The Notre Dame Cathedral has quite a bit of reflection brewing among the collective. From my indigenous friends complaining how funds can easily be employed for a European monument but funds to protect nature and indigenous sacred land remain a debate, to essentially people getting annoyed stating "bigger" issues in the world, everyone appears to be vomiting some sort of issue these days. Nonetheless, it's the purge, a return to look at the way we have viewed each other, ourselves, and a constant return to look at old ways. In the U.S., wikileaks has taught me, most would rather eat-up the roughly six (6) corporate owned propaganda machine and keep their conditioned-ways of perceiving the world, then assess the actual truth. Go vote, while those you vote for slaughter the courageously honest. Give up your guns, with the police armed more than the military (look at Ferguson under Obama) and a Trump CEO-President where conservatives do not understand that running a government like a business is a dictatorship. Couch-potato liberty, so long as there is a boogey man to blame, and a neurologically conditioned sensory hungry human vessel, which has no idea how to harness the sexual-creative force, mass-media images are under the guidance of exactly how to satiate the human vessel, as well as invoke emotions to manipulate the human psyche. The early Romans knew how to use sports, creating the stadium as a way to distract the public from the failings of an empire. Your business men, your marketers, your religious spiritualists, understand Neuro-Linguistic Programming ("NLP") and the Law of Attraction at the occult level. Sheep are easily programmed, that's why some of us prefer the Goat! 

Yes, I'm in the camp that holds Notre Dame Cathedral special to me, as a student of the esoteric studies and overall, some of the most stunning art. My family visited London/Paris back around 2002, where the only main destination that I had chosen on that trip was Notre Dame Cathedral. I made my family walk to see this thing, including some of our more elderly. As like most Gothic Cathedrals specifically designed under esoteric studies, you enter the womb of the Goddess with it's many folds and gorgeous flower above the entrance. But not everyone can enter the domain of the Goddess, so you have Gargoyles protecting the premises, just as Goddess Chamunda has her bhutas. I still have a gargoyle candle holder purchased in Paris protecting my personal altar, so yes, Notre Dame is a bit more for me than a simple visit. It was a stepping stone on my development, and the memory of lighting a candle for the Divine Mother to bless the organization and all of her devotees, parishioners, and children (all that is), feels like a twist in my heart. Yes, it is a dark history, but a mystery that I loved unraveling during the age of Pisces, when one can step outside the egoic-story and see the world as a pretty cool "Game of Thrones" (The Mother of Dragons is a Dragon Herself!). Though I'll proudly admit that I'm more on the "Da Vinci Code" end, I will also suggest that the fire-burn may have been to remove certain esoteric hints. This is an organization that houses one of the largest libraries on the planet, but expects the rest of the planet to bow before one heavily edited book. ​

Given that Catholicism still holds derivative roots in the Roman traditions (Greek-Egypt, etc), where the Jesus story has been catered to follow the dying Solar God (Osiris), a natural phenomena of the Sun dying on Winter Solstice (Saturnalia) and rising again to bloom around Spring. Not all early Christians believed Jesus was crucified, not all early Christians believed Jesus actually existed (was a metaphor), and definitely not all early Christians agreed with the creator gods where the Serpent actually brought the Truth. The Roman empire understood the occult grounds of tapping into the astral realms (Yesod) to effect the material realms (Malkuth). Hence, the use of angels, "ascended" saints, and of course, Mother Mary remained in Catholicism. 

​The derivatives of Catholicism have further removed the feminine aspects, maybe due to occult reasons. As evidenced by John Dee and Queen Elizabeth, the early Anglican Church was not a stranger to occult sciences as well. In actuality, just as it is stupid not to study your business competitors, it is stupid not to study your alleged enemy. Astrology, Alchemy, and other such original sciences were practiced in both the Catholic and Angelican churches, but banned because such tools were used against each other in the push for religious dominance. Hence, demonize such tools for the masses instead of outright forbidding such practices, which would actually creates an attraction emotion, is a tactic to keep such tools in the hands of only the elite. Remember, the Catholic Church did try to control global time and astrological effects by and through the production of the unnatural and unharmonious Gregorian calendar. Some organizations exist to simply create disorder (chaos), such as the Jesuits, in order to move individuals into occult-egregore institutions and/or to push for a global ascension by and through a global "dark night of the soul". Heavens cause stagnation and indigency, Hells push evolution and growth. Creator gods teach form, to further trap you into a form (heaven), while the Destroyer gods teach you to look behind the form to the formless (Apokalpsis; Form depends on the illusion of time and space).  

Nonetheless, the feminine is a necessity for proper occult practices and spiritual development. Above the entry to the astral realms (Yesod) is the ability to harness the will (Hod; Masculine) usually conducted through ceremonial rituals which alter consciousness. Nonetheless, it is the emotional and fluid, the intuitive feeling (Netzach; feminine) which ensouls the the ceremonial rituals (Hod) for such astral workings to manifest on the material plane (Malkuth). Hence, to remove the "feminine" is to remove one's spiritual abilities, paving the way for a hierarchical control systems by and through a religious middle man system. The feminine (Binah), is an aspect of the One consciousness (Kether) as it flows into manifestation (Malkuth), subjugation of such only hinders one's abilities, and ensues patriarchal psychological conditionings embedded in both genders. Each individual holds both nadis as the ida (feminine) and pingala, (masculine), androgynous as Adam-Lilith Kadmon or Ardhanarishvara, where it appears based on the tantras, that one gender archetype tends to take the role of teaching the other gender archetype during differing yugas, as both are balanced until inner completion. In occult-spiritualists practices, such includes sexual-alchemy of using sexual hormones to shift already altered consciousness for actual gnosis-communion with the divine, which can often be mistaken as physical sexual union. Sadly, the closest state to higher gnosis the average individual may experience is that of the sexual orgasm, or the "la petit la mort" where the egoic-story and egoic-persona are "dead" for a momentary glimpse beyond the world of forms. Hence, sex has always been sacred and a means to commune with the divine. Such is found through the early Protestant group, the Moravians, where Jesus' wound from the "spear of destiny" was viewed as a vagina, while the sexually straight male and female adept could all be in courtship with Jesus, rendering many mystical experiences. Mystics such as William Blake were heavily influenced from such traditions. (Schuchard, Marsha Keith, William Blake's Sexual Path to Spiritual Vision.). The Catholic Nun is considered a bride of Christ, is she not?

Constantine's intent, three-hundred (300+) years after the life of Jesus (Essene as called by the Jews, as they were Gentiles) during the times of the Creed of Nicea, is still unclear on whether he was a convert, or strategists who found a way to save the failing Roman empire. Nonetheless, the differentiation between Catholicism and Gnostic teachings/texts is quite clear, where much of Christian colorings have little to do with Jesus, but have been usurped from many other traditions. Such includes the definitions of an afterlife, where Jesus described very little. The Kingdom of Heaven (Kether; Father/Self-Realization) being within you (Tiphareth; Communion with the Holy Gaurdian Angel), where Heaven is described as having "many mansions" feels more like a multi-dimensional consciousness (Astral Realms). In addition, Constantine's vision was of the symbol "Chi Rho" which paved the way for his conversion, which actually looks more like an "x" not the "t"-sign. In fact, it would be much easier to crucify on an "x" as opposed to a "t", where the "t"-cross was another adopted symbol. Why would the Romans inconvenience themselves for a punishment, and how does a body not slide of a cross? Christian education terribly tried answering these questions. Growing up surrounded by religions, I've truly felt like the self-hating Jew in the film The Believer, where fanatical belief systems that lead to oppression will create the Aleister Crowleys and Anton LaVeys in the world. The Roman Church may have been an early attempt to usurp the traditions of two groups they did not care for, the Jewish tradition and Gnostic Christianity, in order to continue the Roman empire. Not something new, as the Romans essentially ripped/merged their tradition from the Greco-Egyptian, and further made themselves blameless as Pontius Pilate washed his bloody hands.   

In truth, the incredible history of Italy is the reason why the early Catholic Church would need to be cut-throat, as Italy was invaded from all directions and still holds an interesting history that should beg any proper historian to look into secret societies. The corporate structure of the Church influenced global economics, but yet certain positions of power breed arrogance, especially when doctrinal rule is done by religious divine right not just as a messenger, but where the leader was to be considered an incarnation of the divine. Hence, the history of the Knights of the Templars (possibly early Freemasons) who broke bread with Muslim mystical hash dealers who taught them about the idea (not the image) of Baphomet. Hash being a conduit to the astral realms (Hod; symbolized by peyote), warriors from cults including the Order of Hashashin (Assassins), Knights Templars, to the secret Roman Mithraic (derived from Persian Avesta; also found in Indian Vedas), all held secret practices where removal of such in the hands of outsiders would be necessary to continue the existence of the Church. In other words, continue to get rid of the heretics as well as any traces of their history and existence, to keep the masses eating up the religious propaganda machine. ​

On the flip-side, the Roman Catholic Church is so much more than simply a political organization seeking tithing, future generations of parishioners (anti-homosexuality), and mass-control as providing religious laws to individuals eating up punitive "blind-faith" belief systems as opposed to understanding the dynamics of karma. Though certain individuals, such as Mother Theresa, held severe racially-ethnocentric and religious superiority programming as evidenced by non-Christian witnesses, where religious threats of hell dictated her conduct, St. Francis of Assisi is well-loved globally as the truth pervaded his being and even influenced the animal kingdom. That same truth, I felt through the Sisters and Padres of my high school. I still remember President Bush (W) bringing us to war, and our celibate Sister Jan holding a picture of an Israeli-Palestine couple deep in a kiss surrounded by war, stating with pride in her face, "isn't this the most beautiful picture you have ever seen". This elderly, exquisitely gentle Sister also stated, "if we are to fight over the Holy Land, then no one should have it, God should take it away from us!". I also remember Sister Pat, though a bit on the "aggressive" end, looking at a picture of Buddhist monks deep in meditation stating, "isn't that beautiful, look at that dedication, same God, different technique".  I have found such to be true in studying St. John of the Cross, who coined the term "dark (k)night of the soul". Again, "same God, different technique". So yes, I do love the Catholic tradition and her many mysteries, as well as my Catholic family. Like Ramakrishna, I find the same gnosis in every religion that I study, including the Left Hand Path. But, there is a difference between politics and spirituality, where much of the world has yet to consciously separate the two to properly discern spiritual truths over elite control mechanisms. 

Hence, such Qabalist understandings define not just major religions, but show that religions are rooted in Indigenous Shamanism. Moreover, the size of a religion which stresses "hell" and "demons" may be adding more issues into the astral realms, which the adept may need to navigate around for proper manifestation in moving down the tree (Malkuth) and for ascension moving up the tree at least to Tiphareth. ​

Jesus himself was one such adept as shown through his time in the Judea desert, being tempted by his own issues further evoked by astral parasitic egregores. By looking for the Kingdom of Heaven within (not with Pharisees and Sadducees), one first achieves communion with one's own holy Self at Tiphareth. Such an adept who has attained communion is considered the Son of God, as such an adept can show you the way and the truth to bring you back home to realizing our true Self at Kether. Finding consciousness outside of material realms of forms, and into the formless, to identity with the space between the atoms as opposed to the atoms themselves, to realize that which perceives through me is the same One that perceives through you, a multifaceted diamond with each individual face brilliantly shining to support the One (Yin/Yang not Light vs. Dark) is what the Qabalists (Pillar of Severity/Mercy), Hermeticists, Tantrics, Vedantics, Gnostics, Sufis, and Taoists taught. 

