Descent Of The Divine Mother
The eternal, ageless Divine Feminine "He bowed down to the Mahadevi and exchanged greetings. Shri Krishna, Ganesha, Jesus, Buddha, Rama, Sita, Vishnu, Laksmi, Shiva and others were already present, sitting in a semicircle facing their beloved Divine Mother. Her child wished all of them and greetings were returned.
He then told the Great Mother that he wanted to witness exactly how She had descended on Earth after being requested by the gods to save humanity. The Devi told him that She would so after meditation. All present raised their Kundalinis collectively and went into the thoughtless state.
When they finished Shri Adhiparasakthi stepped down from Her Golden Throne and said to Kash, "Come down to Earth with Me." "
On April 30, 1994, Kash was told to request from the Great Divine Mother another revelation. The Sahaja Yogi who gave Kash Self-Realization explained that before Shri Mataji incarnated Herself on Earth there was a major discussion in heaven among the Divine Unity concerning human beings. Something drastic had to be done to enlighten humans before they completely destroyed themselves. Despite all the messengers, prophets, and incarnationsncarnations, despite all the collective wisdom of all the Holy Books, despite all social, educational and economic progress, the human species were now beginning to gather speed as they hurtled down the road of self-destruction. It was time for the Creator to act and save His Creation.
All the Messengers of God Almighty then requested that Shri Mata, the Mother, should at last go down to Earth in human form and lead humankind higher up the evolutionary path by infusing them with a massive burst of enlightenment. Who else but the Adi Shakti would be able to do such a tremendous job of en masse transformation?
Kash was just told to find out how it is possible for someone to descend directly from the Spirit World to Earth.
He agreed and went to meditate in his room. He closed his eyes and said the sacred mantras. Immediately the Divine Energy of the Holy Spirit coiled in his sacrum bone responded. He traveled up the Tree of Life, right from its roots at the base of his spine up towards the Great Lotus Forest (Sahasrara). At the optic chiasma he entered the Narrow Gate and reached the Templum Spiritus Sanctus illuminated by the Everlasting Light.
He bowed down to the Mahadevi and exchanged greetings. Shri Krishna, Ganesha, Jesus, Buddha, Rama, Sita, Vishnu, Laksmi, Shiva and others were already present, sitting in a semicircle facing their beloved Divine Mother.
Her child wished all of them and greetings were returned.
He then told the Great Mother that he wanted to witness exactly how She had descended on Earth after being requested by the gods to save humanity. The Devi told him that She would so after meditation. All present raised their Kundalinis collectively and went into the thoughtless state.
When they finished Shri Adhiparasakthi stepped down from Her Golden Throne and said to Kash, "Come down to Earth with Me."
He walked to Her as Shri Visva-Garbha smiled radiantly in Bliss and Joy. She stretched Her hands with palms downturned. Kash was instructed to do the same, but this time with his palms facing upwards but below Her palms, as they were going down to Earth. He did so and they began to descend through the clouds into the vast emptiness of endless space. (This was the first and only occasion that Kash experienced ‘delevitation,’ that is, descending down from the Kingdom of God.)
Her child could see asteroids of all sizes and shapes whizzing past. Occasionally tiny dots grew into gargantuan planets and flew by at astronomical speed. Far away distant stars twinkled. Kash was in a cosmic fairyland sparkling with countless suspended universes that stretched into infinity.
They came fast through the atmosphere and then slowed down rapidly.
They landed at the right corner of the St. Joseph and 34th. Avenue T-junction. The Holy Spirit had brought Kash back to Lachine, Montreal! He could see the Resurrection of Our Holy Lord Catholic Church and the Saint-Louis school on his left, with rows of houses on both sides of the road behind. Beside the school was the Dairy Queen outlet where he sometimes came with his family for ice cream. The pier jutting out into the seaway, with a weathered red and white lighthouse at the tip, was directly in front. On his right he could see the beach line that ran into a knot of trees at the far end. Across the St. Lawrence Seaway he could see the familiar shoreline where stood a solitary church with a steeple and silvery spire rising above the flat landscape.
The Great Divine Mother stood around with him, casually observing humans, their activities and environment as cars cruised along the picturesque rue St-Joseph. Across the road people were strolling, bicycling, picnicking, fishing, or just sitting around on the benches.
