According to the esoteric view, “the whole theme of healing is ‘tied up’… with the development, unfoldment and control of the seven major centres” (A. A. Bailey, Esoteric Healing, p. 80), for once they are awakened and harmonised with one another, they are the transmitting agents of the Spiritual Triad, i.e. the Will, Love and Wisdom of the Soul through intelligent Action in the three worlds of the Personality (mental, emotional and etheric/physical bodies).
In fact, the esoteric assumption indicates that the triune higher One always radiates in a septenary in the substance of forms, at every level, macro- and microcosmic:
“These three major energies in a mysterious manner express themselves through the seven rays just as all triplicities subdivide into septenates, yet preserve their identity.” (A. A. Bailey, Esoteric Astrology, p. 595)
“Life governs Space through a system of Seven Centres”
As above so below, there is an essential analogical correspondence between the Seven Rays of Life, the Seven sacred Luminaries, the Seven planetary Kingdoms, the Seven human types, the Seven human etheric Centres, the Seven glands:
1. Mineral …… Centre at the base of spine …….. Adrenal Glands
2. Plant ..…….. Heart Centre…………………….. Thymus
3. Animal ……. Solar Plexus Centre ….……..….. Pancreas
4. Human ..….. Sacral Centre ………………..…. Gonads
5. Egoic …..…. Throat Centre ………..……….…. Thyroid
6. Planetary …. Ajna Centre ……………..……… Pituitary Body
7. Solar ..…….. Crown Centre …….…………….. Pineal Gland
“… man is essentially (through his etheric body) an integral part of a great and vibrant Whole… through the processes of evolution, can he hope to register all the different areas of divine expression. Only when the etheric body is swept into activity under the influence and through the “impressed forces” of the soul, the mind, and temporarily, of the astral body, can man become aware of all worlds, all phenomena, and all states of consciousness, and so achieve that omniscience which is the birth right of all the sons of God.
But, during the period wherein this state of being is in process of achievement, the lack of development, the failure to register, the life work of awakening and organising the various centres and of then correctly relating them to each other, produces much difficulty. It is this condition which is the fruitful source of those difficulties which, when carried down into the physical body, produce disease of various kinds, the many tensions and congestions, the overstimulation of the centres in one part of the etheric vehicle and their underdevelopment in another, plus the unequal unfoldment and wrong balance of the centres.
Much is said today in modern medical investigation anent the “imbalance” of the endocrine glands, and many physical difficulties are ascribed to this frequent imbalance. But behind this condition of the glandular system lies the basic imbalance of the centres themselves. Only when there is a right understanding of force and its reception and consequent use, will right balance be achieved and the human endocrine system control the physical man in the manner that is intended.
There is much need today for the study of the following problems:
1. The problem of the right reception of force through the appropriate centre. An instance of this might be found in the correct control of the solar plexus centre as the one in which astral sensitivity can be registered and properly handled.
2. The problem of the right relation of a particular centre to its related gland, permitting the free play of the force pouring through the centre to the allied glandular correspondence, thus conditioning its peculiar hormone and eventually conditioning the blood stream. If you grasp this sequence of contact, you will understand more clearly the occult significance of the words in the Old Testament that “the blood is the life”. It is the vitality coming from the etheric body which works through into the blood stream, via the centre which is responsive to one of the seven peculiar types of force, and its allied gland.
It will be apparent, therefore, that there is a close relation between:
- The etheric body as a transmitter of a vast aggregate of energies and forces.
- The endocrine system whose various glands are in reality the externalisation or materialisation of the centres, major and minor.
- The heart, which is the centre of life as the brain is the centre of consciousness. From the heart, the blood circulates and is controlled. Thus these three great systems are related.
- The entire glandular system to the nervous system through the medium of the network of nerves and the “nadis” which underlie this network. These nadis are the threads of life force which underlie every part of the body and particularly the nervous system in all its aspects.
To these problems and relationships another might be added. This is the interrelation which must be established between all the centres, permitting the free play of force in correct rhythm throughout the physical vehicle.
You have, therefore, certain great interlocking directorates which control or fail to control the physical body.
Where there is lack of control it is due to the failure to establish right relations within the body, or to lack of development. These interlocking groups are:
- That of the etheric body, which works primarily through its seven major centres but also through many other centres.
- That of the endocrine system, which works primarily through the seven major glandular groups, but also through many other less important glands.
- That of the nervous system (the sympathetic and the cerebro-spinal) with a peculiar emphasis laid upon the vagus nerve with its effect upon the heart and consequently upon the blood stream.
All these points have to be considered and correlated in any system of occult healing, and the technical matter to be covered is, in the last analysis, less intricate than the vast system built up by orthodox medicine and surgery. It is because of the lack of coordination of these three systems that the healing art is at this time failing to achieve all that it desires. It has done much, but must move another step onto the etheric plane before the real clue to disease and its cure can be ascertained.” (Esoteric Healing, pp. 83-86)
