As little understood now by physiologists as the spleen
is. SD2 296.
The word spleen comes from the Greek splen.
In French, spleen refers to a state of pensive sadness
or melancholy. It has been popularized by the poet Charles-Pierre Baudelaire (1821-1867) but was already used before, in particular
in the Romantic literature (18th century). The connection between spleen (the organ) and melancholy (the temperament) comes
from the humoral medicine of the ancient Greeks. One of the humours (body fluid) was the black bile, secreted by the spleen
organ and associated with melancholy.
In German, spleen refers to a persisting somewhat cranky
(but not quite lunatic) idea or habit of a person. In 19th century England women in bad humour were said to be afflicted by
spleen, or the vapours of spleen.
Interestingly, the Talmud (tractate Berachoth 61b)
refers to the spleen as the organ of laughter, possibly suggesting a link with the humoral view of the organ. wikipedia.org.
The etheric web is composed of the intricate weaving
of this vitalized cord, and apart from the seven centers within the web (which correspond to the sacred centers, and of which
the spleen is frequently counted as one) it has the two above mentioned, which make - with the spleen - a triangle of activity.
The etheric web of the solar system is of an analogous nature, and likewise has its three receptive centers for cosmic prana.
The mysterious band in the heavens, which we call the Milky Way, (S. D. II. 250) is closely connected with cosmic prana, or
that cosmic vitality or nourishment which vitalizes the solar etheric system. TCF 99.
This truth is curiously substantiated in a study of
the number "eight" in connection with the centers which, we are told, is the number of the Christ. There are eight centers
if the spleen is counted, all of them are multiples of eight with the exception of the center at the base of the spine which
has four petals, one half of eight. In our day and in the Anglo Saxon mode of writing, the number eight is the basic symbol
of all the centers, for the petals are really in form like a number of superimposed eights. The word petal is purely pictorial
and a center is formed on this pattern. First, a circle, 0; then two circles, touching each other and making therefore an
8. TWM 597.
This makes eight centers but is in reality seven, as
the center at the back of the head is not counted in the initiation process, any more than is the spleen. TE 146.
There is a close connection between the spleen and
the top of the head in connection with the etheric body. The organ of the spleen has an interesting correspondence to the
umbilical cord which attaches an infant to the mother for purposes of nourishment, and which is separated at birth. When a
man starts to live his own life of conscious desire, when a man is born into a new world of a subtler form of life, that interlaced
cord of etheric matter (which had united him to his physical body) is broken; the "silver cord is loosed" and the man severs
his connection with the dense physical body and passes out through the highest center of the body instead of the lowest to
life in a higher world and of another dimension. So it will be found in all the bodies and sheaths of the microcosm, for the
analogy will persist on all planes during manifestation.
When more scientific knowledge has been gained it will
be found that the same procedure on a larger scale, takes place in planetary manifestation. A planet is but the body of a
planetary Logos, that body being etheric, and the Logos expressing Himself through it and building upon the etheric scaffolding
a vehicle of manifestation. The moon once was the body of expression for one of the Logoi; the Earth now is, and the cycles
change continuously. The center of escape for the etheric body is found likewise in a physical planet, and the planetary silver
cord is loosed at the time appointed; but the times and cycles, their commencement and termination are hid in the mysteries
of Initiation, and do not concern us. TCF 86.
In all the three bodies - human, planetary, and systemic
or logoic - will be found a great organ within the organism which acts as the receiver of prana. This organ has its etheric
manifestation and its dense physical correspondence.
In the system, the organ of cosmic prana, of the force
vitalizing matter, is the central sun, which is the direct receiver and dispenser of cosmic radiation. This is one of the
threefold divisions of the Primordial Ray of active intelligence.
Each of the cosmic Rays is in essence threefold, a
fact which is oft overlooked, though logically obvious; each Ray is the vehicle for a cosmic Entity, and all existence is
necessarily triple in manifestation.
The central Sun has within its periphery a center of
reception with a surface radiation. In the planet there will be found a similar organ or receiver within its etheric
body, the locality of which is not for esoteric publication and cannot therefore be revealed. It is connected with the location
of the two poles, north and south, and is the center around which the globe rotates, and is the source of the legend of a
sacred fertile land within the sphere of polar influences. The mythic land of exceeding fertility, of abundant luxuriance,
and of phenomenal growth, vegetable, animal and human would naturally lie where prana is received. It is the esoteric Garden
of Eden, the land of physical perfection. Surface radiation demonstrates, after distribution, as planetary prana.
In Man. The organ of reception is the spleen through
its etheric counterpart. After distribution over the entire body via the etheric network it demonstrates in surface radiation
as the health aura.
Thus in all the three bodies will the resemblance clearly
be seen, and the working out in perfect correspondence is easily demonstrable:
PRANA OF THE SOLAR
SYSTEM THE SOLAR SYSTEM :
Entity manifesting The solar
Logos.
Body of manifestation The solar system.
Receptive center Pole of the central Sun.
Surface radiation or emanation Solar prana.
Movement produced
Systemic rotation.
Distributive effect Solar etheric radiation
(felt cosmically).
THE PLANET :
Entity manifesting
A planetary Logos.
Body of manifestation A planet.
Receptive center The planetary pole.
Surface
radiation or emanation Planetary prana.
Movement produced
Planetary rotation.
Distributive effect Planetary etheric radiation
(felt within the system).
A HUMAN BEING :
Entity manifesting The thinker, A Dhyan Chohan.
Body of manifestation
Physical body.
Receptive center The spleen.
Surface radiation or emanation Health aura.
Movement produced
Atomic rotation.
Distributive effect Human etheric radiation
(felt by environment).
THE ATOM OF MATTER :
Entity
manifesting An elementary life.
Body of manifestation
The atomic sphere.
Receptive center Pole of the atom.
Surface radiation or emanation Contribution of atom to the
united health aura of body.
Movement produced Atomic rotation.
Distributive
effect Atomic etheric radiation
(felt within the physical form). TCF 85.
The spleen, the organ of prana or of physical vitality
coming from the sun. TCF 177.
In the physical body we have the fires of the lower
nature (the animal plane) centralized at the base of the spine. They are situated at a spot which stands in relation to the
physical body as the physical sun to the solar system. This central point of heat radiates in all directions, using the spinal
column as its main artery, but working in close connection with certain central ganglia, wherever located, and having a special
association with the spleen. TCF 56.
In the etheric body, which is an exact replica of its
denser counterpart, we have the organ of active or radiatory fire, and, as is well known, the vehicle of prana. Its function
is to store up the rays of radiatory light and heat which are secured from the sun, and to transmit them, via the spleen,
to all parts of the physical body. Hence in the future it will come to be recognized that the spine and the spleen are of
the utmost importance to the physical well-being of man, and that when the spinal column is duly adjusted and aligned, and
when the spleen is freed from congestion and in a healthy condition, there will be little trouble in the dense physical body.
TCF 58.
Anatomists are beginning to find new ramifications
and new modifications in the human body. They are in error on many points, e.g., as to the spleen, which they call the manufactory
of white blood corpuscles, but which is really the vehicle of the Linga Shar ra. SD3 545.
One by one the red corpuscles of the blood Stream are
broken up by some one of the interior fires operative in all animal bodies. The waste fragments are consumed by
the leucocytes, the white corpuscle of spleen, liver, cell walls, etc. TT 74.
