Chakra Correlation

In the fall of 1995, as the result of a deep spiritual experience, Siska correlated the seven major chakras with the types in their new system. At that time she knew almost nothing about the chakras.

While having a bodywork session, she felt energy connect the top of her head to the universe, and she received knowledge and awareness about how the chakras correlate with the energy she and Alan were experiencing coming from people’s bodies. This was Siska’s first conscious connection to beings from the universe, and over the years these beings  would become more present to help Siska and Alan’s work develop.

Siska rushed out to buy books about the chakras and began her research. She read that chakra is a Sanskrit word that means wheel, or center, and sometimes is called a center of swirling energy. She found that the body seemed to have seven major chakras, and people around the world have different opinions about where the chakras are located. Siska and Alan would soon find that the correlation with the chakras would help them pinpoint a specific location where the energy was strongest in the body for each of the Postures of Strength.

Yet, there was a mystery to solve. Siska and Alan had discovered nine Postures of Strength, but why were there only seven major chakras? Because of their experiences with the Postures of Strength, Siska and Alan knew that the energies for Postures of Strength 8-4-2 came from the abdomen, 3-6-9 came from the ribcage area, and 1-7-5 came from the head region.

They began to intensively work with every volunteer they could recruit. Every time they worked with a person who was in their Posture of Strength and asked him or her to focus on the area of a chakra, the volunteer would instantly became demonstrably stronger, but for only one of the seven chakra locations. In this way, Siska and Alan began to find the exact concrete chakra locations.

They assumed that the energies for 3-6-9 must all come from the 4th chakra (center of the sternum). As time passed, and they had more experience with types 3 and 9, they understood there had to be two additional major chakras beyond the seven that humanity had already identified. By working with more focus, they discovered an 8th major chakra at the upper sternum for type 3, and a 9th major chakra on the spine between the shoulder blades for type 9. Siska and Alan began to call these nine major chakras energy centers.

This was an exciting time for Siska and Alan because they had found that their discoveries were connected to historic information. First, their numbering system was related to the enneagram geometric figure; and second, the energy they experienced from a person when they were doing their Posture of Strength was related to the major chakras.

In 1997, two years after Siska received knowledge about the chakras, Alan would become aware that a spiritual being was supporting him, as well. Alan called him Light Being and knew that this being was available to help them move forward with their research.

Workshops – Leadership Programs – Conferences

Workshops
Leadership Programs
Conferences

Workshops
Leadership Programs
Conferences

Presenting their discoveries became even more important for Siska and Alan. Soon, in addition to teaching in the United States, they offered workshops for the public and organizations around the world, including Scottish Power and British Petroleum in the United Kingdom, Telenor in Norway, and Arthur Andersen in Japan.

In 1996 Siska and Alan made available a draft of their first book which they called The Physical Enneagram and presented at the 2nd International Enneagram Conference. 

In June of 1997, Siska and Alan began teaching their work and typing participants for the Coaches Training Institute Co-Active Space Leadership Program. They developed a creative collaboration with the program’s leaders, and together they shared the goal of inspiring leadership trainees to bring the best of themselves to humanity in service of all. This relationship continued through the summer of 2004.

Siska and Alan presented their work to a diverse community. Other organizations and conferences where they presented at this time include: Mendocino County Office of Education; Marin County Psychological Association; Graduate Theological Union; Marin Nature Conservancy; TEMBA Elementary School; Delano Regional Medical Center; John F. Kennedy University Graduate Schools of Management and Psychology; Parliament of the World’s Religions; International Coaching Federation Conferences; and International Enneagram Conferences.

Siska Tovey (R) typing at Co-Active Space Leadership

Presenting their discoveries became even more important for Siska and Alan. Soon, in addition to teaching in the United States, they offered workshops for the public and organizations around the world, including Scottish Power and British Petroleum in the United Kingdom, Telenor in Norway, and Arthur Andersen in Japan.

In 1996 Siska and Alan made available a draft of their first book which they called The Physical Enneagram and presented at the 2nd International Enneagram Conference.

Alan Sheets (L) typing a participant in the
Co-Active Space Leadership program

Siska Tovey (L) teaching at the 1999 Parliament
of the World’s Religions, South Africa

In June of 1997, Siska and Alan began teaching their work and typing participants for the Coaches Training Institute Co-Active Space Leadership Program. They developed a creative collaboration with the program’s leaders, and together they shared the goal of inspiring leadership trainees to bring the best of themselves to humanity in service of all. This relationship continued through the summer of 2004.

