Diagrams from the “Philosophus Lecture” of the Golden Dawn. The numbered green text in the second image refers to each diagram.
“Whatever the etymological origin of the word ‘magic’ may be, the mage is the finder and founder of images. Magic consists in fathoming the great Imagination”.
Images and text from “Mage and Image: An Essay on Hermetic Mutation with Coloured Reconstructions of G. … D. … Wands and Sceptres“ by Steffi Grant (1963). Reprinted in “Hidden Lore: Hermetic Glyphs” by Kenneth and Steffi Grant (2006).
Dee straddled the worlds of science and magic just as they were becoming distinguishable. One of the most learned men of his age, he had been invited to lecture on advanced algebra at the University of Paris while still in his early twenties. Dee was an ardent promoter of mathematics and a respected astronomer, as well as a leading expert in navigation, having trained many of those who would conduct England‘s voyages of discovery.
Simultaneously with these efforts, Dee immersed himself in the worlds of magic, astrology, and Hermetic philosophy. He devoted much time and effort in the last thirty years or so of his life to attempting to commune with angels in order to learn the universal language of creation and bring about the pre-apocalyptic unity of mankind. A student of the Renaissance Neo-Platonism of Marsilio Ficino, Dee did not draw distinctions between his mathematical research and his investigations into Hermetic magic, angel summoning and divination. Instead he considered all of his activities to constitute different facets of the same quest: the search for a transcendent understanding of the divine forms which underlie the visible world, which Dee called “pure verities”.
In England, the first known alchemist was Roger Bacon, who was a scholar of outstanding attainment. Born in Somersetshire in 1214, he made extraordinary progress even in his boyhood studies, and on reaching the required age joined the Franciscan Order. After graduating Oxford, he moved to Paris where he studied medicine and mathematics. On his return to England, he applied himself to the study of philosophy and languages with such success that he wrote grammars of the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew tongues.
Although Bacon has been described as a physician rather than an alchemist, we are indebted to him for many scientific discoveries. He was almost the only astronomer of his time, and in this capacity rectified the Julian calendar which, although submitted to Pope Clement IV in 1267, was not put into practice until a later papacy. He was responsible also for the physical analysis of convex glasses and lenses, the invention of spectacles and achromatic lenses, and for the theory of the telescope. As a student of chemistry, he called attention to the chemical role played by air in combustion, and having carefully studied the properties of saltpeter, taught its purification by dissolution in water and by crystallization.
Indeed, from his letters we learn that Bacon anticipated most of the achievements of modern science.He maintained that vesselsmight be constructed that would be capable of navigation without manual rowers, and which under the direction of a single man, could travel through the water at a speed hitherto undreamed of. He also predicted that it would be possible to construct cars that could be set in motion with amazing speeds (“independently of horses and other animals”) and also flying machines that would beat the air with artificial wings.
It is scarcely surprising that in the atmosphere ofsuperstition and ignorance that reigned inEurope during the Middle Ages, Bacon’s achievements were attributed to his communication with devils. His fame spread through western Europenot as a savant but as a great magician. His great services to humanity were met with censure, not gratitude, and to the Church his teachings seemed particularlypernicious. The Church took her place as one of his foremost adversaries, and even the friars of his own order refused his writings a place in their library. His persecutions culminated in 1279 in imprisonment and a forced repentance of his labors in the cause of art and science.
Among his many writings, there are two or three works on alchemy, from which it is quite evident that not only did he study and practice the science but that he obtained his final objective, the Philosopher’s Stone. Doubtless during his lifetime, hispersecutions led him to conceal carefully his practice of the Hermetic art and to consider the revelation of such matters unfit for the uninitiated. “Truth,” he wrote, “ought not to be shown to every ribald person,for then it would become most vile that which, in the hand of a philosopher, is the most precious of all things.”
Sir George Ripley, Canon of Bridlington Cathedral in Yorkshire, placed alchemy on a higher level than many of his contemporaries by dealing with it as a spiritual and not merely a physical manifestation. He maintained that alchemy is concerned with the mode of our spirit’s return to the God who gave it to us. He wrote in 1471 his Compound of Alchemy with its dedicatory epistle to King Edward IV. It is also reported in the Canon of Bridlington that he provided funds for the Knights of St. John by means of the Philosopher’s Stone he concocted.
