SCALE AND COLOR SYMBOLISM
 IN MANDALA, BODY & LABYRINTH

The Rainbow Body
The Human Energy System--
Its Seven Subtle Evolving Vital/Mental/Spiritual
Planes of Consciousness
 

 

Credit: For inspiring the above conceptualization of the Rainbow Body I am indebted to:
Vibrational Medicine by Richard Gerber, M D, Bear & Co, Santa Fe, 1988.
Science and Human Transformation by William A Tiller, PhD,  Pavior, Walnut Creek, 1997.  Here Professor Tiller’s discussion of Subtle Energies, Intentionality and Consciousness and offers scientific basis for understanding the human energy system and its subtle, interfacing levels.
The Life Divine, by Sri Aurobindo, Pondicherry, 1940, in which a progressive, evolutionary, multidimensional of consciousness is made clear.

 
 

 

 
 

 
 

The Seven-Circuit Rainbow Labyrinth

 

 
     
 

 
 

The Seven-Level Mandala

 

 
 

The Symbolism of Scale & Colors

Comparing the Rainbow Body, the Seven Circuit Labyrinth and a Seven Level Mandala, all belong to the symbolism of color and of scale.

In the East, understanding of this symbolism goes back at least 4,000 years to the ancient Vedic texts of India. Within the Judaic-Christian tradition it is reflected scripturally beginning in Genesis’ seven days of creation, throughout the Old and New Testaments, and ending with John’s Revelation which is based on a symbolic structure of seven times seven. John even sees the Christ enthroned and surrounded by a rainbow. In the Gospels, Jesus casts out seven demons and says forgiveness is to be seven times seventy, and so on and on.

 In symbolism three relates to spirit and four to matter with seven the sum of both or the merging of spirit and matter. Our bodies are alive because they are temporarily inspirited. Our souls are eternally alive because they are eternally inspirited.  The Rainbow Body is labeled according to the Eastern concept of this, but the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus reflect the same symbolism.

As our mandalas are built one level upon another, our awareness expands as we move through the stages of our lives. Seeing our lives as a whole helps us see the wholeness of all of creation and our interconnection with and to the All. 

This joining of the parts into a whole is the essential symbolism of the Mandala.

 

The Systematic Symbolism of Seven Levels & Seven Colors

Level One – The Physical Body
Red in the spectrum,
physically dense in form,
temporal in duration.
In the labyrinth it is the outermost circle. In the mandala it is the foundation upon which the other levels are constructed. In this life the physical surroundings support and nurture its growth.
Note: Existence is holographic. Every color, every level, contains every other, and the juxtaposition of seven colors on seven levels and according to eight possible arrangements creates an infinite variety of visual effects which could even be called illusions.

Level Two – The Etheric Body
Orange in the rainbow spectrum,
of a finer vibrational substance, only somewhat less temporal than its physical replica.
In the development of the personality its reference is to the early emotional environment and formative influences.
Note: Healing techniques such as Reiki and acupuncture recognize the interconnection between the physical and its energy pattern, here called the etheric.

Level Three – The Astral Body
Yellow in the spectrum,
sometimes called the lower mental level,
transitional and limited in endurance,
a non-physical vehicle in which consciousness can move inter-dimensionally.
Its formative influences are a given culture’s secular, religious and educational institutions and how these shape the way we think.
Note: Physics is closing in on metaphysics as in laboratory experiments molecules are being transported ala Startrek.

Level Four – The Mental Body
Green in the spectrum,
interfacing the temporal and the eternal,
a transitional energy body that enables transformation.
In this life its purposes are achieved in relationship with others.
Note: Christianity according to Joseph Campbell is a fourth chakra religion. God is in Christ reconciling the human and the divine.

Level Five – The Causal Body
Blue in the spectrum,
sometimes  called the transpersonal,
it’s energy field is the repository of the soul’s enduring memories, influences and progress.
Its nature is volitional and its function is to empower the soul’s journey.
Note: This level is attuned to the inner voice of spirit. When Jesus spoke of having ears to hear he referred to this level of consciousness. It is how one knows one’s own truth.

Level Six – The Diamond Body
Indigo in the spectrum,
eternal in reality,
the level of Brahmic or Christ Consciousness.
This is Aurobindo’s supramental field where thinking is superceded by an intuitionally received knowing.
Note: The step between five and six is from the transpersonal to the eternal. It is a conscious awareness Paul called “the mind of Christ.”

Level Seven – The Celestial Body
Violet in the spectrum,
visionary in function,
this is the energy field in which the Self and the All are eternally One.
Note: Awakening to the Christ realization that “I and the Father are one,” is the goal of the soul’s the journey through and beyond physical life.

 
     
 

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