Spiritual Instruction Module: Cynthia Winton-Henry

Pinecone Magic! Activating the Playful Legacy of the Pine-al Gland

What if every time you saw a pinecone you could stop, engage your inner domain, and purposefully widen your vision?

The Tree of Life has long offered spiritual intelligence to mystics and their communities. See my Spiritual Instruction Modules, on how Tree and Serpentine consciousness serve as a roadmap and initiation tool for the wisdom embedded in our DNA.

Apparently the humble pinecone, emblematic of the Pineal Gland, is also historically recognized as part of the technology of Higher Vision.

“The light of the body is the eye: if therefore your eye be single, your whole body shall be full of light. –Matthew 6:22

And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. And as he passed over Peniel the sun rose upon him. –Genesis 32:30-31  (Literal translation of “Peniel”–“Face of God”).

I happily acknowledge April~Lady Kira’s blog for the research presented here.

The playful mystic thinks perhaps it is time to raise the pinecone!!! What do you think?

Relating the pinecone to the Third Eye

Modern seers, poets, artists, and writers know they play with ways of “seeing.” Mark Twain said, “The common eye sees only the outside of things, and judges by that, but the ‘all seeing eye’ pierces through, and reads the heart and the soul, finding there capacities which the outside didn’t indicate or promise, and which the other kind couldn’t detect.” 

The Conifer Pine Tree is an ancient plant that has existed nearly three times longer than all flowering plant species and is an evolutionary precursor to the flower. Its spines spiral in a perfect Fibonacci sequence

in either direction, much like the Sacred Geometry of a rose or a sunflower.

As pinecones require fire to release their nuts they symbolize the element of fire, seed and the protruding fertility of the phallus.

The ancients naturally activated the pineal through direct experience, ecstatic dance and song, and dreams. Some began to regularly access the flowering of consciousness of which Plato spoke. "There is an Eye of the soul which is far more precious than ten thousand bodily eyes, for by it alone is truth seen." 

Somehow they came upon the seat of insight, the tiny pinecone tucked away at the very center of the brain, THE HIDDEN MONASTERY ITSELF.

Scientists confirm that the Pineal Gland

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modulates wake-sleep patterns and circadian rhythms through the release of melatonin, the most fundamental and universal hormone in the evolution of cellular life. Sensitive to light the pineal mirrors a pinecone ripening slowly to release mature seeds .

Uniquely isolated from the blood-brain barrier system in the very center of the brain it receives a higher percentage of blood flow than any other area of the body save the kidneys.

The Pineal also secretes DMT a powerful agent of consciousness. https://www.cottonwoodresearch.org/dmt-pineal-2013/

If the Pineal gland is key to the third eye how do we get there? Mystics have been pointing the way for ages.

The caduceus staff of healers carried by Hermes in Greek mythology shows the route as does this visual representation of the Kundalini yoga practice, the ultimate goal of which is to awaken the Third Eye hidden in the human forehead.

Yoga followers awaken the Third Eye by activating the “seven chakras.” Once awakened, the Kundalini life force coiled three and half times like a serpent at the base of the spine will move upward to open the door of consciousness. A child may come by this naturally, but most humans experience resistance and blockages. So we call on teachers, healers, and companions and enjoy sex as an important pleasurable form of releasing and engaging our full energies.

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C.W. Leadbeater wrote in Freemasonry and its Ancient Mystic Rites “…The caduceus, the rod of power…In India….a stick of bamboo with seven knots… represents the spinal column with its seven centers or chakras… indicated the spinal cord…while the serpents were symbolical of the two channels called in Eastern terminology Ida and Pinagala; and the fire enclosed within it was the serpent-fire which in Sanskrit is called kundalini.”

Those in artful, affirming systems like InterPlay can playfully awaken these energy centers by engaging the creative energies through movement, voice, story, stillness and interconnection. Supported by a group’s body-to-body wisdom one senses a form of belonging to something greater like a tree, river, or ocean. The experience of oneness physically amplifies and supports each persons embodied, light hearted, and profound development. With the ability to reflect and notice, all players can find their way to wholeness again and again no matter what difficulty arises.

It has probably been this way for eons. Meditators, dancers, and dreamers get a flash of enlightenment. Once alert to such possibility they begin to cultivate the flower of wisdom. Third eye openings can arise through predisposition (the Dalai Lama) intense practice (Ram Dass) genetic propensity (the tribes of Israel) and even trauma (the Saints). Many of us prayerfully attune to the enlightened wisdom of our teachers so that we might learn how to ride the agony, ecstasy, and everyday energies of life.

Legacy of the Pinecone

In ancient Greece, the god of wine Dionysus carried a pine cone-tipped wand or thyrsus, often described as dripping with honey. His followers, female dancing Maenads and male Satyrs carried these wands as well in rites and festivals to stimulate prosperity, fertility, and pleasure.

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The Egyptian staff of Osiris (1224 BC) has cobras rising up to a pinecone.

