chakra

chakra:

see yogayoga
[Skt.,=union], general term for spiritual disciplines in Hinduism, Buddhism, and throughout S Asia that are directed toward attaining higher consciousness and liberation from ignorance, suffering, and rebirth.
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Chakra

(religion, spiritualism, and occult)

In the Tantric Hinduism of India, the ancient practice of yoga is a form of meditation designed to bring spiritual power through seven chakras (circles) located between the base of the spine and the top of the head. Although in the therapeutic sense chakras are viewed as the places where ch'i, or life force, is often bound up or blocked, in the religious sense they represent psychological centers or planes of consciousness through which spiritual power flows. From first to last, chakras represent spiritual growth.

The first chakra is located at the base of the spine at the rectum. Its symbol is the serpent, coiled three and a half times, and it represents the basic human need for killing and eating. The serpent, in the words of Joseph Campbell, is:

Nothing but a traveling esophagus going along just eating, eating, eating.... This is the sacramental mystery of food and eating.... In early mythologies [people] would thank the animal they were about to consume for having given of itself as a willing sacrifice. There's a wonderful saying in one of the Upanishads: "Oh wonderful... I am food.... I am an eater of food." We don't think that way today about ourselves. But holding on to yourself and not letting yourself become food is the primary life-denying negative act. You're stopping the flow! And a yielding to the flow is the great mystery experience that goes with thanking an animal that is about to be eaten for having given of itself. You, too, will be given in time.

In short, the first chakra reminds us of our place in the universe—as part of the food chain. We don't just live in nature. We are a part of nature.

The second chakra is located at the sex organs. This represents the urge to procreate, to reproduce our species and ourselves.

The third chakra is located at the navel and represents the will to conquer, to master and subdue. It is no accident that Sicilian dons in the Mafia, the godfathers, were referred to by a Sicilian phrase that translates to "men with a belly." From the sumo wrestler to the professional football lineman, a big belly symbolizes power and force.

These first three chakra centers represent the animal instincts of eating, procreation, and mastery. When we move up to the fourth chakra we enter a new realm, opening up to compassion and spirituality.

The fourth chakra is at the level of the heart. According to tradition, the Buddha was born from his mother's side, at the level of the heart. When you "open your heart" to someone you are elevated above the level of the animal.

The fifth chakra is located at the level of the throat and symbolizes creativity and communication.

The sixth chakra is located at the forehead—the "third eye" often pictured on the forehead of representations of Buddha. This is the eye that sees inward—the center of intuition and understanding.

The culminating chakra is the sahasrara, the thousand-petaled lotus at the top of the head. This is the chakra of spiritual maturity, exploding upward and outward into understanding and enlightenment.

When spiritual energy is brought up from the level of the animal to the level of spiritual awareness, it wakes up to the real world—the world of god-consciousness.

Chakra

(religion, spiritualism, and occult)

From the ancient Hindu Kundalini, the chakra (pronounced shak'rer) is one of a number of centers of spiritual power in the body. Theosophists say they are the sense organs of the ethereal body. The Hindu concept is one of cosmic energy latent in the human organism. Hindu mystics saw the kundalini as a serpent coiled at the base of the spine. When aroused, through meditation and breath control, the energy moves up the spine, touching each of seven chakra points, or centers. The first, or root, chakra is associated with the base of the spine and corresponds with the adrenal glands. The second (sacral) is the genitals, corresponding with the gonads; third, solar plexus (lyden); fourth, heart (thymus); fifth, throat (thyroid); sixth, third eye (pineal); seventh (sahasrar or "thousand petaled lotus") is the crown of the head (pituitary).

Arousal of the Kundalini, by awakening the chakras, results in a blissful experience described as comparable to the sexual embrace of god and goddess, Siva and his Consort. Many Witches utilize the Kundalini energy, the chakras, and the colors associated with them in working healing magic.

Image depicting the seven chakras, the psychic centers that connect the physical body to the etheric body. Courtesy Fortean Picture Library.

Chakra

(religion, spiritualism, and occult)

Chakra is the name given to the seven psychic centers of the body connecting the physical body to the etheric. The chakras are linked with actual physical glands and are positioned at the gonads (the lumbar or base chakra), the adrenals (the second, spine chakra), the lyden (third, solar plexus chakra), the thymus (fourth, heart chakra), the thyroid (fifth, throat chakra), the pineal (sixth, third eye chakra), and the pituitary (seventh, crown chakra). The Theosophists regard the chakras as the sense organs of the ethereal body.

