The Muldahara chakra is the foundation for the whole chakra system. Its function is to respond to any issues concerning survival: eating, sleeping, exercising, recovering from illness, making a living, or simply feeling safe and secure. If our survival needs are properly taken care of, then we can safely focus on other levels such as learning, creativity, or relationships. If there is some damage to this chakra, then we find ourselves repeatedly coping with threats to our survival, which keeps us from accomplishing other things.
http://www.tarotcam.com/chakras/1chakra.html
Chakras: Tools for Transformation, by Anita Slott, Alternative Culture Magazine
The chakras are the ancient depositories of all the divine energy given to humanity at the beginning of time. They are “the seven Spirits” guiding us on our path of transformation, our initiation into the mysteries of life. The knowledge and use of chakras as a means to spiritual awakening has been recognised through the ages in all the great religions, in one form or another….
The Sanskrit name of the first chakra is Mooladhara. It means root and support. It is situated, in males, midway between the anus and the genitals, at the perineum; and in the female, at the cervix, where the vagina and the uterus join. Mooladhara is the lowest chakra in human beings, but the highest in animals. It is the chakra of group consciousness, in which animals live; and also of humans who identify themselves only by family, nationality, race, and religion, not yet able to detach from the group-soul and embrace their own individuality and independence. It is an energy which, in its most negative aspect, is heavily at work in all ethnic wars.
… The first chakra is depicted in Hindu teachings as a four-petalled deep-red lotus flower. Its colour is red, the colour of passion and emotional love, and its number is four. Four is the number of manifestation, of matter, so we deal here with the energy of the material world. In fact, its element is earth. When the energy in this chakra is not activated and purified, when our consciousness has not developed beyond the three bottom chakras, we are unconscious of ourselves as individuals. We relate to the world out of our particular tribe, to the exclusion of everything else. We are almost entirely self-centred and concerned with issues of survival in the material world; and the energy manifests in its negative aspects in anger, greed, revenge, collective hatred, lust for power and control – all passions of our lower nature. The need for material security and control is the dominant energy.
… From Mooladhara, three energy channels – called “nadis” in Sanskrit – make their ascent to Ajna (the sixth chakra [third eye]), entwining around the spine, crossing each other at every chakra. Ida is the mental energy, related to the breath flow in the left nostril and to the parasympathetic nervous system. Pingala is the vital energy, related to the right nostril and to the sympathetic nervous system. The Chinese concept of Yin and Yang corresponds exactly to Ida and Pingala. The main channel, which flows through a central canal in the spinal cord, is called Sushumna and is responsible for spiritual awareness. Sushumna rises up to the crown chakra. Through this canal, Kundalini rises – the divine creative energy in us which, when awakened, transforms us from unconscious into conscious human beings and gives us full control of our body, mind, and soul…. Because Mooladhara is directly connected with Ajna through Ida and Pingala, awakening of Mooladhara awakens also Ajna, the centre of spiritual intuition and spiritual vision; and vice versa.