where one reads and thinks
about spiritual life to the stage where one starts experiencing it.
The third eye has always been regarded by those who seek to know
themselves as a most precious jewel, hence the precious stone
placed on the forehead of statues of buddhas.
In this chapter we will describe how to begin to establish a
connection with the third eye (practice 3.2). Then we will cover a
technique of meditation (3.7) through which the third eye can be
further explored and developed.
31
3.2 First opening
Preliminary advice for the opening practice
This opening practice is designed to give you a first 'thread' to the
third eye, by awakening a certain feeling between the eyebrows. It
is designed to be practised only once, or a few times within a
short period of time. Then the work on the eye will be continued
with the meditation technique indicated below (3.7), and with all
the other practices of the book.
A good way to start is to choose a day when you don't have
anything else to do, at the beginning of a weekend for instance,
and to focus intensely on the practices. After this strong initial
imprint it will be easier to follow the rest of the techniques.
You can either do the practices alone or with friends, which will
make the energy more intense. The best day of the month to start
is the one preceding the Full Moon. However you do not have to
worry too much about the calendar. The important thing is to do
it, rather than wait for the perfect time.
Preferably wear light-coloured clothes (white is best). Avoid
wearing black.
Remember that you are dealing with subtle perception. The
vibration should not be expected to feel like a dagger in your
forehead. Even if you can only perceive a faint little tingling or
pressure between the eyebrows, that will be enough to start the
process. All the other practices in the book will contribute to
enhancing and developing the perception.
Remember, no imagination, no visualisation. Let things come to
you. A certain tiny vibration is already present between the
eyebrows in everybody. The purpose is to reveal this natural
vibration, in order to cultivate it later on.
Read the instructions given in the following section carefully a
few times before putting them into practice.
Preparation
Choose a quiet room where no one will disturb you for at least an
hour. You do not have to be alone, you can implement this practice
together with friends. But there should not be anyone in the room
who is not practising with you.
Light candles around the room.
Take off your shoes.
Chapter 3 - Awakening the Third Eye
32
Undo your belt, tie, or other restrictive clothing.
Take off your watch.
Lie down on the floor, on a carpet, blanket, or thin mat. The arms
should not be crossed but should lie by your side. It is preferable
to have the palms facing upwards.
The legs should not be crossed.
Close your eyes. Keep your eyes closed until the end of the
practice.
Relax for 2 or 3 minutes.
Do 5 or 10 minutes of humming sound (section 2.4).
Phase 1
Become aware in the throat. Start breathing with the throat
friction, as explained in the last chapter (section 2.1).
Become aware of the vibration generated in the larynx by the
friction.
Be just aware, without any particular concentration.
Flow with the energy. If some movements take place in your body
or in your consciousness, let them happen.
Continue for 5 to 10 minutes, breathing with the friction, aware
of the vibration in the larynx.
Phase 2
Maintain the throat friction.
Instead of placing your awareness in the larynx, now become aware
in the area between your eyebrows.
Do not concentrate. If you 'grasp' the area between the eyebrows
with too tight a focus, the process can't unfold. Flow with the
energy. Follow what comes spontaneously. If the breath naturally
changes and becomes more intense, then follow the breath. But
make sure that you maintain some friction in the throat
throughout these first 5 phases of the practice.
Remain 'just aware' between the eyebrows, breathing with the
throat friction, for about 5 minutes. Time precision is not
relevant for this practice, so there is no need to look at your
watch.
Phase 3
Place the palm of your hand in front of the area between the
eyebrows. The hand does not touch the skin, it is about 3 to 5
centimetres (1 or 2 inches) away.
Chapter 3 - Awakening the Third Eye
33
Note that the hand does not touch the skin.
For a few minutes, stay lying on the floor with the eyes closed,
breathing with the throat friction, aware between the eyebrows,
and the palm 1 inch in front of this area.
Phase 4
Keep your hand in front of you or put it back by your side, as
you prefer.
Remain with your eyes closed, breathing with the throat friction,
aware between the eyebrows.
Start looking for a vibration between the eyebrows. It can take
different forms: either a clear vibration or a tingling, or even a
rather blurry pressure, a weight or a density between the
eyebrows.
Do not try hard. Remain vacant, let things happen.
Note that your eyes remain closed during all phases of this
practice.
Phase 5
As soon as the faintest feeling of vibration or tingling, pressure,
pulsation, density or weight is perceived, proceed as follows: start
connecting the throat friction with the feeling between the
eyebrows.
Connecting means being aware of both the friction and the
vibration (or density, or pressure...) between the eyebrows at the
same time. As you proceed, the link between the friction energy
and the third eye will be perceived more and more clearly.
The vibration will change as you combine it with the friction. It
will become more subtle, and yet more intense at the same time.
Chapter 3 - Awakening the Third Eye
34
If vibration or tingling is felt in some other part of the body, for
instance the whole of the forehead, the arms or even the whole
body, do not pay any attention to it. Just remain aware of the
vibration (or density, or pressure...) between the eyebrows.
Continue this phase for about 10 minutes, building up the
vibration between the eyebrows by connecting it with the throat
friction.
Remember, no imagination, no visualisation. Just flow with what
comes.
Phase 6
Stop the throat friction.
Do not focus on the vibration any more.
Remain with your eyes closed, just aware between the eyebrows
for another 10 minutes or more.
Be extremely still, feeling the energy around you. The more
motionless you become, the more you can tune in.
Observe if any feeling of light or colours can be perceived between
the eyebrows.
Tips, tricks and traps
• Do not concentrate or 'grasp' the area between the eyebrows,
just keep a very gentle focus in the area. Grasping would only
block the process. Do not try to 'do', let things happen.
• Focussing between the eyebrows just means being aware of this
area, and not directing your eyeballs as if trying to look at this
area. If you were to implement such movements of the eyeballs, it
would create a tension that could only disturb the natural course
of the experience. So the eyeballs are not directed in any particular
direction. Same throughout the book.
• A common experience, in the beginning, is to feel vibration (or
pressure, density...) not only in the area between the eyebrows,
but also in other parts of the forehead or the face. If this happens
don't pay attention to it, just focus on the vibration between the
eyebrows, connecting it with the throat friction. With practice,
everything will fall into place.
• If you practise with friends, make sure you are not touching
each other, in order to avoid inappropriate transfers of energy.
• If the experience becomes too intense, all you have to do is open
your eyes and you will be brought back to your normal state of
consciousness.
Chapter 3 - Awakening the Third Eye
35
First opening, synopsis of the practice
Lie down and relax.
1) Throat friction + awareness in the larynx
2) Throat friction + awareness between the eyebrows
3) Same as 2) + palm of the hand in front of the third eye
4) Throat friction + looking for vibration, tingling,
pressure, density... between the eyebrows
5) Connecting the throat friction
with the vibration between the eyebrows
6) Motionlessness - connecting with the energy around you
3.3 Various experiences
In Chapter 10 you will find a summary of the most common
experiences encountered when starting to work on the third eye
according to the principles and techniques developed in this book.
As far as this first opening is concerned, the only things that
matter are the vibration (or tingling, or density...) between the
eyebrows, and the light, if you happen to perceive it. The best
attitude is to pay no attention to any other manifestations that
may occur while implementing the practice.
When dealing with the third eye and with etheric energy,
especially in the beginning, minor manifestations may take place,
such as tingling or even twitching, here and there in the body, or
images flashing back to your consciousness. Let them come and let
them go, for they do not mean much. Just follow the technique as
if nothing was happening.
It may be that the vibration, tingling, density or light you will
feel between the eyebrows will be quite intense, but it really does
not matter if they happen to be faint or blurry. As we will see
later, the intensity of the energy can vary greatly from one day
to the next for the same person, so it may just be that you have
attempted the 'first opening' on a low intensity day. However
faint these qualities may be, they are a first thread, and a
systematic technology will be gradually introduced in the book to
transform them into a clear perception of the third eye.
3.4 Experiential references
vibration ~ etheric (life force)
Chapter 3 - Awakening the Third Eye
36
colours, light ~ astral
purple light ~ astral space
As you practise the various techniques working on the third eye,
you will encounter mainly 3 types of experiences between the
eyebrows: 1) vibration, 2) colours and light, 3) purple light.
Roughly speaking, the first one indicates an activation of the
etheric layer, the second indicates the astral, while the perception
of the purple light indicates that a connection has been made with
the astral space (the terms etheric and astral will be developed
further on in this book).
Of course these indications are far too simplified to be completely
exact. But from an experiential point of view they provide helpful
references to allow you to find your way in the beginning.
1) Vibration, tingling, a feeling of pressure, weight, or density, all
have the same significance when felt between the eyebrows. They
indicate that something is being activated in the etheric part of
your third eye.
The etheric body is the layer of life force, equivalent to the prāṇa
of the Indian tradition and the qi of traditional Chinese medicine.
(The third eye is not a physical organ, it is predominantly etheric
and astral.)
The vibration (or any of its equivalents, such as tingling, pulsing,
pressure, density...) is the sensation by which the etheric is
perceived. Whenever you feel it somewhere in your body, it
indicates that the etheric layer is activated in this area. So the
perception of the vibration between the eyebrows is nothing other
than a perception of the etheric part of the third eye.
Since tingling, pressure, density or weight have more or less the
same significance, to simplify I shall refer to all of them by the
same word: vibration. Therefore, whenever you read 'vibration' in
this book, it refers to any or all of these different forms. For
instance, "Build up the vibration between the eyebrows," means:
build up the modality that is most natural to you - vibration,
pressure, density, or their equivalent. Anyway after some time
the vibration will be perceived as all of these simultaneously.
There are different levels of vibration, just as there are different
levels of etheric energy, some more subtle than others. The
intensity of the vibration may vary from one day to the next.
Apart from quantitative variations, it is also the quality of the
Chapter 3 - Awakening the Third Eye
37
vibration that tends to vary naturally from one day to another.
Consequently it is important not to cling to any modality but to
flow with what comes each day. After some time the experience
will become more stable and the energy movements will be more
under your control.
2) The second type of experience that can take place between the
eyebrows is that of (non-physical) lights of various sorts, from a
vague haze, cloud, or glow, to colours and organised patterns. These
various manifestations can be regarded as equivalent, and indicate
that something is being activated in the astral part of your third
eye. To simplify, I will refer to all of them by the term 'light'. So
each time you read 'light' in this book, it means all or any of
these: haze, colours, light patterns, shining dots or anything that
glows. Choose the one that comes most naturally to you and let it
be gradually refined into a more and more brilliant light.
The astral body is the layer of mental consciousness and emotions.
The equation '(non-physical) light = astral' is not absolute, for
certain high frequencies of light come from far above the astral
layer. But as you will quickly learn to recognize, the lights and
colours that commonly appear between the eyebrows when you
'switch on' your eye are a clear indicator that the astral part of
the third eye is being activated.
3) The purple light is often perceived as the background of the
other lights or colour patterns. It gives the feeling of an expanse
or of a space that extends in front of your third eye. The deeper
you contact the purple light, the more you perceive it as a space
that is not only in front of you but all around you. This space
corresponds to what esotericists call the astral space.
This space of consciousness is not always perceived as purple, but
also as dark blue or even black. What matters most is the feeling
of space, whatever the colour of darkness perceived. I will
therefore use the word 'space' for the dark expanse at the
background of the third eye, regardless of its colour.
Note that the perception of the purple space is quite simple, and
that many people have experienced it (in particular during
childhood) without realizing its real nature.
3.5 If you are not feeling any vibration at all
Here are a few indications for those who might not seem to feel
any vibration between the eyebrows while implementing the
exercises.
Chapter 3 - Awakening the Third Eye
38
It is possible, and not uncommon, that the vibration is there but
you are not registering it. Maybe you are expecting something
extraordinary, or very intense. Maybe it is too simple. This
vibration has always been between your eyebrows and you never
paid any attention to it.
Maybe you are blocking the process by trying too hard. Make sure
you do not concentrate, let things happen. Don't look for the
vibration, let it come to you. Continue with the practice, insist,
but in the spirit of letting go.
There is another reason you may not feel any vibration at all: it
may be that you are getting light instead of vibration. Remember
our simple references:
vibration ~ etheric
light ~ astral
If you are perceiving light in any form (from a simple blurry
whitish haze to the wonderful purple of the space, through various
types of colours and patterns), then you are already in the astral,
hence no longer in the etheric. You can't (in the beginning anyway)
be outside and inside a house at the same time. Consequently, if
you are getting light, it is quite possible you have bypassed the
level of the vibration. In that case, just go on with your practice
with the light instead of the vibration. In the scheme of our
meditation technique (section 3.7), go from phase 2 to phase 3.
Don't worry about the vibration, connect the throat friction with
the light.
After implementing these practices with hundreds of students at
the Clairvision School, I have never seen one who did not manage
to feel the vibration after a bit of practice. Follow the
Oxyrhynchus Sayings of Jesus, where it is advised that those who
seek do not cease until they find, "and when they find they will
be astonished." Persist, persist, persist... and everything will come.
3.6 More about the third eye
A useful hint is to consider the eye as a patch or a 50 cent coin on
the forehead. In reality, the third eye is more like a pipe or a
tunnel, going from the area between the eyebrows to the occipital
bone at the back of the head.
The tunnel of the third eye
All along the tunnel are a number of centres of energy, through
which one can connect with different worlds and areas of
consciousness. This explains why different systems may 'locate' the
Chapter 3 - Awakening the Third Eye
39
third eye in different places: each of them chooses a different
centre along the pipe, or even a structure of energy adjacent to
the tunnel, as a reference point.
Another important point to keep in mind is that the third eye is
not physical. The grossest part of the third eye is a structure of
energy belonging to the etheric body or layer of life force. The
etheric body has many connections with the physical body and
therefore the third eye, being the 'main switch' of the etheric
body, is also closely connected to certain structures of the physical
body, for instance the pituitary and pineal glands.
However it would be over-simplified to say that the third eye is
the pineal gland or the pituitary gland, as stated by certain books.
As explained before, the tunnel of the third eye is not physical. It
impacts its energy on a number of structures of the physical
body, including the frontal sinus, the optic nerves and their
chiasma, the nerves of the cribriform plate of the ethmoid bone,
the pituitary and pineal glands, some of the nuclei at the centre of
the brain, the ventricles of the brain, and others. It would be far
too simplistic and limiting to pick one of these physical structures
and label it 'third eye'. Once more the third eye is not physical, it
is an organ of energy. It may have some privileged connections
with certain physical structures, but it cannot be limited to any
of them.
Chapter 3 - Awakening the Third Eye
40
In the beginning, do not worry about any other part of the
tunnel, just remain aware between the eyebrows. One has to start
somewhere, and this particular centre between the eyebrows has
the great advantage of creating a protective energy all around you
in your aura as soon as you activate it. Other centres of the 'pipe'
will be introduced later.
So in this book, whenever we talk about 'the eye', we mean the
area between the eyebrows. That does not mean the area between
the eyebrows is the whole third eye, of course. But in the early
stages of our training it is the area we will use and develop as the
main switch, the place to remain aware of permanently. If you get
sensations in other areas of the head, don't try to suppress them,
but don't pay attention to them either. Keep your focus between
the eyebrows.
3.7 Third eye meditation
Let us now start our main technique of meditation. The initial
stages of this meditation process are not intended to project you
into spectacular states of transcendence, but to work at building
up the third eye systematically and later on to achieve true inner
silence. As will be discussed in Chapter 9 on awareness, one of the
principles of our approach is that one cannot fight mentally
against the mind. One cannot force the mind into being silent. But
one can build a structure beyond the mind, from which the mind
can be mastered. In that sense the third eye can be compared to a
control tower, similar to that of the 20th hexagram of the I
Ching. The first phases of this meditation process aim at
structuring the third eye and imprinting it as tangibly as possible
into your system.
Phases 4 and 5 deal with the inner space and the mysterious
vortices. During the first weeks of your practice, to simplify you
may decide to bypass phase 5 (the vortex), going straight from the
phase on the space to the 'non-technique' or meditation proper,
when you remain 'just aware' above the head.
Preparation
Remove shoes, belt, tie and watch.
Sit cross-legged on the floor or on a chair with your back straight.
You do not have to be on the floor but your back should be very
straight. If you sit on a chair it is preferable not to lean back
against it, so that you allow a free flow of energies.
Chapter 3 - Awakening the Third Eye
41
Meditation phase 1: the larynx of energy
Close your eyes. Keep your eyes closed until the end of the
meditation.
Start breathing with the throat friction (section 2.1).
The friction breathing generates a vibration in the throat. Become
aware of the vibration in the larynx. Use the friction to intensify
the vibration in the larynx.
The vibration in the throat is made of two parts: one physical,
created by the mechanical action of the breathing, and a more
subtle one, like a tingling, that can still be perceived when you
stop the breath.
Use the throat friction to intensify the non-physical tingling.
Adjust the position of your spine. Look for the absolute
uprightness. Align the neck with the rest of your back in quest of
a perfectly straight posture. Make sure that the head, the neck
and the rest of the back are in a straight line.
Watch how the vibration in the larynx and the flow of energy in
the throat can be enhanced by getting as close as possible to a
perfectly vertical posture.
Cultivate stillness.
Meditation phase 2: vibration in the eye
Keep on breathing with the throat friction, but drop the
awareness of the throat. Become aware of the vibration between
the eyebrows.
Connect the vibration in the eye (i.e. between the eyebrows) with
the throat friction.
If you are not too sure of what 'connecting' means, just remain
aware of both at the same time: the throat friction, and the
vibration between the eyebrows. Very quickly, it will become clear
that a certain interaction takes place between the throat and the
eye. That is what is meant by connecting.
Phase 2 consists of using the throat friction as an amplifier, to
cultivate and build up the vibration in the eye.
If you have the choice between heavy density and subtle tingling,
rather go for the tingling. Avoid grasping. Keep the experience
light.
Meditation phase 3: light in the eye
Maintain the throat friction. (The eyes remain closed till the end
of the meditation.)
Chapter 3 - Awakening the Third Eye
42
Drop the awareness of the vibration. Instead, start looking between
the eyebrows for a fog or a haze, a glow, or any form of light or
colour. All of these can be regarded as different modalities of the
'light' which of course, in the context of this book does not refer
to physical light but to spiritual light, perceived with your eyes
closed.
Remember, no imagination, no visualisation - just awareness of
what is in front of you.
As soon as you perceive any of these modalities of light (fog, glow,
colour...) even very vaguely, connect it with the throat friction.
Just as in phase 2 you were connecting the friction with the
vibration between the eyebrows, you are now connecting the
friction with the light. Instead of amplifying the vibration, you
are now working at amplifying the light.
As you go on practising you will perceive brighter and brighter
parts of the light. Gradually drop the awareness of the hazier
parts to focus on the most shining ones. Connect your amplifierfriction
with the most luminous part of the light.
A common experience is that of tiny shining particles of light,
spread in the space in front of you and drifting in various
directions. As you connect the friction with these luminous
particles, some will enter you and go straight into your heart,
feeding it with a precious energy.
Meditation phase 4: awareness in the space
Remain in the eye, between the eyebrows.
Instead of focussing on the light itself and on its shining particles,
become aware of the background of the light. The darkness or the
purple light at the background of all the colours will give you the
feeling of a space, extending in front of you.
The space may appear purple, dark blue, or even just dark. More
than the colour it is the feeling of expanse that matters.
Just remain aware in the space. Let yourself be absorbed in it.
At this stage the throat friction can be decreased or even dropped.
Start breathing with the friction again if the mind goes
wandering with thoughts.
Meditation phase 5: spinning in the space
Start spinning into the space in front of you, spiralling forwards
and clockwise, as if you were falling forwards into a tunnel.
Chapter 3 - Awakening the Third Eye
43
Spin as if you were caught in a vortex.
The vortex is there, in the space, waiting for you. Do not try to
make up a spiralling movement. Rather let yourself be caught by
the vortex and carried by its natural motion.
As you go on spinning, the qualities and colour of the space will
sometimes change, as if you were projected into a completely
different area. Just acknowledge the various feelings and continue
with the vortex.
From time to time, or even constantly if you wish, you may use
the throat friction to amplify the vortex effect.
Non-technique
Drop any awareness of the breath, of the eye, of the space...
Just become aware above the head.
Doing nothing, looking for nothing, being 'just aware'.
Not even aware of yourself - just aware.
Remain extremely motionless.
Practise the art of losing control.
Let the awareness take over, above the head.
Coming back and finishing the meditation
Become aware again between the eyebrows.
Listen to the sounds outside.
Become aware of your body. Take a few long inhalations.
Take as much time as you wish to come back fully, and then click
the fingers of the right hand and open the eyes.
Tips, Phase 1 (Vibration in the Larynx)
• It does not matter if in the beginning you find it difficult to
separate the physical vibration from the non-physical one. It is
enough to get a vague sense of the vibration, both physical and
non-physical, for the process to follow its course. Anyway, by
trying to be too precise your mind would probably get in the way
and block the process.
All that is related to the vibration will probably become clearer
after reading Chapters 4, 6 and 8 and practising the channel
release techniques.
• In the beginning it may be helpful to place your hand close to
your throat, about 1 inch away, to enhance the feeling of energy
in this area. Later on, this won't be necessary.
Chapter 3 - Awakening the Third Eye
44
• For this practice as for any work on the larynx of energy, it is
crucial for the neck to be as vertical as possible.
What obvious differences can one observe between the bodies of
animals and those of human beings? A major one is that the human
spine is vertical while animals live mostly in a horizontal position.
Similarly, while animals have a larynx, it is not vertical. This gives
us a clue about the importance of verticality for the larynx to
achieve its cosmic status in connection with the Spirit. Another
clue can be found by perceiving what happens when you
implement the first phase of the meditation: as soon as you reach
a perfectly vertical position of the neck, a sudden enhancement of
the vibration takes place in your larynx.
Tips, phase 2 (vibration in the eye)
• The larynx of energy acts as an amplifier and a giver of shape.
By connecting the area between the eyebrows with the friction
coming from the throat, you work at building up the third eye.
In terms of experience, the intensification of the vibration in the
eye that takes place as soon as you connect it with the friction
indicates that the action of the larynx is taking place.
• As explained before, the vibration can also be felt as a tingling, a
pressure, a density... This phase works at building the etheric layer
of the third eye.
Tips, phase 3 (light in the eye)
• In the beginning, connecting the light in the eye with the
throat friction just means feeling the two simultaneously. Then it
automatically happens that an exchange takes place between the
two, by which the energy generated by the throat friction is
communicated to the part of your (third) eye that perceives light.
In practice the experience is quite simple: the friction seems to
'feed' the light, to make it more tangible and brighter, which is
another example of how the larynx can be used to 'give shape'.
• Most of the students who think they can't see the light actually
see it but don't recognize it. You have to accept that in the
beginning, the feeling of light may be faint, like a blurry whitish
haze for instance. And yet this faint glow is the first thread. Use
the amplifying effect of the larynx to develop it. Practise,
practise, practise... and the humble glow will turn into an
illumination.
Chapter 3 - Awakening the Third Eye
45
Tips, phase 4 (the space)
• A common experience when reaching perception of the purple
space, is that of an immense feeling of relief in the heart, as if a
huge weight had suddenly been lifted. As soon as you contact the
inner space, your heart feels immensely lighter. Some explanations
for this will be found in section 3.10.
Tips, phase 5 (the vortex)
• The clockwise direction should not be taken as systematic and
compulsory. As always, you have to follow the energy of the
instant, and that may sometimes make you spin backwards and
anticlockwise. Nevertheless, when no particular wind takes you
backwards, it is preferable to move forwards and clockwise.
• The vortex is both a vortex and a tunnel at the same time. It is
preferable not to have fixed expectations as to what it should look
like. Let the perception arise by itself gradually.
• Spinning in the space leads to an elaborated science of the
vortices, through which one can travel far in space and time. This
introduces a form of travelling in which the purpose is not to
project yourself outside your body, but to go so deep inside that
there is nothing left to get out of. The vortex effect that leads
from one space-time to another is used intensively in ISIS, the
Clairvision techniques of regression.
• Approach the vortex with great respect and wonder, as you
would approach an archangel aeons older than you, and it will take
you into extraordinary mysteries.
Thoughts during meditation
If thoughts arise during meditation do not pay attention to them,
just follow the process. You will soon notice that a strong
vibration between the eyebrows tends to quieten the mind and
significantly slow down its continuous flow of thoughts. So no
need to fight mentally against the thoughts. Just don't focus your
attention on them. Each time you get distracted by a thought,
simply go back into the eye and continue the exercise. Persist in
the process, and as the third eye develops, thoughts will
automatically become less and less of a problem. Past a certain level
of development the third eye gives the capacity to get completely
out of the mind and thus out of the thoughts at will.
Often, when the level of thoughts becomes disturbing, one can
quieten them down by intensifying the throat friction, which has
Chapter 3 - Awakening the Third Eye
46
the action of reinforcing the vibration in the eye. But remember
that in our meditation, the purpose is not to make the mind silent
- a notoriously hopeless exercise - but to build the third eye.
Once this is achieved, thoughts won't matter any more.
Synopsis of the third eye meditation
Preparation: sitting with your back vertical
1) Throat friction + vibration in the larynx
2) Throat friction + vibration between the eyebrows
3) Throat friction + light between the eyebrows
4) Space
5) Spinning in the space: the vortex
Non-technique: just awareness above the head
Suggested times for each phase:
• For a 30 minute meditation: 5 minutes for each of the 5 phases,
plus 5 minutes above the head.
• For a 60 minute meditation: Phase 1, 5 minutes. Phase 2, 10
minutes. Phase 3, 10 minutes. Phase 4, 10/15 minutes. Phase 5,
15/20 minutes. 5 minutes above the head.
• For a 10 minute meditation: take roughly 2 minutes for each
phase.
Do not neglect phase 1, even when short of time, for it is an
essential part of the process.
3.8 More humming/buzzing
This technique uses the humming sound we practised in section 2.4.
Sit with your back straight and become aware in the throat.
Repeat phases 1, 2 and 3 of the third eye meditation, using
humming/buzzing instead of the throat friction.
Then let yourself be immersed in the space, as in phases 4 and 5,
using humming sound from time to time to penetrate deeper into
the space.
Tip
• These humming sounds provide a powerful way to project
yourself into the space. Don't hesitate to have recourse to them
whenever you are disturbed by thoughts or mental activities
during your meditation.
3.9 How to organize your practice
Chapter 3 - Awakening the Third Eye
47
During the first days of your practice do as much meditation as
you can, repeating the first opening practice (section 3.2), and
using the third eye meditation (3.7), as well as its equivalent with
the humming sounds (3.8) and any other techniques you may pick
up from the rest of the book. This strong initial imprint will
make it easier to follow the rest of the process.
Then a good way to proceed is to spend some time every morning
practising the third eye meditation (3.7) and other exercises. For
instance, meditate for 20 or 30 minutes, then practise the channel
release exercises (Chapters 4, 6 and 8) for 10 minutes, then the
techniques on seeing (Chapters 5 and 7) for 10 minutes, then the
techniques on protection (Chapters 18 and 20) for 10 minutes. Do a
night practice (Chapters 13, 14, 15) every evening before going to
sleep, and possibly in the afternoon or early evening, for instance
if you are tired after coming home from work.
If you have more time it is certainly possible, and beneficial, to
devote longer periods to the exercises. Yet it should be clear that
the Clairvision techniques have been designed for those who live in
the world. They do not invite you to withdraw from your
activities, but to start performing them with a new awareness, as
will be discussed in Chapter 9.
To succeed, the secret is not so much to spend long hours
meditating but to incorporate more and more of these practices
into each of your daily activities. The cornerstone of our method
is to maintain a permanent awareness in the eye (between the
eyebrows) whatever you are doing (apart from sleeping). This does
not refer to the light or the space, which are to be kept for
meditation times. But by permanently keeping an awareness of
some vibration between the eyebrows, you will achieve a double
purpose. On the one hand you will gradually become more present
in your actions, and centred; on the other hand your third eye
will be nurtured by your awareness and develop into a powerful
centre of energy. So all the techniques of this book are to be
regarded as occasions to cultivate a new awareness. The first and
main benefit of our techniques of vision is that to implement
them you have to remain aware and present between the eyebrows.
If you are short of time, you can very well follow the process
indicated in this book by meditating (technique 3.7) only 5 to 10
minutes every morning and incorporating the other practices into
your daily routines. But these 5/10 minutes of morning
Chapter 3 - Awakening the Third Eye
48
meditation are essential for the development of your third eye. If
your schedule is such that your practice time is in the evening and
not in the morning, still try to keep the 5/10 minutes of morning
meditation at any cost, for they secure a reconnection of your
eye, which completely modifies your energy for the whole of the
day.
Whatever format you decide to adopt for your practice, remember
that this part of the path has to do with building - subtle body
building. The more you practise, the quicker the building will be
achieved.
3.10 The mysteries of the space
While practising ISIS, the Clairvision techniques of regression, it is
not uncommon to re-experience the condition of the embryo
during the very first days that follow conception. The foetus can
be felt 'bathing' in the purple space. The purple space is all around
it, like a sea. The embryo is very tiny and the space around is felt
to be immense. This space is no different from the purple space
that you perceive in your eye, in the fourth and fifth phases of
the third eye meditation.
To the embryo the space is outside, all around itself. But to us, the
same space is inside. To enter the space we have to withdraw inside
and go through the portal of the third eye. In the Upanishads, a
human being is compared to a city with ten gates. Nine of these
gates lead outside and only one leads inside. The nine external gates
are the two eyes, the two ears, the two nostrils, the mouth, the
anus and the generative organ. The tenth gate is the third eye, or
ājñā-cakra, which does not open into the external world but into
the inner space.
So what was outside for the embryo is now inside for us. During
the embryological processes that build up the foetus, an
internalization of the astral space has taken place. It is a
fascinating reversal, through which the inside becomes the outside
and the outside becomes the inside. And at death the opposite takes
place: the individual reintegrates into the space.
This leads us to a deeper understanding of the word 'existence',
used to describe the period of life on Earth. In Latin, ex means
out, and sistere means to take position. Existence therefore means
to take position out, that is, to exit from the space. Existence is
the temporary exit from the space that we experience between
birth and death.
Chapter 3 - Awakening the Third Eye
49
Now you can understand the feeling of relief in your heart when
you immerse yourself in the purple space during meditation. It is
as if your heart was suddenly relieved of all the pressures of
incarnated life, all the troubles of existence - enough to make you
feel much lighter! One of the results of initiation is to establish a
permanent connection with the space without losing any of one's
anchorage on Earth. One can then enjoy the peace of the cosmic
space and at the same time, remain fully involved in one's daily
activities. Past a certain level, the joyful lightness forever stays in
your heart, whatever may be happening outside.
Yet let it be very clear that the purpose of the Clairvision style of
work is not to take you out of incarnation into some happy-floaty
paradise, but to prepare you for a work of alchemy,
transformation of the very substance of your bodies. The purpose
is enlightenment here and now, in the middle of the cosmic mess
of modern life. Paradoxically, connecting with the space creates an
inner freedom that allows you to be more fully in the world.
Chapter 3 - Awakening the Third Eye
50
Chapter 4 - Channel Release: Let It Flow!
4.1 Channel release
Under the name channel release are grouped a number of
techniques aiming at awakening and cleansing the body of energy,
or etheric body. The etheric energy, or life force, is identical to
the prāṇa of the Indian tradition and the qi of traditional Chinese
medicine. Our first purpose will be to reach a tangible perception
of this energy.
Whilst circulating all over the etheric body, the life force follows
certain lines of energy, called 'meridians' in Chinese medicine and
nāḍī in Sanskrit. We will work on some of these, endeavouring to
feel the flow of energy along them.
A more advanced, but essential stage will be to learn to move the
energy consciously in these channels.
As this capacity develops, the student will be able to correct
several health problems. It will become obvious that the proper
functioning of the physical body depends to a great extent on the
right flow and balance of the circulations of the etheric body.
As the etheric body gains in strength through these practices, it
acquires a greater resistance to negative energies. And when an
undesirable energy is perceived in one of the channels, it becomes
possible to expel it consciously, the same way as a pebble can be
moved out of a hose by acting on the flow of water. Such a skill
secures a high level of energetic protection and will prove to be a
great help to all those involved in self-transformation or healing.
At a later stage, inner alchemy deals with the opening of the most
essential of all energy channels, located in the centre of the body.
This central channel ascends from the root of the trunk (the
perineum, between the anus and the external genital organs) to the
top of the head and above. It is the thunderwand, the path of the
serpent-fire of the western esoteric tradition, identical to the
suṣumnā of Kundalini-yoga. One of the purposes of channel release
is to prepare you for the work on this master channel. Channel
release trains you to move the etheric energy consciously.
Therefore, instead of having to 'imagine' a flow in the
thunderwand, you will be able to implement a proper circulation
51
of energy.
4.2 Connected shaking
Stage 1: shaking
Sit with your back straight, preferably on a mat on the floor,
possibly in a chair.
If on a chair, avoid leaning back against it.
Keep your eyes closed throughout the exercise.
Shake your hands quickly and vigorously for 10 to 20 seconds.
Connected shaking
Then remain motionless with your palms upwards. To achieve
maximum effect, avoid resting your hands on your knees or the
arms of a chair (see next figure).
Become aware of the vibration in your hands.
Stage 2: vibration in the eye, vibration in the hands
Repeat stage 1: shake your hands, then
become motionless with the palms
upwards.
Become aware of the vibration in the
hands.
Become aware of the vibration in the eye
(between the eyebrows.)
Focus for a few seconds on the vibration
in the eye. Then become aware again of
the vibration in the hands for a few
seconds. Then, vibration in the eye again...
Go from one to the other several times.
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52
Then become aware of the vibration between the eyebrows and in
the hands at the same time.
Stage 3: friction
Repeat stage 1: shake your hands for 10 to 20 seconds. Then remain
motionless with your eyes closed, palms upwards. Become aware of
the vibration in the eye and in the hands at the same time. Remain
in this perception for 1 minute.
Then start breathing with the throat friction, as described in
Chapter 2. Connect the friction with the vibration in both the eye
and the hands. Continue the practice for 1 or 2 minutes. Watch
the quality of the vibration change.
Tips
• A whole range of experiences can result from this practice. An
essential point is to realise that a modification, in both the hands
and the eye, occurs as soon as you start the friction. The vibration
becomes more intense, more tangible, and at the same time its
quality becomes more subtle.
• The throat friction not only intensifies the vibration, it also
helps connect the eye with the centres of energy in the palms of
the hands. A triangle of energy can often be felt, linking the eye
and the palms.
Stage 4: connecting
Shake the hands for a few seconds. Then remain motionless with
your palms upwards.
Feel the vibration in the eye and the vibration in the hands.
Start breathing with the throat friction. Connect the friction
with the vibration in the eye and the hands. Watch the changes in
the vibration that automatically take place due to the friction.
Then try to feel the connection between the hands and the eye.
Use the throat friction to amplify this connection.
What exactly can you feel between your hands and your eye?
Apart from feeling, can you 'see' anything (with your eyes closed)?
How does the energy in your hands change as you intensify the
connection with your eye?
Tips and traps
• The perception of energy linkage between eye and hands is often
accompanied by the perception of a triangle of light. At a more
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53
advanced stage of the training, this triangle of light will play an
important role in certain key practices of inner alchemy.
• Please remember our basic rule: no imagination, no visualisation.
Flow with what comes. Develop what you have, don't make
anything up. If you can only feel a slight tingling in your hands,
work at developing it with the friction and by regularly
implementing the other techniques of the book.
• As you go on practising this exercise and the following ones, it
will appear that they create a gradual refinement of what flows'
into your hands. The more the vibration in the hands is connected
with the awareness in the eye, the more it will become subtle and
endowed with healing qualities. This is a first step in the
development of the hands of a healer.
4.3 Connected rubbing
Sit with your back straight.
Vigorously rub your hands together for up to 20 seconds, or more.
Remain motionless with your palms upwards. Spend a few seconds
observing the quality of vibration in your hands and in your eye.
Then start breathing with the throat friction. Connect it to the
vibration in your hands and in your eye. Be aware of the subtle
changes that take place in the vibration of the hands due to the
friction.
Connect the vibration in the eye with the vibration in the palms.
Use the throat friction to intensify this connection. Sense the
vibration in the hands becoming more and more refined.
Tips
• Apart from the work on perception, those who are involved in
massage or any form of healing with hands will benefit from
implementing this exercise at the beginning of their sessions.
• While practising channel release, always pay attention to the
fact that the quality of energy that flows through your hands
depends on the quality of the vibration in your eye, and on the
connection between the two. The more subtle the vibration in your
eye, the more refined the energy flowing in your hands. A
powerful modality of healing, both for yourself and for your
clients, consists of tuning into the highest quality of vibration in
your eye and transmitting it through your hands.
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54
4.4 Vibration = etheric
Fundamentally, the etheric is the layer of the vibration: whenever
you feel the vibration, you feel the etheric. This statement is too
simple to be completely true, and later on you may discern certain
etheric frequencies of light or astral vibration. But in the
beginning, the equation: 'vibration = etheric' constitutes an
excellent reference to make sense of your experiences. For
instance, feeling vibration in your hands indicates that the etheric
life force is set in motion in the hands. Feeling vibration between
the eyebrows indicates that the etheric layer of the third eye is
activated... and so on, for any body part, or even outside the limits
of your body. For the etheric not only permeates the physical
body, it also extends beyond it, in proportions that may vary
according to different inner factors.
When the vibration in your hands or elsewhere seems to become
more subtle, it indicates that you are getting in touch with deeper
and more subtle layers of the etheric body.
In the beginning, we use physical stimulation to awaken the
perception of the etheric vibration. Later on you will be able to
get the same vibration without rubbing or using any other
physical stimulation. The vibration will come from inside.
I would therefore suggest that in these first stages of practice you
do not worry too much as to whether your vibration is physical or
etheric, or imaginary. Trust your experience. A very direct proof
of the non-physical nature of the vibration would be to cut off
your physical hand and to realise that you are still feeling the
same vibration, as in the phantom limb syndrome in amputees.
Other indications of the non-physical nature of this vibration will
be that you will feel it in all sorts of places in your body, without
any rubbing or any form of physical stimulation. You will even
feel it beyond the limits of your physical body, first around you
and then in more and more distant objects. The perception of the
etheric vibration will then have become completely separated from
any physical sensation.
In any case, please remember that in our approach there is nothing
to believe (and therefore nothing to doubt either). What matters is
not what you believe but what you perceive. Our constant focus is
on direct experience. Learn to perceive this vibrating energy, and
then decide how you want to understand it.
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55
• Have you noticed that when you awaken the vibration in the
palms of the hands, an intensification of the vibration in the eye
seems to occur simultaneously? The vibration in the eye seems to
become more tangible or denser, as if on a faster frequency;
anyway it is more clearly perceived. More on this important effect
at the beginning of Chapter 6.
4.5 General advice concerning the work on the
meridians
• Practise as if you were inventing acupuncture. The method of
channel release gives you all the elements to find the real location
of the circulations of etheric energy in your body. Do not take for
granted any of the traditional anatomical pathways of the
meridians. Anyway, all ancient Chinese books do not agree about
the precise location of various particular branches. The map of the
etheric body, as will be used in the third millennium, is still to be
plotted. Why not by you?
• For rubbing, use the bridge of the palm, on the other side of
the knuckles. A line of energy can actually be felt along the
mounts beneath the knuckles, at the base of the fingers. Make
your hand flat and firm. Apply this line onto the line of the
meridian that you want to stimulate and move to and fro along
the line, operating a gentle but firm rubbing.
The bridge of the palm
• Remember that whenever you deal with energy, and especially
in the beginning, there are days when it seems much more
difficult to reach the perception of the vibration. For instance
there are days when you are projected into the purple space in
meditation, but you don't feel much vibration (in particular
around the New Moon). Other days, it is just the opposite - lots of
vibration but no space. And sometimes you won't feel anything at
all. That is the normal course of the process. In the beginning,
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56
perceptions are not at all under your control. They come when you
don't expect them, they disappear without reason.
Continue the practices regularly and after a few months you will
just have to go into your eye and tune in to generate an immediate
flow of vibration. But even once a fair level of mastery has been
reached, the vibration remains subject to variations from one day
to the next and even during the same day.
• In the case of cancer, many therapists advise against any form
of massage because it might facilitate a spreading of the disease.
For some, massage even remains contraindicated for as long as five
years after the last surgical operation, or the last treatment that
ended the cancer, even if the patient is completely healed. If you
share this view, it is very possible to implement channel release
without rubbing, just by moving the tips of your fingers very
lightly along the meridians, as described in section 6.4.
• In this chapter, the acupuncture meridians will be referred to
by the name of a corresponding organ, as frequently found in
acupuncture literature. Yet it can never be emphasized enough how
misleading these names are and what great misunderstandings they
can create. The meridian of the gallbladder, for instance, has a
number of distinct functions and connects with several body
parts, from the eye and the ear to the ankle, apart from passing
through the gallbladder. So the term 'gallbladder' does not
summarise the function of the meridian at all. If this name is
used, it is because it is simpler to memorise than the proper
Chinese name, zu shao yang (literally: 'middle yang of the foot').
4.6 Shou jue yin, 'Heart Constrictor Meridian'
The part of the Heart Constrictor Meridian that we are going to
stimulate is a line that starts at the root of the palm and goes
straight up the middle of the forearm to the tendon of the biceps
at the line of the elbow, and then straight up the middle of the
biceps.
Sit in a meditation position. If you are on a chair, don't prop
against its back. Keep your eyes closed throughout the exercise.
Rub your hands for a few seconds and repeat practice 4.3. Remain
motionless with your palms upwards. Become aware of the
vibration in your eye and in your hands.
Rub along the line of the meridian with the bridge of the palm
(the mounts beneath the knuckles) as described in section 4.5.
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57
Then stop and become motionless, with your
palms upwards.
Become aware of the vibration along the line.
After a few seconds, resume the throat
friction and connect it with the vibration in
the meridian. Spend half a minute or more
building up the vibration along the line.
Then become aware in the eye at the same
time, so you connect the throat friction, the
vibration in the eye and the vibration in the
line. Continue for about 1 minute.
Next become aware of the hand on the same
arm. Even though you have not applied any
physical stimulation to this area, could you
feel the extension of the line of energy in
the hand? To which finger does the path of the meridian extend?
Then become aware in the shoulder and the chest. Where does the
line of energy go in these parts of the body? Could you also feel it
in any of your organs?
Stop everything and remain 'just aware' for a few seconds.
Repeat the same sequence with the same meridian on the other
arm.
Snap the fingers of the right hand and open the eyes.
4.7 Shou shao yin, 'Heart Meridian'
The part of the meridian that we are
looking for starts at the root of the palm
of the hand, on the inner side. If you
explore with your fingers, you will find a
little round bone, called the pisiform
because it has the form of a pea.
Then slightly contract your biceps, and
you will find another point of this
meridian about 1 centimetre inside the
tendon of the biceps, just at the line of
the elbow. (Acupuncture points often give
the feeling of a hole under your fingers,
like a depression.) You just have to draw a
line from the pisiform to this point and
you have the part of the Heart Meridian
that circulates on the forearm.
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58
For the part on the upper arm, start from our point on the elbow
and go up, following a depression on the inner side of the biceps
like a little gutter. Note that this small depression is not always
present and that it is easier to find in men than in women.
If you are not too sure of the location, that does not matter very
much. Just follow the indications shown by the figure and the
line will reveal itself as your perception becomes clearer.
Repeat the practice we described in section 4.6, this time with the
Heart Meridian instead of the Heart Constrictor Meridian.
4.8 Shou tai yin, 'Lung Meridian'
We now repeat the same practice, but on the Lung Meridian.
The fraction of the Lung Meridian that we are going to rub starts
at the root of the palm of the hand in the depression where it is
common to take the pulse, on the radial artery.
Another point is located at the line of the
elbow, outside the tendon of the biceps. You
can gently contract your biceps to feel the
tendon. The forearm part of the Lung
Meridian follows a straight line from the
pulse area to this point on the elbow.
Then go on up the arm following a sort of
depression on the external side of the biceps.
If the muscles of your arm are clearly
delineated, you will find a sort of furrow
where the line is. (If you are a woman, first
look on a male friend of yours. It's much
easier to find.) But again, you just need to
have a vague idea of where to rub, as shown
on the figure.
Anyway, the location of a meridian should never be taken for
granted. The descriptions in books should be regarded as rough
indications only. It is through your own perception of energy, and
nothing else, that certitude can arise as to the real path of a
meridian. The best attitude is therefore to rub slightly different
lines in the area until you find the one that corresponds to the
clearest feeling of circulation. If you practise, practise, practise...
the initial vagueness will soon be dispelled, leaving little doubt as
to the whereabouts of these simple circulations.
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4.9 More details on the paths of the meridians
(Better not read this section until you have determined for
yourself the path of the meridians in the hand and fingers.)
Acupuncture describes the Heart Constrictor Meridian as ending at
the tip of the middle finger (the one between the index and the
ring finger). It may well happen that you feel a tingling in the
ring finger too, as the Heart Constrictor Meridian is said to be
coupled and to exchange energy with the Triple Warmer Meridian
that circulates on the ring finger.
The Heart Meridian is said to end up at the tip of the little finger.
(The Small Intestine Meridian, coupled with the Heart Meridian,
also circulates at the tip of the little finger.)
The Lung Meridian is said to terminate at the tip of the thumb.
While working on the Lung Meridian, it is not uncommon to feel
vibration moving in the index finger too, related to the Large
Intestine Meridian, for there are intense exchanges of energy
between these two channels.
Tips, tricks and traps
• If this is not what you've felt, don't worry, for after all you
might be right! (Yet I suggest you go on practising for a while
before you make up your mind.) It is the privilege of the seers to
be able to bring everything into question. For ultimately, direct
perception is always superior to what is written in a book or
copied from another book. Maybe also, the traditional cliche of the
meridians as inflexible pipes is not so accurate. You will rather
perceive them as 'rivers of breath' or flows of vibration that can
sometimes deviate slightly in one direction or another. Once more,
my view is that the essential still has to be discovered, as far as
the etheric body is concerned.
4.10 The different levels of perception of energy
circulations
The first level is to perceive the vibration along the line you have
rubbed and to realise that this vibration is of the same nature as
the one in your eye (between the eyebrows).
The second level is to perceive a flow of energy, meaning a
circulation of the vibration along the meridian. It can either move
upwards towards the shoulder or downwards towards the hand. By
using the throat friction and the connection with the eye, you
will be able to gradually intensify this flow.
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60
The third level is to become able to move the energy consciously
along the line. This function has to be developed out of nearly
nothing, like when a muscle has become atrophied because it has
not been working for a long period and it needs to be set into
motion again.
Once awakened, the experience is similar to that of little hands of
energy along the meridian. The 'little hands' contract swiftly and
they squeeze the energy into movement, a bit like you squeeze
toothpaste out of a tube. The whole thing is quite similar to the
peristaltic contractions of the digestive tract (but much quicker)
or the contraction of the muscles of the arteries that actively
move the blood. But in the meridians, this takes place on the level
of the etheric body, not the physical.
As we are dealing with the etheric, you will mainly be feeling
vibration. But it may happen that you get some visual experiences
of light flowing in the meridian as well. Once you start the
techniques on seeing, described in Chapters 5 and 7, you can add
the triple process of vision to the work on the circulations of
etheric energy.
Tips, tricks and traps
• What if you feel the energy in a meridian more on one side
than in its equivalent on the other side of the body? As always
when you deal with energy, there are fluctuations. If this
experience happens only once and does not come back, it does not
mean anything at all.
It is only if you can repeatedly feel the same imbalance over a
period of time that it becomes significant. If this is the case, it
means that something is blocked in the line and the flow has to be
restored, so you should practise more on this meridian until an
equal flow can be reached. It is rather encouraging, because it gives
you the opportunity to correct a blockage before it turns into a
physical problem. Energetic medicines often play a potent role in
the prevention of health disorders. Interestingly enough, in
ancient China one used to pay one's doctor as long as one was
healthy and stop paying as soon as one fell sick.
If you feel too many imbalances in your energy flows, it might be
a good idea to discuss the situation with an acupuncturist.
• Should the energy in the meridians move upwards or
downwards? In courses given at the Clairvision School, I have had
the opportunity to share the techniques of channel release with a
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61
number of people who had no knowledge of the theory of the
meridians as developed by traditional Chinese medicine. I was
therefore able to observe the direction of the natural circulations
of energy, innocently discovered by the students. I must say that
what I have seen does not confirm the traditional theory of the
circulations in the meridians. In acupuncture, it is said that out of
the twelve principal meridians, six circulate the energy from the
head to the extremities (feet and hands) and six from the
extremities to the head. However, I have found that when you
teach a group how to perceive energy, the great majority tend to
feel it moving systematically upwards towards the head, whatever
channel they may be dealing with.
My advice is to trust your experience and to encourage the flow of
vibration that feels natural to you. It does not matter if the
energy does not always flow in the same direction - energy is a
whimsical principle, which is part of its beauty. Superior health
comes from harmony with the natural flows, not from
establishing a dictatorship of energies.
4.11 Practice
Implement channel release on the Heart Constrictor Meridian, as in
practice 4.6. Rub both arms, one straight after the other, but this
time once you finish rubbing, hold your arms upwards (as if you
were trying to reach the ceiling).
Is the direction of the circulation the same as before?
Repeat the same exercise with the Lung Meridian, then with the
Heart Meridian.
Tips
• If you can, repeat the same exercise while in a shoulder-stand,
with your arms up.
• For your information, I have indicated what acupuncture says
about the direction of the flows of the meridians in the note at
the end of this chapter. However, I would suggest you do not look
at it until you have reached your own perception of the flows.
4.12 Releasing negative energies
The technique that we are now going to describe is essential, and
designed to be frequently implemented. Its purpose is to release
negative energies.
