Hari Ommm and blessings to you all. With Earth Day still in our minds and Mother’s Day approaching, we chose honoring the Divine Feminine as our practice for May. We embrace this intention in order to develop, express and honor the female aspect of our spiritual nature.
The Divine Feminine refers to the creative energies that bring Spirit into expression and all the manifestations of Spirit into form. Honoring it need not imply worshiping a Hindu goddess with 6 arms – it can be as simple as appreciating the natural beauty around us and as practical as recycling.
On Earth Day, we honor mother nature and reaffirm the precious nature of our planet that supports us with all our basics needs for air, nourishment and shelter. Working cooperatively with the earth, caring for the soil and sharing its abundance, is a beautiful way to honor mother earth. Likewise, we honor the earth by caring for our natural environment, preventing waste and pollution, and supporting green energy.
Spending time in nature can be deeply healing. Being in contact with the earth, such as walking barefoot or lying in the grass, grounds us, relieves tension and alleviates stress. We often talk about being in nature as if we are separate from it. Our bodies are a part of nature and caring for them, seeing them as temples of the Spirit within, is also a way of showing reverence. This doesn’t mean obsessing over the superficial look of the body. It implies nourishing our bodies with proper food and rest, and respecting its needs with our posture and breathing.
Our female energies are essentially creative, giving birth to life and nourishing growth with caring and protection. This creative power exists in each of us and we give expression to it through art, music, and writing. But even starting a business, setting up a home, teaching a Yoga class, or cooking for friends gives expression to this potent energy. We honor these energies by giving ourselves time to be creative in whatever ways move us.
Yet another way of relating to the feminine aspect is the image of a Divine Mother. Different female saints and deities, each a personification of some spiritual qualities, can inspire us to feel protection and guidance. By acknowledging a spiritual presence beyond the ego-mind and its limited ideas, we humble ourselves and open our hearts to receive a grace that is always present. Praying this way, or invoking the Divine Mother through a ritual like puja, can be a powerful way to access an inner strength and rise above selfish thinking by feeling our connection to a Higher Power.
An obvious way of honoring the Divine Mother is to honor our own mothers. Many of us may follow the American tradition of celebrating Mother’s Day by offering gifts of appreciation to our physical mothers, or anyone who has been a mother figure in our lives.
Our modern culture places so much importance on reasoning and science – a male oriented way of relating to the world. This analytical mindset separates us from the heart and our natural interconnection with the very creation we dwell in, contributing to many of the problems we now face. Honoring the Divine Feminine can help us balance the masculine and feminine principles and experience ourselves as part of the whole. This shift will enable us to see with a more global vision and inspire us to take meaningful steps to alleviate the violence and suffering that torments our world.
