Preface Although formerly only known by shamans, I present this knowledge now to spiritual seekers and for the benefit of mankind.

In 1989 I met a Hungarian Shaman, Joska Soos, in Antwerp, Belgium, who helped people with his private "shamanizations" and classes. Over the years I learned a lot, with new information about shamanism I had never read about in any literature. Among it was the system of seven levels of consciousness. Although he did not talk that much about it, it seemed such a useful system to me that I went further into it myself. I began to understand that some of my spiritual experiences in my past corresponded with those levels of consciousness. Furthermore I began to see parallels to the experiences of other shamans and spiritual seekers. Most religious, esoteric, or other doctrines know about certain levels but not the others, or emphasize only one level. In this book I present you with all seven levels of consciousness which are all inseparably linked together into one whole system of human experience, and it is open to everyone.

The book is written in the form of lectures, explaining in depth what each level is about and how you can experience them.

Table of Contents Introduction 1. Personal Consciousness 2. Mankind Consciousness 3. Amphibious Consciousness 4. Spherical Consciousness 5. Crystal Consciousness 6. Light Consciousness 7. Sound Consciousness The Wheels of Consciousness Introduction

What makes man different from animals is that he is aware of himself. He is able to reflect upon himself and analyze what happens to him, how his environment influences him and how he can change his consciousness. From prehistoric times man realized that he was able to shift his consciousness to other states of being. Hereby he was able to discover and experience other realms, other beings and other energies. He saw himself as a part of an immense web the Divine had woven to express itself in a mysterious universe. The ability to come in contact with the different realms of the universe was made possible by consciousness.

The Divine is unconditioned consciousness. It is eternal, at rest, and potential. Divine consciousness can not be comprehended by the human brain. When the Divine reflected upon itself, another consciousness, Shiva, arose. It became aware of its form, its dynamic aspect, Shakti. Thus it recognized itself as observer and the observed. With this, the creation of the cosmos, consciousness became conditioned. A polarization took place that disturbed the equilibrium. The Divine became consciousness in its static aspect. This static aspect is called Shiva, which is individual consciousness looking at its dynamic aspect, called Shakti. Shakti is manifested consciousness. This created the first vibration, the sound of creation, the Aum, or the Word. This was the beginning of the seven levels of consciousness. Eventually consciousness found itself in a human body, in total ignorance, considering itself as separate physical being in an outer world apparently not related to who he thought he was. Although the above can be viewed as happening in the beginning of time, in reality it is happening at every moment. Time is but a physical manifestation. It also does not happen "out there". It happens everywhere, including inside of you. All the levels of consciousness are present in every human being and can be accessed. What is experienced as the creation can also be experienced within yourself.

The exploration of consciousness has always been the center of the ancient mystery cults, of shamans, yogis and mystics. You too are able to expand your consciousness.



1. Personal Consciousness

Awake, dear one, awake!

At long last, open your eyes.

Awake! Abandon your sleep of illusion.

It is foolish to sleep all the time.

Swami Muktananda

You just made the first big step in your spiritual growth. You asked yourself that most important question: "What am I doing here?" It was a feeling that was always there, under the surface, making you uneasy at times. It made you restless. Jesus said: "Let him who seeks continue seeking until he finds. When he finds, he will become troubled. When he becomes troubled, he will be astonished, and he will rule over the All." In this life you always have been a seeker. It was predestined. Before you incarnated, you, as your essence, or your Higher Self, choose to incarnate into a personality that would lead to a gradual awakening to the spiritual values in life. You gifted your personality with qualities of curiosity, determination, spiritual interest and perhaps mystical experiences. This would bring you eventually to the realization that you exist. As simple as it may sound, most people are only vaguely aware that they exist. They live their lives as in a dream. Relentlessly pursuing material gains, and bodily sensations, they are not aware of themselves beyond immediate pleasure. Life passes by and before they know it death wipes out their trivial lives.

Awakening to the spiritual path starts with those important questions: what am I doing here, what is life about, what am I? You start to think about your personal life. This brings you to the first of the seven levels of consciousness; personal consciousness. Who are you in this incarnation? In every incarnation you form for yourself a personality. Your personality is the product of everything that has happened in the present lifetime. It starts with your conception. The circumstances, the emotions and feelings of your parents during that sacred moment, put a most basic energy quality into the primal cell with which your spirit connected. While your bodily vehicle was growing in the womb, it registered everything that happened to your mother. Joy and sadness, anger and frustration, every emotion was felt by your spirit. In the beginning these impulses were not that important to you as you were still well connected to the spiritual worlds. For the first months of pregnancy you were still connected with the cosmos by at least two thirds. When the heart became stronger only one third of the connection remained. The beating of the heart brought further independence from the mother. With your birth, connection with the cosmos was entirely lost. It is the duty of man to awaken and strive to establish that connection again.

Birth is such an important event. For nine months you floated around in the warm belly of your mother and bathed in the soothing light of the cosmos. Going through the birth canal was a big ordeal, but it did not prepare you for entrance into the outer world. Suddenly gravity was pulling on your body, hands were touching your skin, not too gently. Bright lights were blinding you, harsh sounds deafening your ears. Hung upside down, they made your spine stretch, which hurt like hell. But everybody was happy with your pain. They didn’t know better, they had lost their connection to nature and to themselves. Doctors don’t know how the baby feels. Doctors have many patients and little time. Thus, birth was a big trauma for you, making another important imprint on your delicate soul. Fortunately the interest in a "natural birth", where trauma is reduced to a minimum, is growing. Many people are doing a tremendous job in this regard. If you did not have a natural birth, read Francois LeBoyer’s "Birth Without Violence" for an explanation of what you experienced when you entered this physical world.

Were you born with a caul? Then you are one of the lucky who have spiritual gifts. When the caul, the membrane enveloping the fetus, does not break and the baby is born with the entire caul intact, the individual is gifted with strong psychic talents. Most often he is clairvoyant. A normal birth is difficult and long, and the child can suffer from a lack of oxygen. This causes the cells responsible for paranormal perception to die; these brain cells don’t restore themselves. Birth with a caul not only protects the baby but also prevents these cells from dying. Birth with a partial caul reaching up to the shoulders, or only covering the head will result in lesser psychic talents. In the past people who were born with an intact or partial caul often were initiated by the local shaman to develop their innate psychic abilities.

Yes, by the time of the moment of birth your body and soul had been impregnated by energies from the outside world for a full nine months. Once born and separated from your mother you became an individual being. The universe made room for you and provided you with a unique blueprint for your personality in this lifetime: your horoscope. It is important to analyze your horoscope. Although it is limited to only the soul, a horoscope provides valuable information about the tendencies of your personality. Be aware that there are no positive or negative patterns. It is all relative to the situation and to what you want. For example, if you are well-spoken you might make it high up the social ladder, but it also might be difficult for you to keep your mouth shut when it is required. It is all about balance and how you use your talents or tendencies. Remember that the most important things are predestined. Your Higher self chose for this life before you incarnated. So it is with your horoscope. It was your Higher Self that decided to be born at that moment, so it could acquire that particular stellar blueprint. This blueprint, your horoscope, allows you to explore certain soul qualities. Life is about learning. Lessons we didn’t learn in past lives need to be dealt with in this life. This is why we received the horoscope or personality we presently have. It allows us to recognize our tendencies and problems so we might balance and harmonize them. Therefore look in the mirror of the soul, and find out who you are in relation to your personality. Be honest and be wary of the mind as it plays tricks that will deceive you. Often you won’t like what you discover and even more often it will be painful. But remember to ask yourself, what is there too loose?

