The Art of Interpreting Symbolic Language: The Pinecone Courtyard of the Vatican

I chose the “Pinecone Courtyard of the Vatican” to demonstrate how to interpret symbolic language not only because it includes several different disciplines, but because the process it provides instruction for is profound in the spiritual sense. This interpretation is not based on religion, per se, but on the universal science out of which all religions have their origin. This is purely an interpretation of all images and symbols used in forming a larger, overall idea, which in this case involves the principles used for connecting the lower mind with the higher mind as the means of transcending our physical body and personal reality, while still an essential part of it. All higher knowledge used to be communicated through art, architecture, and ceremonial practices, where every person formed their own interpretation as a means of understanding the universal laws involved which, once understood, provided the individual with the methods necessary for utilizing them in their daily life as a means of facilitating their own ascension.

People tend to only see and notice in any situation what they’ve been taught to notice and usually form an interpretation based on how they’ve been taught to think about it through the opinion of others. As a result, they’ll pull out one or two main ideas while virtually ignoring the rest, or because they don’t know how to put it all together in painting a larger picture. Others get hung up on whether the symbols are pagan, Christian, Occult, Hindu, Buddhist, Esoteric, and so on, which imposes significant limitations on their ability to grasp the secret knowledge being communicated all around them through living symbols that form the foundation for art, science, and architecture. Symbols are considered the “universal language” because they’re an inherent part of our unconscious mind, which we all share in common, and they represent the laws and principles that make up the very fabric of reality and are considered the only true form of “spiritual knowledge”.

What’s commonly referred to as “secret knowledge” is secret primarily because it’s communicated in signs, symbols and metaphors placed right in front of us that we’ve lost the ability to understand in terms of what they represent. The “Language of the Cosmos” is the language of archetypes, metaphor, and mythology, which describe how the inner constitution of a living being forms the outer reality that it then uses as a means for experiencing itself. They’re inherent in the very structure and life of the cosmos and play out fluently on every level and scale of existence. What’s referred to as “Sacred Geometry” forms the design as concepts used in constructing the infrastructure of the cosmos. This means they’re always true and always operating to form, animate, and maintain every aspect of life, whether microscopic or macroscopic. The only question involved lies in our ability to recognize and perceive them because they function at the subtle level of pure mind (invisible forces) and form the very substrata out of which reality itself emerges and plays out as smaller cycles within larger ones of the same nature, which sets the cosmic stage for attaining “experience”.

In a symbolic design every element is intentional and represents a fundamental aspect of the overall idea being conveyed. I’m only going to give a brief description or explanation of each symbolic aspect because true insight comes through inquiry into the significant meaning of things, rather than being taught what to think. By investigating ideas further on your own, you’ll expand your knowledge around them through your own awareness and build the scientific knowledge necessary for interpreting them. Any idea that stirs a deeper interest, research it on your own and see where it leads. Just always bear in mind that researching things on the internet nearly always leads to the same information, which is highly conventional and largely opinionated, being regurgitated over and over, only some of which is even meaningful, and most of which is an opinion formed by those who lack any real knowledge and simply want to be seen as an expert of some kind or voice their opinion. Let your inquiries take you deeper into ideas by exploring them more as a “body of knowledge” formed from many diverse perspectives, rather than only one or two articles. This article isn’t designed as a casual read, but as providing the basis for continued study and deeper inquiries into the principles involved, which will hopefully open up many new doors into the hidden secrets of the Mysteries.

Examining the Entire Pinecone Courtyard

We want to start by looking at the design of the entire courtyard, which is a composite formula of dynamically correlated principles. The first thing you want to always keep in mind is that all laws and principles emerge out of a single law, which is a form of “seed” that contains all the others in their latent form. This seed can be thought of as the parent that births all the other through a systematic process of growth and regeneration, which is represented in the most basic sense by the “Monad”. The Monad is symbolized by a circle with a dot at the center, the same symbol used to represent the sun, and can also be visualized as a “smaller sphere within a greater sphere”, both of which are polarized aspects of each other. The inner dot can be thought of as a condensed core or kernel (black), that acts to emanate the outer sphere as an expansion of itself to form a 3-D shape as a globe that spins (vibrates) on an axis formed out of a single energy that’s polarized, much like a magnet. All principles exist in a dynamic “relationship” with each other, which means you can only understand one by how it exists in relationship with all the other ones that make up the same composite.

Polarity is a “universal law” which means it’s what forms the very basis of reality. Polarization is necessary for “movement”, and movement is the basis for “vibration”, which acts to construct a 3-dimensional image as a luminous-body or physical reality (matter is made from polarized light). This globe of polarized energy forms the toroidal field (invisible sphere) that both surrounds and is radiated by all material objects, also referred to as the astral body, subtle body, or etheric double, which contains the 3-dimensional model for constructing and maintaining the physical form, while also imbuing it with the activity and personality it takes on as a means of expressing. So, the very basis for life itself as a frequency that has both an idea (model) and a self-assembling mechanism inherent in it is represented symbolically by a “smaller sphere within a larger sphere of the same kind and type”, which is the basis for all planetary, solar, and heavenly bodies. All life, whether animate or inanimate “vibrates” at a particular frequency, and all vibration results from polarized aspects of the same energy (thing), which can only be reconciled by a third element, which forms them into a holographic, 4-dimensional shape.

All vibration is a spinning, whirlpool-like flow that spirals while circulating and moving between opposite poles of itself in a circular movement of some form. It radiates out from the center with a positive charge, electrifying and animating everything in the atmosphere around it with the same idea-charge (turning “on” what matches the same frequency and can be used to form a corresponding outer reflection), then, when the electric impulse has fully discharged and reaches an invisible boundary, it switches polarity, becoming magnetic, and draws back into the center an “experience of itself” as a whole reality that it acted to construct (resonate). The experience is then translated into memory as a means of synthesizing it back into the core (mental model), forming the basis for the next discharge. What’s being referred to here as the “self”, isn’t the body or personality of the body, it’s the soul as the “mind” and the entire reality being produced by the mind as a reflection of itself. Let’s start this adventure into hidden knowledge with this primary principle firmly in mind.

The entire design is illustrating a process as an operation for “ascending” to higher realms of consciousness while still in physical form. This idea can be seen as both descending into form and then ascending back into pure mind, because it’s all based on universal principles that function harmoniously in forming a single whole as a living entity. For the sake of walking through it to form a basic understanding, we’ll start with the courtyard itself and the building at what I’ll call the base (south end), directly opposite of the dome, which has 8 pillars, with 7 open spaces between the pillars and 4 statues of saints on the higher level of the roof, which is designed as a “plane”. You always want to notice “numbers”, because in symbolic composites they always represent principles as well as what we’ll call geometric shapes that make up an overall design, which also represent universal laws as “concepts”. Geometry is what forms the structure of the material world, and geometric shapes provide us with working concepts for understanding the principles involved. The entire universe is mathematical in nature and can only be accurately interpreted philosophically (Sophia = wisdom) using intuition.

So let’s start with a basic description of the elements involved. There are 8 pillars with 7 spaces between them – “8” represents a whole unit of “light” – there are 7 colors in the spectrum, 3 primary, 4 complementary – and an “octave” consists of 7 primary notes as a scale. 8 is the principle of “periodic renewal”, polarity, and the self-perpetuating movement between parallel (polarized) planes. There are 4 saints on top of the roof, half of 8 on a higher plane, all growth comes through “halving and doubling” (mitosis). 8 represents a full scale of both light and sound, and the principle of “rhythm” as “repeating cycles”. 4 is the number of material existence, and material forms precipitate from their archetypes through rhythmic, harmonious, pulsating cycles of “halving and doubling” (regeneration). 4 is half of 8, and 8 is produced by doubling 4.

I’m including these as a reference for understanding the principles involved

An octad is formed by polarized squares – 2 squares at a perpendicular angle to each other (turned 90-degrees). Every material object comes into the world as “twins”, which are polar aspects of each other, and “create” through their interaction with each other. We not only contain polarized aspects within our nature (left and right brain, masculine and feminine qualities), but also as an “inner and outer”, and an “upper and lower”, which are formed as mirror images of each other. 4 represents the 4 Elements (statues) – Fire, Air, Water, Earth – with 4 qualities > hot, cold, dry, wet. There are 4 primary states of matter (mater) – earth=solid, water=liquid, air=gas, fire=electrified plasma, which have 4 correlating activities > cold=contraction, hot=expansion, wet=dissolution, dry=crystallization. 7 represents the principle of creativity, self-expression, and “will”, and light (photons) is the very basis of the material world, which is formed as a living matrix of highly structured (polarized) light.

On this 8-fold loom of archetypes precipitate the geometric inhalation and exhalation of compassion (8-fold path of compassion). 4 pairs of manifest gods and goddesses (pantheon) are responsible for giving birth to the manifest universe. The 8-fold geometry is the ancient symbol for the Great Mother Goddess as the nourisher whose substance cloths the archetypal patterns by crossing the 4 Elements with 4 pairs of opposite qualities. The 8-legged spider (spinner) was the Great Grandmother who weaved the web of the world. The Greek word “kosmos” signifies “embroidery” (tapestry), and goddesses were seen as spinstresses, weavers, and embroiders, manifesting the physical world while also spinning the threads of fate for humans.

8 represents the principle of “resonance” – materialized forms are like visible music – the 8th key on a piano forms the same note on a new scale (do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do), one turn of a spiral (sphere), repeating the same scale on a higher rung. Scales repeat on higher and lower levels as the same mental and physical properties. Each octave is a process of renewal, periodic recurrence, and a return, but to a corresponding level of the spiral (karmic rebirth). Periodic recurrence is the basis for resonance or resounding the same note an octave apart. Resonance is a process for “tuning a receiver” to pick up different frequencies hidden within the atmosphere (the colors of the spectrum reveal the hidden inner nature of light, which otherwise appears invisible). The “receiver” resonates in synchronization with the waves being broadcast through the atmosphere (invisible ether) which is teaming with information as “archetypal ideas” in their latent form. By tuning ourselves with particular “qualities” that we build into our nature, we become an appropriate vessel for “conceiving them” from higher planes. The more perfect the tuning, the more perfect the reception.

How we’re tuned mentally and morally determines what we act to naturally resonate with and absorb from the ether and higher planes (scale) of the universal mind. As we receive a vibratory impulse through our pineal from the higher planes of consciousness, it’s immediately translated into a visual form (archetype) that allows us to “see what’s on the other side”. We can only “see light” as it resonates through matter. Any idea or substance that vibrates at the same frequency as light, appears “translucent”. When only some of the molecules in a substance are tuned in a slightly different way, only some of the light resonates through, and we see as though we’re looking through a “dark glass”, where the image appears semi-translucent. When none of the molecules in an object vibrate in tune with the light, objects appear opaque.