People that have disclosed such information have been historically persecuted as it goes against religious doctrine aka control mechanisms. I face the same worry, as I still remember the looks, smirks, and comments I got from the patrons of the same Catholic high school post 9-11, something odd given my background, but not odd understanding the psychology of conditioned minds where many in the U.S think India is in Africa. Or, how about when I used to secretly wear (shamefully, intentionally hide) my Shiva pendant at my Protestant elementary, understandable since Shiva is basically a guy holding a trident with a snake around his neck. Well, my beloved Kali-Mahavidya-Sophia has taught me that the word (tongue; Goddess Vak) is mightier than the sword. Should I be seen as Frankenstein's monster, all I can remember is the pain I felt when offering tobacco at the cemetery-smashan in front of the Church of sacred Wounded Knee, remembering Black Elk Speaks, the Ghost Dance, and the words, "Hokahey, Today is a Good Day to Die!". Yes, it is the masculine Osiris that dies. But don't forget that it was through Goddess Isis that we are reborn and we bloom. Just as Shiva suffered the pain of his chopped-up Sati, so I to understand Devi Isis' pain, where Osiris' Phallus is a reminder of the Divine Masculine and of the Crucified Rose. Though, I do not believe it was Set, as the lawyer is typically blamed with the client. 

In relieving my personhood, I do wish everyone a Blessed Ishtar (Ashera for the Semitic traditions; Bhuvan-Aswari for the Tantrik; Inanna, the original dying/resurrecting Goddess) and thank you Soul-Family for helping me speak up, as I am inspirited as you speak and live your truth. We are in this together, externally and internally, for there has never been separation other than what our monkey-mind has told us. I am pushing to love more and more outside of me beyond the internal cocktail dribble of serotonin and dopamine, as I learn to accept, love, and empower what is inside of me, including my shadow self. This memorial piece was an emotional roller-coaster for me as I dig deeper into my own truth. Thank you for reading. ​

The literature on the Navadurga ceremony thus found is quite simple. There's very little to gather from online sources, and my ever-increasing personal library (including puranas, tantras, etc.,) still lacks proper depth. Nonetheless, the information and experiences gathered affect my perspective, one that is quite different than traditional standards. Below is my discovery, sentiments, and intuition leaving me with a drastically different picture and personal practice as compared to traditional religion. In deciphering through our history, I've had to take constant note that, truth is more important than egoic-cultural colorings, for an actual seeker.  

 (Navadurga mimics the Christ ascension timeline. However, in Essene-Yogic and other mystic traditions, Jesus was not the full vessel of the Holy Spirit (Spirit: Sanskrit "Atma" meaning "consciousness"; Greek "Psyche" meaning "Spirit") yet, where Jesus still had to face his own egoic-identity issues embedded in his subconscious, while practicing meditation in the Judaean Desert. Similarly, just like Siddharta Gautama sitting under a regular tree, and just like Mohammed who simply astral projected to the vibration of the Archangel, sensory deprivation that moves the mind away from material existence alters consciousness. Meditators will find it easy to grasp this concept, where have you ever had a thought tempt you out of "stillness", especially an enticing one produced by Maya or the Devil? In terms of an actual Christian practice, "what would Jesus do" to find the "kingdom of heaven within"?  What about John the Baptist, the guy born near the Dead Sea Scrolls, who would practice cleansing rituals that were strange for the cultural-religious region, but looks a lot like being cleansed in the Ganges​. (See Jodi Magness Ph.d, The Holy Land Revealed)? Are we today following modern Pharisees and Sadducees, or are we connected by following his way, his truth, and his life?

Why would Jesus, Siddharta Gautama (contemporary of the Saiva Saint, Makkhali Gosala), and Mohammed practice "stillness" of mind? Most understand karma as the way one conducts themselves in the world. But before one decides to act, one must make a decision to act. Such often entails analysis running through psychological conditioning for one to make a decision. "Stillness" ceases that analysis and aligns one within the flow of our higher expression, or soul-expression, should one's chakra system be clear of psychological blockages. Really, an adept must ask, "how does one actually find, 'the kingdom of heaven within' without sorting through the clutter of the mental psyche"? Cleansing of the chakra system, like the Tibetans' Rainbow Lightbody practice studied by the Roman Catholics and Nazis (First Reich meets Third Reich), is how one becomes the pure vessel for the Holy "Consciousness-Spirit".  (No offense is intended, where my life has been blessed by both the Protestant and Catholic Church; Studying Nazi occultism taught me not to trust the history books that are void of "secret societies").

Therefore, Navadurga is the ascension timeline teaching an adept how to evolve consciousness from an individuated ego identity to cosmic-supra consciousness ("Brahman"; "Kether"; "Unity Consciousness";"God") and thereafter beyond consciousness ("ParaBrahman"; "Above Kether"; "Ragnarok"; Void after Nirvana; the Womb of God) into what can only be described in human terms as the other side of the "black hole". She is the teacher of multidimensional consciousness, while the adept remains grounded in material existence by and through the human vessel. 

In a conversation with my late uncle (Hindi: "Daada"), Mr. Jag Narayan, who had always taught us to look for the "higher philosophy" in challenging the pundit status quo, he told me about his childhood experiences with my great-grandfather, a tantrik adept whose three sons by their karmic natures were not ready to handle the blessings of tantra. Born in the late 30s, my uncle grew up in a time where the best he could do to learn scriptures, was to secretly look over the pundit's shoulders as the pundit would read from sacred texts. In the age of information, we have no excuse. 

Before his passing, in conversation with Dr. Ol Doinyo Laetoli le Baaba, or as we called him, "Kali Baaba", he had said to me and my family, "out of all of the religions that I have studied, Hinduism has the most esoteric sciences to offer the public. However, there is a lot of undoing that needs to be done". Though the Mother's name has been on my tongue since I was a child, Baaba's words left me with the inclination to discover the archetypal truths beyond cultural, societal, and religious conditioning. Little did I know at that time, but Baaba's few words had the impact of beginning the deconstruction of my own psychology. My Daada taught me to raise my consciousness, Baaba taught me to liberate it. 

Based on my research beginning with the few handful of authors Baaba recommended including David Kinsley's immense research, I'm part of the camp that believes the Goddess traditions are heavily more Tribal than Vedic-Aryan. Such includes ceremonies that are contrary to traditional Vedic rituals most likely influenced around the medieval ages with puritanical, patriarchal, and prejudicial leanings against certain practices. The continued prejudice and editing is evidenced today, shown through Professor B.N. Shastri's introduction to his Kalikapurana, where he discusses the disdain he received for not limiting the 'tantrik' elements of the text, a widespread practice throughout Indian puranic literature. Though Hinduism stresses "in search of truth", the banning of controversial books and authors is a common occurence, including banning D.N. Jha's book Holy Cow; Beef in Indian dietary traditions, as well as issues with brilliantly challenging authors like Wendy Doniger, who wrote The Hindus; An Alternative History. The axiom reside, "can one handle the truth", with the amount of psychological conditioning religion, culture, and traditions have embedded into our ancestral DNA, much of human psychology may simply be cognitive dissonance.  

Relevant here is a Goddess who seems to fit a more puritanical standard. Her current archetypal symbology shows a lack of a consort (chastity, purity, etc.), in addition she is armed by the weapons of the male deities, in her service of helping the male deities fight a demon. Therefore, she is the pacified lioness, where the feminine archetype is reduced to simply the all loving nurturing mother who is appropriate since she is helping men as opposed to standing on one. Hence, the extreme stress on the domesticated cow archetype, a remnant of Pashupati-Mithraic bull worship representing Taurus. Not to say there is anything wrong with the "domesticated cow " archetype, as the Egptian Hathor archetype lovingly saves the world from burning up from the Sun, she also unconditionally nurtures humanity as expressed by individuals such as Anandamayi Ma and Amma-ji, individuals embodying the mother-archetype who offer themselves to humanity despite religious creed and fears of hell, who will move beyond the body with a pure conscious. Nonetheless, it denies the lioness, the proper pedestal the Goddess deserves, her vahana as shown through the other aspect of Hathor as Goddess Sekhmet. Brahma is the creator of traditions and culture according to the Hindu tradition. But one must not forget that Saraswati does not sit by his side, as much as modern tradition tries to put the two (2) together. The Eastern archetypes of Brahma and Saraswati are quite similar to that of the Western Abraham and Sarah, but probably best explained by and through the Gnostic Ialdabaoth and Pistis Sophia (On the Origin of the World, Nag Hammadi Scriptures), gnostic texts that are likely much older than either prior traditions as found with the Dead Sea Scrolls.  

As typically found in researching any religion, the modern interpretation is an evolution of past ancestral understandings, including the archetype that we know today as Durga. Essentially, Durga would be a Goddess ripe to pluck for synchronization into the warrior based Vedic-Aryan system, given her shakti is being "invincible", a potent quality for war. This form of synchronization can then be further expressed through other Goddesses and Gods into the modern religion we know as Hinduism. The cults of Sri Sodashi and Mayon appear to be a drastic influence on the evolution of what may have been just a simple charioteer known as Krishna, as described in the earliest editions of the Mahabharata currently found. Lakshmi appears to be originally Kubera's attendant, a tribal Yakshini related to Ravana's Rakini's, quite how she ended up on Visnu's side is unknown outside of simplistic puranic lore. Lastly, we have the extremely esoteric Matrkas-Mothers where Goddesses are blended with the archetypes of their Vahanas-Familiars, showing Goddess in her terribly terrific forms as the 64 Yogini High-Priestesses or sky-dancing (dakini) "witches" which has caused issues with cultural surroundings.  

Nonetheless, the traditions of these groups which may currently fall under the broader context of modern Saivism, as organized and "cleaned-up" by Abhinavagupta, are in conflict with the Vedic-Aryan adaptation of Vaishnavisim. India has produced many philosophical schools, including Adi Shankara's practice of attaining oneness, known as Advaita, quite similar to the Western Hermetic tradition of Self discovery. Nonetheless, as a stepping stone, Dvaita-Vedanta (dualist schools) also arose to help those achieve Advaita, by using a deity to guide one into oneness, the formless. In summary, Dvaita Vedanta typically teaches that the "soul" and "God" are two separate things where the soul must evolve into Spirit, whereas, Advaita Vedanta is the experience that there is only one consciousness. Nonetheless, such dualist schools have broken off from Advaita, leading to belief systems that plague the astral realms of heavens and hells through "thought-forms" known as egregores. (See Stavish, Mark, Egregores; The Occult Entities That Watch Over Human Destiny). For pure Advaita practices without cultural coloring, properly articulated to get to the point and effectively direct consciousness, I recommend Bentinho Massaro, who also best articulates the law of attraction. To further ground Advaita in order to be "psychologically-empty" and in the moment, to be the observer Self as opposed to the mind-body that molds itself to external or thought stimuli, Mooji Baba does not fail. 

Further, those who attain Advaita to a certain degree are typically worshiped as having attained unity consciousness, where the then "Guru" becomes one with the disciples to further such connections through kundalini awakenings and activations, such as Swami Nithyananda, who has stated, "I am not here to tell you that I am God, I am here to tell you, that you are God!". Such sentiments are often expressed by Self realized beings, who like the Mughal Emperor Akbar, who sought the blessings of Self Realized Sufi saints, cheekily coined the phrase "Allahu Akbar-Allah is the Greatest". Though I feel Mooji Baba says it best, where in summation he states "I am here to show you who are, beyond what you think you are". 

In Saivism, an adept is to find a "Guru" who has attained "Shiva" or "Unity" consciousness. Guru being two (2) words Gu-Ru, where "Gu" means "ignorance", and "Ru" means to "destroy" as in "Rudra-Shiva". Should an adept fail in finding such a siddha-achiever of the highest level in physical form, one is to take the name of the Divine Mother Kali, as spoken of Abhinavagupta in the Saiva Magnum Opus, the Sri Tantraloka. In the practice of developing an egregore, the ability of human intellect to embedded quite a bit of "coloring" to a deity "thought form" to allow that deity to evolve is a common tantrik practice, as found in the Vajra-Yogini practice as described by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, in his Guide to Dakini Land. Hence, Kali being embedded with quite possibly the highest shakti, making her "Adi"-First Shakti. Kali being Adi is proper, where Shiva as consciousness needs the fiery passion of Kali as matter in order to desire to engage the material universes, where in invoking Kali has the effect of destroying everything in the adepts life that is not pure Shiva. The romantic dance of the Cosmos. However, Kali also brings the Consciousness-Shiva out of the transient Cosmos as a Corpse-Shava, understood by the pop-culture reference of the film Spinal Tap where if the dance of Shiva-Shakti is a  typical guitar amplifier with maximum setting at "Ten (10)", Kali "goes to Eleven (11)". The return from such Self discovery at "Eleven (11)" produces the psychological Taoist balance of the yin-yang hemispheres of the brain, where such as the Netflix series The Stranger Things, a character named "Eleven (11)" holds psychic multidimensional viewing abilities produces "supernatural" phenomena. In addition, the name "Eleven (11)" holds further significance as an ancient Mesopotamian  deity "El" still found in derivative traditions, such as the word "Ang(El)", which is converted to "Al" for the Arabic tongue. 