In the sixteenth century, Pierce the Black Monk, wrote the following about the Elixir: “Take earth of Earth, Earth’s Mother (Water of Earth), Fire of Earth, and Water of the Wood. These are to lie together and then be parted. Alchemical gold is made of three pure soul, as purged as crystal. Body, seat, and spirit grow into a Stone, wherein there is no corruption. This is to be cast on Mercury and it shall become most worthy gold.” Other works of the sixteenth century include Thomas Charnock’sBreviary of Philosophy and Enigma published in 1572. He also wrote a memorandum in which he states that he attained the transmuting powder when his hairs were white with age.
Also in the sixteenth century lived Edward Kelly, born in 1555. He seems tohave been an adventurer of sorts and lost his ears at Lancaster on an accusation of producing forged title deeds. Dr. John Dee,a widely respected and learned man of the Elizabethan era, was very interested in Kelly’s clairvoyant visions, although it is difficult to determine whether Kelly really was a genuine seer since his life was such an extraordinary mixture of good and bad character. In some way or other, Kelly does appear to have come into possession of the Red and White Tinctures. Elias Ashmole printed at the end ofTheatrum Chemicum Britannicum a tract entitled Sir Edward Kelly’s Work that says: “It is generally reported that Doctor Dee and Sir Edward Kelly were so strangely fortunate as to find a very Iarge quantity of the Elixir in some part of the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey, which was so incredibly rich in virtue (being one in 272,330), that they lost much in making projection by way of trial before they finally found out the true height of the medicine.”
In March 1583,a prince of Poland, the Count Palatine of Siradia, Adalbert Alask, while visiting the Court of Queen Elizabeth, sought to meet with Dr. Dee to discuss his experiments, of which he became so convinced that he asked Dee and Kelly and their families to accompany him on his return to Cracow. The prince took them from Cracow to Prague in anticipation of favors at the hand of Emperor Rudolph II, but their attempt to get into touch with Rudolph was unsuccessful. In Prague at that time there was a great interest in alchemy, but in 1586, by reason of an edict of Pope Sixtus V, Dee and Kelly were forced to flee the city. They finally found peace and plenty at the Castle of Trebona in Bohemia as guests of Count Rosenberg, the Emperor’s Viceroy in that country. During that time Kelly made projection of one minim on an ounce and a quarter of mercury and produced nearly an ounce of the best gold.
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This is a detail of an English alchemical scroll from the 16th century that provides a pictorial synopsis of alchemical philosophy, depicting the successive processes—through the White Stone, the Red Stone, and the Elixir Vitae—in the production of the Philosopher’s Stone.)
In February 1588, the two men parted ways, Dee making for England and Kelly for Prague, where Rosenberg had persuaded the Emperor to quash the Papal decree. Through the introduction of Rosenberg, Kelly was received and honored by Rudolph as one in possession of the Great Secret of Alchemy. From him he received besides a grant of land and the freedom of the city, a position of state and apparently a title, since he was known from that time forward as Sir Edward Kelly. These honors are evidence that Kelly had undoubtedly demonstrated to the Emperor his knowledge of transmutation, but the powder of projection had now diminished, and to the Emperor’s command to produce it in ample quantities, he failed to accede, being either unable or unwilling to do so. As a result, Kelly was cast into prison at the Castle of Purglitz near Prague where he remained until 1591 when he was restored to favor. He was interned a second time, however, and in 1595, according to chronicles, and while attempting to escape from his prison, fell from a considerable height and was killed at the age of forty.
In the seventeenth century lived Thomas Vaughan, who used the pseudonym “Eugenius Philasthes” (and possibly “Eireneus Philalethes” as well) and wrote dozens of influential treatises on alchemy. Among Vaughan’s most noteworthy books are An Open Entrance to the Shut Palace of the King, Ripley Revived, The Marrow of Alchemy, Metallorum Metamorphosis, Brevis Manuductio ad Rubinem Coelestum, Fone Chemicae Veritatis, and others to be found in the Musaeum Hermiticum. Vaughan came from Wales and his writings were regarded as an illustration of the spiritual approach to alchemy. Yet whatever the various interpretations put upon his work, Vaughan was undoubtedly endeavoring to show that alchemy was demonstrable, in every phase of physical, mental, and spiritual reality. His work Lumen de Lumine is an alchemical discourse that deals with those three aspects. His medicine is a spiritual substance inasmuch as it is the Quintessence or the Divine Life manifesting through all form, both physical and spiritual. His gold is the gold of the physical world as well as the wisdom of the spiritual world. His Stone is the touchstone that transmutes everything and is again both spiritual and physical. For instance, his statement “the Medicine can only be contained in a glass vessel” signifies a tangible glass container as well the purified body of the adept.