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The physical body is made of foodstuff, water, and what we
extract from the air, meaning physical elements taken from our
physical environment. Similarly, the etheric body is built of
materials extracted from our etheric environment.
Just as some foods or substances may be toxic to the physical
body, some etheric energies are noxious to the etheric body. In the
chapters on earth lines and on protection, we will look at how
modern life tends to create an accumulation of those toxic energies
in our environment, making it more and more vital to gain the
skills to release them from your system.
Practice
Turn on a tap of cold water. Direct your awareness to the flow of
running water. Tune into it, feel its qualities. Let the water run
down the inside of your arm from above the line of the elbow, if
the sink is deep enough. Be really aware and focussed, as if
performing an important action, and tune into the flow. Let all
the negative energies be released out of your forearm into the
running water. Continue for a good half minute.
Then repeat the same practice on the posterior side of the
forearm. The more you tune into the flow of running water, the
more negative energies you can release.
Repeat the practice on both sides of the other arm.
Tips, tricks and traps
• Although the practice may seem very
simple, it is vital. If you do it a few times a
day, and in full awareness, a new function will
quickly develop: etheric excretion. You will
clearly perceive that some undesirable energies
are expelled into the flow of water, and you
will feel better in your etheric body, exactly
as a constipated person feels better after
passing stools.
Excretion is a function as essential to life as
ingestion. One of the discoveries you are going
to make as you open your perception is that a
significant proportion of the population is
'etherically constipated': unable to release
negative energies. Etheric excretion should happen automatically,
without us having to think about it. But somehow we came to lose
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63
this function, and now we have to work at regaining it
consciously.
The accumulation of negative energies in the etheric body of the
majority of the population contributes greatly to the general
'malaise' and the level of neurosis of the modern world.
• If you are living in a cold country, there is no reason why you
should not mix some warm water with the cold. If the water is too
cold, it makes it more difficult to open your etheric.
• If you have to get rid of something particularly noxious in your
hands, you can potentize the process by alternating cold and hot
water.
• In the chapters dealing with protection, you will read how one
can intensify the release effect by exhaling with open mouth and
throat friction while excreting unwanted vibrations.
• Think of implementing this exercise with the running water:
- each time you come home
- each time you have the feeling of having a 'dirty' energy in
your hands
- after giving a massage or a therapy session of any kind
- after completing a session on your computer, or any other gear
that has a lot of static electricity attached to it
- after dowsing earth lines (see Chapter 12)
- after practising channel release
- before meditation, not after. (The same applies to showers, one
of the reasons being that meditation generates a valuable
internalization of your energies. Running water, on the other
hand, rather tends to attract the energy towards the exterior, just
under the skin, thereby counteracting the benefits of your
meditation. So showers and baths are better taken before you
meditate than after.)
- before going to bed
- whenever else it feels appropriate
• As you become more capable of releasing negative energies into
the water, you can implement the same process while washing up,
taking a shower, bathing in a river or the ocean. Waterfalls in
particular have a spectacular etheric vibration.
A note on the circulations of the meridians
The Heart Constrictor, Heart and Lung Meridians are described by
the acupuncture tradition as flowing 'downwards', meaning from
the trunk to the hand. But the Chinese archetypal man is
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64
represented with his arms upwards, the hands above the head. So
the energy of these three meridians moves towards the sky in the
Chinese pattern.
According to acupuncture, the direction of the flow remains the
same whether you hold your hands up or not.
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65
Chapter 5 - Seeing
5.1 The path of the seers
Seeing is one of the highest functions of the human consciousness.
It is an extraordinary experience, allowing you to fathom your
own vastness. There are different levels of vision, of course. Our
constant purpose will be to avoid the lower astral clairvoyance of
the trance-medium psychics, and to step into the 'vision of Truth'
or vision of the Self, which is like an explosion of all the
limitations of the mind.
A key difference between these two forms of vision is that in the
former, there is attachment to the pictures that flow into the
consciousness. To reach the vision of Truth, on the other hand, one
of the secrets is to become less interested in what you see and to
focus more on the process of seeing, letting your state of
consciousness expand through seeing. You then reach a completely
different perception and understanding of the universe. One can
never completely transpose what is 'seen' into words, because the
experience transcends the common logic of the mind. That is why
true vision feeds the Spirit and dispels the false conceptions of the
soul. 'Seeing' should not be regarded only as a tool for perception,
but as an experience which has a transformative value in itself.
Seeing is an expanded modality of consciousness. It is an
'ontological amplifier', meaning a way to be more. If you think of
clairvoyance in these terms, you have much less chance of being
deluded by the illusions of the lower astral vision.
One of the common mistakes of beginners is to expect to see
spiritual realities with their ordinary vision and their physical
eyes, as if suddenly, auras and spiritual beings were to be added to
the pictures of the world that are received through the mind. This
cannot work, because the usual mental consciousness is precisely
that part of yourself which is blind. To start seeing, the first
thing to do is step out of the mind.
That is why one of the constant reminders given in this chapter
will be: if you want to 'see', stop looking. In other words, stop
processing and analysing images as you are used to doing with your
mind. Do not 'try' to see. For when you try, you operate from
66
your mind. Let yourself shift into a different mode of
consciousness, and allow 'something else' to happen.
As usual, the main secret of success lies in three words: practise,
practise, practise...
Our first aim will be to achieve some breakthroughs out of the
images of our usual mental consciousness, and to get glimpses of
non-physical realities. In order to fulfil this purpose, a series of
techniques involving eye contact will be introduced. These can be
practised either with a friend, or alone, facing yourself in a
mirror. Both have their advantages, and I would recommend you
practise both ways.
5.2 Concerning the practices of eye contact
• The two people should not sit too far from each other. A
distance of 90 centimetres (3 feet) can be considered ideal. If you
cannot touch the other's face with the palm of your hand, you
know you are too far. If you face a mirror, your image should
appear to be approximately the same distance away, or slightly
more.
• It is always preferable to have a blank wall as a background and
to use candles instead of electric light.
• The eyes of the two people should be at the same height, so if
one is taller than the other, cushions should be used for
adjustment.
• You may be on a chair instead of sitting on the floor, but your
back should be straight. To facilitate a free circulation of energies,
do not lean against a wall or the back of a chair.
Do you know how to recognize a god from a human being
(according to Hindu scriptures)? The gods are immortal -
something that may not be immediately obvious when you see
them. So the Sanskrit texts describe a few other signs. Unlike
human beings, the gods never cast a shadow. Another sign is that
the gods are able to gaze at the Sun without harming their eyes.
Interestingly enough, I have seen more than one schizophrenic
patient who suddenly started to gaze at the Sun in the middle of a
mystical delirium, and damaged their eyesight very badly.
Schizophrenia is a fascinating disease in which it is not unusual for
patients to relate genuine information about spiritual worlds. Some
of their perceptions are quite real, even though they are neither
integrated nor understood, and they take place in the context of a
general disintegration of the personality.
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Now, the point is that, being human, if you look at the Sun your
eyes will suffer irreversible damage extremely quickly. Sunglasses
do not make any difference. No form of gazing should ever be
practised on the Sun, under any circumstances. Similarly, eye
contact should not be practised outside during the day, to avoid an
excess of light harming your eyesight. Anyhow, you will get the
best results indoors, in semi-darkness. If you practise during the
day, it is best to dim the room by drawing the curtains.
Similarly, it is recommended that you do not gaze at the Moon
without blinking, for its luminosity may also be harmful to your
eyesight. But there is no restriction at all when it comes to gazing
at stars. It is actually an enlightening practice that fills the soul.
• Mirrors... will amaze you! How can it be possible for a physical
surface to reflect not only your physical image, but also your
aura, faces of yourself in the past and future, and faces of your
guides? Chogyam Trungpa, the well-known Tibetan master, once
told a friend of his that in deep meditation, he could see the realm
of Shambhala in his mirror. And the mirror is one of the basic
elements of initiation in western schools of esotericism.
The ancients must have had a sense of the mysterious nature of
mirrors, since the word mirror came from the Latin mirari.
Mirari means both to wonder and to admire, and is the source of
other words such as marvel, admire, miracle... and mirage!
5.3 Reconnection with the space
Before starting any of the practices of eye contact, and in
between them, reconnect with your eye in the following way:
Sit up with your eyes closed.
1) Start implementing the throat friction (section 2.1).
2) Become aware of the vibration between the eyebrows, and
connect it to the throat friction. Keep on building up the
vibration between the eyebrows for about 1 minute.
3) Become aware of light or colour patterns between the eyebrows.
Connect the throat friction to the light. Continue for 1 or 2
minutes.
4) Become aware of the purple or dark space (the background of
the lights and colours). Remain in the space for 1 or 2 minutes.
This set of instructions (to be practised with your eyes closed) is a
shortened version of the third eye meditation described in section
3.7. As always, 'the eye' refers to the third eye, between the
eyebrows, and not to the physical eyes.
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5.4 Eye contact with focus in the eye and 'seeingness'
Let us begin with the first two parts of our triple process of
vision, which will be described in full in section 5.13.
Sit with your back straight, in front of a friend or a mirror,
according to the principles described in section 5.2.
Before starting, spend 3 minutes with your eyes closed doing a
reconnection as in section 5.3.
Then open your eyes. Direct your gaze at your friend's eyes or at
your own if practising in front of a mirror.
Part 1: motionless focus in the eye
Become aware in the eye, between the eyebrows, and remain
extremely still. Work at reaching a motionlessness that is more
than a sheer absence of movement. By being focussed in the eye,
everything becomes still inside yourself, as if your energy was
coagulating. You can feel yourself becoming denser.
The stillness of eye contact is a 'connected stillness', in which you
can feel the energy of your eye resonating with the vibration all
over your body. Hence the feeling of higher density or higher
frequency experienced in your body.
Once you reach the climax of stillness, you get the feeling that
even if you wanted to move, you could not. Indeed, if you really
wanted to, you could. But to do this you would first have to get
out of the experience.
Throughout the book, whenever the expression 'the eye' is used, it
refers to the area between the eyebrows. But be careful that by
'focussing between the eyebrows', it is only meant that you should
remain aware of that area. It is not meant that you should direct
your eyeballs as if trying to look in between your two eyebrows.
The eyes are not directed anywhere in particular, and actually the
more you can forget about them the better. This applies to the
third eye meditation (Chapter 3), in which the eyes are kept
closed, as well as to the exercises of eye contact.
Part 2: awareness of 'seeingness'
(Part 1 and part 2 are to be implemented simultaneously.)
Here comes a big secret of the seers, which can create major
openings of perception. Usually when you direct your attention to
an object with your eyes open, you look at the image and its
different parts. And then the various elements are processed by
your conscious mind. Some techniques aimed at developing mental
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acuity even train you to pick up more and more details from an
image. For instance, a drawing of several objects is presented to
you. A limited time of a few seconds is allotted to scan it. And
then you are supposed to list as many objects as your mind was
able to retain consciously. All this is related to what could be called
the 'mental mode of vision', vision from the ordinary mental
consciousness. As discussed before, this layer is precisely the part
of yourself which is blind to spiritual worlds. In order to become
able to see auras and spiritual beings, it is necessary to switch off
this mental mode of vision.
For this purpose, there is one secret: instead of looking at any of
the details of the image, become aware of the fact of seeing.
Usually, with the mental mode of vision, you would be busy
looking at the image and finding out whether its content is round
or square, green or yellow, pretty or ugly, and so on. But now,
with the non-mental mode of vision, you are doing something
completely different. You drop any interest in the components of
the image. Instead, you become aware of the fact of seeing. In
order to see, you stop looking. You shift your attention from the
object of perception to the process of perceiving. Instead of
watching the object, you start watching the action of seeing, the
fact of seeing or 'seeingness'.
To summarise practice 5.4
This first level of eye contact consists of two parts, implemented
simultaneously while sitting in front of a friend or a mirror:
1) absolute motionlessness with a tight focus in the eye, blinking
as little as possible
2) awareness of the fact of seeing, or 'seeingness', instead of
looking.
Duration of the eye contact practice: start with 3 to 5 minutes.
Increase gradually up to 15 minutes or more. To end the practice,
follow the steps indicated in the next section (5.5).
If seeingness is a problem...
Throughout this book we will refer to a triple process of vision,
of which part 1 is the motionlessness in the eye, and part 2 is
seeingness. The third part has to do with the heart and will be
introduced in section 5.13. If you find it difficult to relate to
seeingness, please remember the following points:
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• The perception of seeingness does not have to be precise. A vague
sense of the fact of seeing is good enough for the process to
unfold.
• If even a vague awareness of the fact of seeing can't be reached,
then forget about it temporarily and proceed in the following
way. Become aware of the fact that there is an image in front of
you. Forget about the friend or the mirror and any details of the
image.
Instead of looking at the image, try to feel it.
Replace 'seeingness' by 'feeling the image instead of looking at it'
and continue the process. (Note that it is not only your friend's
image that you are supposed to feel but also the space around him
or her.)
Things will clarify by themselves as you progress.
• More detailed explanations about seeingness will be given in
section 7.12.
5.5 To end any practice of eye contact
Close your eyes.
Rub your hands together for a few seconds.
Place the palms (not the fingers) on your
closed eyes, touching the face, so that they
are in contact with the skin and not held
away from it. Let the warmth of the palms
penetrate into your eyes. Remain in this
position for half a minute or more, enjoying
the healing effect.
During this phase, you will have momentous
experiences of inner light.
Then click the fingers and open your eyes.
Exchange impressions with your partner.
Then start again. Do a reconnection with your eyes closed for 2 or
3 minutes (section 5.3). Then open your eyes and resume eye
contact in the same manner.
Tips, tricks and traps
• What exactly takes place when you achieve absolute
motionlessness, and when you get the feeling that your energy
coagulates? Among other things, the connection between the
etheric body and the physical body is slightly loosened. The etheric
body is the layer of the vibration. Whenever you feel the
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vibration, you feel the etheric. When you reach a total stillness
that is more than an absence of movement, it means that your
etheric body is not so caught into the physical body any more. It
is partly freed, and more available to perform certain functions
independently of the physical body. Therefore you can feel a very
intense vibration all over.
• In traditional Chinese medicine, it is said that 'the eyes are the
gates to the heart', and that 'the heart is the gate to the shen'. In
our context, this last phrase can be translated: 'the heart is the
gate to the Higher Ego'. While applying your palms to your eyes,
could you feel the heat reaching into your heart? Try to enhance
this transfer of warm energy that feeds the heart.
5.6 To blink or not to blink
In Hatha-yoga there is a technique called trāṭaka, in which one
gazes at a very minute object such as a point on a wall, or the
flame of a candle. It is said by the Sanskrit texts that the practice
should be continued until tears are shed, and then all sorts of eye
diseases will be cured. I have often heard Indian masters comment
that during trāṭaka the tears released many 'poisons' and negative
energies that had accumulated in the eyes. As a physician, I have
found this technique very helpful in correcting certain defects of
eyesight, if applied early enough. Quite a few people were able to
get rid of their glasses by doing this exercise. It worked for people
who had not been wearing them for too long, no longer than a
few months or maximum one or two years. In particular, trāṭaka
works wonders on teenagers.
All this is to tell you that if you reach the stage where your eyes
are burning and tears start rolling down your face, you should not
worry but rejoice. According to the ancient science of Hatha-yoga,
this will release tensions from your eyes and prevent several
diseases. Anyway, use common sense: increase duration gradually
and do not force the practice. There is no spiritual value in
hurting yourself.
Tips, tricks and traps
• As always, when you deal with energy, there are days when it is
easy and effortless to remain without blinking for long periods.
Other times, it is as if you had a cloud of toxic smoke just in
front of your eyes, and it seems impossible not to blink every 2
seconds. The best approach is to accept that energy is whimsical
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and changing by nature, and to go on practising without placing
too much importance on these fluctuations.
5.7 A few common experiences while practising eye
contact
• The image gets distorted. Sharp outlines become blurry.
Don't resist, let the image become more and more distorted. In the
beginning, you have to let go of the physical image before nonphysical
images can be perceived. So let the physical image become
distorted and blurry. Flow with what comes, even if it doesn't
make any sense. You can analyse the experience later. If you try to
think about it while it happens, it just won't happen.
At a more advanced stage it will become possible to get both the
non-physical and the physical image at the same time. But in the
beginning you have to let go of the sharp outlines and let the
image become blurry before you can see astral colours and halos.
• The person in front of you seems much further away than he
actually is.
This is a pretty good sign. It indicates that you are shifting from
the vision of the physical reality into the vision of subtle realms.
As soon as you reach the perception of the astral world, distances
take on a very different aspect. It is not uncommon for the
person sitting just in front of you to appear to be far away.
Whenever this happens, you know that what you are seeing is
beyond the physical plane.
• Seeing colours
In the astral worlds, light does not come from a sun, or from any
external source such as lamps. Objects and beings can be seen due to
their own luminosity. They shed their own light. They appear as if
they were 'made of colours' in an atmosphere of semi-darkness.
However it should always be kept in mind that the astral colours
are quite different from the physical ones. It is therefore
virtually impossible to describe them precisely, due to the lack of
references in our material environment. A major difference is that
astral colours often seem to be a mixture of different hues. But
the different components of an astral colour do not mix at all,
unlike what can be observed in the physical world. In the physical
world when two colours mix, each disappears and an intermediary
shade occurs. For instance, you mix blue and yellow and you get
green. The blue and the yellow have disappeared and there is only
green left. In the astral, the situation is quite different: colours
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seem to be made of thousands of tiny hyper-brilliant points. For
example, there is a 'blue-yellow-green' in which shiny blue points,
yellow points, and green points can be seen, intricately woven.
Astral colours are rarely completely uniform. Their great variety
and amazing beauty is beyond any comparison with what is
observable in the physical world.
Due to the dissimilarity of the nature of astral and physical
colours, it is not necessarily relevant to try to label an aura 'green'
or 'blue' or 'yellow'. That is why one should be careful when one
reads in certain books that green in the aura indicates a particular
emotion, blue another, and so on. By oversimplifying, one can
sometimes end up making completely meaningless statements.
• The room in which you are practising appears darker, the
quality of the colours changes.
The background of the astral colours is what occultists have called
the 'astral light'. It is the basic colour that pervades the astral
space, and it is no different from the purple light you see when
you meditate in the eye. It could also be called 'astral darkness', for
it appears as a semi-darkness, definitely dimmer than the daylight
of the physical world, but of a different nature than the darkness
of our nights. The physical darkness is an absence of light. The
astral darkness glows, hence the expression 'darkness visible' used
in the Masonic tradition.
When you are practising eye contact and the room around you
suddenly appears darker, even though it may be the middle of the
day, it means you are seeing the astral light. You are shifting
from the perception of the physical world into that of the astral
space. Very often, this will be accompanied by a different
perception of the colours: they will appear to you as indicated in
the previous paragraphs.
The astral space is neither unique nor uniform. As you advance in
your meditation and your travelling, you learn to jump from one
astral space to another. One of the references that allows you to
find your way is the quality of the colours and the basic hue of
the astral light, both of which vary depending on which space you
are in. In certain regions of the space the background of astral
light is milky, in others it is darker, nearly black, or even greenblue
as under the ocean. Even before reaching the actual stage of
travelling, you can observe these variations in the colour of the
space when you meditate in your eye.
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The marvel is that it becomes possible, when your 'seeingness' has
matured, to behold several of these layers at the same time. At a
certain stage in the opening process, you even become able to
simultaneously encompass the physical world in your vision.
In this explosion of colours, the magnificence of the universe
becomes such that it forces your heart open. Beauty is sometimes
at the limit of what is bearable. Life becomes a constant wonder,
and great fun.
On the other side of the astral worlds is another world, called
devachan by western occultists and svarga-loka or world of the
gods by the Hindu tradition. In this world, again a completely
different range of lights is perceived. These are to the astral
colours what day is to night.
• Another face appears in place of your friend's face.
This is one of the most common experiences while practising the
techniques of eye contact: The face of the friend sitting in front
of you disappears and another face can be seen instead. If you are
practising alone, facing a mirror, it is your own face that
disappears and is replaced by another. These faces correspond
mainly to four possibilities: 1) a spirit guide 2) a past life 3) a subpersonality
4) an entity.
1) Spirit guides: it is quite common for your spirit guides to
manifest in this way to the person with whom you are practising.
As you progress, you will gain the capacity to consciously manifest
your guides upon your own energy in a way that will be visible to
others, even if their clairvoyance is minimal. Eye contact is
actually one of the most simple and direct ways to get to see spirit
guides.
A variation of this experience often happens while listening to a
talk given by a spiritual teacher. If you become very motionless,
stop blinking, and practise our method of vision while gazing at
them, you will sometimes see their face disappear and be replaced
by that of their teacher or some higher being behind them.
2) Another possibility when the face changes is that you are seeing
an image of yourself or of the friend you are practising with, in a
past life.
3) The face can also be a sub-personality of yours or of your
friend. Altogether, this is not so different from what was
described in 2), if one considers that sub-personalities have been
built up by the circumstances of past lives.
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4) The face can also be that of an entity, meaning a presence
attached to you. An entity can be regarded as a non-physical
parasite. Just as some physical parasites can stick to different
parts of your body, likewise some non-physical energies or
presences can get attached to your energy.
5.8 What to do with your experiences
Here is a point that may save you a lot of trouble, if you
understand it fully: I strongly recommend you do not try to
analyse too much of what you see. As you practise these exercises,
different visions will come to you. You have to accept that it is
going to take a certain amount of time before you can really
understand what they mean. It takes a great deal of inner
experience and esoteric knowledge before one can safely interpret
the significance of visions.
For instance, when you see another face during eye contact, it is
very difficult in the beginning to know whether it belongs to the
other person or to yourself. Apart from the fact that you may
well be confused and mistake an entity for a spirit guide (which is
extremely common these days), never neglect the possibility that
what you see on your friend's face could be a projection of yours.
If you try to analyse things too quickly, making sense of
everything, you run the risk of being completely deluded.
Visions, and experiences in general, are to be digested deeply, on
the level of the soul rather than mentally evaluated. It is much
wiser to take some pencils and make drawings of your visions, for
instance, than to worry about them. Let the experiences work on
you rather than trying to work out what they mean.
Remember that our emphasis is on the fact of seeing, or
'seeingness', not on the content of the visions. When practised
according to the principles expounded in this book, seeing is a
breakthrough into higher regions of consciousness. It creates
breaches in our facade of mental rigidity, and it nurtures the
growth of the Higher Self through sophisticated mechanisms of
inner alchemy. In this respect, the content of the visions is
secondary.
If you practise along these lines, putting more emphasis on the
fact of seeing than on the content of the visions, then you won't
build castles in the astral, and your spiritual journey will be safe.
Ultimately it is the pure light of the Spirit that will allow you to
discriminate and move towards Truth, even in the most confusing
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circumstances.
5.9 Watching the graspings of the mind
Get ready for eye contact (section 5.2). Remember that you are too
far from each other if the palm of your hand cannot reach your
partner's nose.
Do a reconnection (section 5.3) for 2 or 3 minutes.
Practise eye contact as described in section 5.4:
1) Become aware between the eyebrows. Use your focus in the eye
to become completely motionless, and to blink as little as possible.
2) Instead of looking at any of the details of the image in front of
you, become aware of the fact of seeing, or 'seeingness'. (If
seeingness is not yet clear, just 'feel the image' instead of looking
at it.)
The natural tendency is that the physical image gets altered. The
outlines become blurry, new colours appear, and all kinds of
modifications of the image take place, as described in section 5.7.
As you go on practising, a mechanism of prime interest can be
observed. From time to time, something seems to retract inside
yourself. Suddenly, the (non-physical) colours or faces are lost, the
outlines become sharp again and you are back in the physical
image. It is as if something pulls you back, like a part of yourself
that cannot cope with the expansion of the vision. In a split
second, you are back into your usual mode of perception of
physical reality. The halos have disappeared and the contours have
become clearly delineated again.
Now you don't have to close your eyes but you need to relax, go
back into the eye, and start the process again. Build up the
motionless focus in the eye, become aware of the fact of seeing...
and slowly you shift back into the 'non-mental' mode of vision:
the image becomes blurry again, halos and/or colours reappear.
Another interesting finding is that when you are in the expanded
mode of perception (the 'non-mental' blurry image), your vision
becomes peripheral and embraces the whole field in front of you.
You see much more of what lies on each side of the image. But as
soon as you are brought back into the sharp clear-cut image, your
vision becomes selective again. Your perception becomes limited to
some details in the middle of the image, and you lose sight of
what is on the sides. You are only in touch with a fraction of the
field.
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To summarise: this practice consists of going into the eye and
being very motionless, without blinking, and letting the image
become blurry. Then observe how 'something inside' retracts every
so often, and projects you back into the image with sharp outlines.
Relax, let yourself shift into the blurry image again, in which
altered colours may appear... until 'something inside' contracts
again, and then it is like falling: you abruptly lose your
perception. Try to become more and more aware of the nature of
that 'something' which makes you fall out of your state of
perception.
Continue the practice for 5 to 10 minutes or more.
Then close your eyes. Rub your hands. Place your palms on your
closed eyes, as indicated in section 5.5.
5.10 Grasping is the nature of the mind
What is the part of yourself that retracts when you do the
exercise indicated above (section 5.9)? It is the layer of ordinary
mental consciousness, which corresponds to the astral body of
Clairvision language (and of Steiner's language), and to the manas
of the Indian tradition. It is a layer that functions through
reaction. The Tibetan masters use an excellent word to describe
this: grasping. Watch how your mind usually operates. A thought
comes to your mind, about your fridge, for instance. Immediately
the mind grasps the thought and chains another to it. It is like a
reaction to the previous thought. You think, "I have to go to the
supermarket, to fill up the fridge." And then another grasping
takes place, another thought is linked to the former one: "I also
have to go to the bank"... and so on. A chain of thoughts is woven,
taking you far from the original thought.
During eye contact, your own experience will confirm how
relevant the word 'grasping' is, to describe this quick little
reaction that makes you lose your perception of the blurry image,
and projects you back into the sharp physical image. When this
happens, you definitely feel a kind of little contraction - not a
physical one, but a grasping of the mind.
Subtle perception requires letting go, and that is exactly what the
ordinary mental consciousness, the manas-mind, cannot cope with.
The mind has to grasp, that is its very nature. The manas-mind
grasps you back into the physical image, just as a muscle of the
physical body becomes tense in a situation of emotional stress.
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It is essential that you keep watching this process carefully. Go
back into the focus in the third eye and into the seeingness, let
the image become altered again... and suddenly, another grasping
of the mind takes place, and all the perceptions disappear. When a
master like Sri Aurobindo says that a silent mind is a prerequisite
for higher yogic experience, nothing else is meant than an
eradication of those graspings. The more you watch the graspings,
the more they will appear to you as something superimposed on
your natural perception.
5.11 Which state of perception is the altered one?
Let us develop this last point, because it has immense repercussions
on the way we see the world.
When people start working on themselves, they usually have an
implicit preconception: They consider that the world, the way
they see it every day through their mind, is the 'real one'. And
they infer that auras and spiritual beings can be superimposed on
this vision of the physical reality, through some sort of additional
perception.
Now this exercise (5.9) demonstrates exactly the opposite. It is the
sharply outlined mental image that appears as an artificially
constructed reality. As soon as you let go of the graspings of the
mind, the image explodes into a fluid multitude of astral colours.
It is not when you see auras, spiritual beings, etc. that something
is added - it is when you see through the mind! The mind
contracts and adds a facade of rigid contours on top of the fluid
reality. The more you get to see the functioning of your mind,
the more you realize that it is a kind of cramp. Release the cramp
and the sharp physical reality disappears: the non-physical worlds
open to you.
All this is a gradual process of course, it is not going to happen
overnight. The mind is tenacious, it is not going to let go of you
too quickly. Nevertheless, when you do the work, a new perception
slowly develops. From time to time, you find yourself just 'being'.
It is a very simple and innocent state of consciousness. And in this
simplicity, auras and other worlds are perceived.
Most of the time you are caught in the usual functioning of the
mind. But as you advance, the mind appears more and more like a
crust on top of your being. It becomes obvious that the mind is
something added, superimposed. It is only by clinging and grasping
that it can operate. So you automatically start to regard the sharp
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images as something artificially constructed by the mind, and the
fluid level of lights and colours as the reality behind it. You begin
to be more and more interested in seeing the world the way it is,
and not the way your mind makes it up.
One of the reasons I insist on this point is that it is not a
philosophical theory but something you can observe easily in
yourself, through the practice. As you keep on working with
exercise 5.9, the graspings of the mind will become more and more
obvious to you.
Here we arrive at one of the essential characteristics of the
Clairvision approach. Our purpose is not to add a few tricks to our
ordinary mental layer in order to reach clairvoyance. Our purpose
is to use perception to reach a pure condition of consciousness,
beyond false appearances and out of the graspings of the manasmind.
The whole process aims at letting go of mental constructions
and returning, as in the 24th hexagram of the I Ching, to the
uncorrupted stage.
5.12 Atlantean climax
Close your eyes and start with a reconnection (section 5.3): throat
friction, awareness of the vibration in the eye. Then remain aware
of the purple or dark space for about 2 minutes.
Open your eyes and implement the double process of vision
described in section 5.4:
1) awareness between the eyebrows, with total stillness
2) simultaneously, instead of looking at any of the details of the
image in front of you, become aware of the fact of seeing, or
'seeingness' (or, more simply, feel the image instead of looking at
it).
For this particular practice, it is essential that you blink as little
as possible, or preferably not at all. You have to build up a strong
pressure between the eyebrows, and reach a climax of stillness. The
two go together well: the more you are focussed in the eye, the
more you can become motionless. And the more you let your
energy densify (or 'crystallise') through your positive immobility,
the more you can build up the vibration in the eye.
Become more and more motionless. Build up the pressure between
the eyebrows until your body feels as solid as a statue - a statue
of vibration. The state slowly develops into a connected
motionlessness that gives the feeling of a great accumulation of
power, as if your eye was receiving the force of a column of
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energy falling straight onto it.
The more you can cease the movement of every single cell of your
body, the more your eye can receive the force, and the denser and
more intense the vibration becomes.
Go on building up the vibration for a few minutes. Explore the
climax, the maximum power you can receive in your eye through
utter stillness. Let the power shine through your body.
Then close your eyes. Rub your hands. Place your palms on your
closed eyes as indicated in section 5.5.
Tips
• During the last periods of the Atlantean age, through practices
which bore some similarity to this one it was possible to achieve a
great mastery over the powers of nature. Now the wheel has
turned - yesterday's methods no longer yield the same results.
Several laws of nature operate in a completely different way and
you could not reach the same mastery using these techniques. Some
new paths of initiation have to be followed.
• When practised with the intensity it requires, this exercise
builds up a state of consciousness with two main characteristics.
One is an extraordinary feeling of power. The second is an obvious
lack of compassion. This state is devoid of any feeling or empathy
for the person sitting in front of you. These two aspects
summarise the condition of late Atlantis quite well, and are part of
the reasons for its fall.
• This practice is not to be implemented on a regular basis. It is
just indicated here to give you a glimpse of past states of
consciousness. It will be especially interesting to practise the next
technique (5.13) just after this one, to realize the difference in
vibration and atmosphere brought about by the heart feeling.
5.13 Eye contact, full technique: the triple process of
vision, including the vision of the heart
Sit with your back straight, facing either a friend or a mirror.
Close your eyes and do a short reconnection, as described in section
5.3: build up the vibration in the eye, breathing with the throat
friction. Then become aware of the purple or dark space. Remain
in the space for 1 or 2 minutes.
Then open your eyes and resume the process of vision we described
in section 5.4:
Chapter 5 - Seeing
81
1) Remain focussed between the eyebrows and very motionless.
Blink as little as possible. Let your energy 'crystallise' through
stillness.
2) Instead of looking at any details of the image, become aware of
the fact of seeing, the seeingness. If no seeingness can be perceived
yet, just feel the image instead of looking at it - the whole image
of the scene in front of you, not only your friend's image. Sense
it in a 'tactile' way, feeling the pressure of the (non-physical) light
on your eye.
To this we now add a third component to be implemented
simultaneously with the first two:
3) Become aware of your heart centre, in the middle of the chest.
Try to feel the other person (or yourself in a mirror) from your
heart. Don't pay any attention to the image even though your eyes
are open. Just be focussed in your eye and feel your friend from
your heart.
Your focus is now double, in the eye and in the heart. But it is not
a split. Rather, it is like anchoring your eye in your heart. You are
not looking from both the eye and the heart, you are seeing from
the heart, through the eye.
Tips
• This is our triple process of vision: the eye, the seeingness, the
heart. You can play with these three elements and emphasize more
of one or another, depending on the energy flow of the moment.
• Where is the heart centre located, exactly? Whenever you wish
to localise a chakra, it is preferable not to be too precise. A chakra
is not a point but rather a zone, an area of vibration. So one could
say that the middle of the heart chakra area is roughly in the
middle of the sternum (around the acupuncture point Conception
17), and also behind it, inside the chest. But do not look for it too
much. Rather become aware in this area, and let the feeling arise
by itself. As long as you remain in the middle of the chest and do
not go astray in the solar plexus, everything will be fine.
• This approach introduces a mode of perception that is quite
different from the usual way the mind operates. Usually the mind
tries to cognize the world by grasping details from the images in
front of us, and drawing conclusions from them. In this case, the
perception is based on the feeling of the heart, independently of
any of the features of the image. You tune into the person in
front of you and establish a connection from the heart on a
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82
totally different level than that of the mind. You see him beyond
his image.
• This technique shows a clear contrast with the previous one
('Atlantean Climax'). A softness is now introduced that was
previously absent. In terms of the occult history of our planet,
the appearance of this empathy of the heart which was so
painfully lacking in our Atlantean ancestors has a lot to do with
the manifestation of Christ Consciousness.
Chapter 5 - Seeing
83
Chapter 6 - Channel Release 2
6.1 The work on the etheric body
Before resuming our exercises on the channels of the etheric body,
let us dwell on some of the aims of this part of the work. You
must have noticed, and there is nothing surprising about this, that
a strong awareness of the third eye tends to reinforce the
vibration along the channels. The more you are in the eye, the
more you feel the vibration in the meridians. This is very logical
since the eye is the main switch of the body of energy. By
operating the switch, you activate circulations of vibration all over
the body.
But the opposite is also true! When you awaken a strong vibration
in the meridians, you can feel the vibration in your eye better.
Often, just by rubbing your hands and stimulating the tingling
energy in them, an immediate boost can be felt in your eye. The
eye appears more tangible, denser, more 'crystallised' and more
active.
There is a profound mechanism behind this simple finding. The
etheric layer is not a bunch of disassociated patches, it is a
coherent layer. It has a unity. All its parts are much more directly
interconnected than the different parts of the physical body.
Because of the fluid nature of the etheric body, any wave of
vibration in one of its parts will resonate with the whole layer. So
when you shake or rub your hands and awaken a strong vibration
in them, the whole of the etheric layer is stimulated and,
therefore, so is the etheric part of your third eye. One of the
results will be a boost to your clairvoyance.
The third eye is made of different parts. One of its parts belongs
to the astral layer, another to the etheric layer. It is only when all
the parts are fully built and communicating with each other that
your clairvoyance becomes reliable. Imagine a one metre long pipe.
If even one millimetre of this pipe is blocked, then neither water
nor air can flow through. You can't even see through the pipe.
This is why, in order to develop your vision of non-physical
realms, it is so valuable to proceed in this work of developing the
etheric body. While implementing the practices on 'seeing'
84
(Chapters 5 and 7), it is a good idea to do a few channel releases at
the beginning and in the middle of the sessions.
Later on, in the process of building the body of immortality,
channel release will be resumed on a higher mode. The purpose will
then be to infuse the consciousness of the Higher Self into the
etheric layer, in quest of the Life-Spirit or trans-substantiated
etheric body, one of the cornerstones of the glorious body. The
present phase of channel release, even though humble, has a value
in preparing for these summits to come, by initiating a connection
between the etheric and your conscious self.
6.2 Zu shao yang, 'Gallbladder' Meridian
For channel release on this meridian, rub a
line from the outside of the foot to the
side of the head, via the side of the leg,
thigh, hip, ribcage, chest (in front of the
shoulder), and the side of the neck. Search
in the area indicated on the figure. As
with all the meridians mentioned so far,
this one is bilateral, meaning it has its
exact equivalent on the other side of the
body.
Once you have explored this yourself, have
a look at the notes in Appendix 1 for more
details on the path and the connections
made by this meridian.
6.3 The full technique of channel release on a meridian
Sit in a meditation position with your back straight. If you are on
a chair, don't prop against its back.
Keep your eyes closed throughout the practice.
Rub your hands together for a few seconds. Then remain
motionless with your palms upwards. Become aware of the
vibration in your hands and in your eye. Implement the throat
friction to amplify the vibration and to connect the palms with
the eye.
Make your hand straight and firm. Start rubbing along the line of
the meridian with the bridge of the palm (see figure in section
4.5).
Remain very motionless and become aware of the vibration in the
line you have just rubbed. Connect the vibration in the line with
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85
the vibration in your eye. Use the throat friction to intensify the
vibration and the connection.
Then try to become aware of the natural flow of the vibration
along the line. Once again, connect this flow with your third eye
and amplify it with the friction.
Try to locate the path of this meridian beyond the area you have
rubbed. Sense the energy flow in the hand (or in the foot). Then
sense it in the trunk; then the neck; then the head.
Then try to enhance the flow by contracting the 'little hands' of
energy all along the line (section 4.10). The more you progress in
channel release, the more this phase becomes the essential one.
Repeat the whole sequence on the same meridian on the other side
of the body.
As you become more familiar with the process, you can also choose
to rub both meridians quickly, one straight after the other. Then
become aware of the vibration and implement the whole sequence
on both sides at the same time.
Tips
• Being able to move the vibration consciously by contracting the
'little hands of energy' requires patient work. You have to persist,
persist, persist... until the feeling becomes clearer and more
tangible. Practise daily, contracting the 'etheric muscles' around
the line, squeezing the energy into movement, and these 'muscles'
will grow stronger.
• In channel release you first perform an action, such as rubbing a
meridian. An after-effect follows: a phase of 'connected stillness'.
It is during this phase that the most important part takes place -
the movement of energy, the wave. The rubbing or any other
movement is like throwing the net. Allowing the movement of
energy during the motionless stage is like catching the fish.
In the motionless phase, the art is to allow the energy to be set
into motion. You are not doing anything. But still, it is not enough
to do nothing for the wave of energy to arise! A yin skill has to
be developed, like a passive magnetism, that allows the energy
movement to take place. You can't do it, you have to let it happen.
But if you don't do anything, nothing will happen either.
In Taoism, the example is given of a woman who seduces a man.
She does not do anything, she just 'is'. And the man is drawn to
her. But on the other hand, if the woman does nothing, meaning
if she does not unfold her yin power, well, nothing happens! The
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86
man won't be attracted. The very same applies to the capacity to
create waves inside your body of energy. You can't do it but still
you have to let it happen. I would suggest that you dwell on this
principle and explore it during your practices, for it leads to vast
realisations.
In Sanskrit one of the names for energy is śakti. It is described as
a highly female principle. If you practise your exercises as you
would dissect a rat in a lab, if you are too serious and cold, the
Force or śakti will find you boring and won't show herself to you.
Approach the energy as you would approach a lover. Be warm and
playful and the Force will dance with you. Put all of yourself into
the exercises, for she gets bored with lukewarm lovers. She only
gives herself to those who give themselves to Her.
6.4 Variation without rubbing
Instead of rubbing the meridians with the
palms, it is also possible to use the tips of
your five fingers, with hardly any physical
contact.
Join the tips of your five fingers and rub
them very gently against the palm of the
other hand, to stimulate the vibration
inside them.
Then instead of rubbing the meridian,
move the joined tips of the fingers along it. Use a very gentle
touch, hardly in contact with the skin, or even 1 millimetre away
from the skin. But put all of yourself into this connected touch.
As your sensitivity develops, you can also use only one of your
fingers to stimulate the line energetically. An interesting finding
will be that each finger awakens different qualities of energy
inside the meridians.
6.5 The sound of the vibration
Implement channel release as described in section 6.3 on a meridian
of your choice.
Then in the motionless phase that follows the rubbing, while
connecting with the vibration along the line try to perceive the
(non-physical) sound of the vibration.
Don't listen with your ears, listen with your eye, between the
eyebrows! There is something like a buzzing or the sound of a
high-voltage power line, that goes with the vibration.
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87
Remember our major key to reach clairvoyance: feel the light
instead of trying to see it. It is often when you stop trying to see
that vision arises. In the same way don't try to hear the buzzing
sound, try to feel it.
Be very motionless in your eye. As usual, do not concentrate. If
you try too hard, nothing will happen. Cultivate an open attitude.
Tips
Wherever there is a vibration there is a sound. The sound is like
the higher aspect of the vibration. Actually it would be more exact
to say that the vibration is the lower manifestation of the sound.
Truly the sounds come first and then they densify into vibrations.
As this perception develops, the whole universe can be felt as a
vast melody, materialising itself by the densification of sounds
into denser and denser vibrations. This will lead you to a different
reading of the first verses of the gospel of John: "In the
beginning was the Word; and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God... Through Him all things were created."
6.6 Zu tai yang, 'Urinary Bladder' Meridian
Rub from the back of the heel to the back of
the head via the back of the calf, thigh,
buttock, and all along the side of the spine
and neck (see figure in Practice 6.6). After
fully exploring this path of energy you can
have a look at the notes in Appendix 1 for
more details.
More than ever the name 'Urinary Bladder',
given to this meridian, is a hoax. The
functions of zu tai yang are multiple and
vast, and certainly not limited to the bladder.
In particular, along the sides of the lumbar
and thoracic areas of the spine, one finds on
t h i s m e r i d i a n s e v e r a l e x t r a o r d i n a r y
acupuncture points that govern some highly
spiritual functions. If you become more
expert at channel release it will become possible to enter those
points and explore their functions from inside, and not merely
from books.
Chapter 6 - Channel Release 2
88
Practice
Repeat the whole sequence of section 6.3, this time on the Urinary
Bladder Meridian.
• This meridian is located on the side of the spine, not on the
spine itself. Do not rub the spine itself. Rubbing is a gross and
preliminary way of moving vibration. The energy of the spine is
extremely subtle and can easily be disturbed through manipulation.
It is always preferable to activate the vibration in the spine from
inside, rather than through massage or physical contact.
The more open you become, the more I would recommend that you
avoid having your spine touched too readily by practitioners of
various kinds. If some therapeutic touch has to be implemented,
such as osteopathy for instance, I recommend you choose somebody
who really knows what they are doing, not only in their own
discipline but also in the field of energy.
6.7 The cosmos in your hands
From here, we'll go through a few practices showing how the
hands can be used to attune yourself to spiritual connections.
Practice: Positioning the hands to modify the palm energy
Sit with your back straight. Keep your eyes closed throughout the
exercise.
Phase 1: hanging/resting
Rub your hands together for 10 to 20 seconds. Then become
motionless with your palms upwards.
Don't rest your hands on your knees, keep them suspended in the
air, palms upwards.
Become aware of the vibration in your hands and in your eye.
Implement the throat friction to connect the palms and the eye
and to intensify the vibration.
Then keep the same awareness and friction but rest your hands on
your knees with the palms still facing upwards.
Sense the vibration in your hands and compare with the former
position, when the hands were in the air. Stay half a minute with
your hands on your knees.
Then lift up your hands again, back to the original position (palms
upwards). Compare the difference in the vibration in the palms.
Keep going from one position to the other, each time comparing
the quality of energy.
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Phase 2: palms up, palms down
Sit up with your back straight, palms upwards. Do not rest the
hands on your knees. Take half a minute to strengthen the
vibration in the hands and its connection with the eye, by
implementing the throat friction.
Then turn the palms downwards. The hands are still suspended in
the air and you are still breathing with the friction, but now the
palms are facing downwards.
Sense the quality of the vibration in your hands and all over your
body.
Then go back to the first position, with the palms upwards. Sense
the quality of energy in your hands and compare with the former
position.
Sense the general feeling inside yourself and see if you can
perceive any difference with how you felt in the former position.
Keep swapping from one position to the other, sensing, and
exploring your feelings.
Tips
• The more you become attuned to the perception of energy, the
clearer it will become that it's not only the quality of vibration in
your palms but the energy in your whole body, that varies from
one position to the other. The 'flavour inside', the atmosphere of
consciousness, changes completely. In the beginning these
variations may seem subtle but as you progress they will become
more and more tangible and distinct.
This leads to a science that aims at inducing particular states of
consciousness by tuning into different positions of the hands and,
more generally, of the body. Elements of this lore have been
incorporated in the rituals of all the traditions you encounter on
the planet. For instance, these 'gestures of energy' are called
mudrā in Sanskrit.
As you may judge for yourself while going through these
exercises, it is only if your perception is open that the gestures of
energy will yield their real effects.
Let us explore two of these very traditional gestures.
6.8 Gestures of energy
Sit with your back straight. Rub your hands for a few seconds and
then become motionless with your palms upwards.
Become aware in the eye, aware in the hands.
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Breathe with the throat friction.
Become aware of the vibration in the hands and the vibration in
the eye.
Sense the general quality, the 'flavour' of your energy.
Phase 1
Join your hands as in a prayer
p o s i t i o n . B e c o m e a w a r e o f t h e
vibration in your hands and in the
whole body. Stay half a minute in that
position.
Then go back to the original position,
palms upwards.
Keep on alternating from one position
to the other, comparing your energy. Observe what disposition of
consciousness arises when your hands are joined.
Phase 2: jnāna-mudrā
G o b a c k t o t h e
position with your
palms upwards (not
r e s t i n g o n y o u r
knees). Engage the
throat friction to
a m p l i f y t h e
v i b r a t i o n a n d
connect the hands
and the eye. Spend
o n e m i n u t e
r e f o c u s s i n g .
Then bend the index fingers and join them to the thumbs, in the
position called jnāna-mudrā. Use the throat friction to amplify the
action of the gesture. Continue sensing the variations of energy
inside yourself for 1 or 2 minutes.
Then resume the position with the palms upwards. Spend half a
minute amplifying the vibration with the throat friction. Feel the
quality of your energy.
Then take jnāna-mudrā again. Go on alternating the positions,
exploring the changes inside yourself.
How does your energy vary?
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How does your consciousness vary?
Phase 3: the action of jnāna-mudrā on the lungs
Keep the same gesture of energy, jnāna-mudrā, as described in
phase 2. Always keep your eyes closed. This time become aware of
the vibration in your lungs at the same time. Go from one
position to the other, and try to feel how the vibration varies
inside your chest.
Then try with jnāna-mudrā (index and thumb joined) in the right
hand only and the other hand flat. Awareness in the eye,
awareness in the chest. Continue for half a minute. Compare the
energy in each of the lungs.
Then swap. Take jnāna-mudrā with the left hand and keep the
right hand flat. Become aware of the vibration in the eye and in
each side of the chest. Compare with the former position.
Keep on going from one position to the other for a few minutes,
exploring the variations of energy in your body in general and in
your lungs in particular.
Tips, tricks and traps
• The 'prayer' gesture of phase 1 often gives the feeling that your
energy is more concentrated, more vertical, like a column.
• I have noticed with many people that this jnāna-mudrā (literally,
'gesture of knowledge') seems to have a direct action on the energy
of their lungs, which fits rather well with the fact that in
acupuncture, the Lung Meridian is said to terminate on the thumb.
Students often describe the vibration in their lungs as more
intense or denser, reinforced, more closed... when the gesture is
implemented.
Now, a riddle: some people seem to find it easier to breathe when
they do jnāna-mudrā. Others, on the contrary, find it a little
more difficult to breathe. How can this be so? The answer is in
section 6.13, at the end of this chapter.
6.9 The energy between your hands
Sit up with your back straight, your hands facing each other in
front of you. At no point in this exercise do the hands touch,
there is always space between them.
Become aware of the vibration in your eye and in your hands.
Breathe with the throat friction to amplify the vibration and
connect the hands to the eye.
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Then become aware of the vibration in
the space between your hands.
Start moving the right hand slowly
towards the left, as if the right hand
was pushing the left one through
vibration. The left hand moves to the
left, gently repelled by the pressure
of the vibration coming from the
right hand. Go on moving the two
hands to the left very slowly.
Then change direction. The left hand
starts moving to the right, repelling
the right hand through the vibration.
Keep on using the throat friction to
intensify the vibration between the hands.
After moving the two hands to the right extremely slowly for 1
minute or so, change direction again. Start pushing to the left,
repelling the left hand with the vibration coming from the right
one.
Repeat the practice in a vertical
direction, with your right hand above
and your left hand below. Move the
hands up and down very slowly,
r e p e l l i n g o n e w i t h t h e o t h e r ,
following the same method. Maintain
the throat friction. Watch the field of
vibration between the two hands.
Then extend this exercise to various
directions of space.
6.10 Cosmic antenna
Sit up with your back straight, your
hands facing each other as in the last
exercise. Then turn the palms upwards. Sense the difference in
vibration in your hands and in your eye as you go from one
position to the other.
Then place your hands and arms in different positions in space,
any position that comes to you. But move slowly and consciously.
It is like a 'motionless movement' that takes you from one position
to another.
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In each position, a different 'frequency' of vibration is generated
inside yourself. Your field of consciousness changes flavour,
depending on the orientation of your hands. Go on playing with
your arms for a few minutes, exploring how different positions
create different inner states.
Then stand up and start moving your whole body, slowly, going
from one motionless position to another.
• This practice introduces a completely different approach to
movement. Each position is now perceived in its relation to the
cosmos. You do not move your body only to perform particular
actions but to tune into different frequencies of energy and
consciousness. The body becomes like a cosmic antenna. Once you
step into this state of perception, you realize how rich and vast
you are. Can you imagine how magical it is to dance according to
these principles?
