Goat and Candle: The Chakras and Tarot Trumps

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Like the twenty-two step cyclical progression illustrated in the Tarot trumps, the chakras and the kundalinic energy inherent in awakening them are best symbolized by their literal Sanskrit translation: the wheel. They are both key tools to the practitioner, links between the material and immaterial aspects of being, the means to clear out negative energy, encourage self-healing and bring both shielding (circle casting) and creative (spellwork) energy into the etheric self, the astral self, the clairvoyant within each of us. By combining Tarot and Chakra, the magickian tempers the physical essence of kundalini with the psychic essence of the Major Arcana for a more balanced approach to craftwork.

The Svadhisthana chakra, also known as the sacrum chakra, located just above the navel, corresponds to the adrenal gland and the spleen. This is one allusion to its relationship to the emotional centers and the human system of emotional responses that is directly tied to the elements of our watery essence: blood, breast milk, saliva and every form of alchemical dew. We are aware of self and other - the sacrum chakra's energies arise from this knowledge. Ease in opening this chakra also relates to the factors which may pollute it, and here we see the emergence of initial, non-survival issues: trust, intimacy, pleasure versus need, base desire versus true desire. And this links the orange chakra center to three Tarot trumps.

The Lovers symbolize the awakening of the spirit in terms of its physical condition - it is the realization of the position of separation, the knowledge of that which is within and without. It is also indicative of the corporeal response system which arises from the experience. The Star is a reminder of the process of the purification of the earthly, the spiritualization of nature which is a constant, dynamic transmutation. It is also the requisite path of the sincere initiate, realizing both manifestation and dissolution as factors at play. Temperance is the communicator between the divine and the fallen, the archetype of the absolute subjectivity of duality. She knows so much of both principles, her bound essence reflecting on and affecting her true form, that she can never draw definite conclusions on them. She is willing to become a victim of her own powers, both apparent and potential. If you imagine The Lovers as the downward left-hand arc of a circle, The Star as the upward sweep of the right-hand arc, and Temperance as the mediating line which bisects the circle, you get not only one elemental symbol for water, but also the alchemical symbol for salt, the lunar element in the mystical union which produces the philosopher's stone. Taken as a complete image, you get one representation of the cognizance of existence.

Use the previous method to first open the root chakra then fill the sacrum chakra with energy and set it spinning. Each time a subsequent chakra is opened, the energies must be awakened anew and each chakra must be rekindled. Treat such efforts as though you were lighting a sacred flame, as such conflagrations must be unerringly made afresh and never stolen from existing fires.

And remember, the five central chakras are capable of conveying and receiving energies from surrounding entities. Thus care must be taken in group activities and chakras must always be closed outside of willed meditation and ritual work. The factors which may inhibit or obstruct meditation if indulged in beforehand - eating, drinking, recreational sex - can all be used to close the chakras in a pinch.