The archetypal Vishnu provides order to the Chaos. He would be the highest Kairos to the Cosmos. Visnu established a hierarchy cocooning process and status to achieve meant to assist humanity's evolving consciousness. However, with advanced philosophy in the hands of evolving humans, such has created caste and a lack of gender neutrality where the generous Goddess Lakshmi seems to be in a perpetual state of massaging Visnu's feet, as further expressed metaphorically through the archetype of Sita. Lakshmi, as a Yaksini and an adept embodying the shakti of "Sri", Lakshmi is identifed with the pinnacle of Mt. Meru under the sacred geometry of the Sri Yantra, where She is simply the Bhoga-Enjoyment after the Visnu oversoul accomplished his Yogic Sadhana. Nonetheless, such archetypes, when not appropriately interpreted, conditions the consciousness of the masses, placing the feminine as a passive nurturing servant to the masculine. Hence, Hinduism historical patriarchal underpinnings are deeply rooted, where women are still viewed as inferior, shuffled into an oppressive caste state named after the Vedic-Aryan word for color-varna, a categorization system created by a group who "integrated" with the Dasyus-dark skinned, flat nosed people. Such evolving human understandings has created further "separation", disguised as Bhakti Yoga in our global traditions, when the purpose of duality was to strengthen the heart chakra to awaken the high heart and move into nonduality. It is to learn to love God first, who through God we learn to love ourselves and recognize our Self, not get fanatical about dogma.   

Unlike Visnu under specifically dualistic schools-davaita vedanta, Siva is beloved by all of creation, including its "Chaotic" aspects. There is no hierarchy, there is just oneness which then leads to further transcendence where the Divine Mother takes one into what can only be described in human language as the void, the womb of creation. Where Visnu who with two (2) eyes represents the height and beauty of transient existence, Siva with three (3) eyes represents "in this world, but not of it". In the beautiful Yoruba tradition invoking energies known as Orishas, Siva (or Sadashiva as interpreted in Saivism) would be similar to Eledumare, who doesn't really involve itself with transient existence, thought it pervades it. There are intermediaries, the wonderful Orishas, who are essentially angelic in guiding the adept into higher consciousness as well as helping with transient material issues. Therefore like many shamanic traditions, Shiva is the yogic-meditative tradition of moving your consciousness beyond the material form, then the astral forms, into the void of Self-discovery.  

Returning to the Goddess, most tribal Goddesses in India with the knack for blood are synchronized with Kali, who then is synchronized with the Vedic-Puranic-Upanisad "Kalaratri" giving this archetypal Goddess a more profound philosophical understanding. As Kala-Kali represent the space-time continuum that creates our existence known as the grand-illusion (Mahamaya), Kali is the aspect of time that chips away at the moment. However, in invoking the archetype Kali, like the adept Shiva, you do not ask to return to egoic-creation (Brahma) by and through thoughts, but to Self-discovery found through stillness.  Like the western Goddess Lilith who did not fall with Adam, but matched the divine vibration through mantra bringing her back to the "All-Father" removing her from material existence. Hence, Kali-Lilith is the "daemon" (Greek meaning supernatural beings between God and humans) mother and slayer where she can support your ego as the nurturing mother (maya) or detach you from egoic transient existence while you can still play (lila) in the illusion (Mahamaya). (See Karlsson, Thomas, Qabalah, Qliphoth, and Goetic Magic). An archetype similarly expressed is with the Goddess Hekate as found through the Chaldean Oracles.  

Similarly in Western traditions, angels provide the same shakti-gnosis in occult practices, as found in the practice of John Dee's "Enochian Magick". As a devout Christian with piety practices in the late 1500s, and the occultist to the Protestant Queen Elizabeth, John Dee was not seeking Eastern religion, nor a Goddess. Nonetheless, from the practice of "Angelic Magick", angels take on a dual coloring where "demons" may simply be just obstacles assisting in the cocooning growth process of consciousness, which then leads one to the Mother of all that is, most likely the Book of Revelations Whore of Babylon. Firstly, one must understand patriarchy. A Mother who creates all that is will be labelled a whore, just as a high-priestess will be labelled a witch. As evidence, humanity does not appear to be holding the standard for Father-God creator. Hence, such patriarchal religions veil the Goddess into a passive "virgin", without understand that the esoteric symbol of "virginity" as being an unconditioned crystal clear consciousness. No doubt the practice of Enochian Magick dissolves egoic-conditioning and brings one to the Divine Mother, as has been my personal experience in working with the 30th Aethyr Call. (See Jason Louv). 

Nonetheless, patriarchy may have a reason to suppress the feminine, fear. As the Mother of all that is births all that is, it is through the feminine archetypes that we have the creation of the "shadow", as found through the Qabalist "Tree of Life" specifically the pillar of severity. (See the works of Lon Milo DuQuette and Dion Fortune).  From the pillar of severity do we have the creation of the Qliphoth. Though it is the left-hand qabalist path, Qliphoth simply means the bark on the tree of life. Hence, the qliphoth is simply ego in material existence. (See Karlsson, Thomas, Qabalah, Qliphoth, and Goetic Magic). The Divine Mother birthing the shadow is further explained in Gnostic Christianity, where Pistis Sophia engaged the process of know thyself engaging her shadow, where she thereafter plunged herself into the depths of matter to bring wisdom. (See Pistis Sophia) However, as Christ the Sophia, she needed help, Christ the Logos. Sophia is Greek meaning wisdom. Another name for Kali is Mahavidya, as she is a Great Wisdom Goddess. 

Like other tribal Goddesses, Durga and Chandi also fit the tribal Goddess archetype requiring blood sacrifices. "Harivanash purana (C. A.D.) mentions Durga as the vindhyavasini, dwelling in caves, rivers forests and the wind worshipped by savaras, barbaras and pulindas". [S.K. Tiwari, Tribal Roots of Hinduism p. 30]. From my occult studies, including those requiring animal sacrifice akin to halal meat, the two very obvious and practical ways to open portals between this world and the astral is through sex and death. Sex brings in "life-force", death takes out "life-force". Such allows objects to receive blessings known as prana-pathistha, creating objects of veneration known as amulets proven to be infused with the intended energy, as can be attested by clairsentients. Hence, the reason why practices are continually practiced, as these are not faith-based rituals, as religions based solely on faith are only applicable to well-conditioned minds. Such amulets infused with energies of the Orishas, Nagas, and Shakti, and practices such as yantra, mantra, mandala, are essentially portals, a transportation system to move one's vibration closer to that of the intended deity sprouted by vibrational seeds called bijas. Bijas bring "life" to Sanskrit verbiage, where logical interpretations are void compared to the intuitive experiences fulfilled once such seeds begin to sprout reverberating through one's cellular structure. Such is similarly true with natural objects, such as gemstones  that can make a clairsentient's head spin, recognizable when one is in stillness, no faith required.

Further, the Goddess traditions are specifically known for certain practices that are in opposition to puritanical standards, including the panchamakara. However, Shakti Sadhna affects the psyche and physique extremely differently, where one is not invoking a kind gentle compassionate energy, but the more terrifying and terrific forms to get the job of ego attachment dissolution done. These practices are to transcend the egoic attachments to transient existence, particularly through the cleansing of the heavy psychological constraints plaguing our central nervous system, as an adept will find in working with the chakra system. Ego attachment dissolution allows the ego-individuality to taste the liberation-moksha of Higher Self expression, where the wanderings-samsara are no longer on a psychologically conditioned karmic-habit wheel. Contrary to religious practice, ego-destruction is not humiliation disguised as humility before a hierarchical system, nor is it humiliating yourself before a deity. Surrender before a deity is allowing their energies to work with you, where humiliation by and through the law of attraction energies further separate the adept and object of veneration through vibrations of unworthy as opposed to equating a match. To invoke Shiva, one must be Shiva, Shivoham. 

Therefore, the adepts in these practices of invoking terrific forms of the Goddess are facing their fears, their attachments, from the position of the divine Mother herself, for healing. Hence, not your typical havan fire ritual, but an energetic experience which can be something quite odd to the ignorant observer. Hence, the consumption of grounding foods such as meat and alcohol, properly moving the Shakti-Prana "vital-life-force" throughout the body where the cleansed chakras have opened the adepts central nervous system, often through mediums such as sensual intimacy, bringing healing throughout the physique. Hence, panchamakara can be seen as the Bhoga-Enjoyment after Yoga. Simple vegetarian meals may not allow the adept to properly ground, when the adepts consciousness has been soaring beyond the body. In addition, an adept may find herself looking for reasons as to why one should come back. Such primal qualities including carnivorous and mating habits have been with humanity throughout known history, the tantriks just realized its spiritual aspects. Though spiritual communities are prevalent with anti-meat and anti-sex sentiments, such organizations fail to understand the purpose of yoga. For such individuals, I would recommend one of my favorite gurus who would in summation say, the problem isn't that you eat meat, the problem is that you identify-with and are attached-to the body that is eating the meat. (See Sri Sadguru Siddharameshwar Maharaj, Amrut Laya). Nonetheless, such indulgences should be done from the position of emotionally vibrant "mindfulness", where one can partake each moment with the ability to embed proper gratitude into the object of gratification. Such practices can be found through other examples, such as the Japanese tea ceremonies which prepare the consumer ritualistically to mindfully thoroughly enjoy the subtle nuances of tea, hence, the difference between indulgence and alchemy. 

Regarding the use of conscious altering intoxicants used throughout shamanic traditions, cannabis is particularly suitable as the plant of Shiva. Hence, from a mindful perspective, a yogi indulges cannabis the same way a shaman would indulge ayahuasca, particularly to add or activate DMT within the pineal gland for astral exploration as found through the works of the "psychedelic elders" such as Terence Mckenna and the philosopher Aldous Huxley who gave the band The Doors their title from his book, The Doors of Perception. Shiva as consciousness allows the adept to explore consciousness. On the other, Shakti as prakriti-matter, the material existence, gives us wine to attach us and delude us into material existence, her maya shakti. Hence, the reason why alcohol, meat, and sensuality, all objects that affect the hormonal (im)balance of the human body, may be ritualistically used to ground one back into material existence. One needs karmic-relevance in materiality for one to exist in materiality, and passionate desires can easily become a "karmic-relevance". Such explores the dual aspects of substance use, where such practices may be used to elevate or delude consciousness. Obviously, such practices are typically counter-culture driving such rituals to be hidden, something to note when considering what the hidden-essene cult was practicing for at least 350 years before Constantine "converted" and killed of the "heretics". (See the works of Edgar Cayce and Dolores Cannon in exploring the Essene further). As such, practices of attempting to attain higher consciousness may be widespread, such as the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Woman, who brought seven (7) sacred rites and the Sacred Pipe-Chanunpa to the blessed protectors of Mother Earth, the sharing of a subtle intoxicant to ground everyone onto the same conscious level for ceremonial intent. Essentially, you can choose to enter the kingdom within and be in Spirit, or create your empires and stories in the material realms of transient existence. Nonetheless, before one commits to external ritual with the potential for societal drama, one must consider a meditators sharpened awareness with the ability to pinpoint areas within the physique, and the use of a heightened "imagination" with the ability to conjure certain emotions and therefore release a hormonal cocktail for euphoria, one realizes that all gratifications are sourced from within, including new nuances not typically experienced from external stimuli. Simply, most minds are conditioned to seek such pleasures externally, further conditioning the ability to obtain such euphoria on external circumstances, when all of such really is a product of one's sensory consciousness. Therefore, the need for many practices in conflict with the surrounding culture, area actually best suited to be conducted internally, with the purpose of ceremonial ritual as simply stabilizing and serenading an active mind. 

