This book was absolutely mind blowing and it's one of my absolute favorites in my collection.
I've always been fascinated with book of Revelation in the Bible. I never really saw the doomsday significance in it that was applied with such fascinating fervor as the Left Behind series of books. Buying this book, for me, was always a no brainer. I really don't know what took me so long to buy it. I have 29 markers in this book because there was something so aboslutely amazing on that page I wanted to know right where to find the quote or the passage of interest. Sometimes, instead of reading I just want to look through books at wors of wisdom. There is a lot of wisdom in this book. The heart of this book is that Revelation was not a Doomsday Vision. Instead, it was a mystic describing his experience and his Spiritual Awakening. What is described is what the mystic experienced while following the Path and it's encoded so that people who are not Spiritual Seekers are simply confused and mislead. I have learned this is how many of the great teachings were handled. Mostly because people who did Awaken to their personal relationship with the divine are usually murdered by other human beings. Usually, like Yeshua, they were killed for blasphemy. This book is extremely helpful in dispelling all of the fear mongering from the relgion. Here are some quotes: "Christ' is a transliteration of the Greek word Christos , which literally means 'the anoited one,' a stage in the preperation of the high priest to enter the holy of holies to meet God directly. The priests head was to be anoited with oil, usually olive oil, "Then shalt thou take the anoiting oil, and pour it upon his head and anoint him. (Exodus 29:7)" page14 "Since the created companions of God chose to disobey, to do as they wanted rather than as they were told, they became like God, knowing good and evil. Inu one respect, this was a natural stage of their development into true companions, for they were to become full, cocreative companions with God, not just children or subordinates. They had to freely know themselves to be themselves and yet choose to be one with God. Only in this way could they be companions that chose the companionship, through the good times and bad. However, God did not want this rebellious energy to go on forever, so immortality was lost, and death began." pg 28 " From Cacye's perspective, this figure as the deeper, higher spiritual self. To John, this figure said, "Do not be afraid, I am the first and the last, an;d the living One; and I was dead but behold I am alive forevermoe, and I have the keys to death and Hades." (John 1:17-18) As with John, our spiritual selves made in the image of God annd and destined tobe eternal companions to God , have been dead to us and will remain so until we give birth to them again, as Jesus instructed Nicodemus (John 3:14) The first instruction from the spiritual self was to the seven spiritual centers of the body, represented by the various sevens throughout the initial part of revelations.... "The idea that the body possesses seven centers or chakrasthat may be used for spiritualization dates back to ancient times..." pg. 40 "Spiritualizing the body has reached such a level in this vision that our attention now turns to spiritualizing the mind and applying the wisdom in ones life. In this section, we will discover our mind and its perspective on the size and nature of heaven. We will meet two witnesses who have helped us know the truth innately and emotionally. We will face up to two beasts that have and do still challenge us ini this spirtualization process: fear and double-mindedness. We will witness the birth of our new selves and face our greatest accuser. We will overcome a flood of emotions and the fall of our egocentric selves. Finally we will unite with the spirtual portion of our minds and be judged according to all we have done with the gifts of free will and life." pg. 64. "...once again, Edgar Cacye, from his deep, meidtative state, identifed the two witnesses of the Revelation as parts of our individual minds (281-33). One witness is the mental-physical mind and the other is the mental-spiritual mind- one the 'conscious' mind and one the 'superconscious' mind." Pg 71 "To be divine and human and to remain sane, with enthusiasim for both the inner and outer life, require that we maintain a balance between our dual natures, our dual realities. If we are too much into the outer personality and outer life, we feel disconnected from our inner selves, and the outer activities consume us. If we are too much into the inner self and inner life, we feel disconneted from other people, and the inner activities cause us to "space out" on physical life and its importance to our soul's growth. The inner and the outer must be maintained in balance. We must budget our time to allow for both, just as we must balance sleep and wakefulness, eating and activity, work and recreation, companionship and solitude. Our inner nature and consciousness must be given their share of attention and opportunity; as well, wemust give our outer nature and consciousness their share." pg. 144 "When Edgar Cacye was asked, "In what form doe sthe antichrist come...? he responded, "In the spirit of that opposed to the spirit of truth." He went on to explain that, "The fruits of the spirit of the Christ are love, joy, obedience, long-suffering, brother love, kindness. Against such there is no law. The spirit of hate, the anti-Christ, is contention, strive, fault-finding, lovers of self, lovers of praise. Those are the anti-Christ, and take possession of groups, masses, and show themselves even in the lives of men." (281-16). A much shorter book that holds just as much punch but doesn't interpert the book of revelation is Spiritual Breakthrough by John Van Auken. Yes, they cover many of the same topics but that one is much shorter. On The Revelation is 305 pages and Spiritual Breakthrough is 165. I highly recommend Edgar Cacye on The Revelation by John Van Auken. You can buy it through the Edgar Cacye A.R.E. library or Amazon. You can also buy Spiritual Breakthrough through the Edgar Cacye A.R.E. library or Amazon.
