11/08/2026
I wanted to place the post during the festival of Navratri - the worship of Feminine Strength in "Shaktism" where Shakti or Devi or the divine feminine energy is revered as the Ultimate reality.
However today being both Diwali and its related festivities as well as Human-Animal Bond Day - I couldn't think of a better time to post. Happy Diwali to all who celebrate, and having spent time in India several years back (and coming from a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-religious (but I'm not-religious) background, this post celebrates the various forms of Shakti in mythology and worship.
The festivals for these goddesses last for ten days in many cases - especially Durga Puja in Bengal and Amba-puja in Gujarat, and different forms in the South. My father, also non-religious despite his Buddhist ancestry, believed a lot in Shaktism - as in the sense for him "God" was Feminine. So, in other words, if God existed (and no I do not believe in a God in the skies - go ahead, judge me) - for him God was a woman. I feel lucky to have a dad like that.
Check out all these slides to see the depictions of the various goddesses who are revered during Navratri, Durga Puja, Kali Puja ("puja" means worship), Laxmi Puja - the latter two celebrated during Diwali - and also Saraswati Puja (the goddess of music, poetry, knowledge.) You can always search more about them.
Now - what is important is that each goddess was associated with an animal or bird - big cats like lions and tigers, or owls, swans and other sentient animals. Long before patriarchal religions diminished the Divine Feminine, warrior goddesses, multi-tasking superwomen (the many hands denote multi-tasking), multi-faceted, complex, courageous, wise women-goddesses without censorship or shame - were the norm and still are in many regions, despite the sullying through patriarchal practices and colonialism.
So let's celebrate not just the festival of Lights, but the festival of Devi Shakti and all her beloved animals. It also denotes the victory of Good over Evil, and leading from Darkness (Ignorance) to Light (Truth).
Shaktism does not reject the masculine, but rejects the dualisms such as masculine-feminine, male-female, soul-body, transcendent-immanent dualism, affirming nature as divine and the Divine Feminine as the Restorer of Cosmic Order.
The first pic is me from a photo taken by an Indian photographer. I decided to place that, after facing exceptional cruelty, racism and unhinged hatred from two women for two years where the depths of their jealousies and lack of ethics unfolded only this summer. (And, No, they are NOT rescue-related, but two who don't even live in the city - but really far away, who are SO obsessed by a musician man who supports me, that they set out to destroy me and the cat-rescue in their man-obsession. Go figure! If only they understood or even knew about Shakti, maybe they would understand that coveting a man to that degree to try to destroy a compassionate woman - comes from their own internalized misogyny, their inability to admire other women and their own Projection.
Onward. I hope the Light of self-knowledge illuminates them too on this Diwali. )
I also want to state that isn't it amazing that Women with Cats are Worshipped as the fountainhead of Love, Goodness and Wisdom, as protectors and winners in Shaktism, instead of how patriarchal religions associated them as the forgotten or feared (such as witches, before we reclaimed that word).
So - let's celebrate Light, Love, and Powerful Goddesses with their Big Cats and Big Birds!
