Shiva represents pure bliss beyond form, the infinite light that fills all of our souls and every form of life, in every dimension and realm of existence.
Every year we have celebrated Maha Shivaratri in Feb/March. It has always been a spectacular event, a time of growth and change. Yet this lunar festival occurs every 28 days, with every passing cycle through which the existing light is dissolved in the ocean of all possibility, to then return in fullness again and again.
Lunar festivities are always about the reflected light coming from the Great Sun. In this analogy the Sun is our Higher Soul and the Moon is our mind. The bliss of the higher soul can be brought to mind, but then the mind wants to wander off again into valleys of relative light and egoic dullness. Our conscious mind, wonderful as it is, is largely a tool of our egoic vehicle. It latches onto a particular version of how things are. When we are on a spiritual path, we know that our experiences are subjective and relative. Nothing is fixed, everything can change and be reborn, transformed. We have more empowerment to bring awakening, growth and change when we stretch more into the light of our full truth.
Each month just before the moon goes fully dark there is a sliver of light, the waning moon. That is a great time to connect with Lord Shiva. It is a time to surrender the fixed constructs that feel binding and disempowering. We offer them to the great Lord Shiva, dissolver of form, who frees us from the bondage we didn’t know we were in. Every Shivaratri is about overcoming darkness and ignorance.
Some of the things that we may gain assistance with in these monthly festivals:
- Breaking bad habits, Overcoming addiction
- Dissolving old patterns of self-criticism, anger, blame
- Loneliness
- Ill health
- Asking for higher consciousness for the world around environmental or social concerns
- Self-Realisation
- Conditioning our conscious mind in a different way to our early programming
- Letting go of toxic memories or relationships, Help with forgiveness
- Flowing with the River of Life
- Experiencing pure bliss
- Feeling renewed and cleansed from the inside
- Destroying evil, from the smallest thought of revenge to the world-wide pandemic
- Seeking spiritual guidance and direction concerning any matter
We have monthly ceremony bringing all this into focus. They are offered online (and in-person at the Harmony Centre Covid conditions allowing). Ceremony may be with water, traditionally called abhishekam or with flowers. A ceremony of offerings, chanting, community, enjoying time together, and opening our hearts to more love and compassion. Traditionally there is chanting, fasting and meditating upon ethics and virtues such as kindness, non-violence, charity and forgiveness. When we come together in this way, we are helping not just ourselves but the world at large.
Feel free to bring offerings such as flowers and food, this helps us to be active participants wherever we are and whatever role we are playing in the puja. When watching online you can also place offerings on a table with a jug of water, holding the intention for blessing for these offerings, that can then be consumed to receive the blessings.