Qabalah and the Chakras

[WildWoman71]

I have seen some variation but the below resonates with me...The 10 nodes and chakras:

 

Crown - Crown Chakra

Wisdom - Third Eye

Understanding - Third Eye

Mercy - Throat

Strength- Throat

Beauty - Heart

Victory - Solar Plexus

Splendor - Solar Plexus

'Foundation' - Sacral

Kingdom 'Healing' - Root

 

Air/Swords - communication - throat chakra

Water/Cups - feelings - heart chakra

Fire/Wands - personal power - Solar/Sacral

Earth/Pentacles - material/grounding - Root

 

My personal integration of Majors and Elements:

 

Fire: Emperor, Strength, Wheel, Temperance, Tower, Sun

Earth: Empress, Hierophant, Hermit, Devil, World

Air: Fool, Magician, Lovers, Justice, Star 

Water: High Priestess, Chariot, Hanged Man, Death, Moon, Judgment

Edited January 31, 2021 by WildWoman71

[TheLoracular]

@WildWoman71

I don't practice anything specifically Aryuvedic but I have a healthy respect for the chakras.   I'd love to hear how you incorporate the chakras into your tarot work.  And anything else about them that has been really interesting and exciting for you!  🙂

Because fighting a lot of inflammation today (thanks fibromyalgia, lol)  I'm just going to link the two-part stuff I wrote about chakras and the seven planets last year which is here and here instead of a lot of babble.  

So this for me puts the chakra on the Kircher Tree of Life in the following way:  (working down not up for larks)

(1) Keter:  Sahasrara (The Thousandfold) with no planetary association
(4) Chesed: Ajna (the Third Eye) with Jupiter as planetary association
(6) Tiparet: Manipura (The Lustrous Gem) with Sun as planetary association
(7) Netzach: Anahata (The Unstuck) with Venus as planetary association
(8) Hod: Visuddha (Purification) with Mercury as planetary association 
(9) Yesod: Svadhisthana (The Sweetness) with Moon as planetary association
(10) Malkut: Muladhara (The Root) with Saturn as planetary association

[WildWoman71]

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 don't practice anything specifically Aryuvedic but I have a healthy respect for the chakras.   I'd love to hear how you incorporate the chakras into your tarot work.  And anything else about them that has been really interesting and exciting for you!  

When I read a card one of the messages I typically key into is color - depending on the overall message of the card - I may see the orange robe (as sacral) and the green robe as (heart) - and intuitively feel these chakras are balanced or not - and then go on from there...does that make sense?  Additionally, a card with a person on it but only one foot on the ground - I may feel that the person is not grounded within that message and explore the root chakra

[TheLoracular]

23 hours ago, WildWoman71 said:

When I read a card one of the messages I typically key into is color - depending on the overall message of the card - I may see the orange robe (as sacral) and the green robe as (heart) - and intuitively feel these chakras are balanced or not - and then go on from there...does that make sense?  Additionally, a card with a person on it but only one foot on the ground - I may feel that the person is not grounded within that message and explore the root chakra

 That is really neat. Colors are not something I key into naturally but now you inspire me to try.  I have two weeks left in a 31 Days of Shadow Work project I want to finish without adding anything new into my morning tarot repertoire but that sounds like the exactly right thing to do next, for all 22 Major Arcana perhaps.  

[Deian]

As far as I'm aware they aren't always 7/12, that is only for the second "step" of the journey people go on here.
Humanity had been stuck to the second "step" of its path here for a long time, so that is the format people know the best(7/12 chakra system that is). But that is not all one can use here, today. There are, already, millions that utilize other types of flow, with the changes we are going through last few decades.

 

For example on the next "step", the center viewed as first chakra and second chakra merge together. Fourth and Fifth merge as well and so do Sixth and Seventh.
Then some of the chakras above the head anchor in the space where Fourth and Fifth have have been, what we call "Cosmic heart" sometimes.

Creating 3 huge centers. From there relations are easy, we can see that centers as the Tree Treasures in eastern Inner Alchemy, or we can see them as the middle pillar in Kabbalah(Foundation, Beauty, Crown). Can also see it as luminaries in tarot or astrology(Moon<>Sun<>Stars).
The center, however anchors in Beauty and that is the so called "Soul Merge" that people expect on that step of the way.

So then we have polarities in this. For example we have Foundation, as etheric body. We have Splendor and Victory as Emotional/Mental aspects on their lowest level. Then this whole complex becomes the personality/ego.

