Life's Hug (New Poem)

Life's Hug

by Tim Kavi

you know there is a beauty

even in darkness

the power of your heart

beating

taking a breath

and knowing you are

you just are

is sometimes enough

and always rises

to greet the dawn

ready to return life's hug.

More About Goddesses: Publication Announcement

Click Here for Kindle Edition

More About Goddesses: Publication Announcement

My latest eBook is a collection of my columns, More About Goddesses, all together in one place.  The collection also includes new columns that have never appeared here and won't be published on the blog (as well as most of those that have appeared here up to July 2013). So you are getting both new and old content, highly readable, convenient, and an interesting collection of these essays that gets a large amount of traffic on this blog.  Included also are several of my poems with Goddess themes.

These are essays about Goddesses, their stories, traditions, and histories.  If you enjoy Goddess motifs, themes, and implications of the Goddess for personal development, you will enjoy the essays contained in this collection.

Because of its availability as an eBook (first, as an Amazon Kindle Edition, with other ePub editions coming soon to all the usual places), this book will no doubt be discovered by some readers who are seeing these columns for the very first time. All are welcome, as an appreciation of the message and compassion of the Goddess couldn't be more needed than it is today. Thanks for supporting my work, I appreciate YOU!~~TK

NOTE: No worries, future More About Goddesses columns will continue to appear in this blog on a regular basis. Those columns will not be updated to appear in this edition of the eBook, but in future volumes. Volume One includes columns up until July 2013 with some additional columns that only appear in the eBook.

(About the cover image:  from the remnant of the Aphrodite temple in Aphrodisias, Turkey).

More About Goddesses: Amaterasu

More About Goddesses: Amaterasu by Tim Kavi

Amaterasu is considered a major deity in the Shinto religion and is frequently depicted in Japanese myths. In some writings she is also referred to as Amateru which translates to “shining in heaven.” Her full name, Amaterasu-ōmikami, translates to “the great august kami who shines in heaven.”

In myths, Amaterasu is known as the sun goddess. She is the sister of Tshkuyomi, the god of the moon and Susanoo, the goddess of the sea and storms. These siblings are descendants of Izanami with Tsukuyomi being washed out of the right eye, Susanoo being washed out of the nose and Amaterasu being washed out of the left eye. Legend has it that anyone who may sit as an Emperor of Japan must be a direct descendant of this goddess.

In writings, Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi rule over the heavens with her reigning over the sun and him ruling over the night. But one day Tsukuyomi killed Uke Mochi, the goddess of food because he became disgusted as she pulled food from her nose, mouth and rectum. Amaterasu was disgusted by this murder and labeled her brother as evil, resulting in the split between night and day.

Amaterasu is typically worshipped in the Ise Shrine in Honshu. The Naiku or inner shrine is dedicated to her, holding the Yata no Kagami, the sacred mirror that is said to be one of the Imperial Regalia of Japan. Her followers are typically referred to as “the cult of the sun,” though this is occasionally referred to as a worship of the sun that stems from pre-archipelagoan culture rather than a worship of the goddess herself.

The Shikinen Sengu ceremony is held in this shrine every 20 years as a dedication to the goddess. During this ceremony the main buildings that make up the shrine are destroyed and rebuilt in a new location. Then the goddess will be offered new food and clothing. It is said that this ceremony has been carried out at this location since 690 AD.

Seated Next to You (New Poem)

Seated Next to You

by Tim Kavi

seeing your beauty

finer than what adorns

any mortal face

domestic silver; crystal

china on the quilted

silken covered place

I smiled at You

Goddess

not wanting; daring

to see your eyes

darting like Durga

really deeply caring

frightened; for I

am mortal; with blood

coursing through veins

mind seems only brain

but I know you are More

I have sung your sacred names

so many times

and places before

pilgrims climbed this road

to sit at this table

Table in The Wilderness

Manna to find some abode

seated with You

Goddess

in heavenly places

is to see you gowned

in the majestic celestial

ballroom; angels abound

ministry to You

is my call

I hear your whispered

names.