Where Did We Learn About Energy Vortices? -- Well, the Bible, for Starters. 

"Whenever the cloud lifted from above the Tent, the Israelites set out; 
wherever the cloud settled, the Israelites encamped."

Numbers 9:17.

 

At bottom, to speak of energy vortices is to refer to extraordinary energies that surround places, objects or people. To be in the presence of such a person or situation is to enter into the sphere of influence of the energy being radiated. What the word "vortex" adds to that is a certain dynamism, a metaphor of emanation or of circular or gyre-like movement. A vortex can even be interpreted as a "cloud" or pillar- among the most powerful and persistent images of how God makes himself perceptually manifest to the Jews. - It is not the form, however, but the experience of the spiritually potent, or consciousness-raising energy, that is of the essence. (Image: a Private Bridge over Stoney Creek.)

Thus, in essence a vortex is a portal where the curtain or veil formed by the dense material plane can be penetrated, and where higher energy levels become apparent.

The Bible - in both Old Testament and New - is rich with references to energy vortices conceived in that way, and very often the concept of a curtain or a veil is introduced at the same time. When Moses steps forth from having been inside the Tabernacle in the presence of the Lord, he puts on a veil, so that the radiance his face still transmits does not frighten the people. 

Mainstream Christian theology and Biblical interpretation often describe the relationship between the sinful world of man, and the radiant world of the divine, as being separated by a curtain or veil. In the book of Hebrews, the body of Jesus is metaphorically held to be the bridge from the worldly and impure side of the veil, to the divine and pure side.

19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 
20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body,
21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water."

(Hebrews 10:19-22. New International Version. Our italics.)

What is meant by "the curtain" in that passage is not explained explicitly, because the meaning is clear from the context. The curtain - or, alternatively, a veil - as mentioned above, is one of the most fundamental allegorical devices of theology, referring to a barrier separating our limited human world from that of divine presence and wisdom. - But to complete the allegory, it must be explained that this veil is not impassible: it can be penetrated by inner attunement, humility and prayer. Further, the curtain has a dual purpose: although it hinders our ability to know God, it also protects our finite self from knowledge it could not absorb or assimilate - in effect protecting us from dissolving in the infinite or of being overwhelmed. (Yet the goal of mystical devotion is, paradoxially, a closer and closer approach of divine presence - in effect exactly such knowing and such dissolution - a blending of the soul and the all-pervasive divinity.) The power of God is mighty, and we cannot experience is undiluted or unfiltered. Hence, this instruction in Leviticus 16:

The LORD said to Moses: "Tell your brother Aaron not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die, because I appear in the cloud over the atonement cover."

(Leviticus 16:2. New International Version) 

The Gnostic Tradition Reawakened

Gnosticism (or "knowing") is essentially the doctrine, shared by the three great religions of the Judeo-Christian tradition, that supported by meditation, prayer and divine beneficence, God can be experienced or known directly. 

That this is a shared tradition, present equally in Judaism, Islam and Christianity, is not immediately obvious, because the three religions involved each call its adherents by a different name: in Christianity they are in fact called "gnostics"; in Islam, they are known as Sufis; and Judaism calls its mystics Kabbalists or, variously, Hasidim. But regardless of the religion, devotion that has the aim of direct knowing of God or the divine presence, involves penetration of the veil of ignorance. Hence the veil is already more than a metaphor. 

New Age gnostics take this a step further: they believe that there are places and situations in which the barrier separating us from the higher planes is more tenuous, and therefore more easily transited: such a place, especially as related to location, is known as a vortex. Thus, vortices are inherently spiritual, or they present energies that gently "tug" the soul toward awareness of God; and thus vortex energy combines the characteristics of a veil that separates us from higher reality, and of a portal that allows us to access it. Coming in contact with a vortex receptively, is like touching the robe of Jesus, through which blessings flowed to the woman who could not stop bleeding (see Mark 5, below).

There are many references to the filtering or veiling principle in both the New Testament and the Old - both to the necessity of veiling, and the drama of what can be experienced when the veil is even slightly rent. Episodes involving Moses and Hashem (God) in the Torah show that the face of the Lord cannot be looked upon directly in all its radiance and majesty: man is too weak to withstand such power. Revelation leaves the protective veil in place and yet shows us something about the divine. But - so goes this doctrine - in certain places on the planet the veil is made thinner, and from these places the energy spouts in vortex-like whorls, or passes back and forth like Jacob's ladder. Thus vortices can be an opportunity for rending or fraying the fabric of ignorance. When there is a heavy veil around you, outside the light may be shining, but inside it is dark. 

New Age Christians believe that when we "touch" the veil, most often nothing happens; but when we touch it at a vortex point, it parallels the touch - upon the hem of Jesus - of the woman who could not stop bleeding (Mk. 5). The blessing of Jesus flowed out toward the woman, as if from a "wound" in the fabric, and cured her. 

A wound in the fabric of ignorance is a blessing. 

Interestingly the French verb "blesser," - and its Latin root - means to wound. 

It is then fair to say - "Wait a minute - are you saying that the power of Christ is really just a form of vortex energy?" - Of course not! The power of Christ lifts up the world - it is inconceivable and immeasurable, its wings are broad, deep and beyond our understanding. Vortex energy, by comparison, represents a miniscule filtering, an infinitesimal sampling, of the power of spiritual force. Some places and things are surrounded with more, some less - but the New Age belief is, more or less, that vortices represent blessings, opportunities to learn and to expand our awareness along the way to full consciousness of divine presence.

The Sacred and the Profane 

- "A Tale of Two Springs"

Part of the mythology of vortices consists of those energies which have healing properties. 

There are no better examples of these forces than episodes found in the narrative of the New Testament. In the case of the woman who could not stop bleeding, healing energy is dramatically illustrated. Jesus is in a throng, and many people are pressing against his garment. Yet when the bleeding woman touched his hem (coming "in the press behind"), Jesus felt that particular touch ripple like the rings from a pebble tossed into a calm pond. In all the crowd, Jesus knew someone had touched him prayerfully - in effect touching, not his garment, but the vivifying and healing energy flowing within it and through it. And it was she, not the scores of others, who was healed. 

It literally is a tale of two springs - one, the spring of blood that would not quench, representing the material world which is forever incomplete; and the other representing the energy of Jesus, which encircles and completes, propagated through his robe - an energy the woman was able to connect with because, presumably, she touched it with the right intent: "Woman, thy faith has made thee whole."

Mk 5:25-34

25 And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years,

26 And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,

27 When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment.

28 For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.

29 And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.

30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?

31 And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?

32 And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing.

33 But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.

34 And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.