“Here is the supreme sixteenth kala of the moon. She is pure and resembles the young sun. She is as fine a thing as the hundredth part of a fiber in the stalk of a lotus. She is lustrous and soft like ten million lightning flashes and is down turned. From her, whose source is the brahman, flows copiously the continuous stream of nectar.”

Sahasrara – the crown chakra

We have been talking about the chakras based on the ancient, Tantric text, Description of the Six Centres. We have covered the six: muladhara, svadhisthana, manipura, anahata, visuddha, and ajna.  Last week, I indicated that ajna is the highest corporeal center.  So, what’s the deal with sahasrara?

Sahasrara is described as being located above the crown of the head, belonging to the plane of transcendence.  This is the terminus of Kundalini’s journey, when the energy of our lower chakras has allowed her to rise to the point at which she connects us to the divine consciousness of the universe.

When sahasrara is activated, the illusion of the individual dissolves. In this state there is no activity of the mind, no subject or object. The element of sahasrara is “adi tattva,” “adi” meaning “without beginning,” and “tattva” meaning “thatness” or “reality.” Here is only purity, clarity, light, love, and truth.

The sahasrara mandala possesses no special color or quality, its light contains all color vibrations united in pure light. It is described as a lotus flower with 1,000 petals arranged in 20 layers of 50 petals each.

Jung was not particularly interested in sahasrara.  To him this chakra was a philosophical construct, the ineffability of which put it beyond any psychological application.  He saw it as the logical conclusion of preceding chakras, but without practical value from an analytical psychology perspective.

Chakra Wrap-Up

Do you remember when we were just getting started on this topic, I said that there seemed to be something in the air as far as this was a subject that a lot of people were interested in right now? Maybe that has to do with the universality of the fundamental ideas of this concept?

Not to get all Jungian about it, but individuation and the sublimation of ego seems to be very strong in the collective unconscious at this time.  I keep running into the concept in lots of different places.  For example, I just read a book by Michael Pollan called, How to Change Your Mind (stay tuned, book review coming up shortly) about psychedelics as a tool to transcend ego. I also found myself listening to a podcast about meditation and when I stripped away all the jargon, the bottom-line objective of the various styles of Buddhist meditation practice (as I understood it) was to remove the ego from acting as a filter on the practitioner’s perception. When the guy talking finally got to the point, what I heard sounded a lot like what we covered in anahata, visuddha, and ajna.

The bottom line for me is that the chakras are one way of describing some sort of fundamental desire for cultivating a sense of what I would call inner peace and well-being. Kundalini yoga, the various types of Buddhist meditation, psychedelic therapy, or Jungian analysis are all just a few of the different paths that someone can take if they are interested in going on that sort of journey.

Thanks for sticking with me through this little adventure. I’d really love to know what you thought about the chakra series.  Were there any big questions that popped up for you?  Anything that you think that I could have explained better or that you would have liked me to spend some more time on?  Anything that didn’t make sense or that you think that I really got wrong?

The post An Intro to Chakras – The Thousand-Petaled Lotus appeared first on Cynthia Gellis.

In last week’s post I mentioned that Kundalini sleeps at the base of the tailbone and that when the chakras are activated, she rises, ultimately reaching the crown of the head.  It follows that the chakras are discussed from the bottom up.

The mandala of each chakra contains several elements:

• One central Sanskrit syllable (or mantra) at the center and a varying number of lotus petals around the perimeter, each containing the symbol of a Sanskrit syllable.
• A geometric shape representing an element.
• The representation of an animal.
• The representation of deities.
• Various colors.  There are different interpretations of the colors of the chakras.  In the older works (Serpent Power, Jung’s lectures, etc.) the colors are very complex (ex: within one mandala one part is vermillion, another part is a smoky color and the animal is black) but in our modern interpretations they have been simplified into basic rainbow colors.

Today I will explain the location of each chakra with relation to the physical body and give a few key components of the symbolism of each.

Muladhara – the root chakra

Muladhara is referred to as the root chakra as it grounds us to our physical reality.  Its location in the subtle body is near the base of the tailbone – Kundalini sleeps below muladhara.  The element of the chakra is earth (grounding, foundation, root).  The mandala of muladhara includes a yellow square (symbolizing earth), an elephant, the syllable lam, and is surrounded by four petals. 

Svadhisthana – the chakra of creativity

The next chakra, Svadhisthana is found in the region of the reproductive organs and is considered the chakra of creativity (consider the proximity to where life is created).  Its mandala has six petals.  An eight-petaled lotus inside the mandala with a white crescent moon symbolizes water.  The mandala also contains a sea monster (sometimes referred to as an alligator) and the syllable vam.  This chakra is associated with unconsciousness and emotion and is closely connected to muladhara.

Manipura – the solar plexus chakra

Above svadhisthana is the power chakra of manipura.  Manipura is located in the solar plexus region (above the navel but below the diaphragm).  Manipura means “lustrous gem” and this chakra is associated with the element of fire. The mandala is surrounded by ten petals and contains a triangle shape (representing fire) as well as both the syllable ram, and a representation of a ram.

Anahata – the heart chakra

The word translates to “unstruck” which relates to the sounds of the celestial realm where there are no hard sounds, as well as “pure” referring to the state we achieve when we are able to become detached by activating this chakra.  It is associated with balance, calmness, and serenity. The anahata mandala is surrounded by twelve petals.  Inside, it contains two triangles creating a six-pointed star, the syllable yam, and an antelope.  The element of this chakra is air.

Vishuddha – the throat chakra

Vishuddha chakra is located in the region of the thyroid gland.  Sixteen petals surround this chakra’s mandala and within it is a sky-blue, downward pointing triangle that contains a white circle (representation of the full moon), symbolizing the element ether.  The mandala also contains a white elephant and the syllable ham.  Stress caused by the fear of speaking up can affect this chakra.

Ajna – the third eye

Associated with the pineal gland, the ajna chakra serves as our link to the subconscious and the brahman (the ultimate reality underlying everything).  Activating this chakra connects a person to her intuition. The ajna mandala is surrounded by two petals.  The seed syllable contained within this mandala is om, the primordial sound and most sacred of all syllables.  There is no element connected with this chakra, because by this point corporeal reality has been transcended.

Bonus chakra content: Sahasrara – the crown chakra (thousand-petaled lotus)

Sahasrara is included in the Description of the Six Centres, and in some interpretations is referred to as the seventh chakra.  This is the point at which Kundalini connects to the energy of the universe and pure consciousness is achieved.  Sahasrara is described as a 1,000 petaled lotus flower.  The petals are arranged 20 rows of 50 petals, so all of the 50 syllables of Sanskrit are repeated 20 times.

In the coming weeks, I will go through each chakra in more detail and get into Jung’s interpretations of the symbols in terms of archetypes.  I’m also going to work on finding some images of the mandalas that I can share with you.

The post An Intro to Chakras – Overview appeared first on Cynthia Gellis.