They are beginning to ascribe to the spleen functions
hitherto not recognized. TCF 89.
Solar Prana: This is that vital and magnetic
fluid which radiates from the sun, and which is transmitted to man's etheric body through the agency of certain deva entities
of a very high order, and of a golden hue. It is passed through their bodies and emitted as powerful radiations, which are
applied direct through certain plexi in the uppermost part of the etheric body, the head and shoulders, and passed down to
the etheric correspondence of the physical organ, the spleen, and from thence forcibly transmitted into the spleen itself.
TCF 90.
These three centers : Between the
shoulder blades, Above the diaphragm, And the spleen.
The centers should be pictured as whirling vortices
with a closely woven threefold channel passing from each center to the other, and forming an almost separate circulatory system.
This finds its point of departure for the entire system at the further side of the spleen to that at which the prana entered.
The vital fluid circulates through and between these three centers three times, before it finally passes out from them to
the periphery of its little system. This final circulation carries the prana, via the fine interlacing channels, to every
part of the body. TCF 100.
The main organ of assimilation is the spleen - the
etheric center and the dense physical organ. The vital essence from the sun is passed into the etheric spleen, and is there
subjected to a process of intensification or devitalization, according to the condition, healthy or not, of that organ. If
the man is in a healthy state the emanation received will be augmented by his own individual vibration, and its rate of vibration
will be keyed up before it is passed on into the physical spleen; or it will be slowed down and lowered if the man is in a
poor condition of health. TCF 100.
Carry your meditations forward exclusively in the head,
therefore, except for some incidental practice in connection with the spleen (which I will give you to follow) with a view
to etheric vitalization. DINA1 139.
The spleen receiving pranic emanations from the planet
on which we live and concerned with the etheric and physical bodies and their physical relation. EA 78.
The Spleen, Linga Sharira. SD3 548.
The Moon
Linga Sharira
Violet
Monday
Liver, K ma. SD3 548.
K ma is life, it is the essence of the blood. When
this leaves the blood the latter congeals. Pr na is universal on this plane; it is in us the vital principle, Pr nic, rather
than Pran. SDIII 592.
Enumeration of the Principles - S. D., II, 627, 631.
1st Principle - Dense physical body. Sthula Sharira.
2nd Principle - Etheric body. Linga Sharira.
3rd
Principle - Prana. Vital energy.
4th Principle - Kama-rupa. The energy of desire. -
S. D., I, 136.
(These are the lower four principles.)
LOWER QUATERNARY
(a) Rupa, or Sthula-Sarira //
Physical body // Is the vehicle of all the other "principles" during
life.
(b) Prana // Life, or Vital principle //
Necessary only to a, c, d, and the functions of the lower
Manas, which embrace all those limited to the (physical) brain.
(c) Linga Sharira // Astral body // The Double, the phantom body.
(d) Kama rupa // The seat of animal desires and
passions // This is the centre of the animal man,
where lies the line of demarcation which separates the mortal man from
the immortal entity. KEY HPB.
Jiva or Prana (life) is the Linga-Sharira (the “double”
of man: the Linga-Sharira proper can never leave the body till death. SD3 199.
The Moon The Parent of the Earth Linga Sharira.
SD3 454.
The liver and spleen represent the Quaternary. SD3
583.
Many aspirants have already established the following
links of the bridging antahkarana:
From the physical to the vital or etheric body. This
is really an extension of the life thread between the heart and the spleen.
From the physical and the vital, regarding them as
a unity, to the astral or emotional vehicle. This thread emanates from, or is anchored in, the solar plexus. ENA 33.
These self-created lesser threads which constitute
the third thread of the antahkarana extend eventually:
From the physical body to the etheric body, passing
from the heart to the spleen, and thence to the body of prana, the vital or etheric body, unites with force from the egoic
will petals.
From the etheric body to the astral body. This thread
passes from the solar plexus to the heart and from thence to the astral body, picking up the energy of the thread mentioned
above, unites with force from the love petals. ENA 147. Adapted.
Heart Pr na Corpora-quadrigemina K ma-Manas. SD3 547.
Remember that K ma, while having bad passions and emotions,
helps you to evolve by giving also the desire and impulse necessary for rising. SD3 570.
If the energy in which an individual primarily lives
and moves and has the focus of his being is, for instance, predominantly astral, then the major expression of energy in his
equipment will be astral or emotional feeling energy. He will react all the time to physical energy or prana and to astral
energy or the many sentient emotional forces. These work out pre-eminently through the spleen, the solar plexus and the throat,
and affect in different ways the physical spleen, the stomach and the thyroid gland. EH 328.
Thus, we have four "principles" justified; the last
three being:
(1) the "Double," which we have agreed to call Protean,
or Plastic Soul; the vehicle of (2) the life principle; and (3) the physical body.
Of course no physiologist or biologist will accept
these principles, nor can he make head or tail of them.
And this is why, perhaps, none of them understand to
this day either the functions of the spleen, the physical vehicle of the Protean Double, or those of a certain organ on the
right side of man[The Liver is the General.SD3 570. Liver, K ma. SD3 548.], the seat of the above-mentioned desires[K ma,
while having bad passions and emotions SD3 570]. KEY HPB. Adapted.
Kundalini, the twofold blending of the internal heat
and of the pranic current. The home of this force is the center at the base of the spine and the spleen as a feeder of that
heat. LOM 186.
The spleen, and the control of the pranic fluids for
the purpose of health, for vitalization, and for affecting the fire at the base of the spine. LOM 186.
On the Spleen: The spleen is the most important
agent of the life force, but it is the life force inherent in matter itself, independently of form. It is therefore closely
related to the planetary physical body. It is the externalization of a very important center.
There are three centers in the body (with allied externalizations)
which are basically essential to life. The heart center and the physical heart itself. In these the life principle (the Spirit
aspect) is located. Life and Spirit are one. The head center and the brain in which the consciousness principle (the Soul
aspect) is located. The pranic center and the spleen, in which the life of matter itself (the Matter aspect) is located.
You must bear in mind that, as H.P.B. points out, the dense physical body is not a principle. It is atomic matter which
is held in form by etheric substance, under the control of the soul. It is automatic in its response, and reacts to the outer
world of impacts and inner impulses, but has no initiatory life of its own. It is composed of units of energy, as is all else
in nature, and has its own individual life; its focus for the distribution of energy for this life is the spleen.
In the spleen, the negative life of matter and the
living energy of the positive etheric body, are brought together, and then a "spark," as it is called, is made between the
inner living bodies of man (through the medium of the etheric body) and the physical plane. It is a reflection on the lowest
rung of the evolutionary ladder, as far as man is concerned, and corresponds to the relation of soul and body or - on a higher
turn of the spiral - of spirit and matter. EH 335.
When the pranic rays can find free access to the shoulders,
and to the diaphragm, the subnormal state of the average spleen will adjust itself automatically. TCF 107.
The highest Adept, put into a new body, has to struggle
against it and subdue it, and finds its subjugation difficult.
The Liver is the General,
The Spleen is the Aide-de-Camp.
All that the Liver does not accomplish is taken up
and completed by the Spleen. SD3 570.
Liver, K ma. SD3 548.
The Spleen, Linga Sharira. SD3 548.