Siva too offers the pinecone as one of the great gifts.

In Ancient Assyria a palace carving from

716 BC of a four-winged God-like figures using a pinecone to pollinate the Tree of Life.

Signifying spiritual ascension and immortality the Mexican

“Chicomecoatl” (“Seven Snakes”) offers Pinecones in one hand, and an evergreen tree in the other.

In Ancient Rome a pinecone fountain once overflowed with water next to the Temple of Isis. Today it stands in Vatican City's Court of the Pine Cone as one of the largest pinecone statues in the world.  

Romans also built a bronze sculpture, the “Pigna,” three stories tall that according to medieval legend stood on top of the

Pantheon, as a lid for the round opening in the center of the building’s vault.

Pinecone imagery features prominently atop the sacred staff carried by

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the Pope and on the Coat of Arms of the Holy See on the Vatican flag.

Modern Gods too are interested in accessing the power of the pine seed Capitalism invokes the pinecone on the Whitehall Building in the New York Financial District with two enormous intertwining snakes spiraling up to a pinecone similar to the Staff of Osiris.

In London the bullet pinecone is seen in St. Mary’s Axe, the Financial District Building that replaced the Baltic Exchange extensively damaged in 1992 by the explosion of a bomb placed by the Provisional IRA. St Mary’s Axe was built by the Swedish Skanska, the No. 1 “Green Builder” in the United States in 2007, No. 3 "Green Contractor" in the United States 2008.[15] In 2011, the greenest company in the United Kingdom, and winner of the Financial Times “Boldness in Business Award” for “corporate responsibility and environment. Skanska founded the “Supply Chain Sustainability School,” an e-learning initiative managed with competitors to educate

construction suppliers on sustainability.

The Pinecone stands proud.

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On the other hand….Hitler was fascinated by the history of the pinecone and included it as part of his psychic arsenal. See his desk.

The art and technologies of body wisdom are morally neutral. It’s we who choose how to play with them!!

Pinecone Magic

Pine corresponds to the Elements of Air and Fire and is used to purify the home and the person. 

Pine needles and boughs are also thought to bring prosperity and luck, and as such are often hung above the doorway or mantel of the house.

Traditionally associated with winter, the dying of the old year, consider a winter bath with a few drops of pine-needle oil and

crushed needles in a muslin bag to cleanse a body of negativity and ward off illness. 

Along with Eucalyptus, burn pine incense or oil in a sickroom to strengthen and aid one who is ailing or for those with breathing disorders.  The oil is antiseptic and anti-viral, while the needles are rich in Vitamin C and A. 

Pine needle tea, though bitter in taste, is wonderful for healing lower abdominal problems such as bladder or urinary tract infections.

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Pinecone Meditations

There are many ways to greet and welcome the power of the inner eye. A lot of people are looking at this wisdom. It you forage YouTube and the Internet you’ll find waaaay more than you want.

Here are some suggestions if the pinecone pineal gland is interesting to you.

Simply welcome pinecones into your life, celebrating their ancient beauty.

Make art with them as a form of meditation. See my pinterest page for ideas at http://www.pinterest.com/cwintonhenry/pinecone/

No pinecones around? Check out YouTube pinecones in the fireplace. http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=pinecone+meditation&qpvt=pinecone+meditaiton&FORM=VDRE#view=detail&mid=D2588F344DD8EFB3E7C4D2588F344DD8EFB3E7C4

Meditating on pinecones has been powerful for some. Aviva offers this meditation at http://www.whats-your-sign.com/ 

Find a pinecone and place it before you in preparation Light a candle while setting your focus upon expanding your

consciousness Cast your physical and spiritual eyes upon the pinecone in

candlelight Envision the pinecone opening itself to the Light and

warmth As you continue begin to see that pinecone within your

mind Nestled between the two halves of your brain, get a clear

visual in your mind’s eye Now visualize your inner pinecone opening gently to take in

nourishment from Divine Light. See your pineal gland (pinecone) radiating with the calming

light of the cosmos Continue this meditation according to your impulses and

requirements. 

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When ready, conclude by centering in the present. Reaffirming your bodily presence.

• At Fragrant Heart Blog Elisabeth, a meditation teacher leads you in a guided meditation on the Golden Cone of Light http://www.fragrantheart.com/cms/free-audiomeditations/relaxation/golden-cone-of-light.

Once you’ve listened to it you will be able to do it anywhere. If you find yourself becoming stressed at home, or at work and thinking a lot of negative thoughts take a few minutes to recentre and energize yourself, by breathing, and visualizing the healing and rejuvenating Golden Cone of Light.

• The website Detoxify the Pineal Gland offers practical and esoteric wisdom http://decalcifypinealgland.com/how-to-activate-the-pineal-gland/

Any time you dance, drum, or play with effortless concentration and lose your sense of time, you are probably in the zone of your third eye.

I learned a great trick from Berkeley Psychic Institute to Develop my 6th

chakra, or the center of my head. Here is a little video to explain.

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