The Shadow Effect

August Gathering: Pallas Athena

August 21st, Friday 6:30pm

Join us for this sacred gathering to honor the Goddess energies that are available for us to work with. This month we are working with Pallas Athena, the Greek Goddess of Wisdom, Arts and Strength.

ATHENA'S POWER
The modern day Athena is the truly capable wise-woman, multi-tasker, career juggler, devoted mother, dedicated spouse/partner, loyal friend, and community leader. To the outside world she appears to have it all together. Yet, Athena can, as life moves forward, find herself lost to her own true identity. She may have never (or since childhood) focused on just who she really is without all those titles. This is not to say that she doesn’t derive a great deal of satisfaction from her conquests. Her bravery in going after what she wants is stellar and she does achieve great things. But sometimes this paints Athena into a corner…..the corner of her own accomplishments! Conversely enough, all this greatness can actually get in the way of Athena truly coming to know and expressing herself from her core.

Athena is a force to be reckoned with, strong, wise and capable. Yet, this can become at times a façade of strength that creates a well of loneliness within her soul. Athena-inspired women know no fear, or at least that's the face they present to the world. Rest assured, Athena;s can be tough, independent, clever and resourceful women. However, the soul call, now that the skills of strength and wisdom have been honed, is to go back and take adventure in the exploration of her weaknesses. For it is often in her very “weaknesses” that the seeds of her true greatness lies dormant. Athena needs to learn how to trust her incredible strength, enough to become truly vulnerable. For in fact, it takes great strength to reveal such tenderness. And it is this display of tenderness that will balance her outer shell of perfection and bring her into her own.

Athena is truly the last step for the Goddess becoming in each of us. She has proven that she can succeed. She has the strength, the wisdom and the courage. Now all she has to do is trust it and let go! Dare to fail! Dare to feel foolish! Dare to make a mistake! Understand that mistakes are actually a part of every creation and are always a pivotal point to even more successful outcomes. Athena reminds us to open up to our softer side. She reminds to kick-butt and take names.....WITH LOVE. She wants us to know that we are creator Goddesses and that we are the embodiment of the divine feminine!

ATHENA’S MESSAGE
FIND YOUR VOICE
Athena empowers you to surmount fears, giving you the freedom to explore your independent, clever and resourceful side. Invoke Athena to "find your voice" and overcome self-expression obstacles. Communicative energy forms a healing power that facilitates the reconnection of body, emotions, feelings and psychic energy. Effective communication not only leads to positive outcomes for your projects, but the ‘true you’ is honored whenever you express your honest feelings instead of voicing what you expect others want to hear. It is your responsibility to make yourself known.

According to the Goddess Goddess herself, Anita Ryan-Revel creatrix of the amazing website, Goddess.com.au, if Athena is speaking to you, it is likely you are adept at "conquering" the difficulties in your life - one by one, each time you conquer another difficulty, you feel on top of the world. But, ask yourself why you are entering cycles of seemingly impossible tasks, only to surmount them then search out more. The rush that achievement brings may be providing you with an endorphin surge that is addictive - you may be compelled to seek out bigger and better challenges to sustain your habit. If this sounds familiar, you may be presenting a strong and courageous face to the world, but really you're drawing on your strength rather than devoting time to exploring your weaknesses. It's time to unclutter your life of all the issues dragging you down - the lower you are dragged down the harder you have to fight to get back on top. And while fighting for what you want is sometimes necessary, it is important to recognize that it may be equally appropriate to "get out of our own way". There are two modes of creation, through building up and cutting away. It may be time to balance the two and bring more peace into our lives.

ATHENA SAYS…
Pick up your sword and declare battle against the clutter in your life, both internal and external. There is as much satisfaction to be found in simplicity as there is in resolving complexity. If you have clothes in your wardrobe you haven't worn in a year, give them away. If you have books on your shelf that you know you are not going to read again, pass them on. What junk is lurking in your drawers that you haven't used (or even laid eyes on)? Throw it out! Toss out sticky bottles of who-knows-what at the back of your fridge - fill it instead with fresh fruit, and top up with water ready for the Summer. Spring clean your immediate environment, and feel how much lighter you feel!

