Spirituality, Chakras, Meditation, and Astrology

Growing up in a religious household, going to church once or twice a week, being expected to read the bible, are all things I think most human beings can relate to on some level, regardless of religion or faith we follow. We grow up following our parent or guardians way of life and our first belief system is their belief system. For myself I grew up practicing my faith in a non-denominational Christian church. I was introduced to Astrology and the Chinese Zodiac around middle school, roughly 11-13 years of age. I had learned from the Chinese Restaurants that each year is dedicated to an animal; pig, rat, oxen, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, and dog. And every twelve years the cycle begins again and continues on until time no longer exists.

Similar to the Chinese Zodiac signs is Astrology, only each sign is dedicated to each month of the year. Out of sheer curiosity I took it upon myself to learn about myself through Astrology. In a sense Astrology combines reading stars and birth charts to determine characteristics of an individual. Pisces for example are more prone to day-dreaming and creativity in the arts. They are often described as intuitive and can be associated with psychic abilities. They find it difficult to keep relationships with signs that are more practical in nature because they are often too caught up in the day-dreaming of "what if" to really ever make anything happen. They long for that romantic life partner that they've been dreaming of since a child, only to have reality say this is him/her and it's not what they expected.

There are four elemental categories that the Astrological signs fall under; water signs, earth signs, fire signs, and air signs. Your birth sign is not your only sign, you can be both a Pisces and a Leo based on your birth chart. Your birth chart can be determined by your name, date you born, time your born and place you were born. These charts are useful in that it can give some explanation to why your mood or behavior are different from the sign you were born with. You might associate more with a Gemini or a Capricorn and come to find out that is your ascending sign. Ascending or moon sign is the sign you are NOT born with, while your rising sign is the sign specifically associated with your birth date.

Horoscopes can tell you friendship and love compatibilities with each sign as well as give you daily, monthly, and yearly insights on possible good or bad things to come. Along with astrological signs are the chakras. Chakras are energy points within the body that can be unleashed and utilized through meditation and practice. There are 7 Chakra points in the human body; Root, Sacral, Solar Plexus, Heart, Throat, Third Eye, and Crown. The Chakra's are invisible energy points within the body that when tapped into can create clarity and balance in a person's life. The Root Chakra is meant to be grounding, it is at the base of human body, near the pelvis region and is associated with the color red. The way I always thought about the Chakras during meditation was that the energy points were stars in my body and I was trying to align them so that they worked together as one. I would imagine things like the scene in Hercules when the stars align and release the Titans or in the Fifth Element when she is surrounded by the elements and stops the world from ending.

The most discussed chakra, or at least the one I had heard the most of before doing my own research, is the Third Eye. From my experience and encounters with other students who follow these practices, the third eye and crown are the most difficult to align because we have so many external factors that contribute to blocking and harming these chakras and they are the last two elements to be aligned. The Third Eye can be clouded by chemicals and toxins in products like mouth wash and toothpaste. It could all be government conspiracy theories to keep us dumb or just part of the hippie movement, I don't know. Personally, I understand where these claims could come from. Human nature seems to be preserving what we can of ourselves and defying death and gravity each and every day. At some point we may have gone to far to where we have harmed out natural instinct to survive.

If I have learned anything throughout the last few years is that spirituality can exist without religion but religion can not exist without spirituality. Similar to how all squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares. You don't have to follow an organized religion like Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, or even Zionism. Spirituality and meditation is about you and your connection to what you believe in, whether it be one god, multiple gods and goddesses, an energy force, whatever it is your connection is between you and that entity. In my experience, not following organized religion makes it more difficult to express my experiences for fear of judgment and degradation. There are things like seeing the faces of dead relatives in public spaces that make me feel and sound like a crazy person. I know in my heart that they are not that person but their spirit emulates the person I once knew. That's hard to say without feeling judged.

If you find yourself branching out and exploring new concepts and ways of thinking, allow yourself time to grow and learn from what you are finding. Chances are there are others around you who have either grown up thinking and following that practice or are also on their first journey through practicing a new religion. Learn from one another and be open to the possibilities of what you are learning. We all have religious and spiritual journeys to go on, whether we realize it or not.