The Secret of Shiva and Shakti

There is one energy that keeps taking on new names and forms. In Tantra the name of that energy is Shakti, the feminine force, which is actually one and the same as its only apparent companion Shiva, the masculine force.

Awakening Shakti

One of the most common terms used in Tantra is Shakti. What does this word mean? Shakti represents the female principle of energy and motion without which there could be no manifested universe. Her name means "creative energy and/or "power" in Sanskrit.

According to the philosophy of Tantra, the entire universe is a manifestation of pure consciousness. In manifesting the universe, this pure consciousness seems to become divided into two poles or aspects, neither of which can exist without the other.

One aspect, Shiva, is masculine, retains a static quality and remains identified with unmanifested consciousness. Shiva has the power to be but not the power to become or change.

The other aspect, Shakti, is feminine, dynamic, energetic and creative. Shakti is the Great Mother of the universe, for it is from her that all form is born. Read more