Many ways lead to self-discovery. You can analyze your dreams. Dreams don’t lie. When the body is tired and goes to sleep, the soul processes events, emotions and thoughts of the previous day(s). Dreams are symbolic representations of what is going on in your inner self. Every evening before going to bed program yourself with the following: "When I wake up I will remember every dream in every detail." Gradually you will be able to remember more and more dreams, up to seven or eight dreams or more. Every time you wake up write down the dream on a piece of paper next to the bed. Later in the day, write down all your dreams in a journal, with a explanation or comment. You will soon notice that you will not like some of the dreams, because of violent or sexual content, or because they revealed dishonest tendencies, or you have had repeated dreams of being a victim. Dreams are often not flattering. They show you who you are, where your weaknesses are. In the beginning your mind will tell you not to write down certain parts of the dream, or to alter it a little bit. Don’t give in. You need to recognize both the pleasant and unpleasant parts of yourself. Remember, it is not you, only your tendencies. You are a divine being, your personality is like a vehicle you took on for this incarnation. Like a car, it needs constant fixing. It is important that you write down every detail of the dream. By writing it down, you bring your hidden, unconscious tendencies into full awareness. By analyzing the dream and penetrating its symbols you are recognizing the problem. The next step is to change your dreams. Yes, you can do that. If you were attacked in a dream, you want to get out of that pattern of being a victim. Close your eyes, and recreate the dream, this time consciously. Change the dream, turn around and face your attacker and kill him. Yes, kill him with love. The attacker in the dream represent an energy in your soul that is subduing your power to stand up for yourself. Killing the attacker in your mind is a symbolic act to dissolve this subduing energy. The attacker will then turn into a benevolent energy, emerging into a dream friend. Energy cannot disappear, it can only be transformed. Here we are transforming it into a friendly energy. Therefore when you kill opposing forces in your dream, do it with love or at least out of necessity, never with angry emotions. It will take several tries to change a dream like that, but result is guaranteed.

Knowing yourself is the key to spiritual evolution. "Know thyself, and knowing thyself you will know the Divine" (inscription at the oracle in Delphi, Greece). Everything that happened to you in the first twenty years of your life is built into the foundation of your being, for the simple reason that as a child you were unable to shield yourself against outside influences. Towards adulthood you learned how to protect yourself, but by then you were already full of programs put into your mind by your parents, the school and anyone else who had an influence on you. This also applies to events. Sexual abuse during childhood, for example, has a tremendous impact on the soul for the rest of one’s life. The rebirthing process, initiated by Leonard Orr, is a good tool to come into contact, re-experience and release emotional blockages of your past. It eventually will eliminate primal trauma and transform the subconscious impression of birth into a gentle and awakening event.

Look back at your childhood and what happened in those days. All your present relationships are based on how the relationship with your father and mother developed. A child’s character is formed for a large part by its environment. A child takes its environment as "this is what the world is like". It thinks that the rest of the world is the same as what he is experiencing around him. Thus he forms his character. If a child grows up with abusive parents, he might think that being abusive is the only way to survive in this world, and he will become himself abusive to other people later in life. Or he might himself see as a helpless victim, and will always be taken advantage of. How did you experience your parents, your brothers and sisters? What did they do to you that you didn’t like or what traumatized you. A simple sentence like "You are an annoying brat", "I never wanted you, you were an accident" can have a devastating effect. Being wrongly accused, even if the matter was trivial, might instill a big guilt complex in a child. Search your memories for those forgotten traumas and discover how they link to your present day behavior. Most important, forgive the people who have hurt you. It is not always easy, but if you don’t forgive them, you are holding on to the pain and to your feelings of irritation, guilt, fear and so on. It is not necessary to tell them in person. Forgiveness has to happen inside yourself. Be truthful and sincere towards yourself. When you forgive those who have hurt you, you have to mean it. Forgiveness is liberation, liberation of all those negative emotions, thoughts and fear.

Pay attention to this last word: fear. Who is without fear? Are you? Of course not. You might think you are, but this is just pride. We all have fears. Your fears are lurking underneath the surface, grabbing every opportunity they can to express themselves. Fear of disapproval, fear of authorities, fear of being hurt, fear of losing your partner, fear of injury, the list is endless. Some fears are instinctual to guarantee your survival on this planet. However most of the fears you have created during your lifetime are of psychological origin. Fear cripples and disables. It takes away the joy of life. Make a list of all your fears, even those that seem small and insignificant. Again be honest and accept your fears. Acceptance is the first step to recovery. Releasing is next. You could take a psychological approach and use, for example, gestalt therapy. As fears are also locked in the physical body, especially in the muscles, a good Rolfing massage might be the solution. Bach Flower remedies or Homeopathy work on the energetic level. Many other approaches exist. Choose one you are comfortable with.

Don’t forget that the issues in your life have a purpose: to make you aware of inner imbalances. You really have to go to the root of your problems, or your fears, and do something about it. Healing done by another person is only a temporary solution if you don’t change the underlying cause. The disease or fear will eventually come back. True healing can only be done by yourself. Therefore you need to understand who you are in this lifetime. What does your personality consists of, what are your imbalances, your fears. Work on it, work, work, work! Every day you need to work on it. Relentlessly. It is hard work but the results are worth while: the realization of your true potential: a light being on Earth.

Now that you have discovered that you have a rich inner world, although not perfect, it makes you aware that as an individual you are interacting with and influenced by other people. People who make up the totality of mankind. No one is isolated, we are all connected. Now you are ready to progress one step further on the stairway of consciousness. Let’s enter the level of mankind’s consciousness.



2. Mankind Consciousness

Mankind is one,

and all men are alike

in that which concerns their creation.

Bartolome de las Casas

Most people live on an egocentric basis. Their world revolves around themselves, the pursuit of their own happiness and the gratification of their desires. You have made a big step forward by leaving your self-created, protective enclosure. You are becoming conscious that you are part of mankind. Being part of an enormous group of intelligent beings is a privilege. The ego tends to think that everything it does and everything it is results from its own actions. It takes pride in its accomplishments and successes. When the ego encounters failures it blames the outside world. It does not understand that a part of its life is determined by causes outside its limited range of view. It is important to understand this. The ego might see itself as separate from all other beings, in reality it is not. You are part of humanity on this planet, and as such you are linked with all other humans on both a physical and on a subtle level.

