33 around the Web

In a few days I will relaunch the "33 Names of Goddess" project and put up revised webpages.  For three whole minutes I thought to just focus on the aesthetics of the Garlands.   You know, jewelry for jewelry's sake? 

But 33: I have a reason for that number, and it serves as a gentle punchline to my favorite goddess-joke. I don't want to deprive you of that pleasure just yet, so as a distraction I did a Google search on the number 33. 

Whew!

PREAMBLE:   This lovely being came to my altar in 2004, a gift from the magnificent Laurie Werth. Though my ride-or-die is Vajrayogini, the Buddha Arya Tara (Quan Yin, Kannon) has been part of my practice set since about 1999.


Shown below is an Arya (Green) Tara / Quan Yin tapestry given to me a few years ago by the thanatologist Anya Foos-Graber.  It was adorning the wall of our 2013 writing loft, flanked by two vajradakinis painted by my principle Consort.  Later, it provided my only warm garment when I was writing in the mountains in Cyprus (2014-15); and in the Spring of 2015 it wrapped a precious form, and was consigned to the crematory.   (My life is nothing if not a river of hidden symmetries.)

    

This is relevant because. . .? 

My "33" Google expedition found this little gem:

"In Buddhism, Kuan Yin [Green Tara] is a goddess and a bodhisattva. She is sacred in both Chinese and Japanese Buddhism [not to mention Indo-Tibetan], a goddess of compassion and fertility. Like Mary in the Christian tradition, she is said to aid souls to get to nirvana. She is often depicted holding a child, very much like depictions of Mary and the baby Jesus. She assumes 33 appearances. [emphasis added!] According to the Lotus Sutra she undergoes 33 transformations to help attain salvation. In Japan she is [K]annon and worshippers may take the 'Pilgrimage to the 33 Holy Places of Kannon.'" 

 Atlantis Rising Magazine (March/April, 2015) 

I knew some of this, but the '33 transformations' was news to me!  It looks like a couple of decades of Tara mantra has ferried us to the right number of Goddess(es) - and helps ground the fertile paradox of Theá Myrianomos -- one and many, once and always (oh! as well as neither and never).

See the aretalogy The Thunder, Perfect Mind for details...

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