the terrifying truth
meet chinnamasta, scariest goddess of all
first & foremost,
tantra is a tradition of truth.
it’s a radical embrace of reality,
in all its beauty and its horror.
the tantric deities reflect this;
some are soft & sweet, while others are stuff of nightmares.
today, in honor of halloween,
i want to talk about one of these terrifying ones.
a woman so frightening,
so disturbing,
she snaps us right of our slumber.
let me introduce to you..
chinnamasta
the goddess of truth
Dallapiccola 2004 / Hindu Visions of the Sacred (pp. 72-3)
i mean..
when i first saw chinnamasta, i realized the tantrika’s aren’t playing around.
there she is,
a decapitated, naked woman,
standing on people mid-coitus,
drinking her own blood,
while also feeding two others with her blood..
let’s just say,
i don’t think a christian priest would approve this message.
(which is probably why she’s one of my favorites)
so,
who is this insane p*ssy-out, head-off woman?
chinnamasta is, just like lalita & dhumavati, part of the Mahavidyas (the 10 wisdom goddesses).
she represents many things,
but today i want to focus on a particular part of her that has been so present in my life lately;
she represents the raw, shocking reality of existence.
she represents enlightenment by facing the truth about life, death & self.
where lalita is the soft smile of pleasure, play & beauty,
chinnamasta is the ice-cold stare of reality in its most essential form-
urging you to pause and reflect;
what is true to you?
chinnamasta yantra (geometric diagram used for meditation or invocation of chinnamasta)
chinnamasta’s headless body represents the ‘cutting away’ of un-truths, ego & illusion.
i find this so brilliant about her;
just like her, the truth can be scary.
the truth is often not a sweet, gentle, rose-colored thing.
it’s a thing standing in the corner of your room,
quietly growing in presence and urgency.
it’s something you can try ignore,
but only at the expense of your self.
to admit your truth can be a terrifying thing;
what does it mean? what are the consequences? what will happen if i follow my truth?
that is why the path of truth is the path of surrender -
you simply don’t know what happens when you follow your truth.
yet, chinnamasta & tantra show us,
following our truth is the only way.
truth is the path.
the thing that lights you up,
is life whispering “this way.. this way..”
and the thing that dims & shrinks you,
is life whispering “the other way..”
the more you follow the whisper of your truth,
the more you approach your essence,
and find out what it means to live from it.
image by jaimie
i’ll leave you with these prompts:
where have you been saying yes when you were feeling no?
where have you been saying no when you were feeling yes?
what lights you up? how can you do more of that today or this week?
what dims & shrinks you? how you minimize that this week?
instead of looking away,
i invite you to find the truths lingering around in the corners of your being.
look at them, call them forward & invite them to tell their story.
see if somehow, they can show you the way.
sending you love
xxx
jess