Thomas Vaughan was a Magus of the Rosicrucian Order, and he knew and understood that the science of alchemy must manifest throughout all planes of consciousness. Writing as Eireneus Philalethes in the preface to the An Open Entrance from the Collectanea Chymica (published by William Cooper in 1684), Vaughan says: “I being an adept anonymous, a lover of learning, and philosopher, decreed to write this little treatise of medicinal, chemical, and physical secrets in the year of he world’s redemption 1645, in the three and twentieth year of my life, that I may pay my duty to the Sons of the Art, that I might appear to other adepts as their brother and equal. Therefore I presage that not a few will be enlightened by these my labors. These are no fables, but real experiments that I have made and know, as every other adept will conclude by these lines. In truth, many times I laid aside my pen, deciding to forbear from writing, being rather willing to have concealed the truth under a mask of envy. But God compelled me to write, and Him I could in no wise resist who alone knows the heart and unto whom be glory forever. I believe that many in this last age of the world will be rejoiced with the Great Secret, because I have written so faithfully, leaving of my own will nothing in doubt for a young beginner. I known many already who possess it in common with myself and are persuaded that I shall yet be acquainted in the immediate time to come. May God’s most holy will be done therein. I acknowledge myself totally unworthy of bringing those things about, but in such matters I submit in adoration to Him, to whom all creation is subject, who created All to this end, and having created, preserves them.”
He then goes on to give an account of the transmutation of base metals into silver and gold, and he gives examples of how the Medicine, administered to some at the point of death, affected their miraculous recovery. Of another occasion he writes: “On a time in a foreign country, I could have sold much pure alchemical silver (worth 600 pounds), but the buyers said unto me presently that they could see the metal was made by Art. When I asked their reasons, they answered: ‘We know the silver that comes from England, Spain, and other places, but this is none of these kinds.’ On hearing this I withdrew suddenly, leaving the silver behind me, along with the money, and never returning.”
Again he remarks: “I have made the Stone. I do not possess it by theft but by the gift of God. I have made it and daily have it in my power, having formed it often with my own hands. I write the things that I know.”
In the last chapter of the Open Entrance is his message to those who have attained the goal. “He who hath once, by the blessing of God, perfectly attained this Art,” says Vaughan, “I know not what in the world he can wish but that he may be free from all the snares of wicked men, so as to serve God without distraction. But it would be a vain thing by outward pomp to seek for vulgar applause. Such trifles are not esteemed by those who truly have this Art — nay, rather they despise them. He therefore whom God has blessed with this talent behaves thus. First, if he should live a thousand years and everyday provide for a thousand men, he could not want, for he may increase his Stone at his pleasure, both in weight and virtue so that if a man would, one man might transmute into perfect gold and silver all the imperfect metals that are in the whole world. Secondly, he may by this Art make precious stones and gems, such as cannot be paralleled in Nature for goodness and greatness. Thirdly and lastly, he has a Medicine Universal, both for prolonging life and curing all diseases, so that one true adept can easily cure all the sick people in the world. I mean his Medicine is sufficient. Now to the King, eternal, immortal and sole mighty, be everlasting praise for these His unspeakable gifts and invaluable treasures. Whosoever enjoys his talent, let him be sure to employ it to the glory of God and the good of his neighbors, lest he be found ungrateful to the Source that has blessed him with so great a talent and be in the last found guilty of disproving it and so condemned.”
From England, there is also the story of a transmutation performed before King Gustavus Adolphus in 1620, the gold of which was coined into medals, bearing the king’s effigy with the reverse Mercury and Venus; and of another at Berlin before the King of Prussia.
In the same century, Alexander Seton, a Scot, suffered indescribable torments for his knowledge of the art of transmutation. After practicing in his own country he went abroad, where he demonstrated his transmutations before men of good repute and integrity in Holland, Hamburg, Italy, Basle, Strasbourg, Cologne, and Munich. He was finally summoned to appear before the young Elector of Saxony, to whose court he went somewhat reluctantly. The Elector, on receiving proof of the authenticity of his projections, treated him with distinction, convinced that Seton held the secret of boundless wealth. But Seton refused to initiate the Elector into his secret and was imprisoned in Dresden. As his imprisonment could not shake his resolve, he was put to torture. He was pierced, racked, beaten, scarred with fire and molten lead, but still he held his peace. At length he was left in solitary confinement, until his escape was finally engineered by the Polish adept Sendivogius. Even to this dear friend, he refused to reveal the secret until shortly before his death. Two years after his escape from prison, he presented Sendivogius with his transmuting powder.
