The Crown Chakra

It is within you
that the Divine lives.

Joseph Campbell

Thought, Universal identity, oriented to self-knowledge

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The crown chakra relates to consciousness as pure awareness. It is our connection to the greater world beyond, to a timeless, spaceless place of all-knowing. When developed, this chakra brings us knowledge, wisdom, understanding, spiritual connection, and bliss.

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The Crown chakra is the final chakra in our journey. Anodea Judith asks us to imagine that our torso is a sturdy stem with its roots sunk deep into the earth. Imagine your roots are nurtured by water in the sacral chakra, and that your stem is fed by the firey solar plexus to rise into the air, vibrating in sound and light, to at last explode into a thousand shining lotus petals at the top of the crown. At the centre of the lotus, your individual point of awareness connects with the orarching field of divine intelligence, knowing there is no separation. In the true meaning of the word yogo as union, the individual and divine are at last linked in their common field of consciousness. To be aware of this unity and to go beyond that awareness into simply 'being' this unity is the essence of realisation.

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The crown chakra represents the underlying conscicousness that is the basic operating principle in all of the chakras. Only consciousness is capable of seeing, speaking, loving, doing, feeling, and living. In our work in the seventh chakra we seek to free that consciousness from its usual distrations to experience its own limitless nature. This is the ecstaatic culmination of the liberating current in its final goal of ultimate freedom (mukti). This is the seat of enlightenment and the ultimate source of awakening.

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Yogis spend their lives in practices designed to achieve this state of ultimate freedom, although there are few who achieve full enlightenment. Yet, we all have some enlightening moments, those little 'ahas' of realisation that give us a small taste of liberation. For most of us, it is only a glimpse from which consciousness then descends back into manifestation. But from this awakening the sweet nectar of divine wisdom condenses into ever firmer realities, step by step, extending downward through each of the chakras. Like raindrops collecting into pools, the chakras condense consciousness into the various qualities of manifestation, both within and around us. In Sanskrit these ualities are called tattvas, represented by elements we have been balancing in the lower chakras.

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Manifestation begins in consciousness with an initial conception. You first conceive of an idea, then daydream about it by creating pictures or blueprints (chakra six), talk about it to others (chakra five), bring it into relationship (chakra four), give it energy (chakra three), achieve connection (chakra two), and finally manifest it on the physical plane (chakra one). If you want to see what divine consciousness looks like, you need only look around you to see the hidden signature of creation in the natural world. To see the manifestation of your personal consciousness, just look at your immediate surroundings. As you remove blocks and distractions from your consciousness, through healing old wounds and focusing the mind in meditation, the field around you will gradually become ordered and spacious.

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Consciousness is the operating force in each of the chakras.

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Chakra Attributes

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Colour: Violet

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Function: Understanding, Knowing, Bliss

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Healing Essence of the Chakra: Located at the top of the head and extending upward to the Heavens, it is called the “Crown Chakra,” “the gateway to divine spirit.” A true aspirant grounds such energy to include the work and focus of daily life. Wisdom emanates from those who walk in spirit with both feet firmly planted on the ground.

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Keywords: Enlightenment, Prayer, Meditation, Transformation, Divinity, Wisdom

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Affirmations:

• I am guided by my higher power and higher wisdom.
• I am awakened.

Interpreting excess or deficiency in the seventh chakra

Excessive characteristics

• Dissociation from the body
• Spiritual addiction
• Confusion
• Over-intellectualisation
• Living "in your head"
• Disconnection from spirit
• Excessive attachments

Deficient characteristics

• Spiritual cynicism
• A closed mind
• Learning difficulties
• Rigid belief systems
• Apathy

Balanced characteristics

• Spiritual connection
• Wisdom and mastery
• Intelligence, presence
• Open-mindedness, ability to question
• Ability to assimilate and analyse information

The seventh chakra self evaluation

1. What attachments do you have in your life and how could you release them?
2. What is your concept of the divine and how much time do you put aside to contemplate this?
3. Tune into what thoughts occupy your mind on a daily basis and decide if they serve you in a positive way or are they self-limiting beliefs?
4. How can you bring a sense of the sacred in your daily life?
5. How often do you show gratitude towards everything that you have in your life?

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Participant's responses: