The Seven Vital Centers

By Linda Mihalic

  Once the rational soul has breathed itself into the physical body, it immediately begins the the process of making the body suitable as its vehicle. The interplay between body and soul is both physical and metaphysical. Since the first step in all creation and change is desire, the soul uses the molecular desire body to effect all desired changes in the physical. The desire body is an exact duplicate of the physical body form, but its substance is molecular, not cellular. The most physical of the centers are the nerve plexuses and endocrine glands.

The Plexus Centers

  The Spinal Plexuses: The cervical plexus serves the head, neck and shoulders. The brachial plexus serves the chest, shoulders, arms and hands. The lumbar plexus serves the back, abdomen, groin, thighs, knees, and calves. The sacral plexus serves the pelvis, buttocks, genitals, thighs, calves, and feet. The coccygeal plexus serves a small region over the coccyx. The Autonomic Plexuses include: The celiac plexus (solar plexus) serves the internal organs. Auerbach’s plexus (myenteric plexus) serves the gastrointestinal tract. Meissner’s plexus (submucosal plexus) serves the gastrointestinal tract. The pharyngeal plexus of vagus nerve serves the palate and pharynx. The cardiac plexus serves the heart.
  The autonomic nervous system acts largely unconsciously to control and regulate bodily functions such as the heart rate, digestion, respiratory rate, pupillary response, urination, and sexual arousal. This system is the primary mechanism in control of the fight-or-flight response. Within the brain, the autonomic nervous system is regulated by the hypothalamus. Autonomic functions include control of respiration, cardiac regulation (the cardiac control center), vasomotor activity (the vasomotor center), and certain reflex actions such as coughing, sneezing, swallowing and vomiting.
  The location of the seven vital centers within the desire body correspond with the nerve plexus centers, endocrine glands, and certain other structures in the physical body. Your feet, for example, serve as your point of contact with the earth, whose magnetic currents help to nourish and sustain your physical body through their effect on the great sciatic nerves, which are the largest and longest nerves in the body. The vital centers facilitate the interface between the body and the soul, which uses the molecular desire body to direct and control the cellular physical body, to link soul consciousness with body awareness.
  The first or sacrum center, at the base of the spine, deals with the fight or flight response, where your body generates its defense mechanisms. You must defend the body, the impulsive appetitive soul and personality as a separate unit from everything else in the world. Unfortunately some souls have gone overboard and separated themselves from even thinking of God. How can the urge for survival, the drive to succeed be turned to serve a more positive purpose? You could ignite a burning desire.
  The second or splenic center at the lumbar area, the pelvic bone below the rear waist line, the meridian, deals in physical reproduction, and all creativity on the outer. It rules the energy that moves according to your words. It is the center of physical pleasure and pain, of illusion and delusion. Power and control become the paramount issues at the third solar plexus or navel center. It’s ruled by the Adept Degree. The Adept draws the earth’s magnetic currents up through the nerves in the feet and legs. The Adept imprints the magnetic currents toward personal survival at the sacrum center. The command at the lumbar is, “I desire to create,” but the third center dictates what the creation will be.
  The third center is the seat of the appetitive soul in the physical body and is called the Land of Egypt. Everything below that meridian (the diaphragm) is figuratively the Land of Egypt, ruled by Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, the appetitive soul dwelling at the navel center. Self is the absolute ruler of the navel center, who vies with God in the Exodus. The navel center’s first-born is self-will. As an Adept, you begin to control yourself, which is the first step in conquering. If you can’t control your self—your temper, emotions or desires—you can never conquer anything. Control leads to becoming better than what you see around you. The third center always goes for maximum power. Politicians, executives and other “movers and shakers” {the self-styled “elites”} usually operate from the third center of mere control.
  The fourth center is the heart center, where you begin to open the soul faculties of compassion and love. Unfortunately, desire, love’s tottering baby-steps, first manifests as possessiveness in love, jealousy, the desire to manipulate and control another. One whose love is full of ties that bind has an undeveloped fourth center. He has a list of expectations that you had better do or be, to please him.