• This practice is excellent to work on inner sound. If you are nd
as you change positions. Tune into the sound of the vibration in
the middle of the head, behind the point between the eyebrows. A
real melody will be revealed to you as you go on dancing - the
harmony of the spheres.
6.11 Ribcage practice
Let us resume channel release with an invigorating exercise.
Sit with your back straight.
Be aware of the vibration in the eye. Breathe with the throat
friction. Then implement a vigorous rubbing of the ribcage with
the palm. Rub vertically all around the ribcage for half a minute.
Then use your fists to stimulate the back of the ribcage on the
sides of the spine. But do not rub the spine itself.
Then remain motionless and allow the movement of energy.
This exercise gives good results in dissipating the anxiety that
always tends to accumulate around the solar plexus. It also helps
you gain more conscious control of your diaphragm. As well, it is
quite efficient in waking you up in the morning or at any other
time.
6.12 Zu yang ming, 'Stomach' Meridian
To work on this meridian, rub the dorsal side of the foot, then
the front part of the ankle, leg, knee, thigh, to the inner part of
the groin. Then on a line from inside the groin to the nipple.
Chapter 6 - Channel Release 2
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Repeat the complete practice of channel
release (section 6.3) on this meridian.
So now we have experienced six meridians:
the three yin of the hand and the three yang
of the foot. In order to develop your
perception of the vibration and to reinforce
your etheric layer, I suggest that you keep on
practising channel release on these six
meridians every day for a few months. As
explained at the beginning of this chapter, it
is not so much a local effect that is sought
from these particular exercises but rather a
general awakening of your etheric layer,
which will foster the opening of your vision.
(Keep in mind the drawing presented here
does not show the actual path of the Stomach Meridian, but the
area where you rub in order to find the meridian. For the precise
path, see Appendix 1.)
Readers with a special interest in etheric energy and healing are
referred to acupuncture manuals for more on the meridians.
Applying your perception of energy to acupuncture points will
give spectacular results. It will be like activating little chakras all
over your body, creating all sorts of movements of energy. Start
with points that are big and easy to find, such as Colon 4, Colon
10, Colon 11, Stomach 36...
6.13 Jnāna-mudrā and the energy in the lungs
Suppose there is too much energy in the lungs. By doing jnānamudrā
you add even more. Therefore, it may suddenly become a
bit more difficult to breathe. Adding energy where there is a
fullness makes symptoms worse. This is a very basic principle of
Chinese medicine.
On the other hand, if there is a deficiency of energy in the lungs,
by adding more vibration you make the person feel better and able
to breathe more easily. This very sensitive test may help you
detect whether there is a little too much qi or not enough in your
lungs.
Try this exercise a few times, leaving a few days between each,
before you make up your mind.
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95
Chapter 7 - Seeing (2)
7.1 The use of darkness
In A Separate Reality, Don Juan teaches Carlos Castaneda how to
make use of darkness. When the latter asks what one can use it
for, Don Juan answers that 'the darkness of the day' is the best
time to 'see'.
We have been conditioned to rush to the light switch or a torch
every time we have to find our way in the dark. In many cases,
you can manage very well without a light. Pretend you are a cat.
Switch on to 'cat-mode'. Rely on your instinct. And, of course, be
very aware in the eye. All sorts of objects have a glow of energy
around them at night and some are actually quite easy to see. It is
typically one of those perceptions that most people miss, simply
because they never think of trying, and not because it is difficult
or advanced. For instance, if you walk on a dirt path in the
countryside at night, you will often discover that the path glows
when you look at it from your third eye. It is a valuable exercise
to try finding your way without artificial light. You can also
rediscover your flat at night, or in 'the darkness of the day'.
Explore.
7.2 Use more candles and oil lamps, less electricity
Whenever possible, use candles (or oil lamps) instead of electric
lights. In the natural light of candles, you will have much easier
access to the vision of auras.
There are some simple reasons why electric lights are not
conducive to the opening of perception. The light coming from a
light bulb appears to us as continuous. But in reality that is not
the case. Electric lights work with a 50 hertz alternating current.
This means the light turns on and off many times per second. The
process is quick enough to cheat your conscious mind, but
subconsciously this frequency is registered. It has an action on
your brain.
Imagine the electric light was turned on and off every half second
so that you could see the light pulsate. What would the result be?
Quite painful! You would have to close your eyes, or at least you
would have to make a mental formation, like a screen, to protect
96
yourself. This means you would have to close off to a certain
degree.
When you start using your eye, you realise that a similar process
takes place, unconsciously, with the electric light going on and off
many times per second. It is 'hard' on the brain. Deep inside,
something has to close off in order to protect yourself.
Of course the general direction of perception is one of opening.
We have already discussed how when trying to 'see', one of the
main obstacles is this tendency of the mind to retract (section
5.10). You are starting to see an aura for instance, and suddenly
your mind gets surprised, or startled, or very interested...
Instantaneously, this reaction of the mind creates a closing off. In
a fraction of a second your perception is lost and you have to start
reopening again. Electric light creates a similar process of closing,
at a deep unconscious level.
But let it be very clear that I am not advocating getting rid of all
the electric lights in your house! For instance, when reading or
writing, use electric light of course. Insufficient light would tire
your eyes, which will not help you become any more clairvoyant.
The Clairvision techniques have been designed for those who are in
the world, and presently you can't be in the world without using
electricity, computers and so on.
The point I want to make is that when you practise eye contact or
other techniques of seeing, it is far better to use candles. Apart
from that, there are many circumstances such as eating, or
talking with a friend, when we use electric lights out of habit and
not because we really need them. So we could take advantage of
those occasions to give our brain a break, and to practise the
techniques of vision. This is one of the secrets of success in
spiritual practice: use more and more of your daily activities to
put the processes into practice. Integrate your work of opening
with the simplest actions.
Yet in the long run it should become a concern that electric light
is stressful. It would be a blessing for humankind if somebody
could invent a form of artificial light that was softer on our
unconscious perception.
7.3 In quest of the ultimate wall rendering
When trying to see an aura you will get much better results if the
wall behind the object or the person is blank, and white, or
painted in a very light hue. If seeing is really one of your essential
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preoccupations in life, you should consider redecorating the walls
of the rooms in which you spend most of your time. Certain
varieties of white paint and wall renderings have a magic effect:
whenever someone stands in front of them you automatically start
seeing halos of light.
7.4 The white shawl
When practising the techniques of eye contact regularly with the
same friend(s), it can be a good idea to wear a white shawl that
covers your clothes. (No need to cover your head, just wear it on
your shoulders.) It makes it significantly easier to see auras and it
attracts all sorts of good vibrations. On the contrary, black or
dark clothes make the task of seeing more arduous. Wear the
white shawl when practising alone too, in front of the mirror.
For the shawl you can use cotton, silk or linen... but no synthetic
fibres. Wear it whenever you meditate, and it will concentrate the
energy of your meditation. The shawl will slowly be charged with
a protective power that will become more and more tangible: each
time you put it on your energy will be activated and you will feel
a certain wellbeing. Do not let anybody else use your shawl, or else
all your work may be lost in a few minutes.
I suggest a shawl because it is extremely simple to make: there is
nothing to sew, you just need a pair of scissors! (A size of 1 metre
by 2 or 2.5 is usually suitable.) But a dress could also be designed.
Monks' robes were originally designed to play a role in energy
concentration and protection, even though this knowledge came to
be lost. Maybe it's time for a new generation of 'garments for
energy' to be designed.
Before resuming the techniques of vision, I would suggest that you
re-read the advice given in Chapter 1.
7.5 The basic technique for seeing an aura
The following procedure is one of the most direct ways to see an
aura, or to get in touch with somebody's guides.
You can sit in front of each other at the regular eye contact
distance of about 90 centimetres, or allow a bit more space between
the two of you, as in a normal conversation situation. Even better:
start in an eye contact position, and then repeat the practice in a
more relaxed and casual position, comparing your results.
Close your eyes for 1 or 2 minutes, breathing with the throat
friction. Operate a reconnection with the space in the eye by doing
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a short third eye meditation as described in section 5.3.
Then drop the friction and open your eyes. The technique consists
of gazing 1 or 2 inches above the head of the person whose aura
you want to read, and implementing the triple vision process as
described in section 5.13:
1) Become aware in the eye, and motionless. Blink as little as
possible.
2) Do not look at any details of the image. Become aware of the
fact of seeing, or 'seeingness'. If seeingness remains a mystery,
just feel the image instead of looking at it.
3) Feel the other person from your heart in the middle of the
chest.
Remain totally still, absorbed in this triple process.
After a few minutes, start the throat friction. Connect the
friction with the image.
When you finish, rub your hands. Put the palms against your eyes.
Let the warmth reach inside and heal your eyes.
Tips
• You will be amazed how the perception of halos is suddenly
enhanced as soon as you connect it with the throat friction. It is a
beautiful demonstration of the amplifying effect generated by
this friction.
• To do an aura reading, the trick is to tune into the spiritual
beings above the person's head and let them do the reading for
you. Tune into their presence and let them monitor your vision.
7.6 Where exactly should you look while doing eye
contact?
Nowhere, since to see, the secret lies in not looking. But still the
question arises: where to place your gaze, especially at the
beginning of the practice before your perception shifts into the
space. You can either:
- gaze between the eyebrows of your partner
- gaze at one of his/her eyes
- try to gaze in front of you without 'touching' any physical part
of your partner with your eyes.
Experiment with these different options, going from one to
another. After some time, the physical image disappears, so it
doesn't really matter which one you choose. When focussing on the
eyes of the person in front of you, it sometimes happens that
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everything becomes blurry but the eyes remain clear, or the face
changes but the eyes remain the same. Whatever possibility you
explore, it is preferable for both people to practise the same way
at the same time.
Don't forget that 'focussing between the eyebrows' never means
making your eyeballs converge as if trying to look in that area. It
only means that you should remain aware of your third eye.
7.7 Channel release from time to time
While working on these techniques of clairvoyance it is valuable to
implement a few channel releases from time to time. As explained
in section 6.1, this will stimulate your whole etheric body, thereby
giving a boost to the etheric layer of your third eye. In particular
(but not only) if your progress seems blocked, don't hesitate to
have recourse to a few channel releases.
7.8 Working on auras
Here are a few suggestions to work at developing your perception
of auras.
Start with a reconnection: close your eyes, breathe with the throat
friction and build up the vibration between the eyebrows. Then
tune into the light and become aware of the dark purple space for
1 or 2 minutes.
Then open your eyes and start the triple vision process:
1) motionless focus in the eye
2) seeingness
3) the feeling from the heart
The idea is to remain very quiet inside, absorbed in this triple
process, and to ask the friend in front of you to say or think of
different things, to see if any modification of his/her aura can be
perceived as a consequence. You can place your gaze one inch above
his/her head, or between his/her eyebrows, as you prefer. Of
course, be careful not to look too much, otherwise you won't see
anything.
• Ask your friend to repeat "No, no, no..." for one minute or so.
It should be a no with intention, a no that really means no. During
this time, feel the quality of the light around him/her.
Then ask the friend to repeat "Yes, yes, yes..." with intention, for
one minute. Feel the light and compare the quality of energy.
Repeat once or twice with "no" and then with "yes".
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• Repeat the same procedure, but this time the friend should be
aware both in the eye and around the navel while saying no. Ask
your friend while saying yes:
- to be fully aware in the heart, for a minute or so
- to think of death for one minute
- to think of a happy thing that could happen in his/her life
- to become aware of a sad emotion
- to think of something that usually creates irritation or anger
Ask your friend to become serene again.
Don't forget to do a bit of 'palming' (applying your palms to your
closed eyes, figure in section 5.5) at the end of each session, or
each time you take a short break with your eyes closed.
Tips
You can repeat the same exercise while asking your friend to think
of:
- a loved one
- someone he/she dislikes
- someone who is dead
Various other possibilities will come to your mind as you explore
the practices. Once you have digested the chapter on ley lines you
can also watch the aura of your friend while he/she is sitting:
- on a noxious crossing of earth lines knowingly
- on a noxious crossing of earth lines unknowingly
- on an energy well. (If you find a real well, as soon as the person
stands on it the action on the aura is immediate and quite
remarkable.)
7.9 Aura testing
It is also interesting to ask your friend to hold different objects
and substances and to watch the modification of the aura
accordingly. Ask the friend to tune into the object. You can hold
the object in front of the heart, and then in front of other parts
of the body, and see if you notice any difference in the aura.
Here are a few suggestions:
- a copper vessel
- a big iron tool (but not one that you hold by a wooden handle!)
- the tip of a thermometer (which contains the metal mercury)
- an aluminium saucepan
- different cans of food
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- packets of frozen foods
- plates with different foods
- a variety of herbs, drugs, medicines, homoeopathic remedies
Basically, try anything - ordinary and extraordinary.
Tips
• The technique known as 'muscle testing' is based on the idea that
the force of a muscle is stronger when you think of something
true or when you hold a substance that is 'good' for you. On the
contrary, the muscular force is supposed to drop if you are
holding the wrong remedy, or if you think of something that is
untrue or not beneficial to your health.
For instance, patients are asked to hold different bottles with
their left hand, in front of their heart, and to stretch their right
arm horizontally. The practitioner pushes the hand down to test
the strength of the deltoid (shoulder muscle).
The technique has its limits, and I don't think it is reasonable to
try to make it a universal method of knowledge, as some seem to
be doing. Yet it is a surprising fact that the resistance of the
muscle is sometimes significantly stronger or weaker, depending
on what the person holds or thinks of.
As soon as you begin perceiving auras you will discover that clearcut
differences can be sensed in a person's energy when they
think about different things or while they hold different
substances. To perceive this you don't even need to 'see' auras, just
feeling them is enough.
7.10 Vata, pitta, kapha
Ayurveda, or traditional Indian medicine, is based on recognising
the interplay of three principles in the body:
- vata, or wind (all that moves in the body)
- pitta, or fire/heat principle
- kapha, or water and earth principle, force of inertia.
In Ayurveda, diagnosis rests on discerning which of these three
principles (called the three doshas) predominate in a patient.
Patients are classified accordingly as 'vata', or 'pitta', or 'kapha', or
'vata-pitta' (if the two doshas are over-active, vata more than
pitta), or 'pitta-vata', or 'kapha-vata', and so on. The Ayurvedic
method of reaching this diagnosis is to take the pulse.
I was once working with an Ayurvedic physician in Calcutta, and
we had designed a procedure (it was a game, really) in which he
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would take the patients' pulse, and I would look at their aura.
Before he gave his diagnosis, I would write mine on a piece of
paper. Then we would compare. This physician was quite famous,
seeing up to one hundred patients a day, which is not so
uncommon in India. This proved to be a respectable 'sample' to
make up our minds on how often we agreed. And we used to come
up with the same diagnosis in more than ninety percent of cases.
Now don't think you need to reach an advanced stage to do that
yourself. You hardly need to be able to see auras, just to get a
sense of them. Sit in a cafe in a busy street, go into the triple
process of vision and look at people passing by. Try to determine
if they are 'vata' or 'pitta', etc. Preferably get a friend to do the
same with you, so you can compare your findings. You will be
surprised how often you agree.
7.11 Trans-verbal communication
Sit in front of a friend and prepare for eye contact.
Plug your ears and implement the triple process of vision.
Then your friend says 5 sentences about himself. Each sentence is
repeated 3 times. Each time the friend starts with a new sentence,
he indicates the corresponding number with his fingers (sentence
1, sentence 2...) One of the sentences is false. Your task is to find
which of the sentences is the false one, with only the aura as a
reference.
Repeat the exercise, this time without plugging your ears. To
discern which statement is false, try to rely only on the aura and
not on what you hear.
Tips
• An enlightening conclusion is that you will sometimes get more
success by not listening at all and just looking at the aura, rather
than by analysing the content of the messages.
• Don't hesitate to cheat and give more than one false statement,
to add to the sport!
7.12 More about seeingness
Let us take a few examples to understand more about 'seeingness'.
Western esotericists, such as Rudolf Steiner and Max Heindel, have
described how in the distant past human beings had a very
different way of perceiving warmth. A kind of baggy organ was
on top of their heads. Nowadays this area corresponds to the
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fontanelle, a soft membrane between the two parietal bones, on
top of infants' heads. If we go back a long, long time through the
archives of the memory of nature, we find that the Earth was full
of volcanoes and areas with hot gases and plasma. Human beings
had to have some sense of direction to avoid being roasted alive.
The baggy object on top of their heads fulfilled this function: it
was the very primitive organ of warmth.
In terms of evolution, what has happened? The baggy part was
reintegrated inside the head and slowly became our present pineal
gland. And now our sense of warmth is no longer localised in a
particular organ but distributed all over the body. Thus we can
observe how a sensorial function develops over a long, long period
of time. It first depends on one organ and is restricted to it, and
then it slowly spreads to the whole body. We now do not feel
warmth through any localised organ but through our whole body.
Steiner foresaw that our present senses will all follow a similar
evolution process, so there will be a time when human beings can
smell, see, hear, taste... with their whole body and not only
through a particular organ. It is as if the localized organ is there
to teach us about one particular sense, and when the lesson is
complete, we no longer need the organ.
As the sense of warmth is much more ancient, and therefore more
integrated into our being, it is easier for us to recognize what
warmth is, independently of any object. We can grasp the pure
quality of warmth. Let us develop this as an analogy to understand
more about seeingness.
In the beginning it may be difficult to get a sense of seeingness,
meaning the fact of seeing, independently of any image in
particular. We understand what it is to see a tree, to see a light or
even to see an aura... but the naked seeingness may not be so
obvious.
Roughly speaking, the feeling of warmth is to heat what
seeingness is to the perception of images. We don't have to refer
to concepts such as 'hot as a fire' or 'hot as the Sun' or 'hot as the
stove' and try to understand what is common to them. We can just
go to the essence and recognize warmth, independently of any
source of heat. It is a similar quality that has to be developed with
vision in order to discern the seeingness.
In other words, for perception to take place, 3 elements are
needed: 1) a person who perceives 2) an object to be perceived 3) the
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process of perception.
This applies not only to seeing auras, but to any physical
perception such as hearing, smell.
At this point in time, in the daily life of most human beings the
first and third elements have been lost, meaning the consciousness
of the perceiver and of the process of perception. When seeing a
tree, for instance, there is a mental recognition of the tree, but
there is no awareness of who sees the tree, nor of the process
through which the tree is perceived. An assimilation takes place
with the object of perception. To become aware of seeingness
means to become aware of 3) the process of perception.
Our real purpose in this work is to find the Self, we are not using
techniques just to reach perception. We are using perception to
reach the Self.
If you have two oranges and a cherry in a basket, the cherry can
easily be hidden by the oranges. But if you take the two oranges
out of the basket, the cherry becomes conspicuous. One orange is
the object of perception, the other is the process of perception -
and the cherry is the Self-awareness of the perceiver. When you
separate the seeingness from the object of perception you achieve a
stage of discernment which is similar to removing the two oranges
from the basket. That is why you may have such big flashes of
inner awakening when you become aware of the seeingness -
sudden inner explosions in which the Self is revealed.
As you keep on practising our triple process of vision, your
seeingness will gradually develop. In the beginning it seems faint.
But as you exercise it, it turns into a more and more tangible
quality, becoming as clear and obvious as the perception of
warmth. One could also compare the seeingness to a muscle that
has not been used for a long time. Reactivating the muscle is likely
to be slow in the beginning: you hardly feel it, you don't even
know when it is contracting or not and its contraction is quite
weak. Once you have done the work, activating your seeingness
becomes as clear and tangible as contracting your biceps. Actually
this part of the process of inner alchemy is akin to body building
- not physical, but subtle body building.
Now, there is a paradox. When you want to become aware of
seeingness, what do you do? You make sure that you are not
looking at anything in particular, that the content of the image
does not matter to you. In other words, you take one of the two
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oranges out of the basket. You get rid of the object of perception.
And then the second orange (seeingness, the process of perception)
becomes conspicuous.
But once your seeingness has evolved, you operate in a different
way. You tune into an object or a person, you 'switch on' your
seeingness, and automatically you 'see'. It does not matter at all
whether the object of perception is just in front of you or on the
other side of the planet or even on the other side of the galaxy.
You see. And often something uncanny happens: you may well
decide to close your eyes, in order to see something just in front
of you better.
Then the following question arises: how can you be completely
disinterested in the object, if you use the seeingness as a means of
seeing the object? The key to this paradox is: once you have
reached that stage, you are not looking at the object with your
mind anymore. The mind has become silent and you are seeing
from a much deeper and truer layer of yourself. A basic
prerequisite for higher perception lies in the silence of the layer
of ordinary mental consciousness.
That is why in the beginning the advice is: do not look at the
object, do not get too interested in it. Otherwise your mind will be
activated, since you have been conditioned for so long to operate
from only the mind. As soon as you are interested in something
your mind automatically tries to grasp it. Therefore it is better
not to think of the object at all, in order to allow the process of
vision to unfold.
Often in the beginning, you will have an interesting experience.
You will start seeing an aura or a different face, or a spiritual
being. Then suddenly you realize that you are seeing something...
and you instantaneously lose the perception. Why? Because your
mind has reacted. You have suddenly become interested,
frightened, or whatever; in other words, a grasping of the mind
has taken place. You are suddenly looking from the mind again.
And it's quite logical that you should lose the perception, since
ordinary mental consciousness is completely blind by nature. When
the perception process is engaged, it will go on as long as you do
not react and will stop with the first grasping of the mind.
Your perception always has the limits of your capacity not to
react.
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7.13 Intermezzo: which eye are you?
Some people argue that one of your (two) eyes corresponds to your
deeper and true Self, while the other is the mirror of your
surface personality. As our philosophy is never to believe anything
but to try to perceive for ourselves, let us not say which eye is
supposed to be which. The following exercise is designed to let you
find out if there are any differences in what you can perceive
from each eye.
Sit in front of each other and get ready for eye contact.
Remember that your back should be straight and that if you
cannot touch the other's nose with your palm, you know you are
too far away. (This exercise can also be conducted by yourself,
using a mirror.)
Practise a short reconnection in the eye, with your eyes closed (as
explained in section 5.3).
Open your eyes and start gazing at each other's right eye. Your
focus is on your friend's right eye and your friend is focussing on
your right eye. To avoid any confusion I recommend that you both
raise your right hand at the beginning of the practice, to be sure
that you are both gazing at the right eye.
Then start practising the triple vision process (section 5.13) with
the motionless focus between the eyebrows, the awareness of
seeingness, and the feeling from the heart.
Continue the practice for about 5 minutes. Then close the eyes and
take a short break, warming your eyes with the palms of your
hands as described earlier.
Then open your eyes and show each other your left hand to avoid
any confusion. Start gazing at each other's left eye, and repeat the
practice for a few minutes.
Close your eyes and cover them with your palms, warming up
your heart (section 5.5).
Exchange impressions with your friend.
• After having tested this exercise with hundreds of people, I do
not believe a word of the assumption that one of your eyes
mirrors your Higher Self and the other one the lower self. (By the
way, it is the right one that is presumed to be the Higher Ego.)
Still, it is fascinating to see how different somebody can look,
depending on which eye you are focussing on. You obviously
connect with quite different sub-personalities through each of the
eyes, and there is definitely more than one sub-personality related
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to each eye. It is interesting to remember that the word 'person'
came to us, via the Latin, from an Etruscan word, persu, meaning
mask!
7.14 The yes/yes technique
Here is a beautiful and devastating technique. Truly, what is it
that prevents you from being a seer? Of course, you have to do
the subtle body building, to apply the techniques... However, your
organ of subtle vision must be operating already, since from time
to time you may have a one-second-flash, a blessed little moment
in which 'you see!' And then it is lost and it sometimes takes
months before another such flash takes place.
So... what? Barriers, mental screens, lazy habits of self-protection
of the mental consciousness, thick conditioning like a wall around
us - in reality these are the blocks.
The following technique is designed to help you drop the
barricades of the mind. It requires that someone sits and practises
with you; you can't implement it alone in front of a mirror.
Sit in front of each other with your back straight. If you can't
touch each other's nose with the palm of your hand, you know you
are too far away.
Close your eyes and do a reconnection. Implement the throat
friction. Build up the vibration in the eye. Then spend 1 or 2
minutes in the purple space.
Open your eyes. Implement the triple process of vision (focus in
the eye, seeingness, and feeling from the heart, as explained in
section 5.13). Try to receive the other one, to take him into your
heart.
Then one says, "Yes..." and the other, when ready, answers, "Yes."
Both go on saying yes, one after the other.
This practice is a heart practice. You can't cheat. If you leave any
barrier or restriction, the other will feel it immediately, and the
miracle won't happen. You have to say a yes that is really a yes,
and put more and more meaning and opening into it. The yes must
come from the heart. You have to work at deepening each yes a bit
more, until you reach a total acceptance of the other person. And
then, go further. Give a yes that is an acceptance of the whole
world through the person in front of you.
Continue the practice for as long as you want. Then take a good 2
or 3 minutes, covering your closed eyes with the palms of your
hands, and letting the warmth of the hands reach the heart
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through the eyes.
Tips
• You will be surprised to see how many people utter a yes that
truly means 'no'. Or they mechanically say yes after yes in a way
that simply does not mean anything at all.
Put all of yourself into this practice, and after a few minutes, you
will hardly be able to utter anything. The word seems to come
from far, far away. This can lead to an intense experience of your
own truth.
• There is no limit to how long you should continue this practice
- hours if you want.
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Chapter 8 - Practices on the Etheric Body
Let us now proceed with the continuation of the channel release
techniques. Having gained, in Chapters 4 and 6, more familiarity
with the vibration and its circulations, we are now moving to the
next stage: the awareness of the whole body of energy, or etheric
layer.
It is preferable not to implement the exercises of this chapter
right at the beginning of a session. Start with a few channel
release practices to warm up your etheric body.
8.1 The etheric layer as a whole
Sit in a meditation position with your back straight. Keep your
eyes closed throughout the practice.
Rub your hands and become motionless for a few seconds, with the
palms upwards. Become aware of the vibration in the hands and in
the eye. Use the throat friction to intensify the vibration, and to
connect the eye and the hands.
Implement channel release on a few meridians, as indicated in
section 6.3.
Then become aware of the vibration in all the lines on which you
have worked before simultaneously: awareness of all the meridians
at the same time. Connect everything to your eye through the
friction.
Then become aware of the layer of the vibration as a whole.
Awareness of all that is vibrating, inside and around your body.
Let your perception be completely absorbed in the vibration.
When you feel the vibration all over your body, and nothing other
than the vibration, it means you have completely shifted your
awareness from the physical into the etheric body.
8.2 The life ether
Repeat practice 8.1: get into the perception of the etheric layer as
a whole. Remain completely motionless, feeling the vibration all
over your body.
Then try to discern: where is the life force in this vibration?
What is it that keeps your physical body alive? Tune into the life
principle.
110
Tips
• Even though the whole of the etheric body has to do with life
force, one of its layers is more specifically related to life: the life
ether. Occultists have traditionally discerned four layers in the
etheric body. These are: the life ether, the chemical ether, the
light ether and the warmth ether. The word 'layer' can be
confusing because the four ethers are not stacked on top of each
other like the layers of a cake. Rather, they permeate each other,
like water permeates a sponge.
The four ethers can be divided into two groups: two lower and two
higher. The life and chemical ethers are referred to as the lower
ethers and the light and warmth ethers as the higher ethers.
Presently, in most human beings the two higher ethers are not
very developed and still need to be cultivated.
• The life force is indeed a most precious energy. No laboratory of
our scientific civilisation has ever been able to synthesise one
single living organism! Connecting specifically with the life ether
is a very special experience. Words alone cannot really describe the
flavour of consciousness associated with it. The life ether appears
like a universal principle, certainly not confined to the limits of
the physical body. If you try to trace its origin, your
consciousness will be taken to mysterious places. Following the
ethers to their source is a powerful technique of clairvoyance and
of travelling.
• Try to repeat this practice at different times of the day, such
as in the morning and in the evening, to feel if any difference
can be detected in your life energy. Also have a look at it when
you feel very tired.
Even though it would be a bit premature to spend a lot of time
trying to discern these four layers just now, it is good to keep in
mind this fourfold division of the etheric. It will make it easier to
discern them as your perception develops.
It is an interesting fact that we always find it easier to perceive
what our mind can understand. Perceptions for which we have no
pattern of explanation at all are more likely to be missed,
especially when they are faint, as in the beginning.
On this topic, a curious anthropological observation: various videos
are shown to certain South American natives who have always lived
in a jungle, isolated from industrial products and civilisation. One
of the videos shows a square, like the empty frame of a window,
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rotating on itself. These jungle people, living in an environment
that is totally devoid of squares, simply cannot see the square
turning. They only see lines moving. Having no squares in their
mental background, they completely miss the rotation of the
empty window frame.
It appears to me that something similar often occurs when people
start to be clairvoyant. They miss many perceptions due to the
lack of background which would allow them to integrate them. If
something comes into their field of perception which they cannot
relate to any pattern of understanding, they simply do not notice
it. Therefore a certain knowledge of the 'geography' of the nonphysical
spheres and of a few basic astral phenomena may prove to
be of great help in the opening of perception.
8.3 Exploring different qualities of the etheric
Become aware of your etheric layer as a whole as described in
practice 8.1.
Remain completely motionless and try to discern different
qualities in the ether.
Then explore various parts of the body and compare the difference
in quality of vibration from one part to another. If you have been
able to get a sense of the life ether, for instance, see if it can be
found equally in every body part.
First compare the limbs and the trunk. What difference can you
feel between the vibration in the limbs and in the trunk?
Then compare the trunk and the head. How does the vibration in
the head differ from that in the trunk?
Then explore body part after body part. Is the vibration more
intense in some of them?
How does the quality of the vibration differ from one organ to
another?
Do some organs or body parts give you the impression of teeming
with life force? Do others feel empty of it?
Tips
• Traditionally, the liver is the organ of the etheric and of the
life force - hence the connection between the words 'live' and
'liver' which can be found in several languages. Do you agree?
• If you are suffering from any physical disorder, do include the
corresponding area in the exercise.
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• It can be interesting to repeat this practice in different
circumstances, for instance one or two hours after a heavy meal.
8.4 Exploring the limits
Become aware of the layer of the vibration as a whole, as in
practice 8.1. How far does the vibration extend beyond the limits
of your physical body?
Is the vibration inside your physical body similar to the vibration
outside it? What difference in quality can you feel between the
vibration inside and outside?
Continue exploring the vibration outside the limits of your
physical body. Does it have sharp limits? Does your vibration
mingle with that of any object around you?
8.5 Exploring the circulations of the etheric
Become aware of the layer of the vibration as a whole, as in
practice 8.1. Suppose you had the task of re-inventing acupuncture.
Explore the layer of the vibration, searching for circulations. Look
for anything feeling like a flow inside the body of vibration.
Start with the whole body. Become aware of the body of energy as
a whole and look for circulations.
Are some of these circulations more intense than others? Are
there big and small ones?
Qualitatively, can you perceive differences between various flows?
Do some of them feel warmer, and others cooler? Do some
communicate a feeling similar to one of the four elements (fire,
water, air or earth)?
Explore part after part: the head, the neck, the shoulders and the
top of the chest, the arms, the chest, the abdomen above the
navel, the abdomen below the navel, the legs.
Then go back to the perception of the etheric body as a whole, of
the vibration all over the body.
Repeat the sequence a few times.
8.6 The etheric vibration outside your body
This exercise is best practised in nature, in a forest for example.
However, a backyard with a bit of grass and one or two trees is
enough. A few pot-plants and a cat will also do!
Do a short third eye meditation (section 3.7) and then implement
practice 8.1 to reconnect with the whole layer of vibration inside
yourself. Feel the life force vibration permeating your body. At
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the same time remain fully aware of the vibration between the
eyebrows.
Then tune into a tree or a plant and try to become aware of the
vibration inside it. Do not touch the plant, just tune into it from a
distance. Keep on exploring the quality of the plant's vibration for
a few minutes.
How far does the plant's vibration extend beyond its physical
limits?
When tuning into the plant's vibration, can you perceive any
circulation?
Then place your flat hands a few centimetres from the plant,
without touching it. Repeat the same sequence: feel the vibration
of the plant, explore its qualities.
Then tune into another plant from a distance. Repeat the same
sequence, but at the same time compare the quality of the plant's
vibration with that of the one before. Then put your hands close
to the plant and explore its vibration again.
Repeat the same with different plants.
Then try to tune into animals and explore the quality of their
vibration.
Tips
• This practice makes nature a fascinating field for exploration.
Just go one step further and communion with nature becomes a
tangible reality.
• It is a confronting yet basic fact about perception that once you
can feel something inside yourself, you can also feel the same
outside yourself. For instance, the more familiar you become with
the vibration inside your body, the easier it becomes to feel it all
around you. It should be emphasized that this remark does not
only apply to the etheric layer but to the complete spectrum of
subtle perception.
It is often while feeling certain things outside yourself that you
become able to perceive them inside. By applying your perception
to the external world, some 'clicks' take place that suddenly make
you discern the presence of a layer inside yourself that you had
completely overlooked before. The world becomes a mirror in
which you can discover new modalities of yourself - hence the
concept of 'clair-vision', or vision of the Ego.
• While implementing these exercises don't forget your focus in
the eye: remain fully aware of the vibration between the
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eyebrows. Whatever you wish to contact, sense from between the
eyebrows.
It is not uncommon for people to forget and try to do everything
from their ordinary mind, 'from their head'. And of course, they
can't feel anything. But as soon as you remind them to go back
into the eye and try to perceive from there, they immediately get
in touch with the vibration of the object.
• Certain streams and lakes have a particularly rich quality of
vibration and communicate beautiful soul forces when you tune
into them. So does the ocean. Spending time in nature will help
develop your perception. Apart from enhancing your experience of
the vibration, tuning into the forces of nature will bring about
vast realisations.
8.7 Vibration meals
As the perception of the vibration becomes more familiar, it is
essential to integrate it into your daily activities. This will add
another dimension to your palette of conscious experiences.
At meal times, for instance, play with the vibration. Feel it in the
food before and while eating. Food swallowed without perception is
like poison to your soul. Feeling the vibration will give you
completely different views on the value of certain foodstuffs.
Some very nice-looking dishes suddenly appear horrible. Some
uninteresting plain ones become fascinating.
Compare the vibration of frozen foods, canned foods, microwavecooked
dishes... Can you feel any difference between organic and
non-organic fruits and vegetables?
Apply your perception when doing your shopping. You will find
that some vegetables almost jump into your hands.
During digestion it is also quite informative to tune into your
stomach (just below the heart, behind the left ribs) and try to
sense the vibration in this organ while it performs the first part
of digestion. You will immediately realize that different foods
create quite different types of vibration.
8.8 The vibration in your bath
Get into a bath.
It is not only your shoulders but also the back of your head and
your ears that should be immersed in the water. A good position is
to lie in the water with your legs crossed, roughly the same way
as when you sit cross-legged. Then your trunk and your head will
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float harmoniously and effortlessly. Keep your arms by your sides
rather than on the belly, to expand the chest.
However, if your legs are bent in a position such as the one in the
figure below, which is incorrect, your trunk tends to sink into
the water and your abdominal muscles become tense.
If you are familiar with Hatha-yoga, you can also try to have your
bath in matsyāsana, posture of the fish.
But the position shown at the beginning of this section is quite
sufficient. You need to be able to remain comfortable and somehow
motionless for as long as possible, so it is preferable to adopt an
effortless position.
Take the position and relax in your bath for a while.
Build up the vibration in the eye and become aware of your
etheric vibration as a whole. Breathe with the throat friction. The
friction will take on a new dimension with your ears in the water.
Then become aware of the vibration of the water. Completely
forget about your body, just tune into the water. 'Become' the
water and feel its vibration. You will discover that not all water
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has the same qualities. Even from one day to the next, the
vibration of the water of the same bathtub may vary
significantly.
Then, after a sufficient time, start feeling the interaction
between the vibration of the water and your own vibration. How
is the latter affected by the former?
Tips
• The physical body is said to be related to the earth element, the
astral body to the air element, the Ego to the fire element and the
etheric body to the water element. It is therefore quite
appropriate to explore your etheric deeply while in the water.
Don't hesitate to repeat all the practices of this chapter,
discovering the qualities, circulations and limits of your etheric
while in your bath.
• Never miss an occasion to tune into the vibration whenever you
are in water. You will be surprised how refreshed you feel after
taking a bath according to these principles. You can also
incorporate some essential oils and various (natural) substances to
the bath water, finding out if you can feel any modification in
the quality of vibration (in the water and in yourself). Essential
oils are subtle: it is when you tune into their energy that you can
benefit most from their effect.
• An excellent juice to put in a bath can be prepared by grating a
bit of ginger and simmering it for ten minutes. Strain and add
the liquid to the bath water. The cleansing effect on the skin is
remarkable.
• This new perception of water will make it fascinating to bathe
in lakes, rivers, waterfalls or the ocean. But it won't necessarily
make you more attracted to public swimming pools, in which all
sorts of undesirable vibrations sometimes accumulate.
8.9 Etheric excretion at the end of a bath
At the end of your bath, while fully aware of the vibration all
over your body, look for energies inside you that feel unclear or
negative. Spend one minute exploring and sensing for undesirable
vibrations.
Then release the negative vibrations into the vibration of the
water. Use long, conscious exhalations accompanied by a vigorous
throat friction, while pushing undesirable vibrations out of your
etheric layer. This is one of the keys of etheric excretion: it works
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better while exhaling. And therefore it works even better if you
exhale 'with intention', putting all of yourself into the action of
pushing the breath out instead of exhaling mechanically. For this
particular purpose of excretion, do the friction while exhaling, not
while inhaling. And the friction should be significantly more
intense than usual.
Do not stay too long in your bath after you finish the excretion
process.
Tips
• Try to use this technique when you suffer from a headache.
When implemented early enough, at the onset of the crisis, it
often gives excellent results.
• The practices of this chapter certainly open new perspectives in
relation to the emerging discipline of hydrotherapy.
• After this practice of excretion don't allow anyone else to dip
into your bath. Discard the water. Under normal circumstances,
there is no need to worry too much about having to cleanse the
bathtub itself. Yet you should be careful if a lot of people are
using the same bathtub. (Hindu gurus put great emphasis on
having their own private bathroom.)
• Some people tend to feel uncomfortable if they pull out the plug
and let the water out while they are still in the bath, as if some of
their own energy was washed away. Experiment and see if it does
anything to you.
8.10 Loo practice
I can never insist enough on the importance of 'etheric excretion'.
It is a vital function that human beings have lost, to a great
extent. This fact appears strikingly evident to the clairvoyant but
is presently overlooked by both conventional and alternative
therapies, apart from a few techniques of drainage in
homoeopathy, acupuncture and herbalism. However, none of these
is very efficient compared to the excretion capacity that develops
through a conscious awakening of the etheric layer.
The more you exercise your capacity for etheric excretion, the
more it will develop into a tangible function. You will feel certain
etheric vibrations leaving your etheric body as clearly as you feel
stools leaving your physical body.
Certain etheric excretions can take place without any physical ones.
However, it should be clearly understood that all physical
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excretions are supposed to be accompanied by etheric ones. But due
to what homoeopaths call the psoric miasm inherent in the
population, etheric excretions are nothing like they should be.
Become aware of your layer of vibration while passing urine or
stools. Apply yourself to passing out negative etheric vibrations at
the same time as the physical matter. You will be really surprised
at the intensity of the results and of the general wellbeing that is
generated.
• Even though they usually remain unnoticed, unexpectedly
strong energy movements take place while passing urine and, to a
lesser extent, stools. This could account for the fact that a
significant number of heart patients expire while on the toilet.
8.11 Releasing into the earth
As your capacity for etheric excretion develops, it becomes
possible to operate releases not only into water but also into the
earth.
Take off your shoes and socks, and place your soles and palms on
the earth.
Keep your eyes closed. Engage the throat friction, feel the
vibration in your eye and all over your body. Then forget about
your body and feel the vibration of the earth.
After 1 or 2 minutes start excreting etheric vibrations into the
earth. Use deep exhalations, reinforced by a strong friction. Put
unwanted vibrations into the earth while the air is coming out of
your mouth. To the earth, these are not noxious vibrations. They
will be composted and processed into renewed nature forces.
Tips
• This practice can also be efficient in releasing anger or stress.
• As with anything powerful, this technique should be used with
moderation. Otherwise a certain depletion of your energies could
result.
8.12 Tree hugging
Here is another exercise related to etheric excretion. Next time
you are in a forest, tune in and select a big tree, one with which
you feel an affinity.
Then go and hug the tree. Get as much surface contact as possible:
as well as holding the trunk with your arms, press your chest,
your belly and your legs against it.
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Release any excess vibrations into the tree. Excrete them the same
way as you do into the bath water. Present it as a gift to the tree.
Thank the tree when you finish.
Tips
• For negative energies, first try to operate releases into the
water or into the earth. Keep trees for more subtle vibrations or
for the type of energies that you are really unable to get rid of
by any other means. Anyway you do not necessarily hurt the tree
by doing this, rather you present it with something valuable. Even
though to you, the vibration related to a depressed mood or the
beginning of the flu may seem negative, to the tree it is a highly
evolved and sophisticated energy. If you use your sensitivity you
will be able to pick out trees that yearn for what you are trying
to eliminate from yourself.
• This technique can work miracles. But you have to stay against
the tree for long enough, a good 10 to 15 minutes, or more if you
can. You need to give the tree enough time to receive what you are
trying to give.
8.13 Crying
Shedding tears can be an occasion to release a lot of emotional
tension and undesirable energies, especially if you apply your new
capacity for etheric excretion. Put everything you want to get rid
of into the tears.
Being able to cry (at will, if possible!) is a valuable skill on the path
of self-transformation. It allows you to cleanse the heart in depth.
If you are the type of person who can never cry, I would suggest
that you apply yourself to regaining this ability. Use any trick
you can find, from peeling onions to more sophisticated methods
of dramatic art.
On the other hand, if you are the type of person who cries rather
too much, it may be that by releasing more through your tears
you won't need to cry as much, the idea being to increase the
quality in order to reduce the quantity.
8.14 Sucking the citrus
Mother, apart from being in charge of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram
of Pondicherry for many years, was also one of the great
occultists of the 20th century. She recalled that she once worked
with an extraordinarily psychic woman, Mrs. Theon. Mrs. Theon
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was able to put a grapefruit on her chest while she was lying
down, and suck in its energy with her etheric body. After some
time, all the vital force had been extracted from the grapefruit.
Even physically, the fruit looked shrivelled.
Could you take an orange or a grapefruit and do the same?
Lie down. Put a good, healthy (and preferably organic) orange on
your sternum, right against the skin.
Close your eyes. Become aware of the vibration in the eye. Become
aware of the vibration all over your body and in your chest in
particular. Then become aware of the vibration inside the fruit.
Start drawing the vibration of the fruit into your own layer of
vibration.
8.15 Yawning
Yawning is one of those little inner movements that can release
unexpectedly big waves of energy. Yawning can be regarded as a
proper channel release: it is an action, a physical movement, that
can be followed by a movement of energy, or etheric wave. As
with all channel releases, the energy movement is far more
important than the physical movement. But as we described before
(section 6.3), this energy movement has to be allowed, otherwise it
won't happen, or it will happen only faintly. It is one of those
natural functions that our etheric body does not perform
automatically any more.
Suppressing yawning is a perverse conditioning coming from
repressive education. When fully performed, yawning releases the
heart, the same as crying. It also frees many tensions that would
otherwise accumulate in the eyes, hence the tiny little tear that
appears in the corner of the eyes after a full, generous yawn.
Let us see how you can get the most out of yawning. If you
observe it from your eye, you will see that when yawning, most
people tend to release energies through their mouth. If you can
become aware of this energy release and amplify it 'with
intention' when you yawn, that will already be a significant
improvement.
But there is a more enlightened way of yawning. The general
principle is to yawn upwards. You have to manipulate all the
muscles of the back of the throat for the energy movement to be
directed upwards, towards the top of the head, rather than
horizontally through the mouth. While yawning try to elongate
the pharynx. The mouth does not have to be very open, it can
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actually be kept nearly closed. Focus all your attention at the top
of the back of the throat, behind the nasal cavity. This area, at
the roof of the pharynx, is closely associated with the metabolism
of the nectar of immortality.
Tips
• If you are fast enough, you can also use sneezing as an energy
release.
• You must have noticed how contagious yawning is. In a series of
lectures given in Kassel in June and July 1909, Rudolf Steiner
explained that in Atlantis subconscious influences used to pass
much more freely between human beings. A powerful man was
able to raise his arm, and just by the play of these subconscious
influences all the people around him would automatically feel
compelled to lift their arm. Yawning is the last remnant of this
type of inclination.
8.16 The right side of the ring
If you wear a ring, take it off. (If you wear several, take them all
off, so you can test them one by one.)
Close your eyes, become aware of the vibration in the eye, and of
the vibration in the corresponding finger. Use the throat friction
to amplify the feeling.
Then put the ring on, and become aware of the vibration in the
eye and the finger again. Remain motionless for half a minute or
so.
Then take off the ring, turn it around and put it back on the
other way round. (A ring has two sides. So after you have put the
ring on the other way round, the side that was closer to the
knuckle is now further from it.)
Become motionless again, tune into the vibration in the eye and in
the finger. Implement the throat friction. Compare the vibration
with what you were feeling in the other position. The current of
vibration generated by the ring often feels quite different.
Which way is the right way? Try each position a few times, until
you can decide which feels right, 'direct' and supportive of your
energies, and which feels wrong, 'retrograde' and working against
you.
Tips
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• A lot of force can be stored in a ring, with or without a
mounted stone. The more potent the ring, the more important it
is to wear it on the 'right side'.
• A pendulum can also be used to confirm the 'right' side of the
ring.
8.17 A note about wrist watches
Beware! Seen from the eye, watches appear much more toxic than
is usually believed. This applies especially to quartz watches: it is
like a whiplash sent into your etheric body with each vibration of
the watch. But even without quartz, all watches tend to create a
perverse etheric field and are a major interference in the natural
flow of your energies.
Here is a simple experiment to convince you of the pernicious
effect of watches. For this, you will need a friend and a pendulum.
A key or a ring at the end of a 15-centimetre (3-inch) cotton
thread will do perfectly as a pendulum. It is better to avoid
synthetic thread.
Ask your friend to take off his/her watch. Hold the pendulum in
one of your hands, and with your other hand take your friend's
right hand pulse. That's assuming your friend usually wears
his/her watch on the left side. If he/she wears the watch on the
right side, then start by taking the pulse of the left hand.
How do you take the pulse? Use your index, middle and ring
fingers, and place them on the radial artery just above the line of
the wrist, on the side of the thumb. Note that this part of the
radial artery is located on the Lung Meridian (section 4.8).
While holding the pendulum in one hand and taking the pulse with
your other hand, go into your eye, become aware of the vibration,
and breathe with a slight friction. Then tune into the energy of
the pulse. Try to feel the vibration in the artery. The pendulum
will start rotating in one direction.
Now repeat the operation with your friend's other hand. Tune into
the vibration of the pulse. You will see that in most cases the
pendulum starts turning in the other direction. This fact is quite
normal: it just shows that the energy of each arm has a different
polarity.
Then repeat the operation after asking your friend to put on the
watch. Take the pulse of the hand with the watch, tune in, and...
surprise! The pendulum either stops rotating, or rotates in the
opposite direction to when it was minus the watch. This means
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that the wrist watch cancels or inverts the energy polarity of the
arm on which it is worn - a confronting observation indeed!
There is no right place to wear a watch on your body. Nurses'
habit of attaching the watch close to the heart is certainly not
advisable either. As long as the watch is in contact with the body,
or very close to it (less than 1 or 2 inches away), it creates a major
interference in your etheric. That is why the effect will be
roughly the same if you decide to keep the watch in your pocket
instead of wearing it on your wrist.
A watch should be carried in a bag, and not on you. For instance,
it is very possible to attach the watch to the strap of your bag in
a way that's easy to read from a distance. Why not start a new
fashion?
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Chapter 9 - Awareness
Note: Throughout this book, whenever the term 'the eye' is
mentioned, it refers to the third eye, and not to the physical
eyes.
9.1 Centredness through vigilance in the eye
Let us start with a simple experience. Close your eyes and do a
reconnection: become aware between the eyebrows and breathe
with the throat friction. Build up the vibration in the eye. Then
open your eyes and look at any object in front of you. Even
though your eyes are open, keep a strong awareness of the
vibration between the eyebrows. What is in your field of
consciousness? The object, you, and the vibration between the
eyebrows.
Something interesting can be noticed: it is as if you were looking
at the object from between the eyebrows. You are not trying to do
so, it just happens automatically. You just look at an object,
keeping a strong awareness of the vibration in the eye. And very
naturally you find yourself looking at the object from between
the eyebrows. In other words, you are centred. Note that you are
not actively doing anything to achieve centredness, it just happens
by itself. This is because the very nature of the third eye is
centredness. Therefore whenever your eye is operating, you find
yourself centred.
Take another object and start looking at it. At the same time,
remain aware of the vibration between the eyebrows. Another
finding is that your mind tends to quieten. Once more, you are
not trying to make your mind silent. Anyway it is hopeless to try
to achieve inner silence by fighting against the mind. So don't try
anything, don't do anything, just keep some awareness of the
vibration in the eye. And as a by-product you will find that your
mind is quieter than usual.
How does this happen? As soon as you are in the eye, you are
already a bit out of the mind. Remember the eye contact exercise
we did in section 5.9. We were observing the layer of ordinary
mental consciousness, called manas in Sanskrit. This manas-mind,
made of grasping and conditioning, is the facade, the one that goes
125
on talking in your head all the time. And the third eye is the gate
that leads out of it. So that each time you go into your eye you
make a first step out of the mind, and therefore everything calms
down.
