Chakra

Origin

The earliest references to chakras appear in late Upanishadic texts (c. second century BCE onward) and in the tantric literature that flowered between the eighth and sixteenth centuries CE. Different tantric schools described different numbers of centres—four, six, nine, twelve, or twenty-one—located at varying points along the spine. The classical seven-chakra system was codified in the Shat-Chakra-Nirupana ("Description of the Six Centres") by the Bengali yogi Purnananda in 1577, with the crown chakra added as the seventh. The accompanying text described each centre's petals, colour, sound, deity, and associated element.

The system entered the Western imagination through Sir John Woodroffe (Arthur Avalon), whose The Serpent Power (1919) translated and expounded the Shat-Chakra-Nirupana. Theosophists Charles Webster Leadbeater (The Chakras, 1927) and Alice Bailey adapted the system, often imposing Western associations not found in the Indian sources—notably the rainbow colour sequence (red root, orange sacral, etc.), which appears nowhere in classical tantra. The system spread through the 1960s yoga revival, Carl Gustav Jung's 1932 seminar on Kundalini Yoga, and the New Age movement of the 1970s. By the 1980s the seven-chakra rainbow had become the standard Western reference.

Classical and modern systems

In the classical tantric model, the seven chakras are Muladhara at the base of the spine, Svadhisthana at the lower abdomen, Manipura at the navel, Anahata at the heart, Vishuddha at the throat, Ajna at the brow, and Sahasrara at the crown. The lower five are associated with the five elements (earth, water, fire, air, ether), while the upper two are beyond elemental categorisation. Each chakra has a specific number of lotus petals (4, 6, 10, 12, 16, 2, 1000), a seed mantra (LAM, VAM, RAM, YAM, HAM, OM, silence), and a presiding deity.

The Western adaptation simplifies and expands. The rainbow colour scheme is a nineteenth-century overlay, useful as a mnemonic but historically inauthentic. Modern systems often add psychological correspondences (survival, sexuality, will, love, expression, intuition, transcendence) drawn from twentieth-century depth psychology. Some contemporary teachers (Anodea Judith, Caroline Myss) have integrated chakra theory with Jungian, somatic, and even neuroscientific frameworks. Other schools (Tibetan Buddhism, Chinese internal alchemy) use different numbers and locations of subtle centres; the seven-chakra system is one among several, though it has become culturally dominant in the West.

In practice

Chakra practice traditionally combines posture (asana), breath (pranayama), seed sound (bija mantra), visualisation, and meditation. A typical session might begin with grounding at Muladhara, breathe energy slowly up the central channel (sushumna), pause at each centre for visualisation of its symbol and recitation of its mantra, and rest at Sahasrara before returning the awareness downward. The goal in the tantric tradition is to awaken kundalini, the latent serpent energy at the base of the spine, and to draw it upward through the chakras to union with consciousness at the crown.

In modern practice, you can work with chakras as a map of psychosomatic life. When stuck at the level of survival anxiety, attend to Muladhara through grounding practices, walking, and the colour red. When creativity is blocked, work with Svadhisthana through hip-opening, dance, and water imagery. When self-worth is low, strengthen Manipura through core practices and yellow visualisation. The system is most useful when treated as a diagnostic and contemplative framework rather than a literal anatomical claim. Combine chakra work with aura awareness, akasha as the substrate, and karma as the explanatory background.

Symbolic depth

The chakra system maps onto several Western esoteric frameworks. The Kabbalistic Tree of Life provides a striking parallel: ten sephiroth arranged on a vertical axis, with rough correspondences between Malkuth-Muladhara, Yesod-Svadhisthana, Tiphareth-Anahata, and Keter-Sahasrara. The number does not match, but the principle of staged ascent from material density to spiritual unity is shared. The alchemical seven stages of the great work—calcination, dissolution, separation, conjunction, fermentation, distillation, coagulation—run parallel to the seven chakras.

The classical seven planets (Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon) have been mapped onto the chakras in various ways, though no single mapping is canonical. The tarot's major arcana from Magician to World can be read as a chakra ascent. In Christian mysticism, the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit and the seven sacraments offer septenary parallels. Continue with root chakra, heart chakra, crown chakra, and aura. The full glossary offers further pathways.

Also known as

• energy centre
• wheel
• subtle wheel
• padma
• lotus centre