Ch 5

Heart Chakra—
Anahata

The Heart Chakra is the center of your body’s energy universe. It sits over your physical heart and regulates energy flow, in the same way that your physical heart regulates the blood flow. Here sits heartache as well as deepest affection; here sits the ability to hold, heal, and help the entire planet, the entire universe; and here sits compassion for all people in all places across time.

When the Heart Chakra is well aligned, you are able to easily and openly love others as you love yourself. When it is blocked, you feel despair, or a lack of hope or optimism. In the realm of love, there are many extremes, from the opposite of love (hate) to the deepest form of love (salvation). Love is the only force in the universe that can actually save you, for it can raise the level of your consciousness to a more elevated state beyond the three-dimensional experience of time and space. Love can also heal the physical body in spontaneous and miraculous ways, since its vibration affects the cells in your body. Indeed, love is the closest one can come to real magic. Love is magic.

Embodiment Exercise: Heart Chakra Induction

The Heart Chakra induction is designed to open and expand your heart space. Let past hurts go and be fully here now, welcoming the love that surrounds you. Bathe in this awareness as you begin this ritual.

1 – Close your eyes and allow yourself to connect deeply with this moment, noticing the position of your body, the slow inhale and exhale of your breath, the temperature around you. Let go of the stress of yesterday or earlier today, and release your anxiety about what might happen later today or tomorrow. Be here now.

2 – From this place of centered connection, bring your attention to your heart. Cross your hands over your heart, and inhale there. As you exhale, imagine a bright green ray of light emanating from your chest into your hands, surrounding them in a bubble of healing and loving green light. This is the Green or Emerald Ray, the light of love and unconditional, compassionate care that comes only from our heart center. You may already be familiar with the concept of unconditional love, but if not, simply imagine the love you would feel for a baby or small child who needed your help, or a small animal that could not care for itself. That place of unselfish offering is the essence of the Heart Chakra.

3 – Bring your attention to the Green Ray and summon its light into your hands, allowing it to form into a green sphere of healing love energy within your palms. As your hands warm, know that you are holding within them the very energy of love itself, a powerful tool to be held and used with great care and reverence. Where will you send this Green Ray? To someone you know and love, or to the far corners of the Earth to bless those you have never met? Imagine the possibilities of wielding a beam of healing light energy. In some ways, holding this power is unimaginable—and yet, you already do and always have. By imagining energy, you gather, mold, manifest, and direct it with ease.

4 – Take your hands now and stretch them out before you, sending the Green Ray of light and love to every place it is needed. Ask your guides to send the ray on your behalf where it is needed, trusting that they are aware of spaces in need where you have never been, souls in need you have never met. Let the Love Energy flow through you without restriction, serving as a good channel for its passage. May you be blessed as a conduit of love, always.

5 – Fold your hands in prayer, and then bring your folded hands to your heart space. Give thanks for love within and without: love above, love below. Then close your induction with the universal blessing: Amen, A’ho, So it is.

Correspondences for the Heart Chakra

GODDESSES

Áine, Hera, Ishtar, Quan Yin

GEMSTONES

Chrysoprase, Girasol, Idocrase, Mangano Calcite, Pink Tourmaline, Rhodochrosite, Rose Quartz, Rub

TAROT CARD

Major Arcana: The Lovers

RUNES

Ingwaz, Kenaz

ESSENTIAL OILS/HERBS

Bergamot, Black Spruce, Cacao, Cardamom, Cilantro, Hawthorn Berries, Jasmine, Lavender, Marjoram, Palmarosa, Parsley, Rose, Thyme

PLANET

Venus

ÁINE

Goddesses of the Heart Chakra

In the same way that there are many names for love around the world, so, too, are there many gods and goddesses of love, each reflecting a different face of this multifaceted energy stream. Áine is the Irish/Celtic goddess of wealth, love, and sovereignty or personal integrity. As goddess of both the sun and the moon, she was able to regulate time, as well as beginnings and endings, to help attract new love or to ease suffering when love was lost. Ishtar (earlier known as Inanna) was the first true goddess of love from the Akkadian (previously Sumerian) civilization. She revealed the creative and destructive powers of love. As wife to Zeus, the father of the Gods in the Greek pantheon, Hera represents another face of love—that of the loyal and dutiful wife, queen of the home domain. Finally, Quan Yin offers us yet another perspective on love as pure compassion. She is the bodhisattva of divine feminine mercy and grace.

Each of these goddesses in one way or another is associated with the element of water, which is also the element of the direction of west on the Lakota Medicine Wheel. Quan Yin, for instance, holds a chalice of healing waters that she pours upon the world. Reflect on the power of water to heal, refresh, and renew you. Imagine standing beneath Quan Yin’s chalice of healing water, allowing it to flow over and through you. Receive the water from her compassionate stream and commit to carrying its energy into your daily life, pouring it onto others as you have been blessed to receive.

Gemstones, Essential Oils, and Herbs of the Heart Chakra

Heart Chakra Gemstones

PINK TOURMALINE opens the energy stream of unconditional love unlike any other gemstone, while light pink MANGANO CALCITE nurses a broken heart back to health. Pink tourmaline reminds you that it is safe to love with an open heart, while mangano calcite heals trauma that has occurred in the heart space before.