Now, is the time to use that “can do” attitude to bring about a lightening of your own load and releasing what is not necessary in your life or what may be bringing you down energetically. Aside from the space clearing which can certainly open the doorway to a floodgate of new energy, there may be a need for an attitude adjustment. Remember, the answers do not lie in other people, places or things, but in your own internal beliefs and attitudes which may be creating a drain on your energies. Athena, in her eternal wisdom, is asking you to go inside and spring clean your own heart and mind. Use some of that awesome wisdom and strength for your own edification. This is what will clear the way for right action. This is the difference between funding your will and controlling and forcing. It is a relinquishing of the need to control and the drive for perfection in order to allow and trust that in the care and feeding of your soul, all else that is right and good will flow.

ATHENA AFFIRMATIONS
I totally accept myself, just as I am, right here and right now
I let go of perfection
I am beautiful and radiant
I am the embodiment of the Goddess
I am healthy and happy
I am welcoming peace
I allow myself to be quiet and still everyday
I feel absolutely supercharged
Today is my chance to be healthy
I honor the strength of my body and move with grace and ease
My vital energy resurfaces naturally
I enjoy the foods that are good for me

SYMBOLOGY

ATHENA TOTEMS
Athena is often pictured with sword, shield, an owl and/or Nike, the Goddess of Victory. Nike, in the modern world is associated with the famous slogan “Just do it”! She is the perfect companion to Athena, as this is the true secret to Athena’s success…she is a doer – a mover and a shaker and a masterful creator of her world! Other names for Athena are Pallas Athena (Greek), Minerva (Roman) and Sulis (Celtic).

GEMSTONES
Moonstone, lapis lazuli, dark aquamarine, selenite

ORIGINS OF ATHENA

Greece
Zeus' favorite daughter, Athena was the beautiful warrior Goddess who stood guard over the ancient city of Athens. A goddess in whose honor was made an entire city, as well as temples and statues, not the least of which was the Parthenon. The most celebrated statue of the warrior Athena was that of the Parthenon, the work of Phidias. The Goddess, standing, wore a long chiton; her head was helmeted, her breast covered with the aegis (body plate with head of Medusa), her right hand rested against a spear and in her left hand she held a winged Victory (Nike-goddess of victory).

In addition to her undisputed supreme qualities of wisdom, intelligence and warrior prowess, she was adopted as the patron of the arts and craftspeople of Athens, and her brave swordsmanship made her an inspiration to the military forces. Athena's grace and intelligence and wisdom were underlying qualities to her immense courage and strength.

Athena's functions are many: she is venerated among the great divinities for her qualities of warrior-Goddess, Goddess of the arts of peace and Goddess of prudent intelligence. To Athena the warrior - her oldest manifestation - belong the epithets Promachos ('who fights in the foremost ranks') and Alalcomeneis ('who repulses the enemy'). She is the protectress of towns and the guardian of acropolises. The pacific Athena protects various industries. She is preeminently the Ergane, or working woman, and is the patron of architects and sculptors, as well as of spinners and weavers. The olive tree owed to her its fruit. Her wisdom, which earned her the epithet Pronoia (the Foreseeing), made her the counselor-Goddess (Boulaia) and the Goddess of the Assembly (Agoraia). Athena's emblem is the owl. She is often depicted as well with sword, shield, aegis, serpent, armor, helmet and at times Nike, the goddess of victory.

There are two stories pertaining to Athena which may have earned her the misnomer of being considered a "man's goddess". The stories respectively of Arachne and Medusa (the Gorgon), depict Athena striking both of these women with horrible curses which contribute to their demise. An interesting way to interpreted these stories (and others) is to recognize that archetypally Athena may be reminding us to accept the parts of ourselves which we deem to be our weaknesses and that potentially by eradicating them instead of integrating them we may be contributing to our own demise metaphorically speaking. It could also be relating to our need to support other women in our life and to accept their support, as well as to more fully embrace the divine feminine inside of ourselves.

Rome
Minerva, the Roman virgin goddess of warriors, poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, crafts, and the inventor of music, was equated with the Greek Athena. She is the daughter of Jupiter (whose Greek counterpart is Zeus), and in much the same way as Athena, sprang as a adult from her father's head wearing armor and bearing weapons. Minerva is usually depicted wearing a coat of chain mail and a helmet, and carrying a spear. As Minerva Medica she is the patroness of physicians. She is thought to be of Etruscan origin, as the goddess Menrva or Menerva. As her Greek counterpart, Minerva has 2 symbols, the olive tree and the owl.

