Part 2 of 2: The birth of the wild feminine

If you missed Part 1 of this story yesterday,
be sure to click here and read it first!

Here's the story I promised you yesterday... it's a good one!


Brahma had Saraswati. Vishnu had Lakshmi. But in the ancient stories of India, Shiva was a bachelor for the longest period of time.


And it wasn’t about needing man and woman in a marriage like we'd consider today. Gods like Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva literally could not act in the world without their shakti counterparts. The divine masculine (gods) represent dynamic stillness, where the divine feminine (goddesses) represent movement. 


Both are required to play the game of life.


So as a single guy, hanging out high in his mountain abode, Shiva would go into meditation and forget to do his job: Destruction. 


And while that sounds nice, it goes against the laws of nature. Without destruction, Brahma cannot create, and Vishnu cannot sustain. Everything that is created must eventually be destroyed. This is reflected in everything we see and do.


So Brahma and Vishnu go to Shakti for help so that there can be destruction again. Shakti obliges, and comes into the world as the goddess Sati, one of the many daughters of Daksha Prajapati. She is the one who successfully rouses Shiva out of his meditation and the pair falls in love and — in accordance with the plan — destruction begins once again.


Unfortunately, Daksha has no respect for Shiva. What father does at the beginning, anyway? Rather than seeing Shiva as a “dutiful son-in-law”, he sees him as the “bad boy”. He’s up in the mountains, surrounded by unruly creatures like snakes, and Daksha doesn’t think Shiva is good enough for his sweet daughter.


So Daksha holds a huge ceremony, and invites everyone in the realm EXCEPT Shiva and Sati. This is a huge insult for the pair — and Sati tells Shiva that she wants to go anyway. Maybe it was an oversight of some kind. 


Shiva responds definitively: No, I don’t want you to go. And he puts his foot down. 


This is the part where I can imagine the feeling of what happens next... because I feel the same way sometimes when people tell me what to do:


Sati explodes in 10 directions! 


In each of the directions that Shiva looks, there is a form of the goddess that came from Sati. And not a sweet, demure goddesses... he is shocked to see ten ferocious forms of the goddess, and can’t believe they sprung from his sweet wife. 


The goddess Kali looks at him and says:


How dare you tell me what to do. Look around you. There is nowhere that I am not. I am all of creation. Including you. You are part of me. 


This performance deserves a fist pump, no?

That fire is inside each and every one of us — woman or not. That fire is the fuel needed for action and impact. And although this is just one origin story of the Dasha Maha Vidyas, they are always depicted in the tantric teachings as the 10 aspects of shadow and light within us.


It’s been so fun writing this story — and including that example from my own life where I felt like Sati, exploding in 10 directions!


Thus, I’m excited to announce (drumroll, please!) that from January through June 2024, I’m teaching a brand new course called the SHAKTI KRIYA TRAINING, live on Zoom, all about the Dasha Maha Vidyas. 

Click here for all the details. ​

This course is one component of my SHEJourney 300-Hour Teacher Training... and I’m excited to announce that these 11 sessions, the powerful content and practices within, AND initiation into 30 new Kriyas and pranayamas will now be offered as a Continuing Education Course, OR as a part of the 300-hour with me.


Whether you intend to count this investment toward the 300-hour SHEJourney training with me in the future, OR you simply want 50 CEUs to satisfy the Yoga Alliance requirement every 3 years, this training might be exactly what you’re looking for...


And... if you've been considering taking my Cosmic Kriya Training course online, you can save $333 if you bundle it with Shakti Kriya before December 1st! Simply register for the Shakti Kriya Training, shoot me an email with your intention, and I'll charge your card on file for $316 — that's $333 off the original price of $649. Both of these courses can be counted toward future participation in the 300-hour training.



Note: A 200-hour YTT with Yoga Hive, or my Himalayan Kriya Teacher Training are prerequisites to take these courses. If you have questions about this, please don’t hesitate to reply and reach out!


Wishing you all a happy few weeks as we descend into the Winter Solstice!

In light and shadow,
Mollie