Not even a single earthly creature even glanced at them — They were invisible! Kash was sure of this fact as Shri Mataji was enfolded in a red sari with small colorful flowers and Her dazzling personality, devastating beauty and divine radiance would be obvious to all pedestrians and passengers alike. Yet no one ever looked at Her for She was indeed invisible!
After a while Shri Loka-yatra-vidhayini told Kash that it was time to return. She then held out Her Hands again, asked him to put his palms over Her upturned palms, and levitated him back. They quickly passed through the stratosphere and Earth swiftly disappeared from view. They hurtled into the limitless universe and ascended through different dimensions of the Spiritual Worlds, soon reaching the Highest of All — the Kingdom of Heaven.
The Immortal Ones were still there, waiting for their return. Kash again bowed to them and sat down beside Shri Lalita Devi, who was now seated on Her Golden Throne. They then had another collective meditation after which he asked for leave and returned to this frantic world of stock speculators and currency manipulators.
Mata (1): The Mother as the creative aspect of Brahman (God Almighty); Sacred Mother; the Seer, the Seen and the Seeing.
Visva-Garbha (638th): The entire universe is within Her as She is the Mother of the universe.
Loka-yatra-vidhayini (664th): One who determines the life cycle of the universe. Modern science describes various states of the Universe as De Sitter’s universe and Einstein’s universe.
Note: On May 22, 1997 at 7:30 a.m. Kash was again asked if they were invisible. He replied that they were. He added that this time their bodies were not in the form of the spirit but flesh and blood. He was asked to elaborate. According to him in the Kingdom of God everyone is semi-transparent, that is, in the ethereal form of the spirit. However, after descending down to Earth he noticed that his body was not in the semi-transparent form of the spirit but that of a human. Even the Holy Spirit was all flesh and blood. Yet they were invisible to all human beings.
The Great Primordial Goddess had proved to Kash that She did indeed descend on Earth as requested by the Messengers of God Almighty — in the human form as Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi!
"Just as Visnu ... Devi, too, promises to return if needed."
"Devi originated at a time of cosmic crisis and, consequently, her role seems very similar to that of Visnu in his many avataras (incarnations). Just as Visnu promised to manifest himself in order to protect the cosmic balance, Devi, too, promises to return if needed... I am Nirguna. And when I am united with my Sakti, Maya, I become saguna, the Great Cause of this world. This Maya is divided into two, Vidya and Avidya. Avidya Maya hides me; whereas Vidya Maya does not. Avidya creates whereas Vidya Maya liberates. Devi-Bhagavatam 7. 32. 7-8"
The Metaphysical Goddess
The Devi-Mahatmya
Two texts in particular have been most influential in establishing the all-inclusive nature of feminine power. The first and most popular goddess-centred text is the Devi-Mahatmya, originally a section of the Markandeya Purana. The importance of this text, and its uniqueness, are apparent in its independence from the parent text. Thomas Coburn comments that while there are very few complete manuscripts of the Markandya Purana, those of the Devi-Mahatmya are countless. The recitation of the text is still an integral part of goddess worship, where, according to Coburn, it forms a part of “daily liturgy in temples of Durga” and “a central place during the … festival of Durga Puja”.
It is here, in the Devi-Mahatmya, that the concept of an all-inclusive Goddess is fully elucidated. Within a mythical framework of the Goddess’s martial deeds, is the assertion that she is the Ultimate Reality, an idea transmitted by inference rather than in direct terms. Mythically, in order to conquer the asuras (demons) that threatened the very existence of the devas (gods), a supremely powerful goddess was created from the combined anger of the gods.
Then from Visnu’s face, which was filled with rage, came forth a great fiery splendor (tejas), (and also from the faces) of Brahma and Siva.
And from the bodies of the other gods, Indra and the others, came forth a fiery splendor, and it became unified in one place.
An exceedingly fiery mass like a flaming mountain did the gods see there, filling the firmament with flames.
That peerless splendour, born from the bodies of all the gods, unified and pervading the triple world with its lustre, became a woman.
