Lakshmi

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.