Glass (silicon dioxide) is transparent because it vibrates at the same frequency as light, which is invisible while acting to illuminate the material world. The color an object takes on is based on what part of the light spectrum it acts to absorb and assimilate, and what part it repels and reflects. This is the basis for the Hermetic Doctrine of Correspondences and the Law of Analogy (similars), which is the basis for sympathetic resonance. The shape and color of an object is formed by what part of the light spectrum it “absorbs and integrates” and what part it “reflects”, and the reflected ray is always complementary to the one absorbed. Whatever ray of the spectrum is reflected determines the color of its outer appearance, which is always complementary to its inner nature. An object that appears green, for example, is because the green ray is being reflected while the red ray (complementary of green) is absorbed and integrated to produce the “inner properties” it possesses, which form its constitution and determines how it expresses.  

The Greek god Apollo, who symbolized moving together in harmony with the archetypes of the cosmos, used music he played on a Lyre (7 primary notes) that corresponded to the tones of the elements of the mind (3) and body (4), causing them to harmonize (form rapport and coherence). This was demonstrating the process used to form rapport with the archetypes of the cosmos (zodiac), where we “embody” the mental state and qualities associated with them and begin vibrating in harmony with them in order to be “drawn into” the higher spheres of consciousness where they reside. This is the basis for what’s referred to as purification and self-perfection necessary to tune into higher states of consciousness where we serve as an appropriate vehicle for expressing them, which is the main function of the pineal. This is the same principle represented by the 8-pointed star, portrayed in this design as being in the same configuration as the pineal in the brain, where it represents the cosmic principle of sympathetic resonance as the means of transcendence. We’ll explore more aspects of this principle when we touch on other symbols that represent the same principle.

The Courtyard

Directly in front of the 8 pillars and 4 saints is the courtyard itself, designed as a square with an equal armed cross that divides it into 4 smaller squares, with a circle in the center that contains the striking symbol called a “sphere within a sphere” (machinery of the universe). This sphere is 4 meters in diameter, which is a little over 13 feet (1 + 3 = 4), both of which are significant numbers. This is also called the “fractured sphere”, which reveals another fractured sphere on the inside, whose internal structure appears as gears, symbolizing the mechanical nature or workings of the universe. The basic structure of the gears forms a cohesion between 2 levels, which are divided by a “plane”, represented as a thick linear line. What we think of as “planes” are always represented by linear lines or a series of concentric circles. The direction of the gears in each sphere are positioned at a 90-degree angle (right angle) to each other, representing the interaction of “polar opposites”. A polarized electromagnetic field propagates through waves that are perpendicular to each other, which are also polarized (flip-flop), forming a kind of circular movement (spiral) that constructs a 4-dimensional form in what appears as a “square” (two right angles overlapped). This is also symbolized in the equal armed cross, formed by 2 perpendicular lines, or two right angles that are reverse images of each other. A square is the symbol of the manifest world formed by polarized light waves that act to construct a holographic model.

The sphere can also be seen as an “egg cracked open” to reveal the yolk or internal nucleus or “seed” being gestated within the egg as an embryo. This is also a very dynamic symbol of the Monad – smaller sphere within a larger one – which is the symbol of the higher, creative mind which constructs the light-matrix of reality through an interaction and relationship with “itself” as complementary opposites. This idea is also represented by the symbol of “yin and Yang” – polar aspects that form an electromagnetic field by “spinning each other” in opposite directions, forming a circle (sphere). All heavenly bodies, whether planets, stars, solar systems, or galaxies, rotate on an axis, radiate an atmosphere or aura, orbit a central sun-star or black hole, and form through an electromagnetic spiral, that both pushes away and pulls together at the same time, creating “dimension”.

Vibration itself, which is the basis for all material bodies, occurs through the interaction of polar opposites of the “same thing” that are complementary and exist simultaneously as an object and wave, a body (axis) surrounded by an invisible field of light that contains it’s energetic double or what acts to “in-form it”. All particles come into existence (pop out of the ether) as “identical twins” or polarized pairs. Our inner mind is what radiates our outer world, ordering and organizing it (gears that turn each other) through “sympathetic resonance”. Naturally, this sphere also looks like an “eye”, which demonstrates its relationship with the pine cone that its directly aligned with on an elevated, triangular base, as well as all the main features of this overall design.

When this sphere is viewed from above it also appears as a sphere within a circle (mound), within a greater circle at the center of a square. This idea is commonly represented as the “rose cross” (equal armed cross with a red rose at the center), and the calvary cross with a circle at the center. The orientation of the gears rotating is also a reflection of the cross, which is a line of equal measure, one vertical, one horizontal, connected at the center, representing the merging of an upper and lower plane to form “a single body”, as well as 2 right angles orientated in opposite directions, forming a whole (square) as a material form. Polarized waves propagate through space (atmosphere) in opposite directions of each other.

The cross divides the square into 4 smaller squares, representing the 4 Elements, the 4 qualities and activities of the Elements, and the 4 states of matter as the stages it goes through in developing into a solid material form. These stages can be thought of as “energetic states”, of electrified (charged) plasma, gas, liquid, and solid; Fire, Air, Water, Earth; hot, dry, cold, wet; expansion, contraction, dissolution, and crystallization. 4 quarters (quaternary) = 4 directions, 4 seasons – 2 primary (solstice), 2 transitionary (equinox); 4 rivers of paradise; 4 letter name of God (Yod, Heh, Vau, Heh); 4 stages of transformation (intention, attention, concentration, meditation); 4 originating functions – sense, emotion, thought, and intuition. On the Tree of Life this represents the 4 Sephiroth – Chesed, Geburah, Netzach, and Hod, held in harmonious balance by the central Sun of Tiphareth (Christ consciousness of our Higher Self). The 2 above make up Tiphareth’s constitution (polar aspects are reconciled through a third element) – cosmic memory and will – and the 2 below Tiphareth are projected into (reflected downwards) the lower plane of physical manifestation as instinct (memory driven by emotion) and intellect (basis of thought that’s self-creative).

Central 5 spheres on the Tree of Life

These inner aspects combined harmoniously in the creative imagination (Tiphareth) form back into “one” as the etheric-double of the subconscious, seated in the throne of the “single eye” of the pineal. Naturally, the sphere resembles an eye, formed by concentric spheres that are mirror images of each other as an “inner vision and the analogous outer awareness of that vision”. The sphere centered in the pineal represents the sphere of Tiphareth (Christ consciousness) which is commonly shown divided in half, the lower half filled with a colored light that’s has a “liquid” consistency, and the upper half is semi-clear with a gas-like quality. This also represents what’s called the 4-bodies (causal, mental, astral, and physical) that all manifest as “one” in the physical body. The 4 Elements are combined (synthesized) and held in equilibrium (cohesion and coherence) by the 5th element of the mind (Monad) placed at the center. If you look at this square from above, it resembles a pyramid with a capstone, which was known as the means for ascension. This idea will become more apparent when we examine the empty sarcophagus positioned directly behind the pine cone on the terrace.

5 represents “mind over matter”, the 5th element of the ether that holds the 4 elements of the material world together (pentagram) to form a single entity, and the ability of the mind in forming an inner idea as a “frequency” that acts energetically to order and organize (resonate) the outer field of light into the same idea on a larger scale (outer sphere) as a means of generating its own experiences. 5 also represents the “holographic principle” of the inner (sphere) forming the basis for the outer (sphere) as a polarized, reverse image of itself (pentagram), and the pentad forming the “astral gateway” (stargate), as a form of portal to higher dimensions. It’s the principle of power over your own lower nature, sovereignty in being self-governed, and authority in making your own decisions – the spiritual soul having dominion over the material world, which provides the construct for experiencing our own thoughts (willed creation).

It’s the principle of the higher mind in holding together the upper and lower planes of the same archetype (soul), represented by the “eye” of the sphere within a sphere, which represents the function of the pineal in combining 2 levels of the mind into a single form. 5 also represents the “quintessence”, which can be thought of as cultivating a state of moral purity and self-perfection achieved by aspiring towards an “ideal” and becoming the perfect expression of archetypal qualities and characteristics (virtues) that manifest through a monastic lifestyle. This is the principle of “self-replication”, self-accumulation, and spiritual regeneration, which all come by how we express ourselves in our daily life as the means of accumulating experiences of ourselves that we build up over time and act to “evolve our archetypal memory of ourselves”. 5 also represents the Fibonacci Sequence and the Golden Ratio, which demonstrate the harmony of the parts with the whole, and growth through the accumulation and integration of experience in transforming the memory of the whole.

If we were to turn the square to a 90 degree angle it would form an “X”, and if we saw the top as a “V” or funnel, reflected symmetrically in the bottom, combined in the middle, similar to 2 spinning tops, we could see a vortex or portal-like gateway between parallel dimensions as a “reverse spin” that draws the top down while drawing the bottom up, forming a figure “8”. This idea represents what’s referred to as the “Law of Energetic Entanglement”, where all single objects within the material world have “twins” that spin in opposite directions of the “same state” as a vibratory frequency, and no matter how far apart they appear in “space” (which exists as a form of polarized field), continue to act “as if” they’re “one”. If you change the state of one, the other changes in the exact same way as a reverse image. The inner and outer of this plane are not only formed as polarized reflections of each other, but so is the upper plane of pure mind and the lower plane of formation and activity, which is a mirror image of ourselves formed as a “mental construct” of our archetypal nature and thoughts.

Triad becoming Tetrad

A square originates as a “diamond shape” divided in half, where the top half forms a triangle, which is reflected downward forming as a mirror image of itself, representing the idea that the material world is formed out of the vibratory frequency of our state of mind and thoughts. Once formed internally, it’s turned to a 90-degree angle on the material plane forming a square, symbol of thought (will) made manifest. Jesus stated this when he said, “and the word was made flesh and made His dwelling among us”. This is also conveyed in the Hermetic axiom, “as above so below, and as below so above, in the wondrous working of the One thing”. This is the basis for the higher “will” (vibration pregnant with an idea) in calling forth the material world through the “spoken word”. Thought comes as words spoken silently within us that become the basis for our outer perception and all our activities. What we speak outwardly originates inwardly as our own thoughts. We’ll talk more about this principle when it comes to the “seeds of the pine cone” in an embryonic state, and the “Flying Coat of Arms” hanging on the wall of the dome directly behind the pine cone.

