Chakra

A chakra (; Sanskrit: चक्र, romanized: cakra, lit. 'wheel, circle'; Pali: cakka) is a meditation-aid in the form of a psychic or psychospiritual energy-center in the subtle body, as visualized in a variety of Hindu and Buddhist tantric yoga and meditation practices. Medieval Buddhist texts from 8th century CE mention four or five chakras, while Hindu sources have various numbers. The best-known variant has seven chakras, as described in Sir John Woodroffe's 1919 book The Serpent Power, a rough translation of Pūrṇānanda Yati's Ṣaṭ-chakra-nirūpaṇa ("Explanation of the Six Chakras," 1577). Modern Western Occultism views chakras as actual though esoteric energy-centers. This view arose in the 1880s with H. P. Blavatsky and other Theosophists, and was subsequently shaped by Woodroffe's The Serpent Power, and Charles W. Leadbeater's 1927 book The Chakras. Psychological and other attributes, rainbow colours, and a wide range of correspondences with other systems such as alchemy, astrology, gemstones, homeopathy, Kabbalah and Tarot divination were added later.