There are seven chakras in the human energy field: root, sacral, solar plexus, heart, throat, third eye, and crown. Each chakra is an energy center that corresponds to a particular life theme and is represented by a particular color.  Many practitioners of the intuitive arts balance these centers on a regular basis to stay grounded and maintain a clarity when reading energy. If the chakras are imbalanced, an intuitive reader is in jeopardy of being clouded by negativity or wishful thinking. Being an intuitive is not the same as being emphatic, it is about being clear enough to remain objective and use useful information that can be applied in a person’s day to day life.  Keeping your chakras balance is a requirement for accurate and objective readings.

There are many tools available to keep your chakras healthy. I highly recommend buying both an easy to understand book and meditation tape or CD. Meditate daily and pay particular attention to certain energy centers as you develop sensitivity to psychic energy.   Precognition is the ability to tune into probable future realities with accuracy.  This means that the art of divination is a marriage between prediction and conscious creation.   The tools that have helped me monitor my chakras are True Balance by Sonia Choquette (www.soniachoquette.com), Journey through the Chakras CD from Collette Baron-Reid (www.collettebaronreid.com),  Doreen Virtue’s chakra clearing (www.angeltherapy.com), and the art and practice of Reiki.  When your personal energy is in a balanced state the ability to manifest what you truly want in life. You may see a probable reality and make powerful choices on directing your life, no matter what the circumstances, to your true wishes.

The root chakra is the first of the seven chakras. It is located at the base of the spine, vibrates to the color  red, and resonates to the energy of home, stability, and personal security.  Signs of a health root chakra is a stable temperament, present-moment awareness, calm temperament, focus, and being grounded in reality. A person with a healthy root chakra can easily balance their intuition with reason by deciphering fear from prediction.  When you see someone who is down-to-earth and centered it is highly likely that this is their healthy root chakra in action.

For many an intuitive, being grounded is critical and essential before reading for anyone, including yourself.   Chakras are represented in the Indian Kundulini system as spinning wheels of light.  If a root chakra is overactive it can cause someone to become irrational and chronically fearful of their own thoughts. They are easily influenced by superstition and half-truths. For example, there is a common metaphysical concept that thoughts create reality. Someone who is ungrounded will take this too literally that the second an undesirable thoughts enters their brain they will overcome by fear of an impending doom. It’s true that our mental energy has a direct impact on our physical reality but often not in the form we expect. This was my biggest challenge early on in my intuitive training.  I was torn between suppressing unpleasant thoughts and overdosing on positive affirmations. A lot of my personal energy was wasted being caught in this thought loop.  Fortunately my tarot mentor James Wells, Toronto’s Worker of Oracles (www.workeroforacles.com), helped put the stability back in my vortex of a hyper-spinning root chakra. He simply said that there are six billion free wills in the world and no thinking in the world will turn Toronto’s climate into Hawaii’s tropical terrain.  These chakra tools are vital to resetting a chakra that is “off”.  My intention is that you do not have to go through this. As you progress in this book I hope you will find what can be useful guideposts on your path. There are many dangerous materials out there than end up in a contradictory blame-the-victim mindset.  Here is where the psychic versus the psychotic comes into play. Odette Kesler, my personal astrologer, said that a little information is dangerous without full and thorough investigation. Her words of wisdom are priceless! 

For many an intuitive being grounded is critical and essential. An overactive chakra exerts itself in behaviors such as irrationality, intense fear, paranoia, suspicion, dread, and hyper-vigilance.  You may experience a boxed-in feeling as if the world is conspiring against you.  Think of someone who feels that there basic security is constantly being attacked. They act like a scared solider in a bunker even though there are no bombs and bullets in the air.  Predictions made from this state may stem from subconscious beliefs, illusions, and anything related to a threat to survival.

The opposite effect on psychic development with an under active root chakra is that you feel despondent, lethargic, and unable to start your day. Instead of fear dominating your thoughts its hopelessness that reigns.  You see a future with no future where nothing works out and its just a matter of existing instead of fully living.  If you’ve ever seen photographic essays of unemployed workers during the Great Depression, just imagine how those people felt over their prospects of having a paying job.  Nothing seems inspiring or worth being fired up about. This is how you may perceive reality with a root chakra spinning at turtle speed.

