John Van Auken, in his book Toward a Deeper Meditation, answers a question in the appendix of the book about the use of the 23rd Psalm for ending meditation and the closing of the chakras.
Question: Since the 23rd Psalm is recommended by Cayce to end a mediation and close the chakras, is there a direct correlation between keywords and the chakras, as Cayce gave for the Lord's Prayer?
Actually, I am not aware of any instruction in the actual Cayce readings that gives the 23rd Psalm a closing device for meditation. As far as I know, this became a common practice throughout the A.R. E. community because Hugh Lynn Cayce loved it so much and regularly suggested it. It has now become a tradition, a good tradition, in my opinion.
Now, as to the correlating of keywords to the chakras, which Cayce's readings do give for the Lord's Prayer, there are also no readings on this for the 23rd Psalm. However, inspired by your question, I attempted to meditate deeply and see if I could find some correlation. The following is what came to me. But each of us should find the keywords for ourselves. What works for me may be different for you and others.
"The Lord is my shepherd [pituitary, third eye]; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures [pineal, crown]; He leadeth me beside the still waters [thyroid, throat]. He restoreth my soul [inner, true self]. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness [thymus, heart] for his name's sake [pineal, crown]. Yea, though I walk through the valley [gonads, root] of the shadow of death [adrenals, solar plexus], I will fear no evil [cells of leydig, navel]; for thou [pituitary, third eye] art with me. Thy rod [standards, ideals] and thy staff [kundalini, life force], they comfort me. Thou preparest a table [four lower chakras restored] before me in the presence of mine enemies [lower urges]. Thou hast anointed my head [pineal, crown] with oil; my cup [pituitary, third eye] runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy [four lower chakras spiritualized] shall follow me all the days of my life; And I shall dwell in the house [the head, three upper chakras] of the Lord for ever."
Let me explain some of my correlates. Rather than selecting Lord as the keyword in the psalm for the third eye, I found the word shepherd felt better for me. Few people know that, from the line in the Lord's Prayer, "Our Father which art in heaven," Cayce actually gave the word heaven as the third-eye, not Father. But the study group working with him changed the keyword to Father, and it has been published that way for years. The selection of green pastures for the pineal was easy, but still waters for the throat chakra was a bit of a surprise to me. However, during my meditation, the words had a profound effect upon my throat chakra. As we all know, Cayce associates the throat chakra with the keyword will in the Lord's Prayer. I felt that when I seek God's will over my own, I am abiding in the still waters. It worked for me. See what works for you.
Perhaps the most surprising guidance in my meditation was the collective keywords. Table felt like my entire lower centers as did goodness and mercy. It felt as though my lower, earthly centers had become united and spiritualized. The "house of the Lord" was an easy correlate with the head chakras because the Taoist text Secret of the Golden Flower has a beautiful metaphor that has stuck with me over the years: "In the square inch field" is the pituitary, which abides within the "square foot house" of the head. As you know, Cayce's readings stated that the four lower chakras are "earth," and the three upper chakras are "heaven" in the Lord's Prayer. I felt that some of that grouping was occurring within the 23rd Psalm as well.
I enjoyed this meditation so much I'll be doing it again. I've always felt that the 23rd Psalm had profound mystical implications for the meditator, but I've never attempted to explore these. Thanks for asking such a good question.--JVA
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