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"He who makes a beast out of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man." The reason I chose this old Avenged Sevenfold video is because it captures the essence of what I'm talking about. Most people give into their 'lower natures' and their addictions because of the pain that being human naturally brings. A lot of people operate on survival mode throughout their life just trying to obtain the basic necessities of life...or things they think are necessary to be happy. Marketing firms don't help in this because they literally try to sell everything as though it's a need and not a want. You need the latest I-Phone to be a happy little human. Yet, what my research into spirituality has taught me is that the vacuum, the pain, that people are feeling comes from the perceived perception of being separate from Source/God. If we are never alone on the other side, if we are part of a collective sharing our thoughts, the pain of being separate is immense and totally foreign. Hence, why people would go to such extremes to try to feel fulfilled...through relationships, drugs or any other means possible. We have to meet the needs of our animal aspect before we can work on any spiritual Journey. This has been expressed in many ways through many traditions for many centuries. People will talk about killing the ego but that's not what I'm talking about here and I think that's a huge horrible misconception. This is a journey into looking how this information has been encoded in many traditions. Many seers and philosophical thinkers have seen the same idea but expressed it in many different ways. Though the symbols may be different and the way they came to the conclusion are their own unique paths if looked at from a wider perspective they are all telling the same story. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs We're going to start off with Psychology. Robert Maslow was born in 1908 and died in 1970. He was among the pioneers of psychology and what he is best known for is his Hierarchy of Needs which continues to be a foundation topic in any psychology class. I remember when i first read about it when earning my Bachelor's In Psychology and being blown away. Maslow used a pyramid to represent the hierarchy of needs.
Interestingly, the lower four levels of Maslow's Hierarchy of needs are what are represented in the Chakra system. Maslow believed that only when the four lower levels physiological, safety, love-belonging, and esteem are met that a person can be self-actualized.
Maslow estimated that only 2% of the people on the planet are self-actualized. What that means is that their basic needs...those associated with the four lower steps on his pyramid...are met. He defined a person that is self-actualized as someone who can fulfill their potential. As long as a person is trying to fulfill their basic needs from the four lower steps of they pyramid they will never reach self actualization and fulfill their potential as human beings. When these needs go unmet the person is no better than the beasts in the field. The thing is that no one can provide all of these needs to another human being. This is something a person has to do for themselves. Esteem, especially, is a way of thinking and a state of mind. Schools have tried to teach esteem but that is not something that can be provided from the outside but healed from the inside. The Four Lower Chakra's I'm going to provide the basic information of the four lower chakra's. We will look at the upper three chakras (throat, third eye and crown) in a later blog post. For now, the important part is learning to work with or subdue the lower four chakras.
​Lets look at these lower four Chakras and their purpose according to Brenda Davies who wrote the book The 7 Healing Chakras: Unlocking your Bodys Energy Centers found on pg 49:
"Chakra 1: Base or Root Chakra (Physiological level Maslow's Hierarchy) This chakra is situated at the base of the spine, between the coccyx and the pelvic bone and it's color is red. Its main function is to keep us grounded in the physical world and to keep us alive. It's associated with physical sensation. The first layer of the Aura is similarly associated with the physical." This is also where the Kundalini energy is said to pool or 'sleep' when it is not being raised through the chakras. The Kundalini is most often depicted as a serpent. Chakra 2: Sacra Chakra (Safety in Maslows Hierarchy) This chakra is to be found in the midline below the navel. It's color is orange and it's main function is related to the reproduction and the giving and receiving of sexual pleasure. The second layer of the aura is similarly associated with the emotional." Chakra 3: Solar Plexus Chakra (Love/Belonging in Maslows Hierarchy) The solar plexus is situated either in the midline or slightly to the left above the stomach. Its color is yellow. This is the site where we form Opinion. Here is the center of potency, power and will. The third layer of the aura is associated with mental functions." Chakra 4: Heart Chakra (Esteem in Maslows Hierarchy) This is sometimes referred to as a transitional chakra since the lower three are concerned with the physical and emotional and now begin to move toward the spiritual. The heart bridges the two realms and is the center for human love. It's also a center for feeling and its color is emerald green. Its layer is the astral plane." As you can see, this is a reflection of the system that came before but there is