Devi Mahatmya 2. 9-12
The vital power that emanated from the gods took shape in the feminine form, and from there on was accepted as the Mahadevi, a supreme Goddess in her own right. She is entirely separate from the gods, the embodiment of sakti, and able to produce further powers of her own. When her work is done, she disappears; she does not return to her source, the gods. The text reinforces the conceptual notion of a Great Goddess, Mahadevi, the embodiment of power…
One of the most interesting facets of Devi`s character in the Devi-Matahmya is her independence and her challenge to the stereotypes of goddesses previously presented. The Goddess here does not depend on a male consort, and successful manages male roles herself. In battle, for instance, she does not fight with male allies; if she needs assistance, she tends to create female helpers, like Kali, from herself. Her role as Sakti also differs from that of the puranic goddesses as she does not empower the male deities. “Unlike the normal female, Durga does not lend her powers or sakti to a male consort but rather takes power from the male gods in order to perform her own heroic exploits. They give up their inner strength, fire, and heat to create her and in so doing surrender their potency to her.``
The Devi-Mahatmya makes clear that the conceptual goddess cannot be easily categorized. The “Goddess” so carefully outlined in the text leaves the reader in no doubt of the fluidity of her character. She is the personification of all aspects of energy, being simultaneously creative, preservative and destructive.
By you is everything supported, by you is the world created; by you is it protected,
O Goddess, and you always consume (it) at the end (of time).
At (its) emanation you have the form of creation, in (its) protection (you have) the form of steadiness; likewise at the end of this world (you have) the form of destruction. O you who consist of this world!
You are the great knowledge (mahavidya), the great illusion (mahamaya), the great insight (mahamedha), the great memory, and the great delusion, the great Goddess (mahadevi), the great demoness (mahasuri).
Devi-Mahatmya 1. 56-8
This verse makes it clear that the all-encompassing Goddess in this text represents all aspects of power and energy, both positive and negative, as she is described as devi (goddess) and asuri (demoness). The Devi of the Devi-Mahatmya is fully equated with Ultimate Reality, presented as the power behind the functions of the trimurti, the triad of deities – Visnu, Siva and Brahma – who are responsible of the preservation, dissolution and creation of the universe respectively:
You are the primordial material (praktri) of everything, manifesting the triad of constituent strands, the night of destruction (periodic dissolution), the great night (final dissolution), and the terrible night of delusion.
Devi-Mahatmya 1. 59
Devi originated at a time of cosmic crisis and, consequently, her role seems very similar to that of Visnu in his many avataras (incarnations). Just as Visnu promised to manifest himself in order to protect the cosmic balance, Devi, too, promises to return if needed.
The Devi-Bhagavatam Purana
The Devi-Mahatmya is not the only text to offer an all-inclusive concept of female divinity, equated with the principle of Ultimate Reality. The later Devi-Bhagavatam presents a Sakta response to a variety of puranic strands of thought. According to Cheever Mackenzie Brown, its original parts were written in response to the Bhagavata Purana. The Devi Gita, which comprises skanda (book) 7, chapters 30-40 of the Devi-Bhagavatam, is based on the style of the Bhagavad Gita, but is presented from a Sakta perspective. The ninth skanda, according to Brown, is almost a verbatim copy of the “Praktri Khanda” of the Brahmaraivarta Purana, which Brown describes as “a kind of encyclopedia of goddesses”, associating them with praktri. The Devi-Bhagavatam also encompasses a version of the Devi-Mahatmya and retells a number of puranic myths. The text is more consistently metaphysically oriented than the earlier Devi-Mahatmya, frequently eulogizing the conceptual goddess who is the power behind all other deities.
That Goddess is Eternal and Ever Constant Primordial Force…
She is the source of Brahma, Visnu and the others and all of these living beings
Without Her force, no body would be able even to more their limbs.
That Supreme Auspicious Goddess is the preserving energy of Visnu, is the
Creative power of Brahma, and is the destroying force of Siva.
Devi-Mahatmya 3. 30. 28-30
It is also significant that in the Devi-Bhagavatam, the Great Goddess is explicitly shown to be independent of any male authority and control. Indeed in the previous verses it is the gods that are completely subject to her will, being totally reliant on her power. The goddess/ses of Devi-Bhagavatam are repeatedly portrayed as eternal, the basis of everything, identical with Brahman.
When everything melts away i.e. there comes the Pralaya or general dissolution, then, I am not female, I am not male, nor am I hermaphrodite. I then remain as Brahma with Maya.
Devi-Bhagavatam 3. 6. 2
The Adya or Primordial Sakti is explicitly shown to be the source of all goddesses, from the highest to the lowest forms.
Maha Laksmi is Her sattvaki Sakti, Sarasvaati is Her Rajasik Sakti and Maha Kali is Her tamasik Sakti, these are all feminine forms.
