SHAKTI - The Divine Feminine

Shakti is the very powerful energy, that over the last month of discussion in classes, I’ve come to learn CONTAINS ALL THINGS. It is the energy that guides us and supports us. The energy that we invoke for clarity, change, creation, and perhaps, as is the case with Kali, a little revolution! These goddesses are not distant forms, carved in stone, housed within temples. They are within us as living patterns; forces we can feel in ourselves, our breath, and our bodies. We invoke them to bring shape to our lives, and to remember to live with intention.

In Sally Kempton’s book Awakening Shakti, she says of connecting with The Goddess (Shakti): “It was the energy itself, the pulsing, love-saturated, subtly sensual energy that rose in the atmosphere . . . as we invoked the Goddess. That energy seemed to be telling me that there are secrets, ways of being in the universe such that only the divine feminine can reveal.

My new awareness of the Goddess spilled over as a new awareness of trees and landscapes, so that what had seemed matter of fact and dull now began to vibrate with sentience. I would find myself staring up at a eucalyptus tree as if it were a lover, or looking out over a landscape with a feeling that it was alive and breathing. I began to practice meditation where I imagined that the trees and the air were “seeing” me, and when I did that, the borders of my skin-encapsulated sense of self would soften, and I would “know” that the world and I were part of the same fabric. Goddess awareness literally put me in touch with something that felt like the soul in the physical world.”

This month we explored Saraswati, Durga, Lakshmi and Kali. This journal entry is my attempt to weave these four threads together and ask what they’ve been teaching us.

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Saraswati came first and arrived quietly the way wisdom does. She is the goddess of of the flowing river, of music, of words and learning. She is the goddess of discernment. From her we learn that knowledge is not the same as information. Svadhyaya, self-study, is our willingness to keep looking, to remain a student.

In practice Saraswati lives in every moment of attention. When you notice a shift in the breath, when you soften into curiosity rather than grow rigid in judgement.

She asks: When you are truly quiet what do you hear?

Durga followed next riding on a lion. She is the warrior goddess whose fierceness is born from love, not anger. She fights to protect, not dominate. In Sanskrit - Durg - means a fortress, an impenetrable place. She is the boundary, she is the NO.

In practice Durga is Tapas, the fire of change. The discipline to get on the mat, and keep coming back even when it’s hard. She lives in the moments you hold steady in your effort.

She asks: What in your life needs you to be fierce?

Lakshmi then rose from the Milky Ocean, the goddess of abundance, well-being, beauty, deep belonging. She is Sri - auspiciousness, the qualities that make life feel like a gift. Our invitation from Lakshmi is to notice, to feel worthy, to know that she is and always has been there.

In practice Lakshmi lives in savasana. The willingness to receive the fruits of your effort. She lives in gratitude, and the beauty of a single breath.

She asks: Can you let goodness land? Can you treat your life as something worth tending?

Kali is the one we sometimes turn away from. Described as both terrifying - fangs, claws, severed arms wrapped around her waist as a skirt, standing on skulls and Shiva - and most compassionate. Kali is the goddess of revolution . . . the force that severs the ties to time, identities, roles we once held or still believe we do. She ends the stories and offers us FREEDOM.

In practice Kali lives in the difficult moments. The edge where resistance is met with grace and change occurs. She is the ending that makes space for what is next.

She asks: What are you ready to release? Can you let her take it?

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Saraswati teaches us to know ourselves. Durga teaches us to defend ourselves. Lakshmi teaches us to love ourselves. Kali teaches us to free ourselves.

WISDOM. COURAGE. GRACE. LIBERATION.

These goddesses are the four faces to one truth: the fullness of Shakti, the Divine Feminine force, that moves through us and all of life.