more! The Egyptian Tale of the Seven Houses in the Other World First let me explain one common misunderstanding of the Egyptian Book of the Dead as John Van Auken explains. The book is not really about rites for the dead. The book is for the Living Dead. The book is really about awakening to a higher level of Spirit within the flesh. Those who are not spiritually awakened are the Living Dead. The true translation is, "Coming Forth By Day." Sadly, in the early 1900's when the West discovered and searched Egypt for her mysteries we applied our Dark Age thinking to the symbols and items we found misconstruing what it actually represented. With that in mind let's continue... This comes directly from Laird Scranton's book titled The Mystery of Skara Brae (Scranont, 2016). Clearly you can see with the number seven that it align's easily with the chakras system. Laird Scranton ties it in with Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. As far as I know, Scranton never connected these with chakra's. This take on it is entirely not mine and not representative of the cosmology Laird Scranton has uncovered. We're going to only focus on the first four houses as that's the focus in this blog. In The Mystery of Skara Brae Laird states that the tale of the Seven Houses comes from the Egyptian Book of the Dead (more accurately translated as Coming Forth by Day). Laird also ties these in with the seven wrapped-up dimensions of the Dogon Egg of the World but I won't quite explore the depth of that in this blog. In each of these houses the main character, Ani declares, "Let the spirit of an old man pass!" House One: (Root Chakra) Three God's just inside the doorway are dreaming. The first god is the watchman, the second is a doorkeeper and the third is a herald. One has the head of the crocodile, the second an ear of corn and the third stood as straight as a pillar of stone. Laird goes into an in depth analysis...but strictly speak if I was interperting this as a dream the needs of the predatory animal and the need for food would be obvious. Laird states that the pillar stands for the notion of "coming into being' regarding his cosmology (literally the creation of the cosmos) but it is possible this can also be the coming into being of the self-actualized person. If anything, these old Mystery Schools or the Egyptian House of Life at least three layers of meaning to all of their stories: the universal, the earthly and the individual. House Two: (Sacral Chakra) In this house, Ani encounters three gods that are conspiring. Here Ani reminisces about being young, eating and making love. The Spirit says a few things here but ends, "I am heavy as a stone, not easily blown by the breezes, but I sail when I must and strike a blow to untruth." House Three: Here the three Gods are dancing. Two of the God's have Jackal snouts and Laird relates this to mean "he who is at the head." The third god is spinning around a stalk of corn. A common theme that Laird lays out is that of a bull and the word meskh-t which is a constellation of a Bulls Head. House Four: At the fourth house the three gods are shimmering at the doorway. One God has the face of a man and another has a face of a lion. He relates that both the hieroglyphic word for man and lion are rem which refers to the cubit or measurement. Here Laird identifies both the attributes and light. The spirit calls himself, "A scribe faithful to the language of the heart." He also states, "I am a man born under fortunate stars into the hands of the gods and goddesses. I have cut loose my body, I have risen up and walked about heaven." The Hindu Parable of the Seven Houses Again, from Laird Scranton's Mystery of Skara Brae. Laird believes that the female goddesses predate the male. In this one, we find instead of a male spirit the the Goddess Devi visiting the seven houses. The First House: (Root) Here the housewife that Devi visits is sleeping. "The act of waking up is equated with the initial stirrings of creation after matter in it's wavelike matter is perceived," Laird Scranton (2016). The Second House: (Sacral) Here Devi finds the housewife eating. Here Laird equates the world eating with the God Amma and explaines that god's name reads, "That which gives knowledge." The Third House: (Solar) In the third house Devi finds the housewife cutting her nails. Here Laird says the Egyptian word for to cut nails is Sesh which is similar to the name Seshat. Seshat was the scribe wife of Horus. Symbolically, Laird explains, the name Seshat is, "The work of the island field is given." He relates this to instruction of agriculture being given at Skara Brae. However, on a more personal level this might be where the work we have done spiritually is reconciled. The Fourth House: (Heart) Devi finds the housewife fighting. The word fight, laird explains, is associated with the Egyptian word for Elephants. Ganesha, Laird explains, is an elephantine symbol in Hindu, is the Gatekeeper of the seven bundles of the dimensions. The Four Chakras In Revelation All of this is from the current book I just finished reading. Edgar Cacye on the Revelation: A Study Guide for Spiritualizing Body and Mind by John Van Auken (2000). I'm just going to include excerpts here (I highly recommend the book, I will admit these are very small snippets). Here in this vision we have messages given to the first four churches (which can also be translated as 'assemblies') that represent the seven chakras or 'spiritual centers.' These are John Van Auken's expansion and explanation