In the last 20 years, I gradually came to the realisation that a large percentage of spiritual/esoteric books, courses, teachings and these days digital posts, including the ever popular chakra system are a powerful and possibly intentional block against our own personal spiritual development.

These days we have a whole host of Shamans/Healer types from all over the world taking long haul flights to different countries giving a condensed/diluted version of their wisdom with a initiation ceremony or another ritual thrown in to give the customers/clients & students a feeling of their moneys worth.

Very few of the teaches/gurus/shamans in todays commercial spiritual  trend consider and work/channel with the spirits/dieties of the land/earth zone they are in, and most of them would be unaware of our rich European Spiritual heritage.

Some years ago for a period of about 5 years, I learned and practiced chakra meditation on a more or less daily basis, working with sound (vowels & colours combined with certain known chakra points). Then something caught my attention, I learned that the older generation of esotericists and magicians/mystics of Britain and Europe weren't so fond of the eastern practices/teachings becoming embedded in Europe. The likes of Dion Fortune and Ronald Heaver spoke out about this but the amount of material filtering through from the east was a business driven unstoppable torrent.

For many years I often tried to gave my opinion of this damaging commercial trend to many different spiritual teachers I met and nearly always the answer I received was straight into the defence of the path/workshop they are doing, your judging me or stop criticising was the usual answer I was met with when I friendly asked them a few questions. It was as if they felt seriously attacked by me only asking them why, and is it necessary.

Metaphysics, the world of spirit and long lasting transformation has nothing or very little to do with the commercial chakra/higher consciousness teachings. At its best its a gateway to more sustained consciousness.

In todays spiritual/alternative Europe very few of us question whats happening, people sheeply or to be more precise blindly follow the trend, Its no problem to attend the condensed packaged weekend workshop, the channeling evening, or the discussion about higher planes, but let it be said the self and getting to know thyself and becoming ever more conscious are the basics one should have in place before banging the drum like a siberian shaman. 

Whats the point in attending courses, workshops, evenings or spiritual getaways if one doesn't even question the path and merely accepts all that is fed to them, then jumps back into the materialist life when the course is complete, no lasting transformation can come like this.

So many people get into the habit of jumping from one workshop to the other, and in some individual cases unknowingly chasing the next trendy packaged course (usually revamped eastern or south american teachings).

Jumping from one set of techniques or practice to another doesn't help spiritual awakening or so called enlightenment, we simply lose our power.

The Chakras: for example are misunderstood by most people, the chakra teachings us europeans inherited in the Victorian era from the temples of Tibet and India, can actually act as a powerful and possibly intentional block against our spiritual development. They offer a simplistic, scientific approach to spiritual development, which ends up creating a delusion of false knowledge which then in time creates the barrier to deeper consciousness and changes of subtle energy in the body.

The older generation esotericists and mystics in Britain and France all well knew about the barriers and false knowledge with the chakra teachings, unfortunately with the onset of commercial spirituality, the warnings of the older generation has all been swept aside and long since forgotten about and thousands upon thousands follow the chakra teaching whether it be through the yoga class, the meditation session, or the guru, the paying public don't know any different.

Ok then, What is the chakra system??

Chakras are not a pseudo-mechanistic or subtle electric circuit as seen on charts and in books, they are organs of reception and communication. The power zones of the body may include chakras but they are not chakras themselves. So by building and following an artificial map of chakras within the body we are engaging in a false teaching or better could be called a misunderstood teaching.

The charts, diagrams relating to chakras were drawn up in the 19th century by scientists and writers trying to justify magic and mysticism.

Spiritual truths cannot be explained by scientific models, although the material world can easily be understood through spiritual insight.

If only we were to allow interaction, with other spirit beings during our spiritual work, and not concentrating on the presumed chakras themselves, we then may come closer to the ancient yogic tradition of the internal subtle timpani (chakra or better understood as wheel) which should be felt as an organ of communication between humanity and the spiritual cosmos. A responsive organ which spirit beings can resonate and so interact and communicate with us. The awakening of these organs of subtle communication and energy was before commercial spirituality , a task for dieties and spirits. not of human egocentricity.

The chakra systems now taught these days in the west are miles away from the secretive ancient eastern teachings, they are a  simple/jumbled variant. The chakra system first appeared in Europe in the 19th century primarily from the Theosophical Society literature, it was then taken up by European practitioners as something easy to work with and teach.

As we start to see a bit clearer that all is not what it seems or what we have been led to believe, and think hmm, I didn't question I just went along with guru g, we can look into other main aspects of so called spirituality..

Working/Healing with Stones/Crystals

Working with stones/crystals falls into two categories. First: the curative, pure, energising power passes from the stone to subject.

and second: imbalanced subtle forces are passed from the subject to the stone. There are permanent stones usually category one (which stay with us until death and in some cases beyond) and temporary stones usually category two (stones returned to the environment to be cleansed by natural forces).

In all worldwide aboriginal traditions stones/crystals were never mined out the earth for commercial profit as they are these days, or given as presents (unless handed down the family line) or ever sold for money, they were usually kept secret, our ancestors knew that we don't find the stones, the stones find us. Not so long ago people on all different spiritual paths kept their stones wrapped in a certain cloth until used. A far cry from todays healers with big crystals in the corner of the  room or on the shelf as decoration picking up dust.

There are now so many people using what they call their healing stones/crystals. Mostly the stones are hacked or with the use of explosives, blown out the earth without care, without respect, and end up in alternative and health stores all over europe. for all the trend to follow, its totally outrageous and unnecessary. The stones are in the mountain for a good reason, the same as our organs are in our bodies for a good reason.

Stones also house a memory, and hold past influence, without the technique of putting stones and crystals in a bowl of water with sea salt for 28 days (lunar cycle) outside in the natural world, the stones and crystals will have influential energy of their past stored within.

So if one hasn't thought deeply about stones and the real power of them, it may be time to re-evaluate your path. Its not only stones which could cause us more hindrance than help, but other things we take for granted to...

The mis-use of cut flowers

Have you ever travelled to India and seen the vast amount of cut flowers used in offerings or turned into necklaces? or seen those so called herbal practitioners gathering as many flowers as they can without respect for their drinks and ointments, and we have all seen a conventional wedding, all those cut flowers adorning the church. If one is to think consciously on this subject its not so difficult to come to the conclusion giving or receiving cut flowers is offensive and insulting. 

First of all, the flower is the sexual organ of the plant, and another important little known fact, a flower is the plants organ of subtle spiritual communication.

So by giving flowers we are giving the dying organs of a plant, even if the flowers are placed in water, they are still dying, and are an unnecessary mutilation of a living plant!.

Giving and receiving flowers is such an accepted integrated facet of daily life, that nobody again questions or looks consciously deeper or even thinks about this absurdity.

Anyone wishing for a balanced spiritual life should think about the use of flowers and stones. There is another way, work with life, give someone flowers growing in a pot, or a nice healthy herb plant instead of cut flowers, remember spirits draw vital sustenance from living trees, plants and flowers, not from the dying cut flowers, and if one has to cut flowers, please do it with respect and create the communion of giving something back to the nature in return for what we take.

Final Word.

Basically we have a huge responsibility on our path whether its spiritual or not on this changing earth. Positive transformation cannot come if one hasn't got the consciousness and deeper love. It may all feel well and good reading or listening to what some teacher/guru did in their lives, but if we don't respect and open our eyes to whats really happening in the natural world and respect and work with the energys of the planet zone we are in, no lasting change can happen. The teachings from our land, our zone where we are now, remain partly hidden, but they are there all ready to be revealed calling us to come back home back to thyself.

Peter Carvello