Svadhisthana

Chakras are the subtle energy centers in your body, and you have seven.  They are typcally depicted as different colors.  Your root chakra (the base of your tailbone) is red, sacral chakra (deep in your belly) orange, solar plexus yellow, heart green, throat blue, third eye indigo (sometimes purple), and crown purple (sometimes white, or gold).  When they are open and spinning is when you feel your best.

I wanted to paint a series of small paintings, one for each of the chakras, and hang them vertically on my wall.  I base coated three of them yesterday, but the red one wasn't ready to paint on today so I went with the sacral chakra, whose Sanskrit name is Svadhisthana.  It is the center of physical procreation, controls our maturation and regulates our appetites for food, sex and pleasure.

Why did I start out of order?  Well... the panel for the root chakra wasn't quite dry yet, and besides, today is Beltane... a very appropriate day to be painting my sacral chakra ;)

Besides a color, each chakra is associated with an area of the body, a shape, an element, etc.  Here's the rundown for this one:

Svadhisthana
Location:  2 inches below the navel and 2 inches into the pelvis.
Color:  Orange
Musical note:  D
Element:  water
Aspect of intelligence:  sensation/pleasure
Essential oils:  jasmine, neroli, orange blossom
Crystals:  carnelian, tiger's eye, some agates
Plant:  Jasmine
Life issues:  to know that who you are and what you do are enough, to have enough rest, food, exercise, fun and money; to not link self worth with what you have; to create healthy boundaries and protect your vital life force
Archetypes:  Empress/Emperor (positive), Martyr (negative)

I may or may not add to this little painting, which I did with impasto henna and oil paint on a little 4 x 4 panel.  It will soon be joined by its other six comrades :)


My 30/30 Marketing challenge for today is to form an artist mentoring group.  So I'll be asking around to see if anyone is interested.