Tin is a body clean, imperfect, engendered of ARGENT-VIVE pure, fixed, and not fixed clear, being white outwardly, but red inwardly, and of the like SULPHUR. Tin lacks only decoction, or digestion.
Alchemical Tin is the Manipura chakra of the yogis or the Jupiter center of esoteric astrology. In the body its location is approximately at the level of the solar plexus. In the order of “cleanness” it is second out from the Sun center, according to Bacon. It is imperfect. Like its super-conscious expression (Argent Vive), the self-conscious (sulphur) expression through this center is white outwardly but still red within. What Bacon is inferring is that, predominantly, sub-conscious elements are still expressed through this center, or alchemically speaking, tin’s sulphur is yet naturally attached to salt-ish tendencies.
In alchemy-speak when self-consciousness (sulphur) aligns its powers with super-consciousness (mercury or Argent Vive), the combination is called “white sulphur.” When self-conscious expressions are rooted in habitual sub-conscious tendencies or habit patterns, alchemists labeled this “red sulphur.” The effects within the personality complex show up as predominant tendencies toward pomposity, raw materialism, strong pride, and rigid conservatism, to name a few. These are some of the more base expressions exuding from an ill aspected Jupiter in a natal horoscope. This is the equivalent, alchemically speaking, of tin steeped in salt-ish tendencies, or as Roger Bacon says, “but red inwardly.” Bacon suggests that all that is needed to sublimate the finer tendencies within this center is “decoction,” or prolonged meditation. Meditation turns sulphur toward Argent Vive in ALL the metals.
Lead is an unclean and imperfect body, engendered of ARGENT-VIVE impure, not fixed, earth and dross, being somewhat white outwardly, but red inwardly, and of such a SULPHUR in part burning. It has not purity, fixation, color, and firing.
The alchemical metal lead is equivalent to the Muladhara chakra of the yogis and the Saturn force center of esoteric astrology. The following three metals: Lead, Copper, and Iron are very important forces centers. Commentary on these three calls for another adept’s insight into their natures. The mysterious Basil Valentine subsequently described these three force centers in the 1500s, 250 years after Bacon. His word choices are slightly different, but rather similar in spirit with Bacon. He wrote of Lead: “Saturn (Lead) is generated of little Sulphur, little Salt and much gross, unripe Mercury.”
Both sages agree that the Mercury, or Argent Vive, (super-conscious) expression through this chakra is “unripe, impure, gross and dross.” The Saturn Center or Metal in the normal human is of an energy that is mainly concerned with practical, materialistic manifestations. The survival instinct is priority, especially so through those centuries of both authors. Survival is not that less instinctual in these current times, it would appear. For this center to express super-consciousness as a positive influence calls for a combination from the other two, Copper and Iron, to turn Lead. In Lead self-consciousness (sulphur) tends to focus on the sub-conscious (salt) needs for sheer survival where food, shelter, and safety are the primary issues. “Me first!” is the most important.
Copper is an unclean and imperfect body, engendered of ARGENT-VIVE, impure, unfixed, earth, burning, red (not clear), and of the like SULPHUR. It wants purity, fixation, and weight and has too much of an impure color, and earthiness not burning.
Metal copper, equivalent to the Vishudda chakra of the yogis, is the Venus planetary center in esoteric astrology. Notice the “weight” hint again from Bacon connected with this emotional body, the seat of desires. Basil Valentine observed: “Copper is generated of much Sulphur but its Mercury and Salt are in equality.” Again, they both agree. And again, the super-conscious (Mercury, Argent Vive) expressions are not a priority when desires are steeped in selfishness, and ‘wanting’ purity and ‘weight,’ that is, love for anyone but the lower, petty self. Our base desires must be transmuted to be transcended, a difficult task at the very least. Only persistent ‘decoction’ (meditation) can turn this center by gently pulling down super-conscious influence. The steady process of disciplined meditation will affect the desire natire in a most positive way. Base, selfish desires seem to melt away when our passions are abated through meditation.
Of the Nature of Iron
Iron is an unclean and imperfect body, engendered of ARGENT-VIVE, too much fixed, earth, burning, white and red not clear, and of the like SULPHUR. It wants fusion, purity, and weight and has too much fixed unclean SULPHUR and burning earthiness. What has been spoken, every Alchymist must diligently observe.