K ma is life, it is the essence of the blood. When
this leaves the blood the latter congeals. Pr na is universal on this plane; it is in us the vital principle, Pr nic, rather
than Pran. SD3 592.
Heart Pr na Corpora-quadrigemina K ma-Manas. SD3 547.
Leucocytes, the white corpuscle of spleen, liver,
cell walls, etc. TT 74.
Diseases of liver and spleen, as well as enlargement
of the heart all these result from an unbalanced
state of the psychic centers. Comm 257.
If any one organ, say, the liver or spleen, were to
appropriate the life force which belongs to other parts, there would be confusion and inharmony in the universe of our organism,
and disease and death of the body as a whole would occur. TT2 38.
Powerful are human poisons, and salutary is psychic
energy. Thus, when I speak about the necessity for psychic correlations, I advise you not only as a Teacher and humanitarian,
but also as a physician. For example, I advise taking care of the spleen and keeping it clean. But at the same time I stress
the need for preserving calmness and an atmosphere of solemnity. This may sound strange, for what can the spleen and a solemn
mood have in common? In fact the spleen is the organ of harmony and must therefore be purified by a harmonious disposition.
People assume that only the nervous system requires psychic influences, but such influences are also needed for various organs.
The example of the spleen is indicative. I speak of this particular organ because it is rarely mentioned and needs special
attention. SMD2 338.
Minor centers:
There is one close to the liver.
There are two connected with the spleen. These form
one center in reality, but such a center is formed by the two being superimposed one on the other. EH 73.
The 'navel' represents the solar plexus, perhaps the
most important plexus of the sympathetic system; it controls the digestive tract, and sends its branches to liver, spleen,
stomach. SM 123.
Every organ in man, heart, liver, lungs, etc., down
to every nerve and muscle, has, so to speak, its own distinct brain or thinking apparatus. SD3 512.
The solar plexus is the brain of the stomach. SD3 585.
Will you misunderstand if I point out to you that where
desire is inhibited (which is the case with many aspirants today) all kinds of diseases -cancer, congestion of the lungs and
certain liver complaints - become possible. EH 66.
Transmutation of the emotions into aspiration and love
and directed control is not present, and the existence of this vibrant reservoir of power brings about cancer of the stomach,
of the liver, and sometimes of the entire area of the abdomen. EH 240.
Moving indicates the integration and response of the
existing, aware, living entity into the universal activity, and of this the stomach, pancreas and liver are the symbols. EH
455.
Constant introspection, all forms of morbid suppression
and a too drastically enforced silence where fundamental emotions are concerned can lead to serious liver trouble. EH 561.
For instance, when the energy of the astral body makes
its impact upon the forces of the etheric vehicle, setting up an emotional turmoil, and thus producing serious solar plexus
difficulty with resultant gastric, intestinal and liver disturbances. EH 592.
Vexation is the plague of the World. It reacts upon
the liver, and engenders certain bacilli which spread in a highly contagious action. FW2 165.
Cleavage, astralism, delusions, hallucinations, nervous
disorders of every kind and difficulties of a physical nature which definitely involve the intestinal tract, the liver and
the pancreas are only some of the problems which arise from the uncontrolled use of the solar plexus center. EP2 541.
You who complain about your liver, examine your thoughts!
AY 644.
You heard this long ago. Cancer, tuberculosis, diseases
of liver and spleen, as well as enlargement of the heart all these result from an unbalanced state of the psychic centers.
Comm 257.
Prometheus was chained to a rock for thirty years,
and an eagle was sent each day to gnaw away his liver, which grew again during the night ready for fresh torments. This allegory
is instinct with vital truth. Prometheus is a creator, and endows mankind with a vital fire or force – evidently a force
of a creative character.
The rock is the stone of sacrifice to which he is bound
as a consequence of his act, while the eagle, a symbol of aspiration and freedom, feeds upon and, presumably, transmutes a
kamic (passional) center to higher forms. In reality, this is a reward-though only gained by sacrificial service endured for
thirty years.
It is worth noting, that physiology teaches that one
of the important functions of the liver is to warm the blood of the body. It is a heat center; and the blood, as it passes
from the liver, is warmer than at any other part. It is also interesting to know that surgery has proved that large sections
of the liver may be removed, and that the tissue is replaced by nature in a short time. TT3 97.
Liver, K ma. SD3 548.
The Spleen, Linga Sharira. SD3 548.
Most of these at this time are transferring solar plexus
energies into the heart, and the world agony is profoundly hastening the process. Stomachic, liver and respiratory troubles
accompany this transference. EH 120.
Living is energy, desire in form, coherence and adhesion
to an idea, and of this the heart and the blood are the exoteric symbols. EH 455.
K ma is life, it is the essence of the blood. When
this leaves the blood the latter congeals. Pr na is universal on this plane; it is in us the vital principle, Pr nic, rather
than Pran. SD3 592.
The blood is the K ma R pa.
In the disciple or initiate the glands corresponding
to the center is:
The spleen - Heart center.
Heart - pericardium,
ventricles, auricles with spleen affected.
"Out of the heart are the issues of life"; from it the
current of the life blood circulates; from its development in the Atlantean race and the consequent coordination and growth
of the astral or emotional body, the heart center has become the most important in the body. LOS 305. Adapted.
The spleen. This is a subsidiary center and organ in
connection with the heart center. EP2 64.
The Spleen corresponds to the Linga Sharira.
2nd
Principle - Etheric body. Linga Sharira.
Heart Pr na Corpora-quadrigemina K ma-Manas. SD3 547. Adapted.
The Linga-Sharira (the “double” of man:
the Linga-Sharira proper can never leave the body till death; that which appears is an astral body, reflecting the physical
body and serving as a vehicle for the human soul, or intelligence. SD3 202.
Linga Sharira is the Etheric Double or the lower Astral
body. This principle or state of matter is just beyond the solid, liquid and gaseous substances of the physical plane. It
is much rarer and more subtle than any of the last named states of matter. The etheric double is attached to the grosser forms
of matter, atom by atom, molecule by molecule, but the attachment is so slight that it is easily broken and the etheric double
may be withdrawn and, under certain circumstances, appear at some distance from the physical body. TT2 9.
From the physical to the vital or etheric body. This
is really an extension of the life thread between the heart and the spleen. RI 450.
It is through the spleen that a linking up takes place
between the life principle (seated in the heart) and the consciousness system, interlinking all the material organs and the
atomic substance of the physical body. This statement indicates that, in the location in the human body where the spleen is
found, along with its corresponding subjective force center, two great currents of energy cross: these are the current of
physical vitality or life and the current of the consciousness of the atoms which construct the form. It will be observed
that we are here discussing the group subconscious life and not the conscious life and the self-consciousness. The spleen
is the organ in which planetary prana or vitality is received and passed. This enters in through "the open gateway" of the
splenic force center, and passes to the heart. There it merges with the individual life principle.
Through the splenic center also passes the conscious
life of the sum total of the bodily cells, which are, in their turn, the recipients of the energy of the consciousness aspect
or principles of all atoms and forms within the fourth kingdom of nature. This we cannot be expected to comprehend as yet,
but the truth will be appreciated later on in the racial development. A hint can here be found as to the excessive sensitivity
of the solar plexus center to surrounding group impacts and impressions of an astral kind. There is a close rapport between
the splenic center and the solar plexus, as well as with the heart. These two subjective and subconscious streams of energy
cross each other in the region of the spleen and there form a cross in the human body, as they traverse each other's lines
of force. This is the correspondence in the human body to the cross of matter, spoken of in connection with Deity. Consciousness
and life form a cross.