Read the books of Carl Gustav Jung on the collective unconscious. The collective unconscious is the reservoir of all the experiences mankind has ever had. It is present in each one of us. It not only gives you the animal instincts and desires necessary for the survival of the species, but also everything that makes us intelligent beings. It is great reservoir of potentials waiting to be used by those who dare to enter its realm. Contact with the collective unconscious is made through dreams; by states of consciousness between waking and sleeping, intuition, trances, and meditation. But beware, not everything you will encounter will be the smell of roses. You need to be prepared to encounter the demons of the underworld. Many people are afraid to face the inner demons of mankind. It is essential to understand that everything you encounter is a reflection of your own being. The good the bad and the ugly. Basically what is encountered is only energy forms. Some of them are pleasant, so we call them good. Some of them are unpleasant and we label them as being bad or evil. When you make the unconscious conscious, you must take the energies for what they are. Nothing in the universe is good or bad; these terms apply only to our experiences. It is not uncommon to encounter demons or the devil in meditations, or by other means of entering the collective unconscious. You have to look through the veil, through the masks, through the forms, and recognize the energy behind it along with asking why it is presenting itself to you. Most often you will encounter forms that represent repressed energies in yourself. Those are not unique to you yourself however, everybody else has them as well. Because we all share the same frustrations, the same fears and so on, we are easily influenced by the emotions and energies of other people, without even being aware of it. Being human means that you participate in everything other people experience. You not only connect with other people and their experiences on a subtle or energetic level, but you are constantly being influenced by these energies. Carl Gustav Jung recognized that man is strongly influenced by the archetypes in the collective unconscious. He understood archetypes as being those experiences of mankind that had been repeated over and over again since the birth of humanity.

The ego likes to control and reading this chapter might make you a bit uneasy. In order to make progress in your evolution, the ego needs to be dissolved gradually, and consciousness expanded. There are two levels of mankind consciousness which can be expanded: genetic consciousness and karmic consciousness.

Genetic consciousness comprises the entire human experience going back at least thirty million years. There has been a lot of research in the field of genetics in the last few decades. As we are presently living in a materialistic society, the spiritual aspect of genes is overlooked. Genes also carry energetic information from our parents and ancestors. Rupert Sheldrake called the energy forms, containing memories and wisdom from earlier generations, "morphogenetic fields". In this way, experiences, knowledge, talents and wisdom are passed on from generation to generation. The Mozart family is a good example. The entire family had musical talents, and produced many excellent musicians. The same happens with psychic talents. Clairvoyance and other psychic abilities are often passed from generation to generation. A European once asked a Russian why Russia has so many psychics. The Russian answered: "We have more psychics in the Soviet union because the Catholic Church did not wipe out wipe out the psychic gene here as it did in Europe."

Genetic consciousness can be developed by walking on graveyards. The slowly decomposing bodies build up very strong energies in the graves. Feel these energies, and what those people were like. Or just feel the graveyard in its entirety. The graveyard is a testimony of human life. It comes and goes, and leaves its mark in nature. It is a very particular energy in graveyards, and regular visits make you more sensitive to it. Do I need to warn you? Observe and feel the energies, but do not absorb whatever is hanging around. This applies to any situation, even in daily life. Don’t be a vacuum cleaner for psychic energies!

Visiting sacred spaces is strongly recommended, especially in Europe where the earth’s energy spots were marked by megalithic stones. A visit to stone circles, menhirs and other sacred stones is more than worthwhile. Some of these places are still very active, and their energies can be felt even by ordinary people. Visit the churches there, especially cathedrals, as many of them were built over pre-Christian, pagan, holy places. The Catholic Church was also aware of Earth’s energy vortexes, and built their "houses of God" over them in order to harness the power for its own benefit.

Find out more about your own ancestors, and what talents they had, or what traumas. Discovering your genetic heritage might encourage you develop talents you never paid attention to. If ancestral trauma is passed on to you (certain physical diseases or mental illnesses run through an entire family), it is time to address the issue and work out this unhealthy energy. You might think it is unfair to work out a trauma that is not yours. Well, think about it this way: before you incarnated you chose this family, this body for a reason. Life is a school. In order to progress in your evolution, you need to learn your lessons. The choice for your present incarnation is partly based on what you did in your previous incarnations. Which leads us to the second aspect: karmic consciousness.

Karmic consciousness has a profound influence on one’s life. Karma means "cause and effect". The universe is constructed in such a way that each action initiates an effect which in turn creates another effect and so on. Whatever you do always create consequences, good or bad, depending on your point of view. Your actions in past incarnations created effects that not only shaped your personality in this life but most of the important events that happened and will happen to you. Yes, you do have free will, but free will is limited. Your personality was formed at birth by the position of the planets. You are destined to meet certain people and undergo certain events in your life according to you past life actions. You are on the Earth to learn and grow. As long as you haven’t discovered your true inner self, you will remain chained to the wheel of karma, ever revolving for the evolution of living beings. By reflecting on your life, dreams, problems, gifts and talents, by talking to like minded people and with the study of esoteric books you can make contact with the energies of your past lives. The memories of your past lives are deep inside you, in what is generally called "the causal body". It can also be accessed by people who are clairvoyant. It is useful to know more about your past lives. It clarifies certain issues in your present life. Especially when you have been asking why certain things are happening to you. It can be very helpful to discover talents you were using in previous lives and develop them even further. Psychic people more often than not had many lifetimes with psychic talents. Although psychic talents are appealing to many people, a warning here has its place. In the past, especially in the mystery temples of ancient civilizations, a person with psychic talents was often trained to develop one particular psychic talent in the extreme. This was beneficial to the priesthood in order to obtain useful and accurate information, but this created a severe imbalance in the psychic. Many psychics nowadays are still struggling with an unbalanced mind. This is part of their karma. Always know what you are doing and what effects your actions are going to have!

As a human being you participate in different karmas. Your personal karma encompasses your present and all of your past lives. Then there are karmas pertaining to groups of people, like nations and races to which you presently belong. Humanity by itself has also its own karma as it evolves through time on this planet. Therefore it is necessary to become conscious of the history or the evolution of mankind. No, not what you can find in the history books of school, that is merely a collection of names of worldly people, dates and places. You need to understand how humanity came into existence and how man developed himself. Man’s origin on this planet is diverse. When Earth was cooling of there were already souls on the ethereal plane undergoing a densification process in order to obtain a physical body. There were souls taking over an animal form and shaping it into a human form. Over the course of time man was also brought over from other planets. Earth has always been inhabited by a slowly developing humanity and more evolved beings from other planets who acted as guides and helpers. In Lemurian times, primitive man had awareness of things and events but did not have a memory. He lived in the moment and was one with his environment. He sensed, understood and communicated with nature by feeling what was going on inside the life forms. He did not have a language but sang what he felt. His song was composed of primeval sounds derived from nature. Lemurians had open contact and were guided by the beings, physical and ethereal, from other planets. The subsequent Atlantean race developed memory and thinking in images. Atlantean man directed his consciousness outwardly, and began to develop a language. As the emotional body grew, selfish love and egotism arose for the first time. The Atlantean population was governed by a small elite. Their scientists-priests attained a highly developed science. The laboratories were mostly underground to keep their secrets away from the population. Although the Atlanteans had still contact with extraterrestrial beings, the development of the Atlantean intellect combined with egotism, caused a gradual decline in the acceptance of the extraterrestrial guidance. By turning away from their guides, mankind obtained free will. Unfortunately, free will implies the possibility of error. Mankind lost its paradise. Without guidance, mankind was lost in the labyrinth of errors, and blinded by his egotism. You are now living in Post-Atlantean times. Man’s intellect has increased at the cost of his memory. His self-consciousness has expanded, but also his egotism. His attention is primarily directed to his physical body and the physical world. He is hardly aware of the spiritual forces around him which do influence him, whether he is aware of it or not. At this moment man is almost completely disconnected from the spiritual worlds.