Metal iron is equivalent to the Svadishthana chakra of the yogis and the Mars planetary force center in esoteric astrology. Notice that Bacon’s descriptions above for lead, copper, and iron are quite similar. Basil Valentine describes the Mars Center:“Iron is found to have the least portion of Mercury but more of Sulphur and Salt.” Iron, or the Mars Center, is the seat of human volition, the will-sex urge, according to Qabalists. In generic humanity this is probably the most virile influence in our daily lives. Our pseudo sense of self importance derives most of its false identity through the misaligned influence of this force center primarily, and from the seat of desires (the Venus chakra, or Copper) secondarily. These two combined energies create most of mankind’s woes, individually and collectively. Our misdirected will-sex urges and desires have brought our planetary environment and ecosystem almost to its knees through our seemingly unconscious need to self destruct. Master Alchemists write of the “Iron Key” in their manuscripts, recognizing the bare fact that to turn the energies exuding from this center is paramount to turning all the others. The squandering of the ‘reproductive force’ must be abated and turned into the healing balm which restores living tissue and musculature at the cellular level. Once again, meditation is the basic healing balm.
All three modes of expression within each of these and the other metals must be balanced, purified, and sublimated by unification. Fully matured, “ripe mercury” (super-consciousness) must eventually flow and express through all seven force centers. When this is achieved, enlightenment may be forthcoming.
Understanding how light effects our lives begins with an understanding of the relationship between human qi and the electromagnetic spectrum that makes up the visible colors.
Life has evolved on this planet under the influence of our sun. So it is that our emotions, our mental states, and our health, are influenced by the colors found in sunlight. When photons of light strike matter, electrons are discharged, thus creating a current. In other words, the energy of light is converted into electrons on impact and “the frequency of radiation determines the energy of the electrons emitted,”and consequently the quality of the qi we take in through color and light.
European medical researchers have discovered that pulsed and colored light focused on the iris of the eye will prompt both physical and emotional repair in the body. Light reaching the eye is converted into electrical signals that are transmitted by the optic nerve to the hypothalamus, which regulates all of our biological functions by controlling the nervous system and the endocrine system. “In addition, the hypothalamus controls most of the body’s regulatory functions by monitoring light related information and sending it to the pineal, which then uses this information to cue other organs about light conditions in the environment.” In simpler terms, the pineal gland is a type of light regulator for the body, and since “wavelengths of light control the chemistry of the body,” the various color changes we make in our home and working spaces by applying feng shui wisdom have a powerful affect on our emotions and sense of well-being through their physiological, psychological and hormonal impact.
In addition, the influence of light and color also may coincide with the taking in of another type of energy: the Qi of Heaven—the energy of the sun, moonlight, and the stars.
In Oriental medicine, we say that the human being is created when the Qi (energy) of Heaven and the Qi of Earth come together. I postulate that the Qi of Heaven continues to enter the formed human body through the pineal organ in the form of light.
Another entrance point for Qi of Heaven in the form of light is through the acupuncture point/meridian system of the body. Russian researchers have shown that light applied to the human skin penetrates between 2 and 30 mm, depending on the color spectrum or frequency of light used, and that it will travel beneath the surface of the skin. According to their findings, the meridians, which are the channels for qi, act like optical fibers in transferring light (photons) throughout the body. This would explain why blind people can “feel” colors and also why light travels beneath the surface of the skin even when body parts are twisted or bent. This transport of light through the meridian system dovetails with the ancient Chinese medical model and would explain the ability of light entering the body in this way to trigger healing at a cellular level. Each cell has transport tubes known as microtubules or “light pipes” which are of varying widths and lengths measured in nanometers that allow the movement of molecules and fluid in and out of the cell. As a further part of the light transport system that starts with the acupoints and meridians, these “microtubules…may act like fiber optic waveguides for the transmission of light waves through us.“ The light that travels from these energy pathways to the level of the cells may act as an aspect of qi that allows cells to communicate to each other the information that is important to the healing process; yet another important reason for attention to the use of balanced lighting in the feng shui applications in our homes and workplaces. To have health in the body there needs to be coherence to establish healthy cell communication.
Here is a very fundamental example of the “hidden” energies or qi behind feng shui for what is actually at work here is quantum physics. In quantum physics, subatomic particles are coherently linked by magnetic fields so they can communicate together, thus creating resonance. In addition to the quantum coherence involving cells and light, Dr. Fritz-Albert Popp discovered that we take in biophotons from the plant foods we eat. The better the quality of the qi or light in the food we take in that was absorbed during its growth, the more light we take in that was stored during photosynthesis.
