The sacred objects Durga carries in each of her eight to eighteen hands, like the Great Goddess herself, carry the power to create and destroy. Symbolically they serve as guides and tools we can use to help us get through the inevitable cycles of death, destruction and suffering as well as life, blossoming and joy. For example, Durga’s knives are not to be used for violence, but are a symbol of liberation. The knife is a tool that cuts away; it severs or excises that which no longer serves us whether it be a destructive belief, an unhealthy relationship, or a toxic situation we find ourselves embroiled in. Her sword also points to the focus and discriminating wisdom that is necessary in life – particularly to those committed to a spiritual path. All the sharp weapons Durga carries cut through obstacles that impede our progress and clear the path for spiritual growth.
Often she carries a shield for protection, a bow for determination and focus, and an arrow for penetrating insight. When she holds a bell it is to be used to invoke mental clarity and to clear the air of negativity, when her fingers play with a string of beads (mala) her worshipers are reminded of lessons on concentration and spiritual growth. The club she wields can be used to beat a new path, and the three pronged trident pierces through the veils of the past, present and future and teaches us about birth, life and death. The conch shell represents the vibratory powers of manifestation, while the lotus refers to both spiritual and material abundance. The skull or severed head, a common motif also associated with Durga in her fiercest of forms, represents the ego and all the ways we become slaves to our egos. The ego mind conceives of situations as bad or good, positive or negative, while Durga is here to show us the paradoxical nature of our reality and the divine unity behind all existence.
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