On an intuitive level, such practices considered outside of "traditional" sensual boundaries, such as that of the founding Mormons, may be enacted with the understanding of "soul contracts", where from a Spirit "Not-Matter" level, sensuality is simply an exchange of information particularly when one is guided from the impulses of the heart, the divine will. Such practices will allow for karmic-soul expressions, which may be inhibited by following traditional standards forcing an adept to thereafter reincarnate to learn from such expression on a loop where the adept will most likely be reconditioned into continuing culture, further creating a dance on the wheel of samsara. Further, sensuality, particularly that of the sacral-connective-creative chakra, is the most culturally conditioned, where it appears ancient cultures viewed anything but bisexuality as odd holding drastically different "moral" standard for sexual expression. Such conditioning may be for practical purposes, where most ancient cultures have some form of incest including the Abraham-Sara bloodline continuation belief system similar to Egypt, where humans had to consciously evolve and condition consciousness to realize that incest produces genetic issues. Therefore, such practices are karmic-cleansing, with the goal of transcending one's animal nature in mind, not logical conscious development to navigate the material world. Nonetheless, such understanding of the conditioning of the human-consciousness, also shows conditioning in other areas based on cultural leanings, such as the conditioning into the human psyche of the male and female separate archetypes, where human psychological has shown to be anything but "black and white". However, one looking to "tantra" for sensual gratification needs to realize the psychological-meditative aspects and purpose of tantra, for sense objects have an incredible natural effect of "stilling" the mind making one "mindful" of the moment. However, one may need to pass through base desires in order to transcend such, bringing one back to one's Dharma, for bottled-up emotions and desires have a way of disturbing a mind attempting stillness, as some of our Master's have described.  

Nonetheless, through the evolution of human consciousness, today we have practices such as Kriya Yoga as taught by Yogananda and Yogiraj Siddhanath Satguru, as well as running Microcosmic/Marcosmic channels as taught by Mantak Chia and Dr. Jwing-Ming Yang, or the spiritualist movement who also runs channels as taught by one of my mentors Dr. Lauren Cielo (Golden Rose Psychic), and lastly Vianna Stibal's Theta-Healing. As a sidenote, when can debate the authenticity of a psychic reading, but a psychic teaching others to be "psychic" is another story where one cannot doubt their own experiences. The purpose of Kriya Yoga as the "householder" practice, is that it holds all forms of yogic practices in a few simple techniques. (See J.S. Stevens, Kriya Secrets Revealed). In practice, kriya yoga assists an adept whose life consists of activity, including denser activity such as animal-emotion consumption, continue living such life but yet achieve the anti-karmic meditative goal of stillness. Such practices of grounding oneself to the Earth, releasing one's energetic baggage, and moving vital-life force through certain channels affecting the chakra system, holds the effect of transmuting beliefs-conditioning embedded into one's lightbody-merkaba. Such practices make one "senstive", which includes purging heavy emotions from one's energy field acquired from indulging in "denser emotions". These meditative practices may result in opening of the crown chakra, or the "channelers portal", in addition to other ​siddhis where certain primal practices may evolve or become obsolete, so long as the intended goal is achieved. As an example, the process of prana-prathistha may look more like re-chi or shakti-pat, where a ritualistic adept known as a sadhak evolves siddhas as they move closer into supra-consciousness.

Nonetheless, those with an open crown, "mediums", are known to allow messages from other aspects of oneself to come forth, such as noted from Bashar-Darryl Anka, Story Waters & Roger Hanson, Tom Kenyon, Lazaris, Abraham Hicks, and Kimberley Maxfield ​(Beings of the Light), where channeled messages have been known to influence science fiction including the series Star Trek. Particularly Story Waters & Roger Hanson, whose channeled messages and artwork hold the ability to energetically shift and transport the audience, making one comprehend the actual definition of the Sanskrit concept of Upanisad, where Jane Roberts Nature of the Psyche provided me with two (2) weeks of extremely vivid long-drawn out dreams during the duration of reading the material. Hence, the rishis-seers of our ancient records have never left humanity as one can further assess while reading material such as Seth Speaks, A Course in Miracles,  or the The Law of One. In addition, phenomenal abilities to shift one's psyche, by and through modes such as editing of akashic records, such as Viana Stibal's "Theta Healing" and Tamra Oviatt's "Sacred Activations" have been reaching a wider audience. The number of individuals publicating such abilities has been increasing, as evidenced by the number of increasing monthly "energy reports" or "readings" arising on youtube discussing the rise in consciousness known as "ascension", including the phenomena called "light-language" where in terms of cranial activity can only personally be described like The Jimi Hendrix Experience. One may wonder if the phenomena of "light-language" is what is described in the tantras as the language of the ancient Yoginis-Goddesses, "twilight", given potential correlations with Indian Goddesses and the Pleiades star system (See Munya Andrews, The Seven Sisters of the Pleiades; See also the works of Arthur Avalon). In a world being filled with extremely clairsentient beings, inner-alchemists who identify as "empaths" and such, who are now providing intuitive messages to a world that is conditioned to be obsessed with the religions that are based solely on logical-material world based understandings, is quite rebellious and as history has taught us, can sadly still be quite dangerous as many truth enablers often fear facing execution with their story then manipulated for public conditioned-mind consumption returning us to the delusion of material existence continuing the established mode of hierarchy. 

This bring us to the evolution of the Goddess tradition that we currently know and celebrate as Navadurga. 

It is extremely important to note that the different forms of yoga in Hinduism is simply a modern attempt to categorize the many different practices in India, where all practices should lead to the experiences of samadhi as articulated by Swami Vivekananda​. One such form is Bhakti or devotional forms of spirituality. My main critique for these groups is that "Bhakti Yoga without Jnana Yoga can result in religious fanaticism". Hence, you have religious Hindus who will murder a Muslim for eating beef, as if the atma-consciousness in the cow is different than the atma-consciousness in the chicken or the plant, when it's all just consciousness. This is due to generational blind conditioning into traditions and culture, all of which further attach an atma-consciousness even more into transient existence. If you enjoy culture and traditions, it gives you a reason to return, an issue should one not understand transcendence. Such ideologies and practices lead towards pride, arrogance, and "spiritual materialism"  as coined by Chogyam Trungpa, all of which are simply "golden-handcuffs" mistaken as jewelry (See Amrut Laya). Though logically one may seems superior based on spiritual certificates and titles, such creates the "Herr Mannelig" effect where those not of certain standards are looked down upon despite their proper attempts. Therefore, Bhakti Yoga is to expand the heart chakra to activate the high heart, not get fanatically lost in dogma fighting over which superhero or doctrine is superior. 

The Bhakti movement of India seems to be established around 5 CE, where the ancient but evolving man-deity "Krishna" was gaining ground, as he's beloved by both Vedic-Aryan synchronized into the Visnu pantheon and the Tribals as an infusion of Sri, Mayon, and quite possibly many other tribal deities as his story developed. As a sidenote, Krishna is rooted in ancient deities and possibly an oral tradition as he was Megasthenes transplant into Greece as Herkules, or Hari-Kaula meaning family of Hari, during the Hellenic period. Though, it is unclear how much was understood about "Krishna" as much was not written in India during this time period. Nonetheless, 5 CE is also significantly after the time of Jesus and the creation of the Anti-Gnostic organization known as Roman Catholicism, where the die-hard Roman Mithraic worshiping Constantine needed to save a failing empire. Hence, those that nailed him to the cross, allegedly "washed" their hands clean, crafted the modern Biblical tradition via the Creed of Nicea, which still influences Protestant derivatives, outside of the esoteric Protestant movements such as Rosicrucianism. Hence, Roman Catholicism looks nothing like Judaism or Gnostic Christian practices, where the Roman empire has managed to subtlety remain alive to this day, housing one of the largest libraries on the planet while feeding the masses one book, a political move to keep Church and State together. Interesting enough, traditionally the Pope is to be considered an "incarnation" of god by the parishioners carrying on the divine right to rule. Nonetheless, with the Church needing to expand as found throughout historical colonialism, 5th CE is also around the time Christian missionaries were travelling to India, and targeting those at the lower-end of the caste system. Lastly, 5 CE is also around the time of the puranas, where India has not preserved much in writing prior to such periods, at least within public knowledge (preservation issues may be do to intrusion). Given that may different philosophical groups have entered India before much of "ancient" Indian literature, including Jewish colonies during the Hellenic period, Hinduism seems to have much in the way of synchronization. 

The similarities in terms of practice between Christians and modern Hindus seem quite similar. Attending a Catholic High school, the religious mass was quite relaxing as you would hear angelic voices pipe through the choir, followed up with biblical reflections meant to dive one deeper into being a better human being. Same is true in attending a Protestant elementary, though the speeches were quite more "boisterous".  Nonetheless, the pattern was quite similar, bhajans-choir and scripture reflection. However, prior to the Bhakti movement of 5 CE, the Vedic tradition was highly ritualized with homas-fire ritual, etc., showing a differentiation in practice. Given that lower-castes and out-castes, were forbidden from doing Vedic rituals, entering into certain Temples, and reading certain texts that would resulting in extreme punishment, it can easily be argued that lower-caste Hindus adopted "Christian" forms of practice in order to satisfy their own personal longings without actually converting. Hence, Christianity may have influenced the evolution of Hinduism much earlier than ​Swami Vivekananda, who walked around with a copy of Thomas a Kempis', Imitation of Christ.  

As part of attending Catholic mass, which serenaded the audience with the burning of frankincense (higher consciousness; anti-depressant) and myrrh (death), the church held substantial Catholic artwork including flowing stained glass windows that visually brought the audience to the Christ "Ascension" story. Just as the Christians have the timeline for their savior, Hindus have created a yogic timeline for teaching humanity how to achieve Self-Realization, or the kingdom within, by the Saviouress.  Hence, with the numerous influences that composes Hinduism, you have NavaDurga or the Nine (9) Days expressing the adept's sacrifice of ego-consciousness into pure spirit, as taught in mystery schools as Self-Realization or communication with the Holy Guardian Angel (See The Sacred Book of Abramelin the Mage). 

As a sidenote, though I have not made the astrological assessments of Navadurga, it is important to note that frightful beings called bhutas, preetis, vetals, etc., (Ghouls, Spirits, Vampires, etc., ), are the vahana-vehicle of the Tribal Goddess Chamunda, often synchronized with Durga. Pitru Paksha, or the tradition of honoring the ancestors where the veil between worlds is thinnest, takes places right before Navadurga (autumn). In essence, the vahana-vehicle is helping bring an adept to the Goddess. Therefore, it becomes important to note that this is the tradition of nonduality, rising above both the right-hand and left-hand path, into unity consciousness.

Navadurga 2018 concluded yesterday, where I spent the past few days invoking each of the nine (9) Goddesses with an attempt to achieve "stillness". The importance of "stillness" is best expressed by Swami Vivekanada's literature on Raja Yoga, describing steps to achieve Samadhi, a state beyond thought. Essentially, you turn the body and mind off, where your consciousness can move beyond the hustle and bustle of transient existence into pure bliss-ananda. Through meditation, an adept can astral project into the star system, for "as within, so without", through a practice called "remote viewing" by the U.S. government. (See Lyn Buchanan, The Seventh Sense). Such gives understanding to the Oracles of Delphi, when stated, "know thyself and thou shall know the universe and God". The Goddesses and Gods of the astrals, when properly labelled as such, are most likely masters who attained unity consciousness and further gradations. Like Archangel Michael, such beings may assist an adept with chakra clearings to help bring an adept deeper within into the void (Nirvana, Ain Soph Aur) to be absorbed into the ocean and spit out on the other end (Ain Soph, and Ain). 