Devi-Bhagavatam 1. 1. 20
The highest forms represent the major facets of her power or energy, the three gunas, encompassing both positive and negative energies. In the Devi-Bhagavatam, the essential character of the Mahadevi encompasses both praktri (material nature), in its unmanifest and manifest forms, and purusa (pure consciousness) – the dual realities of Sankhya philosophy. Unlike Sankhya and other schools of thought, particularly Advaita, the Devi-Bhagavatam portrays praktri in a more positive light; as an integral feature of the Goddess’s power. Similarly, the concept of maya (illusion) is also presented positively rather than negatively, as an integral energy inherent in the act of creation.
I am Nirguna. And when I am united with my Sakti, Maya, I become saguna, the Great Cause of this world. This Maya is divided into two, Vidya and Avidya. Avidya Maya hides me; whereas Vidya Maya does not. Avidya creates whereas Vidya Maya liberates.
Devi-Bhagavatam 7. 32. 7-8
Brown points out an interesting and important difference between the conception of maya in the Bhagavata Purana, in which Visnu is the supreme deity, and that in the Devi-Bhagavatam. Whereas in the Bhagavata Purana, Visnu is the “controller and possessor of maya”, the Goddess of the Devi-Bhagavatam, as well as wielding the power of maya, actually is maya. There appears to be a much more intimate relationship in the Devi-Bhagavatam between the Goddess and the workings of the cosmos, for as Visnu and Siva resort to their respective saktis for assistance, Devi resorts to no one but herself.
At the Feet of the Goddess: Divine Feminine in Local Hindu Religion
Lynn Foulston, Pages 11-15, Sussex Academic Press 1999
ISBN: 1902210441
EAN: 9781902210445
QUOTES OF SHRI MATAJI
"Today is the nineteenth Sahasrara Day, if you count the day the Sahasrara was opened as the first. I have to tell you the story about the Sahasrara Day, about which it was decided long time back, before I incarnated. They had a big meeting in the heavens. All the thirty-five crores of gods, the Deities, were there present to decide what is to be done. This is the ultimate that we have to do to human beings — to open their Sahasrara, to open their awareness to the Spirit, to the real Knowledge of the Divine, to remove the darkness of ignorance. And it had to be spontaneously because it has to work the living force of God. Also it had to be very quick.
So all the Gods requested that I, the Adi Shakti, has to take the birth. They all tried their best. They did whatever was possible. The saints were made by them but very few. They incarnated and people made religions out of them which were perverted and brought them a bad name. No Reality in those religions. These religions were money oriented or power-oriented. There was no Divine Force working, actually it was all anti-divine. How to now turn human beings away from these superficial religions, these perverted paths of destruction? How to tell them about all these established organizations? For ages they have been ruling, making money, making power.
It was a tremendous task; it had to be done with great patience and Love. It was very delicate work also because they believed in those religions — innocent people, simple people — to blast them that this is all nonsense, they are not religions, they are against the Incarnations, against all the prophets, against all the saints. That's why all the real saints had to suffer.
It's a powerful work that was to be done, and that's why the Adi Shakti had to take birth on this Earth."
Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi
Fregene, Italy — May 8, 1988
"This is the first time the Puja of the Adi Shakti is being done. All the Shaktis arise from the Adi Shakti. And also the Shaktis of Mahakali, Mahalakshmi, Mahasaraswati. All these Shaktis get absorbed back in Her. Only the Adi Shakti can do this work because She has supremacy over all the Chakras. She is the One who controls the various permutations and combinations of the Chakras...
Till mankind does not get Self-Realization till then he cannot go straight for very long. After Lord Jesus Christ the ordinary people started following the religion started by Paul and then everything started going wrong. In this way in every religion things went wrong because religion became difficult and inaccessible. In Modern Times people spoke very wrongs things about Kundalini.
Now the question arose how mankind should be told that there is God, there is Truth, and it is in the form of the Spirit. So it was necessary for the Adi Shakti to incarnate because only She could do this work. She had to come amongst mankind and take the birth of a human being, by which She could understand what are the problems and faults in human beings...
This new Job was such that all the Deities, the saints, the Incarnations and all great people had to come. They had to come into the bodily form of the Adi Shakti who had to incarnate. And that is why this Incarnation has come, that the whole world can rise, can evolve. The Divine which has made this Universe, this world, would never want His creation be destroyed at the hands of humans. And that is why this Work is so tremendous."
Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi
Calcutta, India — April 4, 1990
"So I said at Sahasrara I had to be Mahamaya. I had to be Mahamaya. I had to be something that people cannot recognize Me easily. But Deities? No.
This Mahamaya had to come on this Earth, not the Adi Shakti in Her purest form. It's too much. So She was covered with this."
Fregene, Italy — May 8, 1988
"They say that at Sahasrara when the Goddess will appear, She will be Mahamaya. Is it possible to be anything else in the world of today to come on this Earth? Any type of Incarnation could have been in great trouble because human beings in their ego are highest in Kali Yuga. So they are quite stupid and they are capable of doing any kind of harm or violence to a Divine personality. It is not at all possible to exist in this world as anything else than Mahamaya...
It has no power or any intention of giving you wrong ideas or something that is false. It is there whatever, it is Truth. So in a way to say that Mahamaya is the one which deludes is wrong...
I need not be before you; I can be just here in Nirakar, in formless, but how to communicate? how to have a rapport? For that, one has to come in the form of Mahamaya so that there is no fear, there is no distance. One can come close and understand, because if this Knowledge has to be given, if Realization has to be given, people have to at least sit before the Mahamaya.”
Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi
Cabella, Italy — May 8, 1994
ADDITIONAL QUOTES
"According to the Hindu view, the entrance of God into the strife of the universe is not a unique astounding entrance of the transcendental essence into the welter of mundane affairs (as Christianity, where the Incarnation is regarded as a singular and supreme sacrifice, never to be repeated), but a rhythmical event, conforming to the beat of the world ages. The savior descends as a counterweight to the forces of evil during the course of every cyclic decline of mundane affairs, and his work is accomplished in a spirit of imperturbable indifference. The periodic incarnation of the Holy Power is a sort of solemn leitmotiv in the interminable opera of the cosmic process, resounding from time to time like a majestic flourish of celestial trumpets, to silence the disharmonies and to state again the triumphant themes of the moral order...
The descent is represented in Indian mythology as the sending forth of a minute particle (amsa) of the infinite supramundane essence of Godhead — that essence itself suffering thereby no diminution; for the putting forth of a savior, the putting forth even of the mirage of the universe, no more diminishes the plenitude of the transcendent and finally unmanifested Brahman than the putting forth of a dream diminishes the substance of our own unconsciousness.”
Heinrich Zimmer, Philosophies of India
" "The later patriarchal religions and mythologies," wrote Erich Neumann in a richly documented study, The Great Mother, "have accustomed us to look upon the male god as a creator . . . But the original, overlaid stratum knows of a female creative being." Neumann assumes for the whole region of the Mediterranean a universally adopted religion of the Great Mother goddess around 4000 B.C.E., which was revived around 2000 B.C.E. and spread through the whole of the then known world. In this religion the Great Goddess was worshipped as creator, as Lady of men, beasts, and plants, as liberator and as as symbol of transcendent spiritual transformation.
The Indus civilization also belongs to that tradition in which the cult of the Great Goddess was prominent. Numerous terracotta figurines have been found: images of the Mother Goddess of the same kind that are still worshipped in Indian villages today...
The connections between Saktism, Mohenjo-Daro civilization, and Mediterranean fertility cults seem to be preserved even in the name of the Great Mother: "Uma for her peculiar name, her association with a mountain and her mount, a lion, seems to be originally the same as the Babylonian Ummu or Umma, the Arcadian Ummi, the Dravidian Umma, and the Skythian Ommo, which are all mother goddesses." The name Durga seems to be traceable to Truqas, a diety mentioned in the Lydian inscriptions of Asia Minor. There is a common mythology of this Great Mother: she was the first being in existence, a Virgin. Spontaneously she conceived a son, who became her consort in divinity. With her son-consort she became mother of the gods and all life. Therefore we find the Goddess being worshipped both as Virgin and Mother.”
K. K. Klostermaier, Hinduism: A Short History,
Oneworld Pub., 2000, p. 188-9
"In the beginning was the Mother.
As far back as 30,000 years ago, the people of the earth worshipped a female deity. In cultures around the world, the Goddess has been revered in myriad forms, in temple and grove, cathedral and cave. She has been celebrated and venerated through ritual, myth, and art. These pages serve as introduction to some of the 10,000 names of the Goddess, and offer links to other web pages and resources where you can find more information about Goddess spirituality and mythology.