Repeat this practice (9.1) over and over again. Choose a few objects
around you and spend some time looking at each of them. Each
time, there is the object, there is you, and there is the awareness
of the vibration/tingling/pressure between the eyebrows. Keep
your eyes open, blink as little as possible. Keep on breathing with
the throat friction. Observe your own awareness and see how it
differs from when there is no focus in the eye.
9.2 Inner alchemy
The centredness and quietness that arise from being in the eye
illustrate the nature of inner alchemy. The eye is the structure,
centredness is one of its functions. Activate the structure and the
function will be implemented. Instead of trying to fight mentally
against your mind to achieve inner calmness, you build up a new
structure: the third eye. And then you just have to switch on the
structure for the function, stillness, to be activated.
This is one of the great secrets of inner alchemy: do not try to
solve a problem on the level of the problem. For instance don't
waste your time fighting the mind with the mind. Fashion a new
organ. Once built up, the eye radiates calmness - that is its very
nature. So the task is to build the third eye, just as the ancients
built the cathedrals. It is a work that requires perseverance or,
according to one of the mottos of the Clairvision School:
'supernatural persistence'. And then one day you realize that you
just have to be in your eye to make your mind silent. Nothing to
fight, nothing to try: mastery is complete. You can see the
thoughts coming towards your mind as little forms and you can
choose whether you wish to let them in or not.
Let us take another example: meditation. You may have reached a
very high state of meditation once or a few times in your life,
for instance when withdrawing from your daily activities and
undergoing a meditation retreat for a few days or weeks. But then
going back to work and resuming your usual life, the high state of
consciousness gradually fades and you get caught back into your
daily routine of thoughts.
The answer given by inner alchemy is: don't fight to retain the
experience. You can't maintain it because you are lacking the
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proper organ, the structure of energy that would allow you to
stabilise yourself in a higher state of consciousness. You need to
generate such a structure. Start weaving the body of immortality.
Open the central channel of energy, in the middle of the body.
Build up the crown centre, at the top of the head.
Create the proper subtle organs and it won't only be during
meditation retreats that you will be able to experience an
expansion of consciousness, it will be all the time. Even in the
middle of a crowd, in a busy railway station or while driving in
traffic jams, the new state of consciousness will remain with you.
The experience won't depend on your mind being made quiet
through seclusion, far away from the world. Spiritual awareness
will radiate from the Self through the vehicles that have been
built, no matter what happens around you.
We are now at the stage of building the third eye, as a first step
in the realisation of the body of immortality.
9.3 Permanence in the eye
Spiritual paths are many and varied, and so are their techniques.
They invite you to look at the world and at yourself from
different angles. But there are a few common points to most of
them. The central theme that can be found in nearly all methods
of self-transformation is the necessity to maintain a permanent
inner awareness.
Indian masters often like to make their disciples ponder on what it
is that distinguishes an enlightened sage from any other human
being. The latter may be more intelligent, more educated, more
handsome than the sage. He may have all sorts of skills that the
sage does not have. But there is one fundamental characteristic
that makes all the difference between the two: the sage is
permanently aware and the other is not. The sage has exploded into
a space of consciousness in which inner awareness is spontaneous.
The other one's mind is caught in unceasing thoughts, perceptions
and emotions that overshadow the perception of his Self.
To sustain this awareness, all sorts of methods have been designed
by generations of spiritual inventors. Some use a mantra, a
sequence of sounds endowed with power, and repeat it inside all
the time! Like the great yogi Ramdass, for instance, who reached
his enlightenment by repeating the mantra om ram non-stop for
twenty years. Equivalent practices can be found in Christian
mysticism in the constant repetition of certain prayers. The
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method can be very powerful, even though it does not necessarily
suit everybody: the constant repetition of a sequence of sounds is
but one way among many.
The problem is to find one method that fits your energy, and to
stick to it. I suggest that you ask yourself the question: what is
my magic wand, meaning what device am I using to remain aware
all the time? And does it work? If you care for your spiritual
development, then this question is vital. As long as the answer to
the second question remains no, you are not even a candidate for
higher states of consciousness and for initiation.
Note that the technique that is right for you is not always the one
you like in the beginning. Success in spiritual practice comes from
persisting. If you study the lives of enlightened masters, you will
find that quite often when they started their path, they did not
understand anything of what they were doing. The technique they
had been given, the one through which they were going to reach
enlightenment later on, seemed to them arid, unproductive and
foreign. So why did they become masters while many others got
nowhere? They persisted, persisted, persisted... to the point where
this persistence became more important than the technique itself,
and ended up leading to a phenomenal breakthrough.
In the Clairvision path of inner alchemy, the first of the magic
wands is to establish permanent awareness in the eye. If you can
look at an object and at the same time remain aware of the
vibration between the eyebrows, then you can also walk, for
instance, with the same awareness. Why don't you give it a try,
right now (another of our mottos). Leave your book for one
minute and walk around, with a total awareness of the vibration
between the eyebrows.
So, this is a first extension of your spiritual quest into your daily
activities. Now, each time you walk, you can be a seeker. You can
either wander without any awareness, swallowed by your
thoughts, or you can be totally in the vibration between the
eyebrows.
Driving is another activity that you will find easy to marry with
your awareness in the eye. Driving from the eye is harmonious
and immensely satisfying for the soul. The focus keeps you aware
and centred, and you can drive for longer periods of time with
less tension and less fatigue. Moreover, you remain vigilant and
your angle of vision is wider, which improves the safety of your
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driving.
Then the purpose is to extend your awareness to more and more of
your activities, until you reach a constant focus in the eye. At one
stage this eye-centred awareness will become automatic and
effortless. It will be integrated into all your actions. Then you
become a candidate for initiation.
Think of all the monks who spend their lives in a monastery with
nothing else to do than pray or meditate from morning to night.
Only a small percentage of them will reach the enlightenment
they are after. How then could you hope to have a chance, just by
meditating 20 minutes twice a day and being caught in the turmoil
of modern life the rest of the time?
The answer lies in extending your awareness to every situation of
your daily life. Start using the world to become more aware. Then
the world becomes your teacher instead of your adversary. The
most insignificant circumstances turn into beautiful opportunities
to test and enhance your centredness and your vigilance. For it is
very possible to slumber in a monastery, to withdraw into a
disconnected inner life that avoids key issues and leads nowhere.
Whereas if you accept facing the world, then the world will make
sure that you face yourself.
Now please do not make being in the eye a painstaking process -
have fun! The Clairvision techniques have been designed for you to
play with. There can be a foolish way of remaining in your head
all day, only remembering your purpose of vigilance from time to
time and getting angry at yourself for letting your mind wander.
Instead of being swallowed by your daily routines and
remembering the focus in the eye only now and then, I would
suggest that in the beginning, you apply yourself to performing
certain actions with a total awareness between the eyebrows.
For instance, do the dishes being 100% in the eye. If you put all of
yourself into it, after a few times it will become automatic: each
time you start washing up the presence in the eye will come by
itself. Incidentally, note that washing up can become a very
refreshing activity if you use a flow of running water and release
your tensions and wrong energies into it as you process the dishes
(technique 4.12).
Several activities that would usually be regarded as plain and
boring will become unexpectedly fascinating if you perform them
from the eye. As more and more seeingness and vision are added to
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the focus in your eye, the world turns into a constant source of
wonder. You can very well implement this path where you are,
here and now. Leaving your job and fleeing into a cave would not
necessarily be an advantage. The problem is not so much to change
your activities but to achieve them with the new awareness.
Life in the eye: tips, tricks and traps
• It is always good to use a few reminders: each time you see
them, you go back to your focus. For instance tie a ribbon around
your wrist, or stick little pieces of paper at key locations on your
walls. Or write a note on your mirror, paint one of your nails a
different colour...
• Doors and gates have a strong symbolic resonance. A powerful
practice is to remind yourself of your spiritual aspiration each
time you cross a doorway.
• Another powerful method is to get a watch with a countdown
and to make it ring, say every seven minutes. Each time you hear
the signal, re-focus your awareness in the vibration between the
eyebrows and breathe with the throat friction for ten or fifteen
seconds. Seven is a good number for self-transformation. Actually,
what is important is not the length of the interval but the fact
that the signal and the practice are repeated with extreme
regularity. This gives a sense of rhythm to the astral body and
deeply imprints in you the habit of being in the eye.
• Now let us try something. Close your eyes, start breathing with
the friction, build up a strong vibration between the eyebrows for
1 or 2 minutes. Then open your eyes, keeping the tightest focus
between the eyebrows, and look at yourself in a mirror.
Obviously your friends and relatives will find it a bit confronting
if you address them with a face like that! So what to do? Firstly,
whenever you are talking to somebody, practise being in both the
eye and the heart (technique 5.13), so that the intensity of your
eye will be tempered by the opening and the softness of your
heart.
Secondly when, through practice, you have become more
established in your eye, the intense semi-frowning of the
beginning will disappear and you will look quite normal.
Meanwhile, try to play it diplomatically.
9.4 The harvest of permanence
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Let us review and try to understand the benefits that result from
maintaining permanent awareness in the eye.
• Awareness
First and most important of all is the awareness itself, as discussed
above. Whoever is aware is sailing towards the Self. Whoever is
not, is wasting beautiful opportunities for growth.
• Centredness
As shown by the simple experiences at the beginning of this
chapter, one of the direct results that comes from being in the
eye is a more centred state of consciousness. In the philosophy of
yoga (yoga-darśana) there is an important word - vikṣepa. Vikṣepa
refers to a scattered and spread-out condition of the mind. The
great seer Patañjali in his classical Yoga-Sūtras (aphorisms on yoga)
described vikṣepa as one of the major obstacles on the path towards
spiritual reintegration (Yoga-Sūtras 1:30-31). The more your eye
develops, the more you will find that you have the capacity to
maintain a still and silent state of mind at will.
• An awareness beyond the discursive mind
The advantage of using the eye for the purpose of awareness is
that it leads to a vigilance that is beyond the common layer of the
discursive mind. One of the main pitfalls when you apply yourself
to a path of awareness is watching your mind with your mind.
Some people manage to reach a certain awareness of their
thoughts, but a purely mental one. In other words, each time they
have a thought, say about their friend Brünnhilde for instance,
another thought comes up: "I'm thinking of Brünnhilde". And so
on. These people often get dissatisfied after some time. They have
the feeling they are doing all the right things, starting with
awareness, and yet nothing ever happens. They remain floored in
their usual mental consciousness. They never experience any real
breakthrough towards an expanded state of consciousness.
The reason is obvious. The true aim is the awareness of the Self,
and not only self-awareness! Manas, the layer of ordinary mental
consciousness, the one that goes on talking in your head all the
time, is the main veil between you and the Self. Therefore the
purpose is to emerge out of the manas-mind into the Self, and not
to get the manas-mind to mimic a higher awareness by adding
thoughts after thoughts.
So it is when you start to watch the mind from outside the mind
that your awareness becomes spiritually rewarding. And that is
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why it can be so valuable to work at an opening of perception:
when achieved according to our principles, the opening allows you
to step out of the manas-mind. The main point is not so much to
see auras and non-physical worlds but to see from 'out of the
mind'. Then you start existing out of the cage.
Now you can understand better why it has been constantly
repeated in this book that the essence lies not in what you see, but
in the fact of seeing. In terms of spiritual development, the
content of the visions is secondary compared to the breakthrough
out of the layer of usual mental consciousness. The people who
spend too much energy trying to analyse the symbolic meaning of
their visions often miss this point completely.
• Building the eye
By remaining permanently focussed between the eyebrows, you
quicken the evolution of the eye to a considerable degree. The eye
is nurtured by your awareness. Moreover, you establish a
connection that allows spiritual guides and helpers to give energy
and support. It is their function in the first stages of your
spiritual development to come and chisel your subtle organs of
clairvoyance. Their task is greatly facilitated if you maintain a
constant vigilance. Truly, the awareness that you are aiming at is a
connected one. Instead of saying 'be aware in the eye' one could say
'remain connected through your focus in the eye'. If you devote
yourself to establishing a certain permanence in the eye, the
feeling of connection with your own energy will become more and
more obvious.
Persistence in this work also fosters several physiological changes
in the nerves and glands that are related to the third eye. The
third eye itself is not physical, it is an organ of energy. It belongs
mainly to the etheric and astral bodies. Yet some physical
structures in the vicinity are connected to it, and undergo a deep
transformation as your awakening proceeds: the pituitary gland
for instance, and at a later stage, the pineal gland. These two are
invariably mentioned by occultists of all kinds when discussing the
third eye. However, in-depth clairvoyant investigation reveals that
significant changes also take place in other structures, such as the
cribriform plate of the ethmoid bone (through which the nerves
from the nasal mucosa reach the brain), the optic chiasma, the
frontal air sinus, the sphenoid air sinus, and the ventricles of the
brain (cavities filled with liquid inside the brain).
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• Filtering the external world
One of the reasons you cannot see the non-physical worlds is that
your mind is saturated with impressions received from the
physical senses. In other words, your head is full of the images
and sounds of the physical world and there is no space left for
anything else. The cup has to be emptied before any other material
can be poured in. That is why you often find in Steiner, for
instance, that the apprentice esotericist should daily put aside some
time in which he cuts off from any sensory perception. Then the
astral body, the layer of mental consciousness, can withdraw into a
life of its own, and behold non-physical images. A very similar
concept is constantly repeated in the different yogas of the Indian
tradition. The Sanskrit word pratyāhāra corresponds to a
withdrawal from the senses, through which a naked condition of
consciousness can be experienced. In Sanskrit literature, pratyāhāra
is often described as a prerequisite for higher inner experiences.
As you open your vision you will make an interesting discovery:
the pollution is not only a question of quantity but also of quality.
It is not only the fact that you constantly receive a multitude of
physical sensorial perceptions that makes you unable to see other
worlds. It is also that these physical perceptions have a harsh
effect on your system. What comes from the physical senses is
like coarse matter: it is excessively gross. Therefore, if not
filtered it makes your consciousness rough and unrefined.
In other words you are permanently inundated with unprocessed
impressions: images, sounds, smells and so on. These rush into your
consciousness and create much more damage than you think. To
draw an analogy, it is as if the nutrients you eat were sent
directly to the organs and tissues of your body without having
been processed through the digestive tract. If that were the case
your physical body would lose its identity, it would become too
'outside-like'. And that is exactly what happens to your
consciousness. It loses its Self-identity. The Self can no longer be
discerned among this tidal wave of external impressions.
I want to insist on this fact, because it appears essential when one
observes the economy of consciousness clairvoyantly. The same
way as your physical body is made of what you have eaten, all the
sensory impressions contribute to weaving your layer of mental
consciousness. And in the present situation a thick cloud of coarse
astral matter is being generated in you day after day, veiling the
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Self.
What happens when you remain aware in your third eye? The
impressions coming from the external world are received in the
third eye first instead of rushing straight into your mind.
Remember the exercises on centredness at the beginning of this
chapter, where you look at an object and you remain aware
between the eyebrows. Automatically it is as if you were looking
from the third eye, meaning that the visual impressions reach
your third eye first. Then what happens? The third eye 'digests'
these impressions. It filters and processes them.
This mechanism will strike you, as soon as you observe it
clairvoyantly. The quality of vibration of what enters your head
differs markedly, depending on whether or not it has first been
processed by your third eye. The perceptions that have first
transited through the third eye are smooth and refined. Those
that have not are harsh and cacophonous. They hurt like a
headache. They weave your consciousness in a way that is unfit for
spiritual awareness.
Understanding and applying this principle is enough in itself to
change a destiny. For what does one see when observing the mind
clairvoyantly? The thoughts of the mind are not abstract entities,
they are made of a certain substance. Of course, this substance is
not physical, but still it exists as matter, on a certain level. And
the quality of your mental substance determines the quality of
your thoughts. Spiritual thoughts, or even just clever thoughts,
simply cannot grow or be received if the mental substance is gross
and poor. If you care for your spiritual development, I suggest you
ponder upon this point.
9.5 Practice
You may sit or stand, but make sure that your back is straight.
Become aware between the eyebrows. (Logically, after reading this
chapter you should already be between the eyebrows!) Become
motionless. Limit your blinking and the movements of your
eyeballs.
• Images
Look at an object around you. Look from the eye. Receive the
object in the eye, between the eyebrows. Try to put into practice
the filtering effect that we have just discussed. Try to feel the
'weight' of the images on your third eye, as if the images were
pressing between your eyebrows. Make sure that no visual
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impression bypasses the eye. Become aware of the processing of all
physical images by the third eye.
Then drop any awareness of the eye. Release your focus. Start
looking at the objects in a usual mental way... and see the
difference. Can you perceive that the vibrations reaching your
head are less subtle?
• Sounds
Apply the same method to sounds. Put some music on and first
spend one minute listening to it without any particular awareness,
and without focus in the eye. Try to appreciate the quality of
vibration of what is taken in.
Then become aware between the eyebrows. Listen from the eye.
Maintain your focus in a way that the sounds are received in your
eye. Try to sense the difference in the nature of the vibrations
that penetrate inside you.
• Smells
Now practise with something that stimulates the sense of smell.
First smell the substance without any particular awareness. Then
receive the smell from between the eyebrows: smell from the eye.
How does the input differ when filtered through the eye?
• Taste
Start eating a meal without any particular awareness. Then, after a
few minutes start tasting the food from the eye. In this instance
the difference in the quality of vibration will be especially
striking.
Then practise more selectively with different tastes and foods.
Watch and compare the action of sweet, salty, acidic and other
tastes on your eye, one after another.
A major discovery will be that when in the eye, you do not
necessarily appreciate the same foods as when you eat without
awareness.
9.6 Practice
Practise walking along the street with a complete focus in the eye.
Make sure that any image, sound, or smell is received from your
eye. After a few minutes release your awareness. Receive
everything mentally, without any focus in your eye. Compare the
quality of vibrations inside yourself.
9.7 Practice
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What is it exactly that penetrates you when you perceive an
image, a sound, a smell...? What sort of vibration is received? What
sort of subtle substance is added to your being?
Repeat practice 9.5, but this time put all the emphasis on the
perceiver - you. Look at an object without keeping any particular
focus in the eye. The object has certain qualities and there is also a
certain quality of vibration inside your head.
What is it that is added to your own vibration when you receive
the image of the object? What changes in your head or elsewhere,
on the level of energy?
Now be more and more in the eye. There are degrees, as far as
being in the eye is concerned. You can be 10% in the eye, or 40% in
the eye... and if you persist in your practice, one day you will be
able to be 100% in the eye.
Start with being just a little bit in the eye, say 5%. Watch the
difference in the vibration that is received from the object,
compared to when no particular awareness is kept in the eye.
Increase progressively, becoming 10% aware in the eye, then 20%,
and so on. Each time, observe the vibration that is taken in while
looking at the object. Then do the same with as much awareness as
possible. Try to sense how the visual impression affects you. What
is added to your energy while perceiving? Can you feel the sensory
input as astral matter?
Go from one object to another and repeat the observation process
with gradually increasing levels of eye-centred awareness.
Then put some music on and repeat the process, this time with
sounds.
The same exercise can be applied to taste.
9.8 Test
Choose the most hectic place of a large city. Try to stay there for
half an hour with full awareness in the eye. Make sure that no
perception comes in without having been processed by your eye.
Filter even those perceptions that usually remain unnoticed, but
still are recorded unconsciously.
How far can you maintain your integrity?
Repeat the test from time to time, to measure your progress.
9.9 Intermezzo: changes in vision
One of the first results you will notice when applying the
techniques described in this book, is a gentle transformation of
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the way you perceive space in your daily activities. For the
practices dealt with in this section it would be best if you could be
outside, in a garden or forest.
Practise looking at trees and flowers while being in the eye. Sit
comfortably somewhere, not necessarily in a meditation posture.
Just be relaxed. Reconnect with the eye, between the eyebrows.
Keep your eyes open. It is better not to move too much, but you
do not have to adopt a statue-like attitude as in the eye contact
practices.
Resume the triple process of vision, with:
1) awareness in the eye
2) awareness of the fact of seeing, or seeingness. If seeingness is
too much of a problem, just feel the image instead of looking at it.
3) the feeling from the heart
You will notice that while focussed in the eye, your perception of
the countryside changes slightly. A first simple difference is that
your perception is more global: it encompasses more of what is
located at the periphery of the image. Instead of selecting a part
and unconsciously focussing on it, you remain aware of the whole
tableau.
But there is more than this increase of peripheral perception.
Compared to what you would usually see, the image seems to be
'less flat'. The air seems to 'take dimension'. There seems to be
more perspective, more relief. As you go on developing your eye,
this contrast will appear more and more clearly. The difference
between the vision of the third eye and the usual one is similar to
that between reality and a postcard, or between a holographic
picture and a flat one. The eye seems to add a stereoscopic
dimension to the image even without going into extra-sensory
perception or vision of auras.
Another noticeable difference is that the image seems to be more
'alive'. The colours are more vivid, as if endowed with an intensity
and a vitality of their own. The colours talk to your soul, they
communicate their qualities. There is definitely a feeling of
aliveness permeating the whole picture. Your physical vision is
suddenly greatly embellished: it is as if you were rediscovering the
world! And all you have to do in order to reach this other vision is
to step a little out of the layer of the mind in which you have
been conditioned to operate. Remember that as soon as you enter
the eye you are already half-way out of the mind.
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When re-experiencing past life episodes through techniques of
regression and clairvoyance, one comes to realize that until not so
long ago, most human beings saw the world through this more
beautiful and living vision. The 'flattening' of the field of
consciousness seems to have taken place from the 19th century
onwards, contemporaneous with the industrial revolution and the
explosion of scientific discoveries. It can be related to what Rudolf
Steiner has called the coming of Ahrimanic influences into human
consciousness.
I would suggest that you think of going for walks in nature and
reconnecting with this living vision when you are troubled or
agitated. It is a gentle way of pacifying many conflicts of the
mind, not by struggling but by the attraction of the beauty of
the world as seen from the non-mind.
9.10 The eye-heart awareness
Once you have established a solid awareness in the eye, the
following step is to anchor it in the heart. By the heart I do not
mean the physical organ made of muscle on the left of your body,
but the heart centre, the chakra in the middle of the chest. (The
same applies throughout the book.)
In several of the eye contact exercises it was suggested that you
place your awareness in both the eye and the heart, as if you were
receiving images and feelings in the heart, through the eye. The
next step is to extend this double focus to all your activities.
The eye-heart awareness is a further development of the focus in
the third eye. Once you have become familiar with living in the
eye it is not so difficult to add the feeling of your heart at the
same time. The force penetrates deeper. Your awareness gets
anchored, grounded in the heart, and a new palette of perceptions
and feelings arise because a higher stage of integration is achieved.
What can be seen clairvoyantly in the aura of somebody who has
settled a permanent awareness in both the eye and the heart?
Streams of vibration and light start to flow between the heart and
some centres of energy located around the pituitary and pineal
glands. A new communication is established between the heart and
the head. Some new channels of the body of energy are activated.
The state of consciousness that comes out of this double focus is
quite different too. The main difference is that the awareness in
the heart allows you to get more in touch with your Ego, or
Higher Self. Your Self receives more and more of your perceptions
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instead of being disconnected from your conscious existence. A
new form of thinking arises from your permanent focus in the
eye. And you can connect this new thinking with the presence of
the Self in the heart.
This double focus definitely leads you towards becoming more
present in your environment. You can't do things mechanically and
soullessly if you are fully aware of your own presence in the
heart. You are working at building a holy connection that will
allow the Self to receive the world and to express Itself into the
world. In other words, you are preparing the great alchemical
wedding: that of the Self and the world.
9.11 When to start?
When should you drop the single focus in the eye and start the
double eye-heart one? Not too soon. Of course it depends how
much of yourself you throw into the practice. But still, it takes at
least one or two years of permanent awareness for the alchemical
transformation of your third eye to be fully engaged. It would be
a great mistake to stop digging too soon and divert your attention.
Even if you consider yourself advanced, I recommend that you
carry on with the single-focussed work on the eye for a sufficient
number of months.
Once you have shifted to the eye-heart awareness, it is still
strongly recommended that one or two days a week are spent
aware only in the eye in order to reinforce it.
However, there are exceptions to these rules. Due to their own
organisation, meaning due to self-transformation work achieved in
former lives, certain people should focus more on the heart than
on the eye right from the beginning of the work. For instance, a
few people tend to be projected into fireworks of subtle
perception as soon as they get in touch with their third eye. It is
as if they were spread out into the astral space. They see nonphysical
beings everywhere. They merge into spiritual worlds and
tend to lose their self-reference. In this case it is in the heart
centre that the awareness should be stabilised. Each time such an
experience arises, emphasis should be put on keeping a sense of
one's Ego, and on developing self-reference by feeling one's own
presence in the heart. The grounding exercises described in the
chapters on protection will also be useful.
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Chapter 10 - A Few Experiences on the Way
10.1 Tingling in various body parts
In this chapter we will review some of the most common
experiences, sensations and feelings you may encounter while
working on your eye and implementing the techniques of the
book.
Vibration and tingling indicate that something is activated in your
etheric body, meaning the layer of life force, or prāṇa. When
meditating if tingling takes place in your hands, arms, legs, or
any part of your body, it simply indicates that some
rearrangements are taking place in your energy. For instance some
channels that were blocked are starting to flow again, or a
particular circulation is temporarily stimulated, or some other
similar movement is taking place within the etheric body.
These little symptoms do not have any significance in themselves.
They come and go and it is best not to pay too much attention to
them.
10.2 Let things come and go
When you work with energy, a general principle is that various
kinds of little feelings and sensations will be experienced now and
then. These can include twitches, little pains, seeing colours,
hearing inner sounds, and so on. They come and they go. As long
as they do not remain on a permanent basis, they do not mean
anything at all. Take them as little releases or rearrangements of
energies. Do not dwell on them, just follow your process.
It is only if some of these were to come back regularly that you
should take them into consideration and try to understand what
they mean.
10.3 If a meditation experience becomes too intense...
Can meditation ever be too intense? That is very disputable! In
cases of high intensity it is always best to remain very quiet and
watch what is happening without reacting.
If for some reason you start feeling really uncomfortable and you
wish to discontinue the experience, all you have to do is open your
eyes and stop the practice. Just by opening the eyes, the pressure
140
of the experience will diminish instantaneously and you will be
brought back to your normal state of consciousness.
10.4 Feeling vibration higher up than between the
eyebrows
A possible experience is to feel pressure and light on top of the
forehead, about one inch above the area between the eyebrows,
around the borderline between the forehead and the scalp. The
pressure and the light may be constant, even outside meditation,
and even if you are not trying to maintain vigilance in the eye.
Such pressure indicates that energy is being poured into your eye.
It is like a chiselling of your subtle organs of clairvoyance,
operated by non-physical helpers.
Another possible experience is that of a 'saw' of light in the
middle of the head (in the upper part). A pressure of vibration and
light is felt that seems to be working at separating the two
hemispheres of the brain.
All these manifestations are good signs, indicating that you are
progressing. However, they are certainly not compulsory. You can
very well complete the whole process of opening without feeling
any of them.
If they take place, just watch them. They will last a certain time
and then vanish when this episode of the building process is
achieved.
If you want to help the process you can try to tune into the
energy that is behind the force in action. For instance, where does
the pressure come from? Can you feel the presence of any being
behind the 'saw of light' or whatever it is that you are feeling?
There's no need to 'do' anything. Just acknowledge the connection
consciously, which will facilitate the task of the helper.
10.5 Feeling heat
It may happen that heat is released during your practices.
There is nothing negative about this. It is a common manifestation
during certain phases of awakening and does not usually last very
long.
If you don't drink any alcohol there is nothing particular to
change. However, it is advisable to refrain from eating meat
during the times of heat release, to have as pure a diet as possible
and avoid spices. You can also take long showers and release the
heat into the flow of running water as in the exercise of washing
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hands (section 4.12). Bathing in rivers and in the ocean is also very
appropriate. In Kundalini-yoga, a form of spiritual practice in
which strong waves of heat may be released, eating yogurt is
sometimes advised to counterbalance the warming of the body.
The combination of work on energy and alcohol consumption is a
dangerous one - this applies to any form of alcoholic beverage. It
opens the door to a whole range of nasty energies and can lead to
disaster. Virtually no form of protection can work efficiently for
someone who drinks alcohol (see section 17.6).
10.6 The breath stops
It is quite common at some stage in your meditation to get the
feeling that the breath stops. Some people tend to get a bit
worried about this. They think: what if my body just didn't start
inhaling again? Actually you don't have to worry, for nobody has
ever died from a natural suspension of the breath. The body knows
exactly what it is doing! You just have to wait a few more seconds,
and normal respiration will resume.
Truly, the time when the breath stops is precious. Everything
stops inside, as in a cosmic standstill. It is an occasion to plunge
deeper into the space and to get in touch with expanded
dimensions of your Self.
10.7 The pressure in the eye becomes uncomfortable
In some cases the pressure in the eye can become uncomfortable,
bordering on a headache.
What happens? A mixture of different factors can be envisaged.
• You are grasping.
It has never been suggested that you concentrate on the third eye,
but just that you keep an awareness of it. Yet it is very easy when
fighting to remain in the eye to start grasping the eye instead of
being just aware of it. An unnecessary tension is generated, that
can turn into a kind of headache.
So if this happens to you, the first thing to do is make sure that
you keep a gentle awareness, and do not force anything.
• The energy is trying to pull you upwards and you are
unconsciously resisting.
From time to time as you practise being in the eye, your
consciousness will be lifted up, from between the eyebrows to
above the head. This is very natural, and is due to the close
connection that exists between the third eye and the crown
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centre, at the top of the head. When this happens, just let
yourself be pulled upwards, and enjoy being above the head for a
while. Then come back into the eye once the experience is over.
In the beginning it often happens that you do not recognize the
'pull' and that you unconsciously resist, forcibly maintaining
yourself between the eyebrows. Your very determination to
remain firm in the eye, an aspiration which is right,
unconsciously makes you resist the natural flow of energy. The
result is very simple: a headache.
What is to be done? The answer is obvious: change your focus for a
while. Move your awareness from between the eyebrows to above
the head. The excess of energy accumulated in your head will be
released upwards.
Here is a technique to help you achieve this result.
10.8 Controlling headaches
Close your eyes and become aware about 10 to 15 centimetres above
the top of the head. There is a centre of energy, a chakra, in this
area. It is not the crown chakra, it is the one above it. One of my
teachers called it 'the centre of the hissing snake', because a
hissing sound can be heard when one gets in touch with this
chakra.
So tune into the area 3 to 5 inches above the head and spend 1
minute being aware and listening. Remember, no imagination! It is
far better to remain just aware than to make up a sound.
Then maintain your awareness at the same height, about 15
centimetres above the top of the head, and at the same time utter
a continuous hissing sound: 'sssssssss...' for a minute or two (a
physical sound, not just a mental one). Do not only repeat 'sss', but
make a proper hissing, as if you were a big snake. Put all of
yourself into the sound, while remaining aware above the head.
Then remain above the head and repeat the sound silently inside
yourself for 2 or 3 minutes.
At this stage, in many cases you will be pleasantly surprised to
realize that your headache has disappeared.
The more you master this technique, the more you will be able to
release undesirable energies upwards, above the head.
Tips
• A bit of Tiger Balm on the forehead often works very well for
headaches related to energy, especially if applied at the onset.
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• If you find it difficult to move the energy upwards through
the top of the head, try to go through the back of the top of the
skull instead of the middle. This area, around the acupuncture
point bai hui, or Governor 20 (section 16.7), is an easier way out of
the head.
• Another way to facilitate the upward movement of the energies
is to uplift the eyebrows as high and tight as possible from the
beginning to the end of this practice.
• This technique is a way of releasing extra pressure in the head
due to 'over-practice'. But actually, once you have mastered the
trick you can use it to get rid of nearly any headache, even if it
was caused by something completely different. The technique can
definitely be used to control migraines of various origins,
provided the patient is ready to learn to handle energies.
10.9 Other possible causes of headaches
Let us look at a few other possible causes of headaches in the
context of our work of inner alchemy (and therefore without
mentioning the whole range of headaches related to medical
disorders).
• If you meditate, sleep, or work on a noxious earth line (see
Chapter 12) all kinds of negative symptoms may be created,
including headaches. It is very possible that opening your
perception reveals these symptoms, making them appear worse. It
is not that you are getting worse yourself, but rather that you are
becoming more aware of the energy disorder. By correcting the
situation (moving your bed or whatever), you will save yourself
many troubles in the long run.
• Headaches may also result from meditating or sleeping close to a
fridge, television, electric heater, cables, electric blanket,
electronic devices, synthetic carpet, or any metallic structure that
stores static electricity. Getting rid of the cause will remove the
headaches.
In conclusion, apart from the causes mentioned above, it is not
usual to get headaches from working on the eye. If you are
suffering from headaches and if you have checked that none of
the above-mentioned reasons can be responsible, then it is likely
that the problem comes from a completely different source than
your spiritual practice. In this case it is best to discuss the matter
with a health practitioner.
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10.10 Dizziness
There is nothing wrong with feeling a bit light-headed after some
practices that take you far into the space. In certain states of
expanded consciousness you feel extremely light and a bit
euphoric, as if you had drunk one or two glasses of champagne.
However, it is not always you who are light-headed, it is the
others who are 'heavy-headed'! Life in the common discursive mind
creates a suffocating gravity of thoughts and emotions. But people
don't even notice it, because they have been conditioned to it for
so long.
As you advance, a moderate feeling of lightness resulting from
your practice will become 'normal' and integrated into your usual
way of functioning. You won't even notice it. Even if in the
beginning you feel a bit 'different', you will soon find it easier
and more efficient to operate from this state of lightness. (When
you start working with angels, it is an absolute delight, as if you
were flying in your shoes.)
If for some reason the light-headed feeling was to become
uncomfortable, the following suggestions would very probably
restore the situation quickly:
- Practise the grounding exercises indicated in the chapters on
protection (Chapters 18 and 20), keeping a strong awareness in the
eye and in the belly.
- Eat! Eating is one of the best ways to create a short term
grounding. If a friend of yours is completely spaced out after a
meditation and if there is any urgent reason to bring him back,
then feed him. In an emergency resort to heavy foods: cakes, and
even meat. This is dramatically efficient, but don't abuse it: proper
grounding is supposed to come from your mastery of energy
(Chapters 18 and 20), not from a dubious diet!
In the chapters related to protection, it will become very clear
that the Clairvision style of work aims at grounding as much as
connecting with the space.
10.11 Getting fed-up or emotional
What is happening when you feel fed-up or emotional as a result
of your meditation? Your emotional blockages are being revealed
by your work of opening. This is quite logical and necessary. As
you try to refine and purify your system, you meet all that is
unclear inside, so that you may release and heal it. These emotional
blockages are like smears in your astral body. It is often by
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145
clearing them that you will have major shifts in your opening of
perception.
What do you do? Regression! ISIS, the Clairvision technique of
regression, has been designed specifically to solve these problems.
Otherwise some other techniques dealing with emotions can be
helpful, such as rebirthing, for instance.
If it is impossible to have access to any techniques of emotional
release, then a lot of physical exercise could help. Gardening and
working on the land are also very pacifying. Yet you should not
forget that even though physical exercise may make you feel
better, it does not solve any of the problems. You must go deeper
and deal with the conflicts of the mind through appropriate
techniques. Neglecting the work of emotional clearing is probably
the major reason some people practise a meditation technique or a
process of spiritual development for sometimes as long as thirty
years without any real breakthrough.
10.12 Hearing sounds
Hearing non-physical sounds is a very normal experience on the
way. It often starts with a buzzing type of sound inside your head
and slowly, slowly, gets refined into the harmony of the spheres.
If there are sounds in your head, just listen to them. They are a
good focus for maintaining your awareness. The best area to
position your awareness in order to tune into non-physical sounds
is behind the area between the eyebrows, in the centre of the
head.
10.13 When there is no energy, the energy is
somewhere else!
Some days the connection with the energy feels intense, and
experiences flow naturally and easily. Other days there does not
seem to be any energy at all and it is much more difficult to get
into the experience.
It is the nature of energy to vary. For instance around the Full
Moon the vibration is very intense, whereas just around the New
Moon it is sometimes hardly perceptible. On the other hand the
space, the purple space of the third eye, is often easier to reach
around the New Moon. Many other variations of the energy can be
observed, some predictable, some not. Maybe one day a reliable
'meteorology of energy' will be discovered. This should be the
purpose of a true astrology.
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For your practice to be successful you need to learn to sense these
variations and work in harmony with them. For instance if you
are having one of those days when you are immediately projected
into the purple space as soon as you close your eyes, there is no
need to waste your time fighting for clear channel releases, since
anyway the vibration can hardly be felt. Rather focus on the
meditation, trying to go into the space as deeply as possible.
Very often, when nothing seems to be happening in your practice
it does not mean that there is no energy but that you are looking
for the energy in the wrong place. Tune in and try to get in touch
with a higher layer, and you might be astonished by what you
find.
10.14 After sattva: tamas. To fight tamas: rajas.
In the Indian tradition, all the developments of the creation are
analysed in terms of three guṇas, or modalities of nature, called
tamas, rajas and sattva.
Tamas is related to inertia, opacity and cloudiness, dullness, lack of
initiative, a feeling of laziness...
Rajas is activity, movement, desire. When rajas is activated inside
you, you start running around, chasing the things you want, very
involved in the pursuits of the world. Too much rajas results in
agitation and restlessness.
Sattva generates pure and transparent states of consciousness,
openness of mind and of perception, receptivity to the light,
higher awareness.
Spiritual development can be understood as a gradual unfoldment
of sattva inside yourself in order to allow it to reflect your
Higher Self.
One of the basic laws of interaction of the three guṇas is that
after a big dose of sattva (clarity), tamas (inertia) gets activated. In
practical terms this means that after an unusually clear experience
of consciousness it is quite normal to feel inert and unclear for a
while. Under these tamasic conditions, it will be quite difficult to
re-enter directly into an inner space of sattva. It will be much
easier to have a rajas transition first and then to look for your
sattva again. Practically speaking this means that if you feel inert
and unreceptive the day after a brilliant awakening, it is better
not to try to meditate for long periods. It is better to keep
moving for a while: go out, walk in the countryside, do some
physical work - and try to remain as aware as possible. Then you
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can start looking for your clarity again. (Another reason for this
reactional tamas condition is that when you reach a new intensity
of light, the mud in the depths of yourself may be stirred up and
revealed.)
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Chapter 11 - The Art of Tuning In
11.1 Tuning in
Let us begin with a simple exercise. Take a crystal, for instance,
and another piece of rock found anywhere in the countryside. If
you do not have a crystal, just take two stones of different
colours and textures. You also need a flower or a bunch of leaves.
Sit in a comfortable position and place the objects in front of you.
Make sure your back is straight. Start gazing at the crystal, or one
of the stones.
Implement the triple process of vision:
1) Become aware between the eyebrows. Remain very motionless.
Blink as little as possible.
2) Instead of looking at any of the details of the image in front of
you, become aware of the fact of seeing - what we have called
'seeingness'. If this is not possible, simply try to feel the image in
front of you instead of looking at it.
3) Feel the object from your heart. Receive the object in your
heart, through the eye.
Remain with the first object for 2 or 3 minutes. Then apply the
same process to the second stone, for two minutes or more.
Proceed in the same way with the third object.
It will become clear that you get quite different feelings from
each of the stones, and from the leaves and flowers. Of course
these objects have different qualities of vibration. But you also
become different when you open to one or the other. Each object
makes you vibrate at a distinct frequency. The more sensitive you
become, the clearer the inner contrast when tuning into objects or
people.
'Tuning in' is the capacity to resonate in harmony with an object,
an animal, a person. 'Tuning in' bypasses the ordinary mental
consciousness. It is a direct mode of knowledge and experience
which differs from the ordinary mind in many ways.
A key point is that whenever you look at an object from the
mind, the mind 'kills' it. The object is teeming with energy and
vibrations, it has a life of its own. Several laws of nature are active
inside it. And what do you get in your head? A dead replica, which
149
could be called a mental postcard. The essence of the information
has been lost.
When you 'tune into' an object, the very opposite takes place. You
let the qualities of the object become alive inside you. It is no
longer a postcard that you receive, it is a living feeling.
Repeat the exercise on various colours. Implement the triple
process of vision on walls, clothes, objects, of different hues. Each
time, try to 'tune into' the colour. Open to it. Let the qualities of
the colour become alive inside you.
The result is magic. Different colours move you in different
directions, generating a whole range of effects inside yourself.
Colours and lights start to feed you: the blue of the sky, for
instance, or the light from the stars, or even the yellow of a Tshirt...
You can literally 'drink' the colours and their energies. You
derive forces from them that strengthen your soul. This allows
you to understand why little children, who are not yet living
inside the frame of the mind, can be so fascinated by colours and
light.
Another key distinction between the mental way of perceiving,
and 'tuning in', is that the former is based on separation, while
the latter is a process of unity. When you receive a mental image
from an object or a person, there is no true connection between
the object and the image. But when you 'tune into' an object, you
become the object.
For instance, if the cat is trying to confuse you as to whether you
have already given it dinner or not, you tune into the cat, and you
become the cat. And then you can feel all that the cat feels. You
can perceive the world as seen by the cat, with completely
different sensory inputs. You sense the cat instinct flowing
through you, you know exactly how it is to be a cat. And you can
also feel whether your cat's stomach is full or empty!
It is a knowledge through identity, a most fascinating process. It
gives you a deep intuitive understanding of the nature of objects
and beings. You penetrate their logic from inside, because you
become what they are.
'Tuning in' gives you access to a new and rich range of feelings and
sensations. You discover a palette of inner experiences that your
mind did not even suspect could exist. You become vast. Through
the art of 'tuning in' many simple things of life, such as looking
at the stars, swimming in the ocean, feeding the cat, become
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absolutely fascinating. You participate in the life of the universe,
instead of perceiving it like a series of postcards.
For example, in one of the retreat centres of our school in the
tablelands of New South Wales, an eagle used to come and watch us
when we were working outside. When you tuned into the eagle,
the eagle would stop 20 metres above your head and gaze at you. It
was a complete standstill, a moment of truth. If you raised your
arms towards the eagle and started turning slowly, the eagle would
turn with you. Slowly, as if it was suspended in the air, the eagle
followed you in a motionless dance. Then, if you 'became' the eagle,
it was an inner explosion. There are simply no words to describe
that. People who have never experienced anything of the kind may
be clever and successful, nevertheless they live in nothing other
than a cage.
11.2 Drinking colours
Implement the triple process of vision (motionless focus in the
eye, seeingness, feeling from the heart) and tune into various
colours. Any object or plant can be used, or even walls... If tuning
into clothes, it is better if they are new enough so their colours
are still fresh.
Tune into the colour. Do not pay any attention to the nature of
the object itself. Tune into the colour and nothing else, as if you
were drinking it. Let its energy flow into your being. Resonate
with it. Do not only look at it or even see it: become the colour.
Repeat the exercise on different colours and see how you become
different, from one to the other. Let yourself become fluid under
the influence of the colour. Let it take over. Let it invade your
energy.
Tips
• Why not apply this perception of the spirit of colours to
reconsider the way you choose your clothes and how you dress?
• No physical colour on Earth is as pure as those coming from the
stars. Stargazing with an open eye is a unique experience, and leads
to the most surprising and enlightening visions.
Learn to recognize the stars with a manual for stargazers, and tune
into them. You will soon discover that the energies they carry
vary greatly from one to another. A golden star like Arcturus
(Alpha Boötes), for instance, awakens a fullness in the heart and
warms your Spirit. Some others, such as Algol or Rasalhague, are
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to stars what orchids are to flowers: their beauty is sometimes
treacherous.
Stars, especially when seen with our triple process of vision, will
prove an inexhaustible source of inspiration and centring.
Interestingly, seers of various traditions have perceived
constellations as the dwelling place of the highest spiritual beings.
11.3 Flowers, plants and elemental beings
Let us take the example of a flower to describe some of the basic
mechanisms of subtle perception.
Looking at a flower the mind perceives a shape, some colours, a
perfume. But what will you perceive if you tune into the flower?
You will get a feeling related to the nature of the flower, to its
quality of vibration. For instance, it is obvious that a rose, a
sunflower and an orchid communicate quite different feelings
when you open to them. Many people have a natural, intuitive
understanding of the nature of plants.
However, tuning in is more than a vague sensitivity; it is a
metaphysical opening. When you tune in, your whole body of
energy starts to resonate with the plant. You can feel streams of
light rushing all around you. It's like entering another dimension.
The plant becomes alive in you. With this inner explosion comes a
knowingness, like a package of information in which all the
properties of the plant are included. The plant inspires you with a
sense of how to use it.
Let us describe this in other words. The physical image and the
physical smell are like a husk. By implementing the triple process
of vision (motionless focus in the eye, seeingness, feeling from the
heart), you perceive a variety of non-physical colours, smells and
tastes - what we could call the aura of the plant, its non-physical
vibration.
If you go beyond this, you come to see something quite surprising:
a being. You can actually see a little being which is like the essence
of the plant, and which some western occultists have called the '
deva' of the plant, from a Sanskrit word meaning deity. You
realize that the aura of the plant, its colours and other subtle
qualities, are like the garment of the little nature being. All the
subtle and physical properties of the plant are nothing but the
consequences of the nature of this being. One could say that the
being unfolds its personality through the appearance of the plant:
its colours, its smells, its medicinal properties. And this being has
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a life of its own, you can talk and exchange with it...
If you want to have a chance to understand any of your nonphysical
perceptions, I suggest you spend some time meditating on
the following principle:
Whenever there is a vibration, there is a being behind it.
The vibration is like the garment of the being. It is its external
appearance. And anything that can be perceived in the vibration is
simply the external manifestation of the being. Therefore as long
as you have not contacted the being, you are missing the essence
of the object: you are only perceiving consequences.
This principle is universal and does not only apply to plants and
other living organisms. For instance, when tuning into the colour
of a wall you first receive its living energy, meaning the
vibration. But if you go beyond this, what can you see? Behind the
vibration of the colour, a multitude of little elemental beings can
be perceived. This is not easy because elementals are tricky, they
hide all the time. You need a very silent and steady state of
consciousness to be able to behold them with your eye. (All this
makes you wonder exactly what is contained inside a can of paint.)
The same applies to fire, air, wind and water: behind the vibration
and the aura of substances, elemental beings can be perceived. But
they are not the ones I would advise you to start with when
exerting your talents of clairvoyance, for they are extremely shy,
and clever at not being seen.
11.4 Fighting mental rigidity
To be able to open and tune into an object you need to come from a
space of love. Empathy is a key to allow the qualities of the object
or the person to 'become alive' inside you.
You also need a certain degree of opening and flexibility. If you
are too rigid you will never be able to vibrate with things that are
not like yourself. The part of yourself that is made of
conditioning and operates only through reactions, the manas-mind,
is like a cage. You live in your mind as you would live in a cage,
always confined to the same range of thoughts, emotions,
reactions. It is as if you were seeing the world through tinted
glasses, and therefore made only of blue-green, green, and yellowgreen,
for instance. 'Tuning in' is given as a way to break the
mental cage and to start 'being' on an expanded spectrum of
frequencies.
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Of course, it is only when you get out of a cage that you realize it
was a cage. If you have always been living in a cage, then to you it
is not a cage, it is the whole universe. Tuning in allows you to
break limits, by introducing unsuspected patterns of being into
your consciousness. The light that comes from certain stars, for
instance, allows you to vibrate on very strange frequencies, unlike
anything you may experience on Earth. But you certainly do not
have to go that far to explode the limits of your cage. If you could
simply become your cat or your pot plant, even only for a few
seconds, that would already represent an extraordinary
breakthrough.
Another quality that is needed for the art of tuning in and is
developed by its practice, is the capacity to forget about your
little self for a while. If you remain too much like your cage, then
there is no space left for anything else. You have to wipe away
your surface personality for a moment. You have to cultivate an
extreme inner stillness, a complete absence of reaction. You have to
become empty, to make an abstraction of anything personal. This
gives a refreshing break, and a sense of relativity as far as your
own little problems are concerned.
In relation to your Ego, or Higher Self, something paradoxical is
experienced. 'Tuning in' does not veil your Ego, it reveals it. It is
by being more your Self that you can 'become' an object. The part
of yourself that is able to vibrate in harmony with anything in
the universe is the Self, precisely because It is universal. So by
'becoming' something other than yourself, you lose the little self,
and therefore you reveal the true Self. By perceiving the world
you uncover the Self, and that is exactly what clairvision is all
about.
This is nothing like a vague feeling or an intellectual view. It is a
hyper-dense frequency of being. It is a more objective experience
than having your hand in a fire. By tuning into an object, and
becoming the object, you become your Self. You are your Self, ten
thousand times more than when you think of the object with your
mind. Whenever you think of the object, you are not your Self,
you have become assimilated with the cage.
The time has come to reverse the classic adage of French
philosopher Descartes: cogito ergo sum, "I think, therefore I am."
What higher vision reveals is exactly the opposite: "I think,
therefore I am not." It is by stopping the mind that you can step
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out of the cage, and say, "I think not, therefore I am." The
Clairvision style of work invites you to use perception to reach
that stage.
11.5 Trees
Let us resume our practical exercises, this time focussing on trees.
There is a lot of wisdom stored in trees, hence the veneration in
which they were held by Celtic schools of initiation, for instance.
It is significant that the Buddhist tradition insists so much on the
fact that Shakyamuni Buddha reached his enlightenment under a
tree, a ficus religiosa in Bodhgaya. In Australia we have a
surprising tree of the same family called the Moreton Bay Fig
(ficus macrophylla), which looks a bit like a banyan. It is a huge,
magnificent tree, always ready to advise you. If you can find a
tree of equivalent energy, it is a blessing. Whenever you have to
undergo a big inner shift you can sit under the tree and meditate.
And the tree will help.
