around. From a Tantric perspective, the inner masculine—Shiva—is the source of consciousness, awareness. But in order to act, to stir, he must take energy from the inner feminine. In ordinary life, this is exactly what many men do when they project their creative energy outward into a muse, a nurturing wife or assistant, who then pours her energy

The best way to explain in modern terms what a deity is, is to understand deity as a unique vortex of energy. Sometimes that energy vortex takes recognizable anthropomorphic form (for instance, in meditation visions). Sometimes that energy is felt through the sound vibrations, called mantra, or through the geometric pictures, called yantras, that

They knew how contemplating an enlightened quality (like compassion) or a divine archetype (like the Sacred Heart, the Tree of Life, or Krishna with his flute) will eventually bring what you’re contemplating alive in you.

power. For full creative empowerment, these masculine and feminine polarities need to come together. We need the stability of linear focus—the masculine quality—to merge with the feminine quality of energy, with its invitation to inspiration, Eros, and aliveness.

Where you place your will determines your life, your direction, your action.

So when the masculine wants power, it must draw it from the feminine, just as when the feminine wants to be conscious, to reflect, she must draw that capacity from her inner masculine source.

these forms has a powerful effect on our own life experience, and also affects collective consciousness.

In the teachings of the Tantras, the goddesses are said to have three forms through which they can be engaged: the image we see in paintings and statues, the mantra, and the geometric form, or yantra. Each of these forms, the Tantric sages say, fully contains the energy of the deity. As we tune into that unique energy signature, it will start to

world. She is also the force that inescapably nudges us toward the evolution of our consciousness, with which we must align when we seek conscious transformation.