THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS

First Center ­ Gonads (ovaries & testes) ­ Root Chakra

The portion of our spiritual selves represented by the Spirit that holds the seven stars and walks among the seven golden lampstands says that this first center’s virtue is that it has toiled and persevered and cannot stand evil or false spirituality. Nevertheless, its weakness is that it has left its first love and must therefore remember from where it has fallen, repent, and do the first deeds.

Despite all appearances to the contrary, we are celestial, spiritual beings first. We descended from heaven into matter and into this world. These outer influences have taken hold on us. They possess us. We feel completely terrestrial and physical subjects of this world. This chakra reflects that loss. It must reverse its focus on worldly realities to include spiritual realities, remembering that it originally loved the spiritual things and God, who is a spirit.

In many of the ancient texts, reversing the flow of energy in the body is a major technique for spiritualizing the body. Included in the diagram section of this booklet is a Taoist diagram of a breathing technique in which the mind visualizes energy rising up the back of the body with every inhalation of the breath, uniting with the Great Spirit’s breath, and then descending down the front of the body with every exhalation, bathing the body in raised, spiritualized energy. The sexual glands or chakras have the life force of the body “coiled” within them. This needs to be awakened and drawn upward through the body. It needs to be united with our spiritual ideal or our image, concept, or consciousness of God and our godly nature. Then, with this first love restored, the body is bathed in the resurrected spirit and vibration. The body gradually becomes enlivened and spiritualized.

In its final comment to this center, the Spirit promises that if this center spiritualizes itself, then it will be allowed to eat from the Tree of Life again in the Paradise of God. In other words, it will regain its immortality and its companionship with God in Paradise, which was first lost in the Garden in Genesis.

The old teaching that this life is lived to prepare for the next life holds true despite all of the physical world’s attempts to confuse, distract, and repudiate it. Physical is important. Our soul has incarnated for a purpose. That purpose is to resolve karma, embrace grace, and resurrect our true self and its companionship with our Creator. As Cayce’s readings teach, the goal is to know yourself to be yourself (your true self) and yet one with the Whole (Cayce capitalized this word, indicating its connection with the Divine).

THE CHURCH OF SMYRNA

Second Center ­ Cells of Leydig ­ Naval Chakra

As the Spirit turns its attention to the church of Smyrna, it identifies itself as being the first self and the last self, which was dead and is now alive again. It acknowledges that this center, the navel or lower abdomen chakra, has suffered much tribulation, poverty, and slander from those who say they are true spiritual seekers but are of “the synagogue of Satan.”

Cayce identifies the second spiritual center and its connection to the sixth center as the “seat of the soul.” The soul’s companion is the subconscious mind, according to Cayce. These two abide in the autonomic nervous system of the body and directly affect the endocrine glands and their hormones. Their primary points of contact are the second and sixth chakras. The spirit is aware of the soul’s and subconscious mind’s poverty and tribulation in a purely physical world and a physically-dominated body, with little or no spiritual nourishment. When we are predominantly in our outer egos and conscious minds, our soul and deeper mind suffer and starve. Despite this, the Spirit says that the soul is rich and it should not fear its trials and imprisonment in the body because at the death of the body the Spirit will give it “the crown of life.”

The Spirit warns that this center allows fear to take hold of it, but it must let go of fear. The Spirit promises that if this center stops being afraid and doubting the truth, it will not suffer the “second death.” Cayce says that the second death is when those who have gained understanding again fall away into self-exaltation, accentuating the ego rather than the soul-self, and suffer the death of truth a second time. If this spiritual center lets go of fear, it will never fall away again, and thereby never again suffer death of the truth. Cayce explains it this way: “For there is set before thee good and evil, life and death; choose thou. For the spirit of truth maketh alive. Fear, doubt, condemnation, bringeth doubt, illness, fear, and then dissolution (disillusion?); and the hill to be climbed again.” In other readings Cayce says that doing what we know is right, despite the challenges, will remove fear. We certainly don’t want to climb the hill again or experience the death of the truth a second time.

THE CHURCH OF PERGAMOS

Third Center ­ Adrenal Glands ­ Solar Plexus Chakra

As the Spirit approaches this third center, it describes itself as the one with a two-edged sword, revealing this center’s power to wield a weapon that can cut for good or evil. The Spirit acknowledges that this center held fast to “my name” and did not deny “my witness, my faithful one”; even though this center is “where Satan’s throne is” and “where Satan dwells.” Over and over in the Cayce volumes we find the concept that within each of us is both the Holy One and the Evil One, wrestling for power and control over us. Thus this center is a most dangerous and potentially powerful chakra. Given the energy of the powerful solar plexus and the adrenal glands’ “fight or flight” hormones, this is understandable. In many yoga texts, its power is often identified as second only to the crown chakra. According to Cayce, during physical growth and even during meditation, if the balance is maintained, the energy of the life-force, the kundalini, crosses the solar plexus each time it passes to another center.

But this center is also the place of anger, impulsive reactions, and spirit-killing urges. The Spirit identifies its weaknesses and vices as eating things “sacrificed to idols” and committing “acts of immorality.” Uncontrolled, the Spirit says that this center throws “stumbling blocks” in the way of our spiritual efforts. It must stop this. If it does, then the Spirit promises that it will “eat of the hidden manna” and “receive a new name.”