Popp also discovered that the driving force behind our DNA was light. He found that DNA was one of the most essential stored sources of light and thus the one of the main sources of biophoton emissions. It was the master tuning fork of the body, using light frequencies to produce the blueprint for the human body and all living things. This is the case also at the fundamental level of light photons that Popp discovered in his experiments both cancer patients and those with multiple sclerosis (MS). There was a fundamental imbalance of light. In those with cancer, it was as if their light was going out. Frequencies were scrambled and cells had lost their connection with each other and other living things out in the world. In those with MS, it was as if they were drowning in too much light. Cells could not reject excess light to stay balanced as they would in a healthy state. This ability of human cells to produce bioluminescence or the giving off of light to stay balanced was actually measured by Popp in his experiments. He was able to show that eggs from free-range chickens raised under sunlight had taken in better qi or coherent light photons than those eggs produced by chickens raised under artificial lighting. He was able to measure the quality of all food using his bio-photon method. He discovered that
“the healthiest food had the…most coherent intensity of light” and that “health was a state of perfect subatomic communication, and that ill health was a state where communication breaks down. In effect, we are ill when our light waves are out of synch. The work of Fritz-Albert Popp gives support to the great importance of light in feng shui balancing in our daily environments. His further experiments showed that we can take the photons of light from our surroundings (and especially living things in our surroundings), and "use the information from them to correct our own light” if it goes out of balance.
One of these ways would be the use of color as it is applied in feng shui. Another would be through eating the proper foods. The color of food tells us about the energetic signature (qi) of that food. It is Nature’s way, through her beautiful colors, that we are drawn to what food energies our bodies need. “The color of food is key to the energy pattern of food and how its bimolecular nutrients will be bonded to specific cells and tissues in our bodies." Having awareness of the color of the foods we eat will lead us to consume the best foods for energy building in our bodies. More than two thousand years ago there was certainly much hidden wisdom in Hippocrates’ admonishment: "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” It is said that in addition to this, he practiced his healing in rooms painted in soothing colors to assist in his treatments.
Besides the use of color remedies in feng shui, color breathing can also enhance the healing process as well as maintain healthy balance in our bodies. Color breathing is one of the many qigong (chi kung) forms devised by the Chinese over thousands of years. Through the use of color breathing into the organs of the body, each organ benefits as well as all the functions that relate to the organ. The intent of this qigong practice is to absorb colors from nature into the organs that relate to them; from there the healing colored qi will spread throughout the entire body. It is a maxim that where the mind goes the qi follows, so a disciplined intention is necessary in this daily practice. One puts attention into the appropriate organ, then either visualizes the color of the organ from the Five Element Theory, or looks at the appropriate color in one’s surroundings either in nature or in one’s home or work environment that has been color balanced according to feng shui. Next, one visualizes inhaling that color into the appropriate organ. Liver is first and its color is green. Your intention fills the organ with the frequency of green nourishing energy, and as you exhale, this cleans out any toxic energy that has accumulated. This also helps ease any emotion of anger since this is the emotion associated with this organ. The green frequency qi will follow the meridian pathways and carry the healing energy throughout the body. The process is repeated with the other yin organs: spleen/yellow, heart/red, lungs/white, kidneys/blue. If you are unfamiliar with qigong, you may be skeptical about breathing in a color frequency. You need to suspend your judgment and keep an open mind. The proof is in the actual practice.
The triad of Yin, Yang and Qi (pronounced chee) serves as the basis for the medical theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Entire textbooks have been written about this subject in China, and one could argue that similar mechanisms are found everywhere in the universe, even at the molecular level. For our purposes we are going to simplify this philosophy as much as possible, while describing the terms as understood by TCM doctors. The most essential thing to know is that TCM doctors use these broad general medical terms to orient their medical thinking, diagnose disease and choose herbs. The purpose is to bring these three into balance. In Chinese theory this process is conceived as bringing Yin and Yang into balance with each other, which results in the production of Qi.
Yin represents the nutritive processes and substances of the body. When the Yin is strong, the body is strong, moist, well nourished and fertile. When the Yin is in excess, the body, or the individual organ, becomes sluggish and damp. When the Yin is weak, the body is weak, dry, deficient, and can flare up with heat. There can be sensitivity to heat, weight loss, insomnia, hot flashes, dryness and sometimes dizziness and heart palpitations. This presentation of symptoms is known as Yin deficiency, a very important TCM medical concept. To treat Yin deficiency, TCM herbalists use Yin tonic herbs. These herbs generally nourish and moisten the tissues and increase nutritive forces.
