Sophia's Children

Goddesses of Now: Durga & Akhilandeshwari

In these times of transformation, the Divine Feminine is re-emerging.

She calls to us, and re-emerges in and through us, sometimes taking us on quite the adventures of transformation.

Have you noticed?

How can we invoke, call upon, and open to the Divine Feminine -- the Goddess -- to help us as we navigate change, transform old beliefs, and deal with fear and uncertainty ... among other things?

What Goddesses or aspects of the Feminine do we call upon?

 And how?

I've been exploring just these questions for the last seven years, and what a journey it's been!

Since the turn of the year, I was guided to explore the energies, symbolism, and guidance of the Goddess in her Maha Durga and Akhilandeshwari expressions. And I've been working with the sacred vibration of the Durga mantra for my recent 40-Day Sadhana (mantra yoga practice).

I shared a bit of what I learned in the audio program, Goddesses of NOW: Durga & Akhilandeshwari. (You'll find that here.)

Maha Durga first introduced herself in 2005 or 2006, when I was visiting a friend in Southern California. On the way out of a boutique in Santa Barbara, the proprietor invited me to choose a card from a bowl she had on the counter. I did: Maha Durga, with her eight arms and her trusty lion companion. I realized I'd met her before in my experience, but hadn't known her name.

Akhilandeshwari started 'popping up' several years ago, and then again starting a few months ago.

Both convey the power of the Feminine through their stories, energy vibration, and guidance. That's why I called them Goddesses of NOW.

Have you met the Goddess in her Durga and Akhilandeshwari expressions?

Maha Durga is a fierce, feisty and protective aspect of the Divine Feminine. She's a lion or tiger-riding demon slayer with an unshakeable sense of resourcefulness, confidence ... and humor, too.

Because she is an embodiment of the Feminine creative power, Shakti, she is fearless, and gets plenty pissed off when her children are threatened by 'demonic' or sociopathic forces.

The thing is, while Maha Durga has plenty of cool, handy weapons, and she can use them effortlessly, she ultimately conquered the uber-Demon by the sheer power of her Divine Light -- perfect Light (like perfect Love) casts out all fear and fearsome energies.

Akhilandeshwari is known mostly as "the Goddess who is never not broken."

But she's more than that, too. She tells us that fear is just powerful creative life-force energy that's been misdirected (or appropriated ... see 'demon' above!).

A 'wabi-sabe' Goddess, She surfs the waves of Life on the back of a crocodile, and KNOWS there is strength in imperfection, vulnerability, and change, and transmutes fear into creativity.

What's even more interesting, is that there are some real similarities in the myth-stories of Durga and Akhilandeshwari -- and that tells us something, too.

When we work or practice with these energies and archetypes, we (or they!) nurture and awaken their gifts within us. With these two Goddesses, that comes in handy right about now.

Learn more about the Goddesses of Now: Durga & Akhilandaswari audio program.

My conversations with and mentoring from Maha Durga and Akhilandeshwari continues (and the Goddess has invited the Black Madonna and other of her 'faces' to this party as well). I'll share more as the adventure continues.

Love,

Jamie

2012, the Feminine & Cerridwen's Cauldron

About a month ago, Cerridwen started popping up for me.

That's how it often happens, and I've learned to pay attention, because this is one of the ways the Feminine is re-emerging from the depths into our awareness.

Along the way, I've thought many times: "I'm definitely not in Kansas anymore!" Not that I've ever lived in Kansas, but you get my drift.

For instance, in 2005, the Black Madonna came calling, and powerfully so.

Well, in truth, she dialed me up long before that. But in 2005 I ended up in France and Spain, for a Black Madonna, Mary Magdalene, and Sacred Feminine intensive.

That's when I learned that it was her presence I'd been experiencing, and it unfolded from there.

In February 2010, it was Brigid who was asking me to look more deeply into ancestral memory for wisdom that went beyond the commonly known story about Brigid.

I did, and my inquiry (literally) led to several powerful and vividly memorable dreams that were rich in ancestral language and symbolism.

In mid-2010, I woke with Ta'Nit fresh in my awareness. "Act for Ta'nit and it will benefit all beings. "

Um, okay. Who's Ta'Nit, asked I.

I'd never heard of Ta'Nit ~ she rose up out of some ancient ancestral memory from Phoenician times.

