The Caduceus represents the channels of Kundalini energy in the [mankind] body.
An anonymous individual wrote:
"Hello, Saw your posting in [alt.yoga]. After 5 years of meditation and use of Reiki and Bach remedies i developed a kundalini type reaction, constant energy heat and pain up spine, confusion, anxiety, and so on. The energy gradually worked it's way up spine, than down the face, and now it seems to pulse up the spine, and than down the front to the stomach. Some of the more modern books on kundalni have said that when it goes down the front it is nearing completion. Does that make sense?..."
Makes sense. Different traditions teach different paths or channels of kundi (kundalini). The main path is straight up the center of the spine in the cerebro-spinal fluid. The yin and yang paths around the spine must become balanced before the kundalini will switch from them into the central channel. The yin and yang paths go up around the spine inside the skull and loop down to the nostrils. Usually we run kundi up the center path and out the top of the head, loop it back down to the feet, up the legs, up along the side channels just inside the sides of the torso, out the hands, and then loop back to the bottom of the spine for the next iteration. Thus part of this double circuit is in a way "down the front" of the aura, though it may also be run down the front of the physical body.
The problems you're experiencing come from blockages in the channels themselves. When your channels are clear, you should be able to run intense kundalini and barely feel it, but a much lesser flow can cause big problems when it hits a blockage and jumps out of the normal channels. Thus we discover the "traumatic" aspect of kundalini awakening... it "lights-up" all your "pictures-of-reality" i.e. beliefs, traumas, pain, etc. To proceed on the path of enlightenment requires dealing with all the conflicts between how you believe it is, how you want it to be, and how it really is. This healing process can be done slowly a bit at a time or more nearly traumatically in huge hunks of clearing. One approach is to crank up the kundalini to not only "light-up" your pictures, but to blow-them-out also... the path of most intensely traumatic kundalini awakening. Many people just "get sick", run a fever (kundalini), and clear themselves unconsciously. The alternative is to learn some psychic healing/clearing techniques and learn the lessons of each "picture" one by one so you don't repeat any lessons. This makes the process more gentle, gradual, and "safer". Some of the beliefs (which look like pictures when read clairvoyantly) will be based in this lifetime, and others will have been brought with you from "past" lives. Other more complicated blockages are pain, and programming by others.
In my tradition we call "growth periods" the cycle of:
The "Seals" are also known as "Chakras" in the Sanskrit language. The Seven Seals are the seven major in-body aetheric (spiritual) energy centers in the [mankind] body. These are arranged up and down the length of the spine. In our psychological development as [mankind] beings (within one lifetime), most [mankind] generally progress one chakra every 7 years:
The chakras correspond to primary endocrine glands, combined with collocated nerve plexi. The root chakra is the bottom of the spine. The second chakra may relate to gonads as well as spleen, sexuality and reproduction. The solar plexus deals with a group of endocrine glands governed by the adrenals. The "heart" chakra is actually the thymus gland located just on top of the heart organ, but more centered. The throat chakra is the thyroid gland. The 6th and 7th chakras in the head are the pineal and pituitary glands. The crown chakra is at the top of the skull and actually protrudes partially above the skull, not being fully "in body".
If you study the Kaballah* you will discover that the paths between the sephiroth are mapped via the Tarot. If you study acupuncture or anything else which brings you to the Chinese meridian system, you will see a map of the major aetheric energy pathways in the body, the minor chakras, and the 7 major chakras (seals).
One of the reasons the chakras are referred to as "seals" is that in the young individual, they are all closed, sealed. The process of enlightenment, awakening, spiritual growth is to open those chakras working from the base of the spine upward. As the seals are opened, the corresponding increase in levels and dimensions of awareness unfold. This corresponds also with the raising of the Kundalini energy up the spine.
As we move from the age of Pisces into the age of Aquarius (out of the Kali Yuga through the Diamond Yuga into new-Gaia) it becomes easier for each and every [mankind] to be spiritually awake, rather than only the priests and monks and initiates of the variety of spiritual traditions. Once you are reborn spiritually awake seeing spirit directly, you will have no use for outside authority, for the authority of spirit will be consciously dwelling within (omniscience).
Notice that in biblical times that the actual physical life span of most [mankind] didn't get much over 30 years of age, therefore few had the opportunity to become enlightened. Most could only get up to opening the heart chakra (4th seal) before dying.
While there are many books which teach the chakra system, i have found none which did a better job of linking the aetheric chakra system with the endocrine system with the emotional states of [mankind]. This author is virtually villified by some people for a variety of reasons, so recommending a specific aspect of this specific book should not be construed as a recommendation of anything else about him... use your own discernment: "The Opening of The Way - A Practical Guide to the Wisdom Teachings of Ancient Egypt", by Isha Schwaller de Lubicz, ISBN 0-89281-015-7, Inner Traditions, 1 Park St., Rochester, Vermont 05767
Even the Biblical "whereever two or more are gathered in my name, there shall i also be" hints at the concept of spiritual synergy... that the sum of the parts is less than the synergy created by sharing spiritual energy, whether that be simple spiritual energy, or kundalini, or both. Therefore in Tantric / Magickal sexuality, where the partners (or onanistic individual) are conscious enough to direct the energy flow, it can be used to energize or to create. If it is released out of the field of those so involved, then it creates a free-floating (if truly released) thought / energy form which can affect others, from which we derive awareness of the concept of incubus / succubus, entities who feed thereupon. Therefore it is important to be conscious of what thought forms and emotions we hold at the time of raising kundalini (whether it is raised through sex or simply through meditation), since that energy will empower those to manifest, whether they are directed to one's own life, (or with a partner, spiritual marriage) and therefore within the realm of ethics, or whether they are released willy-nilly into the environment to affect others randomly, (for which there may be consequences), or even directed at / to others who are not even involved in the raising of energy, (in which case karmic consequences are almost certain).
*
Kaballah:
The Kaballah, the Tree of Life, the Chakra system,
as we have been knowing them, witnessing them,
living with them, are of the
fallen, distorted, intentionally crippled pattern,
which the slaves of
Gaia
were genetically and spiritually engineered to exist in...
being just conscious and capable enough to serve well as productive slaves,
but not quite functional enough to rise up and fully claim
our divine right as angelic [mankind].
There are alternate models of what ascended healthy energy bodies "should" be:
Ruth Angela's wonderful book The Guru's Gift - A Kundalini Awakening is indeed an excellent exposition of so many aspects of the process of awakening via Kundalini. It may be easiest to track it down via ISBN 978-0-9846604-1-4
For further information see Ruth Angela's website: http://lotus-blessings.com