The idea is that there is a version of your body, made of spiritual energy, which overlays your physical body--much like the plastic sheets in earlier anatomy textbooks. The idea comes from tantric yoga, dating back to around 900 A.D. In this "subtle body," energy lines meet up at intersections where humans tend to feel emotional and/or spiritual energies. Called chakras, they were focal points for meditation within the human body and commonly visualized as colored spheres, pools, discs or flowers.
Interestingly, the number of chakras isn't a fixed, hard number. Different disciplines have different teachings--much like different schools of martial arts--and don't all agree on placement, either!
In some Western interpretations of chakra meditation, chakras can "sour" (like milk) or be "blocked" (like a dam). In these interpretations, specific gemstones conduct different types of energy. This energy can be used to unblock or cleanse these pools. For advocates of crystal healing, chakras can range from being spiritual metaphors all the way to tangible objects.
So, what's the most common system?
Explore this ancient energy system to design jewelry pieces with meaning and mindfulness. Journey through each of the seven chakras and their associated gemstones. You'll discover how believers use these stones to amplify and cleanse each chakra's energy, aid meditation, and release emotional obstructions.
Many Western understandings of chakras involve connecting specific chakras to physical points in the body. Each chakra has become linked to particular body part(s), physical or emotional function(s), foods, metals, minerals, herbs, tarot suits, essential oils, angelic figures from Judaism and Christianity and more.
The popular seven-chakra system is derived from a manuscript dated 1577 A.D., derived from an earlier work dating to the 1200s, and popularized in the West during the 1920s. Here is the seven-chakra system, its affiliated gemstones and the healing connections for each chakra:
These and other gemstones are frequently used as a focal point for the loosening or cleansing meditation that follows, or as a direct-contact physical tool. To dispel blockages or cleanse chakras using gemstones, a few techniques are popular. Some involve the person being healed or cleansed to sit, some to stand, some to lie down--depending on the chakra being affected. Or they can be worn as jewelry.
Some practitioners advocate loose stones, while others prefer strung or contained stones. To loosen a blockage, loose stones are often placed on the targeted chakra (although crown chakra stones can be placed above the body, when lying down), with any point of a stone or shape (such as teardrop's tip) pointed toward the top of the head so that energy flows upwards toward the crown chakra. The opposite can be used to cleanse a muddied or sour chakra, so that negative energy is dispelled into the earth via the root chakra or the feet.
Subcontinental jewelry styles (such as the tikka, which hangs over the third eye chakra) are a convenient and attractive way to wear chakra stones. Knotted nets holding heart chakra stones over the heart are popular healing techniques among crystal advocates. In addition, some recommend only using natural fibers, with no metals, for chakra jewelry. Different metals are often considered elements on their own, with their own healing and energy effects, so gemstone-only clasps are suggested. Some crystal healers go further, and urge chakra jewelry makers to use only plant-based stringing materials (cotton, linen, hemp) and avoid animal-based products such as silk, as the animal's energy can affect the results.
This is only an overview. A range of crystal healing and chakra healing techniques exist.
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**Please note that all metaphysical or healing properties listed are collected from various sources. This information is offered as a service and not meant to treat medical conditions. Fire Mountain Gems and Beads® does not guarantee the validity of any of these statements.
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