Class Seven: Chakras and Visualization
Visualization
Here are several great visualization exercises to help you learn how to focus your mind. I have lost the first page, which is the introduction, but I think you will be okay without it.
You have to learn how to concentrate on one particular thing without letting it get away. You have to let other thoughts come and go, gliding in and out, without affecting your focus. Once you have accomplished this, your next goal will be to effectively block these thoughts all together, not allowing any interuptions. Once this is in place, the sky is the limit for the possibilities of magickal workings. For now we will work with a few simple exercises that you will need to practice weekly. Also know that you will need a meditation journal for these and other exercises that you will be doing.
Exercise One
Close your eyes and see yourself in the dark. Relax and release any tension that you might have. Breath in through your nose and out of your mouth, concentrating on slow, deep breaths. If you feel light headed or tingly, slow your breathing down. As thoughts come in and out, let them drift, not allowing yourself to get distracted in any one particular thought. Try to keep the darkness around you. Let this working go on for a couple of minutes, no more than five. Do this for several weeks until it is completely second nature to you.
Exercise Two
Close your eyes and see yourself in the dark. Relax and release any tension that you might have. Breath in through your nose and out of your mouth, concentrating on slow, deep breathes. If you feel light headed or tingly, slow your breathing down. As thoughts come in and out, let them drift, not allowing yourself to get distracted in any one particular thought. Try to keep the darkness around you. Now, envision a large, white fog enveloping you and surrounding you completely. Keep this fog around you at least five minutes. Do this for several weeks until it is completely second nature to you.
Exercise Three
Follow the beginning steps. This time, in the darkness, see a large ball of light. Keep this ball, whatever color you would like, floating in front of you. Do not let it get away. Keep this light in front of you for five minutes. Do this for several weeks until it is completely second nature to you.
Exercise Four
Follow the beginning steps. This time, visualize this ball changing from white to red to green to blue to yellow to white again. These colors do not need to be in this order. Do not let this ball of light get away. Keep this light in front of you for five minutes. Do this for several weeks until it is completely second nature to you.
Exercise Five
Follow the beginning steps. This time, visualize this ball changing shapes; from round to square, to triangle, whatever shape you want it to. These shapes do not need to be in a particular order just so long as you are changing them and that you control the will of the shape. Do not let this light get away. Keep this light in front of you for five minutes. Do this for several weeks until it is completely second nature to you.
The word chakra in Sanskrit means “wheel†or “discâ€. Your chakras, which run along your spine, are the areas where you send and receive energy and open your consciousness to your inner self. When you stimulate your chakras, you can increase your vitality. The chakras are sometimes depicted as a lotus. As the chakras go up the spine, the lotus gains more and more petals, which represents the frequency of the vibrations that they give off. It is said that the Kundalini, or life force, is contained in the root chakra. The Kundalini travels up through the body, activating each chakra as it passes. It has been said that once the Kundalini has reached the crown chakra and the thousand-petal lotus blossoms, enlightenment has been reached. If the emanations of your chakras are weak, it means that one of your chakras is blocked, which causes many things, including fatigue, illness, and emotional imbalances. The chakras also work with our aura. If a chakra is blocked, our aura will reflect this and people around you will notice. There are several ways to create a blockage in your chakras. One way is to place too much stress on a particular chakra. Another way is to ignore or under use a certain chakra. Also, using excessive energy from a particular chakra will cause a blockage. Here is a quick look at each individual chakra.
Crown Chakra Color: White Sanskrit Name and Translation: Sahasrara--Thousandfold Location on Body: Top of Head Gland: Pineal Gemstones: Yellow diamond, yellow sapphire, topaz Attributes to Western Magickal Tradition: Spirituality, Enlightenment
Third Eye Chakra Color: Violet Sanskrit Name and Translation: Ajna--Knowing Location on Body: Center of Forehead Gland: Pituitary Gemstones: Emerald, diamond, jade, quartz crystal Attributes in Western Magickal Tradition: Clairvoyance, inspirational vision, higher self
Throat Chakra Color: Blue Element: Ether Sanskrit Name and Translation: Visuddi--Purify Location on Body: Throat Gland: Thyroid, Parathyroid Gemstones: Diamond, sapphire, star sapphire, lapis lazuli Attributes in Western Magickal Tradition: Clairvoyance, inspirational writing, speaking, channeling, will power
Heart Chakra Color: Green Element: Air Sanskrit Name and Translation: Amahata--Unstruck Location on Body: Center of Breastbone Gland-Thymus Gemstones: Ruby, garnet, rose quartz, pink beryl Attributes in Western Magickal Tradition: Altruistic, Spiritual love, Compassion, Generosity
Solar Plexus Chakra Color: Yellow Element: Fire Sanskrit Name and Translation: Manipura--Lustrous jewel Location on Body: Two fingers above Navel Gland: Pancreas Gemstones: Topaz, ruby, alexandrite, diamond with pearl Attributes in Western Magickal Tradition: Love, healing, peace, emotions, desires
Sacral Chakra Color: Orange Element: Water Sanskrit Name and Translation: Svadisthara--Sweetness Location on Body: Four fingers below Navel Gland: Gonads, Prostate (Sexual Organs) Gemstones: Amethyst, diamond, aquamarine Attributes in Western Magickal Tradition: Sexuality, Intuition
Base (Root) Chakra Color: Red Element: Earth Sanskrit Name and Translation: Muladhara--Root Support Location on Body: Base of Spine Gland: Adrenal Gemstones: Diamond, pearl, zircon, quartz crystal Attributes in Western Magickal Tradition: Physical energy, connections with Earth and Nature, grounding
--Research done with Your Seven Energy Centers by Prophet and Spadaro and by The Magickal Life by Vivianne Crowley
Chakra Exercise
To open the chakras, sit comfortably with your spine straight. Close your eyes and relax. If muscles in your legs or arms seem tense, flex them and then release them. Allow your breathing to become regular. When you feel relaxed and your breathing has become slow and steady, visualize a tiny round circle of pulsating red light at the base of your spine. Now imagine drawing a current of energy into the chakra so that it grows warm and begins to glow. The chakra energizes and begins to grow larger, becoming a spinning red disc of light. It pulsates with red energy and light. Visualize the base of the spine chakra growing larger until it covers the whole of your lower spine.