It is very important to know the evolution of mankind, because you are the product of it. You need to know your place and time in this evolution. Knowledge is power. Nature does not forgive ignorance. It is even more important to come in contact with the energies thereof. The entire history of mankind is inside of you. Unlock it. Read the books of Rudolf Steiner, Edgar Cayce, W. Scott-Eliot and H. P. Blavatsky. They all have written extensively about the evolution of mankind.

When you finally feel connected to mankind, its history, its past and present actions, its emotions, its thoughts and feelings, you are ready to progress to the next stage of consciousness: the amphibious consciousness.



3. Amphibious Consciousness

To see a world in a grain of sand,

And a heaven in a wild flower,

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,

And eternity in an hour.

William Blake

You became aware of yourself and your personality. You discovered that you are part of mankind sharing all its experiences. Now is the time to look beyond what is human. You are part of a vast network of living beings existing in many dimensions in the universe. The universe is like a net, a tapestry, woven out of numerous threads. The Divine Weaver weaves his creation on his loom. All created beings are connected to each other. When the child is still in the womb, it is linked by the umbilical cord to the mother. At the same time the child experiences an amphibious consciousness, feeling itself connected with the entire creation and all the energies thereof. Take a walk in nature, in the mountains, in the desert, take a deep breath, and feel connected with what is around you. On the subtle level you have always been one with it. However, you never paid attention to it. Everything is alive, animals, plants, even rock and crystals. Nature is also teeming with numerous spirit beings. You are part of it. You are part to everything that exists. It is time to give up the illusion that you are a separate being. Man is not separate and cannot continue to isolate himself from his environment in order to master, control and abuse it, as he is presently doing. He is harming himself, because he is inseparable from his environment, and any abuse will turn back on himself.

In the past, when man was more in tune with nature, he constructed many sacred places, like the megalithic sites on special energy spots and energy vortexes of the planet. These he used for enhancing his living conditions, to stimulate the growth of crops, for healing purposes and magical ceremonies. Some of these places are not only still intact, but the energies are still active. Go to these special energies spots to not only to make contact with your ancestry, but also to extend your subtle cords to make contact with other levels of existence. Earth’s energy spots all connect with each other to form a giant web encompassing the entire planet. It even connects to energies from the universe. These sacred places are like doorways, openings to other places, other realms, other beings, other energies. In some dolmen a small circular opening in the roof slab can be found. Folklore has it that the souls of dead pass through this opening to get into heaven. This is faint memory of the practice of ancient people who would lie inside the dolmen and look at the opening for a slightly different reason. Being on an energy spot and gazing at the opening would facilitate the transition from ordinary consciousness to amphibious consciousness. By crossing this threshold numerous patterns in web-like designs present themselves before the eyes. It is as if one passes through them at enormous speeds. Sometimes it happens so fast that one will hardly notice them. It is possible to learn to lower your "speed", then you will be able to see them clearly. These are not products of the mind, or fantasies, or even dream images. They are the fabric of the universe, ethereal fibers of energies present in the entire creation. Passing through them you will then go into other realms of existence. With amphibious consciousness you experience the multidimensionality of the universe. Everything in the universe has structure, and every structure has holes in it. All over the world, shamans have used these holes to make the transition. The holes can be in energy spots, in crystals, in the air and so on. When Alice was falling asleep she fell through such a hole, the rabbit hole, and found Wonderland.

The totem animal of amphibious consciousness is the frog. The posture of a frog is used to liberate the vital energies in your body. When in that position frog sounds can be produced from the ten locations from which sound can come: the belly, stomach, chest, throat, mouth, tongue, palate, teeth, lips and nose. Just producing these sounds is not enough, one needs to feel like a frog. Therefore, assuming the position of a frog, one moves rhythmically back and forth, moving the arms as if swimming. When the hands come together clap the hands. It is important to move from the loins in order to liberate the energies of the first chakra. Moving the hands from the inside to the outside (like in swimming) represents leaving the water, the reverse movement represents entering the water. This exercise needs to be done until a dry warm energy rises up in the body. Spread this warmth over the entire body and continue until this warmth becomes radiant and tingling. This liberates the vital energies in the body. These vital energies are present everywhere in the universe. They vivify everything that lives and connect it all together. Through these energies you can make contact with the entire creation. As with all exercises of this kind, it is very important that you don’t overdo it.

Amphibious consciousness corresponds to the stage in evolution when amphibians were leaving the water and entering the land. It was on land that the body of man and his sense of separate identity would eventually develop. The water, or the oceans, connect all life together. Life in the oceans promotes a sense of unity, of being one with everything around oneself. The amphibians, with the frog as totem animal, represent the transition between the two phases. In the exploration of the levels of consciousness you go back into the oceans, into the water, into the womb. There you will reconnect with all life in all dimensions, and experience the vital energies vivifying everything that lives. The frog as totem animal was present all over the ancient Americas. It was a secret cult because access to the vital energies of the universe implies a strong responsibility. Uninitiated persons might destroy themselves and other people with it. In fairy tales the frog is often associated with a fountain or a deep well, symbols of the opening to the other world. All over the world the frog is connected with the vital forces. As an amphibious animal, living both in the water as on land, the frog connects the vital, ethereal, spiritual, unconscious energies (symbolized by water) with the tangible, physical, conscious energies (symbolized by land).

When the amphibians evolved, the cerebellum, or little brain, developed. It controls balance and smoothness of the body’s movements, and continuously monitors and adjusts the progress of an action. On the subtle level the cerebellum is responsible for psychic or paranormal perception, and holds the memories and energies of amphibious consciousness.

Another exercise to liberate the vital forces in your body is by guttural singing with a low voice, as shamans do, or as the Buddhist monks sing. Try to sing as low as possible and feel the voice being generated from your belly. You can use the sound Mu and connect mentally with the time period of Lemuria when the vital energies in the body were very strong.

As amphibious consciousness is experienced and you feel connected to other life forms in the many dimensions of the universe, you will eventually develop a new way of perception that is connected to the ocean, out of which the amphibians came. You are now obtaining what is known as spherical consciousness.



4. Spherical Consciousness

I am expanding as a sphere,

movement outward in all directions

at an incredible rate.

My vision is spherical

I can look within at the very smallest of all places

and now without at the largest of all places.

Norm Paulsen

As life on this planet evolved consciousness became more specified and directed. Going through the seven levels of consciousness is a reverse movement. On the level of personal consciousness you experienced yourself as an individual with a specific personality, making you a separate and different person than the rest of humanity. On the level of mankind consciousness you participated in the experiences of all human beings. Amphibious consciousness brought you in contact with the other life forms in the universe. Here your awareness is still focused in one direction. When you look with your physical eyes, you see only what is before you. What is on the left, on the right, above, below and behind is not visible. The same applies when the spiritual eye looks at the inner worlds, or the spiritual worlds. Now it is time to make one step further in the exploration of consciousness.

With spherical consciousness you learn to observe in all directions at the same time. Spherical consciousness perceives everything around you. What is in front of you, at the left, at the right, behind, above and below, at every angle, is observed all at the same time. You might find it difficult to believe because you have been accustomed all your life to a unilateral, directional observation. Practice will prove that you have the capability of spherical perception.

Spherical Consciousness corresponds to the period of evolution in which life forms were found only in the oceans. Fish, larvae, plankton and unicellular life forms have spherical perception through their entire body. The body itself, and especially the skin, perceives its environment in a spherical way. The more primitive the organism is, the stronger is this kind of consciousness. The senses of these primitive organisms are far less developed and the only way they could know what is going on around them is to "feel" with their bodies in a spherical way.

