Human constitutionDisplacedVia later Theosophy

Chakra

Also: Cakra · Force-centre · Padma

Sanskrit cakra, ‘wheel’; tantric physiology, introduced to Western occultism largely through Theosophy · CHUK-ra

Blavatsky

Original sense

She knew the tantric cakras as centres in the subtle body and mentioned them in connection with kundalini and the siddhis, but she did not teach the now-standard seven rainbow centres from root to crown. She was consistently hostile to public hatha-yogic stimulation of those centres as reckless.

The ‘chakras’ in the body of the Yogî are the centres of force… not to be meddled with by the ignorant.
Collected Writings; Voice of the Silence notes on the inner centres

C. W. Leadbeater’s The Chakras (1927) fixed the Western seven-colour, seven-gland system. That book, not the Secret Doctrine, is the parent of the New Age poster. Blavatsky’s contribution was to make Indian subtle-body vocabulary thinkable in English occultism at all.

New Age

Later sense

Seven coloured wheels along the spine, each with a gland, a stone, a tone, a trauma, and a retail category. Blocked chakras explain most unhappiness; they are opened with crystal layouts, sound baths, and affirmation.

Typical use. Chakra balancing sessions, rainbow merchandise, and diagnostic language (‘your throat chakra is closed’).

The drift

The word stayed; it now names a different object.

A dangerous, esoteric tantric anatomy, which Blavatsky preferred to leave in the school of the adept, became the most successful product line in alternative wellness. The colours and the safety are Leadbeater’s; the Sanskrit is older; the shop is New Age.

Related terms

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