Thursday, September 16, 2010

Tantra and the Fierce Goddess~ Fierce Thoughts

After over a year of disappearing into my writing cave, I am happily teaching again! Oh, the ecstasy and Shakti this has brought! I find myself buzzing around, conquering long postponed to do lists, and having more energy and joy than I have felt in ages! My course, Tantra and the Fierce Goddess is being offered at Loyola Marymount University Extension in Los Angeles, and we have met the last two Tuesdays. Already there have been so many shaktified experiences and divine affirmations, that I am inspired to return to this blog after a long, long, long hiatus!

Tantra and the Fierce Goddess explores some of the more formidable manifestations of Goddess and calls into question what we consider to be "fierce qualities" of the Divine Mother. Is what is defined as "fierce"  reflective of our creative, sexual, and independent natures? Or is it tied up with more stereotypical and often negative qualities of "femininity?" In my class, we look at the paradoxical nature of Goddesses such as Durga, Kali, Bhagawati, Kamakhya, the Matrikas, Yoginis and others and consider how socially-constructed contradictions are reflected in the status of women and girls around the world today.

For example, the Kumari or Living Virgin Goddess is considered an embodiment of a fierce form of Goddess Durga known as Taleju.  The Kumari is chosen based on her "pure" and "virginal" status. In an earlier post from 2007, I discussed the original meaning of Virgin. Whole Unto Herself, however, in the case of the Kumari, her virginity is tied to a pre-pubescent/non-menstruating status. According to this tradition, this young girl (who is anywhere from 1 and 1/2 years to pre-teen/teen years) will serve as a living Goddess for the community from the time she receives the initiation until she has her first period, or bleeds from the loss of a tooth or injury. The Goddess that she embodies, Taleju, is a very esoteric and tantric Goddess in the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal. Despite Taelju's appearance through the vehicle of a virgin girl, her rituals and mythology point to her sexually empowered status and connection to ancient fertility rites. The paradoxical nature of this situation is rather obvious here--a wild, untameable, and sexually mature goddess appears in the body of a young and "pure" virgin girl!? And the "fact" that the Goddess leaves the girl's body just as she comes into her power raises many questions. For one, who decides that this child is no longer divine, especially within a religious worldview (Shakta Tantra tradition) that supposedly considers all female as inherently, Shakti, or divine? And why would a Goddess who "demands" blood as an offering, leave her physical "vehicle" at the first sign of blood? Why would such formidable Goddesses as Taleju and Durga be associated with young girls? Can young girls be strong and "fierce" through their own agency? And what does this look like outside of being mean girls or bullies?

And then virginity. Yes. I return to this once again. Virginity and Fierceness. Virginity = Whole Unto Herself. Consider the implications for young girls who are exploring their sexuality...consider the implications for those of us adult women who wish to renew our Virginity and embrace our natural and sacred fierceness...consider the impact this would make in our lives, and in our world.

Friday, July 2, 2010

Goddess Durga and Sacred Female Power

Jai Maa! It is complete! Goddess Durga and Sacred Female Power will be released October 1, 2010. Just in time for Durga Puja! Divine timing indeed! It has been quite the journey with this book. After ten years of working on it, I finished writing in August! I have not posted in the Temple of Female Consciousness because I have been deeply immersed in proofreading, wrestling with diacritics and other textual details and creating an index since September! So I have not been writing in that all-possessed way since last summer and I have missed that state of consciousness where everything was related to my book. No matter what I was doing or thinking about, I was writing. And I could hardly keep away from my computer. The words would flow, and sometimes they would get stuck, but each impasse ultimately led to a breakthrough in consciousness. The whole experience was very blessed. The technical details came with a strong Saturn transit to my natal moon and forced me to really focus on all the pieces. The index was quite a beast to tackle and proved to be a challenging learning experience. But I did it! And it helped me to see the book through another lens. It was a very insightful process. It has truly been a pilgrimage of mind, heart, and soul--one that has been both incredibly challenging as well as deeply liberating. I can't wait to share it with all of you, and I look forward to hearing about  the myriad journeys Goddess Durga and Sacred Female Power takes you on. Pre-order info is below!

Here is a short synopsis of my book:

Goddess Durga and Sacred Female Power is an exploration of the many faces of the Goddess Durga in ancient and contemporary culture. As we learn through a 5th century myth narrating Durga's victorious battles over corrupt forces destroying the equilibrium of Mother Earth and all Her creatures, Durga and Her entourages of South Asian Goddesses offer us the wisdom, grace, inner strength and divine power needed to restore balance to a conflict-ridden world. This book takes us on a pilgrimage to Goddess temples and natural shrines, to visit shamans and living Goddesses in the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal, and to India for the annual ten-day Durga festival. The mythology, rituals, philosophy, and spiritual practices of this distinctly female-centered and millennia-old tradition of Durga offer an alternative model of female potential and empowerment, focusing on peace, healing, spiritual liberation, and realization of inherent divinity.

JAI MAA!

PRE-ORDER INFO:

My publishing contract requires that I purchase the first 100 copies of my book. I would so appreciate your support in pre-ordering a book for $46.15. The pricing break down is below. You can send me a check today that I will put toward the order, and I will mail you a signed copy of Goddess Durga and Sacred Female Power in early October. This is the perfect way for you to directly support the author, and I thank you.

Goddess Durga and Sacred Female Power by Laura Amazzone. ISBN # 978-0-7618-5313-8: Published by Hamilton Books, an imprint of University Pres of America d the Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, October 2010.

$37.50 List Price
$3.65 California Sales Tax
$5.00 Shipping and Handling ($1.00 per additional book if ordering two or more)
$46.15 Total

Checks can be made out to Laura Amazzone. Please contact me at laura@amazzonejewelry.com