Stars - The Orion

Star People
Back in school, the first time my class was told we could write an essay on anthing we wanted to, I remember writing on stars - how they were were born, supernovas.....I was fascinated by stars even then. There is something about the night sky, it humbles you. The brilliance of the stars in the sky-dome fills you with wonder.

Astronomers have divided the sky into 88 constellations and I recently learned waht I thought were constellations are asterisms ! smaller apparent star patterns within a constellation, like the Big Dipper (in Ursa Major), the Little Dipper (in Ursa Minor), Keystone (in Hercules), and the Pleiades (in Taurus). There is always so much to learn! (^_^)

The native Americans talk about Star People in their culture, fascinating, as if we are meant to communicate with the stars (^_^)

Orion in Colaba
Sometimes I like to stop by at Searchword, a bookstore on Colaba Causeway, (near Cafe Mondegar). While browsing, I found a charming illustrated pocket-book on stars. I have presented here the picture of Orion. Why Orion? It is easy to see in the sky and I simply enjoy spotting it ^_^
According to the book, The Orion is,
A magnificent constellation of the equatorial region of the sky, representing a hunter or warrior with his shield and club raised against the snorting charge of neighbouring Taurus the Bull.

In Bombay's night sky where stars are barely visible, Orion is seen clearly and with the help of the book for the first time I could see the hunter's arm raised and his belt. To me it felt like a major discovery! This made me refer to another book, for children (^o^) A Skyfull of Stories by Shobha Viswanath. Shobha has written that the Orion was perceived by the Greeks as a great hunter, by the Japanese as the long sleeve of a komono, in ancient India, it was known as Mriga, the stag, to the Egyptians, he was Osiris, God of light, .......phew! It is amazing how different cultures see so many different things in the same constellation !

From astronomy's point of view, two of Orion's stars , Betelgeuse- a red supergiant and Rigel are among the ten brightest stars in the sky! enough mystery and star-power to dwell on!

Star - light- connecting with ancient powers.
I think we need a little bit of star gazing every evening even if it is a few constellations up there, to help us rekindle a harmonious feeling of one-ness with the universe. Or we could go into the country-side even if it is once or twice a year and later connect with those times spent making a wish on a shooting star. (^_^)

Love & light.

The colour of love

Valentine's Day is around the corner, and I thought I might indulge in a cuddly image (^_^)
Pink is the colour of Universal Love and this pink hibiscus bloomed today amongst my potted plants, it was a sign, love! an offering!

But there is more to love than romantic love, I loved what Sonia Choquette says in her book, Trust Your Vibes, that love is a self-generating vibration. Is'nt that amazing ! which means the more you love the more you receive. So why wait to be loved, why not use this day to remind ourselves of Universal love and send out warmth to everyone, when you give warmth the first heart to be warmed is yours.

Love & light (^_^)

Green Tara

Green Tara, Sculpture in wood.

Green Tara is the most widely worshipped and beloved of all Taras in the Indo-Himalayan Buddhist world. Tara means both 'Star Lady' and 'She who carries across', that is 'Savioress'.

Green is a calming and soothing colour, which suggests that the green form of Tara is particularly effective for those who want to overcome anxiety and develop fearlessness.

How Tara was born
In one version, Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, Lord of Compassion, appears in a cloudless blue sky, and seeing that despite all his efforts there is still so much pain and heartache evrywhere, he begins to shed tears. The tears fall to earth and form a great lake. From the lake grows a pale blue lotus , and on the lotus appears a pincess, her body made of green light.

Her mantra is Om tare tuttare ture svaha.

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The Tara you see above was given to me by my husband, when he came this time from Ladakh, interestingly enough he found the sculpture in Delhi !

She is beautiful and her beauty grows on me each day :) Prior to Green Tara I have only had with me two small Buddhas. One has to be ready for such a relationship with an image/sculpture of an evolved and compassionate being. Everything comes in its own time. Time being the sacred element. Earlier I would not have known how to relate to a deity but now I am able to which is perhaps why I asked Rigzin for a sculpture of Tara in the first place.

The Feminine Divine has always interested me which explains my being drawn to Tara. For this post, I have sourced two books - Female Deities in Buddhism by Vessantara, a nice informative slim volume, and Goddess Divine Energy by Jackie Menzies, a big book with full page colour templates, magnificent!


There is no realisation, within and without, so when I read and learn about these female figures ( female usually only in principle), I learn something not only about a culture through its mythology but I also feel myself being empowered.

It is as if I learned something about another aspect of myself, it could be a primordial 'me', which was dormant or unknown to myself and this knowledge, experience makes me feel more aware and complete.

Love & Light