The path of Goddess is not defined or laid down in dogma. It is a living, daily connection with sacredness. There is literally no end to the ways in which you can find and honor Goddess. The Goddess is Gaia, the earth … Ix Chel, the moon … Arianrhod, the stars. She is Oya, who brings the storms, and she is Mary, who calms them. She is Nut, who births creation, and Kali, who destroys it. She is maiden, mother, queen and crone. She is lover and spinster, warrior and sibyl, nurturer and judge.
Once She has called your name,
you are Hers forever.”
www.lunaea.com/
"The question remains as to whether some kind of spiritual evolution is in progress, whether large amounts of people gradually taking up meditation and other forms of inner practice will create a critical mass of global enlightenment, or whether we will continue in what could be called the Brazilian rain forest mode. In the past, this theory goes, a small number of mystics, ascetics, monastics, wandering mendicants, and other followers of the Perennial Philosophy were capable of providing the spiritual oxygen that helped the rest of the world to breathe and that sustained the mainstream practice of religion with all its surface anomalies. These days it seems increasingly questionable whether this approach will be sufficient to redeem a crippled planet; on the whole, the evolutionary theory makes more sense. But how long will it take? The Bolivian visionary Oscar Ichazo said some years ago, "In the past eras the mystical trip was an individual matter, or at least a matter of small groups, but no longer. This is what is new in human history. Everybody can now achieve a higher degree of consciousness. . . . The vision of humanity as one enormous family, one objective tribe, may once have been utopian. Now it is a practical necessity."
Peter Occhiogrosso, The Joy of Sects
"She is not only the Power of God as the whirling wheel of life in its birth-bringing and death-bringing totality; She is also the Force of the Centre, which bestows Consciousness and Knowledge, Transformation and Illumination. Thus Brahma prays to the Great Goddess: "Thou art the pristine spirit, the nature of which is bliss; thou art the ultimate nature and the clear light of heaven, which illuminates and breaks the self-hypnotism of the terrible round of rebirth, and thou art the one that muffles the universe, for all time in thine own very darkness."
Eric Neuman, The Great Mother
"The second aspect of the Goddess is that of Mother. As previously stated among her names by which she is called are the Great Mother and Mother Nature which signifies her worshippers believe her to be the Mother, creator and life-giver to all of nature and to every thing within.
This at first may seem confusing to many within the Christian Age where the Father God is claimed to be the creator. What many are not aware of, but more are becoming so, is that the world passed through a matriarchal age before the present patriarchal one. There is amble archaeological, historical and anthropological evidence of this. The previously mentioned findings of numerous female figurines and drawings in many locations supports the fact that during such ancient times the female was very honored. The depictions self-fertilization and women giving birth states the Goddess has been very honored for motherhood...
In The Sacred Book one reads:
...(She is)...the image of the invisible, virginal, perfect spirit... She became
the Mother of everything, for she existed before them all, the mother-father [matropater]...
In the Gospel to the Hebrews, Jesus speaks of "my Mother, the Spirit." Again, in the Gospel of Thomas "Jesus contrasts his earthly parents, Mary and Joseph, with his divine Father--the Father of Truth--and his divine Mother, the Holy Spirit." And, in the Gospel of Philip, "whoever becomes a Christian gains 'both father and mother' for the Spirit (rurah) is 'Mother of many.' . . .
Many men have expressed the need to return to the Goddess, indicating that this is not only a woman's search or desire. "English therapist John Rowan believes that every man in Western culture also needs this vital connection to the vital female principle in nature and urges men to turn to the Goddess. In this way men will be able to relate to human women on more equal terms, not fearful of resentful of female power. Perhaps this is how it was in prehistoric times when men and women coexisted peacefully under the hegemony of the Goddess."
To many men in Neo-paganism and witchcraft sexism seems absurd and trifling. If all men were honest they would admit that they would not be here if it were not for their biological mothers. Sexism immediately disappears when this fact is agreed to. All human beings are sexual, and sexuality propagated, although at times it would seem the Christian Church would have liked to dismiss this fact completely. But, the fact cannot be dismissed because, again, according to Jung this biological fact is also imprinted as the archetypes of anima and animus upon the human unconscious. They represent the feminine side of man and the masculine side of woman. As behavioral regulators they as most important; for with out them men and women could not coexist. When the two unconscious elements are balanced harmony exists, but when there is an unbalanced over masculinity or femininity is exerted.”
www.themystica.com/
"Does anyone still believe in a Goddess?