The downpouring stream of life from the heart and the
stream of life-giving energy from the spleen pass on (after crossing each other and producing a whirlpool of force) into the
solar plexus region; from thence they are very definitely drawn together as one stream at a certain stage in the life of the
advanced aspirant. There they merge with the sum total of energies, using the three points referred to - the head, the base
of the spine and the spleen - as a definite mode of communication, of distribution and of control, and finally of ultimate
withdrawal, consciously or unconsciously, at the moment of death or in the technique of inducing that stage of control known
as Samadhi.
When the directing Agent in the head, deliberately
and by an act of the will, raises the accumulated energies at the base of the spine, he draws them into the magnetic field
of the centers up the spine and blends them with the dual energy emanating from the spleen. EP2 67.
Spleen Centre:
Function of Astral Centre: vitalises
Astral Body.
Function of Etheric Centre: vitalises Physical Body. CWL.
There are energies, for instance, pouring into the
spleen from planetary sources as well as into two small centers situated close to the kidneys, one on either side, besides
several others and these forces must all be understood, transmuted, transformed and transferred.
It is interesting to note that the two little centers
close to the Kidneys are related to the lower levels of the astral plane and let loose into the system much of the fear, etc.,
which is the distinguishing factor in those subplanes. They are, therefore, found close to the center which can control them
because even the modern endocrinologist knows that the adrenal glands, when stimulated, produce (as a psychological result
of a physical happening) an access of courage and a form of directed will which enables achievements to be carried out that
are, at other time, well-nigh impossible. EP2 529.
Adrenal glands: Center at base of spine. Producing
animal courage and resistance to shock. EXT 119. Adapted.
The glands of combat, and of struggle. SM 123.
The adrenal glands are each of them dual and are situated
on both sides of the abdomen, astride and back of the kidneys. SM 49.
Bright's disease, and trouble with the liver and the
kidneys. HPB Letters. CWL Vegetarianism.
When also physicians learn the nature of the etheric
body, and the work of the spleen as a focal point for pranic emanations, then sound principles and methods will be introduced
which will do away with such diseases as tuberculosis, debility, malnutrition and the diseases of the blood and of the kidneys.
TCF 812.
He quotes Mrs. Besant also in the following paragraph:
"The 'navel' represents the solar plexus, perhaps the most important plexus of the sympathetic system; it controls the digestive
tract, and sends its branches to liver, spleen, stomach, as well as to the alimentary canal and generative organs.
Nor is it unconnected with the lungs and heart. It
may be regarded as the brain of the sympathetic system, and responds with dangerous facility to thought; concentration on
it, often rashly undertaken, is apt to result in a peculiarly intractable form of nervous disease. Emotions set up in it violent
disturbances, and the feeling of a nausea, which often follows an emotional shock, is due to its excited action." - Das, Bhagavan,
The Science of the Sacred Word, Vol. 1, p. 83. SM 123.
Dugpas work on the Linga Shar ra of other people. The
Linga Shar ra in the spleen is the perfect picture of the man, and is good or bad, according to his own nature. SD3 588.
The black magician uses the energy of the lower three
centers (the organs of generation, the spleen, and the solar plexus) synthesizing their energy by an act of the will and directing
it to the center at the base of the spine, so that the fourfold energy is thence transmitted to the throat center. TCF 988.
These physical organs are themselves never specifically
dealt with by the white magician or occultist. They are dealt with in black magic, and consist of the brain, the lungs, the
heart, the spleen and the generative organs.
The black magician definitely utilizes these physical
parts of the body to generate a type of force which is a mixture of etheric force and dense physical energy, to enable him
to do certain forms of magical work and also to produce effects on the physical bodies of animals and men. It is the knowledge
of this which is the basis of voodooism and of all those practices which cause the depletion and death of men and women who
obstruct the path of the black magician or are regarded by him as enemies... He brings about the merging of the two
parts of the dense physical, and the synchronization of the rhythm of the two bodies and the consequent unity of the entire
lower man through attention to the etheric breath and rhythm. This inevitably produces the "external control of the life currents!"
LOS 223.
The area around the solar plexus (though not in direct
relation to that center as it exists as an instrument differentiated from all other instruments or centers) is sensitive to
the impact of etheric energy, for this area in the etheric body is in direct "touch" with the astral body, the feeling body.
Also, close to the solar plexus is found that center near the spleen which is the direct instrument for the entrance of prana
into the human mechanism.
This instinctual response to etheric contact was the
mode of communication in Lemurian times, and largely took the place of thought and of speech. It concerned itself primarily
with two types of impression: that which had to do with the instinct of self-preservation, and that which had to do with self-reproduction.
TE 16.
The spleen, the solar plexus, the base of the spine,
in the lower part of the pelvic basin; these last are not used, except in Black Magic. Theos. AB. 1909.
If the molecular constitution of the brain be fine,
and if the working of the specifically k mic organs (liver, spleen, etc.) be healthy and pure – so as not to injure
the molecular constitution of the nerves which put them into communication with the brain – then the psychic breath,
as it sweeps through the instrument, awakens in this true olian harp harmonious and exquisite melodies ; whereas if
the molecular constitution be gross or poor, if it be disordered by the emanations of alcohol, if the blood be poisoned by
gross living or sexual excesses, the strings of the olian harp become too loose or too tense, clogged with dirt or frayed
with harsh usage, and when the psychic breath passes over them they remain dumb or give out harsh discordant notes, not because
the breath is absent, but because the strings are in evil case. The seven principles of man. AB. 1909.
With these the aspirant to the mysteries of the Brotherhood
of the great White Lodge has nothing to do. LOS 223. !!
When true death is the soul's intention, then control
over the spleen first of all takes place. EH 463.
The center called the spleen was dominant in Lemurian
days but is now relegated to the domain of the fully functioning and therefore automatic centers, and has sunk below the threshold
of consciousness. LOS 305.
The liver and spleen represent the Quaternary. SD3
583.
The centers below the diaphragm - the base of the spine,
the sacral, solar plexus and spleen centers - are galvanized into activity by the four higher receiving centers. EA 25.
The Chh y is the same as the Astral Body.
The germ or life essence of it is in the spleen. “The Chh y is coiled up in the spleen.”
It is from this that the Astral is formed; it evolves
in a shadowy curling or gyrating essence like smoke, gradually taking form as it grows. But it is not projected from the physical,
atom for atom.
This latter intermolecular form is the K m R
pa. At death every cell and molecule gives out its essence, and from it is formed the Astral of the K ma R pa; but this can
never come out during life. SD3 593.
As the activity of the atoms and cells of which the
physical body is composed. It is the sum total of those little lives of which the human organs, comprising the entire man
are composed. These have a life of their own and a consciousness which is strictly individual and identified. This aspect
of the life principle works through the etheric or vital body and in connection with the solid mechanism of the tangible form
through the spleen. TWM 453.
