The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.
Matthew 6:22-23 KJV

Here’s something you don’t hear everyday; beware the evil eye! You may think I’m kidding, but Malocchio, otherwise known as the evil eye, is real – and it’s deeply imbedded in popular culture. It’s not something North Americans think much about – but they’re the exception. Malocchio, also known as the fat eye or evil eye, has been mentioned in ancient Greek and Roman texts as well as the Bible and Koran. In fact, according to folklorist John Roberts, over 40% of the world’s cultures, past and present, have believed – or continue to believe – in some form of the evil eye.

What Heinrich Had to Say?

Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, a nobleman born in Cologne in 1486, wrote in his masterwork “The Occult Philosophy of Magic”, “Malocchio is a force that starts from the spirit of the fascinator, enters the eyes of the fascinate, and comes up to his heart; the spirit is, therefore, the instrument of fascination.”

Although a bit vague on details, Heinrich’s description of Malocchio expresses at least three of its essential properties.

1: The evil eye is projected from the spirit of the fascinator (the perpetrator’s subtle field of energy and consciousness) through their eyes. 2: The power of the evil eye derives primarily from the spirit (one or more non-physical beings integrated into the perpetrator’s subtle field). 3: The distorted fields cast by the evil eye interfere with the normal functions of the victim’s subtle field (humans are inter-dimensional beings who exist simultaneously in a multiverse of physical and non-physical dimensions).

From what Heinrich wrote, it’s evident that, to understand Malocchio, a person must expand their world view to include non-physical dimensions and the influence of non-physical beings and distorted fields of subtle energy in human affairs.

For some people, that’s a no brainer because they recognize intuitively that humans live in a multiverse teeming with life on all physical and non-physical dimensions.

Later in this article, I will explain the metaphysics of Malocchio in greater detail and how non-physical beings and distorted fields can influence people. For now, however, I would like to continue with a little more background.

The Proof is in the Pudding

The description of the evil eye and its effects has been remarkably consistent throughout recorded history. Even cultures separated by time and space have recognized that the evil eye has enormous negative power – and the potential to affect its victim for years.

Jealousy and envy are the most common motives for casting the evil eye. The perpetrator need not be conscious of their power or the negative effects of the evil eye to cast it either. All they must do is gaze at another person while they’re attached to feelings of envy, jealousy or some combination of resentment and contempt.

A Slavic folktale relates the story of a father afflicted with the evil eye who blinded himself in order to avoid injuring his own children accidently.

Hindu mystics and Islamic shamans and Imams hold these traditional views to be self-evident. Even Mohammed weighed in on the issue. In Shahih Muslim, Book 26, he warns about the dangers of the evil eye and says that one must take a bath in order to counteract the effects.

It’s a common belief that babies and children are especially vulnerable to injuries caused by the evil eye, and in many countries, including Greece, Romania, and India, praising a child publicly is considered taboo because the compliment can draw the attention of the evil eye.

Hindus teach that an individual is most vulnerable to the threat of the evil eye when they experience major life changes, such as ego development and puberty. They also believe that animals, such as snakes, are capable of casting the evil eye.

An Ounce of Prevention

Actions taken by people, in diverse cultures, to avoid the evil eye have varied. In southern Europe and the Near East, people began to wear amulets and jewelry with the evil eye symbol incorporated into them. If an individual wore one, it was believed the evil eye would be reflected back to the person casting it – along with the negativity associated with it.

Another measure that has been used to deflect the evil eye is the eye charm. Parents, particularly in Greece, pin them on walls doors and even baby blankets to safeguard their homes and children.

In some Asian and African societies, it’s believed that a person who casts the evil eye can also steal a person’s soul when their mouth is open – which is why eating in public is scrupulously avoided.

The Oil Ritual

In her online article “Xematiasma: Getting Rid of the Evil Eye,” Amber Charmei describes how her grandmother dealt with the evil eye.

“There’s no drama or mystery. She doesn’t put on a turban, or anything like that. In fact, she doesn’t even shut off the TV. She gets out a glass – usually a champagne glass. … Then, from under the sink, she takes the 1.5 liter recycled Fanta bottle of olive oil from her village in Crete and fills a teaspoon with it.

