Durga Flower of Life

 

"Durga Flower of Life"

Today's image.  Again, I have gone in "lens close" to one part of my previous collage that I wanted to explore further.  The image of Durga at the center of the sphere above in the previous collage has now expanded into a collage of her own.

In the previous collages, the two in which this disc in the sky appears, I felt that it was combination of feminine yin (moon) and masculine yang (sun) energies in the sky.  Though not all cultures  ascribe the same "gender" to sun and moon.

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There is a wonderful article about the history of the female sun here https://www.huffpost.com/entry/sun-goddess_b_884568 

Here is a taste of the article: 

"In archaic times, people perceived the sun, in its shining prime and glory, the giver of heat and light and life, to be the effulgent force of the female. A passionate aspect of the great mother, the versatile jill-of-all-trades who issues forth and supports whole life. She is the heaven Illuminating goddess, Amaterasu Omikame, in Japan, and the queen of heaven and Earth, Arinna, in Mesopotamia. She was Yhi, sun woman, to the Arunta of Australia. Sun sister was known in Anatolia, Siberia and Native America.

Tribal North Europe knew her, too. The Germans called her Sunna, as did the Norwegians. In Scandinavia, she was Glory-of-Elves or Sol. The Eddas say that on doomsday, she will bear a daughter who will be the new sun, the next creation. The luminous world to come. She was Sol, as well, to the Celts who also called her Sul or Sulis. Her celebrations took place on open plains, on hilltops, overlooking springs. A major ceremonial site was Silbury Hill (Sulisbury Hill) and the springs at Bath, once called Aquae Sulis, were the site of Roman altars sacred to Sul Minerva.

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So coming back to today's image... As you may know, Durga appeared to me first several months ago in a dream.  I knew nothing much about Durga other than that she was a powerful Hindu goddess.  I explored and found a wonderful retelling of her story on youtube basically describing how when the gods Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu were at their witts end and about to lose the great battle against the most terrible demons of the universe, they remembered that the feminine principal was missing, and they went back to the most elemental forces of creation to bring forth Durga who was not yet manifest. She had all of their powers and then some. For her defeating the demons was nothing.  Her weapons were sure, precise, and she was radiantly relaxed and at ease in her heart, every demon that went banished deepened her state of radiant love, grace and ease.  (Interestingly this telling of the story based or flowering out of essential peace and love has an interesting resemblance to the story told by Tsultrim Allione, described as a practice begun by a woman in the 11th century by the name of Machig Labdron. This practice also figured in a recent dream.). Since the dream in which Durga appeared, I have made 3 previous images, this is the fourth.

In the qigong practice I have taken up, she is one of my "masters" (think ally, think teacher...)

This is a loving and flowering ever-present Durga, synonymous with life force.  She is very much like some of the ancient mythic manifestations of the Sun, solar, life-giving, but really more like the force behind the the manifestation of the sun.

There is a cosmic dimension to Hindu mythology that I love... the cosmos is here, the love and intelligence manifest in all creation is here in the form of the Flower of Life.

It is also a story of the flowering of the heart of durga.  She is spherical as well, like the circles making up the flower of life, the sphere of wholeness, a building "block" of creation that is omnipresent through the whole field going back to before the beginning of creation, the space out of which everything emanates.

In each of her infinite hands she holds a rose.  A gift, an opportunity, a teaching, a treasure ever-present in life, whatever the challenges are... Durga is capable of handling the greatest of demons with ease.

At the very center of the golden flower of her heart, is a single dew drop.  From the macro to the micro she is there.  Here on earth life arose and continues to arise out of water.

The collage practice continues unfolding... revealing... showing and telling... (This is part of my larger series Embodied Psyche: A body in progress.)