A healthy root chakra is the litmus test that helps determine whether intuitive information is a pass or go.  Your psychic mind is very open in the beginning. Without working with a solid base you risk distraction from the truth. The more you are “third eye” seeing beyond material reality, the more you must keep your two feet firmly on the ground.   Do daily meditations or actions that reinforce a sense of stability. Refer to your personal chakra tools.

The sacral chakra is the second of the seven chakras. It is located in the middle of the abdomen, vibrates to the color orange, and resonates to the energy of feelings, emotions, and physical sensation.  Signs of a healthy sacral chakra is that you feel good from head to toe,  like you just stepped out of a week at a luxury spa complete with massages, reflexology, and other pleasant bodily experiences. A person with a healthy sacral chakra can easily decipher their intuition from wishful thinking.  When you see someone who nurtures their mind and body, takes time to enjoy the physical world around them,  it is highly likely that this is their healthy sacral chakra in action.

An overactive sacral exerts itself in behaviors such as hedonism, narcissism, too much food, drink, cigarettes, people who are “healing junkies”, and other forms of a relentless pursuit of pleasure.  Think of someone who wants life to be a constant party without responsibility like Peter Pan.  You may experience a constant need to seek a heightened experience that distracts you from daily life. Predictions made from this state may stem from subconscious daydreams, fancy larger-than-life idealism, and anything related to being like a kid with grandiose visions minus the action plan.

The opposite effect on psychic development with an under active sacral chakra is that you feel stoic, numb, very intellectual, perfectionist, constricted by moral codes, and perhaps puritanical.  You see a future clouded with righteous ideals of good and bad, must-do, and should’s. Think of the typical  goody-goody self-appointed sole moral majority individual who can’t stop judging people as saint or sinner.   Intuitive information comes through a filter of sin or good deed.   You will predict from a state of wanting yourself or someone else to do things that are considered “upright” in your own mind.  Remember, sometimes the people most celebrated for their “good citizenship” have secret demons and mistakes that would shock those closest to them. History is full of “boy scouts” who were later found guilty in court of crimes and indiscretions that made newsreaders cringe!

The solar plexus chakra is the third of the seven chakras. It is located in the just above the belly bottom, vibrates to the color yellow, and resonates to the energy of self-confidence, independence, personal will, and healthy boundaries.  Signs of a healthy solar plexus chakra are a sense of personal responsibility, high self-esteem, and have a strong “inner compass”.  My favorite example of this is former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher who espoused conviction politics versus consensus politics.  A strong and healthy solar plexus combined with intuition is a great combination for conscious creation. This means that you are predicting and guiding simultaneously. Rather than spewing out facts and accurate foresight you are in the phase of helping yourself or someone attune to opportunities. Serendipity is the outcome. You wish for a published book and then someone offers you a scholarship to a self-publishing workshop worth hundreds of dollars. That happened to me and now you’re reading the result! It’s effortless and a true example of changing your energy to vibrant to your desires no matter how frightening a probable outcome you saw. In my experience, when you “see” something you don’t want, just take it as a signal to focus your energies intensely on what you want. You are only in control of your immediate life. 

When the solar plexus is overactive the ego is dominating your thoughts. This manifests in the phenomenon of psychics who enjoy having a dependant clientele, are boisterous, and are more about making money selling you their products than empowering you.  These are people who may help someone with their gift to manifest what they want regardless of whether it is even a good thing or not!   If you predict from this place you may be more about wowing people with your ability and making material gains than showing them to their highest purpose.  You should also avoid being an ego-maniac for a basic reason that you’ll attract like-minded people.  Plus, you might be tempted to give impromptu readings to stranger without their permission. This is the energetic equivalent to a break and enter because a person’s energy field belongs only to them. 

If your solar plexus is under active you are the opposite of someone with a backbone.  You won’t be able to distinguish your energy from someone else’s. Readings from this end of the spectrum will still be more about you than the other person.   The focus will be on the past and you will fear the unknown future.  There is no sense of direction and your intuition will feel like it is buried in a sea of miscellaneous details.   Imagine someone who tells you what you already know from bits and pieces of your life without a theme or intention in mind. That’ a reader with a weak sense of personal power.  Another analogy is the rider on a horse.  Poor boundaries puts the horse in control of the journey.

