DEMETÆRA in Da House!!
I am very happy to be sharing this practice tomorrow night, February 13. It is the second of the five Eleusian Epiphanies, and like the first (33 Names of Goddess), the Demetæra sets out to create a creative dialogue between aspects of your Being† that sometimes barely speak to one another.In the last blogpost I gave a quick profile of goddess Demeter. In this post, we'll glance at buddha Green Tara, whose Sadhana (practice) I've been doing since 1999.
Green Tara is a member of the Buddha Kula, a family of five Wisdom buddhas who guard and purify the senses. The Five form a mandala with the Fifth at the center. Each one is established at a directional gate, and She --with her consort Amoghasiddhi-- sits at the North. Her element is air, her color is green and Her practice purifies the sense of sight, transforming envy/jealousy into All-Accomplishing Wisdom.
She is a Protectoress and is affiliated with anything that grows green (and reduces carbon-dioxide to oxygen).
Green Tara (Drolma in Tibetan) is usually shown sitting in a half-lotus, with her right (bare!) foot extended to touch the ground, echoing the 'Earth-touching Gesture' of Siddhartha Gautama at the moment of his awakening.
Interestingly, her seed syllable is shaped like a "5" (with a couple of doodads), so fairly easy to visualize. And that 8-petalled thing she traditionally sits on? How 'bout this?There are other traditional and iconographic connections between the two goddesses, which we'll touch on in the workshop.
If you plan to come tomorrow night, seating is limited to eleven.
• Where: Blue Star Temple, East Austin (address provided upon registration)
• When: Thursday, February 13, 8-10 p.m.
• Entrance Fee: Zilch.
• Participant limit: 11
