The 3rd Eye, the Pineal Gland and Pinecones!

Bodhisattva Kuan Yin is associated with the third eye chakra, which is important because she sets the mood for this theme.  Kuan Yin is the goddess who sees and hears all. She is known as the Goddess of Mercy and compassion.  As the “Watchful Listener” or “The One Who Sees and Hears All”, Kuan Yin is all about finding one’s insightful and objective “Watcher” mode:

"The only way to really utilize your human experience is to practice some kind of meditation or visualization. It does work. People really need it. It's the only way to get through the difficult times. This kind of practice puts one in the "Kuan Yin spirit". You're the "watcher". Instead of judging, you just see."Lena Lees

Note that her depiction as the watchful listener encompasses eyes and ears.  This 3rd eye theme came about because someone asked me if there is such a thing as a 3rd ear.  Very interesting.  Read on... (I am posting the 3rd ear theme separately.)

Those familiar with the chakras understand that each energy center corresponds to different organs and glands with the body. The 3rd eye relates to the pineal gland.

The pineal gland is located between the two hemispheres of the brain and is small and pinecone shaped;  latin for pine cone is pinea.  The pine cone is symbolic throughout history and in many cultures and religions for eternal life. There is a large pine cone statue outside the Vatican and on the Pope's staff.

"In some lower vertebrates the gland has a well-developed eyelike structure; in others, though not organized as an eye, it functions as a light receptor."

"Several millennia ago it was thought to control the flow of memories into consciousness. The 17th-century French philosopher-mathematician René Descartes concluded that the pineal gland was the seat of the soul. "

 Nancy Oakes, in an article entitled What Do the Ancients Say Regarding the Pineal Gland, “The Third Eye”?, writes, "One such search involves the most misunderstood and guarded secret of the elite and of the highest orders on the planet regarding the processes of the pineal gland; and its sacred connection to the spirit realm. Let’s search together and penetrate into the world that we have not been privileged to. One that will lead us to the truth regarding the eye of God, the sixth sense, the sixth Chakra, your spiritual eye, or “THE THIRD EYE.”

Meditating and focusing on the 3rd eye with the intention of opening this energy center leads to opening the gateway on receiving psychic information.  As it pertains to yoga, I always say the third eye is the eye that looks within. We are on a journey to tune in to ourselves with more clarity and wisdom and this is the chakra that provides the map.

Nancy continues, "The pineal gland is made up of mostly water, the same material your physical eyes are made of. The water also serves as a conductor with the gland, associated with vibrations and light. The mysterious gland is capable of audio and video, thus imagination, also known as the minds eye, the “Inner Eye... The important aspect to grasp is that the pineal gland is the trans-dimensional transmitter to spiritual realms. The interior of the pineal gland has rods and cones, (cornea, lens and retina) just like our physical eyes. The gland raises your vibration controlling various biorhythms, sleep patterns, of the body. Prana, or pure energy, is received through this energy center."

Nancy asks, "Why has humanity been kept in the dark about this pine cone shaped gland; why are we now at this time becoming privileged to information held secret for eons? .... For all those ascended humans who have grown tired of war, inquisitions, greed, pestilence, plagues, genocide, incest, pedophilia, famine, culture and environmental destruction, and the enslavement of humanity by the wealthy and elite, the secret is revealed. Humanity had to be awakened to save not just the planet, but also ourselves."

Still not convinced there is any spiritual association with the 3rd eye? Nancy Oakes concludes...

• The Coat of Arms of the Holy See found on the Vatican flag features a stacking of three crowns suspiciously similar in shape to a pine cone. Is perhaps the very name Holy See associated with the “Third Eye?” For centuries conspiracy theorists and philosophers have accused the Catholic Church of using Christianity and Catholicism as a veil to blind the public to true spiritual enlightenment.
  
  
• The Egyptian Staff of Osiris, dating back to 1224 B.C. depicts two intertwining serpents rising up to meet at a pinecone. (A parallel to the Indian, “Kundalini, a spiritual energy in the body) Remember they recorded this in 1224 B.C.
  
  
• The pineal gland has two small arteries at its base, which has more blood flow per cubic volume than any other organ in the body. Thus the gland has the highest amount of concentration of energy from our body.
  
  
• Throughout ancient history the pinecones have served as a symbolic representation of the Human Enlightenment, the “Third Eye” and the pineal gland. Interesting to note, it takes 49 days for the pineal gland to appear in gestation within the human embryo. Also on the 49th day the differential happens designating a male or female within the human embryo. Forty-nine days is also the time period that the sacred Tibetan documents (The Tibetan Book of the Dead) teach that it takes for the soul to reincarnate into the next life.