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The Goddess Path Issue #042
The Goddess Parvati
May, 2006
This Issue:
Table of Contents
~ Decisions, Decisions
~ The Goddess Parvati
~ The Goddess and the Chakras
~ Revisiting the Great Goddess, Mother of Us All
I was hard at work creating this month's newsletter, a
Mother's Day edition and finding that
I had entirely too much yummy stuff to share with you. My
mind was whirling as I faced the horrid decision about which
goddess to cut and was considering which
one I
could least afford to offend.
As always seems to happen, synchronicity stepped in to save
the day. I took a break to be a guest at a Hindu wedding
celebration and suddenly the answer became quite clear.
As we
asked for the blessings of Ganesha on the union, I watched
the Indian women in their shimmering saris. They seemed like
wondrously delicate butterflies of every possible color
flitting beneath the gauzy canopies
that filled the room.
I saw
clearly that it was time for the goddess Parvati, the mother of Ganesha,
to take center stage. And so we are pleased to bring you the
story of the Hindu goddess whose great love once saved the
universe.
(Note--this will be a brief issue. We'll be back soon
with the Mother's Day edition.)
Even as a young girl Parvati was
in love with Shiva. But
Shiva, the god of War, was
grieving the death of the woman
he loved and had turned his back on the
world and all its pleasures. He
now lived in a dark cave and
spent his days in meditation.
Determined to win his affection,
Parvati would visit his cave each
day to bring him fruit and to
sweep the floor of the cave and
decorate it with flowers. But
Shiva spurned her efforts.
Parvati remained determined. She decided to go into the
mountains and become an ascetic
herself, thinking perhaps this
would win his love.
Living in the forest with
nothing to eat and with no
clothes to protect her tender
body from the fierce weather,
Parvati completely mastered her
physical needs. Soon she was
able to match Shiva’s awesome
powers by creating incredible
energy in her yoga
meditations—enough energy to
attract the attention of
Brahma, the supreme deity of the
Hindu pantheon.
Then the story got really
interesting . . . click here to
read the
myths of the goddess Parvati.
Connecting With Your Inner Goddess:
The Chakra Way
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Think meditation. Think yoga.
Think of all the technicolor spiritual energy spiraling up
and around your spine . . . think chakras!
The Goddess Guide to Chakra Vitality, Anita Ryan's
delightful little book explains it all. "...one of the
best explanations I've yet to read on this subject", says
the reviewer at writers.com.
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And Anita's site is hosting a big event to
celebrate the book's North American release
(with lots of goodies on offer).
And you're
invited! Anita's offered to give you all the
details, so click here to learn more about
Celebrating the Goddess and the Chakras. |
Great Goddess
We had a request from one of you to reprint "Great
Goddess: Mother Of Us All". So once again, we welcome the voice of
Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway, a spiritual mother who has blessed
us with permission to share these excerpts. Click on the link
below to read
the essay in its entirety.
As we stand poised on the threshold of a changing world this Mother's Day, it seems a
fitting time to remember the Divine Mother Goddess who helped bring forth the world.
We are at a point in history that calls both women and men to celebrate - and elevate --
the energy of the feminine, along with the masculine. Spiritual law tells us that in
order to find balance in our world and be whole and complete unto ourselves, we must
embrace both the masculine and feminine aspects of ourselves. Acknowledging and embracing
both our Divine Parents can help us on that journey.
As we desperately seek balance and peace on our planet, and in these times of deeply
disturbing and frightening world events, many of us are searching for what's been missing
in modern life. Could it be we have been bereft of our spiritual link to the The Sacred
Feminine -- not instead of, but in addition to, The Sacred Male? We are at a time in
history where both women and men are crying out for their divine "Mother" and
seeking a spirituality that brings both divine parents to the table, not just one, or the
other.
We are all children of God, Goddess, All There Is and we are all feminine
and masculine in nature. As above, so below. It is in acknowledging that these qualities
exist in all of us that we begin to create and find balance in our relationship to
ourselves, to one another, and in the world we live in. Copyright 2004,
Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway
Rev. Laurie Sue
Brockway, an interfaith minister and non-denominational wedding officiant, is author of A
Goddess Is A Girl's Best Friend: A Divine Guide To Finding Love, Success and Happiness (Perigee
Books, December 2002). For more information about the book or author, www.GoddessFriends.com.
In closing, remember to . . . .
Live your dreams
and
fill your life with color!
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