The Zodiac's Influence Within 211 



remembering always that the Path is within! in 

 your choice of every thought and act. 



The parts of the body through which the higher 

 Principles operate lie in juxtaposition to the spine 

 or are immediately connected therewith, and herein 

 lies the supreme importance of the special exer- 

 cises in Concentration by means of which we gain 

 the power to rouse the Kundalini, and raise the la- 

 tent, " coiled-up " energy through the Sushumna; 

 the opening of which even a little way marks a dis- 

 tinct advance in spiritual and mental power, and in 

 the overcoming of the physical. 



Along the line of the Sushumna are ranged the 

 seven padmas, or " lotuses " of the Yogi, stations, 

 as it were, in the path of progress from the physi- 

 cal to the spiritual, which correspond with the prin- 

 cipal nerve-plexuses from the basic, or sacral, to 

 the pineal gland. In the head are seven " Master 

 Chakras " which are said to govern and rule these 

 nerve-plexuses in the body. Exactly in the propor- 

 tion that the Kundalini is raised in the Sushumna 

 the power of the current increases; for it stimulates 

 every plexus as it passes through it, and also gath- 

 ers to itself a tremendous increase from the essence 

 or energy of the successive plexuses. 



This force of supernormally pure and subtle vi- 

 brations reacts upon the whole nervous system, 

 vastly increasing the power (through refining the 