The first seven Goddess Archetypes are also associated with the typical seven (7) chakra system starting from the root moving to the crown. Like how Goddesses were synchronized into the ancient Vedic-Aryan system, so were the shamanic concepts of the "Kundalini". Kundalini, it's practice and terminology comes from the tribal Goddess Kubjika (possibly synchronization with Kamakya), representing Self-Fulfillment or Inner-Completion (the cycle of Kundalini moving prana-upward, then apana-downward from the crown). (See the works of Mark S.G. Dyczkowski).  Hence, the chakras and kundalini may not necessarily be an ancient Aryan-Vedic practice, where those who stressed an oral tradition at the time of the Rg Veda may have looked at those who drew weird geometric designs on the ground as witchcraft. (See Alain Danielou, While The Gods Play).   

Nonetheless, it is best for the adept themselves to correlate the Goddess Archetypes with the Chakra System to forge their own neurological pathways and understandings of their own body. Therefore, I recommend the free youtube energy channelings of Ellaeenah JadeFire, to help cleanse any blockages as well as Kriya Yoga based practices with an attempt to understand why a particular Goddess is associated with a Chakra (or Sephirot for Qabalists) and how she may assist in guidance and healing. Lastly, I recommend Elizabeth Lund (House of Idems) for personalized channeled meditations catered to your specific chakra needs, including the more esoteric chakras for the more advanced adepts. 

1. Shailputra

This is the manifestation of Parvati into the world, Lady of the Mountains, Mother Nature.

An understanding from the ancient Samkhya tradition, a tradition that predates Yoga, the feminine Shakti represents Prakriti, or matter giving us physics on how atoms come together by and through vibrations we call gunas. Nonetheless, the understanding of the gunas is approached from a feminine intuitive perspective of the masculine logical scientific "string theory", feeling into the emotional qualities of the three gunas as: 1. Rajas as active; 2. Sattva as harmonious; 3. Tamas as destructive. As a sidenote, the other side of Samkhya is the masculine Shiva, representing Purusha, giving us psychology or the understanding of spirit-consciousness. (Sarawati, Swami Niranjanananda, Samkhya Darshan.) The merge of Purusha-Prakriti, Shiva-Shakti, Spirit-Matter, and the balance thereof, provides us with the archetypal religious symbols of the equilateral cross, the hexagram, lingam-yoni, and the yin-yang. Purusha is further described as the "cosmic man" through later Indian literature, quite possibly a synchronization evolving into cosmic-consciousness. 

Hence, as the predecessor to Yoga, the scientific tradition of Samkhya provides an understanding of the polarity of the universe. Scientific in terms of physics (outer studies) and psychology (inner studies), these scientific concepts were anthropomorphized or syncronized into religion. It is Samkhya ideology which gives spirituality it's scientific appeal, a study often degraded by dualist traditions who do not recognize the feminine and masculine polarity dancing throughout the universe. Hence, the friendship (conversations) of Nikola Tesla and Vivekananda, Einsten and Tagore, and the writings of Erwin Schrodinger, Carl Jung, Wilhelm Reich, J. Robert Oppenheimer, etc.,  psychologists and physicist attest to the brilliance of these yogic practices. The correlation between consciousness and matter is evidenced by the controversial "double-slit experiment", which provides us with a better, but still utterly confusing interpretation of the quantum world, where western-students of matter are attempting their best to discredit consciousness. Such students engage an understanding of prakriti solely, where Tesla astral projected for E.T. communication, and Einstein would astral project into his "imaginary" laboratory not having the funds to attain proper tools. Let us not forget the illiterate but yet brilliant mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan who obtained his knowledge from none other than the Goddess by drawing tantrik sacred geometry, yantras. History is full of such individuals where apparent information tends to be ignored such as the esoteric organizations, teaching, and arts such as alchemy being practiced by well-known individuals throughout our unacknowledged history including Da Vinci, Newton, and Bruno. What were these game changers actually practicing? Nonetheless, other sciences who lack such background, are essentially lost in the illusion, studying the illusion, leaving us the old adage of the "blind leading the blind". Though Darwinian Evolution is a proper understanding of the natural worlds need for "natural selection", such understanding of biology lacks psychology, the evolution of human consciousness that moved humanity away from the "natural" world. 
   
Shailputra is simply the observation, study, and admiration of material existence. She observes Adam, Atom, as a smaller limited consciousness evolve and get to know itself by a process called Self-Realization into the Purusha or "cosmic man", also known as Atum in old ancient Egypt. Therefore, just like the seeds of a plant hold the blueprint of the plants flowering, so does limited-consciousness hold the blueprint to flower into cosmic-consciousness.

Shailaputra is the student of the spiritual and physical sciences. Here, Shailputra begins the process of "know thyself".   

2. Brahmacharini

Brahmacharini is where Parvati takes up yoga to attain Self-Realization.

The Vedic tradition will place these adepts in white, and create some sort of ritual-homa. However, it is very important to note that Parvati did not attain Self-Realization by and through the traditions of Prajapati-Daksha who created culture and tradition on behalf of his father, Brahma. She was trained by her future consort Shiva, who is counter-culture, or "ulta-backwords" as the mystical Bengali Baul poets will sing. Quite similar to Ibrahim v. Nimrod under the Tower of Babylon story, the egoic-creator of culture serving a god vs. counter-culture wanting mankind to ascend. 

Further, according to puranic lore, Vedic tradition originally notoriously opposed Shiva. Hence, the marriage of Sati/Parvati and Shiva can be seen as the attempted marriage of two (2) different ideologies/cultures. In certain esoteric lore, both Brahma and Siva originally had five (5) heads, where Shiva decapitated Brahma's fifth (5th) head due to Brahma's arrogance (inappropriate behavior projected towards Saraswati or the puritanical "safer" fire pillar story). In the Vedic tradition, killing a Brahmin is the ultimate sin, with Shiva here being the guilty party. To repent, Shiva carries Brahma's skull into the fringes of society creating the tradition of Aghora. Hence, the fifth head maybe symbolic of the Tantric-Aghoric tradition (5th Veda?), obviously not taught by Brahma, and often shunned by dualist schools, including Vaishnavas who fail to recognize that their Rama also killed a Brahmin, Sri Ravana.  How else is Rama to fight his own inner demons to flower as the full consciousness of "Sri" as Sri Krishna? In addition, Ravana's Kala Maha Indrajaal is quite more enlightening than the Ramayan, which makes one wonder who actually flowered, was it Ram, or was it Ravana who had his ego chopped off by Ram-Laksmana, or all mentioned as a unified oversoul, two-sides of the same coin. To separate Ram and Ravana is to further conscious duality often objectively shown through something plaguing orthodox religion, the "hero's journey" forcing external conduct, when the proper "hero's journey" is internal psychological alchemy bringing one to Self realization. You can follow the ten (10) avatars of Visnu externally, or you can sit "still" like Shiva, Siddharta, Jesus, Padmasambhava, Mohammed, and plenty of others.  

Therefore, Parvati's practices may be more Tantrik in scope, then the Brahma created culture that pervaded her home-life. Such is logical where the ideal goal is to deconstruct psychological conditioning by and through the breath, as opposed to learning and developing cultures and traditions. Again, much of what is placed on-top of such yogic techniques and traditions seems to have simply become "spiritual materialism" [See Chogyam Trungpa]. Nonetheless, Parvati (more particularly Sati) being raised in a dualist environment may have properly grounded Parvati to walk through the "valley of the shadow of death" of her own and collective subconscious. Therefore, the right-hand path seeks to ground in the light, where thereafter, the left-hand path seeks to liberate fears and attachments for moksha-liberation.

Brahmacharini represents the aspect of Parvati before marriage. Here, Parvati can be portrayed as sixteen (16) year old Sodashi/Sri Vidya (Mahavidyas). Hence, the Soundharya Lahiri as penned by Adi Shankara himself may be fitting for this evening as a courtship with the kundalini energy. Further, as has been my experience, mantras presented by an awakened being tend to affect the mental neurons differently, which is properly known as darsan-blessing. As a warning, the vibrations emitted from these mantras tend to be on the hormonal end, where the adept typically can mix energies within the Taoist lower Dantien through techniques such as "embryonic breathing". (See Jwing-Ming Yang, Qigong Meditation.) The lower dantien places extreme importance as being the sacral chakra area, where despite western medicines attempts to be "anti nutritional detox", western science is now beginning to understand the link between gut health and consciousness. (See Clapp, Megan et al. “Gut microbiota's effect on mental health: The gut-brain axis” Clinics and practice vol. 7,4 987. 15 Sep. 2017). Nonetheless, the flow should be upwards, prana, as opposed to downwards, apana.  Nonetheless, sexuality (internal arousal) should only be added into these practices when the chakras (nervous system) can handle that type of high octane shakti where one can properly face their inner psychological demons. Should an adept listen to this hymn, ask Kundalini Devi (in the form of Brahmacharini/Sodashi/Shakti/Divine Feminine Principle, etc.) to take you only as for as you are ready, where an adept may need to take the necessary precautions to ground oneself back to matter. Nonetheless, for a more holistic approach, I would recommend the energy work of Panache Desai  to properly cleanse and balance the nadis for ascent. Further, ancestral and past-life karmic issues are embedded in the chakra system, including sexual trauma and external conditioning affecting our creative and social-connection chakra, the sacral. Hence, I would further recommend the work of "hacktivator" Ellyssa Campbell of Dynamic Intention for extensive inner-core work. (See also Sacred Activations). Essentially, don't play with a loaded gun. Once the channels are cleared, the central nervous system uncluttered, then techniques such as "Ankhing" named after the Egyptian "Ankh" allow an adept to move the vital life force in a healing fashion (Melchizedek, Drunvalo, The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life, V.2). (See also books by the "Bihar School of Yoga" for proper yogic techniques).

In addition, with practices akin to Kriya Yoga, as a side effect of chakra clearings, one tends to release significant muscular tension around the spinal column, which may cause the spine to strengthen and stretch into proper positioning. Such allows for a tube-like sensation to occur that extends from one's crown down towards the perineum, sometimes called "pranic-tube". The pranic-tube aligns one with higher aspects of oneself to further receive messages, healings, downloads, etc. Such seems to be the intended purpose of practices such as the practice of Hatha Yoga, where muscular tension is released, spinal column aligned and stretched, nervous system relaxed, all preparation for the actual yogic-yoking practices to move beyond the material body and move consciousness into samadhi as articulated in Raja Yoga​. 

Lastly, the Saiva practice of mantra, yantra, and mandala, is quite a potent practice when an adept invokes a feminine shakti, often integrated into one's kundalini as an aspect of the divine feminine principle. Particularly the more destructive, terrific forms of the Goddess, the Goddess holds the ability to destroy ego, or thoughts distracting the mind away from the formless Shiva-Consciousness. Therefore, the practice of mantra sows bijas-seeds that can bring an adept right into the Raja Yoga states as described by Swami Vivekananda, which I can attest regarding the mantras of Kali. Though word of caution, one really needs to develop Bhakti-Love of the destructive forms of the Devi-Goddess, before such invocations, as one must not be frightened by Her symbolism. Should fear arise, invoke Her beloved Shiva. 

Hence, Brahmacharini represents the adept or sadhak-vira, just like Siddharta Gautama sitting under a tree, or Jesus and Mohammed sitting in the dessert or cave. Here, sensory deprivation yogic techniques are used to move beyond the typical senses, bring clarity to consciousness, in order to realize who you are outside of the body and outside of the astral-planes of existence, while kundalini shakti releases your material transient attachments. In addition, it is rumored that when one is in their final karmic-lifetime,  they take up the worship of Sodashi as she is Tripura Sundari, the most beautiful in the three (3) states of awakened consciousness.  