Cayce says that “my name” in verse 13 refers to our eternal name that uniquely identifies each of us from among the rest of creation. Somehow deep within each of us, the Spirit says that we have not fully denied this aspect of ourselves. We have not killed the witness to our spiritual nature -­ a witness that whispers within our own conscience. If we spiritualize this center, then a new name will be given to us, a name that only we who receive it will know. The disciple John receives his name written upon a white stone, indicating that it will endure, or as we would say, “it’s written in stone.”

The manna refers to this center’s desires for physical gratification, often symbolized as bread; yet, as Jesus so wonderfully put it, we do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God. These words from God’s mouth, Cayce says, are the hidden manna. As the Spirit warned, it will come upon this center “quickly with the sword of my mouth” if it doesn’t overcome its negative influences.

This center is extremely important in our overall soul growth. To subdue the powerful urges and anger that this center can produce and to awaken and nourish its power for grace, forgiveness, and kindness is critical. Each of us wields a sword of great destructive or constructive power. Mastering our control over it physically and mentally is a spiritual achievement.

THE CHURCH OF THYATIRA

Fourth Center ­ Thymus Gland ­ Heart Chakra

Now the Spirit moves to the fourth center, identifying itself as the Son of God with eyes like fire and feet like fine brass. In other words, it has the vision of the spirit and the understanding that only comes from being tested in the furnace of daily life. It acknowledges that the heart chakra has charity, faith, patience, service, and good works; the most recent works being greater than the first works. But it also has one major issue with this center: it lives life without love and spirit, seeking only gratification and pleasure. This is represented by the false prophet Jezebel, whose motto is to get all you want no matter how you obtain it and by acts of fornication, which is sex without love, here representative of living physically without spiritual ideals. Then the Spirit warns that unless the heart center changes its ways and holds fast to the good that remains, it will suffer “great tribulation” in the bed it has made for itself. When Cayce was asked about the great tribulation, he answered:

The great tribulation and periods of tribulation ... are the experiences of every soul, every entity. They arise from influences created by man.... Man may become, with the people of the universe, ruler of any of the various spheres through which the soul passes in its experiences. Hence, as the cycles pass, as the cycles are passing, when there IS come a time, a period of readjusting in the spheres, (as well as in the little earth, the little soul) - seek, then, as known, to present self spotless before that throne; even as ALL are commanded to be circumspect, in thought, in act, to that which is held by self as that necessary for the closer walk with Him. In that manner only may each atom (as man is an atom, or corpuscle, in the body of the Father) become a helpmeet with Him in bringing that to pass that all may be one with Him.

The Spirit goes on to promise that if this center changes, then he “will give him the morning star.” The morning star is a bright planet seen in the eastern horizon before sunrise. Venus is the most brilliant planet in our solar system and for half of the year appears as the morning star. In astrological traditions, Venus represents love, harmony, and beauty. Cayce identifies the planet Venus with the heart chakra.

Saint Paul says that love is “the greatest.” Jesus identifies it as the top commandment, summing up the works and teachings of all the laws and prophets. More songs are written about it than any other aspect of human experience. Throughout the Bible, love is most important and powerful. But when we think of power, even spiritual power, we rarely think of love. Yet, from Genesis to the Revelation, the Bible indicates that love evokes the highest, most godly of powers and actually is the nature of God. Love brings us closest to our true, divine nature ­ our angelic nature. Many biblical passages teach that of all the things a person can learn and do in this world, nothing reflects Godliness more than love.

The two greatest commandments are found in the Old and New Testaments. The first is found in Deuteronomy 6:5 and Matthew 22:37:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”

The second commandment is found in Leviticus 19:18 and Matthew 22:39:

“You shall love your neighbor [plesion, meaning a ‘close-by person’] as yourself.”

The disciple Paul’s famous love statement is found in 1 Corinthians 13:13: “Now abide faith, hope, and love [agape], these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

Paul describes love beautifully: “Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.”

Peter’s love advice is in 1 Peter 4:8: “Above all things, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.”

John wrote in 1 John 4:7-12: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love .... If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.”

Edgar Cayce gave over two thousand readings teaching spiritual seekers to live, think, speak, and abide in love. Here are his comments to four different people:

“Let the beauty of your joy, in manifesting the light and love as shown in the Christ-Spirit, that makes for the new song in your heart, keep you in your daily walks of life.”

“Let others do as they may, but as for you and your house, you will love the living God. Know His love is sufficient to keep you. No matter what may be the trial, His love abides, and He is not unmindful of your prayers.”

“The beauty of your life rises as a sweet incense before the altar of mercy. Yet it is not sacrifice but peace, grace, and mercy that we would manifest among the children of men. For God is love.”

“Keep your paths straight. Know in whom you have believed, as well as in what you believe. For the love as passes understanding can, does, and will make your pathway brighter. Keep in that way.”

