The Third Eye Chakra

Your vision will become clear only

when you look into your heart.

Who looks outside, dreams.

Who looks inside, awakens.

Carl Jung

Chakra Six: Light, Archetypal identity, oriented to self-reflection

This chakra is known as the brow chakra or third eye center. It is related to the act of seeing, both physically and intuitively. As such it opens our psychic faculties and our understanding of archetypal levels. When healthy it allows us to see clearly, in effect, letting us "see the big picture."

After refining your energy body through the purification of sound in the fifth chakra, the journey moves deeper into your inner world. Anodea Judith guides us to our sixth chakra, the centre of illumination, the gateway to wisdom, and the luminescent source of the light within.

To enter this chakra is to discover a world of indescribable beauty. It is to seek the light of consciousness and learn how to focus that light in order to see clearly. This is the homeland of intuition, dreams and visions.

The sixth chakra is often called the third eye, an etheric organ of consciousness that lies directly behind and between your two physical eyes. The third eye is capable of seeing beyond the density of the physical world into the subtler realms of energy and spirit. Only be training your consciousness to be focused and directed can you harness the immense gifts of this visionary centre.

Shiva, one of the principle Hindu gods, is sometimes depicted with a thunderbolt emanating from his third eye for the purpose of destroying illusion. As you learn to focus your attention, you have a means to free yourself from illusion and begin to perceive the ultimate nature of reality.

The name of this chakra, ajina, means both to perceive and to command. To perceive is to see or recognise a pattern. To command is to hold a picture in your mind as a guiding template for manifestation. It is important to be conscious of these internal pictures so that you create from clarity and intention rather than illusion.

The sixth chakra is about seeing in the deepest sense. What does it mean to really see? Even when our eyes are open, we remain unaware of many things that are within our visual field. To see deeply requies a focus of consciousness in a particular direction and to look at something long enough to turn its patterns into meaning. We use the expression "I see" to denote understanding, even using it in reactin to words, feelings, or ideas. It is this kind of seeing that is the basis of insight, the ability to see inside, and to perceive the patterns we create. Through insight we are able to free ourselves from constricting patters and to achieve liberation.

As you enter this chakra, look deeply within. Take time to detach from your suroundings and look at them objectively. Focus your attention. Validate your intuitions. Follow your dreams.

Chakra Attributes

Color: Indigo/Cobalt

Function: Intuition

Healing Essence of the Chakra: Located in the center of the forehead between the eyebrows, it is identified with the Third Eye. This chakra asks that a person look within to find the wisdom of the soul. It affects the brain and the neuralgic system, which stimulate the endocrine and pituitary systems. At the highest level, when this chakra has connected with the Heart Chakra, divine love and light emanates out to the world.

Keywords: Clear Vision, Genius, Imagination, Dreams, Quiet, Inner Peace

Affirmations:

• I see the light and it guides my way.
• I listen, I hear, I speak the truth.

Interpreting excess or deficiency in the sixth chakra

Excessive characteristics:

• Hallucinations
• Delusions
• Obsessions
• Nightmares
• Intrusive memories
• Difficulty concentrating
• Excessive fantasising

Deficient characteristics:

• Lack of imagination
• Difficulty visualising
• Insensitivity
• Excessive skepticism
• Denial (can't see what's going on)
• Inability to see alternatives

Blanced characteristics

• Strong intuition
• Penetrating insight
• Creative imagination
• Good memory
• Good dream recall
• Ability to visualise
• Has a guiding vision for life

The sixth chakra self-evaluation

1. Can you see what is really going on in your life or do you try to keep certain things buried?
2. Do you have a personal vision for your life?
3. Are you aware of what archetypal influences may be guiding or limiting your life?
4. Are you aware of your dreams and the symbolic messages they may hold for you?
5. Do you trust your intuition?