The Complete Chakra Guide: From Root to Divine — Physical, Earth Star & Cosmic Energy Centers
Your energy body is far more expansive than most teachings reveal. Today we're going beyond the classic seven — into the Earth Star below your feet and the higher transpersonal chakras that connect you to the cosmos itself. Whether you're just beginning your chakra journey or deepening your practice, this guide covers where each center lives, what it governs, how to know when it's off, and how to bring it back into harmony.
✦ The 7 Physical Chakras
1. Root Chakra — Muladhara
Location: Base of the spine, perineum
Color: Red | Element: Earth
Governs: Survival, safety, grounding, physical health, finances, belonging, and your sense of stability in the physical world.
Mudra: Prithvi Mudra — touch the tip of your ring finger to the tip of your thumb, extend the remaining fingers.
Mantra: LAM (lum)
Open vs. Closed: An open Root feels like safety, presence, and ease in your body. A closed Root often stems from childhood instability, financial trauma, displacement, or chronic stress — manifesting as anxiety, fear, or feeling perpetually unsafe.
In Alignment vs. Out of Alignment: Aligned, you feel grounded and resourced. Out of alignment, you may feel scattered, financially chaotic, or unable to complete tasks. Causes include unresolved survival trauma, lack of routine, or disconnection from nature.
Overworking vs. Underworking: Overactive — hoarding, rigidity, obsession with security, materialism. Underactive — chronic fatigue, dissociation, financial avoidance, feeling undeserving of basic needs.
2. Sacral Chakra — Svadhisthana
Location: 2–3 inches below the navel
Color: Orange | Element: Water
Governs: Creativity, pleasure, sexuality, emotions, flow, and the ability to experience joy and intimacy.
Mudra: Shakti Mudra — curl the ring and pinky fingers into the palms, wrap thumbs inside, press index and middle fingers together pointing forward.
Mantra: VAM (vum)
Open vs. Closed: Open — creative, sensual, emotionally fluid. Closed — emotional numbness, creative blocks, shame around pleasure. Often caused by sexual trauma, religious shame, or emotional suppression.
In Alignment vs. Out of Alignment: Aligned — you create freely and feel emotions without being ruled by them. Out of alignment — emotional volatility or flatness, codependency, creative stagnation. Causes include unprocessed grief or relational wounds.
Overworking vs. Underworking: Overactive — emotional overwhelm, addiction, obsessive attachment. Underactive — creative drought, emotional detachment, low libido.
3. Solar Plexus Chakra — Manipura
Location: Upper abdomen, between navel and sternum
Color: Yellow | Element: Fire
Governs: Personal power, will, confidence, self-esteem, discipline, and the ability to take action aligned with your truth.
Mudra: Rudra Mudra — touch the tips of the index and ring fingers to the thumb tip, extend middle and pinky fingers.
Mantra: RAM (rum)
Open vs. Closed: Open — confident, decisive, self-directed. Closed — powerlessness, people-pleasing, inability to set boundaries. Caused by control-based upbringings or chronic criticism.
In Alignment vs. Out of Alignment: Aligned — you act from inner authority. Out of alignment — victim mentality, procrastination, or domineering behavior. Causes include unresolved shame or fear of failure.
Overworking vs. Underworking: Overactive — control issues, aggression, arrogance, workaholism. Underactive — low self-worth, passivity, digestive issues.
4. Heart Chakra — Anahata
Location: Center of the chest
Color: Green (and pink for the higher heart) | Element: Air
Governs: Love, compassion, forgiveness, connection, grief, and the bridge between the lower (physical) and upper (spiritual) chakras.
Mudra: Padma Mudra — bring both hands to heart center, touch the base of the palms together, spread fingers like a blooming lotus.
Mantra: YAM (yum)
Open vs. Closed: Open — loving, empathetic, able to give and receive freely. Closed — grief, isolation, inability to trust or forgive. Caused by heartbreak, loss, betrayal, or emotional neglect.