Jesus presented love on different levels, identifying the highest love in this often quoted passage: “No greater love has a person, than to give up his or her life for another” ­ not literal death, but giving up self’s desires for another’s. It is thinking more of what another may need than what self may want. Cayce said that Jesus had a secret prayer that he repeated to himself, “Others, Lord, others.” This kept the Father’s power that flowed through Jesus on the right track ­ not glorifying himself but revealing the Light and Love that flowed through him ­ God’s love, our Father’s and Mother’s love. Jesus used this to do good and glorify the Father rather than himself. Selfless loving is the ideal ­ giving and caring without expectation of getting something in return. Yet this must not be self-destructive. No one could accuse Jesus of being a doormat of self-deprecating love. He often radiated a tough love. Those around Him often needed truth, justice, and a clear position on God’s ways, not pampering. Jesus cared so much for others that he would not let them remain in their darkness or misunderstandings. Yet he never condemned them. Rather, He called their mistakes to their attention. He also showed a remarkable sense of their inability to handle the full truth, choosing to be patient: “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now,” John 16:12.

Achieving ideal love in the heart center is important to soul growth.

THE CHURCH OF SARDIS

Fifth Center ­ Thyroid Gland ­ Throat Chakra

The speech delivered by the Spirit identifies this center with the throat ­ the channel of speech. The Spirit explains that the speech comes from “the seven spirits of God and the seven stars,” which are the sum total of all seven centers acting in unison with God’s will. The Spirit acknowledges that this center has good deeds, a name, is alive, and only a few aspects of its activities are “defiled.” Nevertheless, it is dead to the real truth and is imperfect. The Spirit encourages this center to strengthen itself because it is closer to death than it realizes. If it strengthens itself spiritually, then it will be clothed in white raiment, its name will not be blotted out of the Book of Life, and the Spirit will confess its name “before my Father and his angels.”

Notice how much of this center is identified with will and speech. Cayce says that one of the major steps to full spiritual consciousness is letting our will become subordinate to God’s will. He often recommended an affirmation such as this one from the Search for God Study Group readings (it was recorded in capital letters): “THY WILL, O GOD, BE DONE IN ME, THROUGH ME, AS THOU SEEST; FOR THE DESIRE OF MY HEART IS THAT I MAY BE THE CHANNEL OF BLESSINGS TO OTHERS IN THE WAYS AND MANNERS THOU SEEST; NOT MY WAY, O LORD, BUT THY WAY.” This is reminiscent of Jesus’ intimate prayer sessions with the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane, in which he prays three separate times for the Father to remove the cup of crucifixion from him, but only if it is the Father’s will, not just his will. At the end of the third prayer, Jesus knows it is the Father’s will that he drink from this cup, because despite its physical outcome, spiritual glory will be realized and the flesh will be raised up again to life spiritualized and everlasting.

The words of our mouths, the thoughts of our minds, and the feelings of our hearts need to be purified of self-aggrandizement, self-glorification, and self-exaltation. They must be channels of God’s words, thoughts, and feelings flowing through us. The throat center is the projector of words, and words can heal or harm. It is also the center for will. According to Cayce, no other gift from God is more influential than our will ­ not the stars in heaven nor the tricks of the devil can take away free will.

This center, acting in unison with God’s will, can bring all the centers to a higher vibration, a higher consciousness.

THE CHURCH OF PHILADELPHIA

Sixth Center ­ Pineal Gland ­ Crown Chakra

As the spiritual self approaches the sixth center, located deep within the brain, it refers to that part of itself that is “holy, true, has the key of David, opens and no one can shut, shuts and no one can open.” Which is to say that only the spiritual part of our being can allow the spiritual process to proceed. This is considered to be one of the most holy centers in the human body. It is the place of “the mount of God,” according to Cayce. If we enliven this center with the Spirit and spiritual intentions, then we draw all the lower centers up to this high place and unite them with God’s Spirit.

The Spirit acknowledges the works of this center, saying that it is has kept his word and not denied his name. This center knows the truth of its spiritual nature and despite how weak it has become from the material struggles, it retains the truth of its real nature and purpose for life. This is the only center that the Spirit finds no fault with. There is nothing this center has to do except continue to hold onto its truth. Therefore, the Spirit promises to draw all the cells of the body before it and make them bow to its truth. It also promises to keep this center from the temptation that has and is coming to the rest of the body: to test the body’s true desires, whether they are spiritual or strictly material and self-centered.

In Patanjali’s arrangement, the crown chakra is the highest center in the body, the kundalini having risen up the spine, moved through the brain to the brow, and culminated at the opening of the crown. In Revelation 3:11, the Spirit actually mentions the “crown” in reference to this center. In Cayce’s arrangement, the energy flows up the spine to the base of the brain, then to the center of the brain, where the pineal gland is located. Stimulating the pineal opens this crown chakra.

If we fully awaken this center, then the Self promises to make us “a pillar in the temple of My God” and we will “never go out from it again.” The Spirit will also write the name of God, God’s city, and the Spirit’s new name upon us.

Opening of the crown chakra is also associated with experiencing the Holy Spirit. How did the Holy Spirit appear among the disciples? In the form of tongues of fire on the tops of their heads, above the soft spot. The event is described in Acts 2:2-4: “Suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent, rushing wind, and it filled the whole house. There appeared tongues as of fire and it sat above each one of them. And they were filled with the Holy Spirit.” Prior to this experience, at the Last Supper, Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit upon the disciples and explained, “The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send ... he will teach you all things.”