3. Chandraghanta

Chandra is the moon, the archetype representing the inner world, including the three states of consciousness. This is confirmation that Parvati is practicing meditative tantrik rites, as the moon is typically associated with the left-hand path. Hence, the crescent moon typically lingers near the tantrik Goddesses' (Dakini, Yakini, etc.; Vajrayogini) forehead.  The ultimate goal of engaging the inner world is to move beyond the astrals, into the formless, quite possibly the goal of our globes latest major religion, which is symbolized by the Love of Chandra. Such interpretation seems appropriate given the ancient Tribal practice of stone worship, and the ability for meteorite-tektite stones, such as moldavite, to hold intense pulsations that pull one's consciousness upward, provided they are not negatively programmed. 

Here, Parvati achieves at least the beginning of Self-Realization known as Turyia (See Siva Sutras). As found in Saivism, Turyia is to be awake during the three-states of consciousness: 1. wake; 2. sleep; and 3. deep sleep. To be "awake" is to awaken to the Grand Illusion-Mahamaya, and realizes it simply to be a play-lila. This paves the way for the ultimate flowering of the "Sri" essence. (To be awake like Neo in the Matrix.; GodSelf). (See Panache Desai)

Nonetheless, though this appears as a mental state to "achieve", it is actually consciousness' original healthy expression, before psychological conditioning. Such psychological conditioning also includes the grahas, or pull-of-the-planets, as shown from one's astrological road-map printed at the time of one's birth. As a practice derived from ancient Sumer, astrology has been quite similar between East and West with slight variations in calculation, with the Western world evolving to include aspects such as Dark Moon Lilith. (See Laura Walker, Oracle Report). In addition, astrology has been used throughout our history by noteworthy leaders, and was even used by Zoroaster's esoteric group, "the Magi", to locate the Christ. However, as discussed by Vedic astrologer and Kriya Yoga master, Sri Yuketswar to Swami Yogananda, astrology only has an effect, if one has not returned to their original state of consciousness, by and through the resolving of the conditioned mind and return to Self realization (Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi). Hence, the planetary pull of one's astrological chart seem to be only guides for one's Self discovery, where such aspects have no pull thereafter. 

Hence, Chandraghanta represents Parvati clearing her chakras from transient ego existence (ego-death), awakening her third-eye (astral projection, etc.),  and moving into Self-Realization (Unity Consciousness and the Void). As awakening the third-eye is the ultimate weapon against delusion-maya, the comparable archetype may be Bagalamukhi (Mahavidyas) as she moves above the powers of even the Cosmos. 

4. Kushmanda

Just as the Greeks have the cosmic orphic egg, Hindus have "Brahmaanda" or the egg-anda of Brahma. Given that Navadurga is about the feminine, Kushmanda is the womb for the cosmic orphic egg. From spirit-purusha, the Goddess returns to matter-prakriti where she creates through vibrations known as gunas. To assist in such massive creation, she uses her shaktis of MahaSarawati, MahaLakshmi, and MahaKali with the masculine will-power counterpart, to harness such energies for creation.  

After Chandraghanta moves into the void and returns as unity-consciousness, she is known as Kushmanda who is now creating "all that is", or becoming Self-Actualized, through the Saiva understanding of the law of attraction and vibration, spandasakti. Here, Parvati as full consciousness, returns to the material-transient existence as Queen of the Universe as she has full control over her field of awareness, as  consciousness over matter.

Kushmanda's archetype is befitting with the Goddess Bhuvan-"Ishwari" (Mahavidyas), the Queen of the Universe seen as the energy of Sodashi incarnate. She would be the shakti of Visnu, who may be a derivative of Anu of ancient Sumeria, giving us the Mesopotamian title "Ashera" meaning Queen of the Universe to the Akkadians and even the ancient Semites. (Visnu as Anu, See Barbara Marciniak​).  Such becomes important to note when considering that modern religions may be traced back to ancient Sumer who crafted the idea of crafting humans in "gods" image (See The Fourth Kind​). 

Kushmanda represents Self-Actualization after full Self-Realization, expressing a beauty and love only a Queen can express when Consciousness is liberated. Just as her divine masculine counterpart is the Devadevam-God of gods, she is the Aztec Coatlicue, the Mother of God. 
 
5. Skandamata (Kotravi-Tribal Goddess)

Skandamata is the aspect of Parvati, who took Skanda's six (6) heads and merged them into one (1). Raised by the Pleiades (Kartikeya), Skanda was solely born of Shiva's seed (Purusha-Consciousness-Spirit; Upward Triangle of the Hexagram) and not Shakti's womb (Prakriti-Physics-Matter; Downward Triangle of the Hexagram). Hence, he is pure-spirit, but anti-matter, where most religions propagate material creator gods. It is important to understand something that the early Gnostic-Christians new, which is that there are "Archonic" beings who will take on the many different names of "God" in order to control and manipulate humanity. Hence, some of these early Christian groups believe the gods of Genesis are simply "mundane deities", or extra-terrestrials who simply terraformed Earth. Such becomes highly plausible when studying ancient Sumer and Mesopotamia, showing the seeds for many of our planetary religions as further described in the Biblical-Tower of Babel representing mankind's ascension vs. archonic control. 

Parvati herself gives Skanda the title "guru of gurus" when Skanda teaches Shiva the proper meaning behind the vibration "Aum", the orgasmic sound when purusha-consciousness-shiva and prakriti-matter-shakti collide for the "big bang", the natural pulse of one's inner-core. As "The Guru", Skanda is known as Sanat Kumara. Shiva at his highest is SadaShiva with five (5) heads, four facing the four corners and one unknown face looking upwards. Sanat has six (6) heads, which my intuition believes is SadaShiva helping those downward. For those lost in the material worlds of transient existence, Sanat is "anti-matter" who returns dense Matter back to Spirit. Hence, this archetype is not a creator archetype, but an anti-creator. In other words, he would fit the proper definition, sans dogma, of "Satan".

"Satan" is Hebrew for "opponent" or "adversary", where many Rabbi's have hinted at the Biblical "Satan" as being opponents of the Jewish people. It is further important to note the evolution of the word Satan as used in Jewish-Christian-Islam, is derived from Mesopotamia and Sumer given that the ancient Semites merely adopted the Caananite-Phoenician culture including language (Scheindlin, Raymond, A Short History of the Jewish People). Hence, the ancient understanding of "Satan" may be significantly different compared to the Dante Alighieri description plaguing modern religion. Such is contrary to the Christian "horned god-lord of the beast" who holds a "pitchfork"  and is identified with a "serpent", and is called a devi(l). Such most likely is derived when Zoroastrianism took on more dualist colorings in later historical periods, where it became the Asuras (Avesta-Aryan: Ahura-Mazda & Vedic-Aryan: Varuna, and Mithra) vs. the Devis (modern Hindu deities; Siva, Visnu in opposition to Indra). Both Aryan traditions originally held both Devas and Asuras in high esteem, where it was in later literature that they were polarized. It is important to note that Mithra, the roman deity who Constantine used to craft his future religion, comes from Aryan-Zoroastrianism, where it make sense to craft your "adversary" to look like a Devi. Actual Biblical passages of satan and hell are extremely minimal to nonexistent, where these traditions have had to look elsewhere to craft their opponents (including the deities of the conquered groups as evidenced when studying the roots of demons in demonology).   

In further East meets West, Sanat Kumara is also closely tied to the Middle Eastern esoteric group, the Yezidis, as represented by Melek Taus, the peacock angel. In terms of symbolism, the peacock represents the full flowering of spirit consciousness ("Sri" or the energy of "Mt. Meru"), as wonderfully depicted by Sri Krishna. Melek Taus is also considered to be a "fallen" angel, a Prometheus who brought fire to humanity against the will of the creator gods. Hence, the neighboring groups who share the same heritage regarding angels have targeted the Yezidis calling them devil-worshipers as they go against societal traditions-culture and have practices such as gnosis contradictory to blind-faith religions. (See Russell, Gerard, Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms.) Hence, to invoke Sanat Kumara is to destroy one's ego-self, our attachment to material existence, in order to return to atma-spirit, Father-God, God as the formless beyond Prakriti (ParamaAtma). 

Skandamata helps those who are similarly walking the Dharma, like a Vajrayogini, especially for those that are lost in delusion. Like a "Lucifer", a rebel angel, Skanda holds the light and reminds those walking in the dark of the "Holy Father". Nonetheless, for the harsher energies that Skanda must remove, his mother Kotravi like most tribal Indian Goddesses loves red wine, the perfect duo. Because of the repetitive puranic lore of an Asura-Demon being given a powerful boon, and the Devi-Angels looking for help, Skanda's purport is quite similar to Durga's, to kill a demon. Hence, similar to Durga, Skanda is considered the Hindu God of "war", and is sometimes portrayed similar to Archangel Michael, in being the closest to God. (See Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, Lemurian Scrolls​). Why the concept of a "fallen" angel? How else are these beings to understand the plight of humanity other than to attempt themselves to reconnect with the "Father" again. As the Yezidi's seems to articulate, a fallen angel is not "evil", but simply an essence that lost its connection, "fallen". Such angels hold the ability to reconnect as opposed to this perpetual hell which holds no Biblical basis. Should there be an actual "devil" or "archon" as called by the Gnostic Christians, the channelings of Napoleon Hill in his Outwitting The Devil best describe this energy and the way it works, in terms of manipulating well-conditioned minds by and through education, nationalism, and religion.  For a real experience on archonic-god beings, have your "j/j-seals" psychically removed, disturbing energies that limit one's sovereignty, where I recommend Ellysa Campbell of "Dynamic Intention". 

Actual "Satanism" does not rely with the hollywood philosopher Anton Lavey with his The Satanic Bible, but rather with cults such as "Fraternitas Saturni" who understand the astrological aspects of Saturn-Shani and its correlation with karma. As S. Edred Flowers states, Saturnus is the "governor of the revealed world and lord over life and death, and over the light and darkness. Saturnus is seen as the breaker of cosmic order and unity - thus he instituted death, causing regeneration and change to come into being. One of the ways in which he broke the cosmic order was in the revelation of divine secrets to mankind. For this he was punished. Thus in many ways Saturnus is identicial with Prometheus of Greek tradition, and is certainly to be identified as well with the Serpent of Paradise"(Fire and Ice).  In Vedic astrology, Saturn-Shani is the student of Kala-Kali Bhairava, space and time. In Qabalist terminology, Saturn represents  Binah, the sephiroth over the abyss and quite possibly the "mystery" of Da'ath. What may have been the "original" Sun, Saturn is prominent in most traditions including the noted holiday Christmas-Saturnalia where the Catholic church has used such symbolism since its inception rehashing the teachings of the masculine-era of the age of the dying god, Osiris, who was also cut-up and spread about (Sati). Nonetheless, such implies that all, regardless of the left-hand or right-hand paths differentiation, are attempting to be free of karma. Therefore, minimizing to ending suffering is the goal of every proper path, where the lack of a historical separation of a church and state, where priests were essentially politicians, has created a religion from the perspective that the masses should "humiliate" itself before a political egregore, regardless of the "religious" name used to identify such a thought-form. 