Siska Tovey (R) typing at Co-Active Space Leadership

Alan Sheets and Siska Tovey typing in South Africa

Siska and Alan presented their work to a diverse community. Other organizations and conferences where they presented at this time include: Mendocino County Office of Education; Marin County Psychological Association; Graduate Theological Union; Marin Nature Conservancy; TEMBA Elementary School; Delano Regional Medical Center; John F. Kennedy University Graduate Schools of Management and Psychology; Parliament of the World’s Religions; International Coaching Federation Conferences; and International Enneagram Conferences.

John Anthony West

One afternoon in the spring of 1997, Siska happened to watch a documentary on television called The Mystery of the Sphinx that featured Egyptologist John Anthony West. He introduced discoveries about ancient Egyptian society that showed they possessed scientific knowledge that has been lost to the modern world. The program pointed out to Siska new exciting directions to explore. It also referenced a book by West called Serpent in the Sky—The High Wisdom of Ancient Egypt. Siska drove to a local bookstore to buy his book so she could read more about the ideas he presented in the documentary.

The whole of Egyptian civilization was based upon a complete and precise understanding of universal laws. This profound understanding manifested itself in a consistent, coherent, and inter-related system that fused science, art, and religion, into a single organic Unity. In other words, it was exactly the opposite of what we find in the world today.

— John Anthony West, Serpent in the Sky p. 1

John Anthony West in the Sphinx enclosure
Giza Plateau, Egypt 2009

Siska found that Serpent in the Sky—The High Wisdom of Ancient Egypt presented a comprehensive re-interpretation of ancient Egyptian culture based on the exhaustive research of Egyptologists Isha and René Adolphe Schwaller de Lubicz. In his book, West presented sacred geometry and mathematics that appeared to correlate with aspects of the discoveries she and Alan had made. He also introduced particular meanings he believed the ancient Egyptians attributed to the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, and Siska saw that these meanings were unexpectedly similar in some ways to what she and Alan had discovered to be true about types 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 in their system.

West also noted several groups called the Grand Ennead (meaning a group of nine) as found in other cultures. For example: Nine Cobras of Brahma in Hindu mythology, and the Nine Legions of Angels from the Cabbala.

What particularly caught her attention was a reference West made to nine Neters that represented the principles of life in ancient Egypt. They Neters were believed to be responsible for creating and sustaining the universe and everything in it, and served as the foundation for this ancient civilization for thousands of years. The descriptions of the Neters also seemed to align in some ways with knowledge she and Alan were uncovering about the nine types in their own research. What was even more interesting was that West described correlations between the Neters and parts of the human body.

Siska saw so many other possible correlations with the research she and Alan were doing, that she wanted to know more. She made a phone call to West’s office and found out that he regularly took groups on tours to Egypt to explore the ancient sites. This was wonderful news, and she set an intention that she and Alan would take this trip someday.

Siska and Alan completed their first book, titled Enneagram of the Body.

Every aspect of Egyptian knowledge seems to have been complete at the very beginning. The sciences, artistic and architectural techniques, and the hieroglyphic system, show virtually no signs of a period of ‘development’; indeed, many of the achievements of the earliest dynasties were never surpassed, or even equaled later on. This astonishing fact is readily admitted by orthodox Egyptologists, but the magnitude of the mystery it poses is skillfully understated, while its many implications go unmentioned. Egyptian civilization was not a ‘development’, it was a legacy.

— John Anthony West, Serpent in the Sky p. 1

René Adolphe and Isha Schwaller de Lubicz

René Adolphe (L) and Isha Schwaller de Lubicz

Egyptologists René Adolphe and Isha Schwaller de Lubicz are responsible for the vast research that restored and revived an understanding of the extraordinary culture of ancient Egypt. They revealed a civilization that must have ante-dated dynastic Egypt. West considered their research the most important work of scholarship of our time.

…the Temple is knowledge, that is, the science of genesis and cosmic harmony.

