Lakshmi, bringer of abundance - one of the aspects of the Divine Feminine honored during the yoga celebration of Navaratri
Navaratri is a 9-night celebration to honor divine feminine energy. Many of you are familiar with the Spring and Fall festivities as we have celebrated these together for many years. Did you know that there are two other periods for Navaratri – Winter and Summer?
These are lesser known because they focus on personal spiritual practices (Gupta Navaratri) rather than the popular communal celebrations (Prakat Navaratri). In both cases, we honor the divine feminine primarily through Durga in her nine forms, one for each night of Navaratri, and then through Kali, Lakshmi, and Saraswati for three nights each, symbolically taking us from darkness to light.
Gupta means secret or hidden. As householders, we have the opportunity to dedicate time to our personal practice by invoking the energies of the goddess. This can be done through ritual, fasting, chanting, meditation, silence, and self-reflection – all helping us to align with our higher consciousness. The benefits of devoting ourselves to these periods of practice include:
cultivating resilience and inner peace
deepening our connection to our energetic selves and to Shakti (divine feminine energy) to support and balance our mundane and spiritual pursuits
helping us in the removal of obstacles and protection from negative energies
gaining clarity of purpose and the potential for inner transformation.
The winter festival is called Magha Gupta Navaratri, beginning on the New Moon of the lunar month Magha. This also corresponds to the upcoming Lunar/Chinese New Year of the Snake on January 29. Seasonally, winter is a time for introspection, for dreaming, for preparing the seeds to be planted in the Spring. If you have lost sight of any New Year resolutions set earlier in the month, this is the perfect time to reignite them or to set new ones through the lens of greater clarity.
You are invited to participate in the upcoming Gupta Navaratri, starting on January 29. We are offering two 30-minute live events at 4:30pm EST on the first and last nights of the festival as an introduction to and an integration of our personal practices. You must enroll in the January 29th event to get access to the daily practices even if you do not plan to join live. The daily practices (approx. 20 minutes) are audio recordings to guide you through the chanting, mudras, and silent reflections dedicated to the various aspects of Durga and the progression from darkness to light. Throughout the celebration, Cathy will be available to answer any questions and provide support as needed.
This program is offered by donation. You can still register here to receive all the recordings plus join us for a live practice on the final day here.