11.6 Practice
Tuning in is an ability that develops gradually. In the beginning
you are 10% tuned into the object, meaning that you just get a
certain feeling. It is then a question of intensifying the connection
and of wiping out your surface personality through a total inner
silence and stillness. You let the qualities of the object become alive
in you until you reach the stage where you actually become the
object.
In order to develop your capacity to tune in, I recommend that
you practise on various species of trees. Tune in, and learn to
vibrate with them. You will discover that different trees have
completely different energies. Here are a few suggestions on how
to discover the properties and qualities of trees. Our method will
be to explore your own feeling as you tune into trees.
When you tune into the tree:
- Does your energy tend to expand, or does it feel contained?
- Does the tree give you a feeling of softness, or of tough
strength?
- Are you getting a yang feeling (active, etc.) or more of a yin
one (receptive, etc.)?
- Is the energy of the tree more akin to the earth, water, air, or
fire element?
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- Does the energy of the tree resonate more with your belly,
your chest, your throat, or your head? (When trying to cognize
the properties of any plant or substance, it is always a good idea to
sense which chakra it resonates with.)
- Do you get the feeling of being protected, when tuning into the
tree? Some trees can envelop you inside their branches as an angel
would take you in his wings.
- Try to sense what is the specialty of this tree. What could it be
good for from a medicinal point of view?
Go on practising from one tree to another.
Tips
• Trees are really good when you are learning to tune in, for they
have a generous nature. They enjoy communicating their energy. I
have seen several people who had a great opening of perception
when tuning into a tree. Some trees literally talk to you. When
you become more perceptive it is not rare that you walk past a
tree and you simply have to stop, because the tree is calling you.
Don't hesitate to hug trees!
• Remember practice 8.12: if you have a sorrow or a perverse
energy you can't get rid of, hug a tree for long enough, and ask
the tree to take it. The results might astonish you. (The energy is
nowhere as noxious to the tree as it is to you.) As your capacity to
tune in develops, you will be able to implement this exercise with
greater intensity.
• There is a beautiful custom, which is to plant a tree when a
child is born. (Bury the placenta in the earth next to the tree.)
Thus the child and the tree will have similar astrological charts. Of
course, it is not very easy to plant the tree just at the moment of
delivery (even though that would be a rather amusing enterprise).
So you can proceed like this: note down the minute the child's head
comes out and get somebody to plant the tree the day after, at
exactly the same time. Apart from the Moon, the celestial bodies
do not move much in a day, and 24 hours later they have almost
exactly the same position in the houses as they had the day before.
Another very good time to plant a tree is on the New Moon that
precedes the birth. If the child has not arrived at the Full Moon,
then plant another. These two trees, the New and Full Moon ones,
will have a particular significance to the child.
Choose a good tree, on which the child and later on the adult will
be able to mirror him/herself.
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11.7 Sexually-related feelings
People often say that they can never fully know what their
boyfriend or girlfriend feels or thinks, just because they are
different sexes, as if a woman could never know in herself what a
man experiences, and vice versa.
Actually there is nothing more false. Through the art of tuning in
you gain the possibility of going through the whole range of
sensations and feelings pertaining to the other sex. For instance, a
man comes to know in his own body how it feels to have breasts,
to have a uterus, to menstruate, to be pregnant... By this I do not
mean some sort of theoretical or intellectual understanding, but
the real and direct experience of the feeling, exactly as if he was
inside a female body. This also applies to a vast range of emotional
attitudes.
This process can virtually be regarded as an initiation. Once
achieved, the way of relating to the other sex will change
dramatically: much less complicated and based on a true
understanding. Various psychological problems connected with
relating to the other sex (and that usually covers quite a few
problems) will automatically disappear.
At this stage, it may be of interest to mention a fact about the
etheric body (layer of life force, or prāṇa in Sanskrit, qi in
Chinese). Esotericists such as Steiner have often pointed out that
the etheric body of a woman is male, that of a man is female. This
creates an inner substratum which greatly facilitates access to the
feelings of the other sex.
With the expansion of perception a human being tends to be seen
not so much as a woman as opposed to a man, or a man as opposed
to a woman, but more as a totality made of two polarities. In this
context, concepts such as the war of the sexes lose a lot of their
significance. We all have a man and a woman inside, and both must
be brought to enlightenment.
Yet it would be quite untrue to believe that the result is a being of
a blended or asexual gender. On the contrary, the process
contributes to discerning between the two polarities, and achieving
one's femininity, for a woman, or one's masculinity, for a man.
Realizing her male pole helps a woman's femininity to flourish.
When a man is out of touch with his female pole, his masculinity
is a gross facade, much more fragile than his chauvinistic attitude
may imply.
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In the Indian tradition there is a symbol
which illustrates this concept: the Śivaliṅga.
The Śiva-liṅga is an erect phallus,
and its symbolic significance goes far
beyond genital connotations. You find it
on the altars of temples all over India.
If you take a close look at a Śiva-liṅga,
you will notice that the phallus actually
rests on a yoni , meaning a female
generative organ. This symbolises that it
is only on the basis of its opposite polarity that the male force can
be strongly established.
11.8 You are what you eat
There is one field where the art of tuning in will give you
particularly quick and spectacular results: eating. Tune into the
foodstuff while it is on your plate and in your mouth, and your
meal will turn into an unexpectedly intense experience. Some
vegetables, such as carrot or beetroot, and some fruits, such as
lemon, are endowed with energies that will literally explode in
your mouth. Instead of the process being localised only in your
digestive tract, it is as if your whole body was participating and
receiving vibrations from the food. As a by-product, you might
find it easier to reduce your consumption of junk food.
By tuning into the foodstuff and observing your reactions to it, it
becomes possible to accurately work out a diet that is right for
you, without a dogmatic attitude. It also becomes clear that the
state of consciousness in which you ingest the food may have as
much influence on your system as the quality of the food itself.
This dimension seems to be completely missed by most modern
systems of nutrition. If patients suffering from cancer, allergies
or parasites go to see a naturopath, they are immediately given
lists of foods that they should or should not eat. But not much is
said about the way the food should be eaten.
Take a group of people eating exactly the same food. Some will end
up with intestinal parasites and some won't. To the clairvoyant
eye, it appears that it is sometimes when the mind is 'parasitised'
that the digestive tract tends to retain parasites. In astrology this
connection is symbolised by the fact that the sign Virgo and its
planet Mercury are the rulers of both the mind and the intestines.
Chapter 11 - The Art of Tuning In
158
We have seen how the capacity to tune in is directly opposed to
mental rigidity. The more fixed the mind is in stereotypes, the
more difficult it is have access to a variegated range of feelings.
Actually there is an interesting connection between the state of
mind in which you eat and your level of mental flexibility:
depending on how you eat, the rigidity builds up or diminishes.
Each time food is swallowed with poor awareness and no perception
of its energetic qualities, the rigidity of the mind is significantly
fostered.
In other words, when you eat from the mind, you feed the mind!
A mental stamp is imprinted onto the food, and your whole
structure becomes more mental. Seen from the eye, it appears that
one of the main tricks the mind uses to maintain its hegemony is
to make you eat without awareness.
On the other hand, by resonating in harmony with the foodstuff
you develop the pliability of your mental substance, and your
general capacity to tune in is greatly enhanced. To the common
statement 'the body is made of what you eat', one may add
another: 'and the mind is made of how you eat it'. Of course, many
other factors apart from nutrition play a role in the economy of
the mental layer. But still, one can have a major action on the
dynamics of the mind by carefully regulating food intake and the
state of consciousness during meals. That is why Gandhi used to
say: "When the sense of taste is under control, all the senses are
under control."
Another factor that can positively influence the process of inner
alchemy is a fairly strict regularity of meal times. The astral body
is intensely involved in the process of digestion. By following a
fairly strict routine of meal times, you make the astral body work
at regular times, and this imprints a sense of rhythm.
Rhythm is exactly what the astral body lacks. The astral body is
the layer in which emotions take place. Now, take some basic
rhythmical activities of the physical body, such as the heart beat
and the breath. As soon as you experience an emotion, the
frequency of both become irregular! Presently, our astral body is
the enemy of rhythm: any big wave in the astral body tends to
impair the cadences of the physical body. As far as rhythm is
concerned, the entire education of the astral body is yet to be
undertaken.
Chapter 11 - The Art of Tuning In
159
Hence the value of eating meals every day at the same time, and
avoiding eating between meals. The benefits will not only be
physical, but also psychological. By imprinting a sense of rhythm
in the astral body you reinforce its whole structure, which will
result in increased emotional stability, mental clarity, endurance
and tenacity. A certain force of soul is fostered, which facilitates
your connection with higher worlds.
Apart from this spiritual perspective, regularity of meals should
be given as a basic recommendation to patients suffering from
various disorders such as cancer, asthma, allergies, parasite
infestation, etc. If you can be clever enough to get children to
adopt a certain regularity of meal times, you help them to
structure themselves and develop harmoniously.
In terms of the rhythms of the body, there is a modern invention
that proves to be a disaster: daylight-saving time (DLS).
Throughout the world farmers have noticed that DLS has an
upsetting effect on cattle. Behind this observation there are
profound mechanisms related to subtle bodies. Animals have an
etheric and an astral body. When the rhythm of their life is
disturbed, various problems occur. The result is reduced
productivity, which is immediately noticed by farmers.
It would be foolish to believe that the human body does not suffer
from this interruption to natural rhythms which occurs twice a
year. The number of severe diseases and the general wearing out of
the body influenced by DLS is probably far greater than we think.
It is to be hoped that more concern will arise over this problem
and that more researchers will conduct studies on its effects.
11.9 A few suggestions on how to communicate with
angels
Let us finish this chapter with how the art of tuning in can be
applied to communication with higher spiritual beings. During
meditation, a common experience is to see non-physical lights and
colours. As soon as your third eye opens you see many of these
lights. It may happen that you have reached a stage where you see
all kinds of lights in your meditation, and you wonder how to go
further. These lights are very nice and the process gives a certain
serenity, but what is the next step? That is the moment to
remember what was discussed earlier in this chapter: whenever
there is a vibration or a light, there is a being behind it. The
colours that appear in front of you are like the garment, the
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160
external appearance of non-physical beings. The next step is
therefore tuning into the lights in order to discern the presence
of the beings behind them.
Another experience that may happen, during meditation or out of
it, is to feel the presence of an angel or of some high spiritual
being around you. This experience is not uncommon after a big
(and sincere) emotional release while practising the Clairvision
techniques of regression. It gives the feeling of the descent of a
supremely peaceful energy that surrounds you and sheds light on
your whole being.
What to do with an angel? There is the sense that the moment is
precious, and that if one does not display the right receptivity, a
great deal of the experience may be lost. Some people tend to try
and engage in dialogue with the angel, to ask all sorts of questions
or even to channel the angel, to let the angel speak through them
and answer other people's questions. The problem with this attitude
is that it tries to establish a mental communication with a being
that comes from far beyond the mind. It is a great waste. This
beautiful super-conscious presence is close to you, and you limit it
with the concepts of your mind. In terms of the example
developed earlier, it is like trying to make the angel fit into your
cage.
The approach of the Clairvision techniques is different: remain
extremely still and silent, and tune into the angel. Become the
angel. Let its glory become alive in you. You will get infinitely
more out of the moment, because the experience isn't limited by
any mental filter. On the contrary, it allows some completely new
patterns of consciousness to be initiated in you. Many dynamic
activities and operating functions of the Higher Self will be
triggered, which will slowly mature later on. In terms of your
own experience, it will give you a glimpse of the states of
consciousness that come next, and activate the seeds of the
transformation leading to them.
This mode of approach based on tuning in is altogether similar to
that expressed by the ancient Sanskrit saying:
devam bhūtva devam yajñet
To worship a god, first become the god.
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Chapter 12 - Ley Lines, Earth Lines and Energy Wells
12.1 The first reflex whenever you hear cancer
The interest in ley lines originated around the 1930s in Europe,
mainly Germany and France, in some cities that were small enough
for their whole population to be treated by only one or two
medical practitioners. Some physicians were struck by the fact
that in certain houses, cancer cases arose with unusual frequency.
The family doctor would treat the grandmother for cancer. The
grandmother would die. Five years later, the doctor would see her
daughter come in with the very same cancer. In the meantime the
daughter would have taken over the grandmother's bed. Or a
woman would bring her husband in with cancer. The husband
would die. The woman would remarry and a few years later the
new husband, sleeping in the same bed and at the same place,
would get exactly the same cancer as the first one...
Several similar cases triggered the curiosity of the physicians, who
decided to seek the help of professional dowsers. The result was
the discovery of lines of so-called harmful 'earth rays'. Actually,
nobody really knows what these lines are made of, but it became
customary to call them earth-ray lines, or sometimes ley lines. As
no rays have ever been identified in relation to these lines, I will
avoid the misleading term 'earth-ray line' and refer to them more
simply as 'earth lines'.
The intensity of the lines varies from one place to another. The
essential fact is that whenever the dowsers investigated the house
of a cancer patient, they would systematically find earth lines of
noxious intensity, either where the patient's bed was or in a place
where he/she would spend a lot of time, such as a desk.
A kind of battle ensued for a few decades in Germany, in which
many respectable medical authorities tried to disprove the whole
theory. Studies were conducted on thousands of cases - sometimes
as many as thirty or fifty thousand cancer patients. And each
time, the results were so overwhelmingly in favour of the
existence of these harmful earth lines that the would-be
detractors turned into the most ardent defenders.
162
It should be emphasized that these people were not marginal
healers, but scientists and professors of medicine, who were
risking their reputation and career. Their confronting and almost
unanimous conclusion was: it is very unlikely for cancer to occur,
unless you have been regularly sleeping or staying on a noxious
line. Those harmful earth lines were found in the houses of nearly
99% of the cancer patients.
In February 1987, it reached the stage where the West German
Government itself started to invest millions of Deutschmarks in a
research program to investigate the effects of earth lines on
living organisms.
One should certainly not disregard the importance of other factors
in the genesis of cancer, such as poor diet or emotional stress. A
disease, and especially such a serious disease as cancer, is always the
result of a combination of causes. Yet the statistics of the German
scientists are such that whenever we hear 'cancer', our first reflex
should be: Dowse for the lines! And then move the bed, or maybe
even move house, depending on what is found. Removing the
patient from the noxious line is not enough to cure the disorder,
yet it seems to be an important factor in improving the patient's
chances of healing.
Harmful earth lines have also been incriminated in other
pathological processes such as cot-death, joint problems, migraine
headaches, heart conditions, varicose veins, bed-wetting and several
others.
A common reaction when sleeping on a toxic line is to have bad
dreams, insomnia or difficult nights resulting in fatigue. The
feeling of being more tired in the morning than before going to
bed is often described by patients. Very typical, for instance, is
the case of a child who is found every morning upside down in
bed, unconsciously trying to escape from the line.
12.2 Commonly observed facts about the lines
• The lines make a grid all over the surface of the earth - the
Hartmann grid. In this grid, the lines are about 2.5 metres apart,
though this varies slightly from one place to another.
• The lines are not confined to the surface of the Earth. If a line
is found on the ground floor of a house, the very same line will be
found at the same place on each floor above it.
• The lines of the grid are sometimes heavily noxious, sometimes
much lighter and not so toxic. Yet it is never advisable to sleep or
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163
sit on a line.
• The crossings of lines are particularly noxious.
• In the vicinity of a geological fault, the (toxic) intensity of the
lines is reinforced.
• An underground creek creates a particularly noxious extra line,
in addition to the grid. It also makes all the other lines around it
more toxic. The more intense the flow of water, the more noxious
the line.
• Water pipes, in a house or below it, act like small underground
creeks.
• Electric cables create additional lines.
• When a house is built like a Faraday cage, with metal and electric
wires everywhere, the lines are reinforced and extra lines are
added. This makes skyscrapers an ecological disaster.
• The strength and width of the lines are:
- reinforced during storms and stormy weather
- multiplied by two between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m.
- multiplied by three on the Full Moon.
• Most living organisms get sick when located on the lines: plants
die, trees get cancerous growths, all rotting processes are
favoured. The crossings of lines are therefore very good places to
put your compost heap - but not your bed.
• On the other hand, certain plants and animals seem to thrive on
the lines. This happens more than any other with the oak, the
sacred tree of the Druids. Most huge old oak trees are found on
strong lines. Other 'line seekers' among the trees are willows,
ashes, firs... Among other plants: mistletoe, mushrooms,
asparagus...
Ants love the lines, which fits well with their function as cleaners
of all that is rotting in nature. Ant heaps are usually found on a
heavy line. This should make you cautious whenever there is an
ant-heap close to your house.
Unlike dogs, cats are said to seek the lines. So, traditionally the
place favoured by your cat is not a good place for you. Yet from
my experience today's cats are more after cushions than earth
lines. So if your cat goes straight onto your pillow each time you
find a new place for your bed, don't panic.
Beetles and termites are also attracted to the lines. So are parasites
and microbes (hence the rotting processes).
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164
12.3 Ley lines and earth lines
Strictly speaking, a distinction must be made between ley lines and
earth lines. The earth lines make roughly a square grid that we
have just described. They are the ones that have been incriminated
in the genesis of cancer and several other diseases. These earth
lines, which many people call earth-ray lines, are sometimes also
referred to as the Hartmann network or the Hartmann grid.
The ley lines, on the other hand, are also lines of telluric energy,
but of a different nature. They do not make a square grid and
there is much more distance between them: ley lines are
sometimes up to hundreds of kilometres apart. Ley lines are not
noxious to health. They are more like lines of spiritual intensity
all over the planet. Holy places such as Glastonbury or the
cathedral of Chartres for instance, are said to be located on ley
lines.
Yet in practice, many dowsers tend to use the same term, ley line,
for both the ley lines and the earth lines.
In this chapter, we will deal with the earth lines of the Hartmann
network, as they are found everywhere and concern everybody. It
should be understood that there also exist other grids of telluric
lines apart from these; but to simplify things we will not concern
ourselves with them in the beginning.
12.4 What are these lines?
Nobody really knows the exact nature of these lines. The term
'earth rays' is misleading: even though the whole phenomenon
appears like a kind of telluric radiation, no actual 'rays' have ever
been identified.
On the level of clairvoyance these earth lines do not appear like
lines, but like walls. This could also be deduced from the fact that
a line found on the ground floor of a building will be detected at
the same place on each floor above it.
From the third eye, these walls can be seen as a kind of smoky
energy. The more toxic a line is, the more smoggy, dense and
thick the smoky energy appears to be. For instance, in stormy
weather or around the Full Moon the walls appear significantly
wider and murkier.
The more toxic a line is, the more it gives a nauseous feeling when
tuning into it.
The lines, and especially the most noxious ones, seem to
concentrate negative energies. This effect is maximum at the
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165
crossing of lines. In other words, the lines act like garbage cans
and gather all the 'etheric dirt' of a room.
Those houses that seem to have bad vibrations and make most
people feel uncomfortable are usually built on a grid of noxious
lines. When an entity, or non-physical parasite, is found in a
room, it is nearly always on a crossing of lines.
12.5 Energy wells
Whenever there is a dragon, there is a princess! Energy wells are
the positive counterpart of the harmful earth lines. Energy wells
are more mysterious, and certainly not as well documented as the
lines.
If you have read the adventures of Carlos Castaneda, you probably
remember how Don Juan made him look for 'his spot' in a room,
the place where he could be protected and safe. That is an energy
well. Energy wells are spots endowed with healing properties and
also with spiritual properties. They are places where it is easier to
pray or meditate and to connect with spiritual worlds. When an
angel wants to shed his light into a room, an energy well is a good
place for him to descend.
On the level of clairvoyance, an energy well looks like a column of
light, or one could say like a geyser of light (although they are
not associated with any modification of temperature). Often, the
diameter of the column varies between 1.5 to 2 feet - possibly
more if you find a big one.
Just as the lines may be classified according to their toxicity, so
different wells have different sizes, intensities and healing
potential. But contrary to the lines and their grid, there does not
seem to be any regular pattern of distribution of the wells - none
that I know of, anyway.
12.6 Lines and spiritual practice
If you want to learn about energy, inside you and around you, you
certainly have to take great care of the lines, for the grid of a
place determines its quality of energy, and therefore the quality
of your own energy whenever you are there.
There is no such thing as a closed living organism. Even more on
the level of energy than on the level of matter, you are
permanently involved in multiple exchanges with your
environment. To become clairvoyant and to get in touch with your
Higher Self, a deep transformation of your subtle bodies is needed.
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166
This alchemy will be fostered or hampered depending on whether
you put yourself in a position where the grid works for you or
against you. It is therefore essential to dowse the grid of the place
where you live and to make sure you are neither sleeping nor
meditating on a line.
This rule becomes even more important when you undergo longer
periods of meditation, for example during a course or a retreat.
While meditating, your body of energy, or etheric body, opens
significantly. And therefore the exchanges of energy with your
environment are enhanced.
If you meditate while sitting on a line, especially for long periods
of time, you run a high risk of catching wrong energies and
damaging yourself. You may well feel uncomfortable and restless.
These are very common symptoms when you undergo long periods
of meditation: you certainly do not need to be on a line to feel like
that. But the agitation will take much greater proportions if you
are sitting on a line. And if the line is bad, there is virtually no
limit to the damage you may do to your body. Teachers of
meditation should be particularly aware of the grid in the room
where they conduct classes. For students tend to fill up the
available space, and it is most probable that some of them will end
up sitting in the wrong place.
We are introducing a concept that is not so widespread nowadays,
even though in the past many traditional cultures were familiar
with it: the results of spiritual practice depend on the place where
the practice is implemented. This does not only apply to the
general area, or to the building. Inside one room, different places
may induce completely different experiences. Finding the place
that is right for you is just as important as finding the right
technique or teaching.
The same applies to healing and therapy in general. If you put
your massage or acupuncture table on an energy well, your results
will be ten times better than otherwise. It will be much easier for
an invisible helper to come and give you a hand. The well will do
half the work for you, if not more. But if you practise something
like acupuncture, regression or rebirthing on a toxic line, you may
well end up making your clients worse with your treatment.
Finding the lines is extremely simple! In the trainings of the
Clairvision School at least 80% of students manage to find them
the first time they try, provided they have followed - just
Chapter 12 - Ley Lines, Earth Lines and Energy Wells
167
followed, not even mastered - the preliminary techniques of
opening the third eye, as indicated in this book.
12.7 Dowsing the lines: the gear
You will need two L-shaped rods and two ball-point pens.
The rods are made of thick wire. The longer side of the L is
approximately 40 centimetres (400 millimetres) or 15 inches. The
shorter side is about 12 centimetres (120 millimetres), or 4.5
inches. A few millimetres either way won't make any difference.
An excellent way of making rods is to get wire coat-hangers and
to cut them as indicated above. If wire coat-hangers are not
available you can use any metal wire, provided it is rigid enough to
keep its L-shape.
Then take two cheap ball-point pens. Remove the ink parts and
keep only the plastic shells. Insert the shorter parts of your Lshaped
rods inside the shells. This is all you need to dowse.
IMPORTANT: your rods must be able to rotate freely inside the
shells, so make sure:
1) that you have made a sharply bent 90 degree angle between the
two parts of your rod, and not a progressive curve;
2) that on each side of the L, the wire is as straight as possible. If
the shorter side of the rod is bent, even slightly, then unwanted
friction will hamper the free movement of the rod.
I suggest that you always leave two rods and shells in the boot of
your car, so you have them at hand whenever you need to dowse.
12.8 Learning the eye-belly attitude for dowsing
Dowsing has to do with an 'eye-belly' awareness. This means being
aware both in the third eye and in the area below the navel. To
develop the eye-belly awareness, first practise walking around the
room keeping a strong awareness of the navel area or, more
precisely, the energy centre one inch below the navel. You do not
need to locate the centre precisely, just be aware of the area below
the navel. Walk 'from the belly'. Imagine you are a cowboy or an
American policeman, both usually quite good at walking from their
belly. Or walk like a Japanese master of martial arts.
The lines are made of an etheric energy that is very close to the
physical plane. From an experiential point of view, the key word
for etheric is: vibration. Roughly speaking, whenever you feel a
vibration, you feel the etheric. Some etheric vibrations are quite
tiny and subtle, half way between a light and a vibration. Others,
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168
like the ones you feel when tuning into the lines are 'denser' and
more physically tangible. To dowse the lines, you have to be aware
of the vibration in your belly and not be floating in the light
somewhere above your head. The more you are in the vibration,
the closer you are to the perception of the lines.
Then re-establish eye-centred awareness. Practise a few seconds of
reconnection: Become aware of the vibration between the
eyebrows, breathe with the throat friction, and connect the
friction with the vibration in the eye.
Keep a tight awareness of the vibration in the eye and remain
aware of the area below the navel at the same time. You are aware
of the vibration both the eye and below the navel. Practise walking
around the room with your eye-belly awareness. You will notice
that a strong vibration in the eye allows you to be even more in
your belly. Several techniques of protection, which will be detailed
in Chapters 18 and 20, will be based on strengthening your energy
by a tight focus kept simultaneously in the eye and in the belly.
12.9 Dowsing technique
Hold one rod in each hand, at about the same height as your navel.
If you hold the rods as you would hold guns, you have the right
height and probably the right belly awareness too: once more it's
not the time to be airy-fairy, but grounded in the vibration.
A common mistake is to block the rods with your thumbs. The
rods must be left free to rotate.
Start walking slowly, like a tiger, with a strong awareness of the
vibration both in the eye and below the navel. Keep your hands
steady to avoid any movement of the rods. The rods remain
pointed in front of you. If they swing, it should be due to the
signal of a line and not to your own movements while walking.
Chapter 12 - Ley Lines, Earth Lines and Energy Wells
169
Don't block the rods with your thumbs, keep them free. Be
attuned to any sensation that could come from your belly. Keep
breathing with the throat friction, walking slowly.
When you cross a line:
1) The rods swing and position themselves parallel to the line. So to
determine the direction of the line, you just have to look at the
direction pointed to by your rods. It does not make any difference
whether the rods rotate to the right or the left, or one to each
side.
2) When crossing a line, just a fraction of a second before the rods
turn, a very 'physical' sensation can be felt in the belly. This is
what I will call the 'belly signal'. Actually, it is not a very nice
feeling. The more toxic the line is, the more uncomfortable you
will feel in your belly. This is a simple way of determining how
toxic a line is.
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170
As soon as you get a rough idea of the general orientation of the
grid, it is preferable to walk in a direction perpendicular to the
lines. You will then have a clear rotation of the rods each time you
cross the lines. (If you were to walk nearly parallel to the lines,
your rods would barely swing at the crucial time of crossing.) A
good idea is to have a roll of sticky tape with you. Stick some on
the floor each time you cross a line to remember its location.
Since the lines make a roughly perpendicular grid, you will most
often find two groups of lines, the lines of each group being
parallel to each other. Once you have explored all the parallel lines
of one group, start walking perpendicular to them, to explore the
second part of the grid.
Now, what if you find a line that does not fit with the grid, a line
that is diagonal, for instance? It indicates that you have located
something additional to the natural grid, such as an electric cable,
a water pipe, or even an underground creek. Go (even more) into
your eye, tune into the line, and try to find out what it is.
Electric cables usually make moderate lines. Underground water
creates the type of lines that make you sick when you tune into
them. Water pipes are somewhere in between the two, depending
on the volume of water flowing through.
12.10 Dowsing the lines: do's and don'ts
• If your rods go on swinging around even before you start
walking, consider the possibility that you may actually be standing
on a line! Take one or two steps and try again.
• Suppose you find a line that is due to a cable, and there is no
cable under the floor, what can that mean? Possibly the cable is in
the ceiling! The lines are not only generated above a cable or a
pipe, but also below them.
• Do not dowse the lines for too long a period in one day. Unless
you are very trained, the practice can be exhausting when pursued
for more than half an hour. There is a simple reason for this: to
perceive something, you have to tune into it. If you want to dowse
the lines you have to connect with their energy. Since these lines
are noxious by nature, one can easily understand why dowsing is a
tiring sport.
For this reason, it is not advisable to dowse for lines when you are
low in energy or depressed. Dowsing is not a good activity for
pregnant women, or for children.
Chapter 12 - Ley Lines, Earth Lines and Energy Wells
171
• After dowsing the lines, wash your hands in running water for
a fairly long time, according to the method explained in section
4.12. A shower would be even better.
• There are many dowsers' associations, and most of them organize
field days on the topic of earth lines. It might be a good idea to
join one of them for one or two Sundays, just to check that your
dowsing technique is accurate.
12.11 The belly signal
In Chapter 11 it was discussed how, through the art of tuning in,
one can learn to let the qualities of an object 'become alive' in one's
consciousness. To the apprentice clairvoyant, dowsing the lines is
one of the most striking examples of this process. The lines prove
to be particularly easy to tune into. And while crossing a line with
the rods, a tangible effect takes place in the navel area, around the
maṇipūra chakra of the Indian tradition. It is a gut feeling, very
'physical' - unmistakable. The process of dowsing is a clear
example of how one can tune in, and then feel a modification of
one's energy in response.
As a consequence of this tangible effect, students usually have a
pleasant surprise: they tend to find the lines in the same places,
even though they may be dowsing for the first time.
Dowsing earth lines is remarkable in that it is probably the easiest
of all extra-sensorial perceptions to objectify and reproduce. If
anybody was to try to demonstrate ESP type of phenomena
scientifically, I would certainly advise them to work on earth
lines.
About the 'belly signal': it is interesting to note that a certain
fraction of the population seem unable to dowse - probably about
10% of the students I see. There seems to be a correlation between
the inability to dowse and emotional blockages in the abdominal
area. In other words, these helpless dowsers are systematically
those with major obstructions of energy in the navel area. When
these students undergo a regression process, releasing their belly
blockages, they gain (or rather regain) their capacity to dowse
properly.
12.12 Feeling the lines without rods
Once you can locate the lines of the grid according to the dowsing
method indicated above, the next stage is to feel the lines without
the rods. This is something that will surprise your dowser friends
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very much. It is quite a comic situation: how can you, who have
only been dowsing for a few weeks, not only find the lines but
even find them without rods, when they have been working on
the subject for years and wouldn't have a clue how to do that?
Really, it is because your dowsing comes from a systematic
training of perception and not from an isolated skill.
With a strong awareness in the eye, it is actually not very
difficult to sense the lines with your hands, without rods.
Start walking down the room slowly, your hands in front of you.
As before, keep a tight awareness of the vibration, both in the eye
and below the navel. Breathe with the throat friction, to amplify
the vibration. Tune into the lines from your belly.
When you walk across a line your hands will feel a slight
resistance, as if you were meeting something thicker and denser
than just the air of the room. Sometimes there is also a slight
vibration added to your hands when you 'touch' a line. Walk back
one step and come to the line slowly again. Dwell on the feeling,
learn to recognize it. In fact, it is more appropriate to use the
word 'wall' rather than line, for what you feel is actually like a
wall of vibration, a bit like a wall of etheric smoke.
As always, there is one secret: practise, practise, practise! If you do
so you will be able to enter a room and immediately tell where the
lines are and how noxious they are. You won't need any rods. You
won't even need to walk across the room.
12.13 Seeing the lines
Seeing the lines, or rather the walls of smoky energy, is not much
more difficult than seeing halos of light around people. The
techniques to use are exactly the same as those we have described
in the chapters on seeing.
Implement the triple process of vision:
1) Motionlessness and focus in the eye, blinking as little as possible.
2) Don't look for the lines, become aware of the fact of seeing, or
seeingness. If seeingness is out of reach, just feel the image in
front of you instead of looking at it.
3) Try to feel from your heart, and in this case from your belly
at the same time. If you find it difficult to be in the eye, the
heart and the belly at the same time, just keep the eye and the
belly. Look from the belly, through the eye. If this too is
difficult, focus mainly on the belly centre, one inch below the
navel.
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Tips for beginners
• The more the people in the room are in their eye, the easier it is
to see.
• You will find it easier to see the lines if you try while another
person is dowsing in the room.
• From my experience, when a number of beginners all try to
tune into an object or to see it clairvoyantly at the same time, it
creates a big cloud of chaotic energy in the room and even trained
clairvoyants have difficulty discerning anything. It sometimes
takes a good half hour before anyone can perceive anything again.
The same applies to earth lines: if too many inexperienced students
try to see them at the same time, it is likely that after thirty
seconds absolutely nobody can see anything anymore.
• Practise seeing the lines around the Full Moon and in the
evening, when the lines are at their widest.
12.14 The aura of the dowser
An interesting practice is to sit quietly, implement the triple
vision process, and watch the aura of somebody who is dowsing.
Each time they cross a line you can see a change in the colours and
the intensity of their aura. Even if you are not seeing colours
clearly yet, you won't find it too difficult to sense the
modification that takes place in the person's energy.
Also try to tune into their belly energy. When they cross a line
you will be able to sense the 'belly signal' in them. If the line is
really toxic it can easily make you feel a bit sick even from a
distance, just by tuning into the dowser's belly.
12.15 Diagnosing geopathic stress
As you become a bit more advanced, you may develop an
interesting skill in diagnosis: feeling the imprint left by lines in
people. If somebody sleeps for months on a line, it leaves a track
in their energy. And you can actually feel and see the line's energy
on them.
This practice is much less difficult than it sounds. You need to
have developed a certain feeling for the lines. This means you need
to know exactly what the energy of a line feels like. Then when
tuning into someone you look for the same feeling. If they have
noxious earth lines imprinted in their energy, meaning if they
suffer from what has been called 'geopathic stress', you will
recognize the 'line feeling', the same as you get when tuning into
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the grid. This will give you the capacity to suspect very quickly if
a disease is due to a toxic line.
12.16 Finding energy wells
The subject of energy wells is much more mysterious than that of
noxious earth lines. Very little has been written about them.
Finding the wells entails a great understanding of telluric forces,
but it also requires that you cultivate a certain respect for the
land, that you value its energies.
To find energy wells you need two main qualities: respect and
attunement. It won't be you that finds the wells, it will be the
land that shows them to you. Maybe. If the land feels you are a
nice person.
What is a nice person, from the point of view of the land? You
arrive at the place with your head full of the mental activity
generated by modern life, but the land vibrates on quite a
different frequency. The first step is to become attuned to the
land, to let yourself vibrate on its frequency. The land is also
sensitive to your magnetism. It appreciates and respects people of a
certain density. You have to be steady in your belly and to connect
your belly energy with the land, anchoring the force of your
lower chakras in the ground. So before exploring the house itself,
it is good to spend a few minutes walking around it, to sense the
energy of the area and to connect with it.
Once you are in the right inner disposition, how do you find the
wells? If you have achieved a certain clairvoyance, it is quite
simple: you just have to look around you. An energy well looks like
a little fountain of energy, a little 'geyser', a column of light.
Even if you do not find it easy to see auras yet, practise the triple
vision process and scan the space of the room from your eye. If
you are attuned to the energy of the place, an unexpected flash of
vision may take place.
Then start walking around the room very slowly, your palms in
front of you, as if you were trying to sense the lines without
rods (section 12.12). There is a German word that can't really be
translated: gemütlich. It means 'full of feeling', nice and
comfortable for the soul - and that is exactly what an energy well
feels like.
In my experience, energy wells are often found adjacent to an
earth line (but not on the line). So don't be worried if you find
one just on the edge of a line, there is nothing wrong with it.
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The size of energy wells varies. Those we see in Sydney are often
between one and two feet in diameter, or possibly a bit more. But
there are aboriginal sites, for instance, where one may find much
bigger ones. Certain sites are really magic, with energy wells
everywhere, like fairies' fireworks. Walking on these sites with
the right consciousness transports you into another dimension of
existence.
Different energy wells have different properties. Some have more
of an inspirational value, some of healing. You have to tune into
the being of the well to discover it. But be very gentle, for these
beings are shy. Look without looking, tune in as if from a
distance. Otherwise they will conceal their energy and the well
will remain undetected by your eye. It is only once you have
gained a certain familiarity with the little being behind the well
that it will reveal all its secrets to you.
Everything is yet to be discovered about energy wells!
12.17 Can one neutralise noxious earth lines?
Dowsers have made many attempts to neutralise the noxious lines.
Many devices have been designed, such as copper rods of various
shapes, lead coils, electromagnetic apparatus, candles, oil lamps,
mandalas and magic signs under the carpet. After having tested
many of them, I have come to the conclusion that nothing really
works. Some devices bring a temporary improvement, but I have
never seen any that last. After a few weeks or at most a few
months, the grid recovers its noxious character.
Maybe the answer is of a different nature. Although some of these
lines are bad for our health, they are not necessarily bad for the
Earth. The lines are to the Earth what the acupuncture meridians
are to our body. Why should we try to block these flows?
Maybe the solution does not lie in attempting to correct the
natural grid of the Earth, but in placing our houses on spots that
are appropriate and favourable to human life. The grid is not
noxious everywhere: many places have a lovely energy. If you build
a house just on top of an underground stream, you are assured of
having a noxious grid all around the house. But if you build the
same house fifty metres away, there may not be any unfavourable
consequence.
In Australia, where telluric energies are particularly strong, I have
seen a few houses that were built on aboriginal burial grounds or
on sites that aborigines had traditionally judged unfit for human
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habitation. In these houses people fell sick and fought all the time,
went bankrupt, committed suicide... Even the cats, that normally
have a great time on the lines, hid in the cupboards and had
nervous breakdowns. Would it be reasonable to start a war against
the land to clear such a place, or should one consider that no house
should ever have been built there?
The real problem is that we are not living in harmony with the
energies of the Earth. We place our buildings according to mental
considerations after drawing nice squares on a map. We are
disconnected from the land: we do not even try to consult it
before building. And then when the vibes in the house are awful,
we want technology to come to our rescue to stop the natural
telluric flows and turn our spooky place into a homely little
cottage.
The real answer is to introduce architects and builders to the
science of telluric lines and wells. And as far as you are concerned,
to check the grid and the vibrations of a house before moving into
it.
Practically, what can you do? Dowse your house in great detail.
There is always a grid of lines, 2 to 2.5 metres apart. But in many
cases the grid is not particularly noxious. Still, you need to make
sure that no line crosses your bed, that you are not meditating on
a line and that none of the places where you regularly sit is on a
line. Don't hesitate to move the furniture.
Then the second stage is to start hunting (gently!) all over the
house for the energy wells and to explore what you can gain from
them. All this means that you have to reconsider your habits and
to start using the space in harmony with the energy of the house.
If you can be clever enough to design the interior of your house in
such a way that you meditate, sleep, eat, work... on energy wells,
then the benefits will be immense as far as your physical, mental
and spiritual health is concerned.
What if the grid is noxious, or full of additional lines, or if the
house has been designed in such a way that wherever you put your
bed it is on a crossing of lines? My advice is to move. Spiritual
awakening is a process of opening. It can't happen smoothly in a
place where the vibrations are toxic. When you undergo deep
transitions, you need your environment to support you, not to
work against you. Go and find a place where it is 100% right for
you to be. This is an important part of the spiritual quest and
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therefore, if your motivation is right, the universe will support
you.
12.18 A geography of enlightenment
If you really want to know about energy, I would suggest you
apply yourself to perceiving the lines until you reach the point
when you can know immediately where the lines are as soon as you
enter a room. It doesn't matter if you can't see them in the
beginning. But you have to develop your feeling to the point
where you can open the door, tune in, and sense where the lines
are without even having to walk through the room. This will
structure a deep connection with land energies.
Then when visiting a new place, you will automatically avoid the
lines and pick the right spot to sit. This will happen
spontaneously, you won't even have to think about it. You will just
sit somewhere, and later on realize that you have picked up an
energy well again. And if for some reason you ever happen to sit
on a line, you will immediately receive a signal from your belly,
and you will feel the desire to move. You do not even need to see
the lines clairvoyantly to reach that stage. It is enough to train
yourself to feel them systematically.
As you become more aware of these telluric energies, you will be
surprised to see that some people keep going straight from one
line to another, due to some kind of strange magnetism. If there
is a bad crossing somewhere in your lounge, they walk straight
there and sit down. If there is a spooky house available in town,
they rush to rent it. And even if their house is quite sound earthline-
wise, they manage to put their bed on the worst crossing
they can find. In a way, you can say that these people have
developed a sensitivity to the lines! But they unconsciously use it
against themselves. These earth line kamikazes would greatly
benefit from working on their eye and learning to dowse. Yet you
find that many of them obstinately refuse to try, or even simply
to acknowledge the existence of the lines.
This leads you to feel that there is a correspondence between our
own quality of energy and the places where we sit, be it in our
own home or even in a restaurant, cinema or friend's place. This
means that many people unconsciously pick harmful spots to
perpetuate their energy disorders and imbalances. But it also means
that by systematically choosing spots of high quality energy we
can influence our state of health and consciousness positively -
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maybe much more than we think. It also suggests that two people
may live in the same environment and yet be in two different
worlds, one by systematically staying on lines, and the other on
energy wells.
As we come to the end of this chapter, I have a favour to ask you.
The knowledge about the lines is quite simple, yet the troubles it
may save are enormous. Please talk about earth lines. Discuss the
subject fully with your friends and relatives. Never waste an
opportunity to make it a subject of conversation. If you are a
journalist, then write about it or get the subject broadcast on radio
or TV. If you are a health practitioner, explain the matter to your
patients. It won't spoil your reputation, due to the vast amount of
scientific evidence available to back up the phenomenon. It should
be understood as an act of higher compassion to create as much
interest as possible in this subject.
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Chapter 13 - Night Practice 1: Theoretical Aspects
Dormiens vigila
While asleep, stay awake.
In that which is night to all beings,
the enlightened one is awake.
That in which all beings are awake,
is night to the enlightened one.
Bhagavad-Gītā 2.69
Night practice is a set of techniques designed to induce a state of
psychic sleep, and to use your nights for the purpose of selftransformation.
When performed during the day, night practice is
a quick and sure way to recover from stress and fatigue. Higher
stages of night practice deal with conscious astral travelling, for
which a few preparatory techniques are suggested in the next
chapter.
13.1 Critical times
Where do you go after you die?
According to the Tibetan and Hindu sciences of dying, the moment
of death is critical, for it determines the conditions of your
journey after life. Like attracts like. A resonance is said to take
place between the contents of your mind at the very moment of
death and the place to which you will be attracted. A verse of the
Bhagavad-Gītā puts it in these terms:
yaṃ-yaṃ vā 'pi smaran bhāvaṃ tyajaty ante kalevaram taṃ-tam
evai' ti...
Whatever object/state someone thinks of at the final moment of
leaving their body, that and that alone they attain. (8.6)
There is a story from the Buddhist tradition of a man who had led
a very virtuous life. As he lay dying his nephew sat by his
bedside, pretending to grieve but secretly coveting the
inheritance. The man got very angry when he saw that his
nephew's grief was fake. The dying can easily read the minds of
those around them, for they are already half in the astral. His
anger was enough to propel him straight into a burning hell,
180
where he had to spend some time before his next human
incarnation. Because the moment of death is so critical, many
esoteric schools, western and eastern, have developed precise
methods for leaving the body the right way so one can find one's
proper direction in the non-physical worlds.
Let us now look at a daily experience which is no different from
the adventure of death. Where do you go after you fall asleep? A
whole range of planes of consciousness are open to you. Some are
light and refreshing, others are more likely to induce terrible
nightmares. As far as fatigue recovery and spiritual development
are concerned, the value of your sleep depends on the quality of
the planes that your astral body visits during the night. If you
wander into the wrong places you may well wake up more tired
than when you fell asleep, or even sick.
What determines which planes you visit during your sleep? Once
more, your state of mind when crossing the threshold is essential.
At the gate of sleep as at the gate of death, a resonance takes place.
The quality of your consciousness at the very moment of falling
asleep plays an essential role in determining where you will
journey during the night. Hence the inestimable value of a time of
pure and coherent awareness just before falling asleep, which will
allow your astral body to be drawn towards the 'right place' during
the journey. Many valuable side effects will result, such as greater
energy during the day, better resistance to disease, increased
memory and enhanced creativity.
You would never treat the moment of your death lightly. The
parallel between the two experiences is such that the moment of
falling asleep should be treated with the same importance.
13.2 Initiatory death and the mystery of the threshold
Several traditions have emphasized the analogy between death and
initiation. Even without any occult knowledge, you can convince
yourself of this correspondence just by observing a dying person.
There may have been traumas and suffering beforehand, yet when
the moment of death approaches, the person starts to radiate a
great serenity. If he has not been sedated with too many drugs
you can clearly sense that an opening takes place.
From an esoteric point of view the connection between death and
initiation is obvious: the initiate is the one who can, while alive,
become aware of those planes visited by the dead. The initiate can
see the non-physical planes and travel through them even though
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181
he is still incarnated in a physical body. The non-initiate, on the
other hand, will have to wait until death to discover what is on
the other side.
Moreover, when certain 'clicks' occur on the path of initiation, you
realize that you are accomplishing at that very moment work that
will be completed by others only at the time of their death. And
your subtle vision is suddenly boosted. It is like an explosion. You
know that when the time comes for you to die physically, a great
deal of the work will already have been done.
There is nothing grim about this aspect of the initiation process.
Think of the serenity and opening of the dying person. Once you
start crossing the thresholds of initiation, a bit of this serenity
remains with you, always. Even if you are caught in the agitation
of the world, the soft feeling remains in the background. And
because you are both dead and alive at the same time, you can start
to live for good. The Spirit is the source of magnificent paradoxes:
having gone through a death-like process you become much more
alive. Before, you were animated and nothing more; now you are
alive. It is so simple that it becomes extraordinary.
In a quest for initiation, there is always a search for the
threshold, the gate that opens your vision to the non-physical
worlds. But to the clairvoyant eye, it appears that it is not only at
the time of death that the gateway is crossed. Every day, all
human beings pass by, missing what the western tradition has
called the 'guardian of the threshold'. It happens at least twice a
day (four times, if you have a nap): each time you fall asleep, and
each time you wake up. But the tragedy is, the guardian of the
threshold remains unnoticed. It is common to fall asleep and 'fall
awake' as fast as slipping on ice. You are walking, and suddenly
before you know it you find yourself on the ground. It happens so
quickly that you have absolutely no idea what took place in the
meantime, nor how it took place. This means that twice or even
four times every day, a fantastic opportunity for selfdevelopment
is lost.
Thresholds are always essential. The day is yang, the night is yin,
and what is twilight? Twilight is a time when pairs of opposites
can be transcended. That is why so many sages and enlightened
people will tell you that they had their first flash of illumination
at twilight.
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The right side of the body is the male, solar side. The left side is
the female, lunar side. And what about the middle line? It is the
seat of the serpent-fire of the western tradition, symbolised by
Hermes' caduceus. This corresponds to the suṣumnā -nāḍī of
Kundalini-yoga, the central channel in which the force moves.
Now, what happens when this central channel opens? You are
neither solar nor lunar, neither male nor female, neither inside
nor outside. You transcend the duality of manifestation and you
get in touch with your eternal Self. We could go on investigating
several similar pairs of opposite values and find that each time,
something critical takes place at the borderline between the two.
One of the purposes of night practice is to explore the dividing
line between waking and sleeping. Cultivate an interest in this
threshold, wonder at it! (Wonder is a great spiritual quality, one
never practises it enough!) It should become a gentle obsession each
time you are going to sleep: What am I going to get out of
crossing the threshold this time? The full experience of the
threshold is one of superconsciousness, but as discussed before it is
usually missed because you are too quick. So the tactic of night
practice is to induce a slow transition from waking to sleeping via
a gradually increasing relaxation. You reach a stage in which you
are neither awake nor asleep, or rather both at the same time, and
aware. There you can pursue your quest for the guardian of the
threshold.
13.3 Sleep and subtle bodies
To understand our topic fully, we need to go through a few basic
points regarding subtle bodies. A human being can be regarded as
made of four parts:
1) a physical body (PB)
2) an etheric body (EB), or layer of life force. This life force is
identical to what is called prāṇa in Sanskrit, qi in Chinese. The
etheric body is the same as the prāṇa-maya-kośa, or 'envelopemade-
of-prāṇa ' of the Indian tradition. In terms of inner
experience, there is a simple reference: whenever you feel a
vibration or a tingling, something has been activated in your
etheric body.
3) an astral body (AB) or layer of mental consciousness. Whenever
you think or experience emotions, something is taking place in
your astral body.
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4) an Ego, or Higher Self.
The astral body (AB) and the Ego are linked, forming an 'upper
complex'. The physical body (PB) and the etheric body (EB) are
linked too, forming a 'lower complex'. Unless you are an initiate,
the physical and etheric bodies never fully separate as long as you
are alive.
The upper complex (AB+Ego) is the seat of your consciousness.
While you are awake, this upper complex penetrates the lower one
(PB+EB), a bit like a hand enters a glove. In other words your
consciousness cognizes the physical world through the physical
(and etheric) bodies.
When you fall asleep the upper complex (AB+Ego) becomes
disinterested in the lower one (PB+EB). It withdraws from it. Seen
from outside you lose consciousness, meaning you fall asleep. But
in reality your consciousness is not lost, it is just somewhere else.
Instead of cognising the physical world, the upper complex
(AB+Ego) wanders in different astral worlds, or sometimes in the
higher realms of the Spirit. A vast range of planes can be
experienced, some beautiful and regenerating, some grey and dull,
some really noxious. It depends a great deal on the quality of
consciousness in which you cross the threshold. If you fall asleep
drunk after eating sausages and watching horror videos, for
instance, your sleep may not be too refreshing or enlightening
because you are likely to be attracted to unclear areas of the astral
sphere. It is part of the process of transformation to find those
evening activities and foods that allow you to be directed towards
higher realms at night.
Around the time of waking up, you become interested in the
physical world again and the upper complex (AB+Ego) reintegrates
into the lower one (PB+EB). The hand goes back into the glove. And
that is another critical time, for if the reconnection does not take
place properly you are very likely to be in a bad mood all day. You
can probably recall certain days when everything seemed to go
wrong, and when you wished you had not woken up till the
following morning. To a certain extent, this can be avoided by a
proper management of the moment of waking up. Just as falling
asleep is an art, waking up is too.
