Every month I welcome a goddess into my life and listen for what she has to share. She becomes one of my guiding stars – a traveling companion on my journey.
This month it’s Lakshmi. While she’s commonly thought of as a goddess of wealth, in my opinion that’s a rather broad-stroke view.
I’ve come to know her as a goddess of flow, and equally important she wants you to pay attention to the structure through which flow moves. I was delighted when a friend described her as a plumber goddess – asking us to pay attention to our pipelines. Once that image was planted for me I’ve never not been able to see her that way, and I love it.
There’s also an 8-pointed figure associated with her called the Star of Lakshmi which represents Ashtalakshmi, the eight forms or types of wealth she represents.
I think it’s helpful to pay attention to these forms as I believe they more accurately indicate Lakshmi is a goddess of abundance; and we as a society really need to expand our definition of wealth beyond the more usual size-of-our-bank-account measures.
Here are the eight forms of Lakshmi:
- Veera (valor) – bestowing courage and strength
- Gaja (elephant) – power and authority
- Santhana (eternal) – the wealth of children and family
- Vijaya (victory) – overcoming obstacles through growth, with an emphasis on winning without making others lose
- Dhanga (grain) – agricultural wealth
- Adhi (primal) – spiritual contentment
- Dhana (money) – this is the form Lakshmi is most commonly called upon for, as she has gold coins falling from her hand
- Aishwarya (riches) – this is the bestowing of pleasures brought through riches beyond the basic necessities; opulence
While of course we can come up with other forms of abundance than these eight, isn’t it helpful to have a more expanded framework to consider? It certainly opens the way to express gratitude for abundances you do have and may not normally consider as wealth. And these eight Lakshmi forms in themselves offer lots of points of focus that can help one assess what might need more attention, more flow, more structures in place in one’s life.
Here’s where I like to invoke Lakshmi in her plumber guise – clanking those pipes, inviting us to snake out a clog somewhere so the energy can flow openly. And this is where I find it helpful to remember everything is connected. So anywhere can be a place to jump in.
When we welcome flow in one area and surround it with joy and gratitude, we’re already inviting in energies that make it easier to address those pipes or flow lines that are a bit more troublesome.
Today is Tuesday which means the Artsyville Glue It Tuesday salon has its doors flung open and gluing adventures are being documented near and far. Be sure to check out the abundant number of wonderful creations folks are posting.
Here’s a journal page I’ve devoted to Lakshmi. There’s a photo of a Lakshmi statue I have, and I glued her into my heart where she’s always welcome. But my fave part of this spread in the goddess I’ve assembled out of bits of vintage ornate metal jewelry findings. I suspect Lakshmi would appreciate my tribute.
What about you? Do you recognize areas of greater and lesser flow in your life? Do you need to do some abundance welcoming? Where do you feel most wealthy? Is your flow balanced between incoming and outgoing? Are you dancing with a goddess this month? Do tell – you know I love to hear.
what I thought of first was the food I was putting in my body! Oh dear!
You need a month to think about those eight forms! {:-Deb
LOL – I’m an abundant indulger in food as well Deb. And yes, I imagine Lakshmi in her eight forms hopes we take a great deal of time to consider all the ways abundance is available to us.
I love what you wrote about Lakshmi. She is also one of my favorites. You are a very talented writer and artist. Gorgeous metal art depiction of Lakshmi! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for your kind words Cindy. And I’m glad you have a relationnship with Lakshmi too. I thought she might like my little metal tribute to her – not exactly gold coins, but who knows. Maybe alchemy will turn that copper into gold. 😉
A very interesting article about Lakshmi. I only heard of her as the goddess of beauty. But to be honest, I don´t know much about it, well now I do. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for visiting me and leaving a kind comment.
Cheers
Gabriele
I love how we can often see different aspects of goddesses – they’re multi-faceted just like we are. 🙂
Your page is very opulent indeed! a great impressionistic view of the goddess.
~Dawn
Thanks Dawn. I think we all should dance in some opulent energy don’t you?
very interesting read and I love your pages and the special tribute goddess you created!
Thanks – and I appreciate you stopping by.
Hi Deborah,
I love how you focus on these goddesses. That is so cool. One month each? What an interesting challenge. I have never heard of her. Is she Indian? As for flow in my own life, it would be to invoke her wisdom of flow in my writing. I have been a little stuck lately, so let the plumber goddess do her thing!
Lakshmi is a Hindu goddess Amy. And I love the idea of invoking her help with your writing flow.
“Every month I welcome a goddess into my life and listen for what she has to share.” I’m inspired by this idea of inviting a Goddess to share our journey and help offer us insight. It seems it would be a comfort and a focus from which to learn. Its not something I’ve ever tried but I like the idea of doing so.
Thanks for visiting my blog and commenting on my Book Tree. Lovely to “meet” you!
Kat 🙂
Thanks for stopping by Kat. If you decide to invite a goddess along for an extended visit I hope you have a marvelous time. 😉