Daily Signet

Continued contemplations on the Mahavidyas…

The Paralyzing Power of Bhagalamukhi: In the tradition of lengthy philosophical debates, whenever the debate takes an ugly turn, it is common to call on Bhagalamukhi to block the flow of speech and dumbfound the acrimonious debater!! Bhagalamukhi—the “one who puts a bridle in the mouth” can arrest the flow of speech. While she is the one who makes the opponent “duck-faced,” she can also turn the duck into a swan.  

Clad in yellow, Bhagalamukhi is shown clutching the opponent’s tongue in her left hand and striking him with a mace held in her right hand. She is a striking force, a paralyzing force, she stupefies. She is the stifling force of the mother. She induces sudden immobility in action. She can suppress action after it has begun.  She can slow things down when they are moving too fast.

Bhagalamukhi induces stillness and immobility when energy is being dissipated. Many practitioners of Hathayoga call on her to help them still their mental activities. It is said, that “by her force, she can alter the course of one’s destiny.” The ability to be restrained, to sidestep, to center yourself…these things come by the grace of Bhagalamukhi; she might be one to whom the prayer, “Thy will be done, Oh Lord” is addressed.                                     

Teri H Martin 

From the August High Service…

O regulating Bhagalamukhi
The center of my mind
the unseen leader in the heart
Be a home for your light and in this center
…lives obey the inner nature’s law.
Secure a place—a hearth—
There is kept grandeur’s store, the hero’s mould
Where thought becomes insight.     Teri H Martin
The soul is the watchful builder of its fate. Sri Aurobindo

On This Day…

Orthodox Christian Dormition of Our Most Holy Lady Theotokos and Ever Virgin Mary

Catholic Christian Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Shinto Kaza Matsuri: celebration of the Kami of the Wind

Edna Ferber born in Kalamazoo, Mich., 1887, died 1968: novelist, short story writer, playwright, Pulitzer Prize recipient

Works: So Big, Show Boat, Cimarron

Quotes: “Christmas isn’t a season, it’s a feeling.” “Living the past is a dull and lonely business; looking back strains the neck muscles, causing you to bump into people not going your way.” “Perhaps too much of everything is as bad as too little.”