In Alignment vs. Out of Alignment: Aligned — you love without losing yourself. Out of alignment — codependency, martyrdom, or emotional walls. Causes include unprocessed grief or fear of vulnerability.
Overworking vs. Underworking: Overactive — over-giving, emotional enmeshment, losing self in others. Underactive — coldness, isolation, difficulty with intimacy.
5. Throat Chakra — Vishuddha
Location: Throat
Color: Blue | Element: Ether/Sound
Governs: Communication, truth, self-expression, listening, and the ability to speak your authentic voice.
Mudra: Granthita Mudra — interlace the fingers inside the palms, extend thumbs and index fingers upward, touch their tips together.
Mantra: HAM (hum)
Open vs. Closed: Open — you speak your truth with clarity and listen deeply. Closed — difficulty expressing yourself, fear of speaking up. Caused by being silenced or shamed for speaking.
In Alignment vs. Out of Alignment: Aligned — your words match your inner truth. Out of alignment — lying (to self or others), inability to ask for what you need. Causes include unresolved communication trauma or fear of conflict.
Overworking vs. Underworking: Overactive — talking over others, gossiping, verbal aggression. Underactive — chronic silence, inability to say no, throat tension.
6. Third Eye Chakra — Ajna
Location: Between and slightly above the eyebrows
Color: Indigo | Element: Light
Governs: Intuition, perception, psychic sight, imagination, clarity, and the ability to see beyond the physical.
Mudra: Kalesvara Mudra — touch the middle fingers together at the tips, curl remaining fingers inward, touch thumbs together pointing toward the body.
Mantra: OM (or SHAM)
Open vs. Closed: Open — strong intuition, vivid dreams, clear inner vision. Closed — confusion, brain fog, inability to trust gut feelings. Caused by over-reliance on logic or dismissal of intuitive experiences.
In Alignment vs. Out of Alignment: Aligned — you perceive clearly and trust what you see beyond the surface. Out of alignment — delusion, paranoia, or complete disconnection from intuition. Causes include unresolved denial or fear of what you might see.
Overworking vs. Underworking: Overactive — hallucinations, obsessive thinking, living in fantasy. Underactive — closed-mindedness, inability to visualize, dismissal of spiritual experience.
7. Crown Chakra — Sahasrara
Location: Top of the head
Color: Violet / White / Gold | Element: Cosmic Energy
Governs: Divine connection, higher consciousness, spiritual awakening, unity, and your relationship with Source.
Mudra: Sahasrara Mudra — interlace all fingers inward, extend both index fingers upward and touch at the tips, thumbs cross inside.
Mantra: AH or OM — or silence itself
Open vs. Closed: Open — a felt sense of oneness, spiritual trust, and divine guidance. Closed — spiritual disconnection, nihilism, existential emptiness. Caused by religious trauma, materialism, or unresolved lower chakra wounds blocking the upward flow.
In Alignment vs. Out of Alignment: Aligned — you live with spiritual purpose and feel held by something greater. Out of alignment — spiritual ego, dogmatism, or disconnection from meaning. Causes include unintegrated spiritual experiences or bypassing the body.
Overworking vs. Underworking: Overactive — spiritual bypassing, dissociation, inability to function in the physical world. Underactive — depression, lack of purpose, feeling cosmically abandoned.
✦ The Earth Star Chakra — Vasundhara
Location: 12–18 inches below the soles of the feet, within the Earth
Color: Black, deep brown, or silver
Element: Earth / Gaia Consciousness
Governs: Your connection to Gaia, ancestral healing, karmic grounding, collective memory, and your soul's physical incarnation anchor. This is the chakra that tethers your light body to the planet — without it, even a fully open Crown has nowhere to land.
Mudra: Bhu Mudra — press both index and middle fingers into the earth (or your thighs), curl remaining fingers, extend thumbs outward. The mudra of grounding into Gaia.