The Astral supports life; it is the reservoir or sponge
of life, gathering it up from all the natural kingdoms around, and is the intermediary between the kingdoms of Pr nic and
physical life. Life cannot come immediately from the subjective to the objective, for Nature goes gradually through
each sphere.
Therefore the Linga Shar ra is the intermediary between
Pr na and our physical body, and pumps in the life.
The spleen is consequently a very delicate organ, but
the physical spleen is only a cover for the real spleen. SD3 593.
Spleen Centre:
General appearance "Radiant and sun-like"
CWL.
Etheric weakness also exists and I suggest to you that
in your meditation work you imagine to yourself the pouring in of divine energy (which is a creative function, my brother)
and that you send it on a mission to the etheric counterpart of the spleen. Find out from a diagram where the spleen is located;
visualize not the physiological organ but the etheric area surrounding it and picture it as bathed in pure golden prana. This
should prove an exercise of value to you. Long experience in meditation should enable you to do this with facility... DINA1
505.
It should be remembered that the sacral center and
the spleen are primarily connected with the planetary emanation of the Earth itself. EA 80.
Now Life is in reality Divinity; Parabrahman. But in
order to manifest on the physical Plane it must be assimilated; and as the purely physical is too gross, it must have a medium,
viz., the Astral.
Astral matter is not homogeneous, and the Astral Light
is nothing but the shadow of the real Divine Light; it is however not molecular. SD3 594.
This work accomplished, the three centers which are
of a strictly physical nature - the pineal gland, the pituitary body and the spleen - themselves become luminous and radiant,
and all the fires of the body are so stimulated that the atoms which form the physical sheath appear to radiate. This is the
occult truth behind the belief that every messenger from the Lodge and every Savior of man is naturally a healer. TCF 1123.
The spleen, the third center, has a specific purpose.
It has its correspondence in the third or activity aspect, and in the third or Activity (Adaptability) Ray, and is the basis
of all the fundamental activities of the microcosm, and of the recurring adaptations of the microcosm to its environment,
to its need and to the macrocosm. It controls the selective processes of the microcosm; it takes the vibratory force and energy
of the macrocosm and transmutes it for the use of the microcosm. We might call it the organ of transmutation, and - as its
functions are more completely understood, - it will be found that it provides a magnetic link between the conscious, thinking,
threefold man and his lower vehicles, regarding those lower vehicles as the Not-Self, and as themselves animated by informing
entities. It is the life force contacting those entities that is the issue and aim.
In its emotional counterpart, it is the organ of emotional
vitality, again in the same sense as providing a link; on the mental plane it serves somewhat the same purpose, only this
time through this center are the thought-forms vitalized by means of the energizing will. I will not, therefore, deal more
fully with this center beyond these general indications. Few people have the faculty of stimulating it through the use of
the Word, nor is it desirable that they should. It develops normally if the aspirant himself -as a totality - progresses as
desired: - if his physical body receives adequate application of the life forces of the sun, if his emotional body is moved
by high desire, and open to the downflow of force from the causal and intuitional levels, and if his mental life is intense,
vibrant, and animated by a powerful will. Then the spleen, with its inner counterparts, will progress and be in a healthy
condition. We will therefore thus dispose of it and give no further space to it in these letters. LOM 73.
The race suffers from certain incapacities, which may
be described as follows: First. Inability to tap pranic currents, owing to the unhealthy lives passed by so many. This involves
the cutting off of the source of supply, and the consequent atrophying and shrinkage of the receptive centers. This is seen
in an exaggerated form in the children of the congested quarters of any great city, and in the vitiated anemic dwellers of
the slums. The cure is apparent - the bringing about of better living conditions, the employment of more appropriate clothing,
and the adoption of a freer and more salubrious mode of living. When the pranic rays can find free access to the shoulders,
and to the diaphragm, the subnormal state of the average spleen will adjust itself automatically.
Second. Over-ability to tap pranic currents. The first
type of functional disorder is common and widespread. Its reverse can be found where conditions of life are such that the
centers (through too direct and prolonged submittal to solar emanation) become over-developed, vibrate too rapidly, and receive
prana in too great an amount. This is rarer, but is found in some tropical countries, and is responsible for much of the troublesome
debility that attacks dwellers in these lands. The etheric body receives prana or solar rays too rapidly, passes it through
and out of the system with too much force, and this leaves the victim a prey to inertia and devitalization. Putting it otherwise,
the etheric body becomes lazy, is like an unstrung web, or (to use a very homely illustration) it resembles a tennis racket
which has become too soft, and has lost its resilience. The inner triangle transmits the pranic emanations with too great
rapidity, giving no time for the subsidiary absorption, and the whole system is thereby the loser. Later it will be found
that many of the ills that Europeans, living in India, fall heir to, originate in this way; and by attention, therefore, to
the spleen, and by wise control of living conditions, some of the trouble may be obviated.
In touching upon similar conditions in the planet,
both these types of trouble will be found. More cannot be said, but in the wise study of solar radiation upon the surface
of the planet in connection with its rotary action, some of the group rules of health may be comprehended and followed. The
spirit of the planet (or the planetary entity) likewise has his cycles, and in the absorption of planetary prana, and in its
correct distribution, lies the secret of fertility and equable vegetation. Much of this is hidden in the fabled story of the
war between fire and water, which has its basis in the reaction of the fire latent in matter, to the fire emanating outside
of matter, and playing upon it. In the interval that has to elapse while the two are in process of blending, come those periods
where, through karmic inheritance, reception is unstable and distribution inequable. As the point of race equilibrium is reached,
so planetary equilibrium will likewise be attained, and in planetary attainment will come the equilibrium that must mutually
take place between the solar planets. When they attain a mutual balance and interaction then the system is stabilized and
perfection reached. The even distribution of prana will parallel this balancing in the man, in the race, in the planet and
in the system. This is but another way of saying that uniform vibration will be achieved. TCF 108.
Spleen Centre:
General appearance "Radiant and
sun-like" CWL.
THE SPLEEN CENTRE:
The spleen centre has six spokes, and therefore the
same number of petals or undulations. In appearance it is specially radiant, glowing and sun-like.
This centre is unique in this, that it has the all-important
function of absorbing the Vitality Globules –
Spleen Centre
(1) Structure
General
appearance "Radiant and sun-like"
Function of Astral Centre: vitalises Astral Body.
Function of Etheric Centre: vitalises
Physical Body.
from the atmosphere, disintegrating them, and distributing
the component atoms, charged with the specialised and transmuted Pr na, to the various parts of the body. The process will
most readily be followed with the aid of diagrams, Nos. IV (2), (3) and (4).
Spleen Centre
(2) Absorption of Vitality Globules
Vitality Globules are drawn into centre of Force-Centre
Spleen Centre
(3) Decomposition of Vitality Globules
Vitality globules, after being drawn into Centre, are decomposed, and the component particles are whirled round
by the "Secondary Forces".
The Vitality Globules are first drawn into the
spleen centre: then they are broken up into seven component atoms, each atom charged with one of the seven varieties of Pr
na : these atoms are then caught up by the rotating secondary forces and spun round the chakram.
The seven different kinds of Pr na are coloured thus:
-
Violet –Blue – Green – Yellow –
Orange – Dark Red – Rose-Red
It will be observed that the divisions are not exactly
those to which we are accustomed in the solar spectrum, but resemble rather the arrangement of colours seen on higher levels
in the causal, mental, and astral bodies. The indigo spectrum is divided between the violet and blue rays of Pr na, whilst
the red of the spectrum is split up into dark red and rose-red Pr na.
