Starting today, (October 4) one of the most incredible divine festivals in India will be running -- the Nine Days of Mother Divine. There will be homas, pujas, ceremonies, all kinds of incredible chanting and meditations going on all over India, especially in temples dedicated to the Divine Feminine.

It's a powerful time to really hook Her energy, to ask Her blessings, to receive Her grace. & -- for those who know those energy channels -- to connect directly with Her.

The first three days are usually dedicated to Saraswati, the Goddess of Knowledge & the Arts.

The second three are Maha Laxmi -- Prosperity.

The third three days celebrate Kali/Durga -- the fierce form of the Mother who was formed out of ALL the divine beings, gods, goddesses, rishis, angels, saints -- all the divine souls in creation -- in order to destroy a demon who was so powerful no one could tackle him single-handedly.

The tenth day -- this year, it'll be October 13th -- is called Vijaya Day -- Victory Day -- and it's the day where She finally killed that demon.

It's a hugely powerful day for manifestation and creation of whatever you deeply want in your life, especially on the spiritual level. It's a time of great cleansing and purification -- a 'victory' over the internal demons we all carry with us, a time to let Mother's love slay them and let them dissolve away.

When I lived in India, we would do intense fire homas and other ceremonies throughout the Navarathri but most especially on those last three days and the Vijaya Day.

As an interesting side note, when Shirdi Sai Baba took his mahasamadhi (ie, died), he did so on the Vijaya Day of Navarathri. When his friends and students begged him not to leave his body, his reply was, "Mother is calling -- I'm going." For those folks who know something about Shirdi Baba, the 13th is a GREAT time -- a highly auspicious time -- to access his energy through prayer and mantra.

Here in California, we'll be doing at least one MAJOR fire homa (healing fire ceremony) on the 13th October, on the Vijaya Day, in Boulder Creek.

We're expecting also to spend a good part of the time after the fire singing bhajans and kirtans, as they do in India, celebrating the glory of the Mother Divine. We'll also teach some Shirdi Baba mantras that really open the doorway to his energy channels.

This is my favorite time of the year -- nine powerful days of transformation and beauty.

If you have a statue or a photo or a picture of any form of the Mother Divine (whether it's Mary, Kuan Yin, Kali, Catholic female saints, Ammachi, whoever) -- you might put some flowers at Her feet, burn some incense and offer it to Her, make a circular motion around Her face with a candle flame and then take the flame to your eyes with your fingertips afterwards..... and ask Her for what you really want.....

and see what happens!!!!!!!

namaste!

Alx