ANANDAMAYI MA: The Joy-Permeated Mother: I am my own guru. I know the self that never changes.
Anandamayi Ma represents the essence of the expansive joy that comes when we remember our true self. There’s a passage in Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda that relates to an encounter he had with Anandamayi Ma. He asks her why she is always so filled with joy and can enter state of bliss instantly. She explains to him that she’s aware of her true self. She knows that before she came to earth, she was the same. As a little girl, and later when she grew into a woman, still she was the same. And now, sitting in front of Yogananda, she remains the same. And even after death, she says, “though the dance of creation changes around me, I shall be the same.”
This is self-realization, merging with that aspect within us that never changes. It’s becoming conscious of the self that is eternal while within this brief mortal existence. Anandamayi Ma believed that the only true calling or purpose any of us have is to become realized. And so she believed that any action we take toward that goal is sacred.
There’s a deep, calm, abiding joy that arrives when we can merge with the aspect of us that never changes. There is a bliss we get to experience every time we detach from the surface storms that cause chaos in our lives. If we can remember that we are the guru, that we an aspect of the divine that remains the same no matter how much change surrounds us, then we get to arrive at joy that lives at the core of our being.
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LILITH: The First Woman: I am the voice of my body and soul. I choose the life that I desire to live.
Lilith embodies our sovereignty to declare our desires and do what must be done. She embodies the emotional and spiritual aspects of our unconscious or unrealized desires, sensuality, and unbridled sexuality.
Lilith asks, “What would happen if you left everything behind?” She wonders what prevents you from getting to experience all that you desire. Is it you? Is it an idea of someone you have to be? Is it society’s definition of what it means to be a woman?
Lilith asks the questions that sometimes never fully reach the light of consciousness. Lilith is unclaimed. She is the ruler of her body and soul, and she reminds us that we are too. And not only that, we have a sacred obligation to be the body’s fierce protector.
If I were entirely equal to everyone else, to every man, and every angel (like Samael), what would I choose for my life? If I see myself as worthy, as the first woman ever created by the divine, what more would I ask for? Am I living the life I desire? Am I actually fulfilled sexually in my current relationship? Are there aspects of my sexuality I haven’t been able to face and voice? Lilith refused to settle. She answered all these questions within her, and took action on the truth she uncovered. Lilith demanded that she meet with what she really desired. And she’s here to demand that we all do the same.
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DIANA: Queen of the Wilderness: The language of the natural world is a frequency of love. This is my mother tongue.
Diana represents the call to embody a more primal connection to the wildness that exists within. Sometimes the answer is the simple, elemental need to just walk barefoot in the grass or, even better, the mud. Sometimes we get so caught up in what’s happening (or what isn’t happening) that we forget to just be. We forget that there is tremendous power surging up from the earth wanting to take whatever energy is no longer serving us. We forget that we can commune with the trees, those ancient protectors and elders whose language comes with the help of the wind and the slow soft caress that touches our cheek. Answers sometimes need to come from the basic desire of the body to feel grounded here on earth.
Diana is associated with fertility, the phases of the moon, and the ability to communicate with animals. Of course, not with any human language, but with the frequency of love and intention, which animals perceive.
If we open ourselves up to it, we can connect to the wisdom in the natural world even if we live far from it. Even if we’re deep in the heart of the busiest city, a sign on a bus, a logo on a T-shirt, or a card someone sends us may carry an image of the animal that wants to reach us. Or we may be visited by a possum on the fire escape or a hawk on a window ledge. We don’t have to be in the wilderness to access the wisdom of the natural world. The wilderness is within us, we are a part of it. There’s so much more we can perceive from the wordless life all around us. We just have to develop the heart that can hear it
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