by Judy Jacka

As we unfold the heart chakra in service, the ability known as 'thinking in the heart' develops...

WHEN CONSIDERING HEALING, we tend to think of words and concepts to do with love and the heart, and we do not think so much about the head. How can we blend the heart and the head to produce an approach to healing which is truly holistic?

To have an open and loving heart is very important for the healing process both in terms of the healer and the effect on the client. Much healing relates to restoration of the heart from the wounds of this or past lives. These psychic wounds have resulted in many of the emotional disturbances which affect our physical health so badly. To resolve these problems, healers must together with providing a vehicle for love, also use their minds and brains in a creative and understanding way. Perhaps this is why the teacher Djwhal Khul, the most inspiring influence in my own healing teaching and practice, says:

"Healing does not come through intense affirmations of divinity, or by simply pouring out love and the expression of a vague mysticism. It comes through mastering an exact science of contact, impression, of invocation plus an understanding of the subtle apparatus of the etheric vehicle." (Esoteric Healing by Alice Bailey).

Healers, through development of their own seven chakras or energy centres by meditation, service and study, gradually vitalise the main chakras above the diaphragm. The main two head chakras are the ajna, situated between the eyebrows, and the crown which is above the head. The five chakras up the spine are commonly named the base, sacral, solar plexus, heart and throat. Each chakra is related to an endocrine gland. When through meditation, service and creative thought, the chakras are vitalised and balanced, we experience perfect health.

During our spiritual journey, we all start to transmute the energies of the chakras below the diaphragm to those above in the following sequence: the throat centre becomes active and through creative activity of many kinds draws up the energy of the sacral centre which is involved with more mundane creative pursuits such as food, sex and comfort. The sacral centre is not suppressed but henceforth is directed from the throat and people find they are able to control their appetites rather than be controlled by them. Often for a long time the energies may swing between the two centres comprising this pair.

Take as an example the middle aged woman who has not yet developed creative outlets by the time her children leave home. She suffers thereby from an under active throat chakra, resulting in depression, weight gain and general sluggishness. Apart from providing insight as to how she can become more creative, there are healing techniques and meditation procedures to help balance the sacral and throat centres.

The next stage is that of the opening of the heart centres through the development of unconditional love. This draws up the energies of the solar plexus and established a balance between these two centres. The desire nature of the solar plexus with its selfish type of love is transmuted into love and work for the group. Then there will often be an urge to work with and be part of a spiritual group and to undertake some type of service for humanity or the planet.

This stage in our growth can become temporarily very difficult because we are torn between our personal connections which function through the solar plexus involving family members and partners, and the serving enterprises we choose which relate more to the unconditional love of the heart. Again, meditation and balancing of the chakras through healing procedures can ease us through the process.

As we unfold the heart chakra in service, the ability known as 'thinking in the heart' develops. This process is the result of transmuting desire into love during the task of elevating the forces of the solar plexus centre into the heart centre. Heart thinking is also one of the indications that the higher aspect of the heart centre, the twelve petalled lotus at the centre of the thousand petalled crown centre, has reached a point of significant activity. A concurrent development of this process is correct feeling, in other words, we are not so conditioned by selfishness or personal sensitivity.

The final pair of chakras to be related is that of the base with the crown. These centres are to do with the expression of will. Our planetary life has speeded up spectacularly over the last few decades and this logarithmic expansion indicates that the throat and heart centres are unfolding within Humanity on a large scale.

First, we have witnessed an unprecedented unfoldment of intelligent activity and exploration of knowledge and information. This parallels the unfoldment of the throat centre within humanity and has given rise to individuals and groups continuing their education through life and to creative endeavours in all fields and spheres of life. There seems no end to the ingenuity of our minds as these express through our brains and lives.

The computer explosion is the external manifestation of these energies. The phenomenon of the Internet is the perfect example of the communication and knowledge network which is predicted to manifest in a large percentage of homes by (the 21st) century. While there are some negative expressions from this network, these are far outweighed by the positive information available on areas of healing, science, arts, and every conceivable exploration of human consciousness.

The heart expansion within Humanity has followed closely and is evidenced by the thousands of serving groups and individuals throughout the planet which have manifested particularly since the second half of (the last) century. If we reflect on how things were before the last world war we can think of St Vincent de Paul, the Red Cross, the Salvation Army and only a few others. Marilyn Ferguson in her book The Aquarian Conspiracy, published some years ago, brought our attention to the hundreds of serving groups and these have probably quadrupled since publication of that book. The opening of the heart chakra gives a sense of responsibility or ability to respond to a sensed need.