In addition, the occultist Crowley coined the often misrepresented motto, "Do What Thou Wilt" in addition to the often edited-out portion "Love is the Law", where the cryptic Crowley is simply saying to follow one's divine will after locating one's Higher Guardian Angel (Self-Realization; See The Book Of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage). In enacting one's "divine will", one furthers manifestation via the concepts of "law of attraction" by and through following one's heart, or Joseph Campbell's "follow your bliss". Mystical writings, in the hands of conditioned-minds produces riot, where Crowley's statement is still today often represented by orthodox dogmatics as a license to commit any expression, when truly such statement is simply a rehash of "the kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven", a common orthodox Christian prayer. In looking beyond religion into the many different aspects of society, a well-conditioned mind is quite easy to manipulate, including distracting from the Truth by demonization and other "NLP/MK Ultra/etc." tactics that have ingrained concepts of dualistic religion creating fears of hel(l)vegen, politicians pinning compassionate liberals versus pragmatic conservatives, race wars which appear to be following the script of Hollywood's companion "helter skelter", and gender separation having consistently embedded such archetypes into the human psyche repressing the feminine aspects of all of humanity. Such is reminiscent of the ancient Roman Stadiums, sports entertainment used by the Roman leaders to distract the masses away from a failing empire, where visual heroine appears to be the best arrow in the mind-conditioning quiver. Sedate the masses, pin them against each other, and those that created the conditioning walk away clean as the unknown players behind the global game of chess. Returning to terminology and dogmatic interpretations, here it is important to note that the concept of Hel(l) has been adopted by Christians, as Christian texts are moot in description. Further, even the term "Hel(l)" is an adoption from Norse terminology, where the concept of the Norse "Hel", meaning "grave", is drastically different than the Christian Hel(l) where the Norse were ignorant of a punishment in an afterlife (McCoy, Daniel, The Viking Spirit). An adept must ask, the animal-body is necessary for sensory stimulation, so how does one "suffer" without a vessel with the inability to release the required hormones for fear and pain, in a Hel(l). The adage, "think outside of the box" should apply here, but of course, some hold a belief-conditioning that corpses shall rise again, even with the understanding that Jesus traditionally did not return after ascension in his "recognizable" form. 

Therefore, Skandamata represents the aspect of shakti that ensures what is ready to let go does not sow seeds to sprout again. She is the aspect of time that destroys to ensure constant evolution for an adepts intended goal.  

6. Katyayani

Katyayani would be the one that resembles Durga the most, as in the buffalo demon slayer. However, Katyayani also plays a dual role where her mantras, as provided on other websites, are geared towards marriage. Katyayani is also found in the Vaisnava tradition, under the Srimad Bhagvatam, where Katyayani was worshiped by the gopis (cow-herd girls) so that the gopis may "marry" Krishna.

Katyayani is probably the fiercest form due to this being her battle image, with the following Kalaratri being the most frightening. In addition, the term "Katyayani" and the word "cut" as established through "Kolkata/Calcutta/Golgatha" shows sacrifice. In the yogic sense, this would be sacrificing the ego (finite consciousness), so that one may be a pure vessel for the divine (supra consciousness). Hence, Katyayani resembles Dakshina Kali in the Navadurga pantheon, as the Ego-Slayer, a saviouress who cuts our attachments/sins away. 

A byproduct of yogic awakenings is the dance of the Goddess Kundalini. All shaktis are merely attempts to engage the Kundalini energy slithering serpent at the bottom of the spine. Firstly, the two (2) nadis should be cleansed, the masuline and feminine, where then the adept will have proper spinal flow in the susumna. The conclusion of such results in the "alchemical marriage" as articulated by western occultists and depicted by the medical caduceus also known as the Staff of Hermes (the Hermetic Tradition and the Upanisads are the same; Self-Discovery). 

Therefore, Katyayani represents yogic completion with both "ego-death" and the "alchemical-marriage", which I feel is more properly portrayed as Chinnamasta (Mahavidyas). She would be a "twin-flame" Goddess, where her archetype invokes the balance and unification of the nadis, also known as Ardhanarishvara (unification of Shiva-Shakti; Consciousness/Spirit and Matter). Unification of the nadis would be marriage to divinity. In terms of an external romantic marriage, well "as within, so without", but that depends on one's soul expression and divine blueprint. Nonetheless, the reason why Ramakrishna would worship his wife Sarada Devi as Goddess Sodashi. For unification of inner polarities, I would recommend the activations of Jen McCarty (Mata-Hari Ji). 

​Oddly, like Shiva's highest form as Sadashiva, Arhanarishvara is not widely venerated, where such worship was kept in small cults. Nonetheless, master Adi Shankara, wrote a powerful hymn known as the Ardhanareeshwar Strotam in honor of the divine union that is properly placed for Katyayani prayer.  
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7. Kalaratri

Kala-ratri simply means time-night, or nighttime. Nonetheless, the metaphor runs deep as this phase is the "Dark Night of the Soul" an adept faces, well articulated by St. John of the Cross. [Collected Works; ICS]. 

After Katyayani shreds one's energy field to pieces, what is to come of all the remaining "blood". As physicists would state, energy is never destroyed, just changes in atomic structure. So how do we ensure that each of the drops relinquished from our chakra system, our vital-life-force, are not seeds waiting to re-sprout Karma? The divine mother voraciously devours our karma drop by drop to transmute.

Kalaratri is best suited as Smashan Kali, one who is fond of cemeteries. In terms of the three (3) vibrations that gather to create atoms known as gunas, such is how mother nature forms herself. Smashan Kali would represent the guna tamas, the harsher tones of existence. She is the kundalini turned on to the maximum, where you have to face your issues to move beyond tamas into sattva (Dakshina Kali). Balance of the two (2) results in raja (Maha Kali). Another befitting archetype would be the Goddess Bhairavi (Mahavidyas), who like Kalaratri seems to work on purging harsher energies within one's energy field-consciousness. While Sodashi is the most beautiful within the three (3) states of consciousness, well, you have Bhairavi on the other end.  

The result of Smashan Kali is the removal of harsher energies from the energetic system that leaves one feeling fresh, with the heart of an innocent child. As Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:3; NASB). Moreover, the Kundalini energy under the guidance of this archetype burns away fear, allowing the adept to maintain "stillness" in returning to their day to day activities with a new "lease on life". In addition, one's autonomic nervous system associated with the "fight or flight" response appears to be minimized where one approaches circumstances from a place of objectivity as opposed to emotional projections. Though labelled as "lizard brain" by pop culture, Carl Sagan was more than intuitive (and a proponent of Cannabis). As Sagan reports, "[d]eep inside the skull of every one of us there is something like a brain of a crocodile. Surrounding the R-complex is the limbic system or mammalian brain, which evolved tens of millions of years ago in ancestors who were mammal but not yet primates. It is a major source of our moods and emotions, of our concern and care for the young. And finally, on the outside, living in uneasy truce with the more primitive brains beneath, is the cerebral cortex; civilization is a product of the cerebral cortex.” (Cosmos p.276–277). 

Further, the goal is "ascension", which has been alluded to by mystics overtime preserved subtly throughout our diverse cultures and backgrounds. Even modern day pop culture attempts to assist in seeding such conscious evolution, such as the band Tool who in their song 46 and 2 allude to the "metamorphosis" occurring "within" due to "shadow-work" evolving human DNA. 

Hence, Kalaratri is walking through the "dark night of the soul", where the Kundalini energy reaches the crown chakra, or at least works on the worst of the lower chakras, which can be an intense period for an adept. This is where Siddharta Gautama would be tempted by maya, or the dense aspect of illusion that creates delusion. Similarly, this is where Jesus faced his own inner demons as they are solely reflections of consciousness residing in the depths of our own subconscious, which is connected to the collective-consciousness. Such is the yogic path of transcendence,  in order to rise above and be sovereign, or as Jesus would say, "I am the way ..." (John 14:6; NASB). 

8. MahaGauri (White) & Kaushiki (Black)

Intuitively, it seems proper to place Mahagauri as the aspect of Parvati who has accomplished her "dark night of the soul". Just as Mahagauri helps those on the right-hand path, the dark skin of Mahagauri is said to become another Goddess, Goddess Kaushiki, which may be more on the left-hand path. The practice of Advaita is unity, hence, unification of the right hand and left hand paths, where I feel very little importance is provided to Kaushiki in puritanical dualist standards (and obviously fear of the dark-side). Nonetheless, the tantras clearly articulate the left-hand (vama) to be the stage above the right-hand path (daksina), which then leads to Siddhant. After all, enlightenment is not lighting a candle in broad daylight, but in the dark of one's own subconscious-collective unconscious.  

Very little is known of Kaushiki, and my estimation is based on very few websites lacking in proper citations, etc. Nonetheless, Kaushiki is referenced as Dhumavati (Mahavidya) on one website, though lacking in proper articulation as to why. Nonetheless, Dhumavati makes sense since it is MahaGauri who weds Shiva, not Kaushiki leaving Kaushiki as a widow. It is from the ashes of Sati that Dhumavati is created (and my belief of the inception of Bhutas, Preetis, etc. to dissolve Dakshas Yajna). Dhumavati is the miserable old hag archetype, the widow. Without Shiva (consciousness-awareness), Shakti (Prakriti-Physics-the Matrix-MahaMaya) has no reason to dance (lila) by and through the dance of the gunas. Hence, Dhumavati is pure matter, no spirit, the opposite of her grandson Skanda. My intuitive imagery of Dhumavati is quite like that of the Norse-Aryan Valkyrie, who may be warriorress' lost in battle or the widows of warriors taking the deceased to Valhalla. Like Skanda, the "guru of gurus", Dhumavati is the guru of the Das-Mahavidyas. Hence, to invoke Dhumavati, especially when one is "miserably" walking through the dark night, is to bring "wisdom" to your misery and help you achieve psychological "stillness", as Dhumavati is the void beyond consciousness (Shiva), the Upanisadic-Hermetic Valhalla. Such imagery is quite impressive given that the vahana-vehicle of Goddess Dhumavati is none other than Odin's ravens, one of Mother Natures greatest alchemists. It is also important to note that the bija of Dhumavati's mantra is the same as Durga's, Dhoom​. Hence, Skanda is the guru of pure spirit, Dhumavati is the guru of pure matter or the black dot in yang. 

Further, Kaushiki Amavasya (New Moon) is very important in Bengali tantra, as the day where heaven and hell commingle. Kaushiki Amavasya is important for the Goddess Tara (Mahavidya-Tibetan) who is black in India, but often white in Tibet (among other colors). Tara is specifically celebrated at the Tarapith during Kaushiki Amavasya accepting both Vedic and Tantrik rites, and is noted for it's own Ramakrishna counterpart, Bhamakhepa the tantrik madly sane-saint. Though Kaushiki Amavasya may not be related to Goddess Kaushiki directly, where Kaushiki may simply mean the "dark-new" moon, the dualist nature of black and white is befitting. 

In addition, Kaushiki is also labelled as Mahasaraswati on certain websites, though without further articulation. It is established that Saraswati is often identified as Matangi (Mahavidyas), which can make sense to depict Saraswati as an archetypal "black" Goddess as opposed to an archetypal "white" Goddess, or both where she is the swan capable of extracting water from mud. Brahma is forever chasing Saraswati, like Orion chasing the Pleiades. For Brahma to reach the energy of perfection (Saraswati), there would be no point for Visnu (manager-beautifier) and Shiva (destroyer-transcendent). Hence, it makes sense if Saraswati hides among outcastes under the guise of Matangi, away from the Brahmins. Such dualistic nature describing the ebb and flow of existence, often depicted as the differing shades of the eternal moon, is consistently depicted throughout numerous traditions, including Goddess Pele who creates and destroys as the byproduct nature of a volcano. Nonetheless, the harmonious balance of dualistic forces in this sense produces "diamonds", which can be best expressed by the beauty of the heart of ancient Lemuria and her Children.  

From a meditative perspective, I take note of a fellow Self-seeker Aleister Crowley (reincarnation of Edward Kelley, John Dee's skryer re Enochian Magick; also See Jack Parsons, and L. Ron. Hubbard by and through Jason Louv) who stated, "my adepts stand upright; their head above the heavens, their feet below the hells". Just as Crowley struggled through the dark, he at least passed the torch to his bretheren. The archonic-material-mundane-egoic-gods may condemn one to an astral hell, but the Divine Mother has always loved you, even at your darkest. If you understand that Bhutas-Ghosts are the Divine Mother's "Cult of Fire", you will understand that you have nothing to fear, for love is everything, like a rabbit safely playing in the dark. This is the invincibility known as nonduality, mastery over mindstates. This is Mother Goddess, the natural wonder, the master alchemist that leads one to Soma (One with Uma). 