In the early times of the Hopi, legend says that some of the people strayed and stopped cooperating with the Creator. Others remained loyal and at-one with the Creator. To these the “Great Nephew” appeared, telling those that were still seeking to cooperate and that they were to be a Chosen People to inhabit a new world that he was about to create. He told them that the center on the tops of their heads would guide them to this new world. This inner wisdom would give them the sight to see a certain cloud which they would follow by day and a certain star which they would follow by night. It is fascinating how similar this part of the Hopi legend is to that of the Israelites. Recall how the Lord told the Israelites that they were to be a Chosen People, and led them out from among the others to a promised land, instructing them that His presence would be with them in a cloud by day and a column of fire by night.

When the great Nephew had finished instructing the Hopi Chosen People, all over the First World the Chosen People disappeared. Their villages were empty. The houses, temples, and fields ­ all empty. Many of those left behind called out to them, “Where are you going?” To which the Chosen Ones replied, “We are following the cloud and the star.” The others laughed and said, “We see no cloud or star.” The Chosen People explained to them, “This is because you have lost your inner vision that came from the tops of your heads.”

The top of the head is the crown chakra, a most important spiritual center. Cayce identifies it with “the mount,” and states that only those who have experienced “the rejuvenation in the mount” may know the truth and enter fully into the Creator’s presence to receive the resulting guidance. He goes on to say that as this center is awakened and our soul’s memories return to consciousness, stating that this event is what is referred to when Jesus said “The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things....” -John 14:25.

Let’s ignite again our crown chakra. Let’s ascend to the mount of higher consciousness. Let’s open the soft spot, through which our soul first entered this body, and receive the inner vision, the inner guidance. The Hopi prophecy says that soon a new stage of life will begin, a stage in which only those who are open at the tops of their heads will be able to hear and see and know the way.

THE CHURCH OF LAODICEA

Seventh Center ­ Pituitary Gland ­ Third-Eye Chakra

Finally, the Spirit arrives at the highest center in the body. The aspect of our spiritual self that is in this center is “the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the Beginning of the creation of God.” This is the master gland of the body. But the Spirit is upset with this center because it is “neither cold nor hot.” Because it is lukewarm about the spiritualization process, the Spirit is ready to “spit you out of my mouth.” This center says that it is rich and needs nothing, but the spiritual self challenges that it is actually “wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked” (harkening back to the original sin in the Garden, where Adam and Eve hid from God because they were naked). Amazingly, this center has no redeeming qualities and no virtue to acknowledge. The Spirit gives none. This center is stagnant and lukewarm, contributing nothing to the overall spiritualization of the body. The Spirit therefore warns it to get truth forged in the fires of the Spirit, white garments of purity that its nakedness will be clothed, and eye salve to anoint its eyes to see the real truth. However, in a backhanded way, the Spirit acknowledges its love for this center, saying: “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline.” If this center will rise up and conquer, then “I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.”

Cayce’s readings identify this center as the third eye, on the forehead. Almost all yoga books identify the third eye as the sixth chakra and the crown as the seventh. When Cayce was asked about this during a reading, his reply was that he did not care what others were saying, but he was giving the correct arrangement. In some of the illustrations in this booklet, you’ll see how the classical imagery supports his perspective.

But the real importance of this center is that it is lukewarm in most people and needs to be enlivened with a higher ideal with the energy of the life force combined with the Holy Spirit. The Egyptians considered the eye, the single all-seeing eye, to be one of the highest images of God. To awaken this center’s true nature and bring illumination to the whole of the body and mind, this center must again find enthusiasm for the quest. It is like a dying ember and needs the breath of the Holy Spirit upon it to re-ignite its fire.

THE THRONE, TWENTY-FOUR ELDERS, SEVEN SPIRITS,

LAKE OF GLASS, AND FOUR BEASTS

A New Condition throughout the Body

Now that the Spirit has addressed and awakened all seven centers within the body to the spiritualization process, it takes the body to a new level of vibration. Now a throne is in the midst of heaven, and the higher, spiritual self is seated upon this throne. Around the higher self and the throne are the twenty-four elders, which Cayce identifies as the twelve paired (24) cranial nerves within the brain. Energy is being emitted from the brain (“flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder”), and the seven chakras and glands are turned toward the throne (“seven lamps of fire burning”), which are the seven spirits of God in the midst of the throne. Before the throne are the four beasts we first saw in Ezekiel’s vision, then in Daniel’s vision, and now here again in John’s vision. We find these same beasts represented in ancient Egyptian mysticism as the four children of Horus. Horus was the messiah of the ancient Egyptians, rescuing the world from his uncle Set’s domination (Set is ancient Egypt’s Satan). The four children of Horus are wrapped like mummies on a lotus, subdued and intoxicated with the fragrance of the great flower. They stand before the throne-seated Osiris, Horus’ father and guardian of the way through the Netherworld.

According to Cayce, these beasts are “the four destructive influences that make the greater desire for the carnal forces, that arise as the beasts within self to destroy.” We have learned what these destructive influences are from the Spirit’s comments to the first four churches: (1) leaving our first love; (2) fear; (3) anger, impulsive reactions, and spirit-killing urges; and (4) living life without spiritual purposes and ideals. All of these destructive influences are personified in Cain. Though he first sought God’s love, he later didn’t desire it. He killed his brother impulsively in anger and spitefulness, only to then become so afraid that he could not go on without God’s promise of protection. Finally, he goes out to live life for himself and his own gratification, without any spiritual interests or intentions. Satan claims that Job is the same way, having no interest in God and the Spirit, and would curse God to His face if He touched Job’s material, physical life, and being. Cayce says that these destructive influences must be met; as God says to Cain, “Sin is couching at the door, its desire is for you, but you must master it.”

