Tonight is the New Moon and the start of Navaratri

Tonight is the start of Navaratri, a ten day festival to celebrate the feminine, Shakti and the forms of her wisdom and virtue in our lives.  It starts with the goddess Durga which can be seen as a form of Kali who destroys impurities and things that no longer serve us. The first three  nights are in honour of Kali, the “terrible” form of the goddess who destroys the demons of ignorance, disease, ego and selfishness.  She gives strength and motivation, and empowers us towards spiritual growth she has weapons like a bow and arrow and spear riding on a tiger to ruthlessly seek out what is not serving us any longer.



For the second part of the festival the goddess is Lakshmi who is seen as the Mother and connected to spiritual wealth.  She is often depicted on a fountain of milk holding symbols of wealth and abundance.  She gives abundance, good health and opens the heart to gratitude and generosity. She grants clarity to envision our future goals.


The last three nights are for Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge and art.  She inspires us through science, art, music and education.  She is generally shown playing a rudra vina a stringed instrument  She expands the ability to understand systems and to create beauty. She dispels ignorance and grants wisdom.

On the tenth day all forms are worshipped. They are the consorts of Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma.

In some parts of India and Nepal it starts with Saraswati and ends with Kali. There are also goddesses for each of the nine nights.

So, find a woman, and the goddess inside yourself (men and women) and honour and revere her. Everything is born of woman. Celebrate the feminine it all its forms.

Tantra

Tantra is really very simple; but not necessarily easy to practice.

It is just the application of methods for living and loving the whole of life exactly as it is.  

One of the oldest meanings of the word “tantra” is simply “methods” and some ancient texts are just a list of methods of practice. Most of the practices are varieties of meditation on the very ordinary experiences of life; such as breathing, eating, seeing a flower, feeling a strong emotion etc.

How does it get to be so complicated? Some forms tantra has been around for a very long time. At least 5,000years. The cultures that developed tantra included methods such as complex rituals and many deities. The rituals are just methods of developing a meditative state of mind and the deities are images of specific energies.  In the West, we have the added complication of having linked tantra to Western energy practices that mostly come from the world of therapy and then connected it to sexuality by mistaking sexual union for oneness. The Kama Sutra is not a tantric text!

Focussing on energy rather than simple awareness practices inevitably releases a “can of worms” of people’s personal issues and desires and needs for connection. Because of this much Western tantra has many exercises that owe much more to therapy and personal development than to the vast and ancient world of tantra.  The West turns everything in to therapy and then sells it as a commodity. The same has happened to yoga (which is not really about trimming your thighs) and even Mindfulness (which is not really a way of reducing anxiety). Sex helps to sell anything.

In all traditional tantra, the foundation practices are awareness and meditation practices. Later, when the mind has become more stable and perhaps through some simple yoga, the body is more stable and open. Then energy and even sexual practices can be added.  

Tantra is about living and loving the whole of life exactly as it is. Our tendancy is to want to pick and choose experiences and have more of the good and less of the bad.  We want purity not impurity; pleasure not discomfort. However, tantra embraces every aspect of life; including sexual experiences and emotions. At its deepest; tantra is nondual. This means that it is about Oneness and the Void which is both empty and full at the same time. By starting with experiences of the nondual state of oneness or presence we can reduce the degree to which we are caught up in the dance of opposites and polarities which is the source of such complexity and pain. 

Essential the practices of tantra are bringing awareness to aliveness to realise Oneness.  It really is simple and follows our true nature. 

Transcendence started nearly 21 years ago and is now developing ways of teaching tantra which honours the traditions whilst keeping the best of modern practices and understandings.Namaste!

Tonight is Maha Shivaratri

Tonight is Maha Shivaratri

   

      Maha Shivaratri, the spiritual night of Lord Shiva, is considered to be the most sacred night of the year. There is fasting during the day and the puja goes on all night with mantras to Shiva whilst anointing the shivalingam with water, curd, honey, and flowers.

     Mahashivaratri happens a couple of nights before the New Moon and is a chance to honour Shiva and the masculine principle of consciousness and awareness. Everything is consciousness and it is on this foundation principle that the world is danced into being through the awesome creative power of Shakti.  

     There has probably never been a time in history when the principle of the Divine Masculine needs to be honoured and affirmed as it does now, for it is precisely the qualities of the Divine Masculine that can create the space and the safety for the feminine. Far too often, in many cultures across the world women are trying to hold both poles of masculine and feminine at the same time and be mother and father to their own inner child and to their "outer children". Men are physically absent for many reasons or emotionally absent from their own lack of connection to the Divine Masculine and their historic lack of good enough mothering and fathering. They then end up as wounded, disconnected and dangerous; perpetual teenagers fuelling the cycles violence that are destroying the Earth. Appreciate and celebrate the masculine as the force of awareness, consciousness, presence and the Truth of who we really are.