  The fifth center is the throat center, where you speak unrighteous judgments and criticism. Yet you also begin to function the mental faculties of logic, reason, discernment, discrimination, and discretion, which leads to opening the soul faculty of Wisdom. In Theraveda Buddhism—the “lesser vehicle,” the goal is self-interested enlightenment, to become an arhat, to achieve a personal Nirvana. Yet even the Buddhists consider Buddhahood to be a practically unattainable goal for nearly everyone in this age. While this attitude fails to assume personal responsibility for all, as a Master, still you must develop the personal drive to succeed here. If you can’t take care of yourself first, you dissipate energy, and it descends to control, the third-center principle.
  The throat center rules the creative power of speech, so it draws energy from the second center, the lumbar center of reproduction. Then you apply it for good or ill; as Edna Lister said, “You have blessings or curses and only a tissue paper’s thinness lies between the two.” the old dictum, “You’d better be careful what you ask for because you just might get it.” All your verbal chickens “come home to roost” at the throat center. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified; and by your words you will be condemned.”–Matthew 12:34-37.
  The throat is the figurative Bridge over the Abyss, the great “I, me, my” center. Anything unconquered at the solar plexus will come out ofour mouth! "Nothing that enters a man from outside can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man.–Mark 7:15. The Word circles the planet seven times, pulls from the "world mind" everything like unto itself and brings it home to you on the seventh pass. In one afternoon’s idle chatter, you can wipe out three months’ soul ascension work! People are so concerned with the misuse of the creative fire physically, in intimate relationships. Yet you can damage yourself far more at the throat center with idle words! You bleed off a huge amount of substance, and distort energy at an unbelievable speed. How often do you just chatter idly because someone else is doing so?
  The sixth center is the brow center, where you really begin to learn law. Usually the first step is to see how the other fellow is breaking it. You can really get into trouble as you begin to ascend above the shoulder bones, the clavicles, the transition point from the Promised Land at the heart center into the Garden of Eden in the skull. Conduct this experiment while doing some mundane task: See if you can monitor exactly what you’re thinking and the quality and quantity of your thoughts. The “world mind” is composed of all the soul substance—with each soul’s name and number on theirs—of all mankind’s thoughts, speech and emotions. These life sparks are all floating around out there as your “lost sheep.” When you think a thought, you take universal substance from Divine Mind to name and number it with your particular rate of vibration, so remember this—“I can call only my own home; only I can attract it to me.”
  You have only blessings or curses to give, and only a tissue paper’s thinness lies between the two. What you bless, blesses you and what you curse, curses you. Jesus, the original Good Shepherd, said, “My sheep hear my voice and they know me.” You may as well face facts: Those are your thoughts, your emotions, your words and your sheep. “My sheep know me and they come to my voice.” When it comes to you, unquestionably it belongs to you. No accident occurs within the parameters of divine Mind.
  At the brow center you begin to develop the faculty of Wisdom. Wisdom and Love, balanced, form the two-edged sword of Truth, operating as compassion in the world. Compassion is not sentimentality. You can observe the world without judging it, without sympathy, pity, judgment, criticism or condemnation, but with only one thought in mind, “This is Good. Let there be Light.” True Compassion lifts. Pity cripples you and the person you pity. Sentimentality insures that you will get your teeth kicked in.
  The crown center amalgamates the first six. When the crown center atop the head is fully opened (it is also called the thousand-petaled lotus), the other six centers function in perfect harmony, so that we may call the crown “synthesis” or “union.” If you close yourself to the Light’s higher influence, to principles of goodness, to the desire to become, you also turn off the etheric currents coming through cosmic rays, which can enter the body only through the crown lotus. You can receive even if only one petal is open. The crown is the only center through which you can receive the etheric currents.
  The vital centers align near or on the spinal column. As you draw the magnetic currents of earth up through your feet, the first three centers amplify them. Etheric currents descend through the crown center, down the same channels and ignite the navel. The resulting explosion of Light mixes the magnetic with the etheric currents. The exploding Light drives the vitality you need for living in the physical world down through your body. You creations become sublimated, more refined and purified. It also explodes up, first opening the heart as compassion and love, then to the throat, the brow and finally to the crown to set it afire.

