The Third Eye
by Simon Jester
copyright 2010In a previous essay, I described the Expanded Middle Pillar meditation which is designed to augment the Sephiroth visualized during the traditional Middle Pillar Exercise by including the chakras of Eastern yoga. Now we shall look at another advanced meditation that focuses on one of those chakra points.
This meditation deserves your full consideration because its progressive step by step unfoldment in practice provides such a good example of how ritualized exercises express universal esoteric principles.
The meditation is based on several well established esoteric premises. One of these premises is that ordinary, everyday consciousness is limited. The ideas, thoughts, attitudes and beliefs that we habitually accept and take for granted on a day-to-day basis provide us with a distorted and stunted view of reality. Our five physical senses, our families, our language, our social network, our cultural and historical milieu all “program” us with a particular worldview that—so we assume—provides us with the “only” legitimate way of seeing things. Yet we forget that people everywhere and at all times have believed as unquestioningly in the legitimacy of their various worldviews as we do in ours.
Another premise that the Eye in the Triangle Meditation shares with other meditative and ritualistic exercises is that we can expand our consciousness beyond the constraining confines of our socially conditioned worldviews. All human beings possess the possibility of recognizing the transient and limited quality of the assumptions, beliefs, & attitudes that motivate their actions and emotional responses, and are capable of “seeing beyond” these self-maintained barriers. The Eye in the Triangle Meditation is specifically designed to both symbolize and bring about the transformative awakening of such enhanced inner vision. In eastern metaphysics, the region of the forehead slightly above and between the eye brows is an extremely important chakra point, referred to as the Ajna chakra. This has traditionally been seen as the location of the fabled Third Eye, associated by many students with the pineal gland and seen as the seat of mystical vision and spiritual consciousness. When the Qabalistic Tree of Life is superimposed upon the human body to form what is called the Microcosmic Tree, the Paths of Gimmel and Daleth intersect precisely where Eastern yoga locates the Ajna chakra. In the Western tradition there also occurs the well-known symbol of the Eye in the Triangle which seems to allude to the Ajna chakra/Third Eye's location within the triangular area formed by Kether, Chokmah and Binah on the Tree of Life. The following meditation combines Eastern and Western symbolism and provides a powerful method of opening the Third Eye.
1. Perform a suitable banishing ritual like the Lesser Ritual of the Banishing Pentagram or Hexagram. Then face west and perform the Qabalistic Cross. Afterward, imagine that a sphere of brilliant white light forms a few inches above the crown of your head. Take some time to imaginally experience this sphere—try to feel the warmth of the light that it radiates down over your body. In your imagination, visualize a crown, a sparkling diamond, or a white swan floating serenely on the still waters of a mountain lake. Vibrate the Names associated with the Kether sephira: “Eheyeh, Metatron, Chioth h'Qadesh.”
2. With your right hand, reach up into the sphere of light floating above your head, and from it pull down a line of pale yellow colored light into the temple region on the left side of your head. This represents the Path of Aleph on the Tree of Life. Contemplate this line of light, visualize the Fool card of the Tarot, and vibrate the word “Aleph.”
3. Imagine that a sphere filled with brilliant white clouds forms at your left temple. This is the sphere of Chokmah. Within this sphere, visualize a bearded king in flowing robes. In his left hand he holds the radiant orb of the sun. Around him floats a cloud of stars. Vibrate the Names associated with the Chokmah sphere: “Yaweh, Ratziel, Auphanim.”
4. With your left hand, reach up into the sphere of light floating above your head, and from it pull down a line of bright yellow light into the temple region on the right side of your head. This represents the Path of Beth on the Tree of Life. Contemplate this line of light, visualize the Magician card of the Tarot, and vibrate the word “Beth.”
5. Imagine that a sphere like a large black pearl forms at your right temple. This is the sphere of Binah. Within it you imagine that a night-time world appears: a sky filled with stars hangs over an ocean and a dignified looking queen wearing black robes stands before you on the beach. In her right hand she holds a large silver chalice. Directly above the rim of this chalice floats the bright waxing crescent of the moon. Vibrate the Names associated with the Binah sphere: “Yaweh Elohim, Tzaphqiel, Aralim.”
6. With your right hand, reach up into the sphere of light floating above your head, and from it pull down a line of blue light into the center of your chest. This represents the Path of Gimmel on the Tree of Life. Contemplate this line of light, visualize the High Priestess card of the Tarot, and vibrate the word “Gimmel.”
