Agama Journal, Issue #16 | Finding Your Tutelary Deity | Jul ’17
Have you ever wondered about the female face(s) of God?
In Tantra, there is the One Supreme Divinity, and at the same time there are deities. Within the Wholeness of it all, there are different levels of consciousness and hierarchies (also, if not especially, beyond the physical one). Although in the end it boils down to one Consciousness. The 10 Mahavidyas (Maha means “great,” and vid means to know in Sanskrit) belong to the order of the ucca devata-s, a high-rank order of deities. They are considered to be pathways to knowledge. The tradition of the Mahavidyas originally comes from Hinduism—specifically Shaktism, which is in turn a sub-tradition of Tantra.
For the sake of overview, the names and aspects of the 10 faces of the Divine Mother are:
Kali- the goddess of time and transformation
Tara- the goddess of knowledge and compassion
Tripura Sundari- the goddess of divine will and desire
Bhuvaneshwari- the goddess of space and cosmic illusion
Tripura Bhairavi- the goddess of spiritual action and effort
Chinnamasta- the goddess of electricity and spiritual sacrifice
Dhumavati- the goddess of dissolution and the cosmic void
Bagalamukhi- the goddess of irresistible force and defeater of spiritual enemies
Matangi- the goddess of divine expression and the arts
Kamalatmika- the goddess of beauty and prosperity
The point of the Tantric practice is to fuse with the Mahavidyas. You can gain communion with these Cosmic Powers through mantra initiations. There are other ways, but the mantra initiations are effective, and kind of like a shortcut if you may.
After receiving initiations to and practicing with Kali, Tara, Tripura Sundari, Tripura Bhairavi, Chinnamasta, and Matangi, I’ve learnt that once you start working with them, their energy starts to manifest in your life in mysterious ways. Often, you’ll find yourself with a long list of “coincidental occurrences” that seem too synchronized with your Mahavidya practice. It is always useful to set an intention for your practice. Each of the Mahavidyas in themselves have many different boons to offer, including lessons to teach you. For example, if you wanted to invoke Divine Love, then you would invoke Tripura Sundari, and when invoking Her thinking of Divine Love (the Love of God/Shiva). To improve your relationship with time, you could take a tapas (consecrated spiritual effort) with Kali. Your commitment to the sadhana (spiritual practice) is personal. You can really go deep if you want and are doing it with aspiration. The outcome is not always 100% quite like you may have wanted or expected, but it is always exactly what you need. There is of course also the Grace by which they come over which we have no control. I am currently practicing with Matangi because I really like the world of creativity She intuitively helps me to tap into. And because the orderly energy is beneficially in line with my lifestyle right now. I like the illusion of having my life “organized” (yes, I’m a Virgo).
Their energies are very different, although some bear similarities. For example, Kali, Tripura Bhairavi, and Chinnamasta all have a terrible and fierce aspect in common, but are for the rest having different roles and qualities. Working with them is like magic. And I believe that when you do magic of this kind, with the highest of deities, with the intention of spiritual evolution, which does not involve any harm…well that is the magic of the best kind! I feel like I’m opening Pandora’s box by using the word “magic” here. Definitely, some points would have to be made regarding what is magic in the first place, how it works, what types of magic there are, and what you really need to know before you start doing “magic.” But that’s a whole other topic and, although relevant, would make this a rather long entry, so for now I hope my use of the word magic is understood in context here.
You can go very deep with this practice. Sometimes it feels like the deeper you go, the more you discover. I feel like Matangi might be my tutelary deity, meaning the one I resonate the most with so far. An example of how working with Matangi has given me a spiritual insight is in regards to exploring and deepening my sources and expression of (channeled) creativity. Matangi, as leader of Shiva’s army, gives order. Working with Matangi personally gives me the feeling of connectedness, and a motherly love (which is sweet, stern and orderly). When I practice trataka (a concentration technique and a kriya) on Her yantra (a geometric representation) I just fall in love…loosing time of time and space, bypassing that urge to blink and making a continuous loving effort to merge with Her energy. I experience it as a kind of exchange of energy, and somehow a blessing. But this is just my personal subjective experience, it’s different for everyone. It’s a deep, interesting process to explore. Needless to say, trataka on the yantra is just one of the many ways to work with a Mahavidya. There are rituals and practices with mantras, meditation, and studying you can do. Even participating in activities related to what that Mahavidya represents can bring you into closer attunement. I’m in a process of deciding whether to join the Matangi module next week and deepen my practice, or join the Bhuvaneshvari one and invite new energy into my life. I love discovering how we relate to the qualities the Mahavidyas represent, and how we attune to their energies as manifested in the Universe.
If you are interested in this topic, and would like to read some literature on the Mahavidyas, I would personally recommend the books by David Kinsley, and David Frawley. Also you can learn more about the 10 Cosmic Powers, receive mantra initiations and learn other practices of worship in the Mahavidya Yoga Series here at Agama Yoga in Koh Phangan, Thailand.
If you are the type of person that likes to tune in with the (Shakti) beneficial energies of the Universe to manifest the best version of yourself, then you may like to find your tutelary deity and make it happen!
With Joy,
Aldona