Seven Glands Related to Plexus Centers

  The adrenal glands synthesize and store neurotransmitters (dopamine, norepinephrine and epinephrine) that control dilation and constriction of arteries and veins, increase the blood flow to the kidneys, elevate blood pressure and slow the heart rate, increase heart activity, and bronchodilation. The adrenal glands also stimulate glycogen production in the liver, increase fatty acid in the blood, and diminish gastrointestinal activity. The adrenal glands are associated with the Adept Degree.
  The adrenal cortex secretes hormones synthesized from cholesterol, including glucocorticoids that act principally on carbohydrate metabolism; mineralocorticoids that affect the metabolism of the electrolytes, sodium and potassium, androgens, estrogens and progestins, which are important in reproduction. These hormones influence nearly every body system. Cortisol and cortisone are important in the metabolism of carbohydrates, water, muscle, bone, central nervous system, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular and blood metabolism; they are also important anti-inflammatory agents. Their principal long-term effect is catabolic. The adrenal medulla is intimately related to physical responses to emotional states (fight/flight).
  The brain is a complex offshoot of the spinal cord, composed of the forebrain, formed mostly by cerebral hemispheres; the midbrain, the top of the brainstem; the hindbrain, formed by the cerebellum and remaining parts of the brainstem. The brain and central nervous system are associated with the Christos Degree.
  Cardiac plexus: Innervates heart; heart is also innervated by fibers of vagus nerve (slows heart rate), which also innervates pharynx, larynx, carotid body, bronchial muscles and lungs, stomach, liver, pancreas, kidney, colon and thoracic and abdominal viscera. The cardiac plexus is associated with the Mystic Degree.
  Central nervous system is the brain and spinal cord. The peripheral nervous system consists of those portions of the nervous system beyond the brain and spinal cord (central nervous system), divided into two portions, somatic and autonomic systems. The somatic nervous system is composed of motor nerves that make muscles act on orders from brain or spinal cord. Its sensory nerves direct information to the central nervous system. The autonomic nervous system controls glands and organs like the lungs and heart, blood vessels and pupils of the eyes. Linked with the spinal cord and hypothalamus, it has two subsystems, the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, which act in opposition to one another, using a negative feedback mechanism, as brakes and accelerator.
  Crown: The top of the physical head, the site of the crown center and the 1,000-petaled lotus; when alive with Light under conquering, the petals glow and produce a halo effect; the "crown of life" and Light.
  Endocrine system: Concerned primarily with controlling various metabolic functions through release or inhibition of hormones, the endocrine system of ductless glands includes the gonads—ovaries and testes—islets of Langerhans in the pancreas, the cortex of the adrenal glands, the thymus, thyroid and parathyroid glands, pituitary and pineal; see Hormones.
  Garden of Eden: Everything above the collar bones; the throat center is the final crossing out of self (I-me-my), the transition point between the Promised Land and the Garden of Eden.
  Glandular centers: The endocrine glands, seven in number, the pineal body, pituitary, thyroid/parathyroid glands, thymus, adrenal, pancreas and gonads.
  Golden bowl: Everything encased within the skull of man (including brain, glands, etc.); the physical instrument of the soul for real and perfect expression of Mind, Substance and Power. It is also called the higher creative center.
  Gonads: The female ovaries and male testes, which form cells (sperm and ova) necessary for human reproduction. Female hormone secretions include estrogen and progesterone. Male hormone secretions include androgen and testosterone. The gonads are associated with the Neophyte Degree.
  Higher creative center: The organs of the creator located within the skull: The hypothalamus, pineal body and pituitary gland, the optic thalamus, the brow and crown vital center and the lotus centers; see Golden bowl.
  A hormone: is “a chemical transmitter substance produced by cells of the body and transported by the bloodstream to the cells and organs on which it has a specific regulatory effect. Hormones act as chemical messengers to body organs, stimulating certain life processes and retarding others. Growth, reproduction, control of metabolic processes, sexual attributes, and even mental conditions and personality traits are dependent on hormones.
  “Hormones are produced by various organs and body tissues, but mainly by the endocrine glands, such as the pituitary, thyroid, and gonads (testes and ovaries). Each gland apparently synthesizes several kinds of hormones; the adrenal glands alone produce more than 25 varieties. The total number of hormones is still unknown, but each has its unique function and its own chemical formula. After a hormone is discharged by its parent gland into the capillaries or the lymph, it may travel a circuitous path through the bloodstream to exert influence on cells, tissues, and organs (target organs) far removed from its site of origin.
  “Endocrine hormone synthesis and secretion is controlled and regulated by a closed-loop system. Negative feedback loops maintain optimal levels of each hormone in the body. If there are abnormally high levels of a hormone in the blood, feedback to the gland responsible for its production inhibits secretion. If there are abnormally low levels, the gland is stimulated to step up production and secretion. In this way a homeostatic balance is maintained.” (Miller-Keane Encyclopedia)
  The hypogastric plexus innervates the colon, bladder, bladder sphincter, gonads and sexual organs; it is associated with the Disciple Degree.