A small detail that’s often overlooked that I’ll include because it is a significant factor in considering the overall idea, is that the sphere-eye, which spins on an axis, is positioned with a slight tilt, similar to the “tilt of the Earth on its axis”, which oscillates between 22 – 24.5 degrees (half of 45). This tilt forms the basis for the 4 seasons and the procession of the equinoxes – the rotation of the heavens as the Great Cycle, that’s approximately 25,920 years (2+5+9+2=18=9) (9 is the number of completion and perfection and of “man”). This is the amount of time it takes for all the visible constellations to rotate around the Earth in the night sky, taking turns rising behind the sun on the vernal equinox, which is typically March 21st (3+3 = 6) and the true date of Easter, which represents the resurrection and the first sign of the zodiac (Aries).

This is when the sun crosses the celestial equator in a northerly direction, marking the prime meridian of right ascension. This design aligns beautifully with the 4 directions aligned to the cross, where the pine cone is “north” – the northern star is positioned in the spot of the Earth’s north pole and is used for navigation. It remains fixed while the rest of the stars appear to move around it in a circular motion. Polaris was originally thought to be a part of the constellation of “Draco” – which is represented by the emblem (dragon) that sits on top of the “Tower of the Winds”, the observatory that was used to reform the Julian calendar, which is the center piece of 3 square pillars on the balcony. The pineal acts as an internal “clock” that measures time through the cycles of the sun, and the movement of the constellations in the heavens. The old observatory and the statue of the dragon sit between the two courtyards – the Belvedere and Cortile della Pigna.

The procession of the equinoxes is an important feature to understand because the sphere that’s positioned within the pineal, often represented as an angled halo or aureole around the head of enlightened beings, also demonstrated in the Flying Coat of Arms on the wall behind it and on the top of the dome, is also positioned at the same tilt as the Earth. This same idea is demonstrated in the Egyptian headdress, which appears as a flared cobra head that circles over the top of the head from the spine, with a serpent and vulture (pineal and pituitary) coming out of the center of the forehead. This may be giving us a clue as to the real shape of the energetic current of the body, which starts at the top of the forehead and curves over the cranium (dome of the skull) to the back part of the brain where it regulates the nerve centers of the body through the midbrain. This is also commonly represented by the “hooked staff” many prophets and Magi are shown carrying, and what was called the “brazen staff” of Moses that turned into a serpent (symbol of wisdom). This small detail commonly overlooked through inaccurate interpretation may explain the constant confusion as to which chakra is the 6th and 7th, which this design is clearly showing as being the “crown”, which is analogous to the Higher Self of Christ consciousness, also called the “savior god”, which takes its “seat” in the “throne” of the pineal. You want to also recognize that the pineal is positioned towards the back of the head, with its serpent head shape pointed slightly downward, making the “opposite position” in the center of the forehead.

When the “orb of the pineal” is seen clairvoyantly, its positioned in the same way the Earth is on its axis. I’m pointing this out because this factor is commonly completely overlooked and seldom considered for its significance, even though most symbols clearly demonstrate it. When someone learns to think of an idea in a certain way, they often have trouble seeing it in a new light. This idea is also represented in what’s called the “celestial sphere” (Great Cycle), which we’ll talk more about when we move to the top of the courtyard aligned with the pine cone sculpture. The celestial sphere represents the 36 constellations seen from the Earth (3 + 6 = 9), the same number of the procession (25,920 = 18 = 9). All numbers associated with the procession (12 – 30 – 72- 360 – 2,160 – 4,320 – 25,920) are all derivatives of 3 and 9. Anytime ideas or cyclical processes are represented by the same numbers, it indicates the same principles are operating in each one. The numbers 3 and 9 are significant numbers in the sense that “3” represents the 3-fold aspect of the mind and soul as a Triad, which moves down the hierarchical planes into manifestation by halving and doubling (mitosis), forming 3 Triads (3 x 3 = 9) that manifest as a single unit or living entity in the 10th, the number of completion and self-perfection. There’s a very significant relationship between 3, 6, and 9, as a process of development and dissolution. 9 empowers all other numbers its combined with: (9 + 4 =13 = 4); (9 + 5 =14 = 5); (9 + 6 = 15 = 6); and so on. There’s a 9-stage process in creating a “whole”.

North Wall – Pine cone within a Dome

We want to start here by taking in the whole wall in terms of its basic design as a composite image that represents the principles involved, because principles always represent “processes”. The pine cone is mounted on a triangular (3) base that’s elevated above the courtyard (4 = square), whose design is completely symmetrical, representing the dual nature (polarization) of the mind and body, where it’s the only “single image” that’s not paired. It’s positioned directly above the man’s face on the wall below it, indicating it’s connection to the top of the head. The face has “water” running out of the mouth into a half-circle pool, showing our outer world is a reflection of our thoughts (created in the same image as we are), which  is diametrically opposite to the terrace behind the pine cone, and the pavilion on top of the roof, while at a 90-degree angle to the dome itself. The pine cone, which is mounted on a base shaped like a ‘chalice’ (Holy Grail), centered within a dome (cranium), which has 21 windows organized in 3 rows of 7 each, that appear to emanate from the fountain-like sphere in the top of the dome (22). The cranium (skull) is comprised of 22 bones, 21 of which are fixed, and 1 (jaw) moveable.

What’s called the ”sphenoid bone” is an unpaired bone of the neurocranium situated in the middle of the skull, and is considered the “keystone”, as it joins with almost every bone of the skull. It’s considered the “winged bone”, shaped like a butterfly, moth, or bat, with 2-pairs of wings; 2 lesser (top) and 2-greater (lower), both triangular in shape and positioned at a 90-degree angle to each other. This is represented by the “winged sphere” or “winged pine cone” that sits on top of a caduceus and staff commonly portrayed in Hermetic Sciences. It forms the “seat of the saddle”, also called the “Mercy Seat”, which contains the pituitary body with the pineal positioned higher and to the back of the midbrain (like a sun). The pineal sits between the 2 hemispheres of the brain, close to the superior colliculi of the midbrain, a paired structure that plays a role in “vision”.

The terrace itself is completely symmetrical with pairs on each side, forming mirror images of each other with the pine cone, mans head, and pool below the man’s head being the only single ideas as correspondences to each other. The chalice base holding the pine cone is adorned with 5 men, one in the center, and 2 pairs (who look alike) on each side (5), repeating the idea of “mind over matter”, where the higher mind is holding the 4 Elements in balance, and the holographic principle of the pentagram and Hexagram. The head is broken on the man in the middle, but there’s a possibility it originally had “two heads” or faces, one facing towards the front and one towards the back (pineal and pituitary, two hemispheres, personality and identity, and complementary aspects of the mind and soul). The pine cone is a single image (unpaired) and gland whose “twin” or complementary aspect (polar opposite) is on the higher plane of the creative mind. Above the 5 men is a motif that represents 2 polar opposites combined and reconciled through a 3rd element (3rd eye).

The twin peacocks are sitting on a base of 2 columns formed into one, which have 2 levels combined as a top rail, symbolic of 2 planes merged into 1. Each side of the banister contains 7 ovals enclosed within a rectangular shape (7 x 2 = 14 = 5). 14 is the number of transformation in terms of raising your vibration by forming new combinations (Alchemy has 14 steps in an overall process) (1+ 4 = 5), and 5 is the number of regeneration, which transforms the lower vibration into a higher one (in the trump of the Tarot 14 is Temperance, the principle for raising your vibration by combining the upper with the lower). These two can also represent “2 scales or octaves” which function as a progression where the end note of one scale forms the base note of the next higher scale (do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do), and the same note “resonates” on a higher scale, and of course a single unit of coherent light has 7 basic colors “hidden” within it. The pineal regulates light, and transforms vibratory impulses received from the ether into images formed out of light accompanied by an internal voice.

The base or floor of the terrace then declines down “4 steps”, with 2 flower pots on every other stair (growth), and at the bottom there’s 2 pillars (Jakin and Boaz) with two spheres for capitals (celestial and terrestrial) , with a cup shape in the middle connecting them that has 3 mounds, one seated above and within the other 2, forming a triad, with an 8-pointed star overhead. The 3 mounds represent the 3 aspects of 1 mind (3 aspects 1 essence) (superconscious, conscious, subconscious), and the higher mind which creates through the 2 lower minds of the subconscious (personality) and conscious (identity born out of the personality). On its base below this is a rectangle, the sides half the length of its breadth, representing the principle of Phi and the Golden Ratio. The 2 side pillars holding the spheres are formed out of 2 levels (squares), with the central image being contained fully within the upper one. This idea is repeated in the Flying Coat of Arms overhead, as well as throughout the Vatican. This idea also represents the higher will being seated within the chariot of the pineal, which is pulled by 7 horses (7 aspects of God and man) or 2 sphinx’s (two lower minds), one black and one white, which represent the combination of the 4 Elements (man, bird, lion, ox) to form a material being. This same symbol, 3 mounds, 1 seated within (pineal) and over the other 2 (hemispheres of the brain), with an 8-pointed star overhead is used throughout the Vatican, because of what it represents.

The 8-pointed star is formed by 2 crosses at 90-degree angles to each other (polarized). Directly behind this image is the statue of a saint. While we tend to focus on the pineal and consider it in a singular manner, it’s actually a fundamental part of the “midbrain”, and the main part of the Thalamus, called the Epithalamus, which forms the roof of the 3rd ventricle, and acts to connect the limbic system to other parts of the brain. The pineal regulates our mental state out of which correlated emotions are generated, and through this combination everything else (thought, feelings, perception, memories, nerve impulses, chemistry, etc.) flows as a coherent state. It not only sits between the 2 hemispheres of the brain, which function as 2 material aspects of the mind correlated with the subconscious (right) and conscious (left), but also connects the higher mind with the lower mind which exist on parallel planes, commonly referred to as “heaven and earth”, which are mirror images of each other on smaller and larger scales (of the same frequency). This, again, is expressed in the Hermetic axiom, “ as above so below, and as below so above”.

The 2 peacocks are symbolic of the 2 aspects that combine in forming the “self” as the personality (lower self) and individuality or identity (higher self), the masculine and feminine aspects of our mind, and is a symbol of “transformation”. The peacock is a symbol of the phoenix, and when the tail feathers are spread out form a half circle and have “eyes on them”, glistening with vibrant colors of blue (mind) and green (heart). Directly below the peacocks on the same level with the man’s face are a pair of lions, symbolizing the “king of beasts” (man), known for their strength, courage, and being able to hypnotize their prey. They represent the sphinx, half man, half beast, the symbol of the “sun god Mithra”, and were traditionally placed beside “gateways” and “doors” of tombs and temples to guard and protect them. The lion protected the gateway to the netherworld which the sun passed each day and disappeared at night, associated with death and rebirth. Lions also represent royalty and kingship, and the element of fire.

