The top region (above the head) is the soul’s connection to the structure of the universe. Perhaps it’s a connection to God. Maybe it’s the way people speak with angels. Most of all, it’s our connection to sources of information that are normally beyond our ability to understand.
We started with the Energy region. That is outside the body and rooted in the energies that surround us. The next five regions connect us with our fellow travelers. Some of those are people, animals, and spirits with souls like ours, whether they currently have bodies or not. We also connect to plants and trees, rocks, mountains, lakes, and seas.
Now we come to the Form region. While the Tantric tradition puts the topmost region above the head, I think it may be even farther from us than they suggest. We are not capable of completely understanding everything in the universe. The Form region is a place we can visit and draw information from. But there is more in that region than we can handle. We can’t store all of that information in our Minds and use it in our daily lives.
Many people talk about gathering information through this region. Let’s take a look at some of them. Scientists speak of blinding flashes of inspiration, and so do poets. Musicians hear the music of the spheres from this region. The scientists might disagree, but all of these are what I call spirit-powered. This knowledge is not within us. It’s not from anyone we contact through the other soul regions. Inspiration from the Form region just feels different.
The times we reach into this region and access information from it are brief. Those times are glimpses of how a small part of the universe functions. Our Minds are not capable of holding all the information that is available there.
The theosophists talk about the akashic records. Akasha is a Sanskrit word meaning “sky” or “space.” These are believed to be records of the past that are kept in the non-ordinary space around us. The theosophists believe that we can access these records through the spirit. There is something to their idea, but I think it is even more complex than they suggest.
The Brahman traditions emphasize this region. Perhaps it is related to their thoughts about castes — social level. Their highest social level works with thought and spirit. They believe the “higher” regions are better than the lower. It looks to me like they choose to live in the higher regions while cutting connections with the lower regions. Some Westerners have similar beliefs. Christians, for example, suggest that the ideal is to be one with God while giving up all earthly desires. Other traditions seem to choose a more balanced approach to the aspects of the soul.
Usually people think of this region as a connection to the divine. I agree but still have a question about what we mean by divine. The Hindu religion has many gods. Some are associated with building up, but others are associated with tearing things back down. The Norse gods have a trickster god (Loki) who works hard to undo the efforts of the other gods. Most of the other systems with a pantheon of gods also have a trickster. In religions with one god, such as Islam, there is usually a devil who is responsible for a similar kind of destruction.
Some might think that this region connects to good spirits and the bottom region connects to evil spirits. They would say God is in heaven above and the devil is in hell below. I don’t think that is right. The Energy region in my model has nothing to do with deciding between good and bad. It is a place we gather energy to achieve our wishes. I suggest that the Form region is the home for both gods and demons. We go there to be inspired in our moral choices.
One important question is whether this region really is part of our soul. It feels to me like it is above my head. Does the soul extend outside the body? How far above the physical body does it go? Do we control this region or is it just a connection to spirits?
I chose to believe that the connection is part of me, but in the end it may not matter. To believe we control our access to God is usually dangerous. Believing we can deal with the devil seems to lead to even more problems. And we should never think that we remember our flashes of inspiration completely or even accurately. They are more than our Minds can handle.
Life Force Processing
For humans the Form region is all about information. There is much more information in the Form region than we can handle.
Connections to this region are usually brief and weak. If we work hard at it, we can connect more deeply. Then we might be able to tap into a small part of what is there. As humans, some of us can see a small part of the totality well. We will never see the complete picture. This explains why one person’s visions of the divine do not match up with visions other people have. Each is seeing only a small part of the whole.
When we discover truths, we use energy to hold what we found in our Mind. It takes even more energy to tell others what we found. Thomas Edison’s famous quote speaks to that: “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.”
A brilliant fellow named Carl Jung had one of those insights. He called it the Collective Unconscious. Jung saw it as a place where the archetypes reside and as a place where everything is deeply connected with everything else. When I read his works, I think he would place the Collective Unconscious in the Energy region. I may be wrong. I think it is more likely that the archetypes, as perfect representations of characteristics, are more likely to be here in the Form region. This is the region of perfectly realized form.
When I think of the energy of the Form region, I think of gods and lightning bolts. There is a lot of energy in a lightning bolt. Gods have the reputation of being able to generate that much energy on a regular basis. We are not gods, however. I think that humans are unable to send or receive any energy through the spirit region. For humans the connections made with this region are all information and no energy.
Lessons
There are many possibilities for the lessons of the Form region. We could explore contacts with the beings who live there. We could go there for insight with a shaman journey. But those might be a little bit too advanced for people who are just starting to work with their souls. Let’s try a simple exercise that makes the world a better place every time you do it.
One Minute Exercise
This is a blessing called The Cloak of the Angels, which I learned from Orion Foxwood.
I call down the cloak of the angels.
Fall down as a waterfall of light.
Guiding, guarding, blessing me,
By day and by night.
The physical movements for the first two lines are raising your hands up above your head — into the Form region of soul reality — and bringing a cloak down out of the sky. In the next line place the cloak over your shoulders. In the final line, wrap the cloak around yourself by touching your hands together in front of your heart.
Notice any change in how you feel. My reaction is often to feel safer and calmer. It can be hard to step into soul reality enough to have this work. At first it feels like pretend, but with practice it’s just reaching into another place that’s also real.
If you can’t tell a difference with your first blessing, here are some things to try. As you reach up, sense the transition between the middle world and the upper world. Some people describe it as moving through a soap bubble that doesn’t break. Others say it’s something like rising out of water into the air. You only need to move your hands into the upper world for this exercise.
Imagine taking hold of the cloak more strongly and feel it, maybe as a tingling. See the cloak as shimmering gold with silver sparkles. Watch it move down onto your shoulders. Feel the softness as it goes over your shoulders and then around you. Note especially how your Heart region feels.
You can also do this for another person. Stand in back of the person. All the movements are the same except that you put the cloak around the shoulders of a person (or a community or the whole world). Close your hands in front of the person’s heart. Fill in the blank with the recipient of the blessing.
I call down the cloak of the angels.
Fall down as a waterfall of light.
Guiding, guarding, blessing __________,
By day and by night.
You can do this in person or at a distance. If you are with the person, you can ask him or her if there is a difference. Feel free to send this blessing to everyone you care about.