Sophia, Circe, Dark Aprhodite, and Artemis have beckoned here and there along the way, too.

I've written about each of these in previous Sophia's Children blog entries, and recorded a collection of audio programs about the Black Madonna, Brigid, Circe, and other reawakening Feminine traditions for the Feminine Mojo Mystery School.

More recently, Cerridwen's asking me to pay attention to the message or gifts she symbolizes.

And Cerridwen is definitely a goddess for our times, particularly as we head into the much-discussed 2012 (often with the typical apolyptic fear-mongering).

When we find ourselves in Cerridwen's transformative territory, we're being invited (or strongly encouraged!) to take the proverbial consciousness-freeing 'red pill'.

Meeting Ceridwen

Cerridwen is named from my ancestral Welsh tradition, and is an 'Ancient One' and Lunar goddess (as with Ta'Nit, etc.).

Like Persephone and other dark goddesses, she was known as Goddess of the Underworld.

As such, she's a Goddess of the deep Feminine powers, of rebirth and regeneration, of transformation, and all that is manifest from the great primordial energy in her cauldron. She is the keeper and the embodiment of shapeshifting and other magicks, like Circe.

Like Circe and the Priestesses of Avalon, Cerridwen is said to have lived on an island -- in this case, in the middle of Lake Tegid.

As with her Irish counterpart, Brigid, Cerridwen is associated with inspiration ... the Muse of poets, Bards, and other creative types.

The Story of Cerridwen and Taliesin

In some tellings about Cerridwen, her cauldron was called Awen, a word that referred to the Otherworld in Druidic tradition.

Cerridwen's cauldron was filled with the elixir of Life, from which all that is manifested comes. And the cauldron, like the chalice, is a symbol of the Feminine.

The story of Cerridwen tells that she had two children - one beautiful daughter, Creirwy, and one son, Afagddu, who was hideous to look upon.

In the cauldron of Awen, she created a magical potion intended to bless Afagddu with great wisdom and knowledge. Her assistant, the boy Gwion, was stirring the cauldron and accidentally got several drops of the elixir on him, bestowing him with the intended gifts, and off he ran.

A great chase ensued, with Gwion transforming himself into a hare, then a fish, a bird, and finally a grain of corn. Cerridwen shapeshifted in pursuit of him, first as a greyhound, then an otter, a hawk, and finally a hen who ingested the kernel of corn.

After gestating the kernal of corn, Cerridwen gave birth to a child who was so beautiful that she couldn't do him harm, she placed him in the ocean. The child was found by a Welsh prince, and grew to be the famed and gifted Welsh poet and bard, Taliesin.

The Gifts of Cerridwen

Cerridwen, as an 'Ancient One', a primordial creatrix and Lunar Goddess, shares with us the gifts of transformation, regeneration, rebirth, and inspiration that come through our deep Feminine capacities of working consciously with the energies of Life.

As we enter the 'dark forest' and move through periods of great transformation, as so many of us have been and are living now, the 'old' is deconstructed, the energy is freed and placed into the cauldron of regeneration and rebirth.

This deconstruction and 'unmaking' is often called the Dark Night of the Soul or a key facet of the Via Feminina. When certainty and all that was familiar eludes us, we turn to the wisdom of the forgotten and of the Unknown.

Once these energies are composted, though, we can be guided onward through inspiration, in line with Divine Will and the energies of Life that want to express through us.

Cerridwen and others who arise in our awareness, whether through ancestral memory or otherwise, bring energies, messages, and gifts of the deep Feminine for use now.

In 2012, which is expected to be another highly transformative year in a greater initiatory passage, the Feminine -- Cerridwen, the Black Madonna, Brigid, Artemis, Ta'Nit and other faces and resurfacing memories of the Great Mother -- will continue to arise and share her wisdom.

Love,

Jamie

Explore and kindle the Feminine and the Feminine archetypes & goddesses in the Feminine Mojo Mystery School.

You can also schedule Energy-Intuitive sessions or a Get Sparked series to help you gain clarity and navigate your way.

Image Credits: Cerridwen by Christopher Williams (1910); Circe's Palace by Maxfield Parrish (1938); (still searching for the name and artist of the 3rd painting); Bridge in the Woods by Rafail Sergeevich Levitsky (1885-1886)