Each of the six spokes then seizes on one variety of
atom and despatches it to the chakram or part of the body for which it is needed. This accounts for six kinds of atoms only:
the seventh variety, - that coloured rose-pink, is despatched through the hub or centre of the spleen chakram itself, whence
it is distributed over the whole nervous system. These rose-coloured atoms are the original atoms which first drew round them
the six others to form the globule.
The atoms which bear the rose-coloured Pr na are clearly
the life of the nervous system, and it is this variety of Pr na which one man may give to another, as described in Chapter
XIII. If the nerves are insufficiently supplied with this rose-coloured Pr na, they become sensitive and intensely irritable:
the patient finds himself restless, and the least noise or touch is agony to him. Instant relief may be afforded him by some
healthy person flooding his nervous system with a supply of rose-coloured Pr na.
Although there are seven distinct kinds of Pr na, there
are only five main streams, as described in some Indian books, because after issuing from the spleen chakram the blue and
violet join into one stream and the orange and dark red join into another stream. The streams leave the spleen centre horizontally.
Spleen Centre
(4) Dispersion of Vitality Particles
Process:-
1- Vitality globules are drawn into Centre.
2- Vitality globules are broken up into particles.
3-
Vitality particles are whirled round by "secondary" forces.
4- Vitality particles are seized by appropriate "spoke", and
despatched to destination shown.
N.B.- The rose-pink atoms are the original atoms which first drew round them 6 others
to form the
globule.
The colours of the streams and their destinations are set out in the following table
:-
No. STREAM DESTINATION
1 Violet-Blue Throat Centre
2 Green Navel Centre and Abdomen generally
3 Yellow Heart Centre
4 Orange-Dark
Red ( and some Dark Purple). Base of Spine Centre
5 Rose-Red Nervous System
As the various kinds of Pr na – charged atoms
are distributed where required, the charge of Pr na is withdrawn from them, precisely as a charge of electricity might be
withdrawn. The Pr na gives life to the Etheric Double and, through that, to the dense body, the degree of health of the parts
of the body being largely determined by the volume of Pr na distributed. The bearing of this significant fact on the maintenance
of physical vigour and the cure of disease is clearly of very great importance and will be more fully considered in the section
devoted to Healing and Mesmerism.
The atoms bearing the rose-coloured Pr na grow gradually
paler as they sweep along the nerves and part with their Pr nic content. They are eventually discharged from the body
through the pores of the skin (as well as in other ways), forming what is called the health aura, a pale bluish-white emanation,
of which a plate is given in Man, Visible and Invisible, page 128.
In a man in vigorous health the spleen does its work
so generously that considerably more of the particles charged with Pr na are present than the man requires for his own use.
These unused particles are discharged from the body in all directions, through the health aura, along with the particles from
which the Pr na has been extracted. Such a man is thus a source of health and strength to those around him, constantly though
unconsciously shedding vitality on any who may be in his vicinity. This process may be considerably intensified by those who
definitely set themselves to heal others, by mesmeric passes and otherwise, as we shall see more fully in a later chapter.
In addition to these particles just mentioned, it is
also well known that small particles of dense physical matter are continually being thrown off from a man’s body, in
insensible perspiration and in other ways. A clairvoyant sees these particles as a faint grey mist. Many of the particles
are crystalline in form and therefore appear as geometrical figures; one of the commonest is that of salt, or sodium chloride,
which takes the form of cubes.
A man on the other hand, who is unable for any reason
to specialise for his own use a sufficient amount of Pr na, frequently and also unconsciously acts as a sponge, his physical
elemental drawing vitality from any sensitive person who happens to be near, to his own temporary benefit, but often to the
serious injury of the victim. This phenomenon largely accounts for those feelings of weariness and languor which come over
one after being near people who, not being very strong themselves, possess this unfortunate vampire-like faculty of draining
others of vitality. The same thing may happen, often in an aggravated form, at spiritualistic s ances.
The vegetable kingdom also absorbs vitality, but seems
in most cases to use only a small part of it. Many trees, especially the pine and eucalyptus, extract from the globules almost
exactly the same constituents as does the higher part of man’s etheric body, and reject any superfluous atoms charged
with rose-coloured Pr na which they do not themselves require. Hence the proximity of such trees is extremely beneficial for
people who are nervously depleted.
The health aura, consisting of these particles ejected
from the body, serves the useful purpose of protecting the man from the invasion of disease germs. In health the particles
are thrown out through the pores in straight lines, at right angles to the surface of the body, giving to the health aura
a striated effect. As long as the lines remain firm and straight the body seems to be almost entirely protected from the attack
of evil physical influences, such as disease germs, the germs being actually repelled and carried away by the outrush of Pr
nic force. But, when on account of weakness, over-fatigue, a wound, depression of spirits, or through the excesses of an irregular
life, an unusually large amount of Pr na is required to repair waste or damage within the body, and there is consequently
a serious diminution in the quantity radiated, the lines of the health aura droop, become erratic and confused, the system
of defence is weakened, and it is then comparatively easy for deadly germs to effect an entrance (vide M., V., & I., p.
132, Plate XXV).
In The Science of breath, translated by R ma Pras d,
it is stated that the natural length from the body to the periphery of the “halo” of Pr na, is 10 “fingers”
during inspiration of the breath and 12 during expiration. At other times the lengths are stated to be as follows: in
eating and speaking, 18; in walking, 24; in running, 42; in cohabitation 65; in sleeping, 100.
A reduction in length is said to result when a man
overcomes desire, gains the 8 Siddhis, etc. It seems probable, though by no means certain, that the “halo” mentioned
is the health aura. The term "fingers" here means, according to the method of reckoning used in India, not the length of a
finger but with width.
Both etheric matter and Pr na are very readily amenable
to the human will. It is possible, therefore, to protect oneself to a considerable extent from hostile influences mentioned
above, by making an effort of the will to check the radiation of vitality at the outer extremity of the health aura, building
it there into a wall or shell which will be impervious to disease germs and also prevent the vitality from being sucked away
by any one near who has the vampire tendency.
With a little further effort a shell may be made impervious
also to astral or mental influence. The question of etheric shells is so important that it will be necessary later on in this
book to enter into it rather more fully than we have done here, where we are dealing purely with the health aura.
The development of the spleen centre enables the man
to remember his astral journeys, though sometimes only very partially, the faculty associated with the corresponding astral
centre being that of travelling consciously in the astral body. Those vague memories, that most of us have, of blissful flights
through the air are often due to slight accidental stimulation of the spleen chakram.
It maybe mentioned, in passing, that the astral centre
corresponding to the spleen also has the function of vitalising the whole astral body. AE Powell. Collected from AB &
CWL. THE ETHERIC DOUBLE The Health Aura of Man.
