Hello, Goddess?
Durga is on the move, right now
I’m recovering from covid, and find that my writing impulse is a bit muted right now. I still want to keep some publishing momentum going, though, so today’s offering will be short.
I’m fortunate enough to be participating in BeLovedNow’s “Graduate Immersion Year,” which is, aptly enough, a year of immersive spiritual practice centered on a different goddess each month. We kicked off the first month with Durga, the Hindu goddess and queen of badassery.
Eight-armed, riding a lion (or tiger), Durga is the ultimate divine battle warrior. She is a compassionate protectress, invested fully in fighting for justice and in truth-telling. She is fearless yet compassionate, fierce but fair.
I didn’t know much about Durga, so I have found Sally Kempton’s descriptions (in the book Awakening Shakti: The Transformative Power of the Goddesses of Yoga) to be fascinating, particularly now:
“Famously partial to warriors and leaders, Durga is especially available when you’re struggling to right a wrong… Durga’s energy is often the fuel for popular uprisings and the will to fight social and political injustice.”
Here is a poem I wrote in July of 2019, before the world became unrecognizable:
Sheep Dreams
In my dreams
I am the bird
who fearlessly opens her throat
and lets loose
magnificent songs,
says the sheep.
I am the fish
who fights her way upstream
like a silver-scaled
rebel,
the wolverine
who roams for days and nights
to kill and eat for herself
alone,
she says.
I will be like the bird,
the fish, the wolverine
of my dreams,
says the sheep.
And then she hears
the comforting click of the gate,
smells the sweet oats
spilling into troughs,
feels the warmth of wooly bodies
pressing in on all sides,
and she says,
Tomorrow.
The sheep I describe in my poem is most of us, myself included, during the past two years. As Kempton says: “Before the Durga Shakti [force, energy] is activated, we often feel powerless, confused, unable to act. Our forces are scattered and our will vacillates.”
I certainly feel the Durga energy at work now in my life. Kempton describes the feeling I had about creating The Art of Freedom:
“Durga’s transformative power carries a conviction that comes from deep inside the body, and with it often comes a sense of ‘Now!’ — meaning the time is now. When that knowing is strong enough, it is followed by action. You will willingly put your body and your speech on the line to change the situation — whether it is an internal or an external one.”
But I also feel her at work in the world at large. I see her riding shotgun in the cabs of Canadian Truckers; I see her lifting up the whistleblowers, the independent journalists, Julian Assange, the thousands of healthcare practitioners and firefighters and teachers, everyone who quit their jobs rather than act against their own consciences.
I see her inspiring ordinary citizens, giving them the courage to put their bodies and speech on the line to change the situation, to fight for their rights. No doubt Durga is with all of them, for as Kempton says, “Once Durga rises within us and descends through us… there is purpose, will, direction, and a sense of inevitability.”
She is with anyone who asks. So don’t be shy; if you need her transformative power, call her into your life. As you do so, know that you are invoking a power that will inspire you to speak your truth and fight for the change you believe is necessary, in your own life and in the world around you.
I leave you with one more quote from Awakening Shakti:
“…once Durga has sounded her battle cry — blown her great conch and clanged the bell of transformation — the movement of evolution cannot be stopped. When Durga’s revolutionary energy sweeps through the world, there is no going back to the way things were before.”
Let’s hope so.