If you know me, you’ll know I like to start out with a little bit of an explanation before we get down to the nitty gritty, and certainly the thymus gland, which is not greatly known, does deserve a bit of a lead in, so here goes.
The origin of the word ‘thymus’ comes from the Greek ‘thymos’, derived from an earlier European root word ‘dheu’ meaning ‘to rise in a cloud’, ‘to burst into flames’, ‘to smoke’, ‘to fume’ and we will see the significance of this later on in the post. The word ‘thymos’ denotes life force or soul, though it originally referred more directly to ‘the breath’ or the ‘breath of life’, so hold that thought as we move forwards.
Physically the thymus gland lies behind the sternum in the centre of the chest, above the heart and below the thyroid, and in front of the aortic arch between the lungs. Like many of the important organs it has two lobes. It is at its largest relative to size of the body at two years of age, and and its largest size overall at puberty. From puberty onwards it gradually atrophies and is replaced with fat and connective tissue, although it continues to function at a low level all through adulthood. Again, physically it is strongly connected with the immune system and with lungs, breath and nerve functioning. The thymus is a storehouse, a receiver from the spleen of T-lymphocytes that help us fight infections and later on cancers.
It is also part of the process of maturation and is thought to trigger the physical changes of puberty. Its functioning is affected by stress, especially in children, and its hormones are produced in inverse proportion to cortisol in the body. It can be damaged in childhood by severe emotional trauma such as abuse, by accidents and physical trauma, by drugs such as antibiotics and steroids, and by vaccination.
There’s a lot more I could write about the physical aspects of the thymus gland and its importance, and really it’s surprising we don’t see and hear a lot more about it, given its importance. I’ll let you do the detective work on this, because I’m probably more interested in considering its impact at an energetic level.
Dr Yubraj Sharma, in his wonderful book Spiritual Bioenergetics of Homoeopathic Materia Media, gives a beautiful description of the thymus gland in relation to incarnation of the self:
The thymus gland is the centre of heat forces from the parents to stream into the new born baby and developing child. This provides the warm family nest out of which the child’s soul can properly coagulate into its own body, thicken and harness its blood and develop a sense of individuality. The T-lymphocyte and immune regulating function of the thymus gland guides the child into realising its sense of self in relation to the environment and the rest of humanity. Weakness of the thymus leads to poorly incarnated souls without a firm sense of their place in the world and poor ego boundaries in relation to others. They can become doormat passive-types with blood and immune systems easily penetrated by the consciousness, thoughts and feelings of others, or become retaliatory and aggressive in defending their personal space from intrusion by others.
Energetically the thymus gland has its own chakra or centre, the Thymus chakra, more commonly known as the Ascended Heart chakra, the Unified Heart or the Higher Heart chakra. This chakra is believed to be the ‘seat of the soul’ and holds our karmic blueprint – a bit like the black box or flight recorder on an aircraft – the pattern for our life’s work. Our identity, our deepest sense of self comes from here.
The Thymus centre or Higher Heart remembers our trauma, not just as a cellular memory of the physical but karmic and ancestral too. It also holds some of our deepest fear and pain and some of our worst karma – the stuff we have to work through and release or transmute.
Spiritually, the effect of vaccination on this chakra is to prevent us from accessing our blueprint, locking us out of experiencing our true identity which involves our connection with Source. It can also prevent us from releasing our karma.
Severe emotional damage to the Heart centre may be impossible to hold in the heart itself, so the heart shuts down and the system delegates responsibility for storing and managing this trauma to another organ. We know this if we look at where people with history of grief themselves, or further up the ancestral line, manifest their dis-ease, perhaps the liver, the lungs, kidney or maybe the adrenals and their related chakras.
The most severe grief or trauma shuts down the Heart centre and hides that trauma in the Higher Heart. Working on the Higher Heart will help reopen the Heart centre, reinforcing the connection with Source through the Heart, and keeping the Heart open.
An individual who has been deeply traumatised and damaged at the level of the Heart centre will often spend years working at this level in an effort to connect, but may find they are still shut down and disconnected energetically, going through the motions of living in love, but often aware that there is no feeling, no emotion. Sometimes our trauma has been so deep that it feels impossible for things to change. The Heart centre stays stubbornly closed as if to protect us from any further hurt.
Experiencing spiritual love may feel like an illusion or a dream because the Heart centre, while appearing to be open, is still shut down until the Higher Heart is recognised and opened, and this is a protective mechanism for the whole energy system.
Working at the level of the Higher Heart can restore our sense of belonging to the human race and can help restore a feeling of community and of brotherhood. It can also help clear karma that has been acquired through groups and brotherhoods in the past, while it may bring up feelings of guilt and collective responsibility.
Opening the Higher Heart can take us from darkness into light. It can help us drop the negativity which can be present when our Heart centre is shut down and our trauma is hidden in the Higher Heart. It will help us find the way to the light and bring in the true joy of life, opening us to Source and our mission.
The Higher Heart brings in the highest vibration of love that there is, opening us up to the bliss we can search for over a lifetime. Sometimes we can experience it briefly, but opening the Higher Heart and allowing a diversion of the energy we’ve been trying to channel through the Heart centre brings a whole different effect.