ROSE QUARTZ is the primary stone of love, magnifying love both within you and in your home or sacred space. It is known as the mother of all love stones, for it activates universal and unconditional love.

GIRASOL is a lighter and more translucent form of rose quartz and brings renewal energies to love in your life. Carry it to bring the light of the sun to love in your life.

RHODOCHROSITE is the rose of the Heart Chakra gemstone family, the blooming flower of kindness, love, and possibility. Rhodochrosite brings renewed hope in love. Rhodo means “rose” in Greek. When you work with rhodochrosite, imagine holding the rose of love and compassion in your hands. Extend this rose from your hands out into the world, allowing the petals to open and embrace everyone you love in the warmth of unconditional acceptance, forgiveness, and peace.

CHRYSOPRASE heals old love wounds and is said to help support cardiac health as well.

IDOCRASE and, to a lesser extent, RUBY, bring passion and intensity of physical lust to Heart Chakra work, activating more of the eros-based energies. According to an ancient Indian tale, when a loved one dies, their soul lives on as a ruby in your heart. When you wear ruby jewelry, you honor their legacy.

Work with your Heart Chakra gemstones in your bedroom, which should be a sanctuary of love, whether you are single or in a relationship. Love energies support deep and restful sleep, so anchor your bedroom by placing the stones somewhere near its entrance. Even a small table can be transformed into a love altar by draping it in lace or pink velvet and placing love stones in a shape that is meaningful to you.

Heart Chakra Herbs and Essential Oils

Hawthorn Berries are the healers of the heart. Protective of both the heart and home, they are able to clear negative stored energy in the Heart Chakra from past pain and heartache. Jasmine, grand seductress of the Heart Chakra, tempts lovers with her seductive charms. Few can resist her floral powers of passionate persuasion. Lavender is often thought of as a Crown Chakra flower, and of course it can be, but in the heart center, lavender brings peace in love, something many seek but cannot find. Marjoram can bring peace and tranquility in love as well, in addition to tranquility in relationships.

Rose is the grand dame of the Heart Chakra, perhaps the most revered of all the love flowers. She guards the door to your heart, while Thyme brings healing and purification. Cilantro is used in love magic to increase passion. Parsley combines passion with fertility and is excellent for couples when trying to conceive. Palmarosa is both a mood and beauty enhancer, aligned with the planet Venus—as many of the Heart Chakra herbs are—to increase its love energies. Cacao, a natural aphrodisiac, is used in the sacred Cacao Ceremony to induce love and open the heart channel. Plus cacao eases anxiety and makes you more receptive to love’s advances. Cardamom adds its lusty spice to any love magic you might conjure, and Black Spruce offers cleansing and healing properties to your love rituals. Bergamot is a source of clarity in love, helping you see through the rose-tinted glasses of new love to the deeper substance of your attraction.

Consider crafting a love potion to honor the love within your heart that longs to dance with your divine partner. What follows on the next page is a basic recipe, but feel free to follow your heart and add other ingredients as you feel called.

Love’s Kiss Perfume to Honor the Sacred Union

Ingredients

• 2 ounces (57 g) carrier oil (Rosehip seed is preferred for this recipe, given its connection to love via rose.)

• 10 drops rose de mai essential oil, for true love’s essence

• 2 drops lavender, for peace and balance

• 4 drops ylang tlang, for sexy energies of union and fruition

• 2 drops patchouli, if desired, to ground your energies together in the dance of love

• 2 chip stones, 1 each of rose quartz for love and emerald for fidelity (or substitute ruby for passion or chrysoprase for healing) Heart Chakra—Anahata

Gently combine all the ingredients, asking your Love Guides—the light beings who guide you as you engage in human relationships—to attend the process and bless your desired union. Call upon Venus, too, to bless you with love, beauty, and desire now and as you wear this potion. Amen, A’ho, So it is.

Tarot Card, Rune, and Planet of the Heart Chakra

Major Arcana: The Lovers

In the Major Arcana, The Lovers represent a physical partnership as well as the idea of union, or a choice between one lover and another. When you work with the energy of this card, ask yourself what you really desire. List the qualities you seek in a partner. Create a detailed image in your mind of what life will be like for you in love. The Lovers card invites you to dream big, setting an intention for love that may be more expansive than you have imagined in the past. Remember that when you are in partnership and set the intention for expansion in love, you are also bringing your partner with you into this new level of awareness. Be gentle and mindful, and always ask that the highest good unfolds for all beings.

Runes: Kenaz and Ingwaz

Kenaz is the rune of romantic and erotic love, physical partnership, and procreation, while Ingwaz is the home of “storge,” familial love, and the love of home. One pulls you into relationship with another—the physical expression of desire—while the other pulls you out of relationship to express love to those around you as well as within your physical spaces—perhaps through adornment and decoration, as well as creation and dedication of unique altar spaces. The balance of Kenaz and Ingwaz brings internal and external love energies. Meditate on these divergent messages of love to understand where in your life you need to connect with one or the other, or both.

Planet: Venus

Venus is the ultimate planet of love and beauty. In astrology, your placement of Venus represents the way you love yourself and others. Venus represents your youthfulness and vitality, as well as your capacity for love—both of self and others. Ask yourself: Where in your heart do you need to allow more love to bloom? Call upon Venus to soften your heart and to allow it to be more available to those who want to love you. If you are looking for love, call upon Venus to attract new love to you.