Mantra: LAM extended low and slow — or the seed sound AH-EE-AH for Earth Star activation. Affirmation: "I am rooted. I am held. I belong to this Earth."
Open vs. Closed: Open — you feel genuinely at home on Earth, connected to nature's rhythms, and supported by ancestral wisdom. Closed — chronic rootlessness, feeling like you don't belong here, inability to ground despite effort, ancestral trauma loops. Caused by soul-level resistance to incarnation, unresolved ancestral wounds, or severe disconnection from the natural world.
In Alignment vs. Out of Alignment: Aligned — your energy flows down through your feet and into Gaia, creating a living circuit of give and receive with the planet. Out of alignment — energy pools in the upper chakras with no anchor, causing spiritual overwhelm, chronic anxiety, or physical illness. Causes include living entirely in the mental/spiritual realms without honoring the body and Earth.
Overworking vs. Underworking: Overactive — over-identification with the physical, inability to access higher states, feeling trapped in density. Underactive — floating, ungrounded, unable to manifest, chronic fatigue from lack of Earth energy exchange.
✦ The Higher Transpersonal Chakras
These chakras exist above the Crown and are part of your light body — the energetic architecture of your soul's higher dimensional expression. They are activated through spiritual evolution, intentional practice, and the clearing of the lower centers.
The Soul Star Chakra — Sutara
Location: 6–12 inches above the Crown
Color: Magenta, white-gold, or iridescent pearl
Governs: Your soul's blueprint, past life records, karmic contracts, soul purpose, and the seat of your Higher Self. This is where your soul's accumulated wisdom across all lifetimes is stored.
Mudra: Bring both hands above the head, palms facing upward, fingers gently spread — a posture of receiving from the higher realms.
Mantra: SO-HAM ("I am that") or AH-OM. Visualize a radiant pearl of light above your Crown as you chant.
Open vs. Closed: Open — access to soul memory, clear sense of life purpose, ability to receive higher guidance. Closed — feeling purposeless, repeating karmic patterns without awareness. Caused by unresolved karma or fear of one's own power.
In Alignment vs. Out of Alignment: Aligned — your daily life begins to reflect your soul's true mission. Out of alignment — living in contradiction to your soul's purpose, chronic dissatisfaction despite external success. Causes include ego resistance to soul-level truth or uncleared karmic debris.
Overworking vs. Underworking: Overactive — obsession with past lives, inability to be present, spiritual superiority. Underactive — amnesia of soul purpose, feeling like a stranger in your own life.
The Spirit Chakra — Anima
Location: Approximately 18–24 inches above the Crown
Color: Opalescent white or pale lavender
Governs: Your spirit's pure essence beyond all lifetimes, divine will, and the point where individual consciousness begins to merge with universal spirit — the threshold between personal soul and transpersonal spirit.
Mudra: Hands in prayer above the head, thumbs touching the crown — a gesture of surrender to divine will.
Mantra: HU (pronounced "hue") — an ancient name for the Divine used across many traditions. Or simply: "Thy will, not mine."
Open vs. Closed: Open — deep surrender, trust in divine timing, ability to release control. Closed — spiritual rigidity, inability to surrender, forcing outcomes. Caused by deep fear of the unknown or unresolved control patterns.
In Alignment vs. Out of Alignment: Aligned — you co-create with Spirit rather than against it. Out of alignment — spiritual willfulness, using practice to control rather than surrender. Causes include unhealed wounds around trust and safety.
Overworking vs. Underworking: Overactive — complete dissolution of self, inability to function in the world. Underactive — spiritual stubbornness, inability to receive divine guidance.
The Universal Chakra
Location: Approximately 3 feet above the Crown
Color: Gold or luminous amber
Governs: Universal love, oneness consciousness, connection to all beings across all dimensions, and the understanding that all life is one unified field of energy.
Mudra: Arms extended wide above the head, palms open — an embrace of all of existence.
Mantra: AUM extended into silence — or: "I am one with all that is."