— René Adolphe and Isha Schwaller de Lubicz

The Schwaller de Lubicz’ moved to Luxor, Egypt, in 1936. Their initial motivation was to find out if the Luxor Temple was built according to principles of phi (Golden Section) and pi (3.1416…), as the Great Pyramid and other pyramids were built, because, if this were to be true, it would show that ancient societies had an advanced understanding of universal laws, science, and mathematics.

With a small team, for 15 years they meticulously studied the dimensions and proportions of the Luxor Temple and found that not only was it built precisely according to phi and pi, but it told amazing stories about the relationship between human beings and the universe in which we live.

Like a library, the many stories it contains are told through mathematics, geometry and architecture. The research findings showed that the proportion, harmony and symbol of the Luxor Temple, are related to phi and notes of the music scale. Its structure is built according to harmonic proportions and moments that specify the measurements of the architecture (skeleton and temple) as well as the location of the principal vital nodes of organic life and sources of energy (chakras) p.335. These measurements are the function of phi and its corresponding arithmetic form, the root of 2, which governs growth p.581.

Their work showed Siska and Alan that human history is extraordinarily different from what they had thought.

The Schwaller de Lubicz’ documented their research in 1,000+ pages in the two-volume The Temple of Man. When The Temple of Man became available in English in 1998, Siska and Alan immediately purchased it and began to study what it contains. The Temple of Man became a crucial resource.

Schwaller de Lubicz discovered a method of geometrically obtaining harmonic intervals and projecting them upon a plan. The harmonic intervals for strings are based upon the division of the string fundamental in half initially. The harmony for brass is based upon division of the fundamental in a 4:1 ratio. This diagram combines both harmonic systems, and when projected against the plan of the temple, determines practically all of its major architectural features.

— John Anthony West Serpent in the Sky p. 159

Projection of harmonic intervals on temple and skeleton;
includes Siska and Alan’s locations of the chakras 
Fig. 138 Temple of Man

The Temple of Luxor is a perfect example of art as a deliberate manipulation of harmonic phenomena whose end result is magic.

— John Anthony West Serpent in the Sky p. 155

True poetry is magic, and magic is identification with form, body with body, Spirit with Spirit. The All in One, Ecce homo, is the symbol above all symbols; and a human being is not an image, a condensation of the Universe; a human being is the Universe.

What could I know, that is, what could I feel and experience of the stone, of light, of the animal, of you, if all these forms were not in me? You and I are not two. In the identity of form, in the origin and in the end, we are one.

I am responsible for your evil and your good, for your truth and your falsehood. I can do nothing to change you now, but I can improve you by improving myself.

This is moral magic.

Experience proves the truth, makes it certain, and drives falsehood away.

— René Adolphe and Isha Schwaller de Lubicz, Temple of Man p.12

Facial Expressions of Strength

Siska identified a singularly striking facial expression for each type that would appear on a person’s face when they were in their Posture of Strength. She saw that each type used their facial muscles differently, and the particular expression would appear whenever a person was typed and had become strong in their Posture of Strength. Siska shared her observations of the facial expressions with Alan, and they decided to see if they could find photos of faces that showed these expressions.

In 1998 it wasn’t easy to do a good internet search, so they needed to bring stacks of books home from the local library and flip through thousands of photographs. They focused intently on their project and soon Siska had enough images to create nine display boards (photo). Each board showed five images of the particular facial expression for one of the types. They named these expressions the nine Facial Expressions of Strength and began to take them to their workshops. She also made ‘travel boards’ that could be disassembled and packed up for travel.

Alan and Siska presented at both the 3rd and 4th International Enneagram Conferences in Baltimore, Maryland, and Denver, Colorado.

Huston Smith – The World’s Religions

Huston Smith
The World’s Religions

Huston Smith
The World’s Religions

Religions at their best are the world’s wisdom traditions.

— Huston Smith

In the spring of 1999, during a conversation with one of their students, Alan shared details about the wisdom that each of the nine types seemed to naturally contain within their being. Alan told the student that he and Siska felt that this inner wisdom might be rooted in some kind of spirituality. Their student responded by telling Alan about her understanding of some of the spiritual wisdom from several of the world’s religions.

A few days later Alan heard on Fresh Air radio an interview of Huston Smith, a Methodist minister and a renowned religious studies scholar. He had spent many years not only studying world religions, but also immersing himself in their practices for long periods of time in order to gain greater understanding and expand as a human being. He wrote the famous comparative religion book The World’s Religions. During the interview, Smith presented an objective analysis of some of the world’s predominant faiths.

