Deck Review: Chakra Meditations

Chakra Meditations by Swami Saradananda, Watkins, 2010

This 52-card deck is not designed to be used for divination, but for meditation. They come in a sturdy, multi-purpose box and are standard tarot card size. The cards are of good quality with a light lamination (ie, not plasticky). 

The deck condenses the information contained in the book Chakra Meditations, by Swami Saradananda, Watkins, 2008. I have owned this book since it first came out. It contains full page illustrations and instructs you to meditate on these images. It's always been difficult to prop the book for this purpose. I was really pleased to discover that a deck had been produced containing these images. 

For each chakra, you get 6 cards: an inspirational quotation, questions to ask yourself regarding that area of your life, 3 meditation activities, and a yantra card. Here are the yantra cards:

Crown, brow, throat, heart

Solar plexus, sacral, root

Chakra Meditations, Watkins 2010

 These yantras contain the traditional number of petals, the Sanskrit character and other elements pertaining to the chakra's energy. The back of the card explains the image. It is suggested that you meditate on the image for sessions of 20 minutes while intoning or silently vibrating the seed sound of each chakra. 

The other 5 cards per chakra all have the same image, which is a larger interpretation of the chakra  incorporating the yantra and expanding on the meaning. There is a human figure in each with the location of the chakra pinpointed. You may have noticed that the crown chakra card above looks different from the rest. The crown chakra does not have a yantra; instead it has the more integrative card, so that all 6 of the crown chakra cards have the same backs.

Here are the solar plexus and heart chakra backs, for example:

Notice the yantra plus other elements illustrative of the chakra's meaning/energy

There are also 3 extra cards containing inspirational quotes which show the chakras in balance on the card back:

Chakras in balance

I believe you could actually take the yantra cards, one of the balanced chakra cards, and one each of the integrated cards and put together an interesting set for divination. I haven't tried that yet, though. 

The box is a sturdy box with a magnetic closure. It is a very strong magnet--I tested it by holding the box upside down and the box did not fall open even though the weight of the deck was against the lid. The lid props up into an easel configuration and frames a card for meditation, similar to the Art of Life Tarot. 

I think this deck is excellent value for money. I have loved these images for years in the book, and am really pleased to have them in card form.