As the Revelation continues, the four lower glands are raised to higher vibrations, turning away from material, earthly pursuits and contributing to the spiritualization of the body (“the four beasts gave glory and honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne”). When they do this, it affects the cranial nerves (“the twenty-four elders will fall down before him who sits on the throne”), and they in turn begin to contribute to the spiritualization of the body (“cast their crowns to him who sits on the throne”). Then the spiritual self is able to open the seals on each of the spiritual chakras of the body. Cayce states that the book with the seven seals is the human body. The only part of us that is truly worthy to do this is that part that has crucified self-centered desire sufficiently to allow God’s will to fully enter. This one is identified in the Revelation as “the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root and offspring of David,” all terms associated with the Messiah, only this is the little messiah within each of us; our spiritual self reborn, created by God and sent to redeem our physical selves. This self has made its will so subordinate to God’s that it is represented as a lamb. It is in the spirit of the Lamb of God that we may safely open the seals of the spiritual centers of our bodies.

THE SEVEN SEALS & THE SEVEN TRUMPETS

Cleansing & Uniting the Seven Centers

Now that the seven spiritual centers are awakened, the higher self and the life-force are raised and again seated upon the throne. The lower urges are turned away from their interests and the cranial nerves are firing with spiritual influences. We begin a series of cleansings through the seven bodily centers. Prompted by John’s vision of the four colored horses, Cayce picks up on the colors for each center and proceeds to add musical notes, key words from the Lord’s prayer, the four elements, the endocrine glands, and even planets within our solar system! There is so much information that the original group working directly with Edgar Cayce created charts to keep track of everything. I’ve also created charts based on the originals, but with supplemental information. See the illustrations section of this manual.

We might ask, how could the planets in the solar system have any relevance to the spiritual centers and endocrine glands in our bodies? Cayce’s answer is that we are parts of the Universal Consciousness, and as such we have relationship to the Universe and all that is in it. At first glance it may seem paradoxical that these outer influences are also within us: spiritually, mentally, and physically and that universal “things,” such as planets, find a relating point within our physical bodies. But, as the Ancient Egyptian god Hermes (Thoth) stated it: "As within so without, as above so below." It is not so much the occult science of astrology that we are referring to as it is the microcosmic and macrocosmic nature of life. The human body is arranged in a manner that reflects the arrangement of the universe. Here’s one of Cayce’s best explanations of this. I have italicized a key line and his stenographer capitalized words that Cayce emphasized by raising his voice during a reading:

As we find, Mercury, Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, Venus - with Mars in an abstract position - all becoming a part of this entity's experience; not because of bodily birth but because of the entity as a soul.

For the entity finds itself body, mind and soul, and recognizes - or may become aware of the manifestation of the Godhead in the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. He finds himself then a counterpart, a shadow of all that is; and that within his own self EACH CELL of its body is but a miniature of the universe without its own body, its own cell of positive and negative force that applies to the material, the mental and the spiritual. Indeed then the body is the temple of the living God, where He hath promised to meet thee in thy searching, in thy seeking to know what ye may do; not for the gratifying of thine own selfish self alone but to fulfill the purpose for which ye came into being ­ to be then an emissary, and advocate, yea, a sign; that others who have lost their way (as YE may have lost thine) may take hope and gain more awareness of the God-force that IS latent and manifested within thine own self.

Following this philosophical line of thought, each spiritual center in the body has a corresponding relationship with the seven primary colors of the spectrum, the seven basic notes of the Western musical scale, seven key words in the Lord’s prayer, and seven planets within this star system or solar system. Nevertheless, Cayce does hedge his teaching on this in several readings, explaining that these correlations that we are making are only relatively correct because of the many variables in human spiritual development that would cause another color, or note, or word, or planet to better represent that center. The variables are these: (1) cycles in each person’s development, or (2) a particular individual soul’s unique experiences, and therefore, karmic influences. But for us all generally, these are relatively correct as we have them (and in the chart in the illustrations section of this manual).

As we go through the opening of the seals and the sounding of the trumpets, Cayce says that we are going through the purifications that influence spiritual development through the vibrational changes in the body. The way these purifications are described in the Revelation causes one to believe that these are terrifyingly devastating to the physical self. However, Cayce explains that as the progress is made toward giving birth to the spiritual self (which occurs later in chapter 12 of the Revelation), the physical self must become more humble, meek, long-suffering, and patient. It must decrease while the spiritual self increases, as John the Baptist said of himself and the coming Jesus. Cayce says that the devastating sufferings represent those influences that meet and conquer self for the greater spiritual development and the creating of a oneness of the individual’s purposes and desires. The two parts of our being (human and divine) can be at war with one another unless these cleansings occur and a singularity of purpose is achieved by subduing earthly desires and accentuating heavenly, spiritual desires. Therefore, the fire is to purify; hail, to crystallize opposing purposes into oneness of purpose. Less and less of self’s desires and more and more of God’s desires are depicted as the destruction of a third of the earth, the sea, and the heavens, followed by the falling of a great star from heaven, representing the coming of heavenly influences upon the earthly self. The Sun is darkened so that the Son may give a new light to the body. All the terrifying events that occur during the opening and sounding of the seven spiritual centers under the influence of the higher self upon the throne of consciousness are symbolic of this great transition, this great preparation for the birth of the new, God-centered self.