I sit, and she sits or stands next to me, making the sign of the cross with the spoon full of oil over the glass, while saying a barely audible incantation under her breath. … Then she traces the sign of the cross with the spoonful of oil next to my temple. I can feel a kind of lightness, like something burdensome is leaving out of that side of my head. We’re almost done now.

The last part of the ritual is sort of a proof. She dips her finger into the oil and lets a drop fall into the water. It spreads over the surface and vanishes. She does it a second time, and then a third. The oil is not pooling. It has spread to form a barely perceptible skin across the surface of the water. I yawn, and she yawns. We both yawn several times more, as though something is being released. This, coupled with the way the oil is behaving, indicate I was under the influence of the evil eye. I take a drop of the oil lightly with my fingertip and spread it on my lips. Then I take three sips from the glass. None of the water, powerful with the strength of the incantation, should be wasted; if I can’t drink it all, I should water the plants with the rest. I drain the glass, just to be safe.”

The Truth About the Evil Eye

Although many superstitions based on folklore have a tenuous foundation in reality, the evil eye isn’t one of them. Malocchio is real, and its impact on a person victimized by it, especially if it’s a child, can last a lifetime. This is not to say that the mythology surrounding the evil eye is true in all cases. Much of it is the product of tradition, and many of the methods to heal it are ineffective or even counterproductive. Whether the oil ritual is effective is something you’ll have to judge for yourself.

In any case, to fully understand the mechanics of the evil eye and how it can afflict a human being, it’s necessary to begin with the principle of correspondence, one of the seven Hermetic principles that govern energetic interactions in the physical and subtle worlds of energy and consciousness.

The principle of correspondence states, ‘As above, so below; as below, so above. As within, so without; as without, so within.’ By applying the principle to energetic interactions between living beings, two things become abundantly clear. If human beings have organs in their physical body that allow them to interact with creatures living in the physical universe, they must have organs in their subtle body that allow them to interact with creatures, in the non-physical universe – and if there are creatures in the physical universe that will actively harm humans when given the opportunity, there must be creatures in the non-physical universe that will do the same.

The truth is that healers and spiritual adepts have learned from direct experience that there are denizens of the non-physical universe that can block human energy; there are others that are parasitic or antagonistic towards human beings and their evolution. If a human becomes attached to any of these negative entities – or, even worse, integrates them into their individual mind and ego – the entities and their distorted fields of subtle energy and consciousness that support them can be projected consciously or unconsciously at other people.

These projections can be casted from three centers of energy in the subtle field, the hands, feet and eyes. When they are cast from the eyes, the target will become the victim of the Malocchio. The intensity of the targets distress will depend on their receptivity, the type of non-physical beings involved and the strength of the distorted fields projected through the perpetrators eyes.

Avoiding the Evil Eye

People who are exceedingly receptive, have weak boundaries or a distorted relationship to Shakti have always been the most vulnerable to the evil eye.

Fortunately, the Hindu goddess Shakti continuously nourishes the subtle field of every human being – and provides them with the healing energy they need to overcome Malocchio. In the subtle field, healing energy takes the form of prana, chi and jing. In the following text, you will learn how to use Shakti’s energy, in the form of prana, along with a technique known as the Prana Box, to strengthen your subtle field and release the symptoms of the evil eye.

Healing the Evil Eye

To use the prana box and the prana that lies dormant in your subtle field to heal Malocchio, find a comfortable position with your back straight. Close your eyes next and breathe deeply through your nose for two to three minutes. When you’re ready to continue, assert, “It’s my intent to create a visual screen eight feet (two-and-a-half meters) in front of me.” Once the screen appears assert, “It’s my intent to visualize an image of myself on my visual screen.” Take a few moments to observe the image of yourself. Then assert, “It’s my intent to locate the most distorted intrusion in my subtle energy field that accompanied the evil eye.” The intrusion will look darker than the surrounding energy – and will feel negative or even alien to you; in some cases it may even move erratically. Once you’re satisfied by what you’ve seen and-or sensed, assert “It’s my intent to create a prana box that surrounds the intrusion.” As soon as the prana box appears assert, “It’s my intent to fill the prana box with prana and to release the intrusion in my prana box.” Don’t do anything after that; just wait! Your subtle field and the prana in your prana box will automatically release the intrusion.