The man’s face, positioned between the 2 lions and directly below the pine cone, who appears similar to the man depicted on the chalice, is positioned above a half-circle pool, and has water coming out of his mouth. Water is the element of man and the mind, and the primordial substance of the etheric body and subconscious, which forms a “mirror” in “water” that allows him to perceive himself. The inner vision of the imagination appears as an image reflected on glass or water, also called the “magic mirror” of manifestation, and the “dark waters of creation”. Our inner visions come as images reflected on a dark surface, and when we open our eyes, they appear as “translucent images” that we “look through” as a lens of perception used to “perceive ourselves” through the outer world, which is formed by our perception (created in our image and with our likeness). The half circle (pool) is at an opposite angle to the one that forms the terrace (behind the pine cone) on a smaller scale, and is at a 90-degree angle to the dome, and at an 180-degree angle (reverse) to the pavilion on the roof of the dome. What comes as inspired thought conceived internally through the pineal, forms into an image and inner voice that forms the basis for manifesting a physical correspondence.

Behind the pine cone on the half-circle terrace (opposite the pool and same as the rooftop pavilion), aligned directly behind the pine cone and in front of the doorway is an empty sarcophagus. There are what appears to be 8 Egyptian statues made of black stone placed around the wall, with 2 more (sarcophaguses?) laying down next to the 2 on each side of the door. I couldn’t find a clear image of these, so I’m not sure what they are specifically, but based on their color and Egyptian nature, I would guess they represent guardians of the afterworld. The sarcophagus is clearly formed in the shape of a human body, with a dark exterior and a white interior. This symbolizes the “etheric-double” of the sidereal body (8-pointed star), which is seated in the pineal as the god-king in his chariot or throne. The physical body is considered the “tomb” of the soul, and the material world is considered the realm of “death”, because its only here that we take on an animal (mortal) body and experience “dying”.

The sidereal (star), astral-etheric double or subtle body contains the karmic blueprint as a “seed” that forms the soul’s destiny. Every star is formed out of the cosmic dust or plasma of its galaxy, and all the planets that orbit the star are formed out of its electrically charged substance (cosmic dust), and we’re created out of the substance of the Earth, where our destiny is orchestrated through the movement and relationship of heavenly bodies and star systems visible from the Earth (within our galactic neighborhood). This is why archetypes of the Zodiac, which form the basis for our psyche (soul’s constitution) are represented by the planets of our own solar system, and the solar system is influenced by the movement of all the star-systems within our galaxy.

Our “higher mind” is represented by the “sun”, our own star, and our body or lower subconscious mind is represented by the Earth, which are formed of the same cosmic substance and essence, and our higher mind acts to impregnate our lower mind with seeds for manifestation. These karmic seeds (dormant within the pine cone) are “opened” (made to vibrate) by an electrical impulse (spark) administered by our higher mind and are translated into mental images that are symbolic (archetypal) in nature and contain a form of “theme” that initiates a new stage of growth. These are “memories” that have already been created in the imagination of the higher mind. Our life plan (divine providence) has already been designed in its complete form on the higher plane of the cosmic mind, and our etheric blueprint contains all the memories as “seeds” that are opened at precise moments in our development (pineal regulates time). Our lower, animal nature (our body is mammalian), is born out of the soul of the Earth, which creates all activity through instinct and comes in the form of cosmic memory that pertains to a particular species.

The pine cone is used as the symbol for the pineal not only because it looks like one (it also looks like a serpent’s head), but because of the symbolic significance of the pine cone. A pine cone is a seed-pod for an “evergreen” tree, which doesn’t go dormant in the winter, and contains “2 seeds” beneath each scale, and the seeds are released through maturity and by fire (light), heat (expansion as growth), and pressure (attributes of light and will). This represents seeds as stages of development that make up a “life-cycle”, which unfold sequentially as pivotal events that facilitate the karmic growth of the individual. These “seeds of destiny” are fully contained within the etheric blueprint of the individual and unfold through a natural growth process that comes through a form of “perfect timing”. The seeds are gestated and ripen according to the conditions and life circumstances that set the stage for specific types of growth. The scales or seed pods of the cone form a “spiral”, symbolic of the Fibonacci Sequence which basically demonstrates that all growth comes through the accumulation of new types of experience that serve to transform and evolve existing memory to a new level. The most recent past combined with the present form the basis for the future which evolves as a natural progression.

The dome, in which the pine cone is positioned in the center, has a circle on the ceiling with 7 rays, columns, or vertical segments radiating from it. Within each of these rays are windows, forming 3 rows of 7 each, or 7 columns of 3 each. The top row of windows are inset into the curvature of the dome, with the top forming the same shape as the Pope’s headdress – which is shaped like a vesica piscis – and the windows have a thick vertical bar in the center, with 3 smaller horizontal ones dividing the windows into 3 rows (3 tiered staff of the Pope) of two panes each (6). There’s a narrow divider between it and the middle row, which has the same 3-paned windows, with a border frame that has a horizontal rectangle in the same shape and proportion as the vertical windows. There’s a 3-tiered divider between the middle and lower row, the windows on the lower row don’t have frames, and have a center divider with 2 panes, forming a cross, and the center window is a doorway, with 3 windows on each side.

This idea can be interpreted in many different ways based on the geometric and numeric structure, but in relation to the other symbols and idea being illustrated, it clearly represents what we call the “4 Worlds” of the Tree of Life – the World of Archetypes (sphere on ceiling and pavilion of roof), Creation, Formation, and Action – the 22 principles of the Hebrew alphabet and archetypes of the Tarot, and the 22 (pairs) primary chromosomes of DNA, with the 23rd being the gene of gender, which is a function of the pineal. If you take the major trump of the Tarot (Keys for interpretation as correspondences), and place the “0” (Fool) at the top, and line the others up sequentially in 3 rows of 7 each, it forms a tableau of principles where the top row refers to “powers and potencies”, the middle row “laws and agencies”, and the bottom row “conditions and effects”. The archetype of Daleth (an idea birthed in the imagination) is symbolized as a “door” (a passageway between inner and outer), and the Emperor (Heh), is symbolized by a “window” (allows surveillance of the outside). There are 22 bones in the skull, all of which come together in the sphenoid bone (winged bone), which is the seat (saddle) in which the pineal and pituitary sit (winged disc or pine cone of higher consciousness). This can also be interpreted using the symbol of the caduceus, where 2 serpents (polarized aspects of the life-force) wind or zig-zag up 3 levels, resting at the base of the winged disc.

Flying Coat of Arms

This is probably one of the most significant symbols, because it ties everything together to form a cohesive idea. This collective symbol is strikingly similar to the Hierophant (Pope) of the Tarot (number 5, Vau), symbolic of a “nail or peg” that joins two things together, and a “yoke” (yoga) that ties the animal to the cart. It contains the composite of the same group of principles, some of which are represented in new ways. The overall symbol is very symmetrical, representing complementary opposites combining to form a single whole – polar opposites (2 elements of fire and water) are reconciled through a third element (Triad – air). The center image of the 3-tiered crown sitting on 2 columns that come up from the base (cup) formed out of the 2 scrolls, with wings on both sides (Air – ascension), represents of the “winged disc or pine cone”, symbolic of ascension through mastering the mind and cleansing the lower nature using the conscious, rational, reasoning mind of universal intelligence.

The crown is a triple tiara with a trefoil coming out of the top (3-fold flame), forming the base of the fountain umbraculum, which is also mirrored in the circle on the ceiling of the dome. It has 7 rays or streams coming out of it forming a fountain of light, symbolized by a “halo” or golden sphere-disc shown at the same angle over the head of divine, enlightened beings. This illumination is formed out of the aura being radiated from the pineal. This fountain of 7 rays is framed by a half circle with spirals on each end, signifying the union of complementary aspects to form a single unit of light (all light is polarized). There’s a single garland surrounding the whole image that appears as 2 garlands running down both sides – 1 energy divides into 2 – what we perceive as duality is complementary aspects of the same energy necessary to form “dimension” as a holographic light form. The 2 side pieces are similar to a throne or saddle, with 2 arms and 2 legs and the crown (pineal) seated in the middle. The middle is an oval, which forms the “vesica piscis” through the regeneration, division, and merging together of the Monad with itself, forming the “womb of the universe” through which mental ideas become physical realities, forming the basis for self-creation.

The 2 keys, crossed at the center, represent the 2 aspects of the subconscious and conscious on the material plane which are governed by the higher mind through the seeds that are planted and begin growing in the 3rd-eye of the pineal, represented below it as 3 mounds. The keys are also mirror images of each other and are normally illustrated as one being silver (subconscious) and the other gold (conscious). The top part of the key is formed out of a single line (plane) that’s divided in 2, and each half has 3 aspects. The handles are made of a circle with 8 smaller circles around a central circle, forming 10 in all. This is symbolic of the 8-spoked wheel of reincarnation and Dharma, which forms the 8-fold path of Buddhism, and correlates with the 8-pointed star positioned between and below them.

The 8-pointed star represents “cosmic energy”, which flows between planes in a self-perpetuating and self-sustaining manner “8”. It’s the symbol of infinity which is a self-contained system that functions as a continuous flow or closed circuit. The “metal” (property) of the pineal is “quicksilver”, mercury, which rises and falls, expands and contracts, as a pressure system (+/-) based on temperature (hot and cold). 8 is a complete unit of both light and sound (octave and scale), which are both regulated and transcribed by the pineal through calcite crystals that are contained within both the pineal body and the inner ear, and resonate in perfect harmony with each other. 8 represents “meditation” (mediation), where the lower mind is made silent and passive in order to act as a receptor for the seeded ideas of the higher mind, received and translated through the imagination. The principle of the 8-pointed star is represented in the Tarot by “the Star”, number “17”, which represents meditation as the means of merging into and converging with our higher mind.

