Navaratri & Kundalini: Embracing the goddess as Change

Every year, around this time of seasonal change, when summer becomes autumn — the leaves fall and things retreat inward before winter — there is a very special occurrence that is celebrated in a particular way in the yogic traditions.

These celebrations, or holy-days as I like to call them, are known as Navaratri — which means “The Nine Nights to the Goddess” (nava = nine and ratri = night).

For serious yoga practitioners, this is a very auspicious time, filled with energy, magick and transformation. The themes of Shakti are very prevalent.

In this essay, I’d like to share some of my personal insights after working with the energy of this time and being a yoga practitioner for the past 11 years. Specifically, I’d like to make a connection between Navaratri and the evolutionary energy that has come to be known as Kundalini.

These some of my thoughts, insights and stories.

The yogis believe & subscribe to a basic spiritual premise that also appears in many other cultures and traditions: the idea of “what is above, is also below.” For many of us, living ordinary lives in a relatively “screwed up” world, it is difficult to see past the mundane and into the extraordinary reality of mysticism. However, for some, this is what draws us to the path of spirituality: a search for something “deeper”.

Tantra

As we begin to walk on this path and awakening starts to occur, the pain of the world doesn’t disappear — it is transformed and sublimated into something more refined, more subtle. One might say that this is the process of Tantra.

To understand Navaratri & Kundalini, it is important that we have a grasp on what Tantra is, and how Tantrik philosophy and cosmology influences the period we find ourselves in now, as the Nine Nights of the Goddess unfolds before us (and within us!).

In ancient India, from a period of around 2000 years ago and onward, the spiritual life of the individual was largely influenced by Tantrik ideology. Although it is impossible to accurately date the origin of Tantra, we know that is synthesized magickal ritual and & alchemical yogic practices from Vedic, Upanishadic, and Puranic scriptures. We also know that Tantra was heavily influential to the emergence of Hatha Yoga. What this means for us, is that if we are practicing yoga today, chances are we engaging in Tantrik practice in one way or another, whether we know that or not.

Why this is important and how to connects to the Goddess traditions is simple: both Tantra & Yoga share a common ideal, and this ideal is the pursuit of living a life that of alignment with the Divine. However we define it, that is the goal.

Kundalini

When it comes to Kundalini, we must acknowledge that this is, at it’s origin, a mythological concept which came into prominence through Tantrik science. The early Tantrik scriptures were important revelations into the nature of transformation and the processes related to energetic mastery of the individual.

Thus, if we are seeking change, growth, evolution or transformation (all of which are forms of “healing” if we want to label it as such) we can see this as a Tantrik process involving the Goddess AS Kundalini (who is seen as a feminine power, or principle).

Because we know that Navaratri comes out of the Śakta traditions, aka Goddess-focused traditions, we can infer that this nine-night period is a highly focused and engaged period of time in the cycle of the Earth and stars where the energy is ‘right’ for making a connection to the Shakti, the Goddess.

But… WHAT is She? And why should we care?

Remember…. as above, so below. 

And if there is something within us, driving us to grow & evolve, how are we to build a relationship to this force, for maximum benefit? Benefit that extends not just to us and our personal lives, but has a more universal quality. This is the idea, and this may be why Navaratri became a community festival of prayer, ritual and practice in India some 1500 years. These early ancestors intuited the importance of seeking alignment with the great cosmic machine of change.

Navaratri was known as the time where, from a Tantrik point of view, one could complete the cycles from the past and successfully transform energy into a newer, higher vibration. This was known as the process of Awakening the Kundalini-Śakti. A.k.a = voluntary self-evolution.

The Process of Change

Change is difficult most of the time. We need all the help we can get. Yes, we need the DESIRE to change, the ASPIRATION to grow, for sure… but we also need the ENERGY. Ask any physicist - in order for the state of matter to transform, there must be an input of energy in the form of heat or movement, or a combination of the two. When we introduce introduce heat or movement into the system of our own body & organism, there is a process known by the yogis as tapas. Tapas is a the concept that describes this necessary step of the transformation cycle.

The pujas, rites & practices that were revered at this time of Navaratri are ways to bring this heat & energy, this tapas, into our system. This brings change & growth, as the Kundalini begins to do Her thing. Please note here that Kundalini is symbolic and metaphorical as much as it is practical and scientific. Growth follows certain mechanical, universal steps that can be studied and observed. Hence why Tantrik tools and techniques are seen as a type of spiritual technology.

So, then, what do we do with this information? Information does not imply transformation. There must be action — the input of energy to the system — and that is something that each person must choose for themselves. For the yogi & Tantrika — someone pursuing alignment with life beyond the personality, ultimately leading to a life of expansion, creativity, freedom and joy — the obvious answer is sādhana.

If you’d like to go deeper with this path of magick & beauty, and pursue a life of excellence alongside me, I suggest you check out this video below, where I share 3 simple tools to get started with a daily yoga practice. NOW is a very auspicious time to begin — the stars are on our side! — so…. let’s GROW… together :)

-GI