As soon as the intrusion has been released, there will be a sense of relief which is often accompanied by a pop that indicates that the only thing that remains in your prana box is energy with universal qualities.

After you’ve released the intrusion, take ten minutes to enjoy the changes you experience. Then count from one to five and bring yourself out of the exercise.

It’s possible that more than one intrusion entered your field when you became the target of the evil eye. If that’s the case, you will have to repeat the exercise with each additional intrusion in order to overcome all the symptoms of Malocchio and return to a state of radiant good health.

The End

Masters of Yoga are fond of saying that the human mind is like a monkey who got drunk, fell out of a tree and, after hitting its head on a stone, was bitten by a snake. The Buddhists are no less sanguine when they state that it’s easier to conquer seven cities than to conquer the human mind. Though the mind may be difficult to control, Yoga and Buddhism agree that it must be tamed in order to achieve self-realization. Pantanjali acknowledged this when he wrote, “Yoga (which in Sanskrit means union) is stilling the waves of the mind.”

Yoga teaches that three steps must be mastered in order to control the mind. The first step is dharana, concentration or single-mindedness. In dharana, the aspirant learns to focus or fix their mind (citta) on one point or one particular quality and-or object. The second step is dhyana, meditation. In dhyana, the aspirant learns to detach themselves from the individual mind and ego (lower manas) so that they can experience the essential quality and-or qualities of the object or attribute on which their mind has been focused. In dhyana, the mind flows in an unbroken current to the object and-or quality. The third step is samadhi. In samadhi, the aspirant abandons attachment to the individual mind and ego completely and comes into union with the object and-or quality on which their mind has been focused.

For someone living in a modern, technological society with all its distractions, mastering dharana can seem like a fanciful goal. And going beyond dharana to discern the subtle variations of energy that differentiate one quality from another, which is essential in dhyana and samadhi, can seem like a hopeless quest.

Don’t Abandon the Ship

In spite of the difficulties involved in mastering dharana and dhyana, don’t give up – at least not yet. The ancient masters of Yoga were well aware of how difficult it could be to master the “monkey mind.” And in what might be considered a Yogic ‘coup d’état,’ they developed a system of techniques to subdue the mind by simply going around it. One of the most useful and accessible tools they developed is known as the “Shri Yantra Meditation.”

The word yantra comes from the Sanskrit root ‘yam,’ which means to sustain or to support. And from the suffix ‘tra,’ which means instrument. Its original meaning quickly expanded to mean any sort of machine or instrument used in architecture, astronomy, alchemy, chemistry, warfare or recreation.

The use of Shri Yantra (see figure 2) as a spiritual tool goes back to the 10th century and continues today in South India. Its origins lie in the advaitic, non-dualistic tradition of Kashmir Shaivism and is closely associated with Shankara, the famous advaitic master. We are told that Shankara had Shri Yantra established in temples throughout India so that no one “... should face the dearth of vibrations harmonizing both material and spiritual wealth.” According to the “Tantraraja Tantra,” there are 960 yantras. The Shri Yantra is considered the most highly esteemed.

Structure of Shri Yantra

The Shri Yantra is constructed of nine intersecting triangles. Four triangles are pointing upward and five downward. The four pointing upward are associated with Shiva, who represents Universal Consciousness; the five pointing downward are associated with Shakti, who represents energy with universal qualities. The interplay of these triangles creates an imbalance which makes this particular icon the most dynamic of all yantras and therefore the most powerful.

Its power supports the organs of perception and the central nervous system as well as the free radiation of consciousness and subtle energy through the subtle field. That in turn allows the authentic mind to emerge so that the aspirant can experience the truth of ‘something’ by coming into union with its qualities.

An important aspect of the Shri Yantra is that the absolute (the oneness at the center of the multiverse) is not depicted symbolically... nor can it be, since it has no individual qualities – nor is it an object of knowledge. It is represented by the Bindu, the receding point at the center of the yantra, which leads the aspirant inward to the unique experience of the absolute.

