Astrological Rulers of the Chakras

Each of the seven Chakras is ruled by one of the seven visible planets. The ruling planet shows us the qualities or modes that are most natural and beneficial to the health of that Chakra.  

You can think of a Chakra as representing a certain task, or a certain area of life which has to be managed, and its ruling planet as the “perfect person” to hire to do the job!

The Chakra System

Human beings are like sponges, constantly exchanging energy with the sea of the Universal Energy field around us.

This energy exchange is regulated by the Chakra system. Chakras are openings for energy to flow into and out of the aura.

If a Chakra is open and balanced, we can freely give and receive energy in the area of life associated with this Chakra. If a Chakra is closed or imbalanced, the energy is not freely and healthily flowing in this area of life, and this can lead to disease in the body and dysfunction in our lives at large!

Let’s have a look at the Chakras and their Rulers.

1. Root Chakra – Saturn

The First Chakra is the foundation of our entire system, the building block on which all other chakras rest. It governs the material world and our earthly concerns, like our physical bodies, our health, survival, resources, sustenance, and our ability to focus and manifest our needs. The essential task of the Root Chakra is to establish and maintaining stability and security.

The Root Chakra is ruled by Saturn. Saturnian energy is cautious, disciplined, security-oriented, and practical. Saturn is slow, methodical, plodding, and patient. Saturn knows that self-discipline, realism, and consistency over time— no matter how boring and tedious— are what brings success. Saturn is the ultimate focuser of the will, as it is the function by which ideas and dreams are manifested into concrete reality.

2. Sacral Chakra – The Moon

The Second Chakra is located between the groin and pelvis, and it governs desire, pleasure, sexuality, instincts, passions, and your ability to “flow”, respond and surrender. The second chakra is the seat of pleasure, and thus is the seat of personal power, creativity, and your ability to relate to and connect with others. The essential function of the Sacral Chakra is self-love, self-honoring, and instinctive bonding or relating.

Your Sacral Chakra is ruled by the Moon. Lunar energy is reactive, responsive, instinctive, and unconscious. The Moon holds the secret to our conditioned responses, acquired in childhood, and our emotional habit patterns, as well as what kind of energy we spontaneously bring to the ebb and flow of life, including to our relationships. The energy of the Moon is “automatic”. Your emotions and affections are not things you consciously design; they just are what they are.

The Moon represents what makes you feel like you to yourself, and your natural style of connecting to other people. Integrated lunar energy means that we have an inner sense of worthiness because we feel our inborn right to feel however we feel. It also means we have healthy self-esteem and the ability to view ourselves positively. We can react spontaneously and honor our emotional reactions without repressing, hiding, or judging them, and in general, relate to others with balance and authenticity.

3. Solar Plexus Chakra – Mars

The Third Chakra is located right below the lungs in front of the diaphragm. This Chakra governs your sense of identity and your ability to assert yourself in the outer world. The key activities of this Chakra are making choices and taking action. In this Chakra, your tastes and preferences are translated into decisions, plans, and manifested activity as you move toward what you want and claim it for yourself.

The Solar Plexus Chakra is ruled by Mars. Mars’ energy is self-assertive, bold, courageous, energized, and ego-centric (in both good and bad ways). Through Mars, we feel our uniqueness and our own specialness, and we claim the territory that we want for ourselves. Mars is self-empowered and follows decision through with concrete action.

4. Heart Chakra – Venus

The Fourth Chakra is located within the region of the heart and governs our ability to freely give and receive unconditional love. Here we transcend the ego and learn the secrets of integration, which necessarily involve the abilities of acceptance, forgiveness, tolerance, and compassion. Here we learn the kind of non-egoic love, which does not need or ask anything in return, and even will take on great personal sacrifice or burden for the good of a loved person or cause.

The Heart Chakra is known as the “gateway” because it is the border between the lower Chakras, which are more bodily and ego-centric, and the higher Chakras which are more spiritual and involve awareness of all creation as One being. The task of the Heart Chakra is integration or acquiring wholeness within the personality. It is where we digest our experiences from the outer world—both good and bad— and work toward finding emotional peace with ourselves and others.

Your Heart Chakra is ruled by Venus. Venus’ energy is warm, radiant, tolerant, fun-loving, generous, attractive, attracted, and kind. Venus is open-hearted and rules the functions of passion, love, and attraction. Venus is the force that draws us all together and connects the human race.

5. Throat Chakra – Mercury

Your Throat Chakra is the center of self-expression and the formulation of ideas, opinions, and personal truth. It is located at the center of your throat. This Chakra is the seat of our ability to authentically communicate to others, and even to ourselves.

The Throat Chakra rules the lymphatic system and the thyroid, organs responsible for processes of purification in the body, and it also governs these processes on the emotional and mental level. The Throat Chakra helps you “purify” the data of life, by sorting out what is true from what is not, and eventually distilling your own personal truth. The Throat Chakra shows our ability to express this truth to others, as well as the ability to listen to and receive the truths of others.

Your Throat Chakra is ruled by Mercury. Mercury is the planet of writing, speaking, communication, and technology. Mercury is verbal and brings the ability to synthesize information into clear statements. Talking is actually a form of thinking; there is a reason that many people have to make use of a journal before they even know their own opinions and feelings. Activities like journaling, therapy, deep conversation, and expression through art help us discover our personal truth being by organizing and giving form to what had been abstract, disorganized, and inchoate.

6. Third Eye Chakra – The Sun

The Third Eye Chakra governs sight— both “inner” and “outer”. The Third Eye rules faculties of perception and how you “see” the world. This is, of course, are highly colored by the lenses of your values, morals, spiritual ideals, and imagination.

This Chakra governs your ability to “see the bigger picture”, find “insight” int your life, and apprehend the deeper meaning of events. The Third Eye is the seat of intuition, our most trustworthy (and sometimes sole) guide for seeing our way through difficult situations, and it also is where we form the inner images that are the blueprints for shaping our reality. Here in the mental planes, we are not constrained by time or space, or even the formation of language, and we can dream of the life that we wish to have— a necessary prerequisite for attaining it. Your Third Eye is the seat of imagination, where you envision all that you want for yourself.

The Third Eye Chakra is ruled by the Sun. The Sun indicates the essential quality of your unique spirit and the basic inner force that motivates everything you do. The Sun gives us our sense of individuality and our essential values, mainly through revealing what brings us JOY. Solar energy indicates the fundamental quality of your consciousness and what is most important to you. Solar energy, of course, shines! When you are really “in the flow state” you are freely channeling the Sun, because you have come into total alignment with your truest Self.

7. Crown Chakra – Jupiter

The Crown Chakra is the portal between the individual and the Universal. On the level of the Crown Chakra, All is One. Here is where we receive illumination, revelation, understanding, ecstatic religious experience, and states of bliss. Through this Chakra, we receive information from higher planes and can access divine intelligence. We acquire a multi-dimensional perspective of ourselves and creation. This is the seat of what is called “enlightenment” or super consciousness.

The Crown Chakra is ruled by Jupiter. Jupiter rules religious experience, higher learning, and the noble realms of the Spirit. It is endlessly on a quest for knowledge and seeks out answers in a spirit of adventure and open-mindedness. Jupiter is an exuberant, joyous, and generous energy, with unending faith in the benevolence of life, and boundless enthusiasm for seeking and understanding.