Draw more and more energy into your base of spine chakra. Then, as the flow of energy comes into your body, allow it to fill your lower body with red light. Allow the light to rise, growing lighter, turning to orange. It reaches the level of your belly. As it does so, visualize the sacral chakra in the center of your belly activating. It begins to glow with bright orange light. Allow the flow of energy to rise up through the center of your body, filling it and growing lighter. Orange lightens to golden yellow at the level of the solar plexus. Here it begins to activate the solar plexus chakra that starts to spin and glow with a golden yellow light. Focus on the base of the spine once more and draw more energy up the center of your body and into the solar plexus chakra. Allow it to open wider and wider. Allow the chakra to spin faster and faster until there is a golden spinning Sun at your solar plexus. Focus on the base of the spine again. Draw more energy in and up your body, past the spinning orange sacral chakra, past the golden yellow solar plexus, up to the center of the breastbone, where there is the small green fiery glow of the heart chakra. Let the energy you have drawn upward feed the green fiery glow. Your heart chakra begins to grow, to spin faster and faster, growing larger and larger, until it covers the whole of your chest with green glowing light.
Focus on the base of the spine again and draw energy up through your body, past the heart chakra to the throat, where there is a small blue glow. Allow the energy to stream into your throat chakra and to spin the chakra faster and faster until there is a pulsating blue center at the throat. Go back to the base of the spine to renew your energy. Draw energy in through the base of the spine chakra, up through the sacral chakra, through the solar plexus, through the heart chakra, to the throat. Then go back to the base of the spine chakra again. Draw a current of energy right up through your body, up past the throat and into the third eye at the center of your forehead. Allow this energy to merge with the violet spot at the third eye and to spin the third eye energy faster and faster until there is a spinning violet center in the middle of your forehead. Focus on the base of the spine. Draw more energy into your body and up past the sacral chakra, past the solar plexus, past the heart, past the throat and into the third eye. Allow the violet glow to spin faster and faster. Then allow the current of energy to shoot up through the head and out of the crown. Allow the energy to cascade down your body, bathing it in light, light flowing down over your body to your feet in a white stream. Focus on the base of the spine. Draw more energy right up through the body, past the sacral chakra, past the solar plexus, past the heart, past the throat, past the third eye and out again through the crown chakra, and down the body to the feet. Repeat this a few times and then relax. Enjoy the feeling of having your chakras open and energized.
When you are ready to stop, it is important that you close your chakras again. When we first did this exercise, Janet Orman explained that two chakras are always open--the crown chakra at the top of the head, which connects us to spiritual energies, and the base of spine chakra, which connects us to the Earth. The other chakras should be closed in everyday life. The purpose of opening them is to increase our sensitivity to the energies of other people and to those of our environment. This must be done in controlled situations.
Closing your chakras can be done more quickly then opening them. One of the easiest ways is to imagine each chakra as a stained glass window of the appropriate color. Starting at the top, the crown chakra, visualize a fountain of white light spurting out of your crown chakra down the outside of your whole body. Let it flow over the third eye, closing the chakra completely as though a white shutter is being drawn over it. Then draw more white light down from the crown past the third eye to the throat chakra, and then over the throat, shutting the chakra. Draw more light from the crown chakra down and over the heart chakra. Now draw more white light down over the top of the head, over the third eye, over the throat, over the heart chakra, and down over the solar plexus. Then, from the crown of the head, draw more white light down past the solar plexus, past the sacral, and down to the base of the spine. Allow the crown chakra and base of the spine chakra to remain slightly open. These are your links with the energies of the Divine and the energies of Earth.
Morning Meditation
Opening the chakras can be part of a good meditative exercise to start the day. Once our chakras are open, we can think about the day'ss priorities, what we need to do and get done, and ask for the insight, energy, and strength to do it. Its a form of praying, but not addressed to deity in human form. We send our thoughts out to the great mind of the universe and come into unity with it. Afterward, when we have closed our chakras again, we find that the visualization and regular breathing make us feel balanced and centered, but also energized. It's like the feeling you have when you've been leisurely swimming or doing some nonstrenuous exercise. Asking the universe to help us in what we do has another effect: we become less wrapped up in our personal concerns. We get them more into perspective and we become less egocentric. When you articulate your priorities to the universe, you become aware of being a player on a stage where the audience is the cosmos. We don't want to be totally bound up in our own trivialities, we want to live our lives in a better way. We begin to gain clarity.
Both taken from The Magickal Life by Vivianne Crowley
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