‘Shakti’

‘The Hammock’
by Charles Robinson (1870 – 1937 British)

The Shakti card is all about the divine feminine, and all the underlying aspects of power, energy, force and creation, defined in Hinduism as the fundamental esoteric energy that underlies and sustains all existence. Shakti is also goddess, Devi, the consort of Shiva her male counterpart, as nature in her essence. Shakti is also part of Leela (lila) the divine play, activating the fabric of existence into action.

This card is about activating one’s creative energies, of reflecting on the grand play of existence, the endless churn of creation of which we are a part. It is about recognizing greater forces around oneself, and honoring the balance of the feminine and masculine, the eternal dance before and after time.

Finally, consider the stanza’s below from Shaktisangama Tantra –

Woman is the creator of the universe,
the universe is her form;
woman is the foundation of the world,
she is the true form of the body.

In woman is the form of all things,
of all that lives and moves in the world.
There is no jewel rarer than woman,
no condition superior to that of a woman.