Some of the most commonly used Yin tonics are raw rehmannia root (sheng di huang/Rehmannia glutinosa), glehnia root (sha shen/Adenophora tetraphylla), scrophularia root(xuan shen/Scrophularia ningpoensis), ligustum berry (nu shen zi/Ligustrum lucidum) American ginseng root (xi yang shen/Panax quinquifolium), ophiopogon root (mai men dong/Ophiopogon japonicus) and wild asparagus root (tian men dong/Asparagus lucidis).
Notice that many of the Yin tonics are roots, used by plants to absorb nutrients from the soil. Interestingly, the Chinese use seeds, such as sesame seeds, as Yin tonics. At our clinic I often use nutritive oils such as fish oils, flaxseed oil (Linum usitatissimum) or evening primrose oil (Oenothera biennis) along with the other herbs mentioned above to moisturize and reduce inflammation.
Yang represents the heat and metabolic processes of the body. When the Yang is strong the body is energetic, warm and powerful. When the yang is in excess, the body becomes inflamed. When the yang is weak the body is fatigued, cold and weak, often to the point of exhaustion. There can be symptoms of low back pain, impotence, diarrhea, and weakness in the four extremities. These symptoms are known as Yang deficiency. TCM doctors use Yang tonic herbs to treat Yang deficiency. These herbs are generally warming and drying. Chinese research has shown that many of these herbs benefit the endocrine system (Bensky & Gamble 2004).
Some of the most commonly used Yang tonic herbs are prepared aconite (fu zi/Aconitum palmatum), dried ginger root (gan jiang/Zingiber officinalis), cinnamon bark (rou gui/Cinnamon zeylanicum), deer antler (lu rong (Cervus nipon) and morinda root (ba ji tian/Morinda officinalis).
Qi (pronounced “chee,” and sometimes written as “chi”) represents the vital energy of the body flowing along invisible energy channels. The balance of Qi is dependent upon the functional relationship between Yin and Yang. When the Qi is strong, the digestion is strong, the organs are well regulated, and nourishment and energy flow through and vitalize the organs. When the Qi is weak or blocked, the digestion weakens, dampness accumulates, and the corresponding organs exhibit pain, spasm or irregular functioning. There can be extreme fatigue, poor digestion, diarrhea, muscle atrophy, compromised immunity, or weakness in the lungs. This is called Qi deficiency. When Qi is weak, TCM doctors use herbs that supply Qi, known as Qi tonics.
The most common Qi tonic herbs are ginseng root, astragalus root, codonopsis root (dang shen/Codonopsis pilosula), licorice root, and white atractylodes rhizome.
The easiest way to understand the mechanisms of this triad as you learn is to substitute the word “nutrient” when you hear the word Yin, “metabolism/heat” when you hear the word Yang, and “vital force” when you hear the word Qi.
It may help you remember the triad by using the following analogy found in ancient Chinese medical texts. Think of the stomach as a pot of soup. The Yin represents the nutrients in the soup, and the Yang is the fire under the soup. The Qi is the nutrient-filled steam that rises up from the pot when Yin and Yang work together, This nutrient steam travels through tiny pathways (meridians), carrying its warmth and nutrients to the organs. If the pathways are blocked, the restrictive area becomes painful, and the organs beyond it wither from lack of energy and nutrition. If the blockage occurs in the larger channels flowing up and down between the trunk of the body and the brain, the person becomes depressed, constricted, and less creative. Because “the mind directs the Qi,” one major goal of meditation is to strengthen the Qi energy and use the mind to feel and direct its flow throughout the body.
All physical objects are made of vibrating particles of energy and even the space in which they sit is a sea of unseen energy or chi (qi). The human body is part of this universal energy-matter continuum. The Chinese traditional science of Feng Shui (literally “Wind-Water”) can manipulate this energy to bring about harmony in a person’s environment and create health and well-being in their body and mind.
The action of feng shui takes place through the invisible energy known as chi. Chi is a broad term for not only the energy that flows through the human body but all the energies that exist around us. “Feng Shui is based on the idea that subtle energies, in the form of Chi, can be influenced and directed by nature and its various elements, by the placement of objects of various shapes and colors in different configurations, by sound and by the human mind.”
