Glands: emotional and spiritual meaning

The pituitary, the pineal and the adrenal glands are small organs with large hormonal jobs. The pituitary, under the brain, signals other glands, including the thyroid. The pineal, deep in the brain, takes part in the rhythm of night and day. The adrenals, above the kidneys, make cortisol and adrenaline and help the body answer stress. Disorders of these glands are diagnosed with blood tests, scans and a specialist. They are not a personality type.

In the emotional reading, the pituitary is the conductor, the pineal is the inner voice, and the adrenals are the answer to danger.

The pituitary

The pituitary is lodged between the eyebrows' line, behind the root of the nose, under the brain, and it depends entirely on the brain. The source relates it to the face, the eyes and ears, the nose, and the central nervous system. It secretes the signals that act on the other endocrine glands. It is the master gland, the conductor. It receives messages from the brain and redistributes them. It also governs the periodicity of sleep.

It searches constantly for balance. It treats each new experience against everything stored across a life. Great inner transformations are possible, the source says, as long as you stay open instead of resisting change from fear of the unknown. Working well, it helps the balance of the rational side and the intuitive side.

Out of harmony, this centre is a disorder in your thoughts. You stay at the level of the intellect, of cold reason, of egocentrism, and you prevent yourself from having a wider view. You become arrogant and contemptuous, which creates further problems. The pituitary controls signals to the thyroid, the adrenals and the gonads. The gonads are the testicles and the ovaries, so the reproductive system is part of the same orchestra.

The pineal

The pineal is called the principal mirror of the self, gathering the energies of the other centres. It is in relation with the inner voice and with spiritual search. It handles everything that belongs to an existential question. It collects what you perceive of the earth and puts it in contact with your inner experience, so that you can have a global vision of your existence.

Out of harmony, it means a failure to integrate yourself, a self-pity that stops you realising what you are here for. You feel confronted, in duality with yourself. You do yourself violence. You lose the capacity to marvel, and you struggle to carry out your mission. You do not know which structures to base a life on, so you reject your milieu, and sometimes life itself. You fear being wrong and being judged, especially in the choice of a career. You live a spirituality cut off from the physical body and the earth. You become anguished, and you start to see the negative everywhere. You set yourself limits and you live in an artificial, impersonal way.

In harmony, the same gland is said to bring calm, serenity and an open mind. The ego gives way to a wider consciousness. Duality drops because you are in the present moment, neither in the future nor in the past.

The adrenals

The first job of the adrenals, in the book's account, is to produce the hormone of stress, adrenaline, together with cortisol and cortisone. They regularise the pulse and the blood pressure, which is why a racing heart in fear belongs with the heart and circulation. They let the body feel dangerous situations: fear, confrontation, survival. They are tied to the solid parts of the body and to the contact with the earth, the material world, fundamental needs, and the acceptance of the bodily part of your personality.

When this centre is out of harmony, you worry without cease about your material goods. You distrust other people. You are never satisfied. When you live in fear, stress or worry, real or imagined, the behaviour becomes aggressive, angry and impatient, especially if the adrenals are working in excess. Aggressiveness, anger and impatience are the feelings named there. When the adrenals are in deficit, you are easily discouraged. You put things off. You do not want to face your problems, and you prefer flight. You lack the courage and the will to face life.

The body answers a stress it feels as threatening, whether or not the situation fully manifests. You can tie the danger to a fear of losing time, money, a reward or a partner because you took a "bad decision". Coordination goes. The source is describing an alarm system that does not know how to stand down. It is not a claim that worry creates an adrenal disease.

Caring for these glands from the inside

Tumours, autoimmune disease and long courses of steroid medicine change these glands for biological reasons. The emotional perspective adds a question: where am I closed to change, cut off from my own questions, or still answering a danger that has passed?

• Stay open to one change. Resistance from fear of the unknown is the pituitary's disharmony.
• Come down from cold reason. A wider view is what the conductor is said to lose when the ego takes the podium.
• Ask the existential question without self-pity. That is the pineal's theme.
• Notice attack and flight. Excess is anger and impatience. Deficit is postponement. Both are the adrenal picture.
• Name the material fear. Time, money and loss are the dangers the entry lists.
• Leave the dose with the specialist. These glands are measured in blood, not in a symbol alone.