THE ABSORPTION OF VITALITY
This vitality is absorbed by all living organisms,
and a sufficient supply of it seems to be a necessity of their existence. In the case of men and the higher animals it is
absorbed through the centre or vortex in the etheric double which corresponds with the spleen. It will be remembered that
that centre has six petals, made by the undulatory movement of the forces which cause the vortex. But this undulatory movement
is itself caused by the radiation of other forces from the centre of that vortex. Imaging the central point of the vortex
as the hub of a wheel, we may think of these last-mentioned forces as represented by spokes radiating from it in straight
lines. Then the vortical forces, sweeping round and round, pass alternately under and over these spokes as though they were
weaving a kind of etheric basket-work, and in this way is obtained the appearance of six petals separated by depressions.
When the unit of vitality is flashing about in the
atmosphere, brilliant as it is, it is almost colourless, and may be compared to white light. But as soon as it is drawn into
the vortex of the force-centre at the spleen it is decomposed and breaks up into streams of different colours, though it does
not follow exactly our division of the spectrum. As its component atoms are whirled round the vortex, each of the six spokes
seizes upon one of them, so that all the atoms charged with yellow rush along one, and all those charged with green along
another, and so on, while the seventh disappears through the centre of the vortex-- through the hub of the wheel, as it were.
Those rays then rush off in different directions, each to do its special work in the vitalisation of the body. As I have said,
however, the divisions are not exactly those which we ordinarily use in the solar spectrum, but rather resemble the arrangement
of colours which we see on higher levels in the causal, mental and astral bodies.
For example, what we call indigo is divided between
the violet ray and the blue ray, so that we find only two divisions there instead of three; but on the other hand what we
call red is divided into two-- rose red and dark red. The six radiants are therefore violet, blue, green, yellow, orange,
and dark red; while the seventh or rose red atom (more properly the first, since this is the original atom in which the force
first appeared) passes down through the centre of the vortex. Vitality is thus clearly sevenfold in its constitution, but
it rushes through the body in five main streams, as has been described in some of the Indian books,¹ (¹ “To them spoke
the principal life: Be not lost in delusion I even, fivefold dividing myself, uphold this body by my support.” -- Prashnopanishad
. ii, 3. “From this proceed these seven flames.” -- Ibid ., iii, 5.) for after issuing from splenic centre the
blue and the violet join into one ray, and so do the orange and the dark red.
(1) The violet-blue ray flashes upwards to the throat,
where it seems to divide itself, the light blue remaining to course through and vivify the throat-centre, while the dark blue
and violet pass on into the brain. The dark blue expends itself in the lower and central parts of the brain, while the violet
floods the upper part and appears to give special vigour to the force-centre at the top of the head, diffusing itself chiefly
through the nine hundred and sixty petals of the outer part of that centre.
(2) The yellow ray is directed to the heart, but after
doing its work there, part of it also passes on to the brain and permeates it, directing itself principally to the twelve-petalled
flower in the midst of the highest force-centre.
(3) The green ray floods the abdomen and, while centring
especially in the solar plexus, evidently vivifies the liver, kidneys and intestines, and the digestive apparatus generally.
(4) The rose-coloured ray runs all over the body along
the nerves, and is clearly the life of the nervous system. This is what is commonly described as vitality-- the specialised
vitality which one man may readily pour into another in whom it is deficient. If the nerves are not fully supplied with this
rosy light they become sensitive and intensely irritable, so that the patient finds it almost impossible to remain in one
position, and yet gains but little ease when he moves to another. The least noise or touch is agony to him, and he is in a
condition of acute misery. The flooding of his nerves with specialised vitality by some healthy person brings instant relief,
and a feeling of healing and peace descends upon him. A man in robust health usually absorbs and specialises so much more
vitality than is actually needed by his own body that he is constantly radiating a torrent of rose-coloured atoms, and so
unconsciously pours strength upon his weaker fellows without losing anything himself; or by an effort of his will he can gather
together this superfluous energy and aim it intentionally at one whom he wishes to help.
The physical body has a certain blind, instinctive
consciousness of its own, corresponding in the physical world to the desire-elemental of the astral body; and this consciousness
seeks always to protect it from danger, or to procure for it whatever may be necessary. This is entirely apart from the consciousness
of the man himself, and it works equally well during the absence of the ego from the physical body during sleep. All our instinctive
movements are due to it, and it is through its activity that the working of the sympathetic system is carried on ceaselessly
without any thought or knowledge on our part.
While we are what we call awake, this physical elemental
is perpetually occupied in self-defence; he is in a condition of constant vigilance, and he keeps the nerves and muscles always
tense. During the night or at any time when we sleep he lets the nerves and muscles relax, and devotes himself specially to
the assimilation of vitality, and the recuperation of the physical body. He works at this most successfully during the early
part of the night, because then there is plenty of vitality, whereas immediately before the dawn the vitality which has been
left behind by the sunlight is almost completely exhausted. This is the reason for the feeling of limpness and deadness associated
with the small hours of the morning; this is also the reason why sick men so frequently die at that particular time. The same
idea is embodied in the old proverb that: “An hour's sleep before midnight is worth two after it.” The work of
this physical elemental accounts for the strong recuperative influence of sleep, which is often observable even when it is
a mere momentary nap.
This vitality is indeed the food of the etheric double,
and is just as necessary to it as is sustenance to the grosser part of the physical body. Hence when the body is unable for
any reason (as through sickness, fatigue or extreme old age) to prepare vitality for the nourishment of its cells, this physical
elemental endeavours to draw in for his own use vitality which has already been prepared in the bodies of others; and thus
it happens that we often find ourselves weak and exhausted after sitting for a while with a person who is depleted of vitality,
because he has drawn away from us by suction the rose-coloured atoms before we were able to extract their energy.
The vegetable kingdom also absorbs this vitality, but
seems in most cases to use only a small part of it. Many trees draw from it almost exactly the same constituents as does the
higher part of man' s etheric body, the result being that when they have used what they require, the atoms which they reject
are precisely those charged with the rose-coloured light which is needed for the cells of man' s physical body. This is specially
the case with such trees as the pine and the eucalyptus; and consequently the very neighbourhood of these trees gives health
and strength to those who are suffering from lack of this part of the vital principle-- those whom we call nervous people.
They are nervous because the cells of their bodies are hungry, and the nervousness can only be allayed by feeding them; and
often the readiest way to do that is thus to supply them from without with the special kind of vitality which they need.
(5) The orange-red ray flows to the base of the spine
and thence to the generative organs, with which one part of its functions is closely connected. This ray appears to include
not only the orange and the darker reds, but also a certain amount of dark purple, as though the spectrum bent round in a
circle and the colours began over again at a lower octave. In the normal man this ray energises the desires of the flesh,
and also seems to enter the blood and keep up the heat of the body; but if a man persistently refuses to yield to his lower
nature, this ray can by long and determined effort be deflected upwards to the brain, where all three of its constituents
undergo a remarkable modification. The orange is raised into pure yellow, and produces a decided intensification of the powers
of the intellect; the dark red becomes crimson, and greatly increases the power of unselfish affection; while the dark purple
is transmuted into a lovely pale violet, and quickens the spiritual part of man' s nature. The man who achieves this transmutation
will find that sensual desires no longer trouble him, and when it becomes necessary for him to arouse the serpent-fire, he
will be free from the most serious of the dangers of that process. When a man has finally completed this change, this orange-red
ray passes straight into the centre at the base of the spine, and from that runs upwards along the hollow of the vertebral
column, and so to the brain.