The Symbol of Eternal Life

“Like the Shiva-Shakti images in Tantric iconography, the Shri Yantra symbolizes the dual aspects of life; both universal and individual synergistically uniting with one another to produce unity. The five female triangles expanding from above and the four male emerging from below signify the continuous process of creation. Like an uninterrupted series of lightning flashes, they delve into each other and mirror the eternal procreative moment – a dynamism nevertheless exhibited in a static pattern of geometrical repose. This is the archetypal Hieros Gamos, or ‘Mystical Marriage’, represented in an abstract diagram – a key to the secret of the phenomenal mirage of the world.” (“Consciousness”, by C.O. Evans & J. Fudjack p.72)

Tradition suggests that Shri Yantra can be approached in two ways. In the ‘Outward’ approach, the aspirant begins at the center of the yantra by focusing on the bindu. Once the mind is fixed on the bindu and the meditation begins, the aspirant expands their awareness to take in the smallest triangle which surrounds it. The aspirant continues by taking in the next two triangles, and so on, slowly expanding their awareness outwards through the sequence of triangles to the outer shapes which surround the bindu.

 “This outward contemplation is associated with an evolutionary view of the of the universe where, starting with primordial matter represented by the bindu, the aspirant focuses on increasingly complex organisms, as indicated by increasingly complex shapes, until reaching the very boundaries of the universe from where escape is possible only through one of the four doors into chaos.

The inward approach to meditation, which starts from a circle and then moves inwards, is known in Tantric literature as the process of destruction.” (ibid. p. 72)

In this approach, more complex shapes give way to simpler shapes, and the more complex qualities associated with the manifest universe give way to the ultimate simplicity of the Singularity at the root of the phenomenal universe represented by the bindu at the center.

Meditating with Shri Yantra

In the following text, you will overcome the monkey mind by taking either the inward or outward approach. After you’ve made your choice, find a comfortable position with your back straight. Then place the Shri Yantra in front of you so that you can see it clearly. Close your eyes next and breathe deeply through your nose for two to three minutes. Continue by counting slowly backward from five to one repeating and visualizing each number three times to yourself. Once you’re relaxed, you can activate your heart chakra gate by mentally affirming in words not thoughts, “It’s my intent to activate my heart chakra gate.” Your heart chakra gate is located on the right side of the human heart and extends from your spinal column to the front of your breast bone. When the chakra gate has become active, you will feel a subtle shift in your consciousness and a vibration at the back of the chakra gate that moves forward.

After you’ve activated the chakra gate, you will center yourself in your heart chakra field – a vast field of prana connected to the chakra gate – by mentally affirming, “It’s my intent to center myself in my heart chakra field.” As soon as you’re centered, more prana will radiate through your subtle energy system and you will feel more stable. Take five minutes to enjoy the effects. Then continue by performing the Shri Yantra meditation.

The Inward Approach

To use the inward approach, focus your eyes on the outer edge of the Shri Yantra. Once your eyes are focused, move your awareness inwards, letting the intersecting triangles lead you ever closer to the bindu, the point at the center of the yantra. Once you’ve reach the bindu, let your mind go even deeper until it reaches Universal Consciousness at the center of your being.

The Outward Approach

To use the inward approach, focus your eyes on the bindu at the center of the yantra. Once your eyes are focused, move your awareness outward from the bindu letting the intersecting triangles lead you ever further from it. Once you’ve reached the outer triangles, melt into the complexity that is the essence of Shri Yantra and the diversity created by the evolutionary process. Resist the temptation to busy your mind with thoughts and images. Just let yourself experience the Shri Yantra directly while you detach yourself from the movie of your mind.

You can begin by practicing the Shri Yantra meditation for about twenty minutes a day. When you feel comfortable, you can expand the length of time you put aside for this remarkable meditation. In either case, Shri Yantra will become a trusted and valuable tool enabling you to go to deeper and healthier levels of consciousness and to free yourself from the domination of the monkey mind.

The End