of these messages. The Church of Epheseus: (Root Chakra- Beast: Calf) pg 44 "Despite all appearances to the contrary, we are celestial, spiritual beings first. We descended from heaven into matter and this world. These outer influences have taken hold of us. They possess us. We feel completely terrestrial and physical, subjects of this world. This first chakra reflects that loss. It must reverse its focus from worldly realities to include only spiritual realities, remembering that it originally loved the spiritual things and God, who is spirit. The Church of Smyrna: Second Center (Sacral Chakra- Beast: Like a Man) pg 45 "The spirit warned that this center lets fear take hold of it and it must let go of fear. The spirit promised that if this center stops being afraid and doubting the truth, it will not suffer the 'second death.' Cacye said that the second death is when those who have gained understanding again fall away into self-exaltation, accentuating the ego rather than the soul-self, and suffer the death of truth. Cacye explained it this way: "For there is set before thee good and evil, life and death; choose thou. For the spirit of truth maketh alive. Fear, doubt, condemnation, bringeth doubt, illness, fear, and then dissolution (disillusion?); and the hill to be climbed again." (1261-1). The Church of Pergamos: (Solar Plexus- Beast: Lion) pg 46 Note that this is where it said, "Satan dwells." Revelation 2:13 "As the spirit approached this third center, it described itself as as the one with the two edged sword...thus this is the center that is a most dangerous and potentially powerful chakra, given the energy of the solar plexus and adrenal glands "fight or flight" hormones....The spirit said that, uncontrolled, this center throws "stumbling block(s)" in the way of our spiritual efforts. It must stop. If it does, then the spirit promised that it would "eat of the hidden manna" and "receive a new name. (Revelation 2:14-17)... Cacye said that "my name" in verse 13 refers to our eternal name that uniquely identifies each of us from among the rest of creation...John received his name written upon a white stone, indicating it would endure....The manna referred to this centers desire for physical gratification, often symbolized by bread; yet, as Jesus so wonderfully put it, we do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4). These words from God's mouth, Cacye said, are the hidden manna." The Church of Thyatira: Fourth Center (Heart Chakra- Eagle) pg 47 "Next the spirit moved to the fourth center, identifying itself as the Son of God, with eyes like fire and feet like brass. In other words, it had the vision of the spirit and the understanding that comes only from being tested in the furnace of life. It acknowledged that the heart chakra has charity, faith, patience, service and works, with the most recent works being greater than the first works. There is also one major issue with this center: It lives life without love for spirit, seeking only gratification and pleasure. This is represented by the false Prophet Jezebel, whose motto was, "Get all you want no matter how you obtain it." "The spirit went on to promise that, if this spiritual center changed, then spirit would "give him the morning star." (Revelation 2:28). The morning star is any bright planet seen in the eastern horizon before sunrise. Venus is the most brilliant planet in our solar system and often appears as the morning star. In astrological traditions, Venus represents love, harmony and beauty...Cacye identified Venus with the heart chakra." The Four Beasts pg 50-52 "...Before the throne were the four beasts we first saw in Ezekiel's and then in Daniel's visions, and now, here again, in John's vision (Reveliation 4:4-5)...We find these same beasts represented in ancient Egyptian mysticism as the four children of Horus... According to Cacye, these beasts are "the four destructive influences that make the greater desire for the carnal forces that rise as the beasts within self to destroy." (281-16) We have learned what these destructive influences are from the spirits comments to the first four churches: (1) Leaving our first love, (2) fear, (3) anger, impulsive reactions, and spirit-killing urges; and (4) living life without spiritual purposes and ideals. All of these destructive influences were personified in Cain. Though he first sought God's love, he later didn't desire it. He killed his brother impulsively in anger and spitefulness, only to the then become so afraid that he could not go on without God's promise of protection...Cacye said that these destructive influences must be met (281-16), as God said to Cain, "Sin is crouching at the door, its desire is for you, but you must master it." (Genesis 4:7). As the revelation continued, the four lower glands were raised to higher vibrations, turning away from material, earthly pursuits and contributing to the spiritulization of the body: "the four beasts gave glory and honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne" (Revelation 4:9). When they did this, it affected the cranial nerves ("the twenty four elders will fall down before him who sits on the throne"), and they, in turn, began to contribute to the spiritualization of the body (281-29). The only part of us that is truly worthy to do this is the part that has crucified self-centered desire sufficiently to allow God's will to fully enter." Before I continue I just want to point out after reading the Book of Revelations there is an interesting phrase, "He