Shiva and Shakti: The Divine Masculine and Feminine
Paravati, the embodiment of Shakti, sat meditating for a thousand years in a remote region of the Himalayas. As she sat in extreme austerity, her appearance became anything but lavish. Her hair was matted into long dreadlocks that held the secrets and mysteries of the sky above and the earth below, and on her body she wore tatted deer skin and bark. The purpose of Parvati’s meditation practice was clear and concise: she wanted to reunite with her divine love, from whom she had been separated from through many incarnations. As she meditated, the story of her infinite lives played out before her….
She saw Brahma, the God of Creation, birth from his mouth an odd, indescribable, a-sexual membranous creature that looked much like an egg. Terrified, because he could not describe it, Brahma cried out: “Divide yourself!” The creature instantly split into two halves, which soon assembled into two bodies: male and female, Shiva and Shakti. Shakti was filled with awe as she stared at Shiva, who was clearly her other and herself. She couldn’t tell where one began and one ended. As Shakti reached out a hand towards Shiva, Brahma shouted “NO! You must stay divided!” In the pain of separation, Shakti turned to duality, with the unyielding hope of reconnecting with Shiva. Shiva, on the other hand, found the pain so unbearable that he took off to the Himalayas where he meditated among the ghosts on death and destruction. With discipline, Shiva liberated himself of all desire, thus obtaining the power to create and destroy. Shiva and Shakti continue to unite and separate for eternity, just like we, in our humanness, oscillate between wholeness or oneness and separateness.
Shiva is often called the awareness and Shakti is the aliveness. Shiva is the sacred ground on which Shakti creates. Without the stillness and groundness of Shiva, the creative potential of Shakti becomes unmanageable. Without the creative potency of Shakti, Shiva becomes an observer lacking the ability to create or manifest. Shiva and Shakti merge to create Oneness and dissolve into this oneness where the masculine and feminine cease to exist and the pure consciousness of creation manifests in its place. Shiva and Shakti symbolize an intrinsic duality, balance, and the freedom to embody and dance with our devotion and prayer in any form.
I didn’t grow up listening to stories of Gods and Goddesses. In fact, my Jewish upbringing told me that idol worship was forbidden. When I was 18, a fierce mentor of mine gave me a photo of Shiva and Shakti, the divine masculine and feminine. She told me that the divine masculine and feminine lived and thrived inside of me, and that masculinity and femininity were actually not gendered. Radical. I kept this photo in a hidden place and would glance at it from time to time for a spark of inspiration and guidance. I began to explore what it meant to be gender non-conforming, and to break free from the deeply embedded patterns and intergenerational trauma that lived in my body as I moved through the world as a female-bodied, Jewish woman. This is an ongoing exploration that shifts, morphs, softens, ignites, unites, and separates.
I now have an altar in my room that is graced with symbols of the gods and goddess that have meaning to me, and the many incarnations of Shiva and Shakti. I also honor my Jewish faith on this very altar. I chant to the different forms of Shiva and Shakti in the ancient language of Sanskrit, and I chant to the divine in the ancient language of Hebrew. I believe that all symbols of the divine evoke certain qualities within ourselves that ultimately bring us back to balance or oneness. We can also serve each other in this same way. As Ram Dass says, “We are all just walking each other home.”
Amy believes yoga acts as a mirror so that we can greet and tolerate our discomfort as it shows up each day, rather than turn away or react against it. Amy trusts in yoga as a daily, embodied practice. She believes that with discipline and devotion, we can awaken the tools inside of ourselves to stay present with whatever arises and begin to trust in the process as it unfolds. Amy lives and teaches in San Francisco, California and is currently working on a Masters in Somatic Counseling Psychology.
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