Yes, many cultures around the world have never stopped worshipping Goddesses. The Hindus of India have a pantheon of many Goddesses and Gods. Today in Japan the great Sun Goddess, Amaterasu is honored as the Divine Mother of the Japanese people. The Goddess of Mercy, Kwan Yin (Quan Yin) has many devotees in China. The Inuit people (Eskimos) still honor the OceanMother Sedna. In South America Ijemanja (Yemaya) the Sea Mother-Goddess is honored with huge public processionals on January 1st each year. In Africa, the Orishas are honored as Gods and Goddesses. Modern Jewish tradition still honors the Shekhina and millions of Catholics honor the Virgin Mary as a Goddess. In the United States and other western countries, for the past twenty-five or thirty years there has been rapidly growing interest in Goddess religion. Many Christian traditions like Unity, have begun to incorporated the Goddess into their faith. The Unity blessing includes a Mother-Father-God. There are also many groups that honor the various forms of the Goddess. Still other traditions honor the Goddess, along with a God.”
www.naturalhealingpractitioners.com
"Mother goddess It is believed that the foremost amongst the Sindhu pantheons was the Mother Goddess. A large number of terracotta female figures found in the sites represent Mother Goddess. Some historians are of the view that the range of the cult of the Mother Goddess once extended from Indus to Nile. Because a number of such figures have also been recovered from Kulli culture in South Baluchistan and Zhob Valley in the North. According to Sir John Marshall, "in no country the worship of the divine mother is so deep rooted and universal as in Bharat, where she became the prototype of the cosmic energy. (prakriti) and the counter part of the cosmic soul (purusha)
Critics point out that the idea of the Mother Goddess or Earth Goddess was well known to Vedic Aryans. To begin with it appears in the form of Prithvi but later on it is called Aditi, Prakriti, Durga, Gauri etc.”
www.vandemataram.com/
"Goddess worship is among the original forms of human religious expression, and it is re-arising today among modern women and men who understand the importance of the feminine in symbol and reality. Thomas Cleary and Sartaz Aziz show how the divine feminine has never really disappeared from religion – in spite of its suppression by patriarchal culture. Whether conceptualized as divine person, saint, mythic figure, archetype, or abstract principle, the Divine Feminine inevitably arises, manifesting in hidden ways, as well as obvious ones. Some examples:
Hinduism: Source of literally thousands of goddesses, including Devi, Maya, and Kali.
Taoism: Characterized by the importance of the feminine yang principle (counterpart to the masculine yin) and by reverence for the Mysterious Female.
Buddhism: Where the feminine is found in the supreme symbols of compassion, perfect intuition, absolute truth: the Bodhisattva Kuan-yin, or Kannon.
Sufism: In which an inner tradition of feminine spirituality and reverence for women was preserved within the outwardly male-centered Islamic milieu.”
www.shambhala.com/
"Durga's name literally means "Beyond Reach". This is an echo of the woman warrior's fierce, virginal autonomy. In fact many of the figures associated with her are officially virgin. This is not meant in the limiting sense understood by the patriarchal order, but rather in Esther Harding's sense: she is "one-in-herself", or as Nor Hall puts it, "Belonging-to-no-man". As Harding further observed of 'The Virgin Goddess': 'Her divine power does not depend on her relation to a husband-god, and thus her actions are not dependent on the need to conciliate such a one or to accord with his qualities and attitudes. For she bears her identity through her own right.'
The disappearance of Durga from the battlefield after the victory over aggression expressed one of the deepest truths of the episode, for the feminine action in the cosmic drama is without retentive, ego-seeking ambition...
Indeed the Mother Goddess, it is believed, controls the fate of all. But even though she makes her appearance when the male deities conglomerate their respective energies, she is, in fact, not 'created' by them. All her incarnations are the result of her will to be in the world for the benefit of mankind; she chooses when and how to effect her lilas (play of the Goddess in the world).”
www.exoticindiaart.com/
"Shakti means "creative energy," and Shăktism means "Doctrine of the Creative Energy." Shăktism venerates the Ultimate Reality as the Divine Mother-Shakti or Devi-of the universe. Archeologists have recovered thousands of female statuettes at the Mehrgarh village in India, which indicate that Shakti worship existed in India as far back as 5500 BCE. There are references to the female deities in the Rig Veda, including a popular Hymn to the Divine Mother (Devî-sűkta, X.125), which holds special sanctity to Hindus in general and Shăktas (the followers of Shăktism) in particular.