  The hypothalamus is a small, versatile nerve cluster that includes the optic chiasm, it lies beneath thalamus; it is an essential coordinator of the central nervous system; it plays a crucial role in emotions and controls certain metabolic activities, such as maintenance of water balance, control of thirst and hunger, sugar and fat metabolism, regulation of body temperature, influence on blood pressure, sexual behavior, aggression, fear and sleep, as well as secretion of inhibiting and releasing hormones.
  Lotus centers: The forty-four atomic mental body centers must be open and flexible to transform the etheric currents into physical energy to balance the endocrine and central nervous system.
  Mental body: The atomic body, empowered by forty-four lotus centers, which serves as the vehicle for soul.
  Pancreas: Situated behind stomach in front of the 1st and 2nd lumbar vertebra in a horizontal position, it is attached to the duodenum and reaches to the spleen. The islets of Langerhans secrete hormones, insulin and glucagon, which with adrenal and pituitary hormones, play a primary role in regulating carbohydrate metabolism. The pancreas is associated with the Disciple Degree.
  The parathyroid glands are located close to the thyroid gland, consisting of four small bodies back of and at the lower edge of the thyroid, or imbedded within its substance. They secrete parathyroid hormone, which regulates calcium-phosphorus metabolism. The parathyroid glands are associated with the Master Degree.
  The pharyngeal plexus innervates the pharynx (voice box), taste buds, carotid sinus and carotid body (thereby controlling respiration). It is associated with the Master Degree.
  The pineal body is a gland-like structure in brain, shaped like a pine cone. It appears to be a major site of melatonin (pigmentation) biosynthesis, but the effect of melatonin on the body and exact function of the pineal body remain unknown. Research shows that it is exceedingly light-sensitive and may function as a seasonal “clock” affecting sleep and the gonads. The pineal body is associated with the Christos Degree
  The pituitary gland, often referred to as the master regulating gland of the body, is actually two glands in one: anterior and posterior. The anterior pituitary secretes numerous hormones which regulate many body processes, including growth, reproduction and conversion of food into energy. The posterior pituitary controls, pigmentation, growth, adrenal function, thyroid function, gonad function, lactation, vasoconstriction, urine output and water conservation. The pituitary gland is associated with the Priest Degree.
  The plexus centers are various networks of intersecting nerves in the physical body, such as the solar plexus and the sacral plexus.
  Pole of Paracelsus, also called the pole of Spirit in man, runs between the lower creative centers (sacrum plexus and the coccygeal body) and the higher creative centers (carotid bodies and the golden bowl). It is named for Philippus Aureolus Paracelsus, a Swiss physician and alchemist, known as the father of modern chemistry. Paracelsus said, “Man is related to the stars by reason of his sidereal body,” meaning literally “star body.”
  The sacral plexus: Fibers from 4th and 5th lumbar nerves and 1st, 2nd and 3rd sacral nerves form sacral plexus, which innervates abdominal organs, sexual organs, buttocks, hips, thighs and legs.
  The solar plexus, also called the celiac plexus innervates the stomach, liver, pancreas, adrenal medulla, spleen, kidney, colon, bladder, bladder sphincter, gonads, and sexual organs. It is associated with the Adept Degree.
  Spleen: An organ consisting of lymphatic tissue differentiated into white and red pulp. In the embryo, the spleen forms all types of blood cells, but in the adult, only lymphocytes and monocytes. If adult bone marrow is damaged, the spleen can release old blood cells. It filters blood, removing bacteria, particulate matter, aged or non-functioning platelets and other red blood cells. The spleen is associated with the Disciple Degree.
  Thymus: Located anterior to and above heart, the thymus consists of two flattened symmetrical lobes. At birth, the average weight of the thymus is thirteen grams. Growth is rapid for two years, then slows, obtaining a weight of about thirty grams at puberty, after which it begins to atrophy and thymic tissue is replaced with fat and connective tissue. It is important in development of the immune response in the newborn and is essential to maturation of T cells, which are thymic lymphoid cells. T cells may survive up to five years and are key to the body’s cell-mediated immune response. The thymus gland is associated with the Mystic Degree.
  Thyroid: A gland located in the base of the neck on both sides of the lower part of the larynx and upper part of the trachea, consisting of two lateral lobes connected by an isthmus. It secretes thyroxine, triiodothyronine and calcitonin. The thyroid gland is associated with the Master Degree.
  Vital centers Seven major vitality centers in the molecular desire body whirl clockwise to transform the magnetic currents of earth into a physical energy to balance the endocrine and central nervous system. Also called chakras, meaning “wheel” in Sanskrit, the vital centers are named (from bottom to top) the sacral center, the splenic center, the navel center, the heart center, the throat center, the brow center and the crown center. Aligned along the physical spine, the vital centers overlie the sacrum plexus, spleen (hypogastric plexus), solar plexus (celiac plexus), heart (cardiac plexus), thyroid (throat or pharyngeal plexus), brow (the pituitary and the mystic “third eye” at the center of the forehead), and the crown (the pineal body and top of the head).
  Edna Lister categorized her lectures on the interface of body, mind and soul under the heading, spectrology, which is defined as “a “range of values of quantities and of related qualities, ideas, or activities.” She regarded the whole person to be the "living soul" in its entirety as appetitive soul, rational soul, and Oversoul, functioning through the three phases of mind—subconscious, conscious and super-conscious mind, a full spectrum.

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