Physicists coined the use of the word quantum to describe the smallest amount of something that can exist. They have determined that the smallest particles are subatomic and exist throughout the Universe as a collection of energy in the form of virtual particles. It is these particles that we influence when we practice feng shui. The things we consider to be real in our living spaces and work places are nothing more than virtual particles of the quantum field emerging briefly and then disappearing back into the universal field of quantum energy. Through the hidden quantum particle field, the chi of our body interacts with the chi of objects and living things in our surroundings.
(A monopole antenna is omnidirectional and receives signals from any direction)
Thanks to the work of Dr. Phillp S. Callahan, we know that all living organisms including humans have natural antenna arrays or systems for gathering and sending information. Experiments have shown that these acupoints act in much the same way that a monopole antenna functions in radio reception. Electromagnetic frequency radiation as well as other subtle energies in our environment “communicate with the internal physical and subtle substance of the body via” the network of acupuncture points of the body. These electromagnetic and other subtle energies are the “hidden” energies manipulated in feng shui. The impact they have via the acupoint antenna system explain how the adjustments of feng shui directly influence the human body-mind-spirit.
Influencing the nervous system through action upon the acupoints, creates powerful effects due to the stimulation of “the hormonal factories of the endocrine glands.” These glands and the hormones they produce influence just about every cell, organ, and function of our bodies. The endocrine system regulates mood, growth, tissue function, metabolism, and reproduction. Though separate from the nervous system, the two work together to help the body function properly. Since it is through the antenna array made up of the acupoints as well as other natural antenna arrays of the body that we receive the “hidden” energies produced by feng shui adjustments, you can begin to see why this ancient earth science is such a powerful tool on so many levels.
Besides the link between our health and the organs and the emotions, our mental states also have a direct impact on our state of well-being or lack thereof. Modern living creates much stress in our lives. Work, family strife, parental duties, financial worries, obsessions with sex and lust, alcohol and substance abuse—all these and more create anxiety and fear and obsession in our thinking. The mind is indisputably linked to the nervous system and mental imbalance upsets the emotions, which in turn create imbalance and eventual illness in the organs over time. Conversely, emotional disturbances upset the mind and one loses equilibrium in the meridians, which are linked to the organs. So, our emotional disturbances, as well as stress in our thoughts, are important internal causes of sickness through creating a stagnation in the flow of chi in the meridian systems and malfunctioning of the organs and their influence on bodily tissues and cell functioning.
Feng shui is a very real ancient earth science that impacts our lives by adjusting the different invisible energies to which we respond, both consciously and unconsciously. Moving objects according to proper placement, changing color in a room, the use of sound like falling water in a fountain or from hanging wind chimes—all of these seemingly innocuous things can have direct on your health, your prosperity, and your personal life, thanks to the influence our intention and participation have upon the unseen particles that make up the energy field masquerading as our physical reality. At a very fundamental level, it exposes the hidden workings of chi. In this instance, it is the chi or bioenergy of our bodies, which is being influenced through our emotions by directed intention.
Feng shui adjustments influence the sea of quantum particle energy or chi around us, thus bringing about a raising of our frequency level so that blocked emotions are released thus nurturing our well-being and our outlook on life. The hidden energies (chi) at work behind feng shui show themselves more and more as we continue to practice cures. Over time the relationship between chi and feng shui reveals itself as an effortless spiritual technology where everything is seen as a consequence of energy—Yin and Yang, Wind and Water and the coalescing of potential particles from the unseen quantum field of all creation through our directed intention. The final result will be that your personal spaces will become the poetry of your life. Feng shui is a very practical and intuitive art, which acts to create the most positive relationship possible between people and their environment through balance and harmony and applied on a larger scale, can even extend to the entire biosphere of the planet as well.
1) The first Garden is the lower face of Asiyya, which does not overlap any other world. With relationship to the Tabernacle, this represent the lower (strictly physical) earth, and the area outside of the courtyard. 2) The second Garden consists of the upper face of Asiyya, which is simultaneously the lower face of Yetzirah. This corresponds to the “upper earth” and also the “lower Eden.” It is seen as the area of the courtyard around the Tabernacle proper. 3) The third Garden is the upper face of Yetzirah, which is simultaneously the lower face of Beriah. This is associated with the “upper Eden” and “lower Heaven,” and the Sanctuary of the Tabernacle. 4) The fourth Garden is the upper face of Beriah, which is simultaneously the lower face of Azilut. Here we have the “upper Heaven” and “lower Divine,” and the Holy of Holies within the Tabernacle. 5) The fifth Garden is the upper face of Azilut, which does not overlap any other world and represents pure Divinity “beyond” the Tabernacle itself.
Occult Aspects 