Formation of the Chakra System – Fourth Chakra, the Heart
As a person lives from their heart chakra, or Anahata in Sanskrit, they relate from a place of understanding and compassion rather than ego defense and control. The heart is about giving and receiving love. This is no surprise, as the understanding of the human hearts’ energetic function is ancient, crossing all boundaries. Love resides in our center, the heart, not the mind, and is where deep spiritual work and connection to the Divine are found. The heart is like an alchemical crucible, transforming base metal (lower energies) into gold (higher energies), and this is the true ancient and esoteric meaning of ‘alchemy’. As pranic energy enters the crown (seventh chakra) it is flowing to the heart just as a river flows to the sea.
As a young person’s fourth chakra develops and matures, the very ‘heart’ of the person is formed; the human identity they will carry for their entire lives. When I use the word heart here, I am referring to the emotional and energetic heart chakra, in the center of the chest, not to the left where the physical heart beats. It is truly the center of our being, with three embodied chakras above it and three below. Of course, as the fourth chakra develops, the physical organ itself has been developing right along and is an intrinsic part of this center. I find the heart chakra center is about one inch above the bottom of the sternum.
I use the term ’embodied’ as there is a lot of esoteric literature espousing knowledge of a non-physical chakra system that goes at least one chakra below the body and far up above the head. The ‘8th chakra’ or ‘soul star’ located just above the crown (seventh) chakra is referred to. I have had direct experience of the higher holographic ‘causal body’ above that, which seems to me to be much more than what I perceive as a chakra, and the phenomenally high ‘monad’ which is also not a chakra, but an ‘oversoul’. These are beyond this article; I may address them in a forthcoming article on non-physical chakras and dimensional realities.
Chakra development is not as linear as this may make it sound. The fourth chakra is present along with the rest from birth, of course, and is experiencing some development from early childhood. Yet there is a vertical progression from the first chakra upwards; an awakening from states of relative dormancy is taking place through the years of human experience.
The heart center of the maturely developing young man or woman learns to carry compassion; giving and receiving pure love. As this teenager grows up and moves forth into life, if their third chakra is balanced, they will find that others receive them on a deeper personal level than most, often asking for their advice and counsel. They will be considered a confidant by close peers.
Still, there seems to be a need for deep work to be done throughout the energetic system of even the most fortunate individual. This is altogether the human condition; emotional insults and injury happen early on to the delicate child in practically every case. As adults, we forget how incredibly sensitive and powerful our experience as a small child was. Even Siddhartha Gautama, who became the Buddha, found childhood and adulthood to be fraught with misunderstanding, because of his father. See my brief article ‘The Buddha and Childhood Wounding‘ for more on this.
The fourth chakra is where the deepest connection to our pure divinity is found. There are many beautiful Stations of the Heart which I experienced as a Sufi initiate that, sadly, modern life in America is not well suited to; however, all is possible to the seeker of Truth and Love.
Although the heart is a higher chakra, it is so involved with the clearing of the lower energy centers that I included it in my essays on the lower chakra system. It truly is the center of our being; standing alone without a pairing chakra in our energetic physiology. Of all the chakras, the heart is the most central for us in every way.
Wounds carried in any of the subtle bodies will ultimately coalesce through the subtle bodies into the etheric, which is closest to the physical. From the etheric, then through the glands, the energies enter physical body tissues, principally the organs. Fourth chakra wounds are some of the deepest, and I believe they contribute to the cardiac problems we find among so prevalent today.
If I were to ask a typical recent male heart attack victim what his underlying problem was, he would likely tell me about a blockage in his cardiac arteries, and certainly diet and other lifestyle choices bear upon health. But suppose I asked him why another person with the same lifestyle choices and genetic heritage, like a brother, has a healthy heart. If I were to explain the real problem as a dark red angry energy protecting a deep lack of safety I perceive within his heart that started when he was rejected by his parents and that he never dealt with, he would probably get angry and call me crazy, or worse!
This type of energetic healing is presently only available to those willing to open themselves to self-discovery and whose soul has evolved to where they will take in and act upon what their mates, family members, and confidants have frequently told them through the years about what needs to change within themselves.
Those able to overcome their ego’s deceptions and dedicate themselves to their inner work will become more awakened. They must look at their blocks; anger, pride, sorrow, frustration, disconnection, numbness, timidness, and above all the ubiquitous pain, fear and lack of self acceptance found in so many. All the myriad unhealed aspects people carry around inside must be seen willfully and clearly, and help on their journey to wholeness passionately sought. Enlightenment is ultimately what this journey within is about. Sadly, at present, this seems to exclude the majority, including, ironically, those in deep denial that need it the most. Everyone where the need exists to heal in these ways is a potential candidate. The mystery of our being evidently hears ‘the call’ at the right time, and begins this type of inner work, yet often the ego-mind thwarts the soul’s intent in this. Humanity seems to be undergoing a mass awakening at present, and the synchronicity of need is clearly implicated. So it may also be with the individual’s karma. This can be transformed.
Many who have undergone deep healings and initiations believe that these familial situations and ‘seeds’ of oppressive energies were precisely chosen and planned by the individual’s soul for their healing. I sense that when Divine Spirit intervenes on behalf of a person, a higher synchronicity manifests that is beyond my ability to describe. The poetic language of the Sufis are the only words I know of that come close to expressing the grace of this sublime divine choreography.
Someday, if the mysteries of initiation are no longer hidden to humanity, the consensus reality will hold acceptance for schools of self-discovery and transformation as the norm and as necessary for everyone of all ages. Then the crucial point of balance on the scales of human consciousness will tip, and generations of children to come will have much less need for healing. The corner of woe humanity is painting itself into may be escaped, and the dawn of enlightened civilization that we have so long hoped for shall emerge, with transformations and initiations into a Homo Superior that we can, today, only dream of.
The work must begin at home, inside every one of us. This is the real medicine.
It is to this end that I dedicate this information and my practice and teaching of Spiritual Energy Healing.
© 2010 – 2018 Andrew M. Williams