Open vs. Closed: Open — genuine experience of unity consciousness, unconditional love for all beings. Closed — separation consciousness, "us vs. them" thinking even in spiritual contexts. Caused by unhealed tribal wounds or spiritual elitism.
In Alignment vs. Out of Alignment: Aligned — you perceive the divine in all things and all beings. Out of alignment — spiritual exclusivity, judgment of others' paths. Causes include unresolved ego identification with a particular tradition or identity.
Overworking vs. Underworking: Overactive — loss of individual identity, inability to discern, merging with collective pain without boundaries. Underactive — isolation, inability to feel connected to anything beyond the personal self.
The Galactic Chakra
Location: Approximately 4–5 feet above the Crown
Color: Silver, electric blue, or deep violet
Governs: Galactic consciousness, star lineage, cosmic law, advanced spiritual gifts (channeling, healing, time perception), and your connection to your star origins and galactic guides.
Mudra: Hands above the head, fingertips touching to form a triangle (pyramid shape) — a symbol of cosmic transmission.
Mantra: RA-MA (solar and lunar balance) or the sound EEE held at a high vibration. Some practitioners use light language or toning for this center.
Open vs. Closed: Open — access to galactic wisdom, clear channeling, awareness of your star lineage and cosmic mission. Closed — feeling cosmically cut off, dismissal of star origins. Caused by fear of one's own gifts or collective suppression of cosmic memory.
In Alignment vs. Out of Alignment: Aligned — your gifts serve the collective evolution of consciousness. Out of alignment — using cosmic gifts for ego, or complete denial of galactic heritage. Causes include unintegrated star seed awakening or bypassing Earth-plane responsibilities.
Overworking vs. Underworking: Overactive — inability to function on Earth, obsession with off-planet realities. Underactive — dormant gifts, feeling ordinary when you are anything but, disconnection from cosmic purpose.
The Divine Gateway Chakra
Location: 6+ feet above the Crown — the outermost edge of the personal light body
Color: Pure white light, diamond, or transparent luminosity
Governs: Complete divine union, the dissolution of all separation between self and Source, enlightenment, and the gateway through which pure divine light enters your entire energetic system. This is the threshold of the infinite.
Mudra: Hands resting open in the lap or at the sides — total stillness and receptivity. No gesture is needed; only presence.
Mantra: Silence. Or the sound AH — the universal sound of creation and release. Some traditions use: "I AM THAT I AM."
Open vs. Closed: Open — moments of pure divine union, grace, and the felt knowing of your eternal nature. Closed — complete identification with the ego-self, spiritual materialism, or the belief that you are separate from the Divine. Caused by deep karmic veiling or unresolved wounds across all levels of the energy body.
In Alignment vs. Out of Alignment: Aligned — divine light flows freely through your entire system, from the Divine Gateway down through the Earth Star and into Gaia — a complete cosmic circuit. Out of alignment — the light cannot fully descend because lower centers are blocked, or the gateway itself is veiled by unresolved spiritual wounding. Causes include spiritual bypassing, unintegrated shadow, or resistance to full embodiment.
Overworking vs. Underworking: Overactive — rare, but can manifest as inability to hold form, extreme sensitivity to density, or difficulty staying incarnated. Underactive — the most common state for most humans — living entirely in the lower frequencies without access to the full spectrum of divine light available to us.
✦ The Complete Circuit: Grounding the Cosmic
True energetic health is not about ascending out of the body — it is about creating a living circuit between the Earth Star below and the Divine Gateway above, with every chakra along the column open, clear, and flowing. The Earth grounds the cosmic. The cosmic illuminates the Earth. You are the bridge.
When any center is blocked, overworking, or underworking, the entire system compensates. This is why chakra work is never just about one center — it is always about the whole.
Begin where you are. Ground first. Then rise.
Want to go deeper? Explore our crystal collections curated for each chakra, or join us for our next energy healing circle. The path is always open. 🖤