Meditation is the unbroken flow of knowledge as “conception” – the transference of ideas as the germination or budding of ideas. All germinal processes take place in the dark. T his represents the “genesis of ideas”, conceived in their seed form, rather than fully developed, where they’re gestated and built into the mental model of the individual and birthed as its offspring in the outer world of activity. Meditation directs the currents of solar force by acts of self-directed attention. Intense concentration applied in a steady manner leads to the inner awareness of what is otherwise an elusive truth. The pine cone appears closed because these are the “seeds of light” (starseeds) gestated and birthed on the inner plane of the mind, forming the frequency of an archetypal pattern and theme for ordering and organizing the outer world of light (sun) into a corresponding idea played out as a particular theme. 8 is the principle of “periodic renewal”, where similar patterns repeat in a rhythmic flow of cycles. The pineal is the “time-keeper” of the body and regulates all physical cycles of the body and outer life. The 8-pointed star also represents the light-body of the astral-double, which contains the karmic seed of destiny and fortune, which is unbiasedly administered by our higher mind through “suggestions” that come as inner visions that appear as a memory.

The pineal is both the means of conceiving and translating a universal idea (archetype) into a personalized concept where it comes into fruition through a natural series of events. It’s the learning center of the brain that’s stimulated by higher rates of vibration as the communication between our higher, divine mind, and our lower, personal mind. The pineal is the crown chakra that contains the other 7 within it as a single unit of light that’s coherent and transparent. It’s located both in the body (pineal) and outside of the body, in what can be thought of as the 8th chakra that forms an egg-shaped energy field that can be clairvoyantly seen as the aura that appears to emanate from the body.

It takes part in both planes simultaneously and is what acts to “combine them into one” (4 + 4 = 8). In order to attain knowledge as wisdom you have to “be in the experience of it”. You have to merge into it as a concept and be of the same mind where you become the “vibration of it” (resonate with it). The star sits directly above 3 aspects (mounds), one seated within the lower 2, directly below the 2 keys. You open the “gate” to higher dimensions (keyhole) by concentrating on universal principles as mental concepts (scrolls of universal law). When we stop thinking and still our mind while concentrating on an idea, and simply “observe” (witness) the inner light that forms, truth reveals itself to us. Meditation develops powers in being able to control the animal forces (lions) of our human personality (man’s face).

The 2 scrolls, rolled up on the upper level, and combined and unrolled on the lower, represent law of involution and evolution – the law of involution of undifferentiated conscious energy and its evolution through a series of personalized forms of itself. Through the Law of Karma as cause and consequence, we are assured of reaping what we first sow within. The 2 wheels and rolled up scrolls can be seen as spiraling in opposite directions, tied together by a spiraling rope, where 2 combine as 1, represented by the beaded rope around the central oval where 2 dark beads are bound together by a light one. The scrolls symbolize the Torah, also called the “Book of Life” which contain the 10 universal laws that govern the mind, and the “Akashic Records” in which the karmic memory of the soul is recorded as a permanent record, associated with the High Priestess of the Tarot, the Virgin Mother of God (Mary), and Binah of the Tree of Life. The sidereal body is formed out of “star substance” as charged plasma that’s always in an embryonic state and acts to conceive and gestate ideas planted in it that serve to faithfully administer karma as the sequential events of a person’s life.

All things that come into manifestation come as “twins or pairs” that are polarized to each other and together form a “body” (particle) that’s accompanied by an invisible energy field (spherical wave) that surrounds, permeates (moves through and inhabits), and contains it. This pairing can be thought of as the basis for the astral (star) double that contains the builders plan and a self-assembling force (frequency) as well as the higher mind, which acts to construct and give life to the entire material world without ever fully manifesting “into it”. The etheric double can also be thought of as the subconscious mind (material mind) which is formed by the essence of the higher conscious mind and acts to regulate the activities of the material world. The higher mind can be thought of as the architect or designer, and the lower mind the builder that constructs the reality of the design.

Polarized pairs are “entangled energetically”, which means they are of the exact same “state” and function simultaneously as both a particle (matter) and a wave (mental field of highly organized information). These dual aspects spin in opposite directions of each other, and no matter how far apart they appear to be in “space and time”, they continue to act “as one”. All movement, no exceptions, takes place as an interaction between complementary aspects, whether it be as an inner and outer, where separation is an illusion, or material and energetic as an upper and lower. The only way we have of being “drawn into” the higher, divine levels of the mind is by cultivating the same state of mind as our character and true inner nature. In this regard there’s no faking, pretending to be someone we’re not, or hiding and putting on airs. We have to actually “become it” as our normal way of being and perceiving.

The Rooftop Pavilion

Directly above the dome is a pavilion, shaped into a half-circle, which is also at a right angle to the shape of the dome itself, parallel to the terrace below the dome and directly behind the pine cone, and a mirror image (reverse) of the pool formed by water flowing out of the man’s mouth. The caps on each side of this U-shaped area, are comprised of a square and triangle formed into a house (temple). There are 4 pillars (Elements), with 3 spaces between them, forming a square, with a triangle roof (Triad). This forms the symbol commonly used to represent the union of the mind (3) with the body (4), as the upper 3 chakras and the lower 4 chakras, which form the “temple” as the dwelling place for the soul and spirit. It’s also symbolic of “mind over matter”, and our mind’s ability to govern the animal powers inherent in our mammalian body, represented by the lion.

The inner part of the “U” shape has what appears to be 12 columns or pillars (not counting the 4 end-caps) forming 11 spaces, with half-spaces on each end (12), the same pattern is repeated on the upper level as rectangles. The upper level of the endcaps also repeats the pattern of the 4 pillars and 3 spaces. This is demonstrating the relationship that exists between 3 and 4 as mirror images of each other on parallel planes, where the triad forms the tetrad, as well as the 12 archetypes of the Zodiac (3 x 4 = 12), divided into 4 cardinal signs correlated with the 4 elements, with 3 signs in each category. This also represents the principles involved in the Tetragrammaton or “4 letter name of God”, which is actually 3 letters, one of which is repeated – Yod, He, Vau, He – and the 3 aspects of the mind that manifest in a 4th element as a material reality. In the middle or center, perfectly aligned with the center windows, coat of arms, doorway, sarcophagus, pine cone, fountain, eye-sphere, cross, and center of the 8 pillars, is a rod (flagpole?) with a sphere of some kind on the top. This is an idea that’s repeated throughout the Vatican, and often accompanied by the 8-pointed star and 3 mounds on the top.

A very similar idea is portrayed in a painting of the “Last Supper”, which is inside the Sistine Chapel. In this picture you want to notice the design elements used to convey the idea it represents. The ceiling design (8 spoked wheel – octagon) is repeated on the floor, there’s 3 scenes-images on the wall behind them, 2 witnesses on each side, a figure sitting in the middle (dressed in dark clothes), surrounded by 12 disciples (13th), all with angled halos made of gold (sun), sitting around a half-circle table with a gold chalice in front of the central figure (wine?). The symbols on the floor in front of them – cat and rat, with a dog dancing at the feet of 2 of the witnesses, 2 vessels sitting beside (outside of) a circular tray with 2 more vessels and another circular tray at a right angle inside of it. You may also want to take note of the image on the floor in the “Tower of the Winds” (observatory), that’s comprised of 13 moon cycles, 12 stars, a male and female in the center with 7 concentric spheres or borders, and 4 men holding it up at the corners, with 4 faces opposite the 4 men on the outside. The whole image is formed as a circle (Monad) with an inner square that has an 8-layered circle within it. I point these out because they contain similar symbols and represent a common idea as a universal theme.

Summing it Up

By simply contemplating these symbolic ideas as representing “universal principles” that provide you with a very specific “method of practice” for understanding the real purpose and function of the pineal as being what “connects” us to our “higher self” as our divine nature, other insights will form that will expand your awareness and will provide you with additional clues as to the actual process involved. Any time you don’t fully understand the significance of a symbol or principle, make it a point to research it further. All numbers represent principles that are conceptualize through Sacred Geometry, which is the structure, properties, and animating forces that form the very basis for our material reality and provide us with “processes” for achieving what the composite design represents.

Likewise, the archetypes of the Tarot, astrology, and mythology of all cultures also represent principles in their personalized form and provide a “key” of correspondences and analogies for interpreting all other aspects. These universal archetypes form the basis for mythology and legends of the “gods” of every culture on Earth because they’re inherent in our human psyche and subconscious, and though the images used may pertain to a specific culture or religion, the universal principles they represent remain the same. If you clear your mind of all the opinions and beliefs you’ve been taught regarding an idea or symbol, close your eyes and form a calm, relaxed meditative state while concentrating on an image in a single-minded fashion, what you’ll probably discover is that the image itself will come alive inside as visual thought that begins moving in a spiraling motion proliferating a chain of associated ideas as a form of unfolding. Our inner psyche is holistic and works through the group mind that connects ideas with all other correlated ideas, because a “principle” isn’t a fixed concept or stagnate material form, it’s a living force that organizes the same idea into a vast number of images that all serve to represent the same basic idea.

I’m going to let you tie together all the symbols discussed as representing a “whole idea” or “larger process” on your own, because this is what helps to develop higher consciousness. What we refer to as higher consciousness is always “creative and individual” in nature. As you develop your own idea about what this composite image is communicating, you can begin developing your own practice for how to bring it into your daily life as a means of utilizing it to facilitate your own spiritual growth and moral development. I simply pointed them out and gave you a basis for discovering the deeper hidden meaning they represent.

Symbols are the universal language of the mind where each time they’re drawn into the individual mind and concentrated on, they form in a unique and original way as an offspring produced by that mind. Though they may form differently each time and in a different way for each person, the idea and creative process they represent will always remain the same. Symbolic ideas are how we take a universal concept and use it to form a personalized version as a means of “creating”. As we create using our imagination, we form internal experiences that become the basis for external experiences of the same nature, and through our self-created experiences, we simultaneously “create ourselves”.

Dr. Linda Gadbois     



Mentoring / Coaching / Consultation for personal transformation and spiritual growth


                 




The Pineal and the Third Eye – The Seat of the Soul and the Alchemical Marriage

In this article I’m going to lay out a new model for understanding the “principles” involved in the function of the Pineal gland and its corresponding subtle organ of the Third Eye. My intention is to provide the basis for forming a new way of understanding the nature of what we also call the “soul”. This model will be illustrated through the symbolic depictions commonly given in Esoteric Sciences, which reveal the universal principles involved as corresponding ideas. I’m going to focus this description in terms of how it relates to the soul and the link between parallel dimensions in which different aspects of the soul exist and function simultaneously while playing complementary roles in creating and sustaining a greater whole we call “reality”. I’m not going to go into a lot of detail on any particular aspect or subject, because my purpose in writing this is to form a model that will provide you with a new way of thinking about it that will breed a more practical understanding of how the soul operates in creating the reality that provides it with an “experience” of itself, and how to begin working with it more effectively in your everyday life.