The heart chakra is the fourth of the seven chakras and is located where your physical heart beats.  It vibrates to the color  green, resonates to the energy of love, abundance, and prosperity, and enthusiasm. Many self-made multi-millionaires got to where they are because they loved what they were doing. I think of British billionaire Richard Branson. He began as a dyslexic high school drop-out and ended up building the Virgin brand to an international business. I personally believe he did this by going with his bliss because you can only create with love and joy.  We all have a purpose that is unique to us. Someone who is living out their purpose is the personification of a healthy heart chakra. Psychics who live in this state are those who see themselves as guides to a person’s highest destiny. They love humanity and seek to advance it through their work one person at a time.

The heart chakra can never love too much but when off balance or slow turns to “bleeding heart antics” like sentimentality, overdoing, and putting oneself last.  If your physical heart was bleeding it would be like an energy leak and you would be who suffered! This is the person who is always trying to earn love despite the fact that it’s free.  Reading from this place means you’re at risk to tell someone what they want to hear instead of offering guidance.  Being too sensitive makes it difficult to stop being a saint and pleasing everyone.  My personal struggle with this lasted for many years until I established a small core group of authentic and true loyal friends.  We all have an “Achilles heel” and this is still mine. What I tell myself in my heart chakra meditations is that people have their types. Notice how a person can do something and two people can have violently different reactions to it?  Personal choice and preferences. With six billion people in the world it would be a daunting and possibly useless task to please everyone.  Prime Minister Thatcher was revered and reviled. She still achieved many things for her country because her energy was focused on producing the results she wanted instead of winning some popularity contest. Once again, an example of personal power in action. We should all have a heart for ourselves first to shield from being a victim in the court of public opinion or “energy vampires”.

The throat chakra is the fifth of the seven chakras and is located where your physical throat is.  It vibrates to the color blue, resonates to the energy of expression and telepathy. When it’s balanced you can consciously tune into high thought vibrations that serve a positive purpose. You can read for someone and clearly articulate your ideas. Thoughts will enter your mind that is exactly what you or someone else needed to hear.  I’ve experienced this when I encounter a situation that tells me to be careful of a person with ill intent. Please remember this is not a judgment but a warning. As much as it’s worthy to believe people are essentially good the reality is that there are fringe criminal elements in the world with malicious intentions.   In this case it helps to share this data with a client to perhaps do some extra investigation on a prospective business partner’s background before making a legal commitment.  Whether you are right or wrong you have guided someone to an action that will ultimately benefit their life.

When the throat chakra is under active you may experience mixed inner messages within yourself.  A key signal is that your thoughts may be predominantly negative, confusing, and you’ll feel like the inner critic is working overtime in your brain. An overactive throat chakra is akin to watching multiple TV screens at one. You can’t follow the messages being bombarded and everything is overwhelming you can’t distill them into simple instructions.  Another analogy is that your psychic vibes are like the radio that can’t tune into anything but noise and fuzzy broadcasts.

The third-eye chakra is the sixth of the seven chakras and is located between your eyes.  It vibrates to the color indigo or purpose, resonates to the energy of clairvoyance. When it’s balanced you can see probable events with clarity and present events without needing to be there. You can read for someone and be able to see like a blank screen, objective and clear, without any drama or emotion. When it is over active you are caught in a vivid imagination rather than intuition and can be influenced by things you’ve read. If the third eye is under active you can’t imagine anything without much effort.  In both cases you are third eye is functioning like its farsighted or nearsighted energetically speaking. 

The crown chakra is the last of the seven chakras and is located above your head.  It vibrates to the color white and resonates to the energy of our highest consciousness. When Gautama meditated under the bodhi tree and triumphed over the illusion known as Mara, he reached enlightenment. Many pictures of the Buddha show a halo above his head to represent this heightened state of universal wisdom.  A healthy crown chakra coincides with a healthy Buddha-nature.  In my opinion, few people ever reach this state in their lifetimes. We can strive for this place by working to relieve ourselves of base desires born of ego and greed. This is why many spiritual workers are very involved in meditation, yoga, and other acts that cleanse their bodies and souls. Notice how many teachers of these practices often have a cause in their lives.  A spirit of services is the mark of a healthy crown chakra in action.

The crown chakra channels our soul’s wisdom in readings and it can never be too open. Just like the heart chakra can never have too much love, the crown is in a eternal state of awakening.   Our task is to feed our soul to open our crown by taking on a spiritual discipline that cultivates our highest expressions of ourselves.

The world of psychic arts has more quacks than perhaps any other sector of life.  You must stay balanced and centered to determine the useful from the useless. Just like the newspapers you choose to read. Would you rather get your data on economic trends from the Economist or the National Enquirer?