Editing Chakra (section)

=== History ===
[[File:Nervous plexi.jpg|thumb|Chakra positions in supposed relation to nervous plexuses, from [[Charles W. Leadbeater]]'s 1927 book ''The Chakras'']]

Kurt Leland, for the [[Theosophical Society in America]], concluded that the western chakra system was produced by an "unintentional collaboration" of many groups of people: esotericists and clairvoyants, often theosophical; [[Indologist]]s; the scholar of myth, [[Joseph Campbell]]; the founders of the [[Esalen Institute]] and the psychological tradition of [[Carl Jung]]; the colour system of [[Charles W. Leadbeater]]'s 1927 book ''The Chakras'',<ref>{{cite book |last=Leadbeater |first=Charles Webster |title=The Chakras |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BRbtL7_Q_i0C |year=1972 |orig-year=1927 |publisher=[[Theosophical Publishing House]] |isbn=978-0-8356-0422-2}}</ref> treated as traditional lore by some modern Indian yogis; and energy healers such as [[Barbara Brennan]].<ref name="Leland 2017"/><ref name="Leland 2016">{{cite book | last=Leland | first=Kurt | title=Rainbow body : a history of the western chakra system from Blavatsky to Brennan | publisher=Ibis Press | location=Lake Worth, Florida | year=2016 | isbn=978-0-89254-219-2 | oclc=945949596}}</ref> Leland states that far from being traditional, the two main elements of the modern system, the rainbow colours and the list of qualities, first appeared together only in 1977.<ref name="Leland 2017"/>

The concept of a set of seven chakras came to the West in the 1880s; at that time each chakra was associated with a nerve plexus.<ref name="Leland 2017"/> In 1918, Sir [[John Woodroffe]], alias Arthur Avalon, translated two Indian texts, the ''Ṣaṭ-Cakra-Nirūpaṇa'' and the ''Pādukā-Pañcaka'', publishing and commenting on them both in his book ''The Serpent Power'' drew Western attention to the seven chakra theory.<ref>{{cite book |last=Woodroffe |first=Sir John |author-link=John Woodroffe |title=The Serpent Power |publisher=[[Dover Publications]] |year=2000 |isbn=978-0486230580 |pages=317ff |url=https://archive.org/details/serpentpowerbein0000wood}}</ref>

In the 1920s, each of the seven chakras was associated with an endocrine gland,<ref name="Leland 2017"/> a tradition that has persisted.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gardiner |first1=Philip |last2=Osborn |first2=Gary |title=The Shining Ones: the world's most powerful secret society revealed |date=2006 |publisher=Watkins |location=London |isbn=1-84293-150-4 |pages=44–45 |edition=Revised and updated}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5n4dkTw7e0QC&pg=PA20 |title=Wheels of Life: A User's Guide to the Chakra System |isbn=9780875423203 |last=Judith |first=Anodea |author-link=Anodea Judith |year=1999 |page=20|publisher=Llewellyn Publications }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.edgarcayce.org/ps2/mysticism_interpretating_revelation.html |title=John Van Auken : Mysticism - Interpretating the Revelation |publisher=Edgarcayce.org |access-date=5 March 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120526075243/http://www.edgarcayce.org/ps2/mysticism_interpretating_revelation.html |archive-date=26 May 2012 }}</ref> More recently, the lower six chakras have been linked to both nerve plexuses and glands.<ref>{{cite book |last=Sturgess |first=Stephen |title=The Yoga Book: a practical guide to self-realization |date=1997 |publisher=[[Element Books]] |location=Rockport, Massachusetts |isbn=1-85230-972-5 |pages=19–21}}</ref> The seven rainbow colours were added by Leadbeater in 1927; a variant system in the 1930s proposed six colours plus white.<ref name="Leland 2017"/> Leadbeater's theory was influenced by [[Johann Georg Gichtel]]'s 1696 book ''Theosophia Practica'', which mentioned inner "force centres".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.archeosofica.org/en/index.php/Theosophical-Excerpts/Gichtel-and-the-Theosophia-Practica.html |title= Archeosophical Society - founded by Tommaso Palamidessi|website=www.archeosofica.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120304194144/http://www.archeosofica.org/en/index.php/Theosophical-Excerpts/Gichtel-and-the-Theosophia-Practica.html |archive-date=4 March 2012}}</ref>

Psychological and other attributes such as layers of the [[Aura (paranormal)|aura]], developmental stages, associated diseases, [[Aristotelian element]]s, emotions, and states of consciousness were added still later.<ref name="Leland 2017"/> A wide range of supposed correspondences such as with [[Alchemy|alchemical]] metals, [[astrological sign]]s and [[Planet (astrology)|planets]], foods, herbs, [[gemstone]]s, [[Homeopathy|homeopathic]] remedies, [[Kabbalah|Kabbalistic]] spheres, musical notes, totem animals, and [[Tarot]] cards have also been proposed.<ref name="Leland 2017"/>