I’m going to include symbolic representations and numeric formulas in parenthesis as a means of helping you to correlate ideas and learn how to interpret symbolic language of the spiritual planes as a means of developing skill in deciphering what is normally considered “hidden knowledge”. This knowledge is “hidden” because it’s communicated using images, symbols, names, letters, colors, numbers, and so on, all of which correspond to universal principles. If you want more information on these symbols and numbers, I encourage you to research them on your own in order to broaden your understanding of them through a variety of novel perspectives, each of which will elaborate and expound on different aspects of the same idea. Numeric formulas given in parenthesis can be decoded using numerology, sacred geometry, physics, the Qabalah, astrology, and the archetypes of the Tarot.

I’m sure that many of you have noticed that most of the information being put out on the internet is a regurgitation of the same basic information over and over, along with “opinions” given by those who seldom have any true knowledge of what’s being discussed, coupled with very little understanding of the fundamental laws and principles involved. Universal laws are always communicated using symbols and allegories that require interpretation in order to be understood and can only accurately be comprehended by someone with a broad knowledge and understanding of spiritual sciences. So, when you research an idea, always keep this in mind, and try to keep your research focused on those who are truly knowledgeable and qualified in explaining whatever subject you’re seeking more information around. Anyone who is a casual reader or novice in spiritual sciences may find this article difficult to understand, but it may be useful in providing the basis for further study.

A Basic Physical Description of the Pineal Gland

We’ll start with a description of the pineal gland, which will help in understanding how it functions in the body. The pineal is the only “ductless” endocrine gland within the brain and body that’s single and not paired, lobed, or accompanied by a symmetrical twin. It doesn’t originate within the brain but develops initially from specialized tissue in the roof of the fetal mouth, and from there it migrates to the center of the brain where it becomes seated between the two hemispheres (right and left) of the brain, in the midbrain. It becomes visible in the fetus 49 (7 x 7 = 49 = 13 = 4) days after conception, and the sex of the fetus becomes known at the same time (pineal regulates sexual development). This is because our gender while in our physical body is what “polarizes” us to our (its) complementary aspect on the higher parallel plane of our conscious, universal mind, which is androgynous or bisexual in nature.

Our higher mind is what emanates and projects “both aspects of our mind” (subconscious and self-conscious) into the material plane of the body. All interaction as vibration, whether on the same plane or parallel planes, occurs through polarity, where one aspect acts to send or project an electrical impulse and the other acts to conceive it. Once conceived its gestated in the “womb of the subconscious” (our feminine aspect), where it’s molded into our existing mental model and birthed as a fundamental part of our outer (greater) reality, where its then “perceived” by the self-conscious (masculine) mind, forming a natural part of our experience.

The pineal sits in close proximity to a primary channel of cerebrospinal fluids, which allows its secretions to be immediately distributed to the deepest recesses of the brain. It’s the main component of the Thalamus, called the Epithalamus, and sits strategically close to Hippocampus, which are crucial sensory and emotional centers of the brain. Small mounds of specialized brain tissue called colliculi, located in the midbrain below the pineal, separated only by a thin channel of cerebrospinal fluid are what you might call “relay stations” for the registration and interpretation of sense data and the electrical and chemical impulses that begin in the eyes and ears and pass through these colliculi before they’re “experienced” in the mind as sights and sounds. Anything secreted by the pineal into this cerebral fluid immediately registers in these colliculi, forming visual images and sounds. The pineal sensitivity to “light” is in regard to the “inner light” that it seems to produce as piezoluminescence, that acts to translate a vibratory impulse into a holographic image, forming a kind of “internal vision” of what originates as “cosmic memory” being transmitted from our higher mind to our subconscious. This functions in a similar way to the memory of “animal instinct” on the physical plane.

The pineal regulates “state” (mood) and is surrounded by the limbic system of the emotional brain involved in the experience of feelings, such as fear, joy, anxiety, anger, pleasure, and so on. It regulates the brains emotional centers and demonstrates the natural relationship that exists between visual thoughts and emotion, which combine in producing natural activities and how we experience ourselves through the perception of reality created. It’s involved in the production of melanin and is what determines “skin color” (race). It regulates all the natural cycles of the body, which function in harmony with the cycles of the sun (symbol of our higher mind) and the reproductive cycles of our lower, animal energies of our subconscious (lower mind, governed by the cycles of the moon). Darkness produces melatonin, which blocks reproductive function and shrinks sexual organs while stimulating pineal growth. Light causes the pineal to shrink, reduces melatonin production, while increasing sexual function (mystics were known to live in caves and were celibate).

The pineal also secretes a little understood substance called N-dimethyltryptamine, or DMT, which is known to induce spiritual visions associated with “mystical experience” and states of “ecstasy”. This is what’s called the “resin” (risen) produced by the pineal (like pine sap), that’s a golden amber color, also called the “elixir of life” and secret to immortality that was highly sought after by ancient societies. DMT causes an “altered state of consciousness” that makes you feel “one with all life and the universe”. It’s thought to be the “chemical interpreter” through which the body and spirit “meet” and communicate. Melatonin is the hormone of darkness that induces the internal experience of “dreams” through activity of the pineal, which can come as an expression of emotions suppressed throughout the day, or as a form of spiritual guidance or revelation as a vision communicated in the universal language of archetypes, symbols, and metaphor.

The adrenal glands, associated with the subtle organ of the solar plexus (one of the 3 main spiritual centers of the body) produces noradrenaline and adrenaline (norepinephrine and epinephrine), and releases these hormones directly into the bloodstream in response to stress, and acts to “turn on” melatonin synthesis in the pineal. However, it’s only the “equivalent hormone” produced and released by the pineal nerve endings, and not by the adrenal glands, that have any effect on pineal function. This is surprising due to the pineal originating outside of the brain where it would normally respond to and be affected by blood-born chemicals and drugs. The pineal is designed with a form of security system that protects it, called “vacuum nerve cells” that clean out the blood-born hormones in an incredibly efficient manner, making it almost impossible to stimulate during the day by the activities of the body. At night when you sleep, your body has what’s called “sleep paralysis” and becomes inactive while inwardly a great deal of mental activity takes place.

Melatonin levels in the body drop dramatically at puberty when sexual function begins, which is the same stage of development when our conscious mind starts becoming actively dominant over our subconscious and we begin the process of creating our “identity”, a creative function associated with our higher, conscious mind as the process of “self-creation”. Melatonin is chemically very similar to DMT, which means it may have psychoactive effects that produce inner visions as vivid dreams when we sleep or reside in a meditative state. It also causes our body temperature to rise when we sleep, which drops again as we wake. There’s a sharp dip in body temperature at around 3am when melatonin levels are highest, which accounts for the tendency some people experience of waking up at around 3am and then having trouble going back to sleep.

The pineal produces psychedelic amounts of DMT at significant times in our life that are directly related to soul activity and a more pronounced communion with our higher mind. The psychoactive effects produced are the physical representation of non-material energetic processes that provide us with the means for experiencing the movement of our life-force energy in its most extreme manifestations, not limited by the constraints of the material world formed out of crystallized light. When our individual life force enters our fetal body it passes through the pineal, triggering a flood of DMT, and at birth releases even more. Our brain is flooded with DMT again when we die and our soul (life-force) leaves our body, producing an altered state of what seems like a vivid dream of the significant events of our life passing before our eyes (life-recall). DMT also mediates the pivotal experiences some of us experience during meditation, hypnosis, psychosis, hallucinations, and near-death experiences. The pineal contains the highest amount of serotonin in the body, which is the precursor for producing melatonin, and is converted into tryptamine, which is a primary step in forming DMT.

The pineal body is a sac filled with liquid that has small hexagon (6) shaped crystals floating in it that are made of calcite. There are approximately 300 of these crystals that form a hexagonal lattice system that demonstrates the piezoelectric effect as a form of internally generated phosphine light. It receives an electrical impulse that generates phosphorescent radiation as a translation, which continues after excitation stops. It conceives of certain frequencies as “ideas” inherent within the atmosphere and shapes them into visual images that makes them perceivable internally as a sensory construct. The pineal contains the “mental sphere” of the etheric body as the karmic seed for this lifetime (the pineal regulates cycles of time and is an internal clock), which vibrates at the frequency of our mental model, called our “signature frequency”. The vibratory frequency of our mind serves as a form of tuning device that determines what frequencies we act to naturally receive from the space around us through sympathetic resonance. It not only acts to conceive the complementary frequencies latent in the space around it, but also generates positive frequencies on its own while simultaneously amplifying them (raising their vibration).

When we close our eyes, residing in internal darkness while focusing our attention on our pineal in the center of our forehead, it stimulates these crystals causing them to vibrate, raising and amplifying (intensifying) their vibration. Attention is a stimulating (active) force and when directed through deep states of concentration, channels our life-energy into whatever we’re concentrating on, causing it to vibrate. We can only resonate pineal crystals while in a relaxed state, where we subdue the active mind of thought associated with the awake state, close out all outer light and sound, and reside fully in our subconscious, which is a passive receptor for higher forms of consciousness. All activity associated with “thought” originates in our self-conscious mind, and as long as this part of our mind is active, we can’t act to conceive of thoughtforms from the higher plane of our true conscious mind. As long as we’re actively thinking, we simply form the internal images associated with our thoughts and we can’t act to receive seeded thoughts (archetypal) from a higher plane.

The only other organ of the body besides the pineal that has these calcite crystals is the gelatinous otolithic membrane of the inner ear, which helps orientate us when our eyes are closed. Calcium carbonate is what also forms our bones, the organ of the body attributed to our soul, which forms the skeletal frame necessary for movement, and generates 95% of our red blood cells, including hematopoietic stem cells, which are undifferentiated cells available for forming new growth. When calcium carbonate is combined with water (crystals floating in a crystalline fluid) it becomes a conductor for subtle energy, which is what forms the electrical impulse as a “spark” that acts to charge plasma, stripping off electrons causing magnetic fields to form, constructing a field of highly organized light (which is what reality is). These crystals are an amber-yellow color (gold is associated with our mind) and are referred to as “brain sand” (sand is silicon dioxide). The pineal is basically a sack of liquid crystal (fluid-light) and solid crystals (frozen light), where the bottom half (or third) eventually forms into a solid crystal calcite (also called the Philosophers Stone), indicating the higher conscious aspect of the mind is fully seated within it.  

