Goddess Power

Here's a practice to engage your inner principle of abundance—your Laksmi. (You can follow the same set of practices if you want to call on the inner warrior, Durga, or on the power of creativity, speech and music, Saraswati.)

Ask yourself how Laksmi manifests in your life—looking at your relationship with beauty, wealth, and love. Are there areas where you feel lacking? Do you feel undeserving or unlucky?

Next, make two lists. On one, list the things you don't want in your life (perhaps "ugliness," "lack of money," "lack of time" would be on that list). On the other, list the things you do want. Use these lists to create a practice of affirmative contemplation—you can write out statements like, "I'm enjoying a life of love, abundance, and beauty now," and repeat them to yourself, or use your own technique.

As you work with this, you'll begin to shift your physical behavior around abundance. The operative principle here is "Attract Laksmi by becoming Laksmi." How do you do that?

Traditionally, there are certain Laksmi-esque behaviors. One of them is cleanliness and order, especially about money matters. Budgeting, planning, keeping track of your money are ways of respecting Laksmi energy—some people even fold the bills in their wallets as an expression of care for Laksmi. You can also honor Laksmi by taking care of the environment and of material objects in your life.

Kindness and generosity express the Laksmi-spirit—not only material generosity (though philanthropic giving is one of the great ways we can "be" Laksmi) but also generous sentiments and generosity of time and assistance.

Gratitude is a major Laksmi-attractor. So is a commitment to making the life around you beautiful, loving, and harmonious. Laksmi is all about giving, but she's also about being open to receive. So looks for ways not to block abundance from your life.

An Intimate Encounter
The forms of the goddesses are actually energy vortexes, and meditation on them is a powerful way of bringing them alive in your life. In other words, repeating a Laksmi mantra will bring specific Laksmi energy into your environment. Imagining Laksmi's presence will invest your consciousness with part of her energy. Here's one way to do it:

Sit comfortably, in an upright posture. If you have a picture of Laksmi place it in front of you and look at her face. Then close your eyes and imagine her before you. You don't have to visualize her exactly—it's enough to feel her presence. Imagine her qualities-love, blessings, harmony, and kindness—deeply present.

At this point, you can invoke or greet Laksmi, using words like "Beautiful Laksmi, auspicious one, you are every gracious thought. Please be present in all your loving generosity." Or, you can repeat one of her mantras, like "Hreem shreem kreem mahalakshmyai namaha."

Now, express your gratitude for the blessings in your life, and ask Laksmi for her blessings. There are two schools of thought on asking for boons from deities. One is that it's better to ask for blessings in general rather than to give a laundry list of specifics. The other maintains that it's fine to make requests. I've done both.

The most important thing is to give yourself time to feel a connection with the devi's energy and blessings. This may not be apparent at first, but if you keep repeating the practice, you'll become more familiar with the deity's energy.

As you practice deity meditation, you'll have different insights. You might notice this particular form of energy around you or feel shifts in your energy patterns, and experience heightened consciousness in the related areas of your life. Try to take time to record your experience of the practice, especially any inner or outer changes that seem to be related to your goddess practice. You might also notice external changes in these areas. Be sure to write it all down.

Finally, remember that deity practice is different for everyone. There's no need to do it in a set way, any more than you'd undertake any other intimate relationship by following a set of rules. Invoking deity energies is a way to invoke your dormant powers, which are infinitely creative, surprising, and full of sweetness. Get to know them, understand that they are aspects of yourself, and one day you'll realize divinity is not something unfamiliar or strange, but the very essence of who you are.