Alice Bailey & Djwhal Khul - Esoteric Healing - I - Causes Arising in the
Etheric Body







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Esoteric Healing - Chapter I - The Psychological Causes of Disease





2. Causes Arising in the Etheric BodyIt
will be wise for you to bear in mind that I am not here going to deal with those causes
which, producing effects in the physical body, arise in the mind or in the astral body.
Necessarily they pass through the etheric body. The etheric body is a transmitter of all
energies to the physical body, [72] and all types of force pass through it to different
parts of the physical form, producing good and bad results, negative or positive results,
as the case may be. This is a fact which we accept. I am here considering the diseases,
problems and physical difficulties which arise in the etheric body itself and work out in
its relations to the physical body. These are quite widespread and usual. It is essential
that you keep these two lines of force-activity clearly differentiated in your mind. Both
pass through and from the etheric body into the physical body, but only one of them
originates in or is concerned with difficulties which have an etheric origin.
The etheric
body is a body composed entirely of lines of force and of points where these lines of
force cross each other and thus form (in crossing) centers of energy. Where many such
lines of force cross each other, you have a larger center of energy, and where great
streams of energy meet and cross, as they do in the head and up the spine, you have seven
major centers. There are seven such, plus twenty-one lesser centers and forty-nine smaller
centers known to the esotericists. However, we will confine ourselves at this time to the
etheric body as a whole and to the seven major centers. It might be of interest to you,
nevertheless, to be told where the twenty-one minor centers are to be found. They can be
located at the following points:
There are two of them in front of the ears close to where the jaw bones are connected.
There are two of them just above the two breasts.
There is one where the breast bones meet, close to the thyroid gland. This, with the two
breast centers, makes a triangle of force.
There are two, one each in the palms of the hands. [73]
There are two, one each in the soles of the feet.
There are two, just behind the eyes.
There are two also connected with the gonads.
There is one close to the liver.
There is one connected with the stomach; it is related, therefore, to the solar plexus,
but is not identical with it.
There are two connected with the spleen. These form one center in reality, but such a
center is formed by the two being superimposed one on the other.
There are two - one at the back of each knee.
There is one powerful center which is closely connected with the vagus nerve. This is
most potent and is regarded by some schools of occultism as a major center; it is not in
the spine, but is no great distance from the thymus gland.
There is one which is close to the solar plexus, and relates it to the center at the
base of the spine, thus making a triangle of the sacral center, the solar plexus, and the
center at the base of the spine.

The two triangles referred to in this tabulation are of real importance. One is above
and the other below the diaphragm.
It is of course apparent that where there is a free flow of force through the etheric
body into the dense physical body there will be less likelihood of disease or sickness.
There may, however, be increased tendency to difficulties arising from over-stimulation
and its consequent results of over-activity of the nervous system, with all the attendant
problems. These forces, seeking inlet into the dense vehicle, are emanations from three
directions (if I may use such a term): [74]
From the
personality vehicles - the astral and mental bodies.
From the
soul, if contact, recognized or unrecognized, has been established.
From the
environing world to which the vehicles of the soul and of the personality have acted as
"doors of entrance." Incidentally, in connection with this last phrase, I would
call your attention to a possible relation between these "doors of entrance" and
the phrase "door of initiation."

In the case
where these centers, through which the inflowing energy from these sources of supply flow,
are quiescent, unawakened or only functioning partially or too slowly (as far as their
vibratory rhythm is concerned), then you will have a condition of blocking. This will
produce congestion in the etheric vehicle, and consequent and subsequent difficulties in
the functioning of the physical body. One of the most common of these is congestion of the
lungs which - though it may be exoterically traced to certain and definite physical causes
- is in reality those causes, plus an inner condition of etheric congestion. It is the
bringing together of the outer apparent cause and the inner true cause which is
responsible for the outbreak of the trouble. When these two conditions are brought into
conjunction with each other, and you have a physical handicap and an etheric situation
which is undesirable, then you will have disease, illness, or weakness of some kind. Every
outer congestion can always be traced to these two causes - an inner and an outer cause.
In these cases, the outer cause is not an effect of the individual inner cause, which is
interesting. You will note, therefore, that all ills are not purely subjective or
psychological in origin as far as an individual is concerned, [75] but are sometimes both
exoteric and esoteric. Hence the complication of the problem.
The above
statement opens up the whole question of the activity of the seven centers of force in the
etheric body. These can be regarded as dormant or unawakened, awakening but only as yet
sluggishly alive, or functioning normally, which means that some of the energies which
produce the form of the center are moving rhythmically, and are therefore receptive to
inflow, while others are still entirely inactive and unresponsive. Other centers will be
fully active, and therefore predominantly attractive to any inflowing forces; still others
will be only partially so. For the majority of people, the centers below the diaphragm are
more active than those above the diaphragm (I am referring here to the seven major centers
and not to the twenty-one minor centers). For aspirants, centers below the diaphragm are
active and the heart and throat centers are slowly coming into activity, while in the case
of disciples, the ajna center, plus those centers below it in the body, are rapidly
awakening. In the initiate, the head center is coming into vibrant activity, thus swinging
all the centers into real and coordinated rhythm. Each patient or human being, being on
some ray, responds differently; the time factor also differs; the pattern of the
unfoldment varies, and the response to the inflowing forces is slightly differentiated.
All of this we will consider with due care when we deal with Chapter IX, which concerns
itself with the seven modes of healing. I simply mention it here so as to lay the
foundation for what must later be considered, and thus show you how the whole question of
the relation of the etheric body to the physical body is connected with the problem of
healing. It will be apparent, therefore, how important it is - before real healing can
take place - that the healer should know the point in evolution reached by [76] the
patient, and should also know his ray type, both personality and egoic. If to this you add
some knowledge of his astrological inclinations and indications, a far more accurate
diagnosis can be produced. The key to all release (either through the physical cure of
disease or through death) lies in the understanding of the condition of the centers in the
etheric body. These determine the rate of the bodily vibratory activity and the general
responsiveness of the physical body. They even condition the activity and accuracy of the
instinctual nature and its relation to the outer plane life and the "wholeness"
and general health of the sympathetic nervous system.





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