How can you bring about this spherical consciousness? Identify with the life forms of the oceans. Feel what their lives are like, how they perceive their environment. Imagine yourself as a single cell. You don’t have eyes, ears, nose , mouth or skin. The only way is to "feel" what is around you. Imagine that you are a spherical being. Feel in the way of an expanding sphere. This will give you a good idea what spherical consciousness is. It will also bring you in contact with your own bodily cells. Bring forth the sound of a fish, go "wow wow wow" as if you are making air bubbles. Continue this for a good ten minutes and you will connect with water beings.

Another good way to develop your spherical perception is to imagine the five platonic solids in your mind. The five platonic solids, or polyhedra, are three dimensional solids with equal sides, equal regular faces, equal solid angles all of which can be inscribed in a sphere. There are only five of these regular forms: tetrahedron, octahedron, cube, icosahedron and dodecahedron. These form are found throughout nature among crystals and among primitive life forms. Start by copying the platonic solids from a book. Draw them on a piece of paper and figure out how they are structured and how they are linked to each another. It is even better to make them out of cardboard. Then close your eyes and imagine that you are sitting inside one of them and create the form of the polyhedron you have chosen around you in an instant. Do not build up the form, it has to appear in the blink of an eye, and hold this image for as long as you can. The only way to do this is to exercise your spherical perception and to be clearly aware of every corner, line and surface of the form at every single moment. In the beginning it is not easy. Do not give up! Persistence pays off.

Spherical perception can also be developed with meditation. Sit down in a comfortable position. Hold your spine upright and relax completely. After physical and emotional tensions have disappeared, imagine a sphere around you that is your only sense of perception. All of your other five physical senses are totally quiet. Then expand spherical sense and feel what is around you. You can limit yourself to your immediate environment or go as far as you want. Feel your village, your country, the planet, the solar system, the universe.

Regular exercise will also improve your spherical awareness in daily life. You will become more aware of what is going on around you, not only on the physical plane, but also on subtle levels. You will become more susceptible to energies in your environment. A person with only personal consciousness is only aware of himself. The development of spherical consciousness expands your awareness to your environment (distance is not an obstacle) not only on the physical plane, but also to all the subtle or spiritual realms with the corresponding energies and beings thereof.

For a descriptive experience of spherical consciousness, read John C. Lilly’s "The Center of the Cyclone". Lilly was a pioneer in the exploration of consciousness. After taking a dose of L.S.D. he found himself in a large, empty place with nothing in any direction except light. There was a golden light permeating the whole space, everywhere, in all directions out to infinity. He was a single point of consciousness, of feeling, and of knowledge. In a peaceful space, he had no sense of a body. Certain mind altering drugs, in the right condition of mind and circumstances, can promote other states of consciousness, but they keep you to lower levels. In the past, drugs were used primarily by shamans for specific purposes. Nowadays drugs are widely abused and misused. The intentions and circumstances are rarely right in spite of the self proclaimed good intentions of their users. Furthermore, substances create dependency and will not improve your power or your personal development. It is far better to reach the different levels of consciousness by yourself through exercise, attitude and intention. When L.S.D. was put on the list of illegal drugs, John Lilly found he was able to reach the same levels of consciousness without it.

You have gone back in the evolution of consciousness from a complex human being to the very first life forms on this planet. Having experienced the spherical perception of a single cell, the first organic life form, where do you go next? Well, now it is time to leave the organic realms and explore crystal consciousness.



5. Crystal Consciousness

By coming to understand the nature of the crystal,

we will be able to make sense

of the rays and reflections that emanate from it.

Namkai Norbu

Each step on the ladder of consciousness brings a totally new experience. The transition from spherical to crystal consciousness brings a completely new level of awareness. At the level of spherical consciousness your perception is still bound by the senses. Perception is distorted by the five bodily senses, by emotions and by thoughts. All information you take in by those senses is always colored, manipulated, and deformed by the senses themselves. This happens because as a human being you have impurities of all kinds. Your body is impure because you don’t eat right. There is always a lack or too much of a nutrient, or you are feeding yourself with substances foreign to your body chemistry. Your environment, the climate and the industrial toxins nowadays are omnipresent, making your body deviate from its pure state. The physical body is also influenced by the emotional and mental bodies. Who is totally free of negative emotions? Be honest, examine yourself, and recognize your anxieties, your fears, frustrations, anger, irritation, jealousy and so on. They all distort to a great degree what we perceive. Your mental attitude, your opinions, thoughts, and preconceptions cause an even greater distortion. As long as you hold on to these impurities your perception will never be clear.

The transition from spherical to crystal consciousness is about purification. The first four levels of consciousness are organic in nature. Crystal consciousness is inorganic. It perceives without the help of the physical, emotional or mental body. Crystal consciousness is the state in which one perceives everything as it really is. Perception is completely pure, undistorted by any senses. It is pure, direct and complete.

Crystal consciousness corresponds to the stage in evolution in which the Earth crystallized. Before there were any primitive organisms, before any cells were formed, only crystallized matter existed. In spite of what present day science claims, nothing in the universe is dead. Everything is alive, this includes matter. Matter is also a life form, vivified by the omnipresent life energy. Matter has been created, it has structure, it has the ability to grow (crystals), and it ages. Crystal consciousness brings you into contact with all matter with its crystal forms, crystalline structures, molecules, and atoms; and with subatomic particles and quantum energies.

Shamans all over the world have always had crystals in their possession. Crystals are popular among pagan and new age people. The interest in crystals in not limited to quartz. People pay exorbitant prices for precious stones which have only ornamental value. Yet they seems to be so attracted to pure, crystalline stones that they seem to be motivated by an unconscious longing to buy them. Crystals connect us, even if it is it in an unconscious way, to experiences of purity, clarity, radiance, brilliance, timelessness and incorruptibility.

Get a clear quartz crystal and get in touch with its consciousness. See it as a life form and communicate with it. Still your bodily tensions, emotions and thoughts as much as possible, and be one with the crystal. This can give you a lot of insight that normally would not have come to you because of the organic, sensory filters of your body. Snow and ice can also bring you in contact with that pure, crystalline consciousness, especially after a night of heavy snow. Take a walk in the early morning after a night of snowfall. Don’t think the levels of consciousness are some remote states of mind. It is around us all the time. You don’t have to be a shaman. You only have to tune into it.

An excellent way to tune into crystal consciousness is through the famous crystal skulls. Some of these skulls are life size and made out of a variety of quartz. The masterpieces that were made during Atlantean times contain a lot of knowledge that is accessible. Information has been accessed primarily by psychics who have tuned into the psychic energies of the skulls. Much more information could be obtained by a person who is capable of tuning into crystal consciousness, because this is the level on which the crystal skulls really operate. The masterpieces were made by beings, not always human and not always on this planet, who where able to function on the level of crystal consciousness. They used technology unknown to present mankind. The crystal skulls are fascinating objects. Read "Mysteries of the Crystal Skulls Revealed" by Sandra Bowen, F. R. Nick Nocerino and Joshua Shapiro, or go to their web site.

