Chthonia

This episode looks at the Egyptian goddess Sekhmet, who is considered to be an aspect of the goddess Hathor, and sometimes also the goddess Bast. She is the "eye of Ra", and represents the destructive wrath of the "noonday sun" that burns up everything around it.

Dive into the enchanting world of the Morrigan, the Irish goddess of war and fate, just in time for Samhain. Explore her dynamic relationships with other deities and the impact of Christian narratives on her mythos. Hear a touching story about the tragic consequences of a boastful challenge in a royal feast. Discover the complex nature of this powerful figure and her ties to ancient rituals and archaeological sites. The discussion also emphasizes harmony with the Earth and the importance of community engagement.

In our last podcast on the Ashta Matrikas, we look at Narasimhi, the fierce lion-headed matrika that is the Shakti of Narasimha, another fierce avatar of Vishnu. Not to be tampered with lightly, she is also known as Pratyangira, the destroyer of black magic.

This week we talk about the Matrika Varahi, the Shakti of Varaha, the boar-headed avatar of Vishnu, and a ratridevata (night goddess) associated with left-hand Tantric practices. She is sometimes called Yami, and considered to be the consort of Yama, the god of death. We look at the complexity of her symbolism, with a boar […]

The matrika Vaishnavi is the shakti of Vishnu's avatar, Vaishnava, in which Vishnu takes the form of a boar and rescues the Earth Mother when she is plunged into the primordial waters. Her weapon is the discus or chakra, showing her connection to the cycle of time. This podcast looks at the multiple aspects of […]

This week's podcast looks at Maheswari, the literal shakti of Shiva (Maheswar). She embodies the vice of anger, and like Shiva himself is a destroyer, and is associated with tamas (darkness). However, like Shiva himself, she is too complex to summarize her nature in a few words, embodying both inauspicious and auspicious qualities.

Brahmi is the shakti of Brahma, the Creator of the Universe in Hindu mythology. She is largely an auspicious deity, but is associated with the vice of pride, and battles the demons of the Chandi Path with water–bringing us back to the dangers of the flood. In this podcast we look at the possible meanings […]

Indrani, also known as Aindri or Mahendri, is the Queen of the Hindu gods, wife of Indra. She is also a Matrika, associated with the vice of jealousy. For such a beautiful and desirable goddess, she also has a very dark side–and is similar to the Greek/Roman goddess Hera/Juno, who–for all of her proper, civilized […]

This week's podcast is about Kaumari, the Shakti (primal energy) of the Hindu war god Kaumara (also known as Skanda or Kartikeya). This violent goddess, associated with the vice of attachment, also has a paradoxical role as the Kanyakumari Devi, a virgin child goddess of South India and Nepal.

This week begins our series on the Asta Matrikas, eight fierce Shaktis who represent the powers of the Hindu gods themselves. We start with Chamunda, known as the slayer of anger (Chanda) and passion (Munda). However, Chamunda is much older and a more independent figure, the Shakti of the Devi herself, and very dangerous if […]