Crystals act as electromagnetic transmitters and transducers that also “hold memory” and can be “charged” with intention (will). In this case they contain the life memory of the cosmic, evolutionary soul that incarnates into a new body as a cyclical process of growth and development, that’s also referred to as our “karmic seed”, which is molded into an “archetype”. Our higher, archetypal soul is formed out of the accumulated experiences of all our previous incarnations synthesized into a single memory as an archetype or archetypal matrix, that makes up our “nature and character”. This evolved memory of ourselves is what forms the basis for our soul’s inner constitution as our predisposition for a particular type of growth and development when born into our current body and life condition, where it’s modified by combining with the memory inherent in our genetics, where it forms congruent characteristics and preexisting patterns as tendencies reestablished through our formative conditioning. We take on the same character being played out through the same type of dynamics as a continuation of our previous life patterns. Our life experiences are registered and interpreted through the “life recall” that takes place at the moment of death, when all the significant experiences of our life flash before our “eye”, and we experience them from the opposite end as what we “caused others” through our actions or reactions, and they’re transcribed into the karmic seed for the next life cycle. Our third eye is the place where our “etheric double” as the plan for our life is recorded in the ether (akasha) of the mind as a permanent record, right before the soul departs from the body.

Interpreting Symbols to Find Hidden Meaning  

The crystals of the pineal are hexagonal, and a hexad is formed out of two interlaced triangles whose points are oriented in different directions, one up and one down, symbolizing polar opposites that form a single entity. A triangle, or triad, is the universal symbol for the mind and soul, along with the Monad, which is presented as a sphere or circle with a dot in the center, the same symbol used to represent the sun (center of our solar system). Our mind is 3-fold in nature, which means its formed by the interaction of complementary aspects in forming a coherent field of highly organized (polarized) light (information). Polarity is the basis for vibration, which comes as a spiraling (electromagnetic) energy that moves between two poles, one negative (receptive and contracting) and one positive (active and projective). This spiraling energy moves in both a linear form between two parallel planes (upper and lower) or a circular or toroidal form on the same plane, forming a “sphere” of pulsating, living energy.

The ”light body”, which means “mental body” formed out of polarized astral (star) light, also referred to as the Merkabah, is represented by two interlaced triads, a symbol commonly known as the “Star of David” (3 + 3 = 6). How something is structured always indicates how it functions, and this concept connects our intellect (higher rational mind) with our emotions (lower instinctive mind), forming emotional intelligence as a harmonious mental state. The higher mind cleanses the energy of the lower mind while also amplifying it. We can only act to conceive higher knowledge by becoming of the same vibration mentally and morally. The Merkabah, or Metatron’s Cube, another name for the same process, both of which are considered the light-vehicle (body) used for ascending the hierarchical planes of the mind, comes by merging our lower mind with our higher mind so they form a single entity, raising our mental vibration to a level where we can be “drawn up” into the higher planes through sympathetic resonance. 

The Hexad, like the Pentad, represents the holographic principle because the inner form of a hexagram is the same as the outer form, turned at a 90-degree angle (right angle). This demonstrates that by combining our lower mind with our higher mind, a portal to higher dimensions is created on the inner plane of the mind. Our pineal is a “single part” whose complementary aspect exists on the higher, parallel plane of the conscious mind, and their union is what’s referred to in Alchemy as the Alchemical Marriage of Soulmates. The principle of polarity tells us that whatever is passive on the material plane is active on the astro-spiritual plane, and vice versa. All movement between planes occurs through the interaction of complementary opposites, often described as sympathetic resonance, which is also the principle operating in hypnosis, where the higher will impregnates the subconscious with a seed of manifestation as a suggestion (thoughtform).

The principle of the higher self (sun Deity) seated within the pineal is commonly depicted as a king seated on a throne drawn by 7 horses, or in a chariot pulled by 2 sphinx (combination of 4 elements), the same way it sits between the 2 hemispheres of the brain, in the “saddle”, also called the “Mercy Seat”.

The Mind Develops in 7 Year Increments

 Our “mind” develops in 4 primary stages of 7 years each (7, 14, 21, 28). Our higher mind, which is the part of us that reincarnates doesn’t come fully into the body until our conscious mind is developed to the point of being able to resume the task of creating ourselves through our ability to reason, discriminate, judge, make our own decisions, and willfully act out our decisions to form them into realities. The crystalline “sand” of the pineal is directly associated with the higher mind. The pineal begins calcifying around the age of 7, when the conscious mind also begins developing, and is almost completely calcified by 12 to 14 years of age (adolescence and sexual development), when the conscious mind becomes actively dominant, and we begin forming our “identity”. This is when the true higher mind and soul becomes established and bound to the human, mortal body. Retrograde evolution or degeneration of the pineal body begins around the age of 6 or 7, and is practically complete by puberty, when we begin forming our identity, associated with our higher, creative, archetypal mind of our evolutionary Ego. Retrograde motion correlates with specific retrograde archetypes and accelerates the evolutionary momentum of the soul, because it retreats, rejects, or rebels against the status quo and how it’s expected to behave, and as a result facilitates the process of individuation.

This is when we step out of the group identity of our family and social group and begin making decisions for ourselves that serve to define us as an individual of our own making. When our higher self merges with our body, it degenerates into the group mind of herd mentality and must exercise choice and will to free itself and establish its individuality. The higher mind is the creative aspect of will and imagination that acts to “create itself” by creating its own experiences born out of calculated decisions as to “who and how” they’re going to be in any given situation, and the course of actions they’re going to take that turn their decisions into realities of experience.

Metatron’s Cube and the Merkabah

Metatron’s cube is a symbol similar to the Merkabah and Start of David, formed primarily as a Hexagram, with greater emphasis on the Holographic Principle which, when drawn properly contains an inner hexagram that’s turned at a 90-degree angle to the outer one (polarized), similar to the pentagram, where the inner pentagram is diametrically opposite (reverse) of the outer one. Sometimes this feature is represented as the entire image forming the center. This represents not only synthesis of both aspects of the mind, but also the same structure of the outer or greater plane is fully contained within the inner sphere as a reflection of it. The inner part of Metatron’s Cube is made of the same 6 spheres in a condensed form, suggesting the outer is an expansion of the inner, centered out of the sphere in the middle, representing the Monad, forming 13 spheres in all.

13 is the number associated with “death and regeneration”, which are different aspects of the same function, symbolic of our “second birth” achieved through spiritual regeneration into a higher level of consciousness. Our “old self” as the personality developed through our conditioning has to die (be surrendered and sacrificed) in order for our higher self to be born in its place, because they’re formed and sustained out of the same energy. All rebirth comes as a form of transformation that’s self-induced and facilitated by us using the higher capacities of our intellect, will, and imagination. Initiation is achieved through sanctifying your lower nature to become a vehicle for your higher nature, where, by “becoming of the same consciousness” as your higher self, you raise your vibration to within the lower reaches of the higher plane, where it can be drawn into it through sympathetic resonance. This process is illustrated in the Tarot through the major trump of 11 (Karma), 12 (Initiation and self-sacrifice), 13 (death of the old self), and 14 (raising your vibration).

Alchemical Marriage

What’s called the alchemical marriage in the transformative science of Alchemy, is achieved by cleansing and purifying the lower, animal, instinct driven aspect of our subconscious, to make it fit for our higher nature to reside in. We transform based on whatever it is we “combine with energetically” and become fused with mentally that actively expresses certain qualities and characteristics. Regeneration comes by “tincturing” the sphere of the pineal gland in order to transmute base metal (animal nature) to gold (divine nature). When awakened by the Kundalini of the body (astral agent) it serves as the vehicle of the animal, subconscious (Aphrodite), but when tinctured by spiritual light, it becomes the chariot of the divine mind (Hermes), who brings knowledge of the higher realms of pure consciousness. This idea is commonly portrayed as one being with two faces, one male and one female (conscious and subconscious, higher and lower).

Kundalini is another term for “astral light”, the cosmic electricity that vitalizes everything with “life” which, like all forces of the cosmos, is polarized. Each hierarchical plane of the mind and soul, including the subconscious of the body, has its own astral agent that’s pertinent to that level of consciousness. On the lower plane of material reality it functions as the motivational force of instinct, we experience as “emotions”, and on the higher plane of consciousness it’s the motivational force of “will”. In terms of the two levels of the lower mind, the conscious and subconscious, there’s a higher astral agent and a lower one, which are connected through the spiritual center of the heart, which is the “mediator” between the upper 3 chakras (Triad) and the lower 3. One is inferior (body) and one superior (mind), both of which move in a spiraling, circular motion between opposite poles (inner and outer, upper and lower) of the same frequency, like all polarized electromagnetic fields do.

 The Symbolic Significance of the Pinecone Courtyard of the Vatican

What’s called the Pinecone Courtyard of the Vatican contains extremely rich symbols regarding the significance of the pineal that are surprisingly “occult” oriented. I’m going to just briefly describe the main features in this article because I’ve written an in-depth article on this that I’m providing a link for. One of the mistakes people often make in interpreting certain symbols is they pick out and only use particular symbols that are a part of a larger composite design, so they don’t get the full idea being illustrated. The entire courtyard is a symbolic representation for the process of undergoing ascension to a higher, divine level of consciousness. The main part of the yard is formed as a square, divided into 4 quarters as an equal armed cross, that has a sculpture in the middle called the “sphere within a sphere”, shaped like an eye, that has gears rotating in a polarized movement, similar to the equal armed cross. The inner sphere sits at a slight angle to the outer sphere, similar to a gyroscope, or what’s called the “celestial sphere”, commonly portrayed in Hermetic Sciences as the astrological sphere of archetypes (Zodiac), which represent the “cosmic soul”, situated in the pineal.

Article: The Art of Interpreting Symbolic Language: The Pinecone Courtyard of the Vatican

This sphere, like the celestial sphere, sits at a similar angle as the tilt of the Earth on its axis. It’s perfectly aligned with the pine cone, which sits on a higher level (terrace) shaped as a triangle, where it’s the only “single feature” in an otherwise symmetrical design. It has 2 peacocks, the bird of transformation (phoenix) on both sides and 2 lions (symbol of our lower nature) on the lower level positioned on both sides of a man’s face, and the pine cone is perfectly aligned with the face on a higher level. The pine cone sits on what resembles a cup or chalice, with the design of 5 men, 1 in the center and a pair on each side, that all look like the same person as the face below. It’s centered in a dome (cranium of the skull) that has a circle in the top with 7 vertical rays-sections coming down like a fountain of sunlight, with 3 rows of 7 windows, forming 3 parallel planes (3 x 7 = 21 = 3), that all originate from the Monad in the top of the dome (22).

