Understanding Kundalini as Sexual Energy

Part 1 of 3: The Creative Primal Serpent

In the depths of human consciousness lies a power so profound that virtually every spiritual tradition has recognized it while simultaneously shrouding it in mystery. The ancient yogis called it kundalini—the serpent power coiled at the base of the spine. Christian mystics spoke of the ‘secret fire‘ and ‘living flame of love.’ The Rosicrucians pursued the ‘philosopher’s stone,’ believing it held the key to unlocking spiritual transformation and immortality and in many traditions we see 33, a number that corresponds to the amount of vertebra in the human spinal column.

What these traditions have recognized in language was a singular truth: the force we know as sexual energy is not merely biological, but cosmic and a foundational force in the development of human consciousness. It is, in the words of the mystic, Elisabeth Haich, nothing less than the divine creative principle manifested at its lowest, most material level. Dr. David Hawkins agrees, explicitly identifying sexual energy as the biological substrate through which consciousness itself can ascend through progressively higher frequencies of awareness, from the dense vibrations of physical survival to the rarified frequencies of enlightened states.

The Nature of Sexual Energy: More Than Biology

To understand kundalini, we must first comprehend what sexual energy truly is. In contemporary discourse, sexuality is typically reduced to a biological function of reproduction, physical pleasure, hormonal drives. This view, while not entirely wrong, misses the profound metaphysical reality. As Haich explains, sexual energy is the foundation for 2 primary forces, survival of the self and propagation of the species. But she goes on to say that once the power is raised, it represents the link between spirit and matter. It is the one force in all of creation that possesses the extraordinary capacity to bridge the gap between the immaterial realm of consciousness and the physical world of form. This is why sexual energy can both create physical life through procreation and facilitate spiritual awakening through transmutation. This is a paradox in which the force that is responsible for the most basic functions of consciousness is the very same force that can elevate consciousness beyond matter..

The Serpent Power: Understanding Kundalini

The image of the serpent appears across spiritual traditions with remarkable consistency. In yogic philosophy, kundalini is depicted as a serpent coiled three and a half times at the base of the spine, dormant in most humans. In the biblical tradition, Moses raises the bronze serpent in the wilderness, and Christ references this as a prefiguration of his own crucifixion — a profound metaphor for the raising of consciousness through the transformation of the primal energy. The Egyptian religion makes it even clearer, depicting the serpent coming from the head of the pharaoh denoting the raising of the Kundalini

Why a serpent? The human spine, when viewed with its brain and spinal cord extension, naturally forms the shape of a serpent. This ‘spinal serpent’ is not merely an anatomical structure but the physical locus through which divine creative power manifests itself through seven distinct energy centers or chakras, each operating at progressively higher frequencies.

To translate this esoteric language: The serpent represents divine creative power (logos) as it manifests both in the universe at large (macrocosm) and within the individual human being (microcosm). But the serpent image serves a dual purpose—it symbolizes both the energy itself and the physical pathway through which that energy flows. The spinal cord, with its network of nerves, acts as the ‘resistance’—the biological structure that can receive, conduct, and transform this creative power. Just as an electrical wire provides resistance that allows current to flow in a controlled manner, the spine and nervous system provide the material structure through which spiritual energy can manifest in the physical body.

The serpent power, kundalini, represents sexual energy in its dormant, coiled state. In most humans, this power operates almost entirely at the first chakra—the muladhara—manifesting primarily as biological sexual desire and the instinct for species preservation. The energy remains ‘asleep’ at the base of the spine, its higher potential unrealized.

David Hawkins on Kundalini and Sexual Energy

Crucially, Hawkins did not shy away from identifying kundalini with sexual energy. In his teachings, he explicitly stated that kundalini is sexual energy transformed and raised through the chakra system. This transformation, he noted, is not a matter of suppression or denial, but of conscious redirection and refinement of this fundamental life force. Through applied kinesiology and his development of the Map of Consciousness—calibrating states of awareness from 1 to 1000—Hawkins demonstrated that kundalini awakening represented a measurable, verifiable shift in human consciousness.