Celtic
In Celtic lore Athena/Minerva's equivalent is Sulis. Sulis was a goddess of healing who ruled over the remarkable hot spring beside the river Avon near Bath (Aquae Sulis). She was not only a water deity, but her name Sulis is obviously linked with the sun, probably related to the heat of the waters. Thus she represents 2 of the elements, water and fire. Her association with Minerva may have related with the craft of healing. According to mythologists, the shrine of Sulis Minerva at Bath provides a superb example of the hybridization of Roman and Celtic religious beliefs and practices of the times.

July Gathering: Kali Maa

July 17th, Friday 6:30pm

Join us for this sacred gathering to honor the Goddess energies that are available for us to work with. This month we are working with the Mother Goddess Kali Maa, the divine, compassionate liberator.

Kali comes from the Sanskrit root word Kal which means time. There is nothing that escapes the all-consuming march of time and Kali can help you step out of time to heal and empower your life. In Tibetan Buddhism Her counterpart is male with the name Kala. Mother Kali is the most misunderstood of the Hindu goddesses. The Encyclopedia Britannica is grossly mistaken in the following quote, "Major Hindu goddess whose iconography, cult, and mythology commonly associate her with death, sexuality, violence, and, paradoxically in some of her later historical appearances, motherly love."

It is partly correct to say Kali is a goddess of death as She brings the death of the ego as the illusory self-centered view of reality. Nowhere in the Hindu stories is She seen killing anything but demons nor is She associated specifically with the process of human dying like the Hindu god Yama (who really is the god of death). It is true that both Kali and Shiva are said to inhabit cremation grounds and devotees often go to these places to meditate. This is not to worship death but rather it is to overcome the I-am-the-body idea by reinforcing the awareness that the body is a temporary condition. Shiva and Kali are said to inhabit these places because it is our attachment to the body that gives rise to the ego. Shiva and Kali grant liberation by removing the illusion of the ego. Thus we are the eternal I AM and not simply the body.

Of all the forms of Devi, She is the most compassionate because She provides moksha or liberation to Her children. She is the counterpart of Shiva the destroyer. They are the destroyers of unreality. The ego sees Mother Kali and trembles with fear because the ego sees in Her its own eventual demise. A person who is attached to his or her ego will not be receptive to Mother Kali and she will appear in a fearsome form. A mature soul who engages in spiritual practice to remove the illusion of the ego sees Mother Kali as very sweet, affectionate, and overflowing with incomprehensible love for Her children.

Kali is the Kundalini energy that paralyses the attachments produced by the solar and lunar currents. This attachment causes fear of death. In the ignorant ones she creates fear, while for others Kali removes the avidya (ignorance) that makes us fear death, the basic insecurity of the First Chakra , a fear rooted in the brain stem or primitive brain.

In her fierce form, Ma Kali wears a garland of skulls and a skirt of dismembered arms because the ego arises out of identification with the body. In truth we are beings of spirit and not flesh. So liberation can only proceed when our attachment to the body ends. Thus the garland and skirt are trophies worn by Her to symbolize having liberated Her children from attachment to the limited body. She holds a sword and a freshly severed head dripping blood. As the story goes, this represents a great battle in which she destroyed the demon Raktabija. Her black skin represents the womb of the quantum unmanifest from which all of creation arises and into which all of creation will eventually dissolve. She is depicted as standing on Shiva who lays beneath Her with white skin (in contrast to Her black or sometimes dark blue skin). He has a blissful detached look. Shiva represents pure formless awareness sat-chit-ananda (being-consciousness-bliss) while She represents "form" eternally supported by the substratum of pure awareness.

The notion that Kali Maa is the goddess of death, sex and violence is simply utter nonsense. She is the goddess of enlightenment or liberation and what she destroys is ignorance and the over-inflated ego, nothing more. This may well include addictions and attachments. She is the quintessential Power Mother.

According to Hindu mythology we are now in Kali-Yuga being the fourth stage of the cosmic time frame. In this kali Yuga only Kali and Ganesh are the two divine forces which can effectively protect you against all evil forces. Invoking their power and bringing it forth from within ourselves is undoubtedly our final panacea.

