Thursday, September 11, 2008

Kundalini - Dragon

Unlike in European culture, In the East the Dragon is considered entirely auspicious and celestial. It is a symbol of the Kundalini, and is often shown chasing a pearl (Sahasrara, the prize of Self-realisation).

Heart Chakra


Lesser artists have tried to immitate the sweetness and depth of Raphael but the result is often just sentimentality. Raphael painted the subject of the Divine Mother and Child many times. The Heart Chakra has the quality of selfless maternal love.

Subtle System

18th Century depictions of the Subtle System of Chakras, from Nepal and Northern India.

Johann Georg Gichtel (1638-1710)

From a Western alchemical text.
The path from the heart through the seven chakras to the crown of the head creates a spiral of 3.5 coils like the of Kundalini itself.

Kundalini - The Virgin Serpent and the Goddess

Statue of Athena, replica of the Parthenon, USA.

Medicine, Gustav Klimt

The Virgin Serpent is a symbol of the sacred, healing Kundalini energy, and is associated with the Feminine aspect of the Divine.
Read more about the goddess of healing here:

The Nadis - Caduceus

Architectural detail
The Caduceus was a divine staff entwined by twin serpents. It was a herald's staff carried by the god Mercury but also of the goddess Iris, the rainbow messenger (the goddess Kundalini Shakti). She was said to be able to tell truth from falsehood by pouring out a vessel of water from a sacred river. The Kundalini also gives us the power to discriminate truth.
The Caduceus represents the nadis, or channels, of the subtle system.The central staff is the Shushumna Nadi, the serpents represent the left and right channels. The Kundalini rises in a spiral (helix) fashion, and the nadis cross over at the Agnya chakra (Brow centre).
The staff of Asclepius (Greek god of healing) is often confused with the caduceus, but the subtle symbolism is perhaps the same.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

The Brazen Serpent - Michelangelo

Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel
In the Old Testament, Moses raised a brazen shining serpent (the Kundalini) in order to heal the Israelites.

Kundalini - Iris

Ancient Greek image of the goddess Iris holding a pitcher of sacred water and a caduceus.

Iris as the Rainbow by the Victorian English painter George F Watts