What gives you power? What reminds you that you are capable, that you are able to create more than you think you can? The 9th day of Navaratri celebrates the giver of power, the form of the goddess who blesses the world, who shares from her deep well of abundance. This is the night of Siddhidatri; the one who gives the boon of superpowers.

The Siddhis are supernatural powers that ancient yogis believed (and some modern yogis still do) they could achieve through intense sadhana (spiritual practice).

Look, we all have superpowers. But probably not supernatural. We’re a part of a powerful universe, we are made within it, from it, through it. With this power we create ourselves. With this power we create the world that creates us. 

When I think of a power that bestows superpowers – this form of the goddess for example – the question that comes to me is; Who do I want to become?

There are plenty of people out there who think they can manipulate the world and shape it according to their desires. I have yet to find someone like that who makes me think; “Oooooo… I wanna be like them!”

We do have influence on the world. Our actions, our words, our behavior makes a difference. We are intertwined with the whole of creation. Creation is creativity. We are a creative power embodied. 

When I look at the world, I see that the ability to change the world around us comes through collaboration, through connection to more than ourselves. 

I also see that the people who have power in our world today, and seemingly manipulate the forces around them on their own, have a lot of money. They also have connections. They are often also forceful, oppressive, tyrannical. 

Is that who I want to become?

The power to change things on the macro level comes through, first and foremost, making changes on a micro level, in the personal sphere, deep within. 

Who do I want to become?

Sometimes it feels like even the power to shape ourselves is limited. Because it is. Because we’re woven together with the forces around us. Inseparable from the ecosystem; from plants and animals and environment, from other humans, from ancestry, from genes, from the culture, from what’s going on in the world. 

And yet we ARE powerful! Because we are CREATIVE! 

We are the power of creation embodied! 

Siddhidatri is a form of Parvati, an aspect of Durga, and she is Mahalakshmi. You know Kali and Durga are aspects of the same goddess, and you know Parvati is in there with them. But we forget that Kali and Lakhsmi are also aspects of one another. We forget that we are the very being we are the polar opposite of. 

When we ask ourselves; “Who do I want to become?” can we remember that whoever we craft in the process will also hold the very energy that is the opposite of it? Yin and Yang style. Things that exist hold in them duality. Dichotomy is at the root of existence. 

As I work on who I want to become, I come into relationship with who I don’t want to become. If I send those versions of myself into exile, they will still be there. And they’ll be hungry. And angry. 

I have to weave the tapestry of who I am and include in it all the parts. And include in it the parts I think have nothing to do with me. And include in it the parts that I don’t even know are there – the parts that don’t see – the shadow – the unconscious. 

The story of Siddhitari is the story of the birth of the world. She was the darkness of the great void. And she was an eternal spark of light. And she slowly formed into MahaLakshmi. As the goddess, she birthed the trimurti – the trinity of Brahma (creative), Vishnu (sustainer), and Śiva (destroyer). And she created the divine feminine to activate them – Sarasvati (creativity), Lakshmi (sustainability), and Kali (dissolution).

The Great Mother created all that exists – galaxies and planets and stars. She created demons and gods and plants and insects and animals and humans. She created all the cosmic things and all the earthly things. She gave form to the continuation of formation. She spun the world into existence and made the seasons. She made the moon come and go to give both light and darkness room in the night.

For everything the goddess created she made its opposite. In everything she brought to life there was its other side.

She is seated on a lotus and she holds one in one of her four hands. And the lotus tells us that without the murky, muddy dark pond, there is no beauty and radiance and petals and fragrance of delight. 

She rides a lion who roars our wildness into a being as he takes the steps of royalty and rulership. Untamed, we are in our creative essence and flow – feral and out of control and yet with this creative power, we give form to something, which creates a boundary, and requires discipline. 

She holds the trident, the threefold of her own being and of the whole universe. 

She has a hand in Abhaya Mudra, which is the gesture of fearlessness, which cannot exist without fear.

Everything the goddess expresses embodies a paradox. Because life itself is also death, because pleasure and pain are intertwined, because all that exists is a breathing dichotomy.

On the 9th day of Navaratri we arrive at the core of this holiday, which is a battle with the demonic oppressive certainty. We’ve danced with the goddess as the force of creation, as the power of dissolution, as a nurturing energy. We played with her as uncertainty and ambiguity and change. And she’s reminded us that she herself can get caught in the web of the demonic, who is a feature of her own creation (the goddess is also the mother of the demons). 

The 9th night invites us again to embrace our power as our ability to change, to shape who we are, to anchor in the movement, to strengthen through vulnerability, to keep becoming. 

For more on Siddhitari check out this video.

If you are here, then you must be into it! And if you’re into it, you’re gonna LOVE the six week course we’re starting on Sunday called Bond With Your Life. 

It’s gonna be a powerful journey of shaping who you are, of breaking down patterns, and of making changes through a well rounded approach that weaves together practices, somatic actions that you can use throughout the day, to help collect yourself, ground and center yourself, connection to the unconscious through mythology and symbols, deep study of yoga, and a rich, and meaningful unfolding conversation. 

All the details for Bond With Your Life are here. I am so excited to bond with you! 

With love,

Hagar