Directly behind the pine cone on the terrace sits an empty sarcophagus (stone tomb), that represents the astral body. Directly above it, in perfect alignment is an emblem, referred to as the “flying coat of arms”, that’s comprised of the same symbols associated with the “Hierophant” (priest-pope) of the Tarot, which represents “union” or “yoke” (yoga) of the higher self with the 2 aspects of the lower self, which are represented by the “keys” tied together with a twirling rope that has a keyhole in the center. The 2-fold scroll (Torah Book of Life – High Priestess), forms the lower part shaped like a chalice or shield, with an 8-pointed star (sidereal body as the seed of destiny), positioned over 3 mounds that resemble headstones forming a triangle (Same orientation as the Hierophant, Lovers, and Chariot), governed by the etheric double seated in the pineal.

The 8-pointed star, associated with the Star of the Tarot, number 17 (1 with 7 aspects) (1 + 7 = 8), represents “meditation”, concentration on an “ideal”, the color violet (lapis lazuli), and the symbol of the “fishing hook”, which is used to draw the fish out of the water (element of the subconscious). Water represents the reflected personal existence of the subconscious, symbolized by the “Hanged Man”, the archetype of initiation undertaken through self-sacrifice and surrender of our lower self in order to reside within the awareness of our higher self (giving up personal identity in order to embody universal identity). Our entire physical existence is contained in the “chalice of darkened waters” of the subconscious and sidereal-body of karmic memory, represented as a sphere that contains 2 spheres (personality and identity) within it that are seated within the pineal, which when seen clairvoyantly, appears as a glass-globe. Any material substance that vibrates at the same frequency as light, is transparent. This is why silicon dioxide (quartz-sand) when heated to make glass, is transparent allowing us to “see through it”, because it vibrates at the same frequency as sunlight.

The Archetype of Our Soul

Our pineal gland is the physical organ that acts as the “seat” for “Agni energy” of astral vision, intuition, and inner knowing. It’s the aspect of our mind we use to perform the functions of discernment, judgment, reasoning, and rational thinking. It’s a portal to the higher realms of the astral world and the creative hierarchies of the cosmos. It appears as an inner eye or nucleus that emits a vibrant spectromatic aura that surrounds the outer body of the pineal, pulsating with electric light as our spiritual aura, represented by the Monad. It’s our physical organ of perception contained within the aura of the pineal which answers in vibration (feeling) to any impression that’s felt and sensed, rather than perceived. It fluctuates (glass globe of fluorescent gas-like liquid) with an energetic luster during the process of thinking by translating thought into vibration that emits light as a frequency. The clairvoyant vision of this translucent globe that emits the energetic frequency of our mental state and thoughts is seen as a sphere divided in half (approximately), with the lower half formed as 7 scales and shades of light that go from dim shades to bright ones and represent the 7 planetary archetypes of the human psyche.

This sphere of radiating light rotates on an axis that sits at the same angle as the Earth’s axis (21 to 24.5 degrees), with a spiraling whirlpool (vortex) at the center, and a correlating spiral orbiting it at what appears to be a 45-degree angle. The central nucleus emits a ring or plane that’s parallel to the linear axis. This mental sphere is divided in half, with the lower area appearing to be filled with a liquid-light and the upper with as a translucent gas-like light (fluorescent). This represents the sphere of Tiphareth (higher self) on the Tree of Life, which holds 4 spheres in balance, represented by the 2 keys that are crossed in both the Hierophant card of the Tarot and the Flying Coat of Arms hanging on the wall inside the dome directly over the pineal, between the second and third plane, forming an “X” as an equal armed cross turned at a 45-degree angle (polarized to the cross in the square of the courtyard).

The 4 spheres held in balance, symbolized by the top end of the keys and the two bottom handles, represent karmic memory (Chesed), Higher will (Geburah), animal instinct (Netzach), and the intellect (Hod), brought together in a coherent state in the faculty of the imagination (Tiphareth – Christ Consciousness of our higher mind). This is the same sphere seated in the pineal, as the faculty of the imagination that’s used by the higher mind to seed the lower mind using pictures and images that are metaphorical in nature, similar to memory. This also symbolizes the fifth element of the mind as the “ether”, which creates reality by holding the 4 Elements of the material plane in an equilibrated state of coherence. This same idea is often depicted as the light-halo (globe or disc), shown at a slight angle radiating around the head of divine, enlightened beings, usually shown in white or gold, sometimes with a cross impressed in it, or 12 stars of deities surrounding the head.

Everything that takes place in the body, all thought, feeling, and movement, is first present in the aura of the 3rd eye, and has its own shade of color. This aura is a hologram formed out of a vibratory frequency as a “etheric map” and mental program (mold) for all the activity that takes place within the outer sphere of the subconscious, which produces all its activities out of the patterns inherent in our soul’s memory. We have to create an “etheric template” as a holographic image that imitates an actual memory, because the subconscious functions out of “instinct” as automated patterns of activity. By building a desired experience as a reality in our imagination, imbuing it with sensory detail, we cause it to vibrate at a particular frequency on the inner planes which provides our subconscious with a pattern to fulfill by acting it out naturally within our daily life. Once it’s acted out to form an experience, it becomes infused in our mental model as a memory of ourselves. Experience is what combines the inner and outer as a process of synthesis. 

The aura emitted from our pineal is based on the mental frequency of our thoughts imagined internally as a reality, which forms a corresponding vibration in the brain as a “concept” for reality. It forms the electrical impulse that imprints the idea in the cerebral fluid which runs through the circuit of the spinal cord to the rest of the body. It fires the rest of the endocrine glands correlated with the subtle organs producing the chemistry of hormones (messengers) that are released directly into the blood stream, regulating the energetic state of the body to match the frequency of the mind. It’s not about the individual or random thoughts you think throughout the day that matter or act to create your outer world, it’s the “state of mind” (mood) you maintain consistently out of which those type of thoughts and memories naturally proliferate.

The subtle organs of the etheric body (7 spheres of light) are synthesized and form a “coherent circuit” through which the frequency of the mind naturally flows as the means of regulating the activity of the body to form the perception and experience of the material state. On the higher plane of pure mind everything exists in a holistic form as a mental state. The “nature of your thoughts” and what you consistently picture in your mind, is reflected in your body as a program or metaphorical concept for producing a corresponding physical condition, both in your body and the outer reality being radiated through your body. It forms the “lens” you look through (glass sphere) to perceive that same condition in the world around you. Not only is the outer world shaped through your perception of it, but you’re also emanating your energetic frequency and influencing everything in near proximity of you at the subtle, unconscious level, changing their vibration (mood) to begin vibrating in harmony with yours.

The electrical impulses that are always firing in the brain, when illuminated by the life energy of the astral agent (akasha) of the higher mind, allows the whole universe to be seen as a dynamic living entity. This idea is represented by the “star map” of the celestial sphere that Hermes is commonly portrayed as holding, and which mounts the pillar of Jakin (bowl of fire), and the terrestrial sphere mounts the pillar of Boaz (bowl of water), representing the “gateway” to the divine world. The pillars of Jakin (masculine) and Boaz (feminine) have a circular staircase that goes up between them as the pathway to higher planes of consciousness. This “celestial sphere”, which appears as a gyroscope, a device used for navigating, is comprised of the 36 celestial constellations seen from the Earth (12 x 3 = 36 = 9) with a polarized band that contains the symbols of the 12 universal archetypes of the Zodiac, of which the soul uses as the means of developing itself. Our archetype is revealed through our astrological birth chart, which is likewise formed out of a celestial sphere divided into 12 houses or aspects of existence and is what forms the invisible, glass-like sphere of our “single eye”, also known as our “etheric blueprint” programmed with our karmic seed of destiny. These archetypes are not rigid or fixed concepts but are dynamic living ideas that are in a constant state of transformation as an evolutionary process of growth and development.

Seat of the Soul

Our entire subtle body is formed as a mental sphere (Monad) that’s seated in the pineal, which regulates all the subtle organs along with their correlated endocrine glands, through the master gland of the pituitary body, which is often symbolized as a bird (vulture or eagle) wearing a 3-tiered crown perched on a spiral globe or glass sphere. The pineal regulates all the cycles of the body based on the movement of celestial bodies (stars and planets) governed by their own star and solar system. Its primary physiological function is to form and maintain our mental state (the pineal regulates mood), and the process of growth and regeneration, as well as our sexual development. All growth and development, whether mental or physical is regulated and controlled by the pineal and the subtle organ of the third-eye (single eye of perception). It generates all the hormones necessary to do this through electrical impulses that work through your nervous system to produce biochemical functions. Your mental state produces all your normal thoughts, what memories you tune into and play out consistently in your mind, which work together to regulate the energetic state of your physical body through a process of polarity.

Your entire “life plan” is contained within the etheric-egg of your subtle body (latent seeds in the pine cone) as a holographic blueprint for your physical body and mental constitution, out of which you radiate a corresponding outer reality as the means of “experiencing yourself”. What we call reality is formed through our “perception” of it, and our perception is formed by our mental model. Our soul’s constitution is the basis out of which our outer reality is formed as a reflection of our own mind based on how we exist in “relationship” with ourselves (same attributes, qualities, and characteristics) in everything else. It’s not about particular events or happenings, it’s about the general “theme” that consistently plays out to give our life “meaning and direction”. We shape an image of ourselves through the “story” that begins playing out in our mind as a dialogue we have with ourselves (thoughts). The soul comes into the material world as the means of “experiencing itself” through the reality of its own making. The outer material world is projected by the inner world of our imagination, setting the stage necessary for acquiring certain types of experiences that are translated through our mental model into memory of ourselves.

We tend to focus primarily on the material world as being what’s real and important, due to the fact that we don’t realize its being created by us through our ability to “perceive it”, and as a result we often experience our life as happening “to us” by outside forces, where we often become a victim to our own life circumstances. We imagine the material world to be fixed and permanent and our mental thoughts to be fleeting and temporary when it’s actually the other way around. We fail to realize that our life is set in motion and transpires faithfully out of our own mental model as a state of mind that orders and arranges the outer world into the stage necessary for experiencing our own, internally generated thoughts about it that allow us to develop different parts of our character by how we choose to go through them. We become who we are by how we form a relationship with the same aspects (character traits) in everything and everyone else. It’s not so much about what happens to us in life that matters, its “who we become” by way of what happens to us. We always live and die by our own hand, while living the life of our own making.

Dr. Linda Gadbois   






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