Let’s go through the opening of the seals and the soundings of the trumpets for each center. Though these are done separately in the Revelation, we will do them together here for the sake of clarity and focus.

OPENING THE 7 SEALS & SOUNDING THE 7 TRUMPETS

OPENING THE FIRST SEAL & SOUNDING THE FIRST TRUMPET

The White Horse - Conquering - 1/3 of the Earth Burns Up

The higher self, in the form and spirit of the Lamb of God, and in coordination with God’s will, opens the seals of the body.

When the first seal is opened, out comes the first of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. The first horseman is riding a white horse, wearing a crown, and carrying a bow. His mission is to conquer the negative influences and win this center for the spiritual self. These are the outer things that are related to this center: (1) the color red, (2) the note do, (3) the word bread in the Lord’s prayer, (4) the planet Saturn, (5) the element earth and of course, (6) the church of Ephesus, (7) the gonads (ovaries or testes), and (8) the beast “like a calf.” In Cayce’s cosmology, the influence of Saturn is to recast all “insufficient matter” or “spiritualize” the flesh. Here we see the white horse rider conquering flesh for the Spirit.

When the first trumpet sounds, hail and fire, mixed with blood, are thrown down upon the earthly influences. Cayce says that hail is symbolic of “crystallizing” or uniting ideals under the spiritual influence, fire is purifying earthly influences, and the blood of the Lamb of God symbolizes our being cleansed from all sin (a clear reference to 1 John 1:7, “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”). Here is an example of Cayce’s view on the metaphysical and, for that matter, the physical power of the blood:

(Q) Please give advice which will aid me, physically, mentally and spiritually, in fulfilling my destiny in life of aiding my fellow man.

(A) Manifesting in self that which is meted to the body, mentally, physically, spiritually, that is necessary to bring those influences within self, those conditions mentally and physically within self, as to cleanse or to make more in accord with that which is the birthright of every physical being - to be perfect within itself, through the blood as cleanseth from unrighteous-ness in material, in the mental, and in the spiritual plane. Hence, as there is created that consciousness within self of being whole, or one with that Creative Energy as manifested by Him, through those channels that have been set as the ways, the manners for perfecting of such a consciousness within self, then may the body be that channel to be the greater blessings to those about the body. But use that thou hast in hand day by day! For, that which is used gives the ability, the understanding, to apply that which may be needed from day to day.

The first sounding also burns up a third of the trees and grasses of the earth, again symbolic of removing earthly influences.

OPENING THE SECOND SEAL & SOUNDING THE SECOND TRUMPET

The Red Horse - War - 1/3 of the Sea Becomes Blood

When the second seal is opened, out comes a horseman wielding a great sword and riding a red horse. His mission is to take peace away from the earth and make men slay one another. The spirit cannot allow us to be terrestrial, earthly beings forever. We must be forced to seek the Spirit, even if it means war. We were, are, and will be again celestial, heavenly beings made in the image of our infinite, universal Creator. We cannot be allowed to remain terrestrial, physical beings.

These are the outer things that are related to this center: (1) the color orange, (2) the note re, (3) the word temptation in the Lord’s prayer, (4) the planet Neptune, (5) the element water, and of course, (6) the church of Smyrna, (7) the cells of Leydig, and (8) the beast like a man. In Cayce’s cosmology the influence of Neptune is to accentuate the mystical-spiritual forces in our lives.

When the second trumpet is sounded, a great mountain, burning with fire, is thrown into the sea, causing a third of the sea to become blood (the cleansing concept again). A third of the sea creatures die, and a third of the ships are destroyed, again symbolic of reducing the earthly, bodily influences to allow for more spiritual influences. Water and the sea symbolize emotions and urges that lie below the surface of consciousness but have tremendous influence over our actions, thoughts, and desires. These must be and are destroyed. The mountain is “the mount,” the sixth chakra that has direct connection to this second chakra. It sends its message crashing into the emotions and subliminal urges of this center to subdue its lower influences and allow for more of its higher purposes to awaken.

OPENING THE THIRD SEAL & SOUNDING THE THIRD TRUMPET

The Black Horse - Famine - A Great Star Falls From Heaven

When the third seal is opened, out comes a horseman with a pair of scales in his hand, riding a black horse. His mission is to measure out limited portions to the earth, allowing more room for spiritual influences. But he is instructed not to harm the oil and the wine, symbolic of those things that are only gained through experiences that squeeze the deeper essences out of life and grow wiser with age.

These are the outer things that are related to this center: (1) the color yellow, (2) the note mi, (3) the word debts or trespasses in the Lord’s prayer, (4) the planet Mars, (5) the element fire, and of course, (6) the church of Pergamos, (7) the adrenals and solar plexus, and (8) the beast like a lion. In Cayce’s cosmology, the influence of Mars is to accentuate temper, madness, and contention, also associated with the adrenaline that flows into the bloodstream from this center (correlated with the adrenal glands).