How often do we go through the motions of living our external life in joy and light, but internally we feel something is not quite right, something is out of balance, we are devoid of real emotion. Perhaps we call it being in balance, coping, managing life well, but if we look deeper we may recognise that there is a deep sadness, not just for ourselves but for the world in general. Darkness and heaviness, a deep sense of abandonment, as if we alone are carrying the emotional burden of others – and quite likely we are.
There is so much buried in the Heart centre, things which have been dormant, which we don’t see and can’t connect to. The Higher Heart allows us to bypass the blockage of the Heart centre to really get to the “heart” of things.
What happens when we work at the level of the Higher Heart?
Often referred to as the ‘I ACCEPT’ chakra, this is where our compassion, acceptance, inner peace, empathy, and unconditional love stem from. It is the chakra of connection, alignment and attunement to all things spiritual, helping you connect your physical body and your soul.
This is also where our desire to heal is generated, so if that’s what you are currently focused on, you are probably working in the energy of the Higher Heart. It’s where selflessness, unconditional love and compassion are awakened. Unconditional love, which is free of ego, promotes spiritual growth and deep inner transformation.
We may have been exploring unconditional love at the Heart centre, but at the Higher Heart it is more powerful and leads to more insight and more growth. As this chakras opens, clears and balances, higher levels of spiritual awareness are accessed and the processing of higher vibrational energies is supported.
The Higher Heart also acts as as a bridge between the Throat and Heart chakras, allowing us to verbalise emotions generated in the Heart with the unconditional love and empathy we learn and experience at this centre.
The lesson of the Higher Heart is learning when to show compassion and offer support to others, and when to accept the situation as it is and step back. You can’t save the world, nor should you take on another’s suffering. This centre helps us find the balance and space to understand and to grow.
Can we heal the Higher Heart Centre?
Homeopathically we can frequently spot the trauma that hides in the Higher Heart by the words and the experiences of our patients. This may be immune dysfunction, fragile people who have struggled to find help for complex conditions, and children who have been vaccine damaged.
When I’m thinking about using Thymus Gland as a remedy, it’s more likely to be based on my perception of the spiritual challenges someone has chosen for this lifetime than a consideration that the physical gland may be dysfunctional.
Through the wonderful provings of The Guild in the UK back in the 1990s and the work of Colin Griffith, we have some beautiful triads of remedies where we can target the various levels at which clients may be stuck and struggling to move forwards. We’d often find we are treating complex trauma, frequently very deep trauma and potentially ancestral trauma.
Some of the remedies related to Thymus Gland, so remedies which clients may have already had from their homeopath, may include our all time favourites Natrum Mur and Thuja, the vaccine nosodes, Tuberculinum, Syphilinum (which is often included in the triads mentioned above) and some of the milk remedies, eg Lac Humanum, Lac Equinum, etc. Often when we take on a new client and we see a long list of remedies which haven’t helped, we would be wanting to look more deeply, particularly if there is grief, abandonment and difficult relationships. Thymus Gland would likely be part of a whole, rather than a sole (soul) prescription.
Aside from individualised homeopathic treatment by an experienced practitioner, (because this is not something to dabble with at home), targeted guided meditations can be helpful and there are obviously many amazing healers who can guide you through the process with other forms of vibrational healing.
So a lot to think about in this post, a lot to explore if you resonate with this and a place to sit for a while and turn inwards to connect with yourself and your soul.
Resources:
The Secret Language of your Body; Inna Segal
Meditative Provings; Madeline Evans
The New Materia Medica; Key Remedies for the future of Homoeopathy; Colin Griffith
Spiritual Bioenergetics of Homoeopathic Materia Media; Dr Yubraj Sharma
https://spiritual-awakening-signs.teachable.com
https://www.theradiantmystic.com.au/post/thymus-chakra-the-higher-heart
About Melanie Creedy
Melanie Creedy calls herself “just a homeopath” because homeopathy is actually her whole world; all day, every day! While she’s dipped her toe into a multitude of modalities, is a Reiki Master, Master Essence Maker, great with a pendulum and has a passion for gardening and machine embroidery, her first love will always be homeopathy.
Its breadth and depth continues to astound her; covering the emotions, the physical body, mental health and of course the spiritual/life path. The energetic resonance of the remedies, whether made physically in a homeopathic lab or energetically on a vibrational potentiser, touch the core and guide us on our journey of awakening to the life we have created and the life we desire.
Melanie has used homeopathy since the mid 1980s and has been in practice since 1998. For many years she ran The Children’s Ear Clinic in Western Australia, but since her tree change to Tasmania, has a special interest in women’s health. Her first love and passion however has always been helping individuals manage their journey on the spiritual path with homeopathy and her range of essences.
Melanie works with people using soul talk and soul listening and intuiting esoteric vibrational remedies to remove obstacles on the path. This can relate to physical, mental and emotional issues which are often part of our ‘soul choices’ for this lifetime. Her approach is simple but deep, grounded, thoughtful and pragmatic. Not too much airy-fairy-speak going on here, just a drawing together of the strings of your life.
Melanie is a Licentiate of the British School of Homeopathy, holds a Bachelor of Health Science (Homeopathy), Diploma of Nutrition, Diploma of Yoga and she has been a Reiki Master since 1998