Chakra guide and associated crystals

The seven chakras and their stones

Chakras — the word means “wheel” in Sanskrit — are, in the Indian tradition, seven energy centres distributed along the body's axis, from the base of the spine to the top of the head. Modern crystal healing, which inherited the system via Ayurveda and then the New Age movement, associates a colour and a set of stones with each. Our interactive guide presents them on a meditating figure: tap a coloured point and its card opens.

From root to crown

The root chakra (Muladhara, red) is that of grounding, security and vitality: tradition associates red jasper, garnet, black tourmaline, hematite, obsidian and onyx with it. The sacral chakra (Svadhisthana, orange) carries creativity and emotion: carnelian, moonstone, orange calcite, amber. The solar plexus (Manipura, yellow) governs self-confidence and will: citrine, tiger's eye, pyrite, amber.

At the centre, the heart chakra (Anahata, green) is that of love and compassion: rose quartz, aventurine, malachite, jade, rhodonite, emerald. Then the throat chakra (Vishuddha, blue) for expression and truth: turquoise, aquamarine, amazonite, sodalite. The third eye (Ajna, indigo) for intuition and clarity: lapis lazuli, sodalite, amethyst, fluorite, labradorite. Finally the crown chakra (Sahasrara, violet) for consciousness and spirituality: amethyst, clear quartz, selenite, howlite.

What tradition says, and what science has not shown

Let us be clear: the physical existence of chakras has never been demonstrated, and no serious study establishes that a stone placed on the body acts on an organ or an emotion. This system is a symbolic language, a map of the inner world inherited from a millennia-old tradition — and it is as such that it deserves to be known, explored and respected. Many find in it a way of naming what they are going through, which is no small thing.

To explore the stones mentioned here in detail, see our encyclopaedia of virtues. Its Western counterpart, the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, offers a different symbolic geometry — a network rather than a column.