What happens at the time of death, in terms of subtle bodies? The
upper complex (AB+Ego) departs for good. The physical and etheric
bodies are left to disintegrate. So we find another parallel between
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184
death and sleep. In terms of subtle bodies, sleep is a transient
separation of the astral body and Ego from the physical and
etheric, while death is a permanent one.
13.4 Angels and the chiselling of the organs of
clairvoyance
In order to gain a direct vision of the spiritual worlds, some new
organs have to be built. It is obvious that to be able to perceive the
physical world we need physical sensory organs and nerves. In the
same way but on another level, some astral structures are needed
to perceive non-physical worlds. One of the reasons why most
human beings are presently blind to anything other than the
physical reality is that these organs of clairvoyance are lacking.
They have to be built for vision to open.
During the day, the astral body is too busy operating inside the
physical body for the building up of the new organs to take place.
Our mental consciousness, and therefore our astral body, is
directed towards the physical world. The astral body gets saturated
with the physical perceptions it receives from the senses via the
brain. It is therefore during the night, when the astral body
withdraws into a life of its own, that the new instruments of
perception can be chiselled.
Now, who chisels? This is a key question! If you can answer it, not
intellectually, but through direct experience, a good part of the
work is done. As the process of initiation unfolds, you realize that
the carving of the astral organs of clairvoyance requires the
collaboration of non-physical guides and higher spiritual beings,
such as different categories of angels. These beings express
themselves creatively in us, planting new seeds and forming new
structures. They are trying their best to help. But the problem is
that it is not always possible for them to approach us.
This tragedy is quite common. There are many people who seem to
be desperate for spiritual progress. They go on crying, "I wish God
could help me, if only God could help me..." And if you look just
above them, what can you see? Guides and angels who keep on
whispering, "Please tune into us, please receive our light!" Instead
of lamenting, if these people could tune in, they would
immediately receive a shower of spiritual gifts.
What are the conditions that allow these higher beings to conduct
their creative chiselling work on us? First: perception, of course!
If you can perceive the angels' action, then just by tuning into
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185
their energy consciously you will greatly facilitate the process.
Apart from this it is valuable to cultivate a certain aspiration, to
pray for their help. Guides and angels have a certain code of
ethics: they have a great respect for the free will of human
beings. It is therefore much easier for them to help if you ask
them first. Now be careful, because mental prayers usually don't
reach very far in heaven. In fact, the less mental your prayers are
and the more they are accompanied by true perception, the better
they work.
Apart from your receptivity, some other factors play a part.
Angels live in very pure spheres, and some physical environments
are simply not fit for them to connect with. If the place is too
dirty or messy, if the vibrations are too heavy, if there have been
people drinking alcohol or fighting, or if the place is full of the
smell of tobacco, then to the angel it is a suffocating space. The
angel cannot approach or connect with you.
Have a good look at your room and ask yourself: Would an angel
come down here? And then take measures to improve the situation.
(This approach makes cleaning much more interesting!)
There is an art of weaving good vibrations in a room that greatly
facilitates the connection with higher spheres.
Even more important than your environment, is... yourself! If
your vibrations are not right, or if you are too agitated, the
angels cannot do their work. All the thoughts, words and actions
of the day weave a web of vibrations inside you, which determines
to a great extent how deep the light of the angel can penetrate.
But once more, the moment of falling asleep is critical. It can have
an even greater influence than all the activities of the day, just as
in the story of the virtuous man who became angry at the
moment of leaving his body. So, we come to another reason why a
time of coherent consciousness before falling asleep can have very
positive consequences. Through night practice you can leave your
subtle bodies in a condition that allows higher spiritual beings to
come and help. The practice indicated in the following chapter
(phases 4 and 6, in particular) operates a rearrangement and a
powerful withdrawal of the senses from their objects of
perception. This creates an internalization of the astral senses,
very favourable to their development during the night.
13.5 Night practice and the etheric body
Chapter 13 - Night Practice 1: Theoretical Aspects
186
Let us now deal with the relationship between the etheric body,
layer of life force or prāṇa, and the astral body, layer of mental
consciousness and emotions.
Some people tend to imagine the etheric body as a 1 or 2 inch layer
outside the limits of the physical body. Such a layer can actually
be seen, but this picture is inaccurate. For the etheric is not only
outside but also inside the tissues of the physical body. Imagine a
sponge (the physical body) permeated with water (the etheric
body). The sponge has water inside it, and there is also a layer of
water around it.
Something similar can be observed with the astral body, on
another level. The astral body permeates the etheric body, and
extends beyond it.
But the astral body does not always penetrate the etheric with the
same intensity. Sometimes the hand is completely in the glove,
sometimes it is only half inside. Or to take another example,
imagine a mist (the astral body), and a valley (the etheric body).
Sometimes the mist is condensed into the valley like a thick fog -
that's when you are fully awake. Sometimes the mist is floating
over the valley like a cloud - that's when you are sound asleep,
dreaming and/or astral travelling. Several intermediate stages can
be observed between these two extremes. Of course this is nothing
more than a metaphor and should not be taken too literally.
What are the consequences for the etheric and physical bodies
when the astral body comes closer or moves away? Let's look at the
physical body first. The general action of the astral body is to
make everything contract. Take a strong emotion, such as anger or
fear. A disorganised wave arises in the astral body, and you start
to feel angry or anxious. Immediately a chain reaction of tension is
generated in the physical body. Your eyelids contract, there is
tension in your solar plexus and in your abdominal muscles, your
heart starts to beat (meaning to contract) more quickly, and so on.
The more the astral body grasps the physical body, the more the
physical body gets contracted and cramped.
On the other hand, what happens to the physical body when the
astral body withdraws, as during sleep or deep states of relaxation?
The physical body relaxes, it lets go of tension.
Now, how does the etheric body react when the astral body moves
in or out of the lower complex (PB+EB)? When the astral body is
more impacted into the lower complex, and therefore into the
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etheric body, a contraction process takes place on the etheric level
as well as on the physical. The etheric body becomes compacted,
compressed, denser, more 'opaque' and closed to external
influences.
On the other hand, when the astral body withdraws from the
lower complex, and therefore from the etheric body, the opposite
can be observed. The etheric body expands. It becomes more spread,
sparse and open. This is more than a simple relaxation, for etheric
matter is far from being as inflexible as physical matter; it is
much more malleable and fluid. Therefore, it is a real dilation, a
swelling of the etheric body, that takes place when the astral body
moves away from it. The etheric body does not feel as dense. You
can feel the limits of your own energy extending much further
away than when the astral body is closely impacted.
So altogether, the etheric body is sometimes closed and compacted,
sometimes dilated and more permeable, depending on whether the
astral body is near or far from it. In Chapters 18 and 20 we will
see how a conscious mastery of this balance can be used to protect
your energies. There is a certain way of being fully present that
impacts the astral body into the etheric, shielding the latter
against negative influences. It gives the feeling that the aura is
closed and impermeable.
But no living structure can flourish if it remains contracted all
the time. To maintain the health of the etheric, there have to be
times when it can completely relax and expand. The more the
grasp of the astral body is released, the more the etheric body is
set free. The stress of modern life tends to generate a cramped
condition in which the astral body never really lets go of its grip
on the etheric. In the long run this creates a wearing out and an
exhaustion of the etheric layer. Night practice allows you to reach
a degree of etheric relaxation that is far superior to usual sleep.
The perfect state of etheric relaxation is very similar to what a
baby experiences naturally. Why does a baby sleep all the time?
Because its astral body has hardly landed on the planet. The baby's
astral body is floating above, and only incarnates from time to
time into the etheric. Therefore the baby's etheric is completely
open and in a state of absolute relaxation.
This also means that you should take great care of your baby, for
this openness makes it very vulnerable to its environment. The
baby 'breathes through its skin' all the influences of the world
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around it. Some parents take their baby to parties and consider
that everything is fine because baby remains sound asleep, even in
the middle of the noise and agitation. This is a big mistake. The
disorganised vibrations of the environment flow into the child and
create far greater disturbance than the parents realize.
Through night practice you learn to achieve the baby's climax of
relaxation, not only of the physical but also of the etheric body.
The etheric can be given a time of complete opening and expansion.
That is why night practice may allow you to recover much more
quickly than an ordinary siesta. A lifestyle that never allows a full
opening and expansion of the etheric body, as is the case for most
people at the moment, generates accelerated aging processes and
exhaustion.
However, the opening also implies that certain precautions should
be taken during your night practice. It would not be appropriate
for instance, to go into a state of deep relaxation in the hall of a
busy railway station. Your etheric body would be likely to catch all
sorts of negative energies, and it might take you a few weeks of
clearing, if not more, before you get rid of them.
During night practice your etheric body opens significantly more
than during meditation. Meditation is practised in a sitting
position, and due to the fact that it operates through the waking
state, much more control is retained over the physical and etheric
bodies. It is possible, even though not necessarily recommended, to
meditate in the middle of a crowd, because several mechanisms of
defence are maintained. But it would be absurd to try to do a
night practice in the middle of a crowd, just as it is crazy to take
a baby to a demonstration. Even during a nap or during the most
unconscious sleep, your etheric remains much more closed and
impermeable than during night practice.
From this we can deduce a few recommendations concerning night
practice. Their logic is simple: when your etheric body is open, you
should be in a quiet, clean and protected etheric environment.
Let us review a few of the factors of 'etheric pollution':
• It is not advisable to implement night practice on an earth line.
The lines make a grid of densified etheric energy that proves toxic
for the human etheric body. Your etheric is more open during
normal night sleep than while you are awake, therefore earth lines
are more toxic during sleep than during the day. The etheric is
even more open during night practice, so make sure you don't use
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189
the technique on a line. Study Chapter 12 and dowse your bedroom!
• Avoid beds made of or containing iron, spring mattresses, etc.
Iron tends to amplify any factor of electromagnetic pollution. For
the same reason, avoid electrical wiring and electronic equipment
in the vicinity of your bed. Electric blankets should be discarded,
even if they are not switched on. Before sleeping on a water bed,
consider that there is nothing better than a mass of running or
stagnant water to attract entities of all kinds. Modern technology
sometimes leads to energetic disasters.
A fridge can be quite toxic for your etheric, if you practise less
than about five metres from it. I suggest that you do the
following experiment: Place a mattress in your kitchen, say one or
two meters from the fridge, and do a night practice. Fridges
remain 'dormant' for some time, and then their electrical
apparatus is activated - that is when they start making a noise. At
the very moment the fridge starts making a noise, if you are in a
state of etheric relaxation, you will feel a kind of lash in your
etheric body. You can't miss it: a sudden, painful discharge,
extremely tangible, and often accompanied by the perception of a
flash of colour. Try it! It won't hurt you if you only do it a few
times.
This will allow you to meditate on the connections between the
etheric layer and the electromagnetic force. The two are certainly
not identical: the electromagnetic field belongs to the physical
sphere, and the etheric is beyond the physical sphere. Yet there
are direct bridges connecting the two, as shown by this
experiment. A similar experience can occur when sleeping in a
building full of iron, such as a skyscraper, with central heating.
From time to time a discharge of static electricity goes through
the heaters, often accompanied by an abrupt little sound. At that
moment, if you are doing night practice, you feel exactly the
same type of lash in your etheric body.
• It is not advisable to implement night practice while lying too
close to somebody (or to an animal, or even to plants). The reason
is obvious: your etheric body starts to expand. If it meets the
resistance of another living being's etheric, the expansion process
will simply stop. And your etheric will start to retract again, due
to a mechanism of self-protection. Your night practice will remain
superficial, you won't be able to dive deep into a hyper-relaxed
state. If you were to insist and force the opening, you could pick
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190
up unwanted negative energies from the other person and have
your own quintessence of life force drawn out.
Once more it should be remembered that during night practice
your etheric body becomes significantly more dilated and open
than during normal sleep. So even if you live with someone, share
a bed and have sex with him or her, it is preferable to keep some
distance while doing night practice. It does not make any
difference whether the other one is practising with you or not.
In practice, how far apart should you stay? A distance of 1.5
metres (5 feet) is fine. So if you share a bed the advice is: leave it
during the practice and come back once you've finished. This will
also diminish your chances of falling asleep in the middle. I
suggest that during the practice you try to sense how far your
etheric expands and discover for yourself, as always, what the
right distance should be.
However, you will see that the presence of somebody else
practising with you in the room, provided there is sufficient space
between the two, is rather supportive. The combined astral
energies of the two people help overcome the dullness of
unconsciousness and make it easier to maintain some awareness
during sleep. Astral travelling is significantly facilitated. It could
be that in the coming decades a new form of socialising will
appear...
13.6 Night practice and awareness in the eye (1)
There is one common feature to all the techniques in this book:
maintaining awareness between the eyebrows. Whether you are
meditating, seeing auras or dowsing earth lines, you always keep a
focus in the third eye. But there is one exception to this rule:
night practice. It is not advisable to switch on the vibration in the
eye while practising the techniques of psychic sleep. And there are
a few simple reasons for this.
While practising channel release you may have noticed that when
awakening the vibration in the hands, a stimulation of the energy
automatically takes place, both in the eye and all over the body.
This has a grounding effect: if you are feeling somewhat sleepy or
'floating', it re-anchors you inside your physical body and wakes
you up. What creates this, in terms of subtle bodies? The type of
strong vibration generated in your eye by rubbing your hands
pulls the astral body into the etheric. This movement of the astral
body is similar to what happens when you wake up. You become
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more awake and you can feel the life force flowing all over your
body.
Now to a certain extent, a similar movement takes place each time
you awaken a strong vibration in your eye, even if you do not rub
the hands: the astral is drawn into the etheric. Of course if the
purpose is to sleep, you want just the opposite! You want the astral
body to move away from the etheric and physical bodies. And you
want the etheric and physical bodies to become very quiet, not
vibrating all over. So quite logically, you should not try to
stimulate the vibration in the eye during night practice. If you
were to do so you might get agitated and find it difficult to fall
asleep.
This is a common reason why some people who follow a path of
meditation go through periods during which they can't fall asleep
at night. They may not realize it, but they unconsciously foster
the vibration in their third eye. It is like a clenching of the eye.
And, due to the above-mentioned mechanisms, they are kept
awake.
You can notably improve these people's sleep by helping them
become aware of what takes place, and getting them to release the
vibration in the eye. A good method is to focus on the heart. A
well known Sanskrit text, the Bṛhad-Āraṇyaka-Upaniṣad (2.1.17-18)
explains that to fall asleep there has to be a withdrawal of the
prāṇas (etheric energies) and the senses into the heart. A gentle
awareness (no concentration!) in the heart centre, behind the
middle of the chest, will favour the right gathering of the
energies, thereby inducing sleep.
13.7 Third eye flaring - a possible experience
If you follow a systematic training to build your subtle bodies, it
may happen that you go through a phase when a strong vibration
is automatically and permanently switched on in your third eye,
day and night. You are not even clenching unconsciously, it just
happens as a natural part of the process, and it often has to do
with the guides pouring energy into your structure. You feel your
eye quite intensely, there is a lot of vibration, and there can also
be a lot of light too. Sometimes there is so much inner light that
it feels like the middle of the day, even though you are lying
down in a dark room in the deepest part of the night. It may well
be that you can't fall asleep because the vibration in the eye is too
intense. Another common symptom is that you need to get up a
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few times to pass urine, as a consequence of the discharge of astral
energies into your physical body.
If you are in this situation you can always try to focus gently on
your heart. It will help. But basically there is not much you can
do: the process has to follow its course. So if it happens to you,
don't worry, and be patient. You have to accept that you are not
going to fall asleep early for some time. Enjoy the light. Anyhow,
you will often find that you are not tired the following morning,
even if you had little normal sleep. For even though you are fully
awake, you are halfway to a form of psychic sleep, and the body
can recover to a certain extent. Moreover there is often a natural
'amphetamine-like' effect that takes place (without any drug of
course) at the same time, which gives you a lot of extra energy.
The process stops by itself after some time.
How long does such a phase of awakening last? A few days, or a
few weeks - sometimes, but rarely, as long as a few months. See
the positive side of it: strong forces are implanted in your eye.
The more intense this phase, the more powerful the vision that
will follow. But note that this phase of 'enlightened insomnia' is
certainly not compulsory. Many people go through their complete
development without ever meeting it. It may or may not happen,
depending on your own internal organisation.
13.8 Night practice and awareness in the eye (2)
From what has been said so far, it should not be understood that
any awareness in the third eye tends to impact the astral body
into the physical and the etheric, thereby preventing sleep. It is
only when there is a vibration between the eyebrows that this
happens, not when you feel the purple space.
Remember what was described in relation to the first technique of
meditation (section 3.5). When vibration, tingling or pressure is
felt between the eyebrows, it indicates that the etheric part of
the eye is activated. In terms of subtle bodies, a strong vibration
between the eyebrows indicates that the astral body gets more
impacted into the etheric part of the eye, and into the etheric
body in general.
However, when you get into the perception of the purple space,
the astral body is orientated towards astral worlds, not towards
the etheric and physical bodies. For the purple space is nothing
other than a layer of the astral spaces.
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The problem is that in the beginning, when you go into your eye
you find it difficult to dissociate the vibration from the light and
the space. You get a bit of everything: vibration, light and space,
all at the same time. So in night practice it is better to avoid the
eye altogether, because the intensification of the vibration would
be opposed to the natural direction of sleep.
But when you are more advanced and able to bring the space in the
eye at will, without any vibration, there is no reason why you
shouldn't be in the eye during night practice.
13.9 Allow enough normal sleep
When some people hear about techniques of deep relaxation,
psychic sleep and others along the same lines, they sometimes
design a strange arithmetic. They hear that one hour of psychic
sleep can help them to recover as much as three or four hours of
normal sleep. Then they think: "One hour of psychic sleep equals
four hours of normal sleep. Therefore I'll have three hours of
psychic sleep every night, and that will do. What a lot of time I'll
save."
These calculations are based on a misunderstanding! The people who
think that sleep is a waste of time are completely missing all the
astral events that normally take place in the course of a night.
First you would need to become a grand master of psychic sleep
before your body could recover enough with only three or four
hours per night. But even if that were the case you would still
benefit from all the experiences of maturation and travelling that
occur during the night. The desire to reduce the amount of sleep
comes from a very materialistic perspective, and does not
correspond to the reality of the process of transformation.
Night practice should be understood as a way to make your sleep
more efficient and enlightening, not to replace it. A reasonable
duration of night practice is between 30 and 60 minutes before
going to sleep, plus one or more sessions during the day if you
wish. But in order to allow the process of transformation and the
building of your subtle bodies to follow their course, keep your
normal hours of sleep every night.
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Chapter 14 - Night Practice 2: Instructions for the
Technique
14.1 If you are reading the instructions for friends
Apowerful way to learn night practice is to use the cassettes which
are part of the Clairvision School's correspondence courses. You can
also have someone read the instructions for you while you are
lying down. In either case, just let yourself be guided by the voice,
so that you can completely relax and let go. The more you can lose
control and let yourself be carried by the flow of the voice, the
deeper you will travel.
The one who reads the instructions should sit on the floor,
preferably in a meditation position. The others lie down with their
heads towards the one who is reading: the reader should have the
heads, not the feet, oriented towards him. If there is no carpet,
participants should lie on a thin mat or on one or two blankets.
They should not touch each other's bodies, in order to avoid
undesirable transfers of energy (as discussed in the last chapter).
If practising during the day, cover the windows to create an
atmosphere of semi-darkness. If practising at night, keep at least
one faint light on to avoid complete darkness. But if you are
practising in bed just before going to sleep, there is no need to
have a light on.
Anyone who does not practise should leave the room. Make sure
that there are no factors of distraction in the room, otherwise
nobody will 'take off'.
It is usually a good idea for those who are lying down to cover
themselves with a blanket because people often feel cold in the
deep state of relaxation, even if they did not feel cold when they
started the practice. If pillows are used they should be thin,
otherwise tensions in the neck may build up and disturb the
process.
The arms should lie flat by the sides of the body. The legs should
not be crossed. (Crossing the legs while undergoing a process in a
lying position is usually a sign of resistance.) The body should be
perfectly straight and the position should be completely
comfortable, so that no tension arises during the practice to take
195
the person back to surface consciousness.
Here are a few recommendations for the person reading the
instructions:
• Make sure that nobody is lying on an earth line. If you realize
that someone is on an earth line once the practice has begun, then
try to sense what sort of interference is created by the line.
• Do not read the instructions that are written inside brackets [ ].
Each time you meet three dots in the text: "..." make a short pause
(a few seconds or more) before resuming the sequence of
instructions.
Each time you meet three dots in brackets: "[...]" make a longer
pause (half a minute or more).
Most important: do the practice yourself as you give the
instructions. For instance, become aware of the body parts while
naming them. Then your voice will sound 'right', because you will
speak from the space of the practice. There will be a
communication of the right experience. But if you give the
instructions while your mind is wandering onto other subjects,
your friends will not get as much benefit from their practice.
• Pay attention to little signs such as tension of the eyelids. When
a participant is deep inside, the eyelids are fully relaxed and
absolutely nothing moves in the body. If the eyelids keep
contracting you know the person is not 'diving'. By observing
their breath you can also get a good sense of how deep they are.
(These indications also apply when practising ISIS, the Clairvision
technique of regression.)
• Tune into the participants. Feel what they feel. Penetrate their
experience. Try to see who gets out of their body and what they
look like if this takes place. During the 7th phase in particular, be
very much in the eye and in the seeingness. Try to perceive if
some participants manage to lift their astral limbs. When this
happens you can see a cloudy formation over the physical limb. If
somebody takes off completely, which can happen during any of
the phases of night practice, then the cloudy formation is bigger
(usually slightly bigger than their physical body) and is hovering
over the body, anywhere up to the ceiling. While observing this,
look for the silver cord that is said to link the astral body to the
physical body. After the session, share your impressions with the
participants to confirm your perceptions.
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196
It is not compulsory to have somebody reading the instructions to
do a night practice. You can very well do it alone. Yet experience
shows that beginners tend to fall asleep systematically, as soon as
they reach a deep stage. I therefore recommend that you use
cassettes or train a friend to read the instructions for you,
especially during the phase of learning.
Here is a standard set of instructions:
[Preparation]
"Take off your shoes, your belt and your wrist watch.
Make sure that you are not on an earth line.
Lie down on your back, your arms by your sides.
Make sure your body is straight.
Uncross your legs. It's often preferable to cover yourself with a
blanket, for the body temperature tends to decrease as you enter
deep states of night practice.
Make sure you are not touching somebody else's body [...]
PHASE 1: Becoming a master in the art of exhaling
"Make a few long exhalations...
Try to exhale as if you were expiring, as if you were giving your
last breath...
It's a quest for the absolute sigh...
Look for the ultimate exhalation, the one that leaves your body all
empty and soft, free from any tension [...]
PHASE 2: Circulating through body parts
[2a] "Each time a body part is named, become aware of it. [If you
are practising alone, repeat the name of the part mentally as you
become aware of it or, even better, hear the inner voice saying the
name of the part.]
Become aware of the vertex, the area at the very top of the head.
Then become aware of the left part of the top of the head... right
part of the top of the head,
left part of the forehead, right part of the forehead,
left eye, right eye,
left ear, right ear,
left cheek, right cheek,
left nostril, right nostril,
left side of the lips, right side of the lips,
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left side of the teeth, right side of the teeth,
left side of the tongue, right side of the tongue,
left lower jaw and chin, right lower jaw and chin,
left side of the whole face, right side of the whole face...
Awareness of the left side of the throat, right side of the throat,
left side of the neck, right side of the neck...
Left shoulder, right shoulder,
left upper arm, right upper arm,
left elbow, right elbow,
left forearm, right forearm,
left wrist, right wrist,
left hand, right hand,
left thumb, right thumb,
left fingers, right fingers,
the left arm, as a whole... The right arm, as a whole...
Left hip, right hip,
left thigh, right thigh,
left knee, right knee,
left lower leg, right lower leg,
left ankle, right ankle,
left foot, right foot,
left big toe, right big toe,
left toes, right toes,
the whole left leg... The whole right leg...
The left side of the abdomen, below the navel...
The right side of the abdomen, below the navel...
The left side of the abdomen, above the navel...
The right side of the abdomen, above the navel...
The left side of the chest...
The right side of the chest...
The left side of the whole body...
The right side of the whole body...
Awareness of the whole body [...]
Then we circulate a second time. This time try to become more
deeply aware of each body part, as if you were one with it. Make
your unity with the body part as it is named.
[Read the sequence of body parts again, as indicated above.]
Third circulation. Each time a body part is named, become aware of
it and become aware of 'seeingness' at the same time. Switch on the
seeingness and tune into the body part.
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[Read the sequence of the body parts a third time, this time
reminding them of the seeingness from time to time. Don't forget
to implement the seeingness yourself. At the end of the sequence,
add:]
"Seeingness of the whole body... Awareness of the whole body and
seeingness... What can you see of your body? [...]
[2b] Exploring the organs
"Become aware of the spleen, on the left, behind the ribs and the
stomach... Become one with the spleen..
Then, awareness of the liver... Become one with the liver, as if you
were the liver...
Awareness of the gallbladder...
Awareness of the heart... Be completely in your heart...
Awareness of the kidneys... Become one with the kidneys...
Awareness of the lungs... Be one with the lungs...
Awareness of the uterus... If you are a man, become aware in your
pelvis, the lower abdomen below the navel... And look for the
energetic equivalent of the female uterus. Become aware of your
uterus of energy...
We repeat the sequence of the organs a second time, adding the
quality of seeingness.
Become aware of seeingness, the fact of seeing, and tune into the
spleen... Look for the earth element in the spleen [...]
Become aware of seeingness, the pure quality of seeing, and be one
with the liver... Try to sense the warm humidity of the liver [...]
Seeingness and the gallbladder... Tune into the gallbladder... Look
for the fire of the bile [...]
Awareness of seeingness and awareness of your heart... Be one with
the heart... Look for the presence in the heart [...]
Awareness of seeingness and awareness of the kidneys [...]
Become aware of seeingness and tune into the lungs... Become
aware of the wind element in the lungs [...]
Seeingness and the uterus... Tune into the uterus... Look for the
water element in the uterus [...]
PHASE 3: Awareness of the breath
[3a] "Become aware of the area one inch below your navel. Become
aware of the natural movement of this area, when you inhale and
when you exhale. Just witness the natural flow of your breath,
without modifying it. It's like watching your body breathing. Each
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time you inhale, the area below the navel goes up. Each time you
exhale, it comes down again. Start counting down the breath, from
33 to 1, in the following way:
33 when the body inhales and the area below the navel goes up,
33 when the body exhales and the area below the navel comes
down.
32 when the body inhales and the area below the navel goes up,
32 when the body exhales and the area below the navel comes
down.
31 when the body inhales and the area below the navel goes up,
31 when the body exhales and the area below the navel comes down
[...]
Go on with the countdown, following the natural rhythm of your
body... If you reach one, start again from 33 [...]
[Remind the participants of their countdown every 1 or 2
minutes, with instructions such as:]
"Awareness of the area below the navel."
[or:] "Remain aware of your countdown below the navel.
[3b] "Now, become aware of the area in the middle of the chest,
around the middle of the sternum. The same as before, each time
your body inhales, the middle of the chest goes up. Each time your
body exhales, the area comes down. Start a countdown in the
following way:
33 when the body inhales and the chest goes up,
33 when the body exhales and the chest comes down.
32 when the body inhales and the chest goes up,
32 when the body exhales and the chest comes down...
Continue your countdown, always following the natural rhythm of
your breath. If you reach 1, start again from 33 [...]
[Remind them of their countdown every 1 or 2 minutes, with
sentences such as:]
"Counting down the breath on the level of the chest" [or:]
"Watching the breath in the middle of the chest."
[3c] "Become aware of the breath that comes and goes through the
nostrils. Each time you inhale, the air comes in. Each time you
exhale, it goes out. Watch the natural movement of the breath.
Just be a witness, don't interfere.
Become aware of the mucosa inside the nostrils. Each time you
inhale, there is like a clash between this membrane and the
incoming air. Become aware of this sharp contact between the
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vibration of the inhaled air and the vibration of the inner
membrane of the nose.
Start counting down the breath:
33 when the body inhales and the air comes in,
33 when the body exhales and the air goes out.
32 when the body inhales and the air comes in,
32 when the body exhales and the air goes out...
If you reach 1, start again from 33.
[Every 1 or 2 minutes, add a sentence such as:]
"Awareness of the breath going in and out of the nose."
"Counting down the breath on the level of the nostrils."
[3d] "Drop the countdown and become more aware of this vibration
in the mucosa inside the nostrils, each time the air comes in... Try
to catch more and more of the energy of the air... as if you were
drinking the air... At the same time become aware of the area at
the root of the trunk, around the perineum and the coccyx... Try
to see if something is stimulated in this area while you are
catching more and more life force through your nostrils [...]
PHASE 4: The subtle senses at the root of the physical senses
[4a] "Pick up one smell in the air and focus on it for one minute
[...]
Then drop the awareness of this smell and try to pick up another
one, coming from further away... Remain aware of the smell for
one minute [...]
And now, pick up another smell. This time try to find a smell that
comes through the window from really far away... and focus on it
for one minute [...]
Then let go of this smell. Instead of being aware of any smell in
particular, become aware of the fact of smelling, the pure quality
of smell... Awareness of 'smelling-ness', the action of smelling,
independent of any particular smell [...]
[4b] "Drop the sense of smell and become aware of a particular
sound, coming from inside or outside the building. Any sound...
Remain aware of this sound for one minute, focussing on nothing
else but the action of this sound on your sense of hearing [...]
Then drop this sound and try to find another one, coming
through the window from further away... Even a very faint
sound... Remain with it for one minute. Watch how this sound
interacts with your sense of hearing [...]
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Then look for a sound that comes from very, very, very far
away... So faint that you can hardly discern whether it's a physical
or a non-physical sound... Remain aware of that sound for one
minute, trying to observe how your sense of hearing is affected
by that sound [...]
Then let go of any sound. Become aware of the fact of hearing...
the pure quality of hearing, independent of any sound... Awareness
of 'hearing-ness', the fact of hearing [...]
[4c] "Remember a strong taste of food. Pick up a certain food and
remember how it feels to have this particular food in your
mouth... The texture and taste on your tongue, the flow of saliva...
Be 100% in the taste, as if nothing else existed [...]
Then remember the taste of another food. Do not think, just take
the first food that comes to you. And then recall how it feels to
have this food in your mouth... Put all of your self in the taste,
experience it completely [...]
Then look for the non-physical taste of the nectar: like a trickle
or a little flow at the back of the throat, very fresh and sweet...
The taste of the nectar flowing at the back of your throat... Let
yourself be fed by it [...]
Then drop all the tastes. Become aware of the fact of tasting, the
pure quality of tasting, independent of any taste in particular [...]
PHASE 5: Moving backwards through the day
"Start recalling the images of the day. Begin with what you were
doing just before the night practice... Don't do it, let it happen:
just let the images of the day come back in front of you... And go
on, moving backwards all through the day...
Images of what you were doing in the evening [...]
Images of dinner [...]
Images of your afternoon activities [...] The people that you have
been talking to [...]
Images of lunch [...]
Images of your morning activities [...]
Images of breakfast time [...]
See yourself as you were doing your morning meditation [...]
Images of your bathroom time in the morning [...]
Up to the very first images of the morning, in bed, before you
got up [...]
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PHASE 6: Spontaneous images
[6a] "Now comes the phase of spontaneous images. Just let any
image flash in front of you... any image, the first one that comes
to you... Stay with this image a few seconds [...]
And then let another image come... Remember: no imagination,
don't make up anything. Just take the first image that comes [...]
And then another image [...]
Drop this one and let another image come... Just be in the space
and let images come to you [...]
[6b] "Let another image come in front of you. But this time
become aware both of the image and of the fact of seeing, the
seeingness...
Another image and seeingness, the process of seeing [...]
Another image and seeingness [...]
[6c] "Drop the images and remain aware of seeingness only... the
pure quality of seeing, independent of any object [...]
PHASE 7: Preparatory exercises for travelling
[7a] "Become aware of your astral right arm - not the physical
arm but the astral one, superimposed on the physical arm. Your
physical body remains completely motionless. Practise lifting up
the astral right hand and arm... And then put the astral right arm
and hand back into the physical ones.
Then become aware of your astral left arm and hand... Without
moving the physical body, practise lifting up the astral left arm...
Then put the astral left arm back into the physical one...
Start the same process again on the right side: practise detaching
the astral hand and forearm from the physical ones. Lift them
up... and then put them back...
Again on the left side [...]
The right side [...]
Lift up the left astral arm [...]
[This can be repeated a few more times.]
[7b] "Become aware of your right astral leg. Without moving
anything of your physical body, practise lifting the astral right
foot and leg out of the physical ones... and then put them back...
Become aware of the left astral leg... Try to lift it up, out of the
physical one... and then put it back into the physical leg...
Practise in the same way, a few times on each side. Lifting the
right astral leg up... Putting it back...
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Lifting up the left astral leg... Putting it back...
Lifting up the right astral leg... Putting it back...
Lifting up the left astral leg... Putting it back...
[7c] "Become aware of your astral body as a whole...
Become aware of your physical body as a whole...
The nature of your physical body is gravity, the nature of your
astral body is levity or anti-gravity...
Become aware of the gravity of your physical body... Become
aware of the weight of your body on the mattress... All that you
can feel that's heavy pertains to your physical body...
Now, look inside yourself for what is lightness... Look for the
levity principle, the force that moves upwards... Become aware of
the force that pushes upwards, the exact opposite of the principle
of gravity... It is there, inside you. It's a question of tuning into
it... Tune into the force that moves upwards... Let it pervade the
whole body... Let it lift everything upwards [...]
Now go back into the perception of the gravity... Look for the
heavy principle [...]
Then awareness of the anti-gravity principle again.. Awareness of
the force that moves upwards [...]
[7d] "Awareness of seeingness, the fact of seeing...
Practise seeing your body from above...
Become aware of the seeingness and tune in with the image of
your body, seen from above [...]
Reconnecting
"Start listening to the sounds outside [...]
Become aware of your body again... Go back into the body...
Take a few long, long inhalations [...]
Move your hands a little... and your feet...
Stretch your body...
Roll on your side.. and open your eyes."
[If you are practising in bed just before sleeping, you do not have
to go through this last set of instructions. Instead of reconnecting
with waking consciousness, just roll over on your side and fall
asleep.]
-(END OF THE NIGHT PRACTICE)-
14.2 If you do not have much time
If the purpose is to recover quickly during the day and if you do
not have much time, a good option is to start with a quick rotation
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around the body parts (phase 2). Then operate a countdown of the
breath (phase 3) in a part of the body of your choice. As soon as
you are deeply relaxed, move on to the consciousness of images
(phases 5 and 6). It is when images flow clearly and freely in front
of you that you have reached a state of intense relaxation and a
fast recovery of your energies. Phase 6, spontaneous images, is
therefore particularly useful whenever you want to have a supernap.
Often when you are tired during the day, the fatigue is focussed
in one particular area of your body: there is a spot, a focal zone of
tiredness. For instance, it might be somewhere in your back, or
maybe in your throat, especially if you have been speaking a lot.
If you can find this spot and operate a countdown of the breath
there while doing phase 3, you will recover very quickly from
your fatigue.
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Chapter 15 - Night Practice 3: The Whys and Hows of
the Technique
15.1 Preparation
Be fairly strict with details such as taking shoes off, lying in a
proper position, and so on. They make a significant difference to
the depth of experience reached by the participants. If even one or
two of them do not follow these preparatory procedures and
remain at the surface during the session, it is enough to disturb
the vibrations of the whole group and prevent the others from
accessing the experience.
15.2 Phase 1: exhaling
Exhaling is the very last thing a human being does on this planet.
Hence the use of the verb 'to expire', which means both to die and
to breathe out. Just as a fantastic tension is associated with the
first inhalation of the newborn, a fantastic release takes place
when dying people give their last exhalation.
The art of breathing out is a quest for the ultimate exhalation. Do
this as if you were on your death-bed, having completed a very
fulfilled life.
You can learn to use exhalation as the vector to carry tensions and
wrong energies out of your body. The practice of sighing can be
quite therapeutic.
15.3 Phase 2a: circulating in the body parts
Practising awareness of the different body parts should not be
regarded as a mere relaxation technique but as a major tool on the
path of inner alchemy. By connecting your awareness with the
body parts, consciousness is infused into the physical layer, and a
deep transformation starts to take place. As you become relaxed
and open, your consciousness reaches far deeper into the physical
than if you were rotating through the body parts in the usual
consciousness of the day.
The more you can 'become one' with the body part, the deeper
your consciousness will be instilled into the physical layer. Tune
into the body part and let its qualities become alive in you, as
described in Chapter 11. The feeling that comes from tuning in is
206
a knowledge through identity: you 'become' the body part. One of
the secrets of the physical transformation lies in reaching this
metaphysical unity, far beyond a mere mental awareness of the
body part.
While circulating around the body parts with seeingness, it is not
uncommon to receive unexpected visions of bones, articulations and
organs.
For instance, focus on the joint cavities. Between the two joining
bones there is a space that is filled with a particular liquid, called
synovial fluid. (Interestingly, synovia is a term that was
introduced by Paracelsus.) When you tune into the synovial cavity,
you get a feeling of space. In German and French, synovial cavity
is actually named 'synovial space' (synovial raum, espace synovial).
Clairvoyance reveals how the body connects with the universal
astral space through this 'space in the articulation', which suggests
an interesting new way of looking at joint pathologies.
A powerful variation of this phase is to add a moment of
awareness of the neutral mid-point in the centre of the body after
each couple of body parts. For instance: the left eye... the right
eye... the area in the middle of the two eyes...
Or: the left knee... the right knee... the area in the middle of the
two knees...
The left and right sides of the body incarnate opposite polarities
of energy, as do night and day, female and male, yin and yang, all
of which represent pairs of opposite polarities.
When circulating your awareness according to the sequence of
phase 2a, you first get in touch with the left polarity of a body
part, then with the right one. With the mid-point, you connect
with the space where the polarities become nought: it is the 'Tao
point', neither yang nor yin, or both yin and yang at the same
time. See if you can feel this yourself.
Another interesting way of circulating through the body is to
listen to the inner sound in each body part.
Why do we start with the left side for each body part?
Interestingly, soldiers do the same when they walk: 'left, right,
left, right...' In Hatha-yoga the practice called nāḍī-śodhana
(alternate breathing), in which one breathes through one nostril
while blocking the other with the fingers, always starts with an
inhalation through the left nostril. In several examples we find
that when dealing with energy, the left side is activated before
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the right.
Apart from this, when involved in spiritual activities such as
throwing the coins to fathom the I Ching, it is traditionally the
left hand that is used (the hand of the heart). The same applies
when cutting Tarot cards. A connection may be established with
the fact that the left side of the body is related to the right
hemisphere of the brain, more intuitive than analytic, and
therefore more spiritually inclined. And in Hatha-yoga the main
circulation of energy on the left side of the body is iḍā-nāḍī, the
lunar nāḍī, which creates an internalization of energies and an
opening into inner spaces. Rudolf Steiner has made the prediction
that in the distant future of humanity, the left hand will become
predominant, to the point where the right hand will ultimately be
atrophied.
15.4 Phase 2b: awareness and seeingness of the organs
As your clairvoyance increases you will, while practising this
phase, have fascinating visions of your organs that will be
accompanied by a deep intuitive understanding of their functions.
Apart from its healing value, this process leads to a different
knowledge of the organs. You will make many unexpected
discoveries that will throw quite a different light on certain
common facts of anatomy, physiology and pathology. The path of
the seers is full of surprises.
The more you clairvoyantly perceive the organs inside yourself,
the more you will be able to perceive the same inside others - a
great help for diagnosis! An essential fact about perception in
general is that whenever something is seen or felt inside yourself,
it can also be seen or felt in any other person. 'Inside' or 'outside'
does not make much difference in terms of clairvoyant abilities.
Why this particular sequence of organs? The hermetic (alchemical)
tradition establishes correspondences between the organs of our
body and the planets of the solar system. Man is the microcosm,
the universe is the macrocosm. Each organ incarnates in the body
all the symbols and functions of its corresponding planet. The
sequence of the organs, as indicated in phase 2b, follows the
traditional sequence of the planetary spheres: Saturn (spleen),
Jupiter (liver), Mars (gallbladder), Sun (heart), Venus (kidneys),
Mercury (lungs), Moon (uterus).
A more advanced stage consists of being able to perceive the
planetary forces behind the physical organs, turning this
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technique into an astrological meditation inside your own body. In
order to become a proper astrologer or alchemist, planetary
energies should be intuitively comprehended and felt inside
yourself, not only understood intellectually.
People interested in star lore and its correspondences with the
human microcosm would be well inspired to add another phase to
their night practice. This consists of rotating around areas of the
body, following the traditional correspondence with the
c o n s t e l l a t i o n s : A r i e s / h e a d ; T a u r u s / t h r o a t a n d n e c k ;
Gemini/shoulders and shoulder blades; Cancer/breast; Leo/heart;
Virgo/intestines; Libra/kidneys; Scorpio/sexual organs;
Sagittarius/thighs; Capricorn/knees; Aquarius/ankles; Pisces/feet.
Mentally say the name of the constellation whilst being aware of
the corresponding body area.
15.5 Phase 3: awareness of the breath and countdowns
This is the part where everybody falls asleep. Even the worst
insomniacs seem to collapse in the middle of this phase! But falling
asleep is not necessarily wrong. Let us go back to an important
point of theory. One of the purposes of night practice is to allow
you to explore this razor's edge between sleeping and waking.
If you remain fully awake throughout the practice, it means that
you never cross the edge and this purpose is missed. On the other
hand, if you fall asleep immediately and keep snoring till the end,
the practice won't be so enlightening either.
The problem is that as soon as you reach the borderline between
waking and sleeping, you lose your awareness. You are familiar
with the waking state and you are familiar with the sleeping state,
but the separating space between the two is foreign to you. Each
time you come near it you miss it, and you are immediately
swallowed into the sleeping side.
That is why this part of the technique will be much more
powerful if you use a cassette, or if somebody reads or speaks the
instructions for you. You fall asleep, and very quickly the voice
calls you back: 'Remain aware of your countdown'. A few minutes
later you fall asleep again, and the voice brings you back to the
waking state again. So that you keep oscillating around the razor's
edge, which is an excellent way to become more familiar with it.
Gradually, you learn to retain more awareness while on the edge.
With practice, practice, practice... you will reach an experience
where you are both asleep and awake, and aware at the same time.
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When you can stabilise yourself on the edge for more than a few
seconds your awareness becomes super-awareness, and you get in
touch with the mystery of the threshold. This is also the stage
that will give you the capacity for an unusually quick recovery and
make you a master sleeper of the Napoleon type.
From this discussion we can draw the following practical
conclusions: Do not include phase 3 if you are practising alone,
without the spoken instructions of a friend or a cassette, and if
you are practising in bed just before going to sleep, especially if
you tend to fall asleep each time you go through the countdown.
Do include phase 3:
- if you have difficulty falling asleep
- if you are practising during the day to recover from fatigue. In
this case the intermittent dozing that comes from the countdown
is one of the best ways to refresh yourself
- if your awareness has become consolidated and if you are
starting to be able to approach the razor's edge, without being
projected into sleep
- if the night practice is conducted for you by a friend. It may
then be interesting to spend more time in phase 3 and to go on
oscillating for as long as possible on the edge as discussed above.
You can then spend a good 15 to 20 minutes on the phase of
countdown.
15.6 Phase 3c: vibration in the nose while inhaling
If practised regularly, this exercise will greatly enhance your
sensitivity to smells. Moreover, you will significantly improve
your capacity to catch the energy from the air. As you become
more expert in this part, it will become obvious that a clash takes
place between the vibration of the air and the membrane inside
your nose, each time you draw the air in. Focus on this clash, be
more and more aware of it each time you draw the air in, and a
sharp feeling of vibration will develop in your nose. An
unexpected awakening will take place in your nostrils.
It is almost as if you were 'drinking' the air. This nourishes and
reinforces the whole pharynx and has a direct effect of
stimulation on the third eye. Remember that your third eye is not
a spot somewhere in the forehead, but more like a tunnel that goes
from between the eyebrows to the back of the head. The olfactory
nerves, after travelling in the nasal mucosa, gather and pass into
the head cavity through the cribriform plate of the ethmoid bone,
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approximately one inch directly behind the area between the
eyebrows - hence the direct effect on the eye of the awakening
of the sense of smell.
To get a clearer picture of the connection between the third eye
and smell, tune into the eye of a dog. The third eye of this animal
is completely 'smell'. You can see clearly how its eye extends into
its nostrils.
In addition to its local effects, this exercise is a powerful
stimulant to vitality in general, due to both the extra intake of
energy and the reflex stimulation of several organs of the body
from the mucosa of the nostrils. The capacity to receive more
vibrant energy will persist during the day and you will develop a
prodigious sensitivity to smells. Your nose will become a constant
source of wonder.
In Kundalini-yoga the sense of smell is related to mūlādhāra-cakra,
the root chakra, located in the perineum and at the base of the
spine. In mūlādhāra lies the most primal, the most grounded and
physical level of the bodily vitality. Any strong awakening of the
sense of smell is considered to trigger a reaction in mūlādhāra,
thereby activating the functions of the chakra. This can be used in
the treatment of depressed patients who have lost motivation in
the physical plane, and who neither wish to live nor die. (Think
also of the smelling salts used to bring people back to consciousness
after fainting.)
Smell is the most primal of the physical senses. For instance, the
olfactory lobe or rhinencephalon, which deals with smell
perceptions, is one of the most ancient parts of the brain in terms
of phylogeny. The above-mentioned technique to stimulate the
'nose-power' can therefore give unexpectedly powerful results in
re-awakening the life force of depressed people or in patients
suffering from fatal illnesses.
Many of those who run after vitamins would be very surprised to
realize how much their vitality could be increased by educating
their nose. The nose is a main organ of reception of the etheric
(vital force) of the air. It is not only during night practice, but
also during your daily activities that you can work at catching
more and more energy from the air.
Tips
• The regular practice of neti (see Chapter 16) will be a powerful
aid in developing the sensitivity of your nostrils and building up
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your 'nose power'.
While implementing this phase 3c, and night practice in general,
you will have to be very careful of smells. The room should not be
stuffy, and it is always preferable to keep a window open. There
should not be any tobacco smell, incense or strong perfumes. The
reason is that your sensitivity is increased in such proportions
that these smells may make you really uncomfortable, and may
even damage your subtle sense of smell and your capacity to
receive energy from the air.
15.7 Phase 4
By separating images from the fact of seeing, or seeingness, one
can become clairvoyant. The same principle can be applied to the
development of other subtle senses, hence this work of discerning
the fact of hearing from the sounds, the fact of smelling from
the smells, and so on.
This phase is also a powerful method to internalise the senses, to
separate the astral senses from the physical ones, and to leave the
astral body in a state which allows maximum help from higher
spiritual beings during the night.
15.8 Phase 5: recalling the images of the day
This exercise is regarded as essential by several western schools of
esotericism and you will often find it mentioned in esoteric
literature. It works on a number of levels and has more than one
purpose. Let us try to understand one or two of them.
A common observation related by those who have come back from
a near-death experience is that they witnessed the complete tableau
of their life. It unfolded in front of them like a movie. Apart
from this well-known fact, occultists describe the cycle of
reincarnation as made of two alternating phases: life on Earth,
during which actions are performed, and then the journey
through non-physical planes. The latter is then followed by
another life of incarnation on Earth, and so on.
What happens during the journey between death and rebirth?
Among other things, there is the work of integrating what was
achieved on Earth. It is like a maturation of the physical
experiences that the soul went through, and a slow incorporation
of their quintessence.
A crucial point is that the travelling soul is confronted with the
impossibility of changing anything that was done during the
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incarnation on Earth. The soul can work at digesting the actions
that were performed. It can try to prepare its next incarnation in
the best possible way. But even though deplorable deeds may have
been performed and opportunities have been missed, it is simply
out of the question for any past action to be changed. This can
prove to be a terrible drama for the travelling soul.
This spiritual fact can also be found in the Hindu tradition.
Sanskrit texts describe how, as long as the individual soul is not
incarnated, and even while staying in the mother's womb, it is
still full of good resolutions: "I shall be a great worshipper of
Shiva, I shall devote my life to the practice of yoga..."
But as soon as the individual is caught in the vortex of life, he or
she immediately forgets about all the good intentions and starts to
behave according to the motivations of the lower ego. Then, as
soon as the soul leaves the body at the time of death, it realises
painfully that many occasions were missed. And the cycle repeats
itself once more. Some progress may be made, but often this is
not much compared to what could have been achieved if a
remembrance of the purpose had been maintained.
This exercise, in which the day is seen backwards, aims at creating
every night an equivalent of the phase of contemplation of one's
actions, which normally takes place only after death. Instead of
waiting until you die, the maturation process can begin here and
now, thereby speeding up the course of evolution.
Note that it would be quite inappropriate to go through a mental
review and to try to judge the moral value of our actions in an
inner dialogue such as: "I should have done this, I should not have
done that..." The exercise works at a much deeper level. It is not
through a mental dialogue but through a deep opening of the soul
that the maturation process will be initiated. The shallow
consciousness of a moral assessment would prove completely
inadequate to trigger the expected result.
After death, the retrospective vision of life circumstances not
only takes place during the first three and a half days, it is also
repeated at different stages of the journey, with different
modalities. If you have patiently observed the panorama of your
day, every night before going to sleep, then a lot of time and
energy will be saved later. Not that there is any urgency after
death, but if you have done this work, your energy will be
available to perform some other important tasks, and make the
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transition more fruitful.
As far as the technique of reviewing the images of the day is
concerned, you can choose between two options. The first
possibility is to review the tableaux of the day, starting with
those of the evening, and finishing with those of the morning.