7. Imagine that a yellow colored sphere of light forms in the center of your chest. This is the sphere of Tiphereth and it shines like the sun within you. Feel the warmth of this sphere radiate throughout your body as you vibrate the Names: “Yaweh Eloah v'Da'at, Raphael, Melakim.” Imagine that you are in a temple made of ivory and white marble, filled with golden light. Upon a table you see a large, beautifully bound book lying open. You cannot at this time make out the words that fill the pages, but this is the book of your life, containing the explanations for all the things you have ever done and experienced.
8. With your right hand, reach again into the Chokmah sphere at your left temple. Draw a line of emerald green light from this sphere across your forehead over to the black Binah sphere at your left temple. This represents the Path of Daleth on the Tree of Life. Contemplate this line of light, visualize the Empress card of the Tarot, and vibrate the word “Daleth.”
9. Focus intently on the place where the Paths of Gimmel and Daleth intersect. This place is located slightly above the point at which your eyebrows meet. Visualize a closed door with the astrological sign for Venus engraved on it. Above this appears the Hebrew letter Daleth. As you watch, the door swings open. Through it, you see a desert landscape illuminated by the soft light of a waxing crescent moon. Just outside the door stands a camel wearing a saddle and bridle. The saddle cloth is emblazoned with the Hebrew letter Gimmel. The camel waits patiently to carry you across the desert Abyss. Close beside the crescent moon in the sky a single star shines more brightly than all the others.
10. While focusing on the brightly shining star that has appeared in your forehead, hold your hands in front of you and touch the tips of your thumbs and forefingers together while your other fingers spread outward. Raise your hands to your forehead so that the upward pointing triangle formed by your thumbs and forefingers frames the place where the bright star shines. Vibrate the words “Gimmel-Daleth” at least three times and imagine that the star is growing larger and shining brighter.
11. Place your hands in your lap and focus on the sphere of brilliant light that has opened in your forehead. Imagine that you see an eye at the center of this light. The eye slowly opens. This is your Third Eye—your Spiritual Eye—and it is able to see the answers to all your questions, the solutions to all your problems. Contemplate this eye for a while as it gazes serenely from the center of your forehead into the metaphysical continuum. Images may form in your mind as you do this, and you should try to remember them in as much detail as possible.
12. After contemplating the visions placed into your consciousness by your Third Eye, the energies invoked by the meditation must be grounded. This procedure will help you actualize the insights you have gained and bring them into manifestation in the material world. Begin to ground the energy by imagining a line of white light radiating down from your Third Eye center into the area at the center of your throat. At this place, imagine a lavender sphere of light forming. Vibrate the Name: “Yaweh Elohim” at least three times. Imagine that the light and consciousness of the Third Eye fills the lavender sphere.
13. Visualize the line of light moving downward from the sphere at the center of your throat into the yellow Tiphereth sphere in the middle of your chest. Vibrate the Name: “Yaweh Eloah v'Da'at” at least three times and imagine that the light and awareness of the Third Eye shines brightly upon the pages of the book of your life that is open on the table in this sphere.
14. The line of light now moves downward from the Tiphereth center into the area of your genitals. A purple sphere of light forms here and you vibrate the Name “Shaddai El Chai” at least three times. Visualize the light and consciousness of the Third Eye filling the purple Yesod sphere and reflecting in the still pool of water that you see there.
15. The line of light now moves downward into a sphere of light that forms around your feet. Vibrate the Name “Adonai h'Aretz” at least three times and imagine that the Malkuth sphere around your feet begins to glow like the sun as it fills with the light and awareness of the Third Eye. Imagine that this light begins to rise up your body until you are completely enveloped in it and its glow illuminates the room around you.
16. Move your focus slowly up to the Kether sphere that floats above your head. Silently acknowledge that Kether is the ultimate source of all light, including the light of the Third Eye. Then circulate the light around yourself exactly as you would do in the traditional Middle Pillar Exercise.
17.Ask Eheyeh to help you see by the Light of the Open Third Eye throughout all your days, and then conclude with the Qabalistic Cross.
Here is another diagram that will help you to visualize the locations of the major spheres activated by this meditation. This is an extremely powerful meditation designed to intensify spiritual perception and deepen personal insight into the occult truths behind material phenomena. It is not simply the kind of secular relaxation exercise that Qabalistic meditations are often mistaken for, and constitutes a serious magical ritual in which a very real spiritual power is invoked. This is an advanced meditation and must be undertaken with an attitude of due respect.
