The Many Forms of the Divine Feminine and How They Show Up In Your Life

The Divine Feminine shows up in our lives in many ways. Really, she is everywhere always. In yesterday’s blog post we talked about how to clear your karma, regain vitality and carve a new feminie path to elevate your life. We dug into the greatest source of śakti, parāśakti , and gave you a mantra to tap into this universal energy.

Today, lets break down śakti even more so we can relate to this energy more easily, and bring it into our lives. Accessing śakti in her many forms is a key to knowing ourselves fully, living courageously and embracing the wholeness that pervades the Universe.

What is śakti and why does she matter to all of us in this modern world we live in?

We live in a world of duality and śakti is the divine feminine energy. Śiva is her divine masculine counterpart.

Śakti is the divine feminine principle of energy.  She is the counterpart to Śiva, or pure consciousness.  Without consciousness, there is no reason behind the movement of this world.  Without Śakti, there is no will or power to manifest consciousness. They are a divine pair and are equal to each other.

In this blog we will turn our attention toward Śakti, the will to make manifest the world.  We each create our own world, consciously or not. Śakti is our guiding principle in the process of improving our world to receive our highest desires, reaching our potential and fulfilling our dharma.

Chameli Ardag, a śakti teacher whom I respect and follow sums up śakti clearly:

“The Divine Feminine takes many forms. She loosens up the idea that awake consciousness should look a certain way. The celestial gallery of Goddesses is like a mirror where we recognize and reclaim aspects of ourselves we have learnt to reject or label as a problem, as not holy. The Shakti path offers to us a radically inclusive map, where everything from the vast cosmos to the densest earth is the Goddess.”

We no longer have to fear the things we don’t like about ourselves or our world. Everything is a part of our sacred journey. It is an empowered way of living. No longer living the life of victimhood. No longer needing to control everything. Saying “yes” to living life fully, accepting all of you as you are and seeing the inner connections this wonderful universe has designed for us.

What is Parāśakti?

How Parāśakti Changes Into Three Forms You Can Access Easily In Your Life

Parāśakti is the original and greatest energy of the universe. It is the source of all creative energy. In general, Śakti is responsible for all creation and change in existence, and parāśakti is the initiating and highest force for these processes.

Let’s break down this great Śakti so it’s a little easier to relate to.

Śakti shows up in triads through the universe. The most common trinity we see is Saraswati, Lakshmi and Durga. These are the devi śakti energies of the three primary Hindu devas, Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva.

Another such trinity includes Iccha, Kriya and Jñana śakti. These three are more personal and you will find them in yourself and your life in. Each of us has all three in varying degrees. You may find you are strong in one or more areas, weak in others or both strong and weak in one of them. Having a balance between each is what we are want to live our lives from our centers.

Let's look at these areas and discover that śakti can help you in all of them.

1. Icchāśakti 

Icchāśakti (iccha shakti) is the śakti of our will power, attitude and intention.

It is the ground upon which all ideas sprout. In the empty void of the earth the seed is planted, an intention comes to the surface, a desire is revealed. It is the heart’s highest desire to know Itself and its fullness. When we feel separate from our wholeness there is a deep desire that shifts our attitude towards that which beats our hearts and breathes each breath.

On a more worldly level icchāśakti are the desires that motivate our lives and actions. Perhaps you know what it is that you need to do to improve your life or to do better with your self-care practices. This element of śakti will help you know your worth, and give you the courage you need to stand up for yourself and improve your life. It includes the energy and intention behind making decisions or taking actions. It is the driving force of your life. Your hearts deepest desires. What propels you in this life?

2. Kṛyāśakti 

Kṛyāśakti (kriya shakti) is the śakti of actions, manifestation, creativity, and inspiration.

Yoga is about taking action -- action that will bring oneness. It is the fruits of our actions without expectation of those actions, like a ripe fruit falling from the tree. It does so because it is following its dharma.

So often in life we feel like we don’t have a choice in the actions we end up taking. We feel helpless and anxious because our power is hidden from us. When we rediscover our power to act consciously, even our smallest actions can positively impact our world and the world around us. Every action can be an expression of the highest good within us.

Many of us are stuck in the place where we know what is good for us, we have the right attitude about it. Yet something holds us back from taking actions that are aligned with your inner intentions of living better. You find that the actions you are taking aren’t fully aligned with your highest good. That might be a bad habit keeping you small or just not picking up the phone or sending the email to connect you with the right person to help you move forward. Diligence is needed to walk the path of embodiment. Are you taking the actions in your life that serve your highest good?

