The 8th Chakra: Your Guide to the Soul Star Chakra

If you're like most people, you're probably going through this life trying to figure out your purpose, what guides you, and why you're here.

Like most people, you probably only know there are 7 chakras (maybe even not!) and you may not have considered the 8th chakra as a place to start.

When it comes to chakras, we hear a lot more about the first seven chakras. Accessing the 8th chakra can be a very important part of spiritual transformation. This article can help you understand what it is, how it works and how to tap into yours.

What is the 8th Chakra?

If you're not sure what a chakra is, or if you've never heard the term before, the word chakra is a Sanskrit word that means wheel or disk. Chakras are literally wheels of power or energy, each connected to a different aspect of our mental, emotional, and physical life. These chakras run in a line in the spine from the tailbone to above the head.

According to yogic philosophy and Ayurvedic medicine, when the chakras are aligned, energy can move freely through the body, allowing you to tap into a deeper lived experience. If a chakra is blocked, you'll experience problems related to where the energy is blocked.

Understanding the Soul Chakra

So, with that in mind, what is the eighth chakra?

The eighth chakra is the first of the spiritual chakras and sits just above the head. It is named Viyapini which translates to “that which is present everywhere”. It is also more commonly referred to as the soul chakra or soul star chakra, as it's the seat of divine love, spiritual wisdom, spiritual compassion, and spiritual selflessness.

Like all the chakras, the 8th chakra has certain color associations, though this is the subject of some debate. Some people say that the 8th chakra is white, while others say it's actually gold, in connection with transcendence or divinity, depending on your perspective. Others say that because the 8th chakra is about transcendence, it doesn't actually have a color (or rather, it doesn't have a color we can perceive). As for the icon, the 8th chakra often takes the form of the reverent lotus flower with one thousand petals. It is the first chakra that is not attached to the physical body.

It is believed that this is the chakra where we experience deep union with the creation and transcend ourselves.

If you're feeling a bit lost, think of it this way, all seven of the previous chakras are located in the body, which means that when you work with them, you're working primarily with energy within your own body.

So for example, if you were doing yoga to open up your root chakra (the first chakra) you'd be doing a lot of lower body work.

When you move through the chakras, the idea is that you work from the ground up, so that by the time you reach the 8th chakra, you've aligned all the previous chakras. This means that the energy in your body is able to flow freely, like a river without a dam, and you can then step into a space of a new spiritual awareness.

The Significance of the 8th Chakra

There's a lot of energy flowing (or flooding) around the 8th chakra. This is because unlike the seven chakras before it, the 8th chakra isn't connected to your energy alone.

In Kundalini yoga, which places a strong emphasis on aligning the chakras and the flow of energy in your body, the 8th chakra is seen as the place where the individual energy or consciousness meets the divine.

As such, some people posit that the 8th chakra can't be "blocked" because it's connected to universal divine energy. The trick of the 8th chakra isn't to unblock or align it, but rather, to teach you how to access it and make the most of that energy.

What Happens When You Open Your 8th Chakra?

With proper self-care and maintenance, or with the help of an energy healer, you can keep your chakras aligned and access all that good energy in your day to day life.

That said, since each chakra has a different set of associations, there are different things that go hand-in-hand with activating each individual chakra. Your root chakra is different from your throat chakra which is different from your crown chakra.

With that in mind, let's talk about what happens when you tap into your 8th chakra.

Clean Out Your Karmic Residue

What is karmic residue? Think of the layer of dust that slowly accumulates on your possessions when you avoid cleaning your house, or the grit and grime that builds up on your car after a month of driving. 

Your karmic residue is like that, except instead of your car, it's your soul.

This is the stuff that builds up over a long period of patterns of living, or after lifetimes of clinging to the same patterns and ways of thinking (if you believe in past lives). And like dirty laundry or clutter, this karmic grime weighs you down.

By tapping into your 8th chakra, you can see beyond these cyclical patterns and get acquainted with the version of yourself that all that karmic muck is hiding.

Connect to Your Higher Self

If this sounds suspiciously like "connecting with your higher self," that's because it is.

Your 8th chakra is the doorway between your earth-bound personality and your immortal soul. Think of it like arranging a meeting between two people (except they're both you, which sounds weird at first). 

Basically, you're meeting with the best version of yourself, the version that exists under all the karmic muck of day-to-day life.

Learn Your Purpose

So, if you've got all this work to do to clear out your karmic residue, why go to all the trouble?

Well, for one thing, it can help you learn your higher purpose in life. And really, isn't that what we're all after, in the end?

If the chakras are a library of you, then the 8th chakra is the record room for your soul's contract. Basically, your soul came into this world with a goal, even if you haven't figured out what that is.

By accessing the 8th chakra, you can cut through all the noise and figure out what your soul's purpose is.

Maybe this means a shift in focus as you discover what your real passions are. Don't be surprised if you feel something shift in you--this is your higher self giving you a nudge in the right direction.

Experience a Higher Connection

There's an overriding goal in all of this work: to realize you're a soul with a body rather than a body with a soul. This involves tapping into divine love and realizing a deep compassion for the universe around you as you connect with it.

Each soul plays its own role in this huge interconnected universe we're all a part of, and by tapping into your 8th chakra, you're getting a peek at the spiritual tapestry of it all, as it were. This is when you experience true connection and, according to some people, unity with the divine.

How Do You Activate the 8th Chakra?

If this all sounds like a pretty exciting journey to embark on, let's talk about how to activate or tap into your 8th chakra.

Some people posit that the 8th chakra cannot be blocked since it's as much about divine energy as it is about yourself. They will concede, however, that if the previous seven chakras are blocked anywhere, you will not be able to access (or perceive) your 8th chakra at all.

If you're not sure where to start, people use yoga, meditation, and Qigong as some of the tools to get their chakras in order. If you need more guidance on this front, it may be beneficial to you to work with a certified energy healer to help you with Chakra Healing, Chakra Balancing, and Chakra Clearing.

A Very Powerful Way to Heal, Balance, Clear and Align All Your Chakras

Michael Mohoric is a renowned healer and former Secretary of the International Tibetan Qigong Assoc.  He has helped thousands of people all over the world to align, clear, heal and balance their chakras.

He has over 233,000 Facebook followers and thousands of people have posted how his energy healing has transformed their lives .

He also has over 1,000 endorsements on Linkedin, many from professionals in the health care field.

If you are new to chakras, energy healing, and would like to tap into your 8th chakra to discover your life’s purpose, then you are in the right place to get started.