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Saraswati’s Gift

July 9, 2015 — 1 Comment

Saraswati

The Hindu goddess Saraswati represents creativity and artful expression. Her role as an educator in the arts is combined with her inspirational qualities. She once was a river in India, so her fluidity is natural. Art turns emotional states into keen statements. She is a guide to bring artfulness to all aspects of living. Her inventive spirit sheds new light on the creative process. She is popular in India today. I enjoy seeing all the ways she is depicted. She rides a swan and plays music. Her influence is uplifting and encouraging, helping you to locate your muse. You can invite her into your dreams and meditation in subtle ways. I like to use a visualization which is a combination of some of my favorite techniques rolled into one:

I imagine a hill with a stairway that I climb. The length of the climb varies each time I do the meditation. My stairs are always spiraling around the hill, and I am usually on an island where I can see the surf. Your own details will be different from mine.
At the top of the stairs is a temple with pillars and special light. It feels like a sanctuary built just for me. I stand in the center of the round temple and observe the doorways through which I can exit. I ask Saraswati to join me in the center.
When she has arrived she guides me to a door and leads me down a hallway to a room with a skylight made of stained glass. This room is even more personal and specific to my needs than the outer temple. I sit in here to meditate.
Before leaving I ask Saraswati for a gift to take back to my regular life. This mysterious part of the visualization is the heart of the matter. She gifts me with symbolic items that are designed to spur my intuition, imagination, and creativity. Initially the items may seem to have no pertinence, but if you let the images soak in you will find meaning in them.
I thank her and start walking back the way I came, back into my waking reality.

This exercise does not need to include Hindu deities if that disturbs your sensibilities. It may be too much for you to think of hanging out with a goddess riding a swan. This same sequence will work well if you go to the temple and choose any entity, alive or dead, to join you and give you a gift. In reality you are both yourself and the gift giver in this program. The insight comes when you grasp the meaning of the gift and are able to use it to be more inventive and artful.

Durga Days

September 25, 2014 — 5 Comments

Durga is the mother goddess capable of killing demons. She was born from the anger of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva and outfitted with every weapon of the gods. She was brilliant, and extremely bad assed. She is the very angry mother who drives demons from the earth and puts the fear of retribution in all her children. She has nine different forms she may assume in her motherly duties. During the festival of Navaratri she is worshiped in three of her forms. First Durga the destroyer purifies for three days as only wrathful mother can. Then Lakshmi takes over for three days of bestowing spiritual wealth. The final three days are ruled by Saraswati, the mother of wisdom. To skip any one of the three mothers is to fail to grasp the whole meaning of the creative essence. The feminine spark, or Shakti, does all the work and holds all the energy. In 2014 Navaratri lasts from 25 September until the 3 October. The Durga puja is an affirmation of good over evil, a classic version of mother knows best. She will remove the miseries of life and chase the demons out of the building. Respect her in all her forms…..you want to stay on her good side.