The Upanishad quotes: "kalou kali vinayaka"
That is the reason why this Yuga is being called as "KALI-YUGA" i.e.,the Kali-Age,
the period ruled by Mother Kali. The Eternal Kali has the absolute control of the time element
governed by the cosmic belt. She is beyond Yugas and Vedas (sacred knowledge). Words are not sufficient to describe this divinity. We need not ask anything.She knows our need. Mother Kali will bless the devotees with all the benefits sheerly by focusing upon and honoring her.
Kali brings:
1) All around success.
2) Abundant wealth.
3) Recovery from fear, misery and total ruin.
4) Complete destruction of enemies & evil forces.
5) Mental peace and ultimate salvation.


Click here to work with Mother Kali's Yantra and to learn more about working with Yantras.

When: July 17th, Friday 6:30pm
Where: Church of Spiritual Light, 1939 Park Meadows Dr., Unit 1, Ft. Myers, Fl 33907
Cost: $10
Call: Renee at 239-560-6314 to RSVP
(Please bring any old magazines, greeting cards, imagery or cutouts that you may have.)

Down the Rabbit Hole:
Kali Ma & Super Massive Black Holes
Mother's MultiplicityKali Desktop Wallpaper
Kali Mantra Audio
Shri Maa

How To Work with Yantra's

Yantra: Vedic Power Symbols
(Image: Kali's Yantra)

Yantra literally means "instrument". A Yantra is a geometric design acting as a highly efficient tool for contemplation, concentration and meditation. Yantras carry spiritual significance, and point the user to higher levels of consciousness.

The Yantra provides a focal point that is a window into the absolute. When the mind is concentrated on a single, simple object (in this case a Yantra), the mental chatter ceases. Eventually, the object is dropped when the mind can remain empty and silent without help. In the most advanced phases, it is possible to attain union with God by the geometric visualization of a Yantra.

At the basis of Yantra operation is something called "shape energy" or "form energy". The idea is that every shape emits a very specific frequency and energy pattern. Examples of old believes in shape energy are the Yantras and mandalas of eastern philosophies, the star of David, the five pointed star (pentagon), the Christian cross, the pyramids and so on. Certain 'powers' are ascribed to the various shapes. Some have 'evil' or negative energies and some 'good' or positive energies, but in Yantra Yoga only the benefic and harmonious energies are used.

When one focuses on a Yantra, his mind is atomatically "tuned in" by resonance into the specific form energy of that Yantra. The process of resonance is then maintained and amplified. The Yantra acts only as a "tune in" mechanism or a doorway. The subtle energy does not come from the Yantra itself, but from the macrocosm.

Basically Yantras are secret keys for establishing resonance with the benefic energies of the macrocosm. Very often the Yantras can put us in contact with extremely elevated energies and entities, being of invaluable help on the spiritual path.

Kali Maa Mula Mantra: Om Hring Shring Kring Parameswari Kalike Svaha

Source: About.com/Hinduism
By Horia Cristescu & Dan Bozaru

What is the Divine Femine?

I have been actively celebrating, studying and seeking the Divine Feminine principle for several years and it has been one of the most empowering and inspiring things I have done. I feel that this path has led me to a deeper understanding of who I am as a woman, but more than that, it has opened my eyes to see how vital the opposing forces of masculine and feminine energies are in our life. They ARE the driving force of creation.

When we take the personal energies and romantic notions out of our perceptions of these forces it allows us to gain a whole new perspective on yin/yang, masculine/feminine, active/passive, projective/receptive, light/dark, and finally man/woman. And we begin to understand how one simply could not exist without the other. Of course this nugget of truth is modeled for us in the most poignant way in the creation of our children.

The acceptance of both of these energies with equal importance is something most of us have a good deal of resistance to. Mostly because we have emotional baggage and biases lurking in our psyche that we have attached to one or the other. And so it is very, very important to our deepest happiness and fulfillment to look into that resistance and see how this may in fact be keeping us from ourselves.

The lock and key symbology is everywhere, even within our own bodies. The Divine Feminine and Masculine are no less important to the grand scheme of things. Coming into oneness with both the masculine and feminine energies within ourselves and all around us opens the gateways to our highest levels of creativity, passion, love and abundance in all things. Understanding how to weave these energies together is where the fun begins.

If you're interested in exploring this topic, please post!