When the trumpet sounding occurs for this center, a great star from heaven falls to the earth, which Cayce says is heavenly influences (the star) coming into the body (the earth). A third of the waters of the earth become bitter, and many men die from drinking it. Again, this is a symbolic way of saying that the earthly influences are becoming less desirable, less tasty, causing earthly influences to be subdued and heavenly ones to be magnified. Waters again symbolize emotions and unseen influences that are below the surface of consciousness. All must be subdued in order for the spiritualization to take hold and grow.

OPENING THE FOURTH SEAL & SOUNDING THE FOURTH TRUMPET

The Pale Horse - Death & Hades - The Heavens are Darkened

When the fourth seal is opened, out comes a horseman named “Death,” and “Hades” is following him. Death rides a pale or ashen horse. His mission is to kill a fourth of the earth with sword, famine, pestilence, and wild beasts, making more room for spiritual influences.

These are the outer things that are related to this center: (1) the color green, (2) the note fa, (3) the word evil in the Lord’s prayer, (4) the planet Venus, (5) the element air, and of course, (6) the church of Thyatira, (7) the thymus, and (8) the beast like an eagle. In Cayce’s cosmology, the influence of Venus leads one to be loving, considerate, even-tempered and interested in art, music, and beauty, all benevolent features of the heart chakra.

When the fourth trumpet is sounded, a third of the sun, moon, and stars are smitten so that their light will be darkened. As mentioned earlier, Cayce says that this is to make room for the light of the Son, awakening the body to the true, eternal, inner light that God will bring with Him.

The Son symbolizes our heritage with our Creator. As Psalm 82 teaches, “You are gods, sons and daughters of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, you shall die like men and women, and fall like any prince or princess.” Our human self must die to its interests and desires in order for the godly self to arise from its slumber and regain its place by the side of our Creator, the Most High.

After this sounding an eagle is seen flying in midheaven, saying, “Woe, woe, woe, to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!” Cayce identified these four lower centers with the earthly portion of our nature, and the next three higher centers with the heavenly portion. Therefore, it is not surprising that “those who dwell on the earth” are going to have great woe when the heavenly influence comes into full glory throughout the body. The body will lose much of its earthly urges and desires, leaving those who have feasted on these and developed appetites for them to suffer the next three woes.

OPENING THE FIFTH SEAL & SOUNDING THE FIFTH TRUMPET

The Martyrs - White Robes - The Bottomless Pit

When the fifth seal is opened, the souls of the martyrs come out from underneath the altar in heaven. They had been slain for their testimony to the word of God. They now want to know how much longer God is going to tolerate the negative influences in the earth. They are given white robes and told to rest a little while longer. Soon the process of enlightenment will be completed.

These are the outer things that are related to this center: (1) the color gray or blue, (2) the note so, (3) the word will in the Lord’s prayer, (4) the planet Uranus, (5) the element ether, and of course, (6) the church of Sardis, and (7) the thyroid. There is no beast because we have moved beyond the earthly centers (the four lower ones). In Cayce’s cosmology, the influence of Uranus brings forth the extremes in temperament, in enthusiasm, in zeal, likes and dislikes, and an interest in the unusual and the occult. This center is also correlated with the harbinger or herald, and therefore with John the Baptist, who baptizes with cleansing water and calls for repentance, and prepares the way for the coming of the One who baptizes with fire and resurrection. Each are aspects within our own hearts and minds.

When the fifth trumpet is sounded, the star that had fallen from heaven and the key to the bottomless pit are given to the fifth angel, or heavenly influence, which we have identified earlier with God’s will rather than our will. The angel opens the bottomless pit, which Cayce says is symbolic of all those things within us that are “the most uncomely,” that are far from the presence of God. These must have the light shined upon them and be destroyed by the angel of the abyss: Abaddon in Hebrew, and Apollyon in Greek, meaning respectively “destruction” and “destroyer.” These influences within us that are incompatible with God’s presence and all-knowing mind are “lost in the beauty of the Son,” Cayce says, and our human self arises to “the glory of the star as in the Son ­ not sun, but Son.” (Here again we must keep in mind that “Son” refers to our heritage as sons and daughters of the Creator and the resurrection of that truth within our hearts, minds, and actions.) Though this woe causes many to seek death, the transformation of these hidden evils leaves us with lighter hearts, purer minds, and we are thus more compatible with the coming Spirit, which is All-Knowing and Omnipresent, from whom nothing can be hidden. The dark pit of our heart and mind must be opened and cleared of all its darkness in order for the All-Knowing to fully come in our consciousness.

OPENING THE SIXTH SEAL & SOUNDING THE SIXTH TRUMPET

Earthquake - Wrath of the Lamb - Four Angels and Their Army

Now that the pit has been opened and cleared, a great earthquake occurs within us, the sun is completely blackened, the moon is turned to blood, the stars fall from heaven like a fig tree shaken by a great wind, the sky is split apart like a scroll, and the rulers of the earth search for places to hide from the rising presence of the Lamb and its wrath toward those things that are incompatible to God’s complete presence. The Bible is filled with prophecies of this type, spoken of as “The great and terrible day of the coming of the Lord,” and this phrase is usually followed by the question, “Who can stand against Him?” Here these words come to life in the final line of chapter six of the Revelation. The body is falling away from its earthly appetites; the rising spiritual vibrations are opening the hardened flesh body like a great earthquake, and the stars of heaven’s energy are coming down upon the enlivened, sanctified vessel that the body and mind have become.