Shăktism visualizes the Ultimate Reality as having two aspects, transcendent and immanent. Shiva is the transcendent aspect, the supreme cosmic consciousness, and Shakti is the supreme creative energy. Shiva and Shakti are God and God's creative energy inseparably connected. Metaphorically, Shiva and Shakti are an inseparable divine couple, representing the male and female principle in creation.
Shăktism greatly resembles Shaivism, but Shiva is considered solely transcendent and is not worshipped. Like Shaivism, the goal of Shăktism is to unite with Shiva. Such unity is possible only with the grace of the Divine Mother, Who unfolds as icchă shakti (the power of desire, will and love), kriyă shakti (the power of action), and jńană shakti (the power of knowledge and wisdom). According to the Tantra philosophy, the spiritual center at the crown of the head (sahasrăra chakra) is the abode of Shiva. Likewise, the spiritual center at the base of the spine (műlădhăra) is the abode of shakti. Normally shakti is latent in the műlădhăra. Through a spiritual discipline, shakti is awakened and it rises through the spine and unites with Shiva in the sahasrăra. When this energy transformation occurs, the individual attains cosmic consciousness and is said to have realized the Self.
Within Shăktism, Shiva is the unmanifest Absolute and Shakti is the Divine Mother of the manifest creation. The Divine Mother is worshipped in both the fierce and benign forms. The fierce forms of Goddess include Kălî, Durgă, Chandî, Chamundî, Bhadrakălî and Bhairavî. The benign forms of Goddess include Umă, Gaurî, Ambikă, Părvatî, Maheshvarî, Lalită, Lakshmî, Saraswatî and Annapűrnă.”
www.hindubooks.org/
"Shakti means "creative energy," and Shăktism means "Doctrine of the Creative Energy." Shăktism venerates the Ultimate Reality as the Divine Mother-Shakti or Devi-of the universe. Archeologists have recovered thousands of female statuettes at the Mehrgarh village in India, which indicate that Shakti worship existed in India as far back as 5500 BCE. There are references to the female deities in the Rig Veda, including a popular Hymn to the Divine Mother (Devî-sűkta, X.125), which holds special sanctity to Hindus in general and Shăktas (the followers of Shăktism) in particular.
Shăktism visualizes the Ultimate Reality as having two aspects, transcendent and immanent. Shiva is the transcendent aspect, the supreme cosmic consciousness, and Shakti is the supreme creative energy. Shiva and Shakti are God and God's creative energy inseparably connected. Metaphorically, Shiva and Shakti are an inseparable divine couple, representing the male and female principle in creation.
Shăktism greatly resembles Shaivism, but Shiva is considered solely transcendent and is not worshipped. Like Shaivism, the goal of Shăktism is to unite with Shiva. Such unity is possible only with the grace of the Divine Mother, Who unfolds as icchă shakti (the power of desire, will and love), kriyă shakti (the power of action), and jńană shakti (the power of knowledge and wisdom). According to the Tantra philosophy, the spiritual center at the crown of the head (sahasrăra chakra) is the abode of Shiva. Likewise, the spiritual center at the base of the spine (műlădhăra) is the abode of shakti. Normally shakti is latent in the műlădhăra. Through a spiritual discipline, shakti is awakened and it rises through the spine and unites with Shiva in the sahasrăra. When this energy transformation occurs, the individual attains cosmic consciousness and is said to have realized the Self.
Within Shăktism, Shiva is the unmanifest Absolute and Shakti is the Divine Mother of the manifest creation. The Divine Mother is worshipped in both the fierce and benign forms. The fierce forms of Goddess include Kălî, Durgă, Chandî, Chamundî, Bhadrakălî and Bhairavî. The benign forms of Goddess include Umă, Gaurî, Ambikă, Părvatî, Maheshvarî, Lalită, Lakshmî, Saraswatî and Annapűrnă.”
www.hindubooks.org/
"Religion is some group saying their particular version of God is the right version, and that's hard for me to accept.. The world has become such a smaller place. It makes it hard for me to believe that the guy in Nepal and the little boy in Africa and the old man in Maine, all three of them with different versions of God, and yet maybe none of them are right." "I just can't believe that. There has to be some unifying thing”
M. Night Shyamalan, Film director (Sixth Sense, Unbreakable & Signs)
Los Angeles, California, USA, July 29, 2002
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