VITALITY AND HEALTH
The flow of vitality in these various currents regulates
the health of the parts of the body with which they are concerned. If, for example, a person is suffering from a weak digestion,
it manifests itself at once to any person possessing etheric sight, because either the flow and action of the green stream
is sluggish or its amount is smaller in proportion than it should be. Where the yellow current is full and strong, it indicates,
or more properly produces, strength and regularity in the action of the heart. Flowing round that centre, it also interpenetrates
the blood which is driven through it, and is sent along with it all over the body. Yet there is enough of it left to extend
into the brain also, and the power of high philosophical and metaphysical thought appears to depend to a great extent upon
the volume and activity of this yellow stream, and the corresponding awakening of the twelve-petalled flower in the middle
of the force-centre at the top of the head.
Thought and emotion of a high spiritual type seem to
depend largely upon the violet ray, whereas the power of ordinary thought is stimulated by the action of the blue mingled
with part of the yellow. It has been observed that in some forms of idiocy the flow of vitality to the brain, both yellow
and blue-violet, is almost entirely inhibited. Unusual activity or volume in the light blue which is apportioned to the throat-centre
is accompanied by the health and strength of the physical organs in that part of the body. It gives, for example, strength
and elasticity to the vocal chords, so that special brilliance and activity are noticeable in the case of a public speaker
or a great singer. Weakness or disease in any part of the body is accompanied by a deficiency in the flow of vitality to that
part.
As the different streams of atoms do their work, the
charge of vitality is withdrawn from them, precisely as an electrical charge might be. The atoms bearing the rose-coloured
ray grow gradually paler as they are swept along the nerves, and are eventually thrown out from the body through the pores--
making thus what was called in Man Visible and Invisible the health-aura. By the time that they leave the body most of them
have lost the rose-coloured light, so that the general appearance of the emanation is bluish-white. That part of the yellow
ray which is absorbed into the blood and carried round with it loses its distinctive colour in just the same way.
The atoms, when thus emptied of their charge of vitality,
either enter into some of the combinations which are constantly being made in the body, or pass out of it through the pores,
or through the ordinary channels. The emptied atoms of the green ray, which is connected chiefly with digestive processes,
seem to form part of the ordinary waste material of the body, and to pass out along with it, and that is also the fate of
the atoms of the red-orange ray in the case of the ordinary man. The atoms belonging to the blue rays, which are used in connection
with the throat-centre, generally leave the body in the exhalations of the breath; and those which compose the dark blue and
violet rays usually pass out from the centre at the top of the head.
When the student has learnt to deflect the orange-red
rays so that they also move up through the spine, the empty atoms of both these and the violet-blue rays pour out from the
top of the head in a fiery cascade, which is frequently imaged as a flame in ancient statues of the BUDDHA and other great
Saints. When empty of the vital force the atoms are once more precisely like any other atoms; the body absorbs such of them
as it needs, so that they form part of the various combinations which are constantly being made, while others which are not
required for such purposes are cast out through any channel that happens to be convenient.
The flow of vitality into or through any centre, or
even its intensification, must not be confused with the entirely different development of the centre which is brought about
by the awakening of the serpent-fire at a later stage in man' s evolution. We all of us draw in vitality and specialise it,
but many of us do not utilise it to the full, because in various ways our lives are not as pure and healthy and reasonable
as they should be. One who coarsens his body by the use of meat, alcohol or tobacco can never employ his vitality to the full
in the same way as can a man of purer living. A particular individual of impure life may be, and often is stronger in the
physical body than certain other men who are purer; that is a matter of their respective karma; but other things being equal,
the man of pure life has an immense advantage.
VITALITY NOT MAGNETISM
The vitality coursing along the nerves must not be
confused with what we usually call the magnetism of the man-- his own nerve-fluid, generated within himself. It is this fluid
which keeps up the constant circulation of etheric matter along the nerves, corresponding to the circulation of blood through
the veins; and as oxygen is conveyed by the blood to all parts of the body, so vitality is conveyed along the nerves by this
etheric current. The particles of the etheric part of man' s body are constantly changing, just as are those of the denser
part; along with the food which we eat and the air which we breathe we take in etheric matter, and this is assimilated by
the etheric part of the body. Etheric matter is constantly being thrown off from the pores, just as is gaseous matter, so
that when two persons are close together each necessarily absorbs much of the physical emanations of the other.
When one person mesmerises another, the operator by
an effort of will gathers together a great deal of this magnetism and throws it into the subject, pushing back his victim'
s nerve-fluid, and filling its place with his own. As the brain is the centre of this nervous circulation, this brings that
part of the subject' s body which is affected under the control of the manipulator' s brain instead of the victim' s, and
so the latter feels what the mesmerist wishes him to feel. If the recipient' s brain be emptied of his own magnetism and filled
with that of the performer, the former can think and act only as the latter wills that he should think and act; he is for
the time entirely dominated.
Even when the magnetiser is trying to cure, and is
pouring strength into the man, he inevitably gives along with the vitality much of his own emanations. It is obvious that
any disease which the mesmeriser happens to have may readily he conveyed to the subject in this way; and another even more
important consideration is that, though his health may be perfect from the medical point of view, there are mental and moral
diseases as well as physical, and that, as astral and mental matter are thrown into the subject by the mesmerist along with
the physical current, these also are frequently transferred.
Vitality, like light and heat, is pouring forth from
the sun continually, but obstacles frequently arise to prevent the full supply from reaching the earth. In the wintry and
melancholy climes miscalled the temperate, it too often happens that for days together the sky is covered by a funeral pall
of heavy cloud, and this affects vitality just as it does light; it does not altogether hinder its passage, but sensibly diminishes
its amount. Therefore in dull and dark weather vitality runs low, and over all living creatures there comes an instinctive
yearning for sunlight.
When vitalised atoms are thus more sparsely scattered,
the man in rude health increases his power of absorption, depletes a larger area, and so keeps his strength at the normal
level; but invalids and men of small nerve-force, who cannot do this, often suffer severely, and find themselves growing weaker
and more irritable without knowing why. For similar reasons vitality is at a lower ebb in the winter than in the summer, for
even if the short winter day be sunny, which is rare, we have still to face the long and dreary winter night, during which
we must exist upon such vitality as the day has stored in our atmosphere. On the other hand the long summer day, when bright
and cloudless, charges the atmosphere so thoroughly with vitality that its short night makes but little difference.
From the study of this question of vitality, the occultist
cannot fail to recognise that, quite apart from temperature, sunlight is one of the most important factors in the attainment
and preservation of perfect health-- a factor for the absence of which nothing else can entirely compensate. Since this vitality
is poured forth not only upon the physical world but upon all others as well, it is evident that, when in other respects satisfactory
conditions are present, emotion, intellect and spirituality will be at their best under clear skies and with the inestimable
aid of the sunlight.
All the colours of this order of vitality are etheric,
yet it will be seen that their action presents certain correspondences with the signification attached to similar hues in
the astral body. Clearly right thought and right feeling react upon the physical body, and increase its power to assimilate
the vitality which is necessary for its well-being. It is reported that the Lord BUDDHA once said that the first step on the
road to Nirvana is perfect physical health; and assuredly the way to attain that is to follow the Noble Eightfold Path which
He has indicated. “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto
you”-- yes, even physical health as well. Hidden Side Of Things. CWL 1948.
Jeremy Condick
jpcondick@ntlworld.com
