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.The reverse of this isalso true in one sense, in that by leaving the collective behind, the individual is born, the true individual ofTiphareth.This suggests, that genuine initiation can only take place when we are no longer dependent upon thecollective power of an egregore for our sense of protection, purpose, and illumination.The watery astral womb ofYetzirah must be left, for either the dry air of Malkooth s material life, or Tiphareth s spiritual renewal.Along with the intertwined serpents of the caduceus, we find implied in the symbolism the chakras, or psychiccenters, upon which the Secret Fire acts in its journey.These centers express modes of consciousness, loci ofphysical and psychic power, and are related in various ways to the nervous and endocrine systems as we have seen.In Western esotericism, several methods of expressing these psychic centers exist.There is the use of the planetarynames, or mundane chakras as they are called, for the sepheroth.Here, the planets follow the descent of mezla, orDivine Energy, down the Tree of Life and are placed at corresponding locations on the human body.Kether,Hockman, and Binah are in the head; Chesed, Geburah, and Tiphareth are in the upper chest and shoulders; Netzach,Hod, and Yesod in the hips and sexual organs; with Malkooth located at the feet.This works well as a mnemonicdevise and for the exercise known as the Flashing Sword and Rising Serpent, but is not very useful when it comes toattributing planetary powers to specific organs, as in alchemy.Another set of attributes is to simply take the Middle Pillar and apply either its Elemental correspondences as givenby Regardie The True Art of Healing, or the more well known planetary correspondences as he gives in his book TheMiddle Pillar.Along the same lines, it is not uncommon to apply the ascending set of Hindu tattwas, or Elementalsigns in an ascending manner at each of the cross-bars and spheres on the central column of the Tree of Life.While none of the above sets of designating centers of psychic force is perfect, each works in its own particular area,and as such, it might be better to simply accept the symbols given for each exercise without trying to create  a grandsynthesis that will sound good, but be cumbersome or useless for practical purposes.Looking at the ascent of energy from a more Western viewpoint, it is possible to view the psychic centers not assingular and specific organs, but in many instances as clusters of organs working in concert.Students of Easternesoteric practices will recognize that the New Age system of seven chakras neatly arranged with an ascendingchromatic scale is not easily found in yoga or tantra.Instead, what is found, is just as much contradiction and confusion as in modern synthetic Western esoteric systems.Whether one uses a system of five, six, or seven psychic centers depends on which system is being practiced.Theaddition or subtraction of a particular center matters only in relations to the details of that particular practice and itsaims.Thus, when viewing the psychic cneters as objective realities, we enter into a realm fraught with danger.Instead, we need to look at the centers in terms of function and relationship to each other.If in an exercise we noticethat a centers activities are not limited to the feet, chest, sexual organs, or head, then we have entered into a deeperunderstanding of that locus of energy.If we find that other organs are being stimulated as well, then we will find thatwe have begun moving from a strictly symbolic and mental relationship to the psychic centers to a personal andexperiential one.This transition to personal experience is what development is all about, and not simply neat andcomfortable packages of occult lore and information as is given in endless tables of correspondences.In one recent Golden Dawn publication[11] a set of correspondences was given for four of the major psychic centersusing kerubic attributions.The root center was attributed to the Calf of Revelations; the sexual center to the Angel;the Solar Plexus to the Lion; and the Eagle to the heart.No Correspondences were given for the remaining centers.Using this as a basis for discussion and experimentation, I would instead suggest the following listing as a moreeffective alternative:1st Bull or Saturn[12] or Moon[13] with Fire in the Heart2nd Eagle or Jupiter or Mercury Water in the liver3rd Lion or Mars or Venus Earth in the lungs4th Angel or Venus or Sun Air in the bladder5th Spirit or Mercury or Mars6th Luna or Moon or Jupiter7th Sol or Sun or SaturnThis suggests that the order of the planets in the spheres is very relative to ones state of consciousness, and that thecorrespondences at the time of our descent into material consciousness may be different from the order during ourre-ascent into Eternity.If we consider what the alchemists say about Saturn, that it is the beginning and end of the Work, then this re-arrangement of the centers may be true.In an article entitled,  From The Restored New Testament [14], the basic idea of four centers of the genitals, navel,heart, and head is used along with titles taken from The Book of Revelations of St.John.Genitals 1st and 2nd centers The False SeerNavel 3rd center The Red DragonHeart 4th center The BeastHead 5th, 6th, and 7th centers The Cross, The Lamb, The Spiritually Wise, and Illumination The ConquerorIn an accompanying chart, the order of the planets is given from Saturn at the base, to Luna at the Crown, in straightkabbalistic fashion, with a slightly different color scale than usual: Yellow and sliver-white (Saturn), pale blue(Jupiter), red (Mars), green (Sun), dark blue/indigo (Venus), orange-yellow (Mercury), violet, silvery opalescent(Moon).Each center is also associated with a zodiacal sign, a seal on the great scroll, and one of the Four Horsemenof the Apocalypse.The remaining five signs of the zodiac are attributed to the Elements and Spirit [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]