who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. To him who overcomes, to him will I give of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no one knows but he who receives it." (Revelation 2:17) Also, often times the beast seems to rise up out of the ocean (Revelation 13:1) which, in any dream, is the subconscious. As I explained in my Detachment post if the subconscious (through which the Spirit works) is ignored while we give into basic animal urges it just becomes bigger and louder...sometimes manifesting disease hoping it will wake us up to our more spiritual calling while int he flesh. This can cause an inner war like state as the person seeks material comforts for the pain of seperation from God instead of seeking the inner path of self-examination which is the only way we can really know God/Source (I'll explain this on my blog post on Multidimensional Oneness). Conclusion Phew! That was a lot of scholarly comparison. This was an exhausting post to write! I feel as though I've been translating a long lost language! I pray you see the connections as I do but it all depends on where you are on your own personal journey if you will see them or not. However, I think what you can see clearly illustrated here by the ancients throughout many traditions is that there is the need to pacify these lower centers. I know that John Van Auken says we must crucify our earthly desires but if that was the way then a lot more people would be taking that path. That's the path that is taught but seems to fail so many. I talked about this in my post on Detachment. If we go to any extreme than we become unbalanced and fall off the spiritual path. If we set out to destroy the ego, which is a formation of these four lower 'centers' then it will set out to preserve itself in whatever way that it can. The desire for self-preservation is just hard wired into material life. The ego thinks it is all that is, just as so many who believe in the mechanical universe don't believe Spirit exists in any form. Naturally, the beast will fight to preserve itself. Instead, it's important to find a way to do the inner personal work necessary to meet the needs of those four lower centers. Then we are not slaves to them and we don't neglect those needs. Once we have a balance going through those we can then start working on Self-Actualization. In Revelation, those centers are not just referred to as beasts. They are only beasts when we are asleep or 'as dead' and not consciously working with them. They are beasts when we are working from our earthly selfish desires and not the works of Spirit. On a side note, through my own research into the symbolism of Ancient Egypt I came to associate the Root Chakra, at the very least with the Symbol of the Snake. The first four Neters have snakes in their hieroglyphs (they each have more than one set of hieroglyphs associated with them I had to do a little digging to find the trend). Based on this I wonder if the symbols for the first four Neters ( Shu, Tefnut, Geb, and Nut) represent the lower four chakras in the Egyptian Symbols. The symbols progress until they show an egg, a chick and eventually a full grown bird in the hieroglyphs for Horus. I will delve into this when I go into the eight stages of creation according to the Dogon, the eight neters, and then relate them to the chakras. Either way, the idea in almost all spiritual forms I have studied is a progression where the Snake, symbolizing the lower earthly nature of the practitioner, either is given wings (Quetzalcoatl) or it becomes a bird (phoenix). The undeniable pattern within all of the traditions is that it is necessity to work through these four lower chakras to the three upper ones in order to 'transcend' the Earthly school of learning. Imagine my shock and surprise when I realized that I had been visiting these 'houses' much like the Spirit of Ani from the Egyptian Book of the Dead! Even more shocking to me is when I read in John Van Auken's book on the Revelation that all of the prophets had Mountain Top dreams...and if you've read my previous posts you know I've had them! Whoa! To have visions in common with prophets from the Bible! At the end of the day, though, I have to laugh at all of this...so beautiful, so simple and so overlooked. I love sharing my personal revelations with all of you and there is so much more to come! I've already written the blogs for April though I might not post them in the order I wrote them. Scraonton, Laird. (2017). They Mystery of Skara Brae Neolithic Scotland and the Origins of Ancient Egypt. Inner Traditions Rochester Vermont. Van Auken, John. (1999) Ancient Egyptian Mysticism. ARE Press Virigina Beach, Virgina. Van Auken, John. (2000). Edgar Cacye on the Revelation A Study Guide for Spiritualizing Body and Mind. ARE Press Virginia Beach, Virginia. Davies, Brenda. (2000) The Seven Healing Chakra's. Ulysses Press. Berkeley Ca. |
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Brave Soul! May Your Journey On The Path Of The Seeker Bring You Joy and Peace! I'm currently posting every Saturday. With a new addition the family I have pre-scheduled most posts through December 2022. Full Moon Posts will contain up-to-date content when I can get to them. Thank you so much for your support and understanding! This is a place where you can encounter new spiritual ideas that have helped me develop as an Individual On The Path of the Seeker. Take or Leave this information as you see fit. Archives
April 2024
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