The chakras. A monograph

Gichtel, who was born in 1638 at Ratisbon in Bavaria, studied theology and law and practiced as an advocate. However, becoming conscious of a spiritual world within, he later gave up all worldly interests and became the founder of a mystical Christian movement. Because he opposed the ignorant orthodoxy of his time, he drew upon himself the hatred of those whom he had attacked. Consequently, around 1670, he was banished and his property was confiscated. He finally found refuge in Holland, where he lived for the remaining forty years of his life.

He evidently considered the figures printed in his Theosophia Practica original: "Theosophia Practica" Practical Wisdom as being of a secret nature; apparently they were kept within the small circle of his disciples for quite a number of years. They were, he says, the result of an inner illumination, which was presumably what we would call clairvoyant faculties in modern times. On the title page of his book, he says that it is: "A short exposition of the three principles of the three worlds in man, represented in clear pictures, showing how and where they have their respective Centres in the inner man; according to what the author has found in himself in divine contemplation, and what he has felt, tasted and perceived."

Like most mystics of his day, however, Gichtel lacks the exactitude which should characterize true occultism and mysticism. In his description of the figures, he allows himself lengthy, though often quite interesting, digressions on the difficulties and problems of the spiritual life. As an exposition of his illustrations, however, his book is not a success. Perhaps he did not say too much, or he may have wished to induce his readers to learn to see for themselves that of which he was writing. It seems likely that by the truly spiritual life which he led, he had developed sufficient clairvoyance to see these chakras wheels of energy, but he was unaware of their true character and use. In his attempts to explain their meaning, he attached to them the current symbolism of the mystic school to which he belonged.

He is here dealing, as will be seen, with the natural earthly man in a state of darkness, so he has perhaps some excuse for being a little pessimistic about his chakras. He lets the first and second pass without comment, possibly knowing that they are chiefly concerned with physiological processes, but he labels the solar plexus as the home of anger, as indeed it is. He sees the heart-centre as filled with self-love, the throat with envy and avarice; and the higher centres of the head radiate nothing better than pride.

He also assigns planets to the chakras, giving the Moon to the basic, Mercury to the splenic, Venus to the umbilical, the Sun to the heart (though it will be noted that a snake is coiled round it), Mars to the laryngeal, Jupiter to the frontal, and Saturn to the coronal. He informs us further that fire resides in the heart, water in the liver, earth in the lungs, and air in the bladder.

It is noteworthy that he draws a spiral, starting from the snake round the heart and passing through all the centres in turn; but there seems no very definite