When the sixth trumpet is sounded, heaven releases four angels who have been prepared for this very “hour and day and month and year” to further cleanse a third of the earth. Then, out of heaven descends the higher self, clothed in a cloud, with a rainbow around his head, a face like the sun, feet like fire, and in his hand is the little opened book with all seven of its seals opened, representing the newly opened body with its seven spiritual centers. The descending Spirit places his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, representing his power over the body’s emotions and flesh. He cries out, and seven peals of thunder rumble throughout the sanctified body, which has now become the temple of the living god, made in the image of the Most High God. John is not allowed to tell us what the seven peals of thunder uttered throughout his body; each of us will have to experience that for ourselves. Our godly self declares that there will be no further delay. When the seventh angel sounds his trumpet, then the mystery of God is finished. Then this godly portion of John’s being hands him the little book and tells him to eat it. John reports to us that it was sweet in the mouth, but bitter in the belly, and Cayce explains that this indicates that spiritual truth is beautiful to look at and sweet in the tasting, but at times is bitter in the applying and living of it in daily life. Here are Cayce’s further comments on this important phase of the Revelation process:

How did the Son in the earth become as an intermediator between sinful man and an All-Wise, All-Merciful God? By going through or experiencing, or in giving to, through the very sufferings in the body, the right, the purpose, the aim to be in that position!

Now, man having attained same by this study must prophesy - apply - prophesy IS apply - before many in many experiences, in many ways, in many environs, in many lands. All of these are a part and parcel of same. How did He put it as He gave, "I will bring to your remembrance ALL things, from the foundations of the world."

Then as it has been experienced by those who have taken hold of, who have combined the book (that is the book of Life), into the experience, it becomes within its body then a part and parcel of - and is to be expended in its relationships to the environs in that of prophecy, yes; in experiences before kings, yes; yea as beggars; yea as rulers; yea as those in authority; yea as those authoritative over.

THINK of how this is shown in the life of the Master himself; He that made man, yet under the authority and the will of man by the mere giving of self in the experience of passing through same. Not that these were needed other than that it might be fulfilled, what? Prophecy, as had been given in man's search for God.

Then as this has been found, as is illustrated here by John, in the taking of the book and in becoming these, each then must pass in its experience through the same sources.

Suffering is a part of the journey, especially for the outer, physical self, which must lay down its desires in order to give birth to its true, eternal self.

These are the outer things that are related to this center: (1) the color purple or indigo, (2) the note la, (3) the word name in the Lord’s prayer, (4) the planet Mercury, (5) the “element” cloud, a higher vibration of water, and of course, (6) the church of Philadelphia, and (7) the pineal gland. In Cayce’s cosmology, the influence of Mercury brings the mental powers, as reasoning rather than simply sentiment.

OPENING THE SEVENTH SEAL & SOUNDING THE SEVENTH TRUMPET

Silence for a Half Hour - The Golden Censer with Incense

The Kingdoms of the World and the Lord Unite

Finally, the seventh seal is opened and there is silence in heaven for about a half hour, the ultimate achievement of attunement to God, as stated by the psalmist in Psalm 46: “Be still, and know that I am God.” The seven angels, or angelic influences of the seven spiritual centers of the body, now stand before God. They receive the seven trumpets for the seven soundings. Another angel burns incense in a golden censer. The fragrance of the incense is added to the prayers of the saints and goes out before God. Then, the angel throws the censer to the earth, causing peals of thunder, flashes of lightning, and earthquakes.

When the seventh trumpet is sounded, loud voices from heaven cry out: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of the Lord, and of His Messiah; and He will reign forever and ever.” The twenty-four elders (twelve paired cranial nerves) worship God, saying, “We give Thee thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who is and was, because Thou hast taken Thy great power and hast begun to reign.” Then all cells of the body are judged according to their level of attunement and at-onement with this new reign. And then the temple of God is opened, and the ark of the covenant appears in the temple, causing flashes of lightning, peals of thunder, earthquakes, and a great hailstorm. The physical body has now reached a level of cleansing, vibration, and attunement to become the temple of God. Cayce describes it this way:

As the Book of Life then is opened, there is seen the effect of that which now has been attained by the opening of the system, the body, the mind; all of those effects that have been created by the ability of the entity to, in the physical, ... attune self to the consciousness of being at-one with the divine within.

Now we see those in the material world using these influences for self-exaltation, self-indulgence, self-glorification; and yet we see those using same for the glory, the understanding, the knowledge, the wisdom of the Father.

It is done.

SEE CHART

RHYTHMS AND CYCLES

Well, not quite done. According to Cayce’s visions of the spiritualization process, it is done in cycles, recurring cycles. What has just been described may be experienced over and over again until it is fully achieved. We could have some of these Revelation experiences as a young child, experience them again as a teenager, again as a young adult, in adulthood, and even again in old age. At certain times in our life we may experience them several times. Rhythms and cycles of spiritualization is the pattern. These occur in both the little earth of ourselves and the great Earth of humanity as a whole. We may even play a role in small group’s experiences of this awakening process, such as our childhood family and later our own family or circle of friends and colleagues.

Yet, we need to also focus our attention upon our personal spiritualization process with the seven spiritual centers within the body and their connection within our heart and mind.

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