Navratri Part Two

Navratri continues tonight.

The word navratri means nine nights; These nights are broken up into sets of three, and during each set we meditate on a different aspect of Shakti (the universal principle of energy and creativity, Mother Earth, and the feminine power in each of us) - first the Goddesses Durga, then Lakshmi, and then Saraswati.

Each of the three goddesses signifies a stage of the spiritual journey we all go through: Durga’s strength and energy creates an opening, Lakshmi’s success and fortune nurtures growth, and Saraswati’s wisdom and knowledge leads to enlightenment, happiness, and peace. Tonight we honor and thank the Divine Mother as Lakshmi, the Goddess of success.

Wednesday is my day to re-group and re-define my week. First I make a plan for getting over the bump of the mid-week, then I re-envision my emotional tone and perspective.

And this is the yin time of the waxing crescent moon, a phase of growth, when I am planting my intentions and caring for them. I'll take time to discern and create clarity. 

Agenda today:

2021 rangoli

1. Morning meditation and mantra 

2. Re-group plan

3. Read "The Achievement Habit"

4. Define more intentions

5. Create inner synergy for Big Projects

6. Make a new rangoli design
7. Add to my altar

8. Writing themes

1. Morning meditation and mantra:

During Navratri, Hindus work on their vyavhaar (behaviour) and acharan (character). For these next three days I honor the constructive aspect of the Mother - after Durga has destroyed the old structure of my personality, a constructive process can begin. 

The word Lakshmi comes from the Sanskrit word Laksya, meaning aim or goal. Laksmi is a beautiful golden woman with four arms, sitting on a fully bloomed lotus and holding a lotus bud. Cascades of gold coins flow from her hands, indicating her offering of prosperity. She bestows spiritual and material wealth, good food, health, happiness, and the growth and unfolding of whatever is life-enhancing. 

On each morning of Navratri I light a small white candle. For these next three mornings I meditate on my inner life-giving force of creativity. I ask -

What part of me do I ask Lakshmi to heal and nourish? What is the wealth I wish for?

What are the life-enhancing qualities and habits that I wish to cultivate in the days ahead? 

I picture this Mother spirit sitting on the blossom of my heart, gently opening it to accept love and happiness into my life. 

I continue to focus on my image of Lakshmi and chant- (You might want to chant along with someone who knows how. Many YouTube versions exist, and one is here.)

• Om - the primordial sound 
• Shreem -  from which beauty and feminine energy emanates
• Ma-ha - great 
• Lak-shma-yai - goddess of wealth
• Na-ma-ha - I pray.

2. Re-group plan:

Today I will define my top priorities for the week, and make a plan for when to work on them:

1. Hall door project: Today I'll confirm color ideas with Wade; papering on F-Sat. Sat- get more paper?
2. Clearing craft boxes: Work on this every afternoon - Decide which projects we might work on this winter and put them into plastic bags.
3. House painting: Today I will clean the gutters left of the porch, and repair them a bit; Friday I hope to finish painting.
4. Christmas sewing: Tomorrow I will begin sewing peace doves

3. Read "The Achievement Habit":

I'm reading from this book by Bernard Roth (2015), subtitled "Stop Wishing, Start Doing, and Take Command of Your Life". This is a book about "design thinking", applied to achieving goals in your life. It's due, so I'm going to skim and sum up the last chapters:

Chapter 8 is Self Image by Design, and it begins with examine my role models, starting with my parents, and how their views affected my thinking about money, life path, authority, work, hobbies, risks and fulfillment. To become autonomous we must examine all the influences that have constrained and informed our behavior and create our own "synthesis that honors our influencers yet is also a true expression of our being". 

To do that I need to consider my intentions!

4. Define more intentions:

I intend to practice a simpler daily flow, settle into intentional time, live with immediacy, intuition, flexibility - and love life as it is, because the Authentic Me needs to balance the integrity of Doing with the Truth of Being, or the stress will create outbursts.

 

I intend to finish the big projects I have begun - painting the front of the house, papering the hall doors, and (maybe) sewing a canvas roof -  because creating our home sanctuary is a love priority, and finishing projects (one by one) satisfies my need for completion, integrity, and order.

 

5. Create inner synergy for Big Projects:

Stephen Covey says, "Fulfilling the four needs [spiritual, mental, physical, social] in an integrated way is like combining elements in chemistry. When we reach a "critical mass" of integration, we experience spontaneous combustion -- an explosion of inner synergy that ignites the fire within and gives vision, passion, and a spirit of adventure to life." 

I'm going to create some synergy today for my big house projects.

"Each step below has multiple ways to engage, and you don't have to use them all. Take as much or as little time with the steps as you like - you might want to stretch the process out over a few days, repeating each step a few times in different ways, building a little more energy each time. Or you can speed shift through the steps, and explode into action today!"

1. Engage my mind: Create a clear vision of each step. 

2. Engage my heart: Identify the love component - my family.

3. Engage my spirit: Repeat the mantra - "Authentic Me is Doing and Being".

4. Engage my body: Schedule reasonable time to physically do the project. Gather all the supplies.

5. Start a fire: 

• Mentally review the next steps.
• Feel love for my family.
• Engage spirit by reciting "Authentic Me is Doing and Being".
• Engage my body by diving in to the first step. 

6. Make a new rangoli design:

Rangolis are rice flour designs, made on the floor or a metal plate. At Navratri a new design might be made each day, with dots, squares, flowers, birds, and so on- each one designed to welcome the spirit of the Goddess.

7. Add to my altar:

For the next three nights the Mother is invoked as Lakshmi, goddess of material and spiritual wealth. I added a bowl of coins from around the world, to remind me of the nurturing quality of the Shakti.

8. Writing themes:

Today I will set themes and topics for writing and research for the next week:

• W-F: Prepare veggie beds for winter (over-wintering and bedding down)
• Sat- Sun: Honorable Harvest - Preserving food habit (Farmer's Markets) + Save seeds;
• Bee care integrity