Not only did God give us the rainbow in heaven to mark his covenant with all life on earth, he also gave us the rainbow within our etheric body.  Ann Ree Colton describes the etheric body as the double of the physical body which is made of ether and prana.  It is an orb of energy that radiates around our physical body, described in modern days as the aura.  Its life substance is supported by the sun.  The lower aspect of the etheric body supports life in the physical body and the lower mind.  The higher aspect of the etheric body supports the spiritual and higher mental life. When we moved from our Eternal Self and embodied physical form in the mirror world of Maya, the Light of God was bent or refracted as it was stepped down into lower and lower frequencies of energy.  The stepping down of light into the chakras over the spinal canal of the etheric body and the ultimate manifestation into physical form, may be likened to the taking on a coat of skin, described in Genesis as “the fall.” Each chakra resonates and vibrates with one of the colors of the rainbow.  When the chakras are cleansed and united as one, they become the rainbow chalice of our heart.  Our rainbow then becomes an ascended arc that bridges the heart with the soul.  The rainbow chalice of the heart is the bridge or vehicle by which we travel back to our Higher Self or God Knowing.  Thus, the Rainbow Bridge is the passage way back to God or Eternal Spirit. Our descent from heaven took us from the Light of God into the Maya gravity world in which we now exist.  Maya is the playground of the lesser forces where we learn through our pain and suffering.  The road to Maya is paved by our lack of faith and separateness from God.  When suffering can no longer be endured, we finally listen to our inner knowing and seek to make union with God.  We know inwardly that our suffering has been caused through our seeking fulfillment outside of ourselves, through selfish desires and through sentient and materialistic ways of thinking and living. Incurable diseases are given to evolved souls, so that through their pain and suffering, they may transenergize their affliction through union with their Higher Self.  These precious ones then become beacons of light and rays of hope for others struggling to rise above the pain and suffering of the Maya illusion. "The virtue obtained from suffering is empathy which may enlarge all capacities of the soul and send us as a vehicle of light to heal and to serve." ~ Ann Ree Colton ~ The Third Music For more information on the spiritual formula for crossing the rainbow bridge over the Maya astral sea of our illusions, please click here. For information on publications by Ann Ree Colton visit our shop at: "Spiritual Pathways"