The second and more accurate way of practising is to see your day
exactly like a movie going backwards. Thus for example if you
have been driving, you see the car moving backwards. If you have
been walking, you see yourself walking backwards. You see the
food you have eaten going out of your mouth, and more. This may
seem difficult in the beginning, but with some practice you may
reach a stage where all the images unfold effortlessly by
themselves, and the whole day is covered in 4 or 5 minutes. It is
one of those things that you can't really 'do' but that you have to
allow to happen.
The question is often asked as to how detailed the review of the
day should be, and how much of the minute details and trivial
circumstances should be incorporated. It seems reasonable to
complete the technique in 5 to 10 minutes. The more proficient
you become, the more details you will be able to include in this
time span.
15.9 Phase 6: spontaneous images
As soon as images flow freely in your consciousness you know you
have reached a state of psychic sleep. You have integrated the
precision of the images of the dream state with the conscious
awareness of the waking state. This is a state in which you recover
fast from fatigue. Whilst practising, you will notice that the
review of the tableaux of the day (phase 5) is a slow transition
leading to the phase of spontaneous images.
Once you have reached a certain mastery of this sixth phase, all
you have to do is be in the space (the same purple space as in all
the other practices of this book) and let images come to you.
In order to go further, try to become aware of the seeingness and
of your own presence in the heart each time an image arises in
front of you. What does this mean, in terms of the work of
clairvoyance we have done so far? It means implementing the
triple process of vision from the dream state instead of the
waking state. It means extending your magic wand to the
experiences of the night, instead of using it only during the day.
This will lead to magnificent visions and unexpected realisations.
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15.10 Experiences during night practice
Tension
It can happen that tension builds up, to the point where you have
to roll over on your side and end the practice. Usually, as soon as
you are not on your back any more and you have given up the
practice for that night, the tension stops and you can fall asleep.
This experience, which is similar to the build-up of tension that
can occur during meditation (see section 10.11) is due to energetic
and emotional blockages. Don't try to force yourself to stay on
your back at any cost, which can easily turn the practice into an
ordeal. The real answer is on another level: exploring the blockage
through appropriate techniques such as ISIS regression.
There is another reason that may cause or exaggerate muscular
tension during night practice: maintaining vibration in the eye.
Remember that during night practice there should be neither
vibration in the eye nor throat friction, as discussed in Chapter
13. Each time you feel tension during your night practice, make
sure that no particular awareness is kept in the eye. Focussing on
the heart may help.
Falling asleep all the time
Don't despair - you are not the only one. At least you have found
the final answer to insomnia. Here are a few suggestions to
improve the situation:
• Practise on the floor, not in bed.
• If you regularly fall asleep at a particular point of the
technique, omit that phase for a while, going straight to the next
phase. This helps to break what can become a bad habit. Return to
the phase some days or weeks later.
• Use night-practice cassettes. At the Clairvision School, experience
has shown that a number of students who had difficulty
practising this technique reported immediate improvement as soon
as they started using the cassettes of the correspondence courses.
• Practise during the day, in addition to your nightly session. This
will increase your capacity to remain aware while on the razor's
edge.
• Get a watch with a countdown and a gentle beep. Program it to
beep every five minutes during your night practice.
• Stargazing: Practise looking at the stars every night for a few
minutes or more before going to bed. Be totally in your eye while
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stargazing. 'Drink' the light from the stars, absorb their energy.
This will have a strong influence on the quality of your awareness,
not only during night practice but throughout the night.
Basically, if you find it difficult to maintain vigilance during
sleep, it is due to the weakness of your astral body, and to a lack
of bridges between the astral and physical layers. Therefore,
before starting your night journey, it helps to saturate your
consciousness with an extremely sharp and refined astral energy:
that of the stars.
Every so often during night practice, and particularly when you
feel that you are going to lose consciousness, don't hesitate to call
the energy of the stars to your rescue. It can help to recall the
images of constellations that you were looking at before going to
bed. Tap from their energy.
To conclude this section: your capacity to retain a conscious
awareness during sleep depends on how much your subtle bodies
are built up. It is therefore the whole process of inner alchemy,
and not only night practice, that is needed to reach higher stages
of psychic sleep. It is wise to accept that it will take some time
and practice before you can remember all the journeys of the
night when waking up in the morning.
15.11 Taking the night at both ends
The work on psychic sleep does not only take place at the
beginning but also at the end of the night. The purpose of night
practice is to maintain waking awareness in your sleep. The
purpose of the 'morning work' is to remember as much as possible
of your dreams and astral journeys in your daytime consciousness.
Here are a few suggestions for working in this direction:
15.12 Morning sharing
If you sleep in the same room as a spouse/friend, tell each other
what happened during the night as soon as you wake up. Do it as
soon as possible, while still in bed and the remembrance is still
easy. You will see that you tend to remember much more if you
know you will systematically be sharing in the morning. It will
motivate your subconscious to retain more memory of the
experiences of the night.
If there are children around you, get them to tell you their
dreams as soon as you greet them in the morning.
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15.13 A symbol used as a bridge
During your night practice in the evening, before sleep make a
strong resolution that the first thing you will do when recovering
consciousness in the morning will be to try and remember what
happened in the night. A good method is to choose a symbol (such
as a star, a pentagram, or anything you judge appropriate) and to
try at any cost to be aware of the symbol at the very moment of
falling asleep and immediately when waking up. As soon as you
recover your first thread of waking consciousness in the morning,
recall the symbol. This creates a bridge between the two instants.
15.14 Keep recalling your dreams across the buffer zone
The limit between being asleep and being awake is more like a space
than a line.
In the morning you first recover your consciousness in A, let us
say. You may not be aware of it, but you will have to cross the
whole space between A and B before you are fully awake. It
happens automatically and unconsciously. Most people never notice
it.
Now suppose you remember a dream or an astral journey in A. By
the time you reach B, you are very likely to have forgotten it
again. So that, to bring memories back with you into the waking
state, you have to recall them a few times as you are crossing the
buffer-zone. You will have to remember first in A, then in A1,
then in A2, then in A3, then in B.
Remember your dreams immediately, as soon as you recover a bit
of waking consciousness. Otherwise you will end up in A3 or even
in B without noticing it, and it will already be too late, everything
having been forgotten.
For the same reasons, remain extremely motionless in bed when
you recover consciousness. By changing position you speed up the
transition from A to B. As soon as your thread of conscious
awareness is recovered in the morning, do not move and try to
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remember anything you can.
15.15 Use the memory of the third eye
Here is a way of avoiding the hassles of the former
recommendations and still remembering all that is important.
As you develop your subtle bodies you will realize that you start to
access a new form of memory: that of the eye. A number of
things that have been completely forgotten by your conscious
mind can be recalled immediately when you tap from the memory
of your eye.
This leads us to separate two memories: that of the mind, and that
of the eye. Interestingly enough, they do not register the same
things. For instance, the memory of the eye remembers auras. If
you have seen an aura ten years ago, you can recall it instantly,
just by tuning into the memory of the eye. This memory is much
more reliable than the mental one. Maybe because it does not
depend on the brain cells, the memory of the eye never forgets
anything. And unlike the memory of the mind, the memory of
the eye is completely effortless, things come back to you
automatically.
As far as nights are concerned, the mind tends to remember
dreams, while the eye remembers astral travels and experiences of
consciousness. So this memory of the eye is the true solution to
the very common problem of 'morning amnesia'.
Unfortunately, there is no simple formula that can be applied to
develop access to the memory of the eye. It comes as a result of
the whole process of inner alchemy. But the point is, this memory
of the eye is already present in many people. The problem is that
they just don't think of tapping from it. When they have to
remember something they search in their mind and don't even
think of trying to remember from their eye.
So, every morning go into your eye and try to remember from
there. It will be like doing an aura reading of your night. If you
live with somebody, you will discover that once you can remember
your night experiences from your eye, you can also see what
happened to them that night. As discussed before, the perceptions
of the third eye are not confined to the limits of your skin.
15.16 If you can never remember anything
Wait for your next holidays and then, for five consecutive nights
or so, wake up after each dream and note down everything you
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can remember. Keep a notepad, pen and torch by your bed. For
some people it is enough to make a strong resolution before falling
asleep in order to wake up after each and every dream. If this is
not the case, then get an electronic watch to beep and wake you up
every hour.
If you have to spend a night on a train or in any situation where
you have to doze rather than sleep, don't miss the chance of noting
down all your dreams one after the other.
15.17 Variation for acupuncturists
Practitioners of acupuncture, shiatsu and other areas of oriental
medicine will find it valuable to incorporate a phase of awareness
of the meridians, between phase 2 (circulation through the body
parts and the organs) and phase 3 (awareness of the breath). This
additional phase on the meridians is similar to the work of channel
release (Chapters 4 and 6), but without any rubbing, since the body
remains completely motionless from the beginning to the end of
night practice. If time is limited, then do the circulation of phase
2 only once.
In each meridian, first try to sense the vibration or tingling,
which is nothing other than the perception of the qi or etheric
energy. Then try to perceive the flow of the vibration in the
meridian (it does not always flow in the direction indicated in the
Chinese books!) Then try to activate the flow by moving energy
consciously along the line of the meridian, according to the
technique of the 'little hands' described in section 4.10.
As far as the sequence of the meridians is concerned, follow the
traditional order of the circulation of energy: Lung, Colon,
Stomach, Spleen, Heart, Small Intestine, Urinary Bladder, Kidney,
Heart Constrictor, Triple Warmer, Gallbladder, Liver. Finish with
Conception, Governor and ultimately the central chimney of the
chong mai, which bears similarities to the Indian suṣumnā, the
central channel in the middle of the body as it is developed in
Kundalini-yoga and Kriya-yoga. As the anatomical paths of the
meridians are described in all the acupuncture books, interested
readers are referred to the literature on the subject.
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Chapter 16 - Complementary Techniques
16.1 Neti
In the ancient Sanskrit treatises of Hatha-yoga, several techniques
of inner purification are described. A group of six of them are
called the ṣat karman, or 'six actions', which are:
- neti, a purification of the nasal cavity
- dhauti, purification of the stomach
- basti, a variation of an enema
Apart from their local action, dhauti and basti are cleansers of the
earth and water elements throughout the body.
- trātṭaka, gazing at a candle or a minute object (see 5.6)
- nauli, in which the two abdominal muscles recti abdominis are
contracted one after the other, thereby giving an impression of
rotation. Nauli is a strong stimulant of the abdominal fire, and of
the fire of the body in general.
- kapālabhāti, made of a short but intense hyperventilation.
These techniques do not only purify the physical and subtle bodies,
they also awaken the body of energy and its centres. Therefore
they can all be recommended to a sincere seeker.
Of these six techniques we will dwell on the first one, neti, for it
has a direct and remarkable action on the awakening of the third
eye. Apart from its effect on the frontal chakra, neti is also said
to purify all the channels of energy in the neck and the head,
thereby having a significant healing action on any disorder located
in these areas.
In the traditional way of Hatha-yoga, neti is performed with a
long-beaked pot called a lota. The lota is filled with salt water. The
yogis bend their head to one side, and the end of the beak is
introduced in the nostril on the other side. The water is allowed to
flow through one nostril and falls out through the other. The
same operation is then repeated on the other side.
For our purpose, there is a more efficient way of performing neti
which does not require a lota (long-beaked pot):
Take a mug, or even better, a vessel or small bowl that is shorter
but wider than a mug. Fill it with lukewarm water, about the same
temperature as inside your mouth. (Use clean, purified water.) Add
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half a teaspoon of rock salt or sea salt. But do not use fine grained
table salt, which would irritate your nose.
Put your nose in the water. Start 'drinking' the salt water through
your nostrils: draw the water through the nose and let it spill out
through the mouth. The water goes straight from the nasal cavity
into the mouth and gets expelled from there.
The whole operation is quick and not at all uncomfortable. It gives
a very refreshing and awakening feeling. It generates inner
clarity, and a sharp perception of energy in the nostrils.
Tips
• One of the secrets is not to take in air while drawing in the
water. That is why a wider cup is advisable. Otherwise after
'drinking' a quarter of the mug you start getting as much air as
liquid, and the result may be slightly irritating to your nose.
• Another secret lies in the art of drying your nose after you
have finished expelling the water. Most of the modern treatises on
Hatha-yoga remain vague and evasive on this topic, advising
nothing more than blowing your nose. Mistake! If you practise the
following drying technique you will be surprised to see how much
more water will be expelled from your nasal cavities, even if you
have previously blown your nose for a few minutes.
Stand up with your legs apart and half-bent. Rest your arms on
your knees.
Without moving your trunk, throw the head upwards and
backwards, exhaling violently through the nose at the same time.
This is done in about half a second, after which a normal
inhalation follows.
Then, after half a second of motionlessness, quickly project the
head downwards, while strongly blowing the air out of your nose.
Inhale normally.
Then project the head upwards again, while vigorously blowing the
air out. Inhale normally.
Continue like this for half a minute or so, blowing the air out and
throwing your head up and down alternately.
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Then repeat the process, but this time turn the head once to the
right and once to the left. Blow the air out of your nostrils
vigorously each time you throw the head to the side.
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(There is no need to blow your nose prior to or after this method
of drying.)
• The neti practice should be implemented in the morning, before
meditating, and therefore before eating. When you are trained,
you complete it in 2 or 3 minutes, including the drying.
Practise every morning for about one or two years, and then wait
a few years before resuming another year of practice.
• Neti has a sharp invigorating action. It makes you feel acutely
aware, awake and refreshed. It strengthens the third eye in a
conspicuous way and stimulates clairvoyant vision. If you can be
brave enough to overcome the discomfort of the first attempts,
you will soon enjoy it very much and gain substantial benefits
from it.
• Once you have mastered neti, you become able to suppress any
cold if you happen to catch one. You gain the capacity to adjust the
energy at the back of your throat in a way that will stop any
nasal discharge. (The trick works better if you take the cold at its
onset.)
However I strongly advise you not to do so! Respect the little
discharges of the body, do not suppress them. They are a natural
elimination: they play a role in maintaining the general balance of
your system. So please put up with the cold and according to one
of our mottos, 'let it flow'. The modern habit of rushing to a
health practitioner every time we have a little symptom is childish
and based on a misunderstanding of the body's economy. In many
cases minor ailments should be allowed to follow their course.
Treating minor diseases can sometimes end up creating major ones
in the long run.
16.2 The use of rhythms
In section 11.8 we discussed how the astral body is lacking a sense
of rhythm. The following suggestions aim at strengthening this
weak side of your astral body.
The first advice is to practise your exercises every day at exactly
the same time. The results of this measure will be out of
proportion with the effort it will take you to implement it. After
all, if you devote some time every morning to your meditation,
does it make such a difference to you whether you start exactly at
seven, for instance, instead of any time between a quarter to and a
quarter past? And yet, as far as the results go, it does make a very
significant difference. Every day your system will automatically
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start the practices at the given time! Less effort will be needed to
reach the meditation state, and the experiences of consciousness
will be significantly deeper. Apart from these simple results, the
meditation and other exercises will have a much greater impact on
your astral body.
Regularity has an unexpectedly potent action on the astral body,
reinforcing its whole structure. Imagine a ship with a leakage in
the hull. You can try to make all sorts of improvements to the
boat: get better sails, add an engine... these will speed up the ship.
But fixing the leakage will have an even more direct action, since
it corrects a basic weakness in the boat. This is exactly what you
achieve when you work at reinforcing the astral body's sense of
rhythm.
You can potentize your practices even further by preceding them
with a particular sequence of actions. For instance washing your
hands, going to the toilet, taking a shower - whatever you want,
but always in exactly the same order. Do exactly the same
movements, one after the other, morning after morning, and
something will coagulate in the structure of your astral body. It
will also help if you instigate another similar sequence of actions
every evening before your night practice.
The more the astral body gets involved in these actions, the more
efficient the exercise becomes. This means you have to perform
each operation in full awareness, completely in your eye, putting
all of yourself in the action - even if it is something apparently
insignificant such as washing your hands or drinking a glass of
water. Implement any single movement 'with intention', never
automatically. More than aware, be awake!
Twilight
The night is yin, the day is yang, and what is twilight? Beyond
the pair of opposites, twilight is a time for transcendence:
awareness of the Self. Sunrise and sunset should be regarded as
precious moments in which a very special energy is available for
spiritual awakening.
It is not very difficult to find out the times of sunrise and
sunset, as they are indicated in most newspapers. These times vary
little from one day to the next, so it is enough to get them once
or twice a week. Anyway twilight is not a punctual instant but
more a span of a few minutes.
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It is of great spiritual value to tune in and be aware in the eye and
in the heart, at least every evening at sunset (if your schedule
makes it difficult to be awake at sunrise). You do not have to stop
your activities, just tune in. Try to be in harmony with the very
special energy of twilight, and let it work on you.
New Moon and Full Moon
Similarly, the nights of the New Moon and Full Moon have an
energy which can facilitate great inner shifts. Once more,
particular vigilance should be maintained at these times.
16.3 Fasting for openings
If your perception is completely blocked, if you never see or feel
anything even though you are practising regularly, then the
answer could be fasting. I have seen a number of students who
achieved remarkable shifts and openings by fasting for a few days.
Another good indication for fasting is when you are working on a
particular blockage that never seems to yield or respond to your
efforts.
You don't necessarily have to undertake a drastic fast. First try
two or three days on juices, or on (organic) fruits only: this is
often enough to start getting things moving. Eating only fruits
one day a week can also be a good way of supporting the process of
opening.
A longer and more intense fast can also be quite valuable, but it is
preferable to discuss the matter with a naturopathy-oriented
health practitioner first.
16.4 Proper management of sexual energies
The Taoists have designed many techniques of inner alchemy and
longevity based on a particular management of sexual energy.
These techniques can make a substantial difference to your health
condition and to the process of development of your subtle bodies.
I therefore recommend them as a valuable complement to the
methods indicated in this book.
16.5 Vaccinations
According to homoeopaths, vaccinations favour what they call the
'sycotic miasm'. The sycotic miasm is a condition of energy in
which, among other things, the rational mind is rigidified, to the
detriment of intuition. Sycotic tendencies are at the very opposite
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of the opening required to develop clairvoyant perception. If you
feel completely blocked it could be valuable to visit a homoeopath
and ask advice on the subject.
Seen from clairvoyant vision, vaccinations appear potentially far
more toxic than present scientific authorities seem to believe. My
prediction is that a number of manipulations of the human
physiology which are presently implemented could one day prove
to be more disastrous to humankind than atomic weapons, by
causing a dilapidation of the genetic capital, large-scale infertility,
and a complete collapse of the immune system. Could it be that
vaccinations are introducing a seed for a collapse of our immune
system? The question should at least be asked, and seriously
addressed.
16.6 Telephone
Each time the telephone rings, instead of rushing, remain very
quiet inside for one or two seconds and try to feel who is calling.
Be careful not to let your rational mind interfere by making
'clever' deductions. Just become empty and receptive for a short
while. Make this technique an effortless habit: practise it
systematically. (Sticking a reminder on the telephone usually
helps.) It will not cost you any extra time in your day. The same
practice can be extended to other situations of daily life. For
instance, each time somebody enters your house, tune in and try
to 'see' who it is.
With the telephone this practice will be of a different nature, for
the following reasons: seen from a clairvoyant eye, a telephone call
is a curious melange of consciousness and an electromagnetic signal.
The two get mingled into a wave, not unlike the manipulations of
radionics. The telephone call is not only a signal carried by an
electric current. A wave is generated in a particular astral layer,
and the electric signal is but an outer manifestation of this wave.
That is why some healers can be so efficient when helping a
patient over the telephone: the telephone wave carries their
psychic impulse. That is also why you sometimes feel so scattered
after a telephone call, because a lot of emotional negativity can be
conveyed to you through the astral layer of communication.
I predict that in the coming centuries some human beings will
develop amazing psychic capacities by using electronic devices (or
the scions of our present electronic devices). Not all human beings,
but some particular schools will work at using electromagnetism
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and other technologies to amplify their psychic powers. They will
connect their nervous system to strange machines, which will
result in a monstrous bio-electronic symbiosis. Neuro-cybernetics
will become a path of consciousness, and dark forces will try to
take advantage of the powers it bestows. This will eventually be
used as a major form of warfare.
A group of souls are presently being trained, who will reincarnate
with the particular purpose of fighting the dark forces that will
be manipulating the radionics field. This astral layer will have to
be thoroughly cleared, a task similar to the clearing of the Augean
stables by Hercules.
The battles will be incredibly violent, though of quite a different
nature from the present forms of warfare. And the victory of
the forces of light will depend on the support and integrity of a
large number of human beings. A number of those who are
reading this book will be involved in that war, directly or
indirectly, and the soul forces that they are presently developing
through their spiritual practice will prove essential in deciding
which side will be victorious.
16.7 Moxas on bai hui (Governor 20)
Moxas are sticks in the shape of a cigar filled with a herb called
mugwort (Artemisia Vulgaris). You can find them in Chinese shops.
They are used in acupuncture to apply a soft warmth onto points,
instead of needling them.
The acupuncture point bai hui, or Governor 20, is at the back of
the top of the head.
To find it, take the axis of the ears, and extend it upwards in an
arc, following the scalp. Bai hui is located where the two arcs join,
at the top and the back of the head. To use moxas you do not need
a very precise location of the point.
Light the moxa with a candle. Hold it about one inch or so above
the point. The person should feel a soft, comfortable warmth. If
no warmth is felt, move the moxa closer. If it starts to become too
hot, move the moxa a little further away. No burning sensation
should be felt at any stage of the practice. Keep warming up the
point gently for 5 to 10 minutes. Don't forget to remove the ashes
from the moxa from time to time, or they might fall and burn
your friend's head.
When finished, there is a special way of extinguishing the moxa.
Being very thick, it can't be treated like a cigarette butt. You have
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to put the burning tip of the moxa into the earth in order to
smother it (in a pot-plant, for instance.)
Moxas on bai hui draw energies upwards, slightly release the astral
body from the etheric, and the etheric from the physical. The
etheric body is not completely withdrawn from the physical of
course, but becomes slightly less impacted. This creates a
temporary situation that is favourable for subtle perceptions.
I do not recommend that you use moxas on bai hui on a regular
basis, but that you experiment with it from time to time, to give
a boost to your vision (for instance, before doing eye-contact).
Moxas should not be used when the weather is too hot, to avoid an
accumulation of heat in the body.
16.8 Pony tail
Another interesting way of stimulating bai hui (Governor 20) and
the crown chakra is to tie a tuft of your hair in the same area
(figure in section 16.7). This custom was practised by monks of
various origins. Others have shaved this part of the skull to
enhance their receptivity to higher worlds, but this is not so
convenient if you live in the world!
You will be surprised to see how the pony tail in the area of bai
hui immediately enhances the energy of your crown chakra. It is a
minor but beneficial complement that can be used when you are on
a retreat and practising non-stop.
16.9 Blind walking
Put on a blindfold and get somebody to guide you on a walk
through the countryside.
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The exercise provides an occasion for relying mainly on your eye
to sense and explore your environment.
It is also quite interesting for developing trust.
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Chapter 17 - Protection
Protection level 1: Reinforcing the structure
17.1 Simple things first
Knowing how to preserve your energies and protect yourself from
negative influences is certainly an important chapter. But before
going into techniques and into esoteric anatomy, let us dwell on a
few basic facts: the healthier and more balanced you are, the more
protected you are. This is simple, but nevertheless very true.
So the first recommendations for protecting yourself will be
related to a healthy lifestyle. You would be quite misled if you
overlooked them because they sound so un-metaphysical. Without
this healthy lifestyle to sustain your foundations, other methods
of protection will not be very efficient, and anyway your general
process of development will be drastically slowed down.
Let us review this general advice.
17.2 Get enough sleep and rest
It is when you are tired that you tend to catch negative energies.
In a state of fatigue, your energy potential is low, you are
'empty', and this emptiness creates a favourable field for the
penetration of all sorts of undesirable energies.
In traditional Chinese medicine, lack of sleep is said to exhaust and
damage the kidney. Much more than a simple filter, the kidney is
seen in acupuncture as the reservoir of the deepest vitality, called
the jing, or quintessence of qi. The qi is the etheric, or life force.
The jing is the quintessence of the life force, similar to the ojas of
the Indian tradition and close to the quintessence sought by the
alchemists. When your jing, or quintessence, is strong, you don't
have to worry too much about preserving your energies. Of course
you should always take precautions, follow the techniques, etc. Yet
if for some reason you were to catch a negative energy, your
general vitality would be such that it would not be too difficult to
get rid of it, either on your own or with the help of an expert.
But if your jing/quintessence is weak or exhausted, not only will
you catch negative energy after negative energy, but their
removal will not be simple.
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So if you want to undergo a process of esoteric development, the
first recommendation is to have a good routine allowing enough
sleep and rest. If you implement our techniques of night practice,
it is unlikely you will have any difficulty falling asleep.
By the way, have you ever heard of an animal going a whole day
without a period of rest? Whenever you can, don't hesitate to do a
short night practice during the day too, for instance after
arriving home from work.
17.3 The right diet
I won't insist on factors such as the superiority of organically
grown products, etc. They are important, and you don't need ESP
to find abundant literature on the subject. I will just attract your
attention to a few points.
• Beware of unbalanced diets, such as only raw vegetables or
nothing other than brown rice for weeks. For example, there is a
way of misunderstanding macrobiotics that can lead to a very
unbalanced intake with catastrophic consequences. When continued
over a long period of time, a diet that does not give you what
your body needs leaves you weak and exposed to negative energies
and influences.
• A regular routine of meal times has an unexpectedly strong
effect in reinforcing your astral body and your general vitality
(see section 16.2).
• Your state of awareness and focus in the eye while eating may
greatly enhance the spiritual value of your meal and your opening
of perception. Eating with perception is a completely different
experience (see section 11.8).
• Some foods have an action that stimulates subtle perception. Raw
carrots, for example (not so much cooked ones). Others such as
beetroot have the power to stimulate the action of the Ego on the
physical body. Some spices have traditionally been used for
protection, such as garlic. The action of all of these will be greatly
enhanced if you tune into their energy. Use your perception to
discover what is good for what.
• Does one have to be vegetarian to become enlightened and
clairvoyant? Certainly not! Tibetan masters eat meat. (There was no
way to grow crops on the mountains of Tibet.) However, most
westerners do consume too much meat. If you eat meat, it is
preferable to have it for lunch rather than dinner, to secure a
better quality of psychic sleep.
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• The main advice is: follow your sensitivity rather than any
dogma (dogma is certainly not what is lacking in the field of
nutrition!) If you listen to your body and if you watch the results
of different foods on your state of consciousness, you will learn
to discern what should be favoured or avoided. As you proceed on
the path of opening, your taste will change by itself. Among other
things it is very likely that you will naturally decrease your
consumption of meat.
17.4 The right physical exercise
Techniques such as Hatha-yoga, for instance, go very well with an
inner path. So do certain forms of martial arts, such as Aikido.
People who have gained some mastery in a martial art usually do
not have much difficulty protecting themselves when they
undergo psychic training.
Gardening or a bit of hard work on the land are wonderful
activities for psychics: the more your feet are grounded in the
earth, the more safely your head can wander in the stars.
17.5 Be happy!
Sadness and depression tend to make you empty and weak. A joyful
mood is already a form of protection in itself. Cultivate laughter
and if you are a therapist, make your patients laugh. If your
spiritual path does not lead to joy, then change your spiritual path.
17.6 Alcohol and spiritual work - a dangerous mixture
I would never advise anybody to smoke, but it is a fact that one
can go quite a long way spiritually and still be addicted to
cigarettes. Tobacco generates negative vibrations, but its action is
not lethal to spiritual life.
Alcohol, on the other hand, can very quickly lead to disaster if one
is learning to explore non-physical worlds. Alcohol automatically
connects you with areas of the lower astral that are full of noxious
entities. Therefore alcohol should be avoided at any cost, as soon as
one starts to work on the third eye.
Tranquillisers, neuroleptics and other psychiatric drugs disconnect
you from higher worlds and negate the action of the work of
opening.
Hard drugs, such as heroin, are totally incompatible with inner
work, their effect being similar to alcohol but much worse.
Trying to open perception while living in the same house as a
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heroin addict is like smoking cigars inside a petrol refinery:
dangerous.
What about other drugs? I could tell you the usual things: They are
never necessary. They create scars and introduce toxins in the
etheric and the astral - not only in the physical. If some can force
an opening of perception, this opening is transient, uncontrolled,
completely unprotected, and most often twisted. Even marijuana,
when taken regularly, tends to make your astral body dull and
unresponsive. And so on... All sorts of facts that you have
probably heard before.
However, it seems to me that the real answer to the question of
drugs is that by developing your subtle bodies you will gain the
capacity to be intoxicated without the need for any substance. A
true seer is somebody who is permanently intoxicated with what
he or she receives from the universe and beyond. You would be
quite misled to believe that this is just an image and that it should
not be taken too literally. Just wait till you drink your first drop
of the nectar of immortality! It will leave you laughing and
rolling on the floor for half an hour. Truly. And it is excellent
for your health.
Tune in above the head and you can be instantly stoned (but not
dull). Open your heart, and you have ecstasy. The company of
angels bestows secondary benefits much sweeter than chocolate.
Reach the Spirit of Life, the glorious transformed etheric body,
and you will have the absolute heroin... On a simple level, several
techniques of this book when practised - not even mastered, just
practised - generate an instant flow of endorphins. It is one of
the dramas of the men and women of our civilisation to mistake
drug ingestion for intoxication, and more generally to search
outside for what is already waiting for them inside.
Protection level 2: Correct management of energies
17.7 Choose your colours
Wear the right clothes: find out which colours suit and nourish
your energy.
If a surface appears white, it is because it does not keep any colour
vibration at all, but reflects all of them. So the reason white
stands for purity can be easily understood. White is the reflector
par excellence. It sends everything back, it does not retain
anything. And this does not only apply to colours, but to
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vibrations in general. White is the symbol of what remains
untouched by external influences. Consequently, if you are in a
context where you really need protection, there is no better colour
to wear than white. It is not by chance that in hospitals the
medical staff wear white or that babies are traditionally clothed in
white.
On the other hand if a surface appears black, it is because it
reflects none of the colour vibrations. Black retains everything, it
is an absorbing principle. Hence black is the most absurd colour for
funerals: it attracts all sorts of dark moods, energies and
influences just when you need extra protection. In certain
contexts, black garments can literally act as a vacuum-cleaner for
bad vibrations. Therefore whenever you practise massage or any
form of therapy, whenever you deal with sick people or go to
doubtful places, black should be avoided. The same applies when
your vitality is low, when you are tired or depressed. The more
you become sensitive to energies, the more you should have a
really good reason for wearing black.
These considerations do not only apply to clothes, but also to your
walls. Energy-wise, dark hues make it difficult to keep a room
clean.
17.8 Find your spot
The knowledge of earth lines will be a great help in protecting
yourself. Sitting or lying on an earth line makes you vulnerable to
undesirable influences. On the other hand, if you can find an
energy well in the room where you conduct your activities and sit
there, a great deal of the protection business is achieved naturally.
If you are a therapist, be very careful of the quality of the room
where you are working: it is usually in bad places that big
problems arise.
17.9 How to purify a room
If the place has had awful vibrations ever since it was built, my
advice is to give up. Find another place. A certain percentage of
houses on the market are unfit for human habitation and that is
the architects' fault, not yours. Often just by building the house a
few metres away, all the problems could have been avoided. But
once the house is in the wrong place, there is not much you can
do.
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Now, what if a room once had a reasonably good atmosphere and
suddenly its vibrations were spoiled? Here are a few suggestions to
restore the quality of energy.
• Burn incense and candles intensively on the crossings of the
earth lines for a few days. Traditionally, the Chinese used to put
bags of rock salt in the corners of the room and to 'beat' the
walls, as if to erase their memory (this can easily be done with a
large towel).
• Another trick is to use a heater and make the room as warm,
and then as cold as possible, alternating every few hours. This is a
process similar to the one for purifying your hands, in which you
use hot and cold water alternately.
• If none of this works, it is likely that your room has caught an
entity, meaning an undesirable non-physical presence, like a
parasite. Then it is better to seek recourse to an experienced
clearer.
When you move into a new house it is always a good idea to paint
the walls, getting rid of old wallpaper, and to implement some of
the above-mentioned measures to get rid of your predecessors'
vibrations.
17.10 Work in harmony with the Moon cycle
Energy varies, according to a number of cycles. The most obvious
is the cycle of the Moon. By developing your sensitivity it will
become clear to you that your energy feels different around the
New Moon and around the Full Moon. Around the New Moon
everything becomes internalised and quiet; it is the time of the
deepest withdrawal. Around the Full Moon there is a kind of
explosion of the energy. The fairies become manic, and all the
little elemental beings in nature are fully active. There are
variations from one Moon cycle to another, depending on other
factors, but a few basic recommendations can be given.
The day of the Full Moon is a very good day to meditate, to tune
into your guides, to have spiritual realisations... but it is a bad day
for sex. Moreover, in acupuncture it is said that one should not use
any needles on the day of the Full Moon, nor get involved in any
intense manipulation of energy (such as surgery or going to the
dentist), otherwise the body will be harmed. On that day all
energies are intensely externalised, and therefore one should
remain gentle and contained, to avoid energy leakages.
Hyperactivity or trauma could exhaust your pool of deep energies.
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17.11 Frequent use of running water
In section 4.12 we described an important technique to get rid of
negative energies by washing your hands in a flow of running
water. Use it! As soon as you feel a wrong energy in your hands,
don't hesitate to clear it with water. If you systematically do so,
you will develop a greater sensitivity, and you will become aware
of any negative energy as soon as it gets attached to you - which
will allow you to take measures to remove it before it can
penetrate in depth.
As you develop your awareness of energies, an essential function
arises in the etheric body: excretion. Presently, most people are
hardly aware of the movements inside their etheric, and are
unable to expel an energy at will. Yet it is crucial to develop this
ability, especially (but not only) if you are a healer or therapist of
any kind.
17.12 Releasing energies into the elements
Become motionless and aware of the vibration in the eye. Breathe
with the throat friction and build up the vibration for 1 or 2
minutes.
Then become aware of the vibration all over your body and
connect it with your eye. Use the throat friction to amplify the
perception of the vibration throughout the body. In other words,
become aware of your etheric body as a whole.
Put your hands and forearms under running water, while
remaining aware of the vibration all over your etheric body. At
the same time, open the mouth and exhale with a vigorous throat
friction, and with intention. Release as much negative energy as
you can into the flow of running water.
Repeat the process of etheric excretion, this time using the flame
of a candle instead of running water.
Sit in front of a candle flame. Build up the vibration in the eye.
Become aware of the whole layer of vibration. Use the throat
friction to enhance the vibration in the etheric layer and its
connection with the eye.
Then place your hands on each side of the flame.
Tune into the fire. The same way as a descending flow of energy is
associated with the running water, an ascending flow can be
perceived around the flame. Tune into this flow. While remaining
aware of your etheric vibration, keep the mouth wide open, exhale
with a loud throat friction, and with intention. Project any
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negative energy into the ascending flow. Feel your etheric, and
release all you want to get rid of into the flow.
Go on for a few seconds, up to one minute.
Tips
• Whenever you are close to a bonfire, do not miss the
opportunity to implement this technique. A big fire generates an
energy that is far superior to that of a candle, making it possible
to reach a high level of purification.
• The same technique may be applied to releasing energies into the
wind and into the earth.
• When angry or agitated, you will benefit from releasing your
fire and your wind into the earth. Sit on the ground (it has to be
soil, not concrete!) Tune into the presence of the earth. Feel your
etheric vibration. Put your palms flat on the ground. Open the
mouth. Pretend you are a dragon and exhale with a loud friction,
and with intention. Release.
• With the earth element, you will need more time than with the
fire, at least a few minutes.
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Chapter 18 - Protection: Sealing the Aura (1)
18.1 The fight or flight reaction
Before going through techniques of protection, it may be
interesting to have a look at what nature does when she wants us
to be protected. What is the natural reaction when the life of a
human being is threatened by great danger? It is the 'fight or
flight' response, which is mediated through a massive discharge of
secretions of the sympathetic nervous system, involving the
adrenal glands. The arterial pressure is increased, the heart beats
faster and more strongly, and a number of drastic physiological
changes take place that increase your muscular strength and
mental activity. Suddenly you are fully awake.
What does this mean in terms of subtle bodies? Remember what
we discussed in section 13.5: When the astral body (layer of mental
consciousness and emotions) is floating, away from the etheric and
physical bodies, you are asleep or sleepy, or in a deep state of
meditation. Everything in the physical body is very relaxed and
the etheric body is dilated and spread out to a certain extent.
From what we have just described, you can readily conclude that
exactly the opposite takes place in the fight or flight reaction. The
astral body is pulled strongly into the etheric and physical bodies
and exerts its action, which tends to make everything contract.
Of course, it would not be appropriate to trigger a big shot of
adrenalin every time you wish to induce psychic protection. Yet it
is important to notice that in terms of subtle bodies, the natural
response when physical protection is needed is a vigorous
impaction of the astral body into the etheric and physical bodies.
18.2 Sealing the aura: why and when
We are permanently exchanging energies with our environment,
the same way as we inhale and exhale air, ingest liquids and
foodstuff, and pass out urine and stools. In our present framework
of existence, no life is possible without exchange. But that does
not mean we should take just anything in. For instance, inhale
enough carbon monoxide, or swallow just a little cyanide, and your
physical body is dead! Just as some physical substances are
poisonous to the physical body, so some etheric and astral energies
238
are to your subtle bodies. Similarly, just as chronic bleeding
exhausts the physical body, so a leakage of etheric energy can
deplete your pool of life force and leave you depressed, tired and
sick, even if your doctor can't find anything wrong with you.
For instance, the company of some people leaves you exhausted.
Spend just half an hour or even less with them and suddenly you
feel tired and less joyful, if not semi-depressed. You were light
and now you feel heavy, you were happy and now you feel worn
out. It is very likely that a drainage has taken place, a sort of
vampirism of your life force. The whole process is really a waste,
because usually the person who drains you does not even receive
the energy that you have lost. It is more a dissipation than a
transfer that takes place.
The problem can become drastic for therapists, especially (but not
only) when physical contact is involved, as in massage, for
instance. Many people who learn massage and who are quite
enthusiastic about it in the beginning give it up after two or three
years of practice, simply because they are not able to protect
themselves and get too drained. Another high risk situation of
vampirism is whenever you have to deal with lots of people, for
instance if you sell train tickets in a station or bread-rolls in a
shop. The need for a technique to seal your aura is obvious.
How do you know when you have caught a negative energy? Well,
that is precisely one of the problems: most people do not notice
when it happens, because they are completely unaware of their
energy. You can therefore readily come to the conclusion that
perception and awareness are the first steps towards real
protection. If you are not able to sense what takes place in a room
on the level of energy, you walk through life as if you were
blindfold, trying to cross a forest full of swamps. So all the work
that is suggested in this book, from channel release to seeing auras
and dowsing earth lines, will be the first step towards gaining a
genuine protection. For instance, some houses that would have
seemed normal to you in the past will immediately be recognised
as suspect, as soon as you enter the front door. Then you can be on
guard, seal your aura and take any other necessary precautions.
18.3 Opening and closing the aura, introductory practice
An important skill to develop is the capacity to recognize how
open or closed your aura is, and later on to modify this balance at
will. For instance just after a night practice or a deep meditation,
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or when you are floating and 'spaced out', your aura is very open.
We have seen earlier that the fight or flight reaction closes your
energy. However, we are in search of something less clumsy and
stressful. Here is an exercise to introduce you to the art of sealing
the aura.
Phase 1: opening
Sit in a meditation position on a mat or a chair. Keep your eyes
closed throughout the practice. Start meditating, going through
the different phases of the first technique: friction and vibration
in the throat, vibration in the eye, light in the eye, the purple
space (section 3.7).
After 5 or 10 minutes, become aware above the head. Remain 'just
aware' of the space, floating above the head. Doing nothing, just
being aware. Let yourself be spread out above the head.
Then try to sense the limits of your aura. How far does your
energy extend? Could you sense the presence of objects around you
(even if you can't see them)? Could you 'touch' them with your
aura? If there are other people in the room, can you sense their
presence within your own space? How does your aura mingle with
the people and the objects around you? Could you even get a sense
of the walls of the room? How dense does your aura feel? Tune
into the energy, inside and around your body. Does your energy
feel thick or sparse? Go on exploring in every direction for a few
minutes, with an open awareness above the head.
Phase 2: sealing
Next, refocus between the eyebrows. Start breathing with a
marked throat friction, and build up a strong vibration between
the eyebrows.
Vibration, light and space in the eye correspond to three levels of
increasing depth of experience. When you are in the space, you are
deeper into astral consciousness than when you are seeing colours.
And when you are seeing colours, you are deeper than when you
are feeling the vibration.
Now is the time to awaken an intense vibration in the eye. There
may be some light, but a thick and intensely vibrating light - not
an airy-fairy floating one! Don't let yourself fade into the space.
Rub your hands for a few seconds, then become motionless with
the palms upwards. Feel the vibration in your hands, as in channel
release work (Chapters 4 and 6). Connect the vibration in the hands
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with the vibration in the eye. Rubbing the hands awakens a very
'physical' and grounded vibration in the eye, which is exactly what
you want. Maintain the throat friction to benefit from its
amplifying effect. Then try to feel the same intense vibration all
over your body.
Now, try to get a sense of the limits of your aura again. How far
do you extend? Can you still feel the limits of the room? Can you
still 'touch' other people and objects inside the room with your
aura?
Then sense the density of your aura. Become aware of the energy
inside and outside your physical body. Is it as fluid as before?
Spend one or two minutes exploring, keeping a strong vibration in
the eye and the throat friction.
Tips
• It is a very common experience, when going through this
practice, to feel one's aura much wider, more open and diluted in
the first phase. In the second phase, the aura is perceived as
smaller, thicker and closed to external influences. In the second
phase you can no longer feel the limits of the room, or 'touch'
other people or objects with your aura, simply because your aura is
more compacted and does not extend as far as before. Obviously in
the first phase your aura is more open than in the second.
Another sensation can arise when your aura is fully open: it is not
uncommon to feel higher up, as if above your body. You may also
have the feeling that your energy is elongated upwards and
stretched like a marshmallow.
When the aura is closed and gathered, you will sometimes get the
feeling that your body wants to bend forwards, rounding the back
with the shoulders forward.
How does this mechanism of closing and opening the aura work? It
is nothing other than a practical demonstration of the contracting
power of the astral body. In the first phase, when you are floating
in the space, when you can hardly feel your physical body, your
astral body is half inside, half outside the etheric and physical
bodies. How far away your astral body may go depends on how
deeply you can meditate. In some states of profound meditation,
similar to the samādhi states of the Indian tradition, you are
completely out. Another situation of complete withdrawal takes
place when you have built your subtle vehicles to the point of
being able to astral travel.
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On the other hand, when you awaken a strong physical vibration
in the eye, when you can feel the vibration flowing in your hands
and all over the body, it is just the opposite that takes place. Your
astral body is fully impacted into the etheric and physical bodies.
Therefore, due to the contracting action of the astral body, your
aura is sealed, much more impermeable to external influences. (This
allows you to understand clearly why it is so difficult to fall
asleep when experiencing a strong vibration in the eye.)
Now, let us be very clear on one point. I am not suggesting that
one of the two conditions of energy, either the open or the closed
one, is superior to the other. Saying this would be like supporting
the idea that sleeping is superior to being awake, or vice versa.
These are two phases of existence, each as indispensable as the
other. Life cannot blossom without the alternating succession of
sleeping and waking, and the master is the one who can sometimes
be completely open and sometimes completely closed.
However, there are times when one of these two conditions is
inappropriate. For instance, if you fall asleep every time you
arrive at work, and if you are wide awake as soon as you get into
bed, you are in trouble. Similarly, if you allow your aura to be too
open when you are waiting in a packed railway station or visiting a
friend in a hospital, you may catch all sorts of negative influences.
You may even get sick in an insidious way, for there may be quite
a long delay between the energy contamination and the onset of
the disease, so that you won't be able to make the connection
between the cause and the effect. A basic principle is:
Whenever you need protection, be completely inside your body,
not floating above!
18.4 Protection through being in the eye
At this stage a commonly-held false notion should be corrected.
You may have heard people comment on how a psychic opening
may leave you more vulnerable to negative energies and influences.
If you are following a complete training, in which you learn to
close your energy as well as open it, there is nothing more false.
The very opposite takes place! Due to your increased perception you
can immediately detect when protection is needed. Due to your
mastery of energy you can achieve such protection by sealing your
aura. Moreover, the more you progress the more the sealing of
your aura tends to take place automatically as soon as your Higher
Self senses a possible negative energy approaching your field. So
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you end up being naturally protected from all sorts of negative
energies which the man in the street unconsciously catches all the
time.
Of course, if you are following a teaching that shows you only
how to open your aura and to float above, then you may become
more vulnerable. This may be the case if you are trying to become
a trance-medium psychic and make yourself 'transparent' so you
can pick up ideas and trends of influence. This can also be the case
if you are following a spiritual path in which everything is
designed to unground you: eating very little and very light foods,
waking up before dawn (so you remain half asleep during the
whole day), cultivating an airy-fairy state of mind. Such methods
may be appropriate if you are withdrawn from the world, living
in a monastery or meditating in a cave. But unless you spend your
life in a secluded environment, they leave you unprotected and
exposed.
The Clairvision techniques have been designed for those who live in
the world. That is one of the reasons why the very first technique
of this book aims at awakening the vibration in the third eye. By
learning to maintain a permanent vigilance in the eye, you build
up a wonderful shield against negative energies and you develop
your sensitivity and your intuition at the same time.
18.5 The will centre
There is a centre of energy located approximately one inch below
the navel that is of great value whenever you need protection. It
corresponds to the area of the acupuncture points Conception 5 and
Conception 6, and is related to the hara where one learns to
concentrate energy in martial arts.
If you search with your fingers about one inch below the navel,
you will find a depression, like a notch right in the middle of the
abdominal wall. The will centre is more or less centred around this
notch. The notch is sometimes felt more easily when you contract
the abdominal muscles. If there is too much fatty tissue in the
area it becomes very difficult to feel the notch.
What are the functions of this centre? It is a place in which an
extraordinary potential of energy is stored. For instance, the
Chinese name for the acupuncture point Conception 6 is qi hai,
which means the 'sea of energy'. Through proper training this
energy may be made available to the physical body.
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Another essential function of this centre is physical grounding.
The name of the point Conception 5 is shi men, meaning the 'gate
of stone'. This is the foundation stone upon which everything can
be established, the same way as Peter was the rock upon which the
church could be founded (the Greek word for stone is petra).
The centre below the navel is the will centre. This applies to
common will, but also to the supernatural will of the wizard who
can perform actions beyond the normal range of the laws of
nature. It is also in this area that the Taoist alchemists work at
structuring the embryo of immortality, a new body made of (nonphysical)
immortal matter, in which they can depart and maintain
conscious existence after physical death.
This centre is therefore essential in the work of inner alchemy.
But apart from alchemy, there are a number of daily life
circumstances in which you can derive great benefits from
focussing your awareness in this centre:
- When you need to be physically strong, to perform a task that
requires an effort.
- When you need to be psychologically strong and assertive, when
negotiating, at an auction for instance. When you need to display
authority, or to resist the authority of a domineering person.
When you need to stand up for yourself, to resist aggressive
people and remain calm at the same time.
- When you need to protect yourself against negative energies, in
a hospital for instance, or a similar type of dangerous and highly
polluted energetic environment.
- When you are tired and weak.
- The Taoists also suggest that you should work on this centre to
restore your energies after having conceived a child, for a man, or
after having delivered the child, for a woman.
Let's now look at practices to awaken and strengthen the will
centre.
18.6 Practice
Sit in a meditation position. When working at developing the
centre below the navel, a good posture is to sit on your knees,
with your buttocks on your heels, or with your buttocks between
your heels, in which case the posture becomes the vajrāsana of
Hatha-yoga.
But the practice can very well be performed while sitting on a
chair, provided you keep your back straight.
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Slightly contract the abdominal muscles and
massage the point one inch below the navel,
by rotating the end of the middle finger
(between the index and the ring finger) in
the notch, if you can find it, or otherwise
simply one inch below the navel. Keep on for
half a minute or so and then release. Then
try to feel the vibration in the area.
Rub your hands for a few seconds, then hold
them flat, one on top of the other, parallel
to the abdomen 2 or 3 inches away from the
will centre.
Start breathing with the throat friction.
Connect it with the tingling between the
eyebrows. Build up a strong vibration in the eye for 2 or 3
minutes. Then, keeping up the throat friction, become aware of
the vibration in the will centre one inch below the navel, where
you felt the vibration after massaging. Connect the throat
friction with the will centre, to build up the vibration.
Feel the vibration in your hands, and in the will centre. The way
they are placed, the hands act as reflectors and concentrate the
vibration.
Keep on with the practice for a few minutes, reinforcing the
vibration one inch below the navel, through both the throat
friction and the reflecting action of your hands.
18.7 Eye-belly awareness
Sit in a meditation position with your eyes closed. Start breathing
with the throat friction, building up the vibration in the eye for
2 or 3 minutes. Then practise being aware of the vibration, both in
the eye and in the will centre. Maintain your throat friction to
enhance the vibration and to connect the two centres.
In the beginning, some kind of link can be established between the
two centres. As you proceed further, try to anchor the eye into
the centre in the belly. Remember: no imagination, no
visualisation. The experience is quite tangible, as if your eye was
being grounded, rooted in the vibration of the will centre.
Continue for a few minutes, building up the vibration in the two
centres and connecting them.
Then open your eyes. Start looking at some objects around you, one
after another. Remain very motionless, aware both in the eye and
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below the navel. There is the object, there is the fact of seeing,
and there is the vibration in the eye and below the navel.