Similar in one's assessment of Skanda, one must remember these are not dualist schools of teachings plaguing humanity, of good versus evil, saint versus sinner, and the many colorings thereof. The devil, as shown in the tarot, a complete divination system holding universal archetypes, is simply one's obstacles or delusions while in egoic-material (qliphoth) existence that exist for one's conscious evolution. The devil is simply your karmic-mental attachments externally showing up for you to alter your perspectives to reach a higher wisdom. The true "evil" in the world, is the conditioned-consciousness, where one's true-vibration and alignment can easily be manipulated by external fanatical influence. It is where logic is subdued through mental conditioning and belief systems, blocking the intuitive hemisphere of the brain to truly speak and guide logic, where one is then on a cyclical-habit lost on the wheel of Samsara-Wanderings. (See Napoleon Hill's, Outwitting the Devil​.)   

The Divine Mother is Kaushiki veiled as Saraswati, the Goddess Isis veiled as the Madonna. 

She is love of thy Self.  ​

9. Siddhidhatri

Siddhidhatri is granting of siddhis-accomplishments. Siddhis are yogic "achievements" or psychic abilities where one understands Self (Self-Realization) and manifestation through Self (Self-Actualization). Nonetheless, Self-Realization is the goal, where people normally stop their growth at the development of basic Siddhis, inappropriately portraying themselves as "masters" and "gurus", which becomes a karmic attachment. Hence, the reason Patanjali stressed transcending the siddhis in his Yoga Sutras​. 

Nonetheless, Vianna Stibal in her incredible Seven Planes of Existence, properly describes "virtues" that one must attain in order to enact such "siddhas", including the virtues of compassion, service, tolerance, and forgiveness. It appears that such virtues can only be established when the adept is challenged in "walking through the valley of the shadow of death". Such is notable given who Jesus actually frolicked with, as opposed to the religious scholars of the time. Like Saraswati-Matangi, where will you find Jesus today, in the Church? Further, it is typically when one faces hardships in their life where growth and progress is forged, often astrologically found through the aspects of Saturn-Shani in one's chart, showing that contrast exists solely for conscious development.

Therefore, the ability to actually obtain and manage siddhas goes back to, Bhakti Yoga, as I've best found in the Vaishnava Bhakti movement, particularly Swami  Prabhupada's ISKCON who follows the lead of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. With the occult concept of an egregore, and the understanding of the evolution of such a deity through tantrik practices, the character of Krishna has evolved to embody the highest philosophies of the Upanisad-Hermetic Self-Realization schools, where like Shiva the yogi, Krishna is turiya-awake to the three states of his consciousness. In addition, he embodies the most beautiful shakti of the three states of consciousness as Sri-Vidya, the flowering of the most beautiful wisdom. While Shiva-Moses-Jesus-Siddharta-Padmasambhava-Mohammed and countless others taught us to raise our consciousness into "unity-consciousness" and thereafter the formless beyond, to reconnect humanity's consciousness to the original state before the "fall", Krishna-Dionysus-Jesus (the Peter "Pan" of Ancient Lemuria) shows us the flowering of such consciousness in material existence. Shiva is the formless, Krishna the form as the evolution of the multidimensional oversoul known as Visnu. If one cannot love "all that is" being lost in the dualist concepts of heaven and hell, good and evil, one creates a God. But in developing Bhakti for that God, one falls in love with "all that is", and realizes that there is nothing but God, consciousness. Like the the fanatical bliss of the Hare Krishna's chants, or the Sufi Dervish swirling in bliss, how else does one awaken the high heart other than consistently implanting the image of the divine within such quarters. How else does one take a proper breath bringing one into stillness, without breathing from the root into the topmost of the lungs of the high heart chakra. When the high heart is cleared with the divine beloved firmly implanted, with also a crown open to the light of one's higher wisdom and expression, such produces avatar consciousness.  

"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father." (John 14: 12; NASB)

Siddhidhatri is the understanding that the divine feminine principle known as Shakti inherit in all of us, which holds the ability to grant gnosis, or telepathic realizations and unity consciousness. With the cleansing of the two (2) nadis, you have a proper balancing of the masculine and feminine brain hemispheres, the marriage of logic (Christ the Logos) and intuition (Christ the Sophia). You have inner-completion where the adept becomes whole. 

Therefore, Siddhidhatri is the final marriage and balancing of Shiva-Purusha-Spirit and Shakti-Prakriti- Matter, and the Kamala-Lakshmi (Mahavidyas) who grants blessings to her devotees by and clearing away blockages to intuition by and through one's own Kundalini shakti. 

Siddhidhatri is the bhoga after yoga​, when one is consciously lost in God-Consciousness and manifesting thereof. 

Like the ancient Sumerian Inanna (predates the Rg Veda by roughly 2,000 yrs) who went down into the underworld and came out an immortal after facing seven (7) judges/gates of underworld, and just as Mary Magdalene was cured for her seven (7) demons as stated in mark 16:9, we have Parvati who teaches humanity to follow suit. Also, a Goddess of War, Inanna was stated to have authority over the Harrapan Civilization (See the works of Zecharia Sitchin; Barbara Marciniak). That make sense when you see the vahana-vehicle of Goddess Inanna.   

My gratitude's to the historical collective-energy who has kept these symbols alive with a passion. Though I may have offended plenty with my anti-establishment, pure atma-expression moksha-liberation ideals as embedded most beautifully in the shakti of MahaLiberty, crafted by an organization that is attempting to climb thirty-three (33) steps on that inner-stairwell as depicted in the apotheosis of Washington akin to  the Goat of Mendes ... as the masculine, there is only one that I hope to have done justice to, that is the divine feminine principle. Our beloved High Priestess, through stillness she proved she was invincible, even after she cast herself into the fires after the priestly caste, the gods and goddesses, and the alleged warriors, akin to Salem, disrespected Her beloved Guru who Loves All of Creation. What really happened at the Tower of Babel, where Humanity tried to Ascend? Who is the real "Nimrod", the mighty hunter and Lord of the Beast, and why is this other god, afraid of such? Though I prefer blueprints, what were the masons, not "free" to build? Did the real masters give us commandments, or did they teach us the way the universe works through Karma so we can logically understand what we have intuitively always known? What would Jesus do, smite someone, or Forgive when the status-quo humiliates Him the most, and then usurps His Holy Name. Someone doesn't want you to know the Truth when Humanity's Towers fall, but do not forget that from such pure-atomic-dust, can evolve a Star. 

The ceremony of Navadurga is the ritual act of showing that it is through stillness that we become invincible. It is the reminder that the Goddess never left us, even after Her great sacrifice. As Sri Vidya-Pistis Sophia, she will return again and again to bring wisdom when consciousness is struggling as an individuated-ego-identity lost in her maya-illusion-matrix. She is the love that the sacrificial dying god of the Age of Pisces has been searching for, to birth a new age where we take the best of all of our traditions, the Tanakh/Bible/Quran studied with the Qabalah, the Vedas studied with the Tantras, the Exoteric studied with the Esoteric, and individually empower each sovereign human being, an individuated aspect of highly evolved consciousness. Intellectual intelligence meets emotional intelligence, the yang and the yin.

Navadurga is the liberation-moksha of one's spirit-consciousness while in prakriti-material existence, despite your creed, caste, gender, etc. It is the discovery of one's own conscious-Self, the kingdom within, where “to not let the kingdom become a desert within you ... and those that believe in this kingdom will never leave it, not even if the Father wants to banish him” (Secret Book of James, Nag Hammadi texts). Such is how information is to be revealed, inspiring awe-like reverence, as a remembering, and realizing, leading one to their personal Apokalypsis. 

When one brings in more and more conscious awareness into the ego-identity that is the human vessel sans its numerous identifications, including the lighter photons that make up the lighter layers of one's subtler forms coined as the "noumenon" of "phenomenal" existence, by detaching from material-transient-samsara-matrix-physics-atomic existence, one realizes that it is one's own Vibratory Unique but Connected Self that Generates from your lower chakras, Operates from your middle ones, and Destroys with your higher ones, both material and intangible transient existence. Despite what "permission slip" you use on your journey of Self discovery, remember that the goal is to remember who you really are and who have always been. True spirituality is not learning something new, but the hatching of the hidden gems within you in your journey of discovering your highest and best version of you. Bringing your True Self and its Expression into the animal-human body and its entrapping within transient existences, is to do what Avatars do.  
 
Navadurga is the Harmonious Connection between "Spirit and Matter", where "Thy Will is done on Earth as it is in Heaven", where "as Above, so Below", for in the Cosmos, every Man and Woman is a Star.

Navadurga is the Guru of the Avatars, for it is in Stillness that we become Invincible, a message for the Children of God and Goddess. After All, Her Secret Name unknown in the ancient texts, is to be Invoked First before the Masculine, His Most Beloved "Sri Radha". 

Feel Her Seed-Bija of ruthlessly cutting Away Your attachments via your Own God-Given Kundalini. Feel Her Vibration Enveloping You and Reminding You that You have Always Been Invincible! Whether She's holding a sword to Protect You, or Cut You, Remember that She Always Loves You! If You're afraid of the sword, do Not worry, Her Students Taught that Compassion and Forgiveness is the Best Way to Karmicklly Let Go. But Be Aware, for the Tongue is Mightier than the sword!

Om Kring Kalkiye Namah!
(I Cut away All of material forms and transient existences that keep me away from the Truth of Wisdom).

​Om Dhoom Durgayai Namah!
(In my own egoic-death of losing my identity to any form, in being one with the formless, I realize that my Consciousness is Invincible, as I meditatively linger in Sat-"Conscious of Existing", Chit-"Having some feeling of Presence", and Ananda-"Bliss of Letting Go and Letting God"). 

Shivoham!
(I Am Pure Unblemished Consciousness ,an Aspect of Infinite Awareness! I Am The Multidimensional Holy Spirit and Much More Than ... That!) 

     1. Religion and Much of Spirituality is NOT Transcendence 

Much of what we tout as "spirituality" or "religious", does not fall under the realm of transcendence. Again, most religions worship a creator, or manager of creation who leads us from the dualistic concept of unrighteousness to righteousness. Let's take religion for an example, where much of our scriptures both Biblical and Puranic or more political/historical based as opposed to understanding the realm of spirit.

The Biblical Old Testament, from my research, is merely expounding the Jewish politics of the "Holy Land", where much of the testament of these ancient Hebrews seem to be an attempt to show the political landscape of the Canaanites. In addition, much more is disclosed by the Akkadian, Sumerian, etc., script, that leave one questioning who this jealous Old Testament deity may have actually been. The same applies for the majority of Indo-Aryan Vedic-Puranic script, where these Aryan deities  look a lot like Greco-Egyptian beings, much like the infusion that was brought under the Hellenic period. To tie into the "Holy Land", the controversial work of Zecharia Setchin holds that it was Sumerian Goddess Inanna held domain over the Indus Valley.

The Goddess Inanna holds numerous symbolism that may have some connection to other stories. Just as Inanna went into the underworld and had to raise herself up into the heavens again, so did Sati/Parvati in Hinduism have to use yoga to remember herself while she was lost in samsara (Spirit wandering in Matter). Moreover, just as Mary Magdalene was healed of her "seven demons" by Jesus, Inanna had to go through "seven" gates of hell. Lastly, the whole going into the underworld, and being raised from such "death" is akin to our seasons of winter and springtime where another name for Inanna is Ishtar, which some have claimed is the root of "Easter". Constantine was a well known devout pagan, and my research is showing more and more, that just as how the ancient Hebrews synthesized all other Canaanite deities into the Canaanite deity Yahweh, Constantine may have well synthesized the numerous Roman-Greco-Egyptian (Dionysus, Mithraic, etc.) cults into  one deity, Jesus. Modern Christians say that such pagan influence was done mainly to convert the pagans, where it is well known that Jesus was not born anytime near Christmas (Mithraic Concept). An odd understanding, especially since the Roman Church is controlling what would otherwise be a natural cycle under the seasons and astrological patterns via the unnatural Gregorian Calendar. The Roman Church was capable of more than just blending with pagan myths, where one has to consider the Church's intent, especially since much of the Roman Church teachings drastically contradict the much earlier Gnostic Christian teachings.