The symbol of the crystal is used in the practice of Dzogchen. Dzogchen, or The Great Perfection, is the essence of all spiritual practices in Tibet. In Dzogchen one exercises the mind to become clear and find one’s own inner essence. This clear state of mind denotes the fundamental ground of existence, both at the universal level and at the individual level, the two being essentially the same. To realize one is to realize the other. Crystal consciousness is in every being, organic and inorganic, and cannot be destroyed, although awareness of this state is lost when one enters the realms of dualism. The crystal is used as s symbol to demonstrate the illusion of the separateness that exists in dualism, where a being experiences itself as a closed off self separate from a world "out there". When the sunlight falls on a crystal, it is reflected and refracted by it, causing the appearance of rays and patterns of spectral colors. They seem to be separate from the crystal yet they are functions derived from its own characteristic nature. In the same way an individual’s own energy is perceived by his own senses as a world of apparently external phenomena. In reality there is no external world, or separate energies or objects. Our senses perceive duality, but on the most fundamental level only unity exists. The crystal ball is used as a symbol to demonstrate that even images experienced internally, in the mind, are just reflections of energies manifesting themselves as seemingly real objects. An object placed near a crystal ball will appear inside the ball as an image that seems to be a real object, however it is the individual’s own energy being reflected. When the crystal ball is placed on a red cloth, it seems to be red, when it is placed on a green cloth, it seems to be green. The crystal ball itself does not have any color. Therefore you need to transform its impure vision into pure vision, by the power of concentration. Then you become aware that your experiences, both around and within yourself, are only reflections of your true nature. You need to see yourself as the colorless crystal ball, in essence and nature always pure and unaltered by the ever flowing energies of the dualistic world.

To attain this level you need to relax the mind and feel your own true essence as much as possible. Clarity and purity of mind need to be exercised not only during your meditation hours, but also during the rest of the day. It is not as simple as it looks. We all are accustomed to react to everything in life with emotions that sweep us away from our center. We constantly think about a million things, what we did yesterday, what we should have done, what we are going to do, what others should do. We are never in the present moment. In crystal consciousness, with clarity of mind, only the true self can be found in the here and now, in the present. Therefore be aware of what is going on in the present. Emotions and thought are fine as long as they are experienced in the moment, for what they are; at the same remaining constantly in your center. Relaxation is the key here. When one is truly relaxed, the mind itself shifts to its natural condition. It is a delicate yet natural exercise, presence of your natural state is maintained without attempting to fix it to any conceptual framework or hopes for it to manifest in any particular form. It has become so difficult to just relax and be your true self because you are used to doing things in a particular way. Practice will show you the way. Just relax in an undisturbed condition. In the beginning your clear state of mind might only last a moment. Do not worry about it. All the great masters started just as you did. All that is necessary is that you maintain pure presence of mind without falling into the dualistic situation where there is an observing subject perceiving an observed object. It is all about maintaining present awareness without being distracted by your environment. "The Crystal and the Way of Light" by Namkhai Norbu is a marvelous book to guide you in a clear and direct way in the teachings of Dzogchen.

Another way to experience the crystal consciousness is to sing the sound of crystals, a high nasal "eeeee". This kind of singing is found in many cultures, from Sufi to shamans. In aboriginal cultures shamans considered crystals to be solidified light, light that crystallized itself, which leads us to the next level: light consciousness.



6. Light Consciousness

Nature emits a light, and by its radiance she can be known.

But in man there is still another light

apart from that which is innate in nature.

It is the light through which man experiences,

learns, and fathoms the supernatural.

Those who seek in the light of nature

speak from the knowledge of nature;

but those who seek in the light of man

speak from the knowledge of super-nature.

Paracelsus

A crystal, when heated, starts to radiate light. As you rise up through crystal consciousness you will end up traveling through the white light. This is the level of light consciousness. Sunlight makes life possible on this planet. You also receive light of the stars. Have you ever wondered how long this light took to reach you? Some light in the universe has been traveling for billions of years before reaching you. During all that time it gathered information about the universe. Star light contains information about the nature of things: chemistry, physical properties and subtle energies. There are other kinds of light coming from other dimensions. To reach these other lights you can call upon them, or you can bring yourself into a state of consciousness which is the same as it is where they exist.

The experience of light phenomena, other than physical, is quite common. Unfortunately, our present civilized world does not pay attention it. People who have had such experiences are often disbelieved, shunned or ridiculed. It is time to restore the sacred, because it is as necessary to the survival of man as is food to the physical body. Life on this planet came into being by the light of the sun. Take the sun away, and Earth is a dead planet in no time. Man equally needs the light from the subtle realms. Many experiences of light phenomena present themselves to his mind. This is well known and well documented in regard to kundalini experiences. According to the Indian tradition kundalini is a type of energy that is held at rest in a dormant, potential state in the human body. When this energy is awakened, it rushes up along the central axis of the spine to the crown of the head, where it gives rise to a mystical state of consciousness. Awakening kundalini causes a psychospiritual transformation during which many psychic and psychological phenomena happen. Light, in its many forms, is an important aspect of the kundalini awakening, and has also been reported by mystics of all religious traditions. In alchemical texts, light is often mentioned as an important experience of the spiritual alchemist. The alchemists often distinguish between the "natural light" which is a created light omnipresent in the created world, and the "supernatural light" which is uncreated and spiritual, and is present in the spiritual or divine realms. They warned not to go into the different kinds of colored lights but to continue the "distillation" or "purification" until one experiences the brilliant white light, the uncreated Light. The same advice is given by yogis.

Crystal consciousness comprises a purification of perception from the bodily senses. Through this inorganic perception you can see the created worlds, physical and subtle, as they really are, unmodified by the senses. Light consciousness is above the created worlds. It is present in the spiritual or uncreated realms. These are the worlds in which our essence, our divine spirit, resides. Here the Beings of Light live and work. They create and maintain the universe. They look after all living beings. They are compassionate and filled with endless love. When you enter the realms of Light you experience not only the living Light itself, but also it boundless love. The Light radiates an all encompassing love and a wonderful, all embracing acceptance. Light consciousness is a feeling of being filled with the Divine, with love, peace, joy and ecstasy. Although the experience is different for everyone according to his or her personality, individuality and circumstances, the Light is always the same for everyone. The Light does not discriminate, it does not know duality. Everything in the Light is in unity. In the Light you don’t see other people as separate from yourself. In the Light we are all connected, and you see the other person as a beautiful being, no matter what he or she is or does on Earth. No racism, no politics, no hate. In the Light we are all loving beings.

Light experiences are not available to the ego, which belongs to the lower realms of form. The former levels of consciousness can be induced by will. Light consciousness happens by the grace of your Higher Self, by the Beings of Light, by accident, or by death. People who have had near-death-experiences often report going through a tunnel and entering a brilliant white light with experiences similar to the ones mentioned above. Sometimes they encounter Beings of Light who help them to understand what is happening to them and who often guide them back into their physical bodies. This Light is experienced as spiritual, all dimensional. Consciousness is very clear and real. The Beings of Light always radiate a magnificent energy of love. Communication with those beings happens not through telepathy, but through the sensation of knowing. People who have had near-death-experiences have gained a profound insight that on the fundamental level of the universe there is a Reality without any time or space, where one simply is, filled with never ending love. In spite of your every day worries and the misery in the world, always remember that you always have been, that you are, and that you always will be, the same. You are a Being of Light.

