The Fierce Archetype of the Mother

As many of you know, I am a mom of two kids. Being a mother means taking on so many roles. The cook, the housekeeper, the nurturer, the guardian, the healer, the coach, the advocate, and more and more that present themselves daily (Many arms holding many instruments) and eternally. I have found no deep inner work that can remove the challenges of parenting, but I can't say enough about having the practices that allow me to come back to my center again and again. One can see this aspect of the divine feminine pulsation mirrored in Vedic myth associated with yogic philosophy time and time again (remember the feminine principal is the active, creative force of all beings, male or female). The goddess transforms into the necessary avatar for

the task at hand. When demonic forces threaten to upset the balance of the world, Parvati, the wife and mother, takes the fierce form of Durga, the warrior. When the battle gets even to intense for Durga as she faces a demon who can replicate himself from every drop of blood, out of her head she manifests Kali, the fiercest of the fierce, who cuts right to the heart of the battle, and cleans up the whole bloody mess.

It is true, thankfully, I have never had to literally vanquish a demon with a sword, but on an archetypal level, we all are called upon to do battle with what is thrust upon us on all levels. What ever your battles, whenever you come up against the unfaceable in the administration, in the institutions, in a diagnosis, in the responsibilities of life, in your own shadow self, know that you have the potential to expand beyond the contraction of the situation. Know that you can call upon an inner ferocity that is outside of your everyday version of the seemingly limited individual you. Know that even that expansion has the Shakti, the creative power to transform. Also know, that when the mess is cleaned up, and it's time to go home, you can skillfully the way back in to the heart.