Part One

It was in November 2022 that I purchased a copy of 'The Kundalini Guide' by Bonnie Greenwell. It is a fairly short book, but one of the more widely-read ones on the theme of kundalini written by a westerner. 

Bonnie's approach is eclectic enough, but tends towards Vedanta. It is not among the texts on kundalini that I resonate with most deeply, but it is clear, concise, and contains passages that speak strongly to me.

It was while reading the sections on 'kundalini as consciousness' that something suddenly clicked. 

"In the Vedanta science of India, as in many other wisdom traditions, it is understood that there is only One source of consciousness, which creates out of itself all forms that appear in existence, and we humans are part of this process."

She goes on to say that kundalini is this primal energy which, from the moment of conception, begins to create the energy fields, indeed everything that goes to comprise our existence as human beings. At this point, work done, the kundalini energy kind-of goes to sleep at the base of the spine. In some individuals, however, it awakens in order to reverse the process, i.e. to return a person from mental complexity and unlimited differentiation, back to the original consciousness which is the source of everything. In this way, the person becomes aware of who they actually are, which is the aim, if we wish to speak in such ways, of any spiritual life worth its salt.

What Bonnie is describing is a version of what is sometimes called Emanationism. This holds that original non-dual consciousness divides in duality, and in this way 'the world' manifests. One (non-dual) becomes Two (dual); and the Two, in turn, is a reflection of the One. Neither can exist without the other, and in harmony it is a divine and sacred dance between dual and non-dual aspects of being. 'Knowledge' constitutes living in realisation of this as the highest truth, if you like.

The initial and most basic division of the One is into what are often called the masculine and feminine poles of reality. This is the essential distinction which manifests with the arising of kundalini.

Anyone who has experienced a kundalini awakening knows how it is nigh-on impossible to describe in words. What's more, as time passes and it becomes more fully integrated, the notion of 'what it is' will change. As Mary Shutan puts it, you move from 'I have kundalini' to 'I am kundalini.' 

In Hindu traditions, the central column of kundalini, moving up the spine to, and beyond, the crown of the head is termed the sushumna. While the primary division manifests as ida, the feminine flow, moving up the left side of the body before crossing to the right side of the brain; and pingala, the masculine, rising up the right side and then feeding the left side of the brain.

All this is not theory, but directly-felt experience, as most kundalini-awakened people will testify. I discovered this early on, and before I had read any clear conceptual rendering of it all. Specifically, the kundalini energy wouId tend to flow up the right side of my body. It was hot, fiery, and I felt potentially dangerous. It possessed the ability to just burn up the physical organs. With practice, I learnt how to direct the flow; once it was moving on the left side, the entire experience changed. It was cool, soft, more like a quietly flowing stream than a raging fire. The ideal is for the kundalini to flow directly up the central channel: this is balance, harmony, and health. 

Part Two

So the nature of kundalini demonstrates how the One, the undifferentiated, divides in its initial most fundamental phase into two, into masculine and feminine poles.

Around Christmastime 2022, I received a gift from a friend of mine: 'The Cosmic Serpent' by Jeremy Narby. This is a book that I was vaguely aware of from years back, but had paid it only scant attention. Second time round, however, things were different. Once more, something clicked....

Narby was an anthropologist who, in the late 1980s, was out living in the Amazon among indigenous tribal people. He only drank ayahuasca once with them, but this, along with the stories related by seasoned Amazonian ayahuasceros of their experiences, piqued his interest, and eventually his obsession. Specifically, he was intrigued by how these shamans would enter into a plant-induced hallucinogenic state, and return with knowledge about how to treat all manner of illness and ailment. The cures often seemed ridiculous to the western scientific mind; but they worked. What was going on?

At times Narby reminds of Carlos Castaneda, as he flounders around within the confines of his academic 'rational' training, a helpless and sometimes hapless specialist totally out of his depth among the weird and magical visionaries of Amazonian shamanism.

However, he hits upon something with the help of re-reading the well-known account of his ayahuasca experience by anthropologist-turned-shamanic practitioner Michael Harner. 

Harner recounts how he met some 'giant reptilian creatures' during his trip. They proceeded to instruct him on many things. "I learned that the dragon-like creatures were thus inside all forms of life, including man."