Ask your Higher Self, the Beings of Light, or the Divine to lift you up to the level of light consciousness. If the time is right and the right circumstances present themselves, it will happen. Your ego has absolutely no say in it. The ego is a fabrication of your mind and has to be surrendered. It will be left behind when you enter light consciousness. This does not mean that you must sit back and forget about light consciousness. A spiritual worker constantly works on himself. Therefore meditate every day in one form or another, analyze your emotions, thoughts and actions in order to purify yourself. Always be aware that you yourself are a Being of Light.

Pay attention to what is happening inside yourself.

The state between waking and sleeping is favorable to enter other states of consciousness, including the experience of different kinds of light. You can experiment with physical light forms, such as staring into candle light, or looking at sunlight (don’t look directly into the sun!) through the eyelashes. Many sun symbols from ancient civilizations and primitive people were derived from visionary experiences. When you look you shall find, but be patient. You don’t have to be a saint or holy man to have light experiences. Many common people do have them, but often they don’t talk about it, because it is such a personal experience. Light experiences happen when they are needed or when they can really help you along your spiritual path.

Although a light experience can be the most wonderful experience you have ever had, it is not the highest level of consciousness. Light is at the basis of everything that has been created, but the Light in the spiritual, or uncreated realms, is still vibration. When consciousness is raised you will hear the vibration of Light, because sound is the basis of everything in the created and uncreated worlds. This leads us to the next level, sound consciousness.



7. Sound Consciousness

Your music causes my soul to dance;

in the murmur of the wind I hear Your flute;

the waves of the sea keep the rhythm of my dancing steps.

Through the whole of nature

I hear Your music played, my Beloved;

my soul while dancing speaks its joy in song.

Hazrat Inayat Khan

Sound is the basis of all that exists, created and uncreated. In the spiritual doctrines of the East, the first sound the Divine emanates is the primeval vibration Aum, also called Shabda-Brahman or the Sound of the Divine. According to yogis and mystics around the world the Primal Sound is like a swarm of bees. It is a humming, buzzing, that can be heard through meditation. This sound can then be inwardly transformed into the inner light. To bask in this blissful consciousness of light lights up one’s thoughts, hearing the Primal Sound draws you near to Divine consciousness. In your ordinary life this sound is not heard, although it is omnipresent. Therefore sit down, meditate, still the mind, and listen to the sound of the inner self. Focus on the Primal Sound, and eventually you will hear it. A shamanic practice consists of a hum with your lips almost pressed together producing a sound resembling the buzzing of bees. A warning: when you hear the Primal Sound, or another sound of the lesser realms that might pop up, shut it down immediately. Like a radio, you need to gain absolute control over the sounds you hear. Turn it on, turn it off repeatedly until you have mastered it completely. If you don’t do this from in the beginning, you might not be able to shut the sound off. You will hear it constantly, twenty-four hours a day. Not everybody can deal with this. You wouldn’t be the first one ending up in a nut house.

The Primal Sound is omnipresent can be heard at any moment when your mind attunes itself to this vibration. It did originate a long time ago ( it is outside of time) as it sometimes mentioned in the holy scriptures. Sacred texts often state that "in the beginning was the word", but be aware that time is a physical experience. Creation is an ongoing process. The Primal Sound is a continuous sound that reverberates throughout the entire cosmos, creating, maintaining and destroying it at every moment. You are part of it. You exist as sound at the most fundamental level of your being. Furthermore all your bodies, mental, astral and physical, all vibrate and have their own characteristic sounds. Everything has its sound, living beings, inorganic matter, energies, even, abstract concepts and psychological problems.

To attain the full level of sound consciousness you need to become or realize yourself as a sound being. An enlightened person can go one step further, and by becoming a sound being he becomes a creator. The Divine is present in all living beings, and it allows us to become creators ourselves. It takes a long time to arrive at the sound level of human evolution. However, it is easy enough to work with sound on the lower levels of creation. It will help you a lot in your personal development.

Knowledge of sound is knowledge of the universe. Therefore you need to understand what sound is about and what you can do with it. Sound can be used to induce changes. When you keep your intentions pure you can use sound, or music, to the benefit of yourself and others. In the past centuries music was divided in three. Musica Mundana is the harmony of the universe, the macro cosmos, the harmony of measurement, weight and number (in the philosophical sense), the seasons, night and day. Musica Humana is the music of the soul, the harmony of man, the micro cosmos, as a reflection of the macro cosmos. Musica Instrumentalis is music created by the blessed one, who is able to receive the cosmic beauty and harmony of the Divine and translate it to human proportions as instrumental music. The hermetic philosophers talked about the Harmony of Spheres, based upon their own experiences in which they became one with Nature in which its music was felt and lived.

Many do not realize it, but you live in a world constantly full of sounds. Every day you are subjected to continuous sound waves. The alarm clock wakes you up, you go to work in a noisy car in an even more noisy road. The car radio gives you the morning news. On your work you are subjected for many hours to the sounds of running computers or factory machines. After a tiresome day you arrive home to sit in front of the television blasted by hyped up sounds of commercials and movies. Even if you would be in a totally quiet place, you will hear the sounds in the ears, sounds produced by bodily fluids and other functions. You are trained to react automatically to certain sounds: the sirens of the fire trucks, the police, the ambulance, the ring of the telephones. The beep of pagers and so on. Sounds can have a profound effect. Who is untouched when a baby cries? The tone in the voice of your boss can set the atmosphere in the office for the rest of the day. Sounds can irritate or relax you. Shamans use sound to induce trance states with rattles and drums.

Music not only uplifts the soul but causes changes on many subtle levels. It is important to listen to or be in the presence of harmonic music, or at least music that makes you feel better. Nowadays there is so much disharmonious music around which creates discordant energies on the soul level. Especially for children, who are by nature totally open to outside influences, this can be very harmful for their development. On the subtle levels, sound and dance beings (dance is an expression of sound) are extremely sensitive to vibrations and higher aesthetics. Sound and musical disharmonies and incoherent movements can make them nauseated and angry. This you should always keep in mind. Don’t underestimate the importance of these beings because they are all around. They send out strong vibrations related to the fate of man. A man who is stupid in sound and movement should not count on cosmic luck. By his attitude he is disturbing his own aura, and by that it is more and more difficult for good vibrations to reach him. At the same time he becomes vulnerable to the wrath of the sound beings and the dance beings. He becomes a willing receiver of negative forces. Be aware of what you do to yourself. Sound is a powerful force. This is also recognized in magic, especially in incantations. Magicians know that vibrations of the human voice can alter the plastic substance of the astral light and thus exert influence over spiritual beings and human beings. Unfortunately a lot of people using magic don’t understand the consequences of their acts. The ego wants self-gratification and is not always interested in the consequences. What you send out you will eventually receive. The sound waves you create will sooner or later come back to you. Unless you are an experienced magician and you have a clear insight in the law of cause and effect, it is better to use sound for your own spiritual development.

To work on a certain problem, first feel the vibration of it. The problem can be manifold. It can be a physical, psychological, spiritual problem, a frustration, an emotion, a problem at work, or with your partner. Whatever it is, you need to get a feeling of how it "sounds". Sit in a quiet place and start to express it in a sound. Let the sounds come out in a simple and primitive way. Take at least half an hour to an hour to develop these sounds in a mantra or a simple song that will be connected to your problem. This is how mantras are created. Only the sound is important. Vocals, words or sentences do not matter. This is how shamans sing. They use guttural sounds, not words, no classical songs. Singing this mantra daily, with the right focus and attention, will act directly on the subtle cause of the problem. A mantra consists of two aspects. The negative aspect is the blockade in man on the physical, psychological and spiritual level. The positive aspect is the desire which has not been satisfied, yet. The mantra dissolves the blockade and stimulates the blocked energy to liberate itself. Instead of singing the sound, you can also hum.

