Word, Breath and Manifestation
In yogic understanding, the Mahāvidyā also reflect the journey of speech and expression:
Tārā — speech before manifestation
Bhairavī — the heat of the word
Bagalāmukhī — suspension and silence
Mātaṅgī — articulated expression
Kamalā and Lalitā relate to the heart; Chinnamastā to the crown.
The journey is not hierarchical, but rhythmic.
Kāmākhyā
Returning to the Root
Kāmākhyā is the śakti pīṭha where goddess Satī's yoni is said to have fallen to the ground after her body was dismembered. The word yoni can be translated to 'womb' or 'vulva' but also to 'source.' Therefore, this śakti pīṭha is understood to be the source of all manifestation and is regarded as extremely powerful. The goddess who resides here, and who is also called Kāmākhyā, is believed to menstruate one time per year, which causes a great celebration known as the Ambuvācī Melā.
My journey to Kāmākhyā confronted the wounding of the Mulādhāra Cakra, the root.
Tradition: all manifestations came out of the Yoni. Śrī Yantra downward triangle is the Yoni Mudra. Translated as the womb, as the female sexual organ. The Yoni is the birthplace of all creation.
The Yoni is connected to both Kālī and Lalitā Sundarī. Kālī is the darkness that holds all of creation- Yoni is the dark space where everything grows and everything goes back to. When you give birth, it's a bloody process, the experience is out of control. Kālī is the goddess of transformation, change (babies, project) Bloody process of life.
Kālī
The Dark Womb
Kālī is seen as the great womb of consciousness which will draw everything back into herself. She is the fertile unknown where everything begins and returns. Birth is uncontrolled, raw, and transformative.
As Ādiśakti, she contains all the faces of the Goddess. She liberates by taking it all away through a process known as neti, where the individual stops identifying with the body and mind. I am not this or that. She takes it all away, so we are left with bare essentials. Identity dissolves until only essence remains.
Lalitā
The Sacred Yes
Lalitā Tripura Sundarī gives birth to creation through beauty and play. Associated with the triangle and golden radiance, she represents inclusion rather than negation. Lalitā is understood as the creative power behind all manifestations. She is associated with the triangle, as she gives birth to the whole creation. She is known as the beautiful, charming or playful one. Hers is the path of inclusion, where the practitioner (instead of giving up identification with the body, mind, etc) learns to include more and more aspects into his/her identification until she/he indeed feels that she is everything, that she is Shiva and Shakti. Lalitā can be understood as divine affirmation.
Where Kālī strips away, Lalitā embraces.
Not I am nothing, but I am everything.
A cosmic playfulness — a sacred yes to life.