Then can also see it as Mercury and Venus circling around the Sun in that Triangle. Problem with this, suggest one has problem with survival and they will be unbalanced to one of the polarities. Can also see it as Jing, Shen and Qi of the Five Arts, with the idea we need the pathways for the transformation from one sephira into another in the middle channel to be clear.

 

Anyway, long topic, just seemed wise to mention alternative way to work with this that can be... Potent if used correctly, in my humble view. Mostly because then you can use any system to develop the others and each of them have done great work from specific direction of it all.
If one uses them as 7 or 12 there is specific step of the way this will not reflect how their own field is flowing. Although can work nicely for some parts of the way.

All this is just my humble view, of course.

[Misterei]

Ayurvedically speaking there are 7 chakras which can be associated with Elements but I don't believe they fit with Kabbalah which is its own system.

 

Muladhara = earth

Svadisthana = water

Manipura = fire

Anahata = air

Vishuddha = subtle / akash / no element

Anjna = subtle / akash / no element

Saharara = subtle / akash / no element

 

By this system the Heart [Anahata] is the center which links higher and lower chakras. We can see this bio-energetic anatomy reflected in the Western symbol of the rose cross [symbol for the Rosicrucian Order].

 

I *do* see possibilities that Tree of Life is a bio-energetic model of the human body. The 3 columns and the zigzag path between them suggest Ida, pingala, sushumna and rising kundalini force. Tiphareth as Sun *might* reflect the Ayurvedic and Rosicrucian model that Shiva descends and Shakti rises so they meet at the Heart [anahata] to awaken consciousness.

 

Otherwise, i don't see any direct correlation between Charkras and Kabbala. Ayurvedic medicine is a complete system unto itself. It's cohesive and shouldn't necessarily be *sliced and diced* to fit other models.

Edited July 23, 2024 by Misterei

[Aeon418]

1 hour ago, Misterei said:

Ayurvedically speaking there are 7 chakras which can be associated with Elements but I don't believe they fit with Kabbalah which is its own system.

 

I agree with this. There is some symbolic overlap, but the Chakras and the Sephiroth are separate systems. Although it's tempting and sometimes convenient, it's better not to conflate the two. In the former you are working directly with energy centres within the body. While in the latter you are required to build up receptacles of energy (the Sephiroth) using the active imagination. The added benefit of this more indirect technique is that it provides the practitioner with a kind of buffer between them and the energy they are channelling. The imagination itself acts as a limiting factor that prevents the practitioner channelling more energy than they can really handle. This is not necessarily the case with the Chakra system, where it is possible to get one's fingers burnt and awaken something that can't be controlled by the inexperienced and unwary dabbler.  

[Aeon418]

Some editions of Israel Regardie's book - The Middle Pillar - feature several supplementary chapters written by Chic and Sandra Cicero. In chapter 8 the authors discuss the similarities and differences between the Qabalistic and Yogic systems and the danger of conflating the two.

 

The Middle Pillar, p.160:

 

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The Sephiroth and the chakras have different functions, different correspondences, and host of other attributes that are specific to the cultural roots of each system. Whereas the chakras are located along the spine and are linked to the endocrine glands and nerve centers, the Sephiroth have little correspondence with the inner organs and are located on the midline of the body.

 

I think this highlights the main difference between the two systems. While there may be some kind of physical basis for the chakra system, this is not the case with the Sephiroth, which must be created with the focused imagination. Qabalistic techniques such as the Middle Pillar exercise are purely magical and require the practitioner to carefully and patently build the spheres from scratch. Whether this is conceptualised as imprinting the aura or manipulating the astral light (apologies to those that dislike "woo-woo") makes little difference. While it could be argued that the chakras are already latent and awaiting activation within the human body, this is not the case with the Sephiroth, even if there is some commonality between the energy raised by both techniques.

  

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Furthermore, the chakras are activated from the lowest to the highest, the exact opposite of the Western system in which the highest is always invoked first.

In many ways the Middle Pillar exercise is a much safer practice than the eastern technique of activating the chakras through Kundalini yoga, which requires a competent instructor to teach it properly. In Kundalini yoga, it is possible for the student to activate more power than he or she can safely handle, resulting in a shock to the psychic mechanism. This is not true of the Middle Pillar, which never bestows more energy than the student can manage, and which can easily be learned without the benefit of a teacher.

 

In addition to this it might be worth saying that techniques like the Middle Pillar help build tolerance to high energy states. Dedicated spiritual practitioners of all kinds can experience spontaneous Kundalini phenomena, even if they are not directly working with that energy. The psychic strengthening induced by the Middle Pillar exercise can help ameliorate the "physic shock" mentioned by the Cicero's, should something unexpected occur.

Edited July 25, 2024 by Aeon418