Thus we see individuals and groups concerned with saving endangered species; saving and restoring forests; working to remove pollution of sea and air; working for disadvantaged peoples in many countries; educating those who would not have moved into the modern world by themselves; working to remove discrimination from between the sexes, and so on, through a huge range of serving examples.

We can see therefore that Humanity is already developing the heart and the head and is learning to blend the two in a general sense, although many individuals are still swinging from one pole to the other. The healer must create a balance first within themselves and then help to invoke it in others.

To further explore the need for a blend of both love and intelligence in healing, we can reflect that in all religions there are three aspects of Deity which appear to correspond with the three aspects or qualities known as Will, Love and Intelligence. In the Christian religion we Father (Will), Son (Love), and Holy Ghost (Intelligence). Unfortunately, the Christian religion has been characterised by a paternalism or male dominance during most of its existence, and therefore these aspects would be seen by many persons as being only masculine. In the Hindu religion which features Shiva (Will), Vishnu (Preserver or Love) and Brahma (Creative Intelligence) there is much more emphasis on the female counterparts of these aspects.

The key point is that these trinities are three aspects of a unity and no aspect is complete without the other. We can explore this concept in our own experience in the following way; will without love and understanding becomes tyrannical; love without intelligence is blind and without will can be impotent; while intelligence without love can become very manipulative and so on. Especially when we think of creativity and creating a project or recreating health does this synthesis of the three aspects become important

We all know people who have bright ideas but who never end up grounding them because the will to achieve is not sufficiently developed. In terms of the energy centers we would say that they have active throat and head centres but are 'up in the clouds' without the grounding energies of the sacral and base centres. We also know of individuals who are kindness itself but who allow themselves to become doormats for everyone else to walk over and they need the strengthening of the intelligence and will aspect so as to know when and how to refuse.

It is especially important that the healer develops these aspects in balance for with a blend of head and heart, they can truly understand the cause of the problem and have sufficient love to present the problem in the right light to the person concerned. This development of thinking in the heart both enables the healer to understand others and the cause of their problems and to help with the correct solution. By thinking in the heart we open the twelve petalled lotus of love or heart in the crown centre and this connects us with our own soul, and with the soul in all beings and with the source of all healing.
 

This brings us to the first great law of healing according to the teacher Djwhal Khul: "All disease is the result of inhibited soul life. This is true of all forms in all kingdoms. The art of the healer consists in releasing the soul so that its life can flow through the aggregate of organisms which constitute any particular form."

So what is the soul? My favourite explanation is to use the following equation: Spirit (Father) + Matter Mother) -> Soul or Essence (Consciousness). We are all children therefore of both spirit and matter and it is the relationship between the two which produces our awareness, consciousness and sensitivity to our environment. In our long journey as spiritual beings into matter, we often forget our source and it is then that we identify too closely with our material poles and illness may ensue.
 

Hence in the healing process we are invoking the middle principle or soul or essence of another to recreate the balance needed for health. We are acting as spiritual midwives to facilitate the process of healing from within. This process may well recreate the life and environment of the individual concerned and it is here that the creative aspect of healing can be seen. With this equation we can see again the three aspects of Divinity in manifestation and it is the soul or middle principle which is the love aspect. It is a perfect blend of spirit and matter and is therefore the true healer within the form.

In a practical sense the use of both heart and head enables the healer to visualise the needed pathways of energy to restore harmony in the person concerned. The understanding brought by the heart and alignment between the soul of the healer and client is then used to send the energy around particular triangles involving the major chakras, minor centres and the etheric counterparts of the organs and tissues. This triangulation of energies is a way of producing harmony and balance. It requires balance and alignment within the healer and a basic knowledge of both exoteric and esoteric or subtle anatomy of our being.
 

From another and wider angle, we can look at the healing of ourselves and the planet as the true meaning of the redemption of matter. In other words, as spiritual beings we came into manifestation to perfect matter so that the light of spirit could shine clearly through each atom and molecule of all forms. We can see this spiritualisation of matter taking place around us. In many ways it symbolises the true marriage between spirit and matter and between the male and female aspects of our planetary life.

Judy Jacka is a natural therapist and healer who has published a number of books on health and healing and who is currently conducting healing seminars both internationally and within Australia. Her latest book "Synthesis In Healing" will be released this month.