Hawkins calibrated the base level of consciousness where sexual energy operates primarily at the survival and physical desire level, at 200 and below on his scale. As kundalini energy is transformed and rises through the chakras, consciousness calibrates progressively higher: love at 500, unconditional love at 540, peace at 600, and enlightenment above 700. The transformation of sexual energy into higher consciousness is not metaphorical but represents actual, measurable changes in the frequency of awareness according to Hawkins.

The Two Poles and the Creative Tension

To understand how sexual energy can be transformed, we must grasp the fundamental structure of creation itself as articulated in both Eastern and Western mystical traditions. In God or the Absolute, the Source, however we name ultimate reality, two poles, one negative and one positive, rest in perfect unity and equilibrium. This is the state before creation, the void pregnant with infinite potential.

Creation begins when the negative pole is expelled from this unity, creating separation and tension between the poles. Haich explains this as the creation of matter or the separation of Eve from Adam: ‘Creation begins with the negative pole being expelled from this unity and the two poles consequently drawing apart and becoming opposed to each other as force and resistance. Yet be they never so far removed from each other, the unity between the two poles never ceases to exist; they belong to each other through all eternity.’

This tension between the poles is life itself. Every living creature contains these two poles within itself—the positive pole seated in the skull, the negative pole at the base of the spine in the coccyx. The tension between them constitutes the fundamental life force, the current that animates existence. This is why sexual energy is so powerful: it represents the biological manifestation of the most fundamental creative force in the universe—the tension and attraction between the separated poles seeking reunion.

In ordinary human consciousness, we identify with the body, which manifests only one pole—one sex. We seek completion through union with another body manifesting the opposite pole. This is sexuality in its conventional form—the attempt to experience, however briefly, the original unity of the poles through physical union.

But here lies the secret: within each person’s spiritual essence, both poles already exist in perfect unity. Sexual energy, when properly understood and transformed, can help us realize this internal wholeness rather than seeking it externally. This is the key to understanding kundalini awakening—it is the process by which the negative pole at the base of the spine (the coiled serpent) rises to unite with the positive pole in the crown, replicating within our own being the divine unity that existed before creation.

Sexual Energy as the Fuel for Transformation

The most radical insight of Haich’s work—one that echoes through mystical traditions but is rarely stated so directly—is that sexual energy is not just analogous to spiritual power nor is sexual power or kundalini the end goal ; it is the literal fuel that enables consciousness to ascend from material identification to spiritual realization.

‘Sexual energy helps man to rise above sexual energy!’ Haich declares. ‘Has this not been decreed with infinite wisdom?’

This is not a call to celibacy or repression—such approaches, as both Haich and Hawkins noted, often lead to psychological disturbance rather than spiritual growth. Rather, it is recognition that the same energy currently manifesting as sexual desire contains within it the potential for every higher state of consciousness.

The mechanism is elegantly simple: our latent nerve and brain centers require energy to activate. Just as an electrical device needs electricity to function, these higher centers need life force to awaken. When this energy is conserved rather than expended, when it is consciously directed upward through yogic practice rather than dissipated through purely physical expression, it provides the ‘fuel’ needed to activate progressively higher centers of consciousness.

As each higher center activates, we gain access to new dimensions of awareness: from purely physical consciousness to emotional awareness, from emotional to intellectual, from intellectual to intuitive, from intuitive to spiritual illumination. Each step represents a literal increase in the frequency at which our consciousness operates.

Conclusion: The Path Forward

Understanding kundalini as sexual energy is the first step toward its conscious transformation. This recognition dismantles the false dichotomy between the spiritual and the sexual, revealing them as different octaves of the same fundamental creative power.

The question is not whether to have sexual energy—that is given by virtue of being alive, but how to work with it consciously. Do we remain at the mercy of unconscious biological drives, expending this precious energy in pursuit of temporary physical pleasure? Or do we, as Hawkins and Haich both suggest, recognize this energy as the divine creative power itself, the very substance of our being, and learn to work with it as the transformative force it truly is?

In Part 2, we will explore Jacob’s Ladder, the seven chakras or energy centers through which kundalini energy must ascend. We will examine each stage of consciousness development, from the unconscious drives of the first chakra to the divine illumination of the seventh, understanding both the characteristics of each level and the precise mechanisms by which sexual energy transforms into ever-higher states of awareness.

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Part 2: Jacob’s Ladder – The Seven Stages of Consciousness Awakening – COMING SOON

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