Description
Bhuvaneshvarī is the goddess of spaciousness, regent of manifest creation, the universal earth mother. She is the womb of creation, from which all that is knowable emerges and will return. She is described as being regal, amicable, and even as “she who nurses the world.” Hymns say that all other goddesses are forms that Bhuvaneshvarī takes to oversee and protect the world.
When only part of her full being is recognized, she is known as Māyā, the divine illusion. In Bhuvaneshvarī, mystics recognize the Great Goddess taking form for the sheer delight of being. Thus, all creation is Bhuvaneshvarī’s body, all illusions are her play, and all beings within it are her ornaments. She carries the noose (attraction) and goad (aversion), as well as displaying the gestures of fearlessness and generosity.
This illustration first appeared in Sally Kempton’s book, Awakening Shakti and was colored in for the cover of my own Shakti Coloring Book.