As everything in nature and in the universe has its own sound, you can contact it all by its sound vibration: people, objects, clouds, stones, crystals, even the cosmic and the Divine. Feel their vibration and rhythm, and sing, sing, sing. When you use sound you live in a world of inspiration, independent of the will of the ego. To arrive at this you have to be open unconditionally. You accept what happens, what you feel, what you encounter, what you experience without any criticism, without any judgment, without any opinion. The universe is what it is. It does not judge, or divide, or categorize, or interpret.

Nature is a wonderful teacher. Go sit next to a stream and listen to the sounds of its water flowing by. The stronger the current, the better. A waterfall is an excellent place. Listen to the sounds, and to the sounds within the sounds. Listen to and distinguish the different frequencies. Feel what these sounds do to your body, soul and spirit. Then, listen to the sounds with a blank mind, accept the sounds without trying to analyze it. Listen to it as it is. This can be a powerful experience.

One day you will find your own song. When that happens you will realize the Divine in yourself.



The Wheels of Consciousness

Then he perceives the manifestations of Spirit,

and passes through the seven Chakras,

or centers in the spine,

beholding the seven rishis. Kaivalya Darsanam by Priya Nath Swami (Sri Yukteswar)



Now that you have a good understanding of the seven shamanic levels of consciousness, you might have noticed a parallel with the seven major chakras in the human body. In the Hindu tradition, the chakras are recognized as major points of power in the subtle body. They are visualized as geometric figures, as wheels (chakra means wheel, they are usually seen as spinning), or lotuses. They are spaced on a vertical axis in the subtle body, corresponding roughly to the spinal column and brain. The chakras transform subtle energies from the universe into particular vital energies for the body. Each chakra is responsible for a part of the body. When the chakras are in good working condition the body is healthy. By negative emotions, impure thoughts and neglect of the physical needs of the body, the function of the one or more chakras is impaired and ailments and disease occur. Chakras are often regarded as levels of energy, but you need to understand that energy is also consciousness. It all depends from what angle you look at it. The chakras are manifestations of consciousness. Each chakra represents a particular level of consciousness taking care of a particular area of the body. Information from the cosmos around us is brought over to the body to keep it alive and functioning.

Earlier we talked about Kundalini, as being an psychic energy, present in the body. Kundalini is also seen as consciousness. When Pure Consciousness descended the manifested cosmos, it left behind a part of its powers seven times. Each power created a chakra. When the seventh chakra, Muladhara, the root chakra at the base of the spine, was created it went to "sleep" in this chakra. Here it is called Kundalini-Shakti (Shakti is the immense power inherent in the universe). Remember the story of Snow-white? Snow-white represent Pure Consciousness. When she found the house of the seven dwarfs (the house is a symbol for the body), she tried out all the little beds and finally fell asleep in the seventh bed! What happened on a cosmic level also happens as the human body is being formed in the womb. Pure Consciousness descends into the physical body, creating the seven chakras. Each chakra in your body is thus connected to the seven levels of consciousness. When you do the exercises mentioned in the previous chapters it is good to simultaneously work with the corresponding chakra. For this purpose an explanation of the connection between the chakras and the levels of consciousness follows.

Muladhara or root chakra is the seat of your physical identity. Here, personal consciousness manifests itself through the issues of survival in the physical world. Your personality is primarily concerned with keeping your body alive. On this level it is only concerned with itself. Hence the root of fear. Everything that threatens the body causes fear: fear of not having enough money, fear of being alone, fear of not being able to make it in life, fear of death. As the physical body gets the most attention on this level of consciousness, it wants to feel good and thus physical sensations through the senses are pursued. The root chakra gives you the sense of your body, of its pleasures, of what it has experienced in this life and what is needed to continue its existence. Personal consciousness excels in what it has accomplished in this life and looks ahead what more it can gain in the future.

Svadhistana or sex chakra is the seat of close contact to the opposite sex. Here is the drive nature provided to make sure the human race would not become extinct. No matter how hard cats fight, there are always enough kitties around. Sex is a strong force, it makes you go out and pursue the opposite sex. Hereby you make contact with the rest of humanity and what it experiences. You discover that the experiences of other people are the same as what you have. Genes are shared, combining to form new human beings who inherit the biological and morphogenetic blueprint of their ancestors.

Manipura or navel chakra is where we connect to our environment and assimilate impressions. It is the web of relatedness seen in the third level of shamanic consciousness. From the navel chakra many astral cords extend to the people we know. Strong relationships form strong cords. Through this connection we feel what the other person feels. This connection is not limited to other humans, but also to all the other living beings. Through this center you connect with everything around you, with animals, plants, our house, the garden, the village you live in. When you go out in nature and look out over the landscape, you can feel it through the navel chakra. When you thus consciously connect to your environment you can develop your feeling and derive a lot of information from your it.

Anahata or heart chakra is the seat not only of love, but also of your place in the universe. In the heart resides the sense of the personal "I", the ego. The ego is the center and everything else is the sphere around it. Here we observe with spherical consciousness. The sense of an ego implies that everything else surrounds him and is different than itself. The ego is like a pulsing heart beat. It expands like a sphere to connect with all living beings around it, and then contracts to keep his sense of a separate being. Its seat, the heart, is the center of the physical body and its existence. When the heart fails, the body dies. The heart chakra, being the fourth chakra, is positioned at the center of the seven chakras.

Vishuddha or the throat chakra is the seat of purification of impressions and experiences. Traditionally it is seen as a transformation station that gathers impressions and experiences from the lower chakras and purifies them. The dross is rejected and only the pure can continue. Thus you obtain crystal consciousness. The four lower levels of consciousness are organic in nature and are connected to the body part of the body. The throat is like a bridge between the body and the head. Starting with the throat and upward, impressions and experiences are now pure and unaltered. These are inorganic levels of consciousness. The throat chakra makes the mind clear and pure in order to function on the physical level in a correct manner. Clarity of mind is the essential quality of crystal consciousness.

Ajna or the inner eye chakra is the seat of cosmic consciousness. It controls the entire personality and harmonizes all its functions. It gives insight in all spiritual matters. Here you connect to the essence of all living beings, and the essence is light. In the eye brow chakra lies the potential to open the door to the spiritual worlds of light. Shamans, mystics, yogis, at a certain point in their spiritual work they will open this door and light will fill the head. This light is seen with the inner eye and is experienced as filling the inside of the head and even of the entire body. This light will unlock several spiritual qualities like leaving the physical body consciously, clairvoyance, or being able to read the thoughts of other people.

Sahasrara or crown chakra is connected to divine consciousness. Here you experience the Divine in its primal manifestation, which is sound. It is the center of being in consciousness or consciously being. The vibration of everything is experienced in non-duality, as unmanifested It is the seat of your highest self, your innermost essence. The primeval sound is heard in the top of the head.

Traveling through the seven levels of consciousness is like traveling through your own body. Be aware that the keys to enlightenment are all present in your self. The only thing you have to do is to turn the keys.