The giveaway for Narby is when, as an aside, Michael Harner comments that these creatures were 'almost like DNA.' And much of the remainder of 'The Cosmic Serpent' is given over to Jeremy Narby's thesis that, when they see serpents in their ayahuasca visions, the shamans of the Amazon are sinking down to, and seeing, the level of DNA, the basic building blocks of life, whence comes their knowledge.

What hit me is how DNA is described as a double helix; and how the serpents are often double-headed, come as twins, or some other form of coupling. The building blocks of life come in twin form, whether they are conceived as DNA or as serpents. They are thus repeating the same pattern of the beginnings of existence which is manifested by kundalini.

Part Three

Towards the end of January I took out a subscription to Ickonic. This is the media outlet for team Icke: primarily David, his sons Gareth and Jaymie, filmmaker Christianne Van Wijk, and current affairs man David Willett. 

I did this because I wanted to watch two films that David had headed up last year - 'Albion, realm of the gods' and 'Albion, awakening the giant'. These films were intended to bring together David Icke's enthusiasm of thirty years standing for stone circles, megaliths, ley lines, all things ancient. What's more, the films would explore the reasons why these tiny islands of Britain (Albion) have had such an enormous effect upon world events over the centuries.

I was not prepared for what awaited me when I got round to watching. Beautifully filmed, with glorious British (well, mainly English) landscapes; full of heart, brimming with joy. They have been inspirational and motivational indeed.

For some of the second film, David is joined by Gary Biltcliffe. Gary has spent thirty years exploring the major ley lines of Britain. In particular he has charted the Belinus line, which makes its way from the southern tip of Britain, on the Isle of Wight, right up to the north coast of Scotland. While the better known St. Michael and Mary line follows a largely west - east axis, from Cornwall to the Norfolk coast, the Belinus line is its complement in a north - south direction.

The Belinus line passes through a wealth of places that have been pivotal in the history of Britain, including former capital cities such as Winchester, Carlisle, and Dunfermline. Not to mention prominent churches and cathedrals, hillforts, stone circles, and the rest. Most if not all of these will have been built upon the Belinus line specifically to make use of the energy and thereby maximise their impact on the human world. 

What is relevant here is that the line is not a single one, but works its way up the spine of Britain as two distinct flows of energy - a masculine and a feminine one. The energy grid of planet Earth is composed of cosmic twins!

The masculine line - which Gary and his co-worker Caroline Hoare call Belinus - tends to move in more of a straight line, and has a liking for hilltops and high places. The feminine, meanwhile, which is termed Elen, seeks out valleys, riversides, etc, and moves in more of a curved and snaking fashion.

At times the two energy lines cross and intersect. It is at these 'nodes', as Gary and Caroline call them, that you will most likely find the places of power: the cathedrals, sacred stone circles, etc.     

The guide to the life and times of the Belinus line is 'The Spine of Albion', a thick and detailed account, including plentiful information on many of the sites located on the energy line - or lines. 

Part Four 

The Cosmic Twins are everywhere: this is what was being communicated to me through these synchronistic events which took place recently. They seem to be nothing short of the blueprint for creation to manifest. Whether it is in the energy flow in the human body (kundalini), the basic building blocks of life, be they conceived as twisting snakes or as the double helix of DNA; or the energy grid of Mother Earth. All repeat the same pattern, that of the cosmic twins. 

The One, referred to differently by different people in different places - Mahayana Buddhism talks of Dharmakaya, for example - manifests in duality, it has no other choice. And the primary expression, just one small step away from the One, is in the masculine and feminine poles of the cosmic twins.

If this pair is in harmony, then all will be well. As it is, modern societies pit one against the other, or bring about imbalance in some other way. Thus a healthy society is impossible, and in this way the not-so-merry-go-round keeps on circling, getting nowhere fast.

The European alchemists of yore knew of the focal role played by the masculine and feminine energies. In some alchemical illustrations they would appear as brother and sister, suggesting a relationship of incest. This is not as an invitation to dodgy sexual practice, however, but symbolises how both poles have the same origin, come from the same place, have the same mother: the One, the Infinite. 

A necessary key for the transformation of our broken human world into something better is harmony of masculine and feminine energies in their multiple forms. Mutual respect, rather than antagonism. This provides a practical signpost as to what anybody can do towards creating a better future.

More to follow..... 

Links: https://belinusline.com/

           https://www.ickonic.com  

Artwork for first image: Josephine Wall