An energy travels through the body connecting these chakras. This energy is known as the kundalini force, sometimes referred to as the Serpent Power, from the fact that ancient Hindu mystics saw it as a coiled serpent at the base of the spine, waiting to uncoil and reach upward. Getting the kundalini power to flow through the chakras sets up a vibration, the increase of which can enhance psychic abilities. As the power flows, the chakras begin to open up, in successive order, and the individual achieves a sense of well-being and peace. The subconscious clears itself of the negative and undesired patterns of feelings and images that have been programmed throughout the lifetime. As the opening continues, the individual’s awareness and perception of life flows continually from within and a new vibrancy permeates the entire being.

Each of the chakras is associated with a color: the base chakra with red, spine with orange, solar plexus with yellow, heart with green, throat with blue, pineal gland with indigo, and the crown with violet. An exercise practiced by many mediums and psychics to “awaken the Serpent Power” is to imagine each of the chakras as a flower (traditionally a lotus blossom) and to see it immersed in its particular color. This is one method recommended by the English medium Ivy Northage. Starting with the base chakra, imagine a red-colored flower swirling around in a clockwise direction, gathering energy to itself as it swirls. It becomes a spinning ball, going faster and faster. After a while, imagine the swirling light moving upward to the second, or spine, chakra and changing color to orange. It spins there for a while and then continues on up the body, changing color for each of the different chakras. At the crown, the light will change from violet to a pure white and will expand to enclose the whole body in a ball of white light. This is how a protective shell is built up before any exercises are done, such as clairvoyance, trance work, psychometry, healing, or even meditation.

Sources:

Buckland, Raymond: Buckland’s Book of Spirit Communications. St. Paul: Llewellyn, 2004Buckland, Raymond: Color Magic—Unleash Your Inner Powers. St. Paul: Llewellyn, 2002Garrison, Omar: Tantra the Yoga of Sex. New York: Julian Press, 1964Leadbeater, Charles W.: The Chakras. London: Quest, 1972

Chakra

a steel throwing ring with a sharp outer edge, used in the ancient Indian army. The chakra was twirled around the middle finger and thrown at an enemy.

chakra

Ayurvedic medicine
Any of the body’s 7 or 8 energy centres, which act as “relay stations” for the flow of Life Forces and create a luminous energy field known as an aura that reflects the body’s energy; illness is viewed as the result of block or restriction in the flow of the body’s energy, which requires chakra balancing.
Chakras
Root—1st chakra; base chakra
Governs survival instinct.
Location
Base of spine; associated with colour red.

Sexual—2nd chakra; sacral chakra
Governs sexual instinct and emotions.
Location
Behind navel; associated with sex organs and spleen and the colour orange.

Solar plexus—3rd chakra
Governs personal drives and sense of self-worth.
Location
Below heart; associated with adrenal glands and the colour yellow.

Heart centre—4th chakra
Governs love and harmony.
Location
Heart; associated with the circulation and the colour green.
Throat centre—5th chakra
Governs intelligence, creative expression, communication through sound, and truth.
Location
Neck; associated with the thyroid gland and the colour blue.

Third eye—6th chakra
Governs mind, self, perceptions and intuition.
Location
Deep in brain behind eyes; associated with pituitary gland and the colour indigo/deep blue or violet.

Crown—7th chakra
Governs relationship with the Force or Universal Self.
Location
Top of head; associated with the pineal gland and the colour purple/magenta.

Thymus centre—8th chakra; the “high heart”
Governs generosity and compassion.
Location
Above heart; associated with the thymus and the colour tourquoise.

chak·ra

(shahk'rah) An ancient Indian tradition of understanding human energy in a system of seven major vortices that activate and energize surrounding areas. Chakras are said to be accessed through the practice of polarity therapy, Reiki, and yoga.
See also: polarity therapy, Reiki

chakra

, cakra (chăk′ră) [Sanskrit, cakra, wheel, turning] In Ayurveda, Kundalini yoga and Tantric yoga, any of the seven energy centers running parallel to the spine that influence the conscious state of the body and therefore its health and well-being. Chakras are believed to interact directly with the endocrine and nervous systems to influence physical and emotional states.

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