When we were practising looking at objects and being aware in the
eye, we noticed that a certain centredness would arise
spontaneously (see section 9.1). Now it is not only centredness but
also grounding that can be experienced. By being both in the eye
and in the belly, you automatically feel more solid, more dense,
less likely to float away with the first puff of wind. It is as if
you were making a denser hole in the physical space.
Tips
• If practised sufficiently, this technique will put you more in
touch with your own power. It can be recommended to people who
suffer from low self esteem and need to develop their
assertiveness.
• I have had encouraging results with these techniques of
grounding when working with borderline schizophrenics. Due to
the nature of their disease, certain schizophrenic patients are
caught up in a turmoil of extrasensory perceptions which are
sometimes genuine but completely out of control, and therefore
generating a terrible anxiety, if not panic. By teaching
schizophrenics how to ground themselves vigorously when they
sense a flash of delirium approaching, they are sometimes able to
avoid it and keep their sanity.
18.8 Walking from the belly
Re-read section 12.8 for the description of this technique. On the
basis of the anchoring work we have just done, you should now be
able to walk from the belly in a much more convincing way.
18.9 Stimulating the fire
It is not necessary to be in a meditation position for this
particular exercise but it is preferable to be seated. As always in
life, it is better to keep your back straight. Become aware in the
eye and in the will centre. Become aware of your breath, and
breathe from the abdomen only. Abdominal breathing means that
when you inhale and exhale nothing moves in your chest. When
you inhale, only your abdomen moves forwards, and the ribcage
remains motionless.
Remain aware of the breath and for one or two minutes keep
watching any movement in the trunk, to make sure that nothing
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moves apart from your abdomen.
Then proceed in the following way: maintain a purely abdominal
breathing, without any movement of the chest. But with each
inhalation, contract the abdominal muscles, operating a counterpressure.
Each time you exhale, relax everything.
Breathe according to your normal rhythm. The intensity of the
breath is as usual or slightly deeper.
Each time you inhale, contract the muscles of the abdominal wall,
and build up the pressure in the belly. While exhaling, relax all
muscles.
Remain aware of the vibration in the eye and in the will centre,
and continue with the same breathing for as long as half an hour,
or more if you wish.
Tips
• This practice may seem simple yet it can awaken considerable
energy.
• The regular practice of this exercise is recommended to those
who find it difficult to tap from the assertive energy of their
will centre.
• Try this exercise just before an exam, to fight anxiety and to
awaken the energy you need.
• It is also remarkably efficient after a heavy meal, or whenever
you are close to indigestion. On one hand there is a mechanical
action, like an internal massage, that speeds up the emptying of
the stomach and bowels. On the other hand there is a powerful
stimulation of the digestive fire, through an activation of the
abdominal centres of energy.
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Chapter 19 - Baby Work
19.1 The aura of a pregnant woman
The aura of a pregnant woman is one of the easiest to see, for it is
particularly luminous and full of gold. This explains why a
pregnant woman often arouses a feeling of respect, if not awe.
Even though the people around her may not be able to see her aura
consciously, they unconsciously register some of the golden
energy and are impressed by it.
So whenever you find yourself in the presence of a pregnant
woman take the opportunity to practise the triple process of
vision. The gold colour in the aura indicates that the pregnant
woman is intensely connected to high spiritual beings who support
and foster the embryo. Pregnancy is therefore a privileged time
for spiritual growth. It is a time to do a lot of meditation and
enlightening reading, and to work at developing intuition and
perception. Apart from the fact that the baby is extremely
sensitive to the mother's thoughts and emotions and influenced by
them, a spiritual focus during pregnancy can bring about big
inner shifts in the mother.
While discussing the energy of pregnant women, let me mention
the great difficulty there seems to be in finding out the baby's
sex clairvoyantly. I must say I have seen some great clairvoyants be
repeatedly confused on this point. One of the reasons is probably
that you tune into the astral body of the baby, and so what you
see relates more to the baby's past life than to its present
incarnation. Thus even if you pick up a clear sex determination, it
is pretty difficult to know whether it applies to this life or the
last one. Moreover, souls who incarnate nowadays arrive with much
more of both polarities, male and female, in their astral body than
a few centuries ago, which does not simplify the exercise. If you
want some friendly advice, don't stake your reputation as a
clairvoyant on a bet like this one. You might very well end up
being wrong more than 50% of the time!
19.2 The aura of a newborn baby
The aura of a newborn baby is intensely luminous. This can be
partly related to the fact that for a while, the baby keeps some of
248
the light of the angels that have assisted in the process of birth.
The strong participation of the hierarchy of the angels in all that
is related to birth makes a delivery a most fascinating experience
of consciousness. It feeds the spirit of all those who are present. I
would recommend to all spiritual seekers to seize any opportunity
to be present at a birth.
In the process of inner alchemy, when you work at building the
body of immortality, one of the major problems is that certain
layers have to be made out of very special (non-physical) matter
and materials, which cannot be found anywhere in your usual
astral and etheric environment. If you had just a little of these
substances, you could make them grow the same way as a crystal
can grow out of a primary core. But getting this first core is quite
a difficult task. This is where you have to seek the cooperation of
certain angels. Being far more advanced, angels' bodies are teeming
with these substances. If you can tune into them in a certain way,
the new matter falls into you like the Holy Spirit into the apostles
at Pentecost. This cannot be improvised, of course. It requires a
pure heart and a precise technique. But whatever your level may
be, just a few seconds of closeness to the beings of higher
hierarchies will prove to be an immense source of inspiration.
Apart from the touch of the angels, during its first 10 to 15 days
on Earth the baby is still saturated with effulgent astral
impressions coming from the journey it has just completed
through intermediary worlds. These can be perceived as extremely
vivid images that flow into your consciousness as soon as you tune
into the child's aura. You receive clear visions of where the baby
comes from: space, worlds between death and rebirth, and also
possibly its last incarnation. The baby overflows with astral
images. All you have to do is tune in and impressions rush into
your field of vision.
19.3 Babies are very aware in their eye
Babies are utterly psychic. A simple and spectacular way to
convince yourself of this fact is to remain very focussed in your
third eye while in the company of a baby (less than one year old).
You will be amazed at how responsive the baby seems to be to any
message you send through your eye.
Practise in the following way: each time the baby starts crying or
expressing some dissatisfaction, go straight into your eye and tune
into the child. You will be surprised how often you get a clear
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response: the baby stops screaming immediately and tells you
what's wrong, directly from eye to eye. Even if the yelling does
not stop completely, there is a response and the child acknowledges
that contact has been made.
Many babies get irritated at not being able to communicate with
their environment on a psychic level. They try to express a whole
range of feelings but nobody seems to take any notice. It is quite a
depressing experience. Any psychologist would be alarmed to hear
of a child being left deprived of physical contact or stimulation.
Well, when your vision opens, you immediately realize that is
exactly what happens to most babies, but on another level.
So a first step towards a more enlightened way of bringing up
babies is to maintain the vigilance in your eye and to be receptive
to any signal they may send you. As soon as the baby sees that you
respond, greater harmony will develop between you. Furthermore,
the baby will use its eye more and more to communicate with you.
19.4 Watching baby fall asleep
In the chapters on night practice we described how human beings
cross the critical borderline between waking and sleeping at least
twice a day and yet do not derive any benefit from it. Living in
high psychic intensity, babies are more in touch with this
mystery. Therefore you will gain from being in your eye and in
your heart and tuning into the baby each time it crosses the
threshold. Try to sense and participate in the state of
consciousness experienced by the baby while it falls asleep and you
will become more familiar with the experience of the threshold.
When we fall asleep, our astral body (AB) and Ego withdraw from
the physical body (PB) and the etheric body (EB). The upper
complex (AB+Ego) detaches from the lower complex (PB+EB). The
upper complex (AB+Ego) goes off travelling for the night and the
lower complex (PB+EB) stays in bed.
But for most adults the upper complex cannot separate fully from
the lower one. It is like an articulation that gets a bit stiff with
time. So, unless they become masters in night practice, most
adults never reach the depth of sleep they used to experience as a
child. The situation usually goes on deteriorating: old people wake
up several times a night and rarely feel completely refreshed in
the morning. This slow separation of the upper complex (AB+Ego)
from the lower one (PB+EB) explains why it is not so easy to
observe an adult leaving his body at night.
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On the other hand, in young children this dissociation is quick and
intense. Therefore if you apply your vision to a baby falling
asleep, you will be able to see the upper complex leaving the lower
one quite clearly. To put it simply, it is strikingly easy to see your
baby getting out of its body (which is far from being the case
with adults).
Babies are remarkably good at astral travelling. As soon as they
fall asleep they zoom into the space. Due to the intense light that
pervades their astral body, it is not very difficult to follow them
clairvoyantly in the first stages of their journey, just after they
have left their physical body. Each time your baby falls asleep, be
very tuned in and... see!
I remember a one-year-old toddler I was minding who used to
confuse me all the time. I would put him to sleep, which is never
very easy at that age. I would then tiptoe out of his room, hoping
he would not wake up too quickly. Often, as soon as I had collapsed
in an armchair (minding toddlers is a hard job), I would see him
walking in through the lounge room door. There would be a second
of "Oh, no! Not again!", and then I would realize that it was not
the child's physical body but his astral body. Relief! It meant the
toddler was still sound asleep in his cot. It is actually quite common
for babies to pop in and say hello just after falling asleep, in the
very first stage of their astral travelling. And then you either
lose them or follow them far away, depending on your own talents
as a traveller.
It is quite rare to see an adult's astral body so clearly and quickly
after they fall asleep. The person would have to be remarkably
trained and their subtle bodies very developed, constructed and
'crystallised'. Apart from initiates, the separation of the astral
body of adults during sleep is usually much more gradual and
somewhat hazy.
19.5 Your baby as a meditation teacher
By definition, the physical body is made of physical matter and
therefore subject to gravity. Gravity is an essential characteristic
of the physical layer. When you come back from a journey far
into astral and spiritual planes, feeling this gravity is a sign that
you are approaching the physical layer. You start feeling heavy,
and you know you are not far from the physical world. You just
have to let yourself fall a bit more and you are back into your
physical body.
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If babies are so good at astral travelling, it is because their upper
complex (astral body + Ego) is endowed with a fantastic energy of
levity, or anti-gravity, that projects them upwards as they fall
asleep. There is a lot to learn from this upward moving energy
which is akin to the udāna-vāyu, highly praised in Sanskrit texts.
The presence of this levity energy can also be related to the fact
that babies are saturated with the light of angels. Anti-gravity is
as natural to angels as gravity is to the physical world. Roughly
speaking, one could say that one becomes an angel as soon as one
becomes able to fall upwards.
To benefit from this very special energy and give a boost to your
meditation, proceed in this way: When your baby is about to fall
asleep, hold it in your arms. Let the baby fall asleep on your chest.
Be aware in your eye and in your heart, as explained throughout
this book. But don't be too strongly focussed in your eye, for that
could be too intense for the baby. Just maintain a soft awareness,
a slight focus between the eyebrows, and connect with the baby.
A mingling of energies naturally takes place whenever you hold a
very young child (up to fifteen months) on your chest. As soon as
the baby is in your arms, the borderline between its etheric (layer
of the vibration), and yours is not so clear. Try to become aware
of this melting process.
Now, the very moment the baby falls asleep, if you tune into it,
you too can be projected upwards. This is a great occasion to
meditate. All you have to do is tune in and let yourself be taken
up into the light. It's like 'falling upwards' into the light. The
lifting effect is immediate and creates an expansion of
consciousness enabling you to reach a high level of meditation. As
you become more familiar with this energy and learn to flow with
it, the effect will become clearer and clearer. If you are working
at astral projection this experience will be of great help.
19.6 A few words to the travellers
From what has been said so far, it must already be obvious that if
astral travelling is one of your great preoccupations in life, there
is a lot you can learn from babies.
Human beings are presently in a condition where they are so
incarnated in their physical body that they are unable to get out
of it consciously. They are completely stuck by the force of
gravity. The baby is in the opposite situation: its astral body is
saturated with forces of anti-gravity. For the baby, it is
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incarnation that is a problem, so much so that it is unable to stay
in its body very long. It constantly falls asleep because it is pulled
up out of its body by the extraordinary levity of its astral body.
So the motto could be: 'follow the baby!'
What can be seen clairvoyantly over the body of an adult who is
sound asleep? A sort of cloudy formation, actually quite easy to
perceive. (When in the same room as somebody who is asleep, don't
miss the opportunity to observe them clairvoyantly.) But this
cloudy formation is not their entire astral body, only a part of it.
The rest of their astral body is spread out into the astral worlds,
but this is much more difficult to perceive. For that, you must be
able to follow the sleeping soul. As we discussed earlier, very
young children are easier to follow because among other factors,
they get out of their body fully and instantaneously, whereas
many adults remain half in and half out, only withdrawing
gradually from their physical body.
Practise in the following way: sit comfortably, after putting the
baby to sleep in its cot. Go into your eye and into your heart, and
tune into the baby. You have to be very quick and manage to see
the baby astrally as soon as it gets out. In the first few minutes
after it falls asleep, you can often see the baby astrally as an exact
replica of its physical form. Tune into the same particles of light
as those of the third part of the third eye meditation (section 3.7)
but this time with your eyes open. Remain very motionless, gazing
at the cot, blinking as little as possible.
The baby will remain around you for a few minutes or so, and
then disappear. That's when you have to be tuned into the baby
and connected with its anti-gravity force as much as you can. If
you can manage to resonate with the baby's extraordinary levity
energy, you will be literally pulled upwards and projected into the
space.
The next step consists of trying to follow your baby as far as you
can. Let yourself be carried by the energy around the child and
feel the quality of the space changing around you as you enter
different layers and worlds. Being in a half-awake, half-asleep
state of great tiredness (common to many parents who are woken
up several times every night by their baby) will actually help
experiences of travelling. I would not recommend sleep deprivation
to anyone, but if the parents are already in that state, they might
as well take advantage of it.
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Babies will be delighted if you can travel with them. To them, it is
great fun and also very reassuring to feel a continuity between
this world and the others, meeting the same people in different
layers. They also know that if anything goes wrong during the
night, they can rush to you and get help.
19.7 How long does it last?
How long will your child remain psychic? To a certain extent, that
will depend on how much spiritual work is shared with the baby.
The more you practise the baby work, the more seeds of spiritual
awakening are implanted, at this age of maximum receptivity.
Yet as soon as the child's mental development reaches a certain
level, psychic abilities begin to diminish. Therefore, as early as
sixteen or eighteen months, when the child starts uttering a few
words, a notable drop will be observed. The golden time for
psychic work with babies is during the first year, or up to
eighteen months maximum.
How much of the psychic capacity will be retained during
childhood and adolescence depends on the nature of the child and
the quality of home environment and education. Yet I do not think
that one should fight for the child to remain psychic at any cost.
Humanity was once very clairvoyant. If you go back as far as the
beginning of Atlantis, you find that human beings could perceive
spiritual worlds even more clearly than the physical one. Yet it
was part of the training of humankind that this atavistic
clairvoyance should be lost and that dark and disconnected ages
should come. We are now at the dawn of an age when humanity
will recover clairvoyant abilities, but on a higher mode, in which
the Ego will play a direct role.
Each human being repeats the history of the world, but in a much
shorter span of time (which makes the study of embryology
fascinating). Babies arrive on the Earth completely open, bathing
in the light of the spiritual worlds and hardly aware of the
physical reality around them. If this cosmic perception were not
veiled, it would be very difficult for the child to establish
physical references and become grounded. So to respect the natural
trend of development, you have to accept that your child becomes
more 'mental' and less psychic. You may accompany the spiritual
growth of the child with the proper education but you can't block
the child from living in the mind.
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What you help the child develop in the first year will remain like
a treasure waiting for him or her. All the psychic work achieved
in infancy will reappear several years later in the adult,
metamorphosed in the form of intense soul forces. But the
decision to re-open will have to come from the free will of this
teenager or adult, not from your own desires.
19.8 The fabulous babies
Psychic couples are rare and therefore it is not easy for evolved
souls to find suitable parents. How do children find their parents?
The soul floats in the astral and is attracted, as if by a principle of
similarity, to a particular mother. A kind of resonance takes place
between the dispositions of the child and those of the parents, and
that is what creates the attraction for a particular womb. The
more advanced a soul is, the more selective it becomes in its choice,
waiting as long as needed to find parents who are evolved enough.
Consequently, the more spiritual and clairvoyant you become, the
more chance you have to parent a baby-guru. Like attracts like.
The Hindu tradition suggests that the spiritual aspiration of the
mother, before and at the beginning of the pregnancy, is essential
in determining what sort of soul will incarnate. The spiritual
vibrations of the mother, if they are genuine and deep, will
attract a soul with a spiritual direction. It is therefore advised that
the mother should spend time meditating, and carefully select her
readings and sources of inspiration.
Apart from this general principle, my vision is that many
extraordinary souls have incarnated on Earth during the period of
the triple astrological conjunction of Saturn, Uranus and Neptune
that went on and off from 1988 to 1997. These are 'the fabulous
babies' who are coming to introduce completely new principles in
the fields of science, arts and spirituality. It can be expected that
many of them will display exceptional psychic abilities right from
cot-time, and will continue to do so throughout childhood and
adolescence.
I foresee that the parents will have to do a lot of work on
themselves if they want to be of any help to their children, or
even simply to understand what's happening in their own home.
These children won't be easy to follow, not only because their level
of development will be far superior to that of their parents, but
also because they will come to introduce totally new concepts and
seeds in the fields of science, arts and spirituality.
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Preparing the field for these fabulous babies is one of the main
reasons the Clairvision School was founded.
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Chapter 20 - Protection: Sealing the Aura (2)
20.1 Where are you speaking from?
Practice 20.1 consists in producing sounds from specific levels. We
will start with something very simple: chanting a long 'ooo' sound
(you can do it while reading this, there is no need to close your
eyes!)
Phase 1
Chant the 'ooo' sound and make it resonate in the abdomen, around
and below the navel. There is a way of producing the sound that
makes the abdomen vibrate so that both the physical vibration of
the sound and the etheric vibration (the one we have cultivated in
the eye and in channel release) can be felt in your belly.
Continue with a few long 'ooo' sounds, trying to produce vibration
in your belly and in no other part of the body.
A simple way of enhancing the vibration is to place your hand
parallel to your abdomen, 2 or 3 inches away, using it as a
reflector.
There is no particular awareness in the eye in this phase, nor in
phases 2 and 3.
Phase 2
Then try to chant a long 'ooo' that resonates only in the chest. The
pitch does not really matter. Look for a sound that generates as
much vibration as possible in the chest but in no other part of the
body.
Use your hand as a reflector, placing it parallel to the middle of
your chest, 2 or 3 inches away.
Keep on chanting 'ooo', putting all of yourself into the sound.
Feel the physical vibration of the sound resonating in your chest,
but also the vibration of energy.
Try to eliminate any vibration from other parts of the body, in
particular the abdomen, the throat, the head.
Phase 3
Produce a few 'ooo' sounds that vibrate only in the throat.
257
Place your hand as a reflector, 2 or 3 inches in front of your
throat.
This time try to reach a sound that resonates purely in the throat
without any vibration in other parts of the body.
Phase 4
Repeat the same practice with a focus between the eyebrows. Chant
a few 'ooo's and try to make them vibrate in the eye and in the
eye only.
Do a few rounds of this exercise, starting again from phase 1 and
going through the whole sequence.
If you practise this exercise with friends, you will be able to give
each other feedback as to the exact location of each sound.
20.2 Speaking from different levels
Phase 1
Take a very simple sentence, such as: "What a beautiful day!"
Practise repeating the sentence from the belly.
Just as in the last exercise, try to get your sound to vibrate only
around the navel.
When you utter a sound, a physical vibration is generated. But an
etheric vibration is generated too, of the same nature as the
vibration you feel between the eyebrows when meditating. As you
repeat the sentence, try to become aware of the physical and the
non-physical vibration at the same time.
In this first phase, apply yourself to getting the vibration moving
only in the belly area, as if you were speaking 'from the belly'.
As in the last exercise, no particular awareness needs to be kept in
the eye during the first three phases.
Phase 2
Drop the awareness in the belly and go on repeating the same
sentence from the chest. Try to make the sound vibrate in the
chest alone.
Phase 3
Repeat the sentence from the throat. Feel your sound vibrating in
the throat. Feel the physical tingling taking place in your throat
organs as you speak. But be aware of the non-physical vibration at
the same time.
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Phase 4
Repeat the same sentence, making it vibrate between the eyebrows.
Repeat this four-phase sequence several times.
Tips
• This form of work introduces a different approach to
communication. Practise this exercise with friends and watch
carefully to see where they can or cannot speak from. Many people
have great difficulty uttering a sound from one area or another:
belly, heart, and so on. This is often quite revealing as far as their
psychological organisation is concerned. Being unable to speak from
one of those areas nearly always indicates a major emotional
blockage that needs to be worked out before a balance can be
reached. Watch people around you, at work, etc. to see who speaks
from where, and relate it to what you can observe of their
psychological features.
• The more aware in your eye you are, the easier it is to sense
where people are speaking from. You will clearly feel the vibration
being activated in their body, in the corresponding area. Whenever
you can perceive something inside yourself, it does not take long
before you can feel the same in others.
As your perception opens, it is not only vibration that you will
feel. You will also see light patterns in the area from which they
are speaking. Practise being in the eye and aware of the seeingness
as described in the chapters on seeing.
• Note that I am not suggesting it is preferable to speak from any
of these areas, be it the heart, the belly or anywhere else. Speak
from where you like, by all means! It is only if it is impossible
for you to speak from one of the centres that something is
wrong, and that the imbalance needs to be corrected.
20.3 What if you have to display authority?
Let us repeat the same exercise but with different words. The
following sentence was suggested in one of my classes by a man
who had eleven boys (and no girls): "Clean your room!"
Repeat the sentence "Clean your room!" a few times from the
belly, then from the chest, then the throat, then the eye. Each
time, ask yourself the question: Would they? (clean their room).
Tips
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• The answer is obvious: when you're only in the throat, they
wouldn't! The eye can be a bit more convincing, but the heart
would probably not be strong enough against the eleven at the
height of Full Moon. Let's accept the fact once and for all:
authority comes from the belly.
• Now, start noticing around you, at work for instance, those who
are seen to be authoritative by nature. You will discover that some
people have the capacity, when they speak to you, to be very
strong in their belly and to make you feel weak in yours at the
same time. That is where a large part of their authority comes
from. Note that nearly all of them do it unconsciously and not as
the result of training. But still they do it! As soon as the trick is
revealed to your eye, you will start to see it as a hoax. You will
gain the capacity to stand up for yourself when somebody tries to
abuse you with such a gross method.
20.4 The eye-belly power
Now, choose a few sentences and repeat them several times with a
strong eye-belly awareness. Try to make the sound resonate in
both your eye and your belly, following the method suggested
above. It is as if you were talking from the eye and the belly both
at the same time. If you do it fully, it is quite likely they would
clean their room.
Tips
• This exercise will help you structure the 'eye-belly power' which
is a great help when you need real protection.
• You will find it easier to implement this exercise if you can
direct your words towards somebody, rather than speaking in a
void. This is because you are displaying a lot of force, and a force
often finds it awkward to manifest outwardly unless matched by
another force.
• Whenever doing physical work, think of tapping from your
eye-belly power.
• By now you can probably understand better why those who have
done a lot of work on their hara, or will centre, by practising a
martial art, usually have little difficulty protecting their energies.
20.5 Inhaling/exhaling
In the Hindu Tantric tradition, there is a Sanskrit text called the
Śiva-svarodaya, that gives a lot of information related to the nāḍīs,
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meaning the circulations of pranic (etheric) energy. In verses 1.92-
98, the text gives the following advice: when you walk towards
your guru, friends and relatives, all those who love you and want
to help you, you should inhale deeply. When you walk towards
enemies, thieves, beggars and other people that you want to keep
away, you should exhale deeply. It is dangerous to inhale deeply in
the middle of a quarrel, or in front of a superior who is angry at
you, or in the company of wicked people or thieves.
Let us try to put this into practice immediately.
20.6 Closing the aura through deep exhalation
If you have gone through all the protection suggested so far, at
this stage it is likely that you are starting to get a sense of when
your aura is open or closed. So proceed in the following way: Sit in
front of a friend or a mirror, though in this particular case a
friend is preferable, for a force usually needs to be matched by
another to express itself freely.
Position yourselves as you would for the practices of eye contact
(section 5.2). Keep your eyes open throughout the exercise.
Phase 1
Become aware of how open or closed your aura is at that particular
moment.
Then make a deep, slow exhalation with a slight throat friction,
and sense the quality of your aura while exhaling.
Then inhale deeply and slowly, and sense the quality of your aura
while inhaling. Do it as if you were inhaling the other person,
taking him/her in. Sense how open your aura feels while inhaling
and compare with the phase of exhalation.
Keep on breathing slowly and consciously for a few minutes.
During this first phase, your friend is neither deeply inhaling nor
deeply exhaling, but just breathing normally and trying to
perceive the modifications in your energy. To allow him/her to
follow what you are doing, you can raise your hand slowly each
time you are inhaling and lower it while exhaling.
Phase 2
Drop any particular awareness of your breath and become the
perceiver while your friend inhales and exhales with full
awareness.
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Get your friend to take long, deep, breaths: breaths with
intention. There is a way to draw the air in and to expel it from
the body that is not just a mechanical action but a conscious
movement of energy. It is like consciously pushing the air and the
vibration out while exhaling, and pulling them in while inhaling.
Continue the practice in the same manner for 3 or 4 minutes,
trying to sense the modifications in the aura of the one who is
breathing.
Phase 3
Both people breathe in and out consciously at the same time for a
few minutes.
Raise and lower your hands correspondingly, to be able to follow
each other. Keep a slight throat friction. Take very long, slow
inhalations and exhalations that leave enough time to sense the
density of your auras.
Keep the synchronicity: both friends inhale at the same time, both
exhale simultaneously.
During this practice, your aura tends to become lighter and wider
when you inhale. When you exhale, on the contrary your aura
feels more gathered, denser and thicker, its limits closer to the
skin. In other words, this means your aura tends to open each time
you inhale, and close each time you exhale. The intensity of the
opening or the closing depends on how fully and consciously you
breathe. While breathing normally and unconsciously, this cycle of
expansion and contraction is faint and hardly perceptible, but
nevertheless present. By gaining conscious control over this
mechanism, you can go one step further in the protection of your
energies.
Phase 4
Resume the practice as in phase 3. Both friends exhale deeply at
the same time, and then inhale deeply. Accompany the breathing
with movements of the hands in order to keep synchronicity.
This time, try to get a sense of how your auras meet and mix
when you are exhaling (closing the aura) and inhaling (opening it).
While 'inhaling each other', as your auras are open, there is a kind
of mingling of your energies. The separating line between you and
your friend is not so clearly defined.
Keep on exhaling and inhaling for a few minutes.
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While exhaling, as your auras are denser and closed, the separation
becomes much clearer. You can feel a surface of contact in which
both auras meet but don't mix. On the level of clairvoyance one
can see sparkling lights where the two auras clash.
20.7 Drawing energy in and out
For this exercise you can either be alone or sit in front of a
friend. Keep your eyes open during the whole practice.
Become aware of the vibration in your eye and all over the body.
Keep some throat friction throughout the exercise.
Exhale slowly and deeply, and with intention. Place your hands
parallel in front of you, the palms facing away. Move your hands
away slowly while exhaling, as if you were pushing something or
somebody, or as if you were pushing the air and the energy away.
Inhale deeply and with intention. Turn the palms around and move
them slowly towards you, as if you were drawing energy towards
yourself with your hands.
Continue exhaling and inhaling slowly and deeply for a few
minutes. Try to feel the pressure of the energy on your hands.
When exhaling, intensify the throat friction to strengthen your
repelling action.
If you practise with a friend, the 'clashing' surface between the
two auras will be very clearly perceived while exhaling.
20.8 Exhaling when facing a crowd
Apply this knowledge to your daily life. In a street or a train
station, practise exhaling with intention when walking past a
crowd or a group of people. Be in the eye and in the belly, densify
your aura and exhale the energy out. Practise similarly whenever a
stranger walks past you. Become aware of their energy being
gently kept away.
Tips
• Without this training, in these types of situations there is often
an unnecessary and inappropriate mingling of auras. As the day
goes on, especially if you live in a big city, this mingling of
energies tends to be repeated over and over, and you end up
exhausted at the end of the day.
If you live in a small town and meet only friends and
acquaintances when you go out, then the situation is completely
different. There is certainly not the same need for protection.
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• People who frequently use the telephone in their job should be
aware that many energy exchanges take place during calls. As
discussed in section 16.6, the electromagnetic wave of the
telephone signal not only conveys but also amplifies some of the
emotions and psychic movements taking place during the
conversation. Therefore be vigilant and don't hesitate to implement
our palette of protection techniques when using the telephone. Go
and wash your hands in running water (sections 4.12 and 17.12)
after a negative phone call, or from time to time during the day
if you are using the phone continuously.
The same recommendations also apply to the use of computer
modems.
• The more you practise exhaling consciously and repelling
energies at the appropriate moment, the more this function will
become automatic.
In the beginning you have to work at it and remain vigilant,
exhaling and sealing yourself each time a foreign energy passes by.
Then, after practising for some time, you find yourself exhaling
automatically when needed. You don't even need to think about it,
it happens by itself. Each time, a dissipation of energy is avoided,
which makes a big difference at the end of the day. This will
prove to be one of the most valuable results of your training.
20.9 The same protection using normal breathing
One of the problems with technique 20.8 is that you can't go on
exhaling forever. If you are walking through a crowd, in a railway
station, or if your boss is having an agitated meeting with you,
you still have to inhale from time to time! The solution lies in
developing a new skill. Through deep breathing you have learned to
create both open and closed conditions of your aura. The next step
is to learn to reproduce the same conditions while breathing
normally.
Sit in front of a mirror or a friend. Be strong in your eye.
Practise exhaling in the following way: don't breathe any more
deeply than normal, but focus all your attention on the exhalation.
Put yourself in an 'exhaling' state of mind. Just make the lengths
of your exhalations longer, say 2 or 3 seconds, and take brief
inhalations (1 second or less). So that overall, the rhythm of your
breath remains quite normal.
Reinforce each exhalation with throat friction, but not one that
can be heard. At this stage you must be able to sense that behind
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your physical throat friction, a non-physical vibration is
generated, which is the appropriate one for this practice. If you
are not too sure about it, just make a contained friction, one that
you feel inside your throat but that can't be heard outside.
Don't blink too much. Remain somewhat motionless, enough for a
certain coagulation of your energy to take place, but not too
much, so that your face still looks natural. The general idea behind
this practice is that you should be able to implement it in any
social situation where you need protection and have to stand up for
yourself.
To summarise, you are:
- aware in the eye, coagulated, somehow motionless and not
blinking
- in an exhaling mode, making only short inhalations
- reinforcing your exhalations with a silent friction.
An interesting result of this exercise is that you become able to
keep your aura closed, even while you are inhaling. The more you
master the process, the more the 'exhaling mode' of the aura
becomes independent of the physical breathing.
20.10 Sealing the aura
On the basis of the work done in these two chapters, let us now
describe the full technique of sealing the aura.
Sit in a meditation position. Close your eyes. Practise the third eye
meditation (section 3.7): throat friction; then vibration in the eye;
light in the eye; awareness in the purple space. After a few
minutes of being in the space, become aware above the head. Let
yourself be spread out into the space. Let your aura become as
extended and open as possible.
Then: closing. Become aware in the eye and in the will centre,
approximately one inch below the navel. Build up the vibration in
the two centres by being aware and breathing with a strong
throat friction. Anchor your eye in the will centre.
Now, re-densify your aura by activating the will centre. Pull your
aura in from there, as if this centre was a (non-physical) muscle,
capable of gathering and pulling in your aura, making it dense and
vibration-proof. Achieve a closed condition of the aura, the same as
in the 'exhaling-mode'. Spend 2 or 3 minutes reinforcing and
thickening your aura, resting on the 'gate of stone' one inch below
the navel.
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Then reopen your aura. Become aware above the head again. Make
your energy as sparse and extended as possible for 1 or 2 minutes.
Let yourself be diluted in the space.
And then close again, the same as before, sealing your aura from
the will centre. Repeat this cycle, opening and closing several
times.
20.11 Practice
Follow the same procedure as before (practice 20.10), but more
quickly. Open your aura for about 10 seconds. Then close it from
the will centre for about 10 seconds. Open again for 10 seconds,
and keep alternating the same way for a few minutes.
Tips
• Practice 20.10 is one of the most important of this book, not
only because of its protection value, but also because it is a
powerful way of developing the autonomy of your etheric body.
Practise, practise, practise!
• In the beginning, to help re-anchor yourself in a strong
vibration all over the body, you can rub your hands vigorously for
a few seconds. It helps gather the aura. Later on, this won't be
necessary.
• You can reinforce the action of the will centre by a slight
contraction of the abdominal muscles below the navel. At a later
stage you do not need the physical contraction to generate the
action on the level of energy. The will centre gets activated and an
'etheric contraction' takes place on the level of the vibration,
without any contraction of the physical muscles.
• As this skill develops, there will be more and more occasions
when the sealing of your aura will automatically take place if
needed. Unwanted energy transfers don't always come when you
expect them. Your Higher Self will activate the sealing because it
can sense potential dangers much better than you can.
In practice it will happen like this: you will feel your aura being
suddenly sealed, and at that very moment you won't necessarily
understand why. But the reason will often become obvious in the
following seconds or minutes. When this starts to happen, it is a
sign that your etheric layer has reached a certain level of
awakening and integrity.
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20.12 What if nothing works?
A certain proportion of students find it impossible to speak from
their belly. Even though they do their best to exhale with
intention, it does not seem to modify their energy very much.
Whatever practice they try, their aura never really appears closed.
What does this mean? Blockage! Something has to be explored and
released, usually in the area of the belly. These students are often
those who are unable to dowse for earth lines. The reasons and
remedies are the same as those discussed when dealing with
dowsing (section 12.11).
Apart from practising all the protection exercises described so far,
the following complementary exercises (20.13 to 20.16) will be of
help.
20.13 Permanent awareness in the will centre
For a few weeks, try to remain aware of the vibration in the will
centre from morning to night. As long as the problem is not
solved, establish an eye-belly awareness (as described in 18.7, 20.4)
instead of being aware in the eye only as described in Chapter 9,
'Awareness'.
20.14 Continual abdominal breathing
Learn abdominal breathing. Devote some time twice a day to lying
down and practising breathing from the abdomen only, without
any movement in the chest or in the clavicle area. Place your
hands flat on your ribs, to make sure that the chest does not move
while you inhale.
For a period of a few weeks or more, spend as much time as you
can during your daily activities breathing consciously from the
abdomen. This is not to suggest that you should breathe from the
abdomen for the rest of your life, but a few weeks or months of
intense awareness in this area will help to rebalance your energies.
Never miss an occasion to implement technique 18.9 (stimulating
the abdominal fire by a counter-pressure while inhaling).
20.15 Stambhāsana
Gently massage the will centre, one inch below the navel. Become
aware of the vibration in this area.
Lie down on your back. Lift your head and legs to a vertical
position. In Hatha-yoga, this exercise is called stambhāsana, posture
of the pillar.
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267
Remain in the position for 1 or
2 minutes.
Relax and lie down again. Become
aware of the vibration activated
in the will centre.
Repeat the sequence a few times,
building up the vibration in the
will centre.
20.16 Practice
Lie down on your back. Practise
strict abdominal breathing (that
is, without any movement of
the chest or of the area of the
clavicles). Have somebody press your abdomen below the navel with
flat hands while you inhale.
Each time you inhale you have to push against the other person's
hands, matching the pressure. When you exhale, all pressure is
released. Go on building the force of your abdominal inhalation.
Remember to make sure the ribcage does not move while inhaling.
Now, exercise or no exercise, if your belly is really blocked, it
needs to be explored through ISIS regression, or another method of
emotional release based on energy. It will save you a lot of time in
your spiritual development and will probably transform your
patterns of relationships and your social life.
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Chapter 21 - There Is No Real Protection But the
Power of Truth
And the truth shall set you free.
John 8:32
21.1 Power of Truth
You may have mastered the most sophisticated techniques on
energy. You may have spent half your life studying occult science.
You may live in the company of great masters. If you are not
after Truth, your protection is nothing more than an illusion.
Sooner or later, it will fall.
There has been a striking example of this in the distant past of
humankind: Atlantis. As I have depicted in the epic novel
Atlantean Secrets, in the last third of Atlantis humanity had
reached an extraordinary level of understanding of the different
fields of consciousness, and a tremendous capacity to influence
laws of nature with mind power. A myriad of occult schools were
full of initiates and experts in energy. It will probably take a few
centuries from now before even one or two schools of esoteric
sciences on Earth can reach the standard of their Atlantean
counterparts.
However, because the quest for power and manipulation superseded
the quest for Truth, Atlantis ended up being destroyed. And do
not think that all these initiates were taken by surprise by the
flood. Many could see the disaster coming. But there was nothing
they could do, their science was completely powerless to avoid it.
Their very knowledge was like fetters, preventing any escape.
Everything was swallowed and disappeared in the mists of time.
You would be very much misled if you believed that the same laws
do not apply to you, here and now. For, you see, you may not be a
passionate lover of Truth, but your Higher Self is. Always. You
may play games in your life, you may seek power for childish
motivations, you may cover yourself with mud - your Higher
Self will still be yearning for Truth, and Truth alone, in the
background of yourself. It does not matter where you, as an
individual, may choose to go, your Higher Self simply cannot move
towards any other direction than Truth, that is Its imperishable
269
nature.
So if you are not after Truth, your Higher Self will start working
against you, to allow a return to the direction It has forever
chosen. We could call this Self-sabotage. And it is supremely
efficient. If you go astray from your Truth and try to deny it,
your own Self will undermine any of your attempts, any of your
constructions, and will start preparing your fall. Sometimes it
takes a long time before the blessed hand shatters all your
defenses. But all you had patiently built on a wrong basis will be
destroyed, and you will have to start again in the nakedness of the
Spirit.
I want to emphasize this point, especially after having covered so
many techniques in this book. In a Taoist treatise of inner
alchemy, The Book of the Golden Pill, it is said: "For the right
man, even the wrong technique will work. But for the wrong man,
even the right technique won't work." Ultimately, there is no
other real protection than the power of Truth. If you are after
Truth, then Truth will look after you. But if you come from the
wrong space, you may apply all the techniques recorded in the
archives of nature, your achievements will always be of a
precarious nature.
One day, when the predictions of the Apocalypse come to fruition,
titanic dark forces will rage on the planet and try to extinguish all
hope of further development for human beings. It will be total
war, but a war of a new form, one that is unsuspected at present.
Then what will you do to protect yourself? Do you really believe
that your techniques of protection will work? Whatever tricks and
techniques you have, you may be sure that those of the dark
forces will be infinitely more sophisticated. Truly, you won't have
any other power left than the manifesting power of Truth of
your Higher Self. In a paradoxical way, that is how the devil is
your best friend. For to overcome him, the only way will be to
tap soul forces from the deepest of your Self and to release them
on a cosmic level. You will have to stand in the Absolute Glory of
the Spirit, and to liberate forces of Truth more than ever before
in the history of humankind. Then the victory will be total and
irreversible - that's if you've found your Self by then, of course.
I am happy to have shared all these techniques of protection with
you, but I do not want you to be fooled. Esoteric knowledge is like
a double-edged sword. If you use it for anything else than finding
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270
the Self and revealing Its Truth, it always turns and works against
you in the end, whatever time it may take before the bell tolls.
There has never been any exception to this rule. Seek your Self
with all the sincerity you can and you won't have to worry about
protection. But if your motivation is of a different nature, then
your spiritual journey will be a long succession of disillusions,
however clever you may be at implementing techniques.
You may think that the concept of Truth is a bit vague, and not
directly applicable to your daily reality. Actually, before you can
grasp Truth with a capital T, you have to start with being true to
yourself. That is something simple, which can start here and now.
There are a few things you know you really should do and that
you are not doing: decisions to make, unavoidable transitions to go
through... Maybe also, there are a few things that you know you
should not do and that you keep on doing, through weakness, but
also often just by habit.
Please understand clearly that I am not referring to any moral
concepts. The problem has nothing to do with what is labelled
'good' or 'bad', or with any other mental construction. It is not
rare for spiritual seekers to have to do certain 'bad' things, or let
us say things that moral authorities would regard as bad, in order
to follow their truth.
Sincerity is of another nature. Deep inside some things feel right,
and some other things feel wrong. It is the knowingness of the
Spirit and that is what you have to tune into. It does not scream
inside like certain desires. You have to listen to it carefully. It is
like an inner sense, the embryonic version of what will later
become your capacity to know 'the Truth'. It is faint in the
beginning, so you have to take care of it. The more you listen to
it, meaning the more you put into action what you know to be
right, the more the knowingness grows. The more you ignore it,
the more it fades. And if you really don't know what is right or
wrong, then tune in inside and ask for help. You will be surprised
how swiftly Truth can come to the rescue of those who seek Truth
without compromising.
It does not matter if you make some mistakes while following
your truth. What is a mistake, anyway? The white line that leads
you straight to the Divine is full of meanderings, when seen
through the eyes of a non-initiate. But to the vision of Truth,
certain detours and failures appear as the surest and most direct
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271
way to the Goal.
If you consistently follow your truth, your capacity to discern
will grow like a banyan tree and your sense of what is true or
untrue will become more tangible than your perception of hot or
cold. Even if the sense of Truth is faint in the beginning, you
should cherish and nurture it as the most precious quality that
may ever be given to you. For ultimately, there is no real
protection but the power of Truth.
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272
Chapter 22 - Glimpses of What Comes Next
22.1 ISIS, the Clairvision techniques of regression
Astable and reliable clairvoyance requires not only the building of
some new subtle organs but also the purification of the astral
layer. This implies thoroughly exploring the roots of mental
conflicts and emotional imbalances, and eradicating mental
conditioning. Having observed a large number of people working
on themselves, I can say that those who never seem to get
anywhere with their spiritual practice are quite often those who
have neglected this phase of exploring and cleansing the mess of
the mind.
Before one can be supernormal, one has to become normal. As long
as the daddy-mummy, girlfriend-boyfriend level of existence has
not been sorted out, as long as deep negative emotional patterns
have not been clarified, there is no need to pretend you are living
a divine life.
On the other hand, I have seen many seekers who had major
openings of perception while undergoing a systematic process of
regression through ISIS. Suddenly, after a critical release, their
techniques of clairvoyance started working. Remember the example
of the one-metre-long pipe. As long as one single millimetre of the
pipe is obstructed, you cannot see anything, even though 99.9% of
the pipe is clear. In practice it means that just a few unresolved
emotions are enough to keep you completely blind to the spiritual
worlds.
If you have been practising a form of spiritual work for a long
period without any significant metaphysical breakthrough, I
suggest you find a system, such as our method of regression, that
will allow you to deeply explore and cleanse the negative emotional
patterns of your subconscious mind. This might save you a
considerable time of spiritual wandering.
22.2 The vision of thought forms
The ISIS techniques, of which regression is one of the avenues, are
based on an alchemical perspective. They aim at allowing you to
feel, and later on to see, your emotions as forms. They gradually
lead you to the point where your clairvoyant perception can behold
273
emotions as colourful movements in the matter of the astral body.
The samskaras, or seeds of emotional conditioning, can definitely
be seen as spots and felt through your body of energy. This
approach gives new keys to deal with unconscious complexes by
revealing them as something extremely concrete and objective, as
tangible on the astral level as weeds are on the physical level.
Once your emotional field starts to clarify and emotions are
revealed to your vision as forms, the following step is to reach a
similar perception of thoughts. By an extension of the same
process, it becomes possible to feel and see the thoughts as forms,
or 'thought forms', little waves of astral energy rushing all
around you. You can see and feel them coming from outside
yourself and penetrating into your aura... and within a fraction of
a second, a thought appears inside your mind. It is exactly like
having the flu after catching a virus.
Have you ever tried to stop thinking? This is a most frustrating
and hopeless exercise. The more you try to make the mind silent,
the more it rebels and reacts with unwanted thought activity. The
reason most people can never achieve total mental silence is that
they operate from their mind. They try to fight the mind
mentally. They become aware of their thoughts only after they
have already entered their mind, when it is far too late to do
anything.
If you reach the stage where you can see the thought forms
coming from outside, then the situation is quite different! You can
choose not to let them in, and thus experience inner silence. You
realize that until then, there was an unconscious mechanism that
attracted the thoughts inside your head, pulling them in like a
little hand. All you need to do is to release this mechanism, and
peace of mind is achieved immediately. There is no fight because
you do not have to push the thought forms away, you just stop
drawing them in.
22.3 The transformation of thinking
As the process advances and the mind clarifies, seekers realize that
two completely different forms of thinking take place inside
them. One is based on reactions and conditioning. This is the
thinking made of all the little thought forms that people catch
like viruses.
The other thinking is of a completely different nature. It does not
appear like a mechanical chain of reactions but like a creative
Chapter 22 - Glimpses of What Comes Next
274
activity of the soul. It is a thought that connects, exactly like the
process of 'tuning in' that we described in Chapter 11. Using this
new mode, when you think of someone, a living connection is
established with him (instead of just getting a postcard image of
him in your mind). When you think of an object, the qualities of
the object become alive in you. And therefore you experience a
completely new palette of feelings, impressions and sensations,
which is the opposite of the sclerotic nature of the mind.
A shift slowly takes place and the old thinking of the mind, the
one based on conditioning and separative consciousness, is gradually
replaced by the thinking of the 'supermind', or transubstantiated
astral body, in which the heart plays a central role. You feel
yourself thinking in your heart, just as the old thought process
was previously taking place in your head. This thinking of the
head was disconnected from the Self. Now, thinking and Self have
married in the heart.
Concurrently, a gradual transformation takes place in the blood. In
the beginning, you just notice that you are more aware of your
blood. Then you realize that a conscious life of the Spirit is
starting to shine in the blood. Just as, previously, it was obvious
that the thinking process was all happening in your head, it
becomes obvious that the Self, the Higher Ego, is living in the
blood. Before, your existence was mainly taking place in the
thinking of the mind, in the head. Now you live more and more in
the consciousness of the Self, or Spirit, in the blood. This new
thinking is none other than a thinking of the Self. You therefore
get this clear perception that you are thinking with your blood
and not only your heart.
Do not think these experiences are of a vague and floaty nature,
like a sort of half-real ethereal subjectivity. On the contrary,
these experiences are 'hyper-dense' and infinitely more tangible
than anything that was taking place in your consciousness before.
If you look at how you were before the transformation, and
compare it to the Spirit of Life now flowing in your blood, it is as
if you had been walking on the planet like a zombie, not even
knowing how empty your soul was.
A deep sense of Truth develops with the thinking of the blood.
One of the obvious characteristics of the old form of thinking of
the mind was doubt. The mind was doubting all the time. The only
way for the mind to decide whether a proposition was true or not,
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275
was to have recourse to logic, to engage in discussion and
comparison to try and form an opinion. The thinking of the
Spirit, on the contrary, is endowed with an irresistible
knowingness of Truth. The purpose of your life shines in front of
you, there is oneness and certitude as to where to take the next
step.
22.4 The quest for the Grail
The Grail is the vessel that received the blood of Christ. It is the
central theme of the whole western esoteric tradition. In terms of
inner alchemy, the Grail is the vehicle that can receive the Highest
Spirit. This refers to the building of the glorious body of
immortality in which the highest consciousness of the Self can be
experienced.
The body of immortality is a body of connection. In it, not only
does the Spirit live, but the whole creation, the macrocosm, as
outlined in the Emerald Tablet:
et recepit vim superiorum et inferiorum
And it receives/comprehends the force from the things that are
above and that are below.
One should never consider that the Spirit can be defined in any
way. Due to Its absolute nature, It encompasses many paradoxes:
whenever something is really true about It, then the opposite is
usually true too. The more one knows the Spirit, the more one
realises one's ignorance of Its unfathomable depth.
There is a great beauty in the fact that in English, the word
initiate means both the one that was instructed into the
mysteries, and... a beginner! I believe that the two meanings of the
word should not be opposed but reconciled. Whatever your level of
perception, wisdom and enlightenment, always remember that you
remain extremely confused as to the real nature of the Divine, and
that the human adventure is only at its beginning.
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Appendix 1: Paths of the Meridians
Gallbladder, Urinary Bladder, and Stomach Meridians
Zu shao yang, 'Gallbladder' Meridian starts at the external corner
of the physical eye (not the third eye!) From there it follows a
complicated path around the ear and the side of the head. From
the side of the trunk it sends a branch to the gallbladder and to
the liver. It is also said to have a direct connection with the heart.
From the hip it suddenly makes a detour to the sacrum, and comes
back on the lateral side of the thigh. It ends up on the external
side of the nail of the fourth toe (counting the big toe as no.1).
Zu tai yang, 'Urinary Bladder' Meridian, on the head, starts at the
medial/internal corner of the physical eye, ascends straight up the
forehead and skull and circles the head 1 or 2 centimetres away
from the medial line. On the foot it travels behind the external
malleolus and then below it. It terminates on the external part of
the little toe. Zu tai yang connects with the urinary bladder and
the kidney.
Zu yang ming, 'Stomach' Meridian, starts on the head as one
branch coming down from below the middle of the physical eye,
277
and another branch in front of the ear. In the neck, the meridian
is at the anterior border of the sternocleidomastoid muscle, and
then is said to make a sudden detour to the seventh cervical
vertebra before coming back to the front of the chest. On the
foot, it ends up on the second toe (counting the big toe as no.1).
Appendix 1: Paths of the Meridians
278
Appendix 1: Paths of the Meridians
279