She is the womb of all creatures, and it is through her that the One becomes the many. Our first and primary relationship to the world is through the mother, the source of love, security, and nourishment. Extending this relationship to worship of a cosmic being as mother was a natural step found not only in the Shakti cult of Hinduism but also in ancient Greek, Egyptian, and Babylonian cultures. Shakti presents more than 30 goddess incarnations of the Divine Mother that represent both the beneficial and malefic aspects of the Shakti force. From Lakshmi, Parvati, and Saraswati to Durga, Chandika, and Kali--each of the different functions of the female goddesses in the Hindu pantheon is revealed, accompanied by traditional Sanskrit hymns, classic verses by Sri Auribindo, and discussions of tantric philosophy. The author draws from the Devi Bhagavatham, which describes all the stories of Shakti, and the Devi Mahatmyam, the most powerful scriptural text that glorifies Shakti in her form as Durga. Using these texts she shows that through the power and grace of the Divine Mother we may be released from the darkness of ignorance and taken to the abode of knowledge, immortality, and bliss--the source from which we have come.

    this life-soaked book remains close to the fluids of body and soul... It's an obvious gift-book for women going through a life passage, but it could also be important for men, who are closer to the mysteries presented here than they might wish to be. Thomas Moore, author of Care of the Soul.

    Mami Wata, often portrayed with the head and torso of a woman and the tail of a fish, is at once beautiful, jealous, generous, seductive, and potentially deadly. A water spirit widely known across Africa and the African diaspora, her origins are said to lie "overseas," although she has been thoroughly incorporated into local beliefs and practics. She can bring good fortune in the form of money, and her power increased between the fifteenth and twentieth centuries, the era of growing international trade between Africa and the rest of the world. Her name, which may be translated as "Mother Water" or "Mistress Water," is pidgin English, a language developed to lubricate trade. Africans forcibly carried across the Atlantic as part of that "trade" brought with them their beliefs and practices honoring Mami Wata and other ancestral deities.

    'Inner Tantric Yoga' presents the deeper tradition of Tantra, its multidimensional vision of the Divine and its transformative practices of mantra and meditation that take us far beyond the outer models of how Tantra is usually presented today.

    Insightful, evocative, and humorous, it is a marriage manual for women who want to keep up the heat. Schroeder, while earning a college degree with a husband and a toddler, found herself struggling with Gender Equality, Free Speech, Free Love, The Pill and Vatican II. By the time she mastered those issues, she faced Glass Ceilings, Social Responsibility and Re-cycling. Thirty-five spirited essays about com-promise, consequence, and potential boast titles like: Victoria Ain t Got the Secret, Unleashing Aphrodite, Learning Curves, Burn It, Baby, Sin, Sex and The Pill, Powergirl to the Rescue, and Chocolate Necessities. Schroeder believes that, had she been Eve in the Garden, she would have picked the apple and handed it to Adam, too.

    As any dedicant knows, repetition of the words used in worship, regardless of the feeling behind them, can lead to a robotic performance of what was once meaningful and reverent prayer. The poetic spirit in these psalms will resound in your soul, granting a new vision of your veneration, a fresh approach to your communion with the deity of your choice.

    This book aids readers both new and familiar with Goddess to reawaken this knowledge, to experience the nurturing arms of the Mother, and perhaps, help humankind save itself.