3. Jñānaśakti 

Jñānaśakti (jnana shakti) is the śakti of the mind: of thought, wisdom, intuition and alignment.

This is the energy that connects the other two. If icchāśakti is the fertile dark, earth in which anything can grow, and kṛyāśakti is the natural fruit of our actions. Then jñānaśakti is the orderly tree that connects them both, it is knowing the will and informing our actions. It is a firm resolution to follow the natural order of the universe (parāśakti) with wisdom and clarity. It is the strong trunk of the tree that has roots below and branches ready to bear fruit.

Wisdom in Sanskrit is vidya. Lack of wisdom or ignorance is avidya. The wisdom referred to here is the knowledge that we are all connected through an underlying energy or śakti. When we feel separate, disconnected or in some way cut off from our true selves, then we lack jñānaśakti. We can learn how to open to and support this current of energy within us, and give it expression in our bodies and our lives. Look for and open to this universal energy flow that connects all things.

It is possible that you may find that your actions and your will are aligned but there is a lack of knowledge or wisdom. Your mind is fighting you and you feel like you need to learn something more in order for life to flow more smoothly. Everything we want to know is already inside of us so the power of knowledge isn’t limited to just reading or studying more. Often times it is the soul whispers of  inner knowing that you are ignoring and keeping you in the loop of disconnection. This śakti aligns you with your inner knowing.

Back to Parāśakti

Parāśakti Shows Up In Your Life As A Resilient, Loving, Inner Knowing And Strength

Parāśakti, the greatest energy of the universe, appears to point us out into the world because it is the manifested world. You might think that you should look for solutions to your problems by going outward - looking for people to blame, places where you don’t feel aligned or things to cut out of your life so you can feel your power. And to a certain degree, yes. You do want to be conscious about your relationships and what in your life is aligned or not. Because your outer world is* a reflection of your inner world.

Yet, this śakti -- parāśakti -- emmannates from our pure heart centered consciousness, śiva. Love is the energy that connects all things. Ultimately, it guides us inward towards our highest self. We stop looking outward to the world to solve our problems and realize we have all the power, wisdom, will, and energy we need to feel whole, valued, loved, and authentic.

When we recognize this inner strength, we start to shift our perspective of how we interact with life and the world around us. We recognize that the parāśakti within is our own connection to the Divine. That we are, in fact, divine. All our human actions -- washing up, driving cars, caring for family, doing our work, walking, all of it -- can be elevated actions, if we develop the right attitude.

Now It’s Your Turn

Bringing these śaktis into your life is pretty darn simple.

1. Start to watch your mind and the reasons you do the things you do. Feel into your intentions and start to elevate your intentions. Give selflessly. Love wholly. Open to the present moment. Stop letting your story from the past rule your present and future. You are the one in charge in your mind. Let it start working for you. (icchāśakti)
2. Express your inherent goodness through your actions. I fully believe that every human has a bright brilliant light inside them just waiting to shine out into the world. There is good inside each of us. What is one thing you can do to align your actions and your life more with your heart? Meditation, Japa mantra, breathe mindfully every day? Something I am working on is being 100% present in my conversations with people. I look them in the eye, listen fully, and speak from my heart. (kṛyāśakti)
3. Continue to align with the deeper wisdom and energy of the universe that flows in and around us. Look for the connections instead of the things that keep us separate. See how your actions and intentions affect those around you (because we are connected). Study yourself (btw in Sanskrit this is called svadhyaya), what makes you tick, what makes you thrive, where do you feel aligned or not aligned. Learn from your world and align with that deep vidya, or wisdom that pervades it all. (jñānaśakti)

When starting to look at the world from a new perspective it takes three things.

1. Faith (Śraddhā),
2. willingness
3. a little diligent perseverance (tapas)

Faith helps you know that you are on the right path even when you have no empirical evidence or proof. Willingness is required to move out of your old ways and into something more aligned with your highest good and your dharma. Diligent perseverance keeps you coming back to the practice of seeing the good over and over. The old ways will come back. Persevere and you will reign them in again and diligently return to what is in alignment with You.

So many blessings on this new journey!

See you on the Inside,

Mindy Arbuckle