Embodying the Goddess Archetype to Deepen our Practice
Published in Natural Awakenings Magazine August 2024. Read the original article here.
The divine feminine is on the rise. We are seeing this reemergence as a necessity for our own growth and inner harmony. According to yoga philosophy, we dance between the feminine aspects of receptivity, allowing and flow and the masculine aspects of form, structure and focus. This divine weaving is what allows us to find balance on the inner plane and the outer world.
As the goddess rises, we can see her influence as a beloved guide to finding ourselves. Eastern traditions have always celebrated the goddess as powerful channels of strength, courage and wisdom. These qualities are vital now on the earth and for navigating challenging times. Once we begin to connect to the goddess within, we can move through the world with more ease and grace.
The wise sages of Hinduism and Buddhism believed that subtle vibratory energy of everything is manifested as shakti. Shakti takes on the form of the Goddess, an expression of the divine feminine. Lakshmi is a heart-centered goddess known for purity of heart, beauty and abundance. Her sacred name is Shri and in Sanskrit, her name means “to understand your goals”. Lakshmi wants us to go inward to discover our truest gifts. She inspires us to uncover the deepest callings of our hearts so we can follow our desires. She calls on us to release old stories and patterns that hold us back from stepping into our highest selves. This divine feminine guide celebrates our inner beauty and helps us to feel our true value.
The deities of yoga are personifications and teachers of our humanness. They are archetypal energies that invite us to explore our own inner landscapes. We can dive deeper into the hidden aspects of our psyche when we use the Goddess energies to experience all sides of ourselves to illuminate and embrace our light and shadow aspects. Kali, the dark one, is the Goddess of death, time, change and destruction. She holds a higher vision for us. She supports us in the death rebirth cycle. She wants us to play with our edge on the mat so we can become sensitized to discomfort off the mat. When we face our fear and bring what was hidden or shamed into the light, our soul heals and grows.
Now is the time to step forward and allow your own inner goddess energy to rise. Learning to work with the goddess energy intentionally is a true empowerment. We refer to this connection as an activation. Once the connection has been made, we open the channel for energy to flow. Goddess energy is easily accessed through yoga, breathwork, somatic movement, mudra and chanting. She opens a portal for us to tap into our own wisdom, empowerment and creativity.
As the late, great meditation teacher Sally Kempton shared, “The transformative power of the Goddess energies can untangle psychic knots, calling forth specific transformative forces within the mind and heart. It can cleanse our mental and emotional bodies, put us in touch with the protective powers within us and deeply change the way we see the world. It can shift the way we see ourselves, giving us the power to see the Divine qualities we already hold.”