What Alan learned from Smith inspired him to consider the possibility that some of the world’s religions may have spiritual foundations that originated from the wisdom of the nine types.

Smith lived nearby in Berkeley, California, so Siska and Alan purchased and read his book and contacted him to inquire if he might be willing to meet and share more of his knowledge. He readily agreed, and soon the three of them had a pleasant lunch at a little cafe in Berkeley. They were grateful for the opportunity to spend time with this dedicated man. During their visit, Siska and Alan also had the pleasure of typing Smith and  giving him an experience of his own Posture of Strength.

The meeting confirmed for Siska and Alan that there are some alignments between the spiritual wisdom of each of the types and the spiritual wisdom offered by some of the world’s religions.

Soultypes and Soultyping

Whenever Siska and Alan typed a person, the connection was profound, deep, and giving. Each connection was unlike all that had come before, because the individuality of each and every person became so strongly present. For Siska and Alan, the energy of the connection could only be explained as coming forward from the soul.

They added the word soul to type, and started calling each type a Soul Type. They soon combined the two words into one: Soultype. In addition, they renamed their typing process Soultyping.

The unexpected finding that had come from exploring the world’s religions—that each Soultype has a spiritual foundation—inspired Siska and Alan as they continued to support the profound nature and spiritual wisdom of humanity.

Over time, Siska and Alan observed more and more physical expressions that are distinct to each Soultype. They became able to Soultype people by looking at videos and photographs while paying attention to characteristics such as the sound of the voice, the way in which a person gestured with their hands, walked, or focused their eyes, etc.

All of the unique and distinctive spiritual and physical expressions always need to be consistent in an individual when they are Soultyped by Siska and Alan.

Music

As Siska and Alan continued to Soultype people they had not met in person, such as public figures, they became more aware of composers, singers, and musicians, expressing their soul’s wisdom through their music. They began to research the possibility that listening to music might help their students learn about the Soultypes. Soon Siska and Alan were introducing the Soultypes of performers and composers and then playing their music in workshops. They saw that the impact of introducing the Soultypes, and playing their music, helped students know more about the Soultype’s creativity. Music became an important part of Siska and Alan’s programs.

A New Name

Siska and Alan were inspired by their studies of ancient Egypt and the interesting ways in which historic knowledge seemed to connect to their own discoveries. They were finding out that all of life has universal formulas, and that, in addition, spirituality can be purely explained with numbers. They were finding correlations between their own discoveries and Sacred Geometry (phi and pi relationships), and the mathematics of the universe.

Unity, in taking consciousness of itself, unfolds into a created multiplicity and thereby into the universe.

— John Anthony West, Serpent in the Sky p. 66

Their work appeared to be bringing to humanity a new way to understand and be aligned with the universe. In other words, they were introducing new equations to humanity. So, in September of 1999, they renamed their work New Equations, and later added the byline The Physical Expressions of the Soul.

Colors

One day in the fall of 2000, while Alan was studying The Temple of Man, some text stood out to him: listed across the page in a particular order were nine colors (two colors repeated). Intrigued, he called Siska over. They read that these nine colors represented functions that were universally responsible for any energetic phenomenon. p.238

Alan and Siska tried matching these colors to the Soultypes in the same order. They were surprised to see that when they did this, and placed the colors at the energy centers, they were the same as the energy colors that people of ancient cultures had assigned to the chakras: Soultype 8 was red (1st chakra), Soultype 4 was orange (2nd chakra), and Soultype 2 was yellow (3rd chakra), etc. Moreover, they were also the same colors, and appeared in the same order, as the colors of light in a rainbow.

Siska wondered if the colorful light of the nine energy centers might be in relationship with the light throughout the universe? Could it be that the functions were part of an energetic process that links and aligns the body with the universe? Could the light of our very own bodies be partly responsible for the creativity of the universe?

This bit of information from The Temple of Man gave Siska and Alan a feeling for humanity’s oneness with the universe.

In October of 2000 they presented their work at the International Coaching Conference in Vancouver, Canada. In 2001 they published their third book, Embodying the Soul–New Equations for Humanity.