How to Create a Living Altar to the Dark Goddess

iii. Chthonic

The Pavamana Mantra from the Upanishads offers this prayer: from untruth to truth, from darkness to light, from death to immortality, lead us. The word chthonic, from the Greek khthonios meaning “in the earth,” denotes that which is of or relating to the underworld. This quality of Dark Goddess, the chthonic, shares resonance with this most powerful and purifying of mantras. Chant it aloud now and feel the movement of sound around and within you:

OM

Asatoma sad gamaya
Aum uh’-suh-toh-maa suhd’ guh’-muh-yuh

Tamaso ma jyotirgamaya
Tuh’-muh-soh-maa jyoh’-teer guh’-muh-yuh

Mrityorma amritam gamaya
Mriht’-yohr-maa uhm’-rih-tuhm guh’-muh-yuh

To feel the reverberations of the chanting as one speaks, intones, or even listens to these Sanskrit syllables is to know the essence of the chthonic, for through this mantra we are shown the potential to shift the very fabric of our being toward our dreams, our fullest realization, and our ultimate bliss. In walking the path of the chthonic and in heeding the words of this eternal prayer, we are celebrating from our original yearning. We are opening to the journey of the underworld, to the origin of our soul’s passage from energy to manifest reality.

This work is particularly relevant where the chthonic is held psychically: at the third chakra, the Manipura Chakra, which is the seat of our individual will, located at the solar plexus.

The chthonic is also the third of her qualities, with correspondences in South and Fire. We might laugh to think of the underworld and fire connected together (since we may automatically conjure up images of a Christian Hell), but although often hot and fierce, the fires of the Dark Goddess burn for reasons other than damnation. In fact, they burn for purification and with the elemental power of light—that which gives form to energy and liberates us from misconceptions about phenomena in the material world. The realm of the chthonic is therefore also our connection to individual power and the sacred dance we share with the Divine in working to discover our true nature.

The tool of the chthonic is the flame, that which brings illumination to the shadows, helping us to see the real and recognize the unreal. Practices such as those that induce trance, bring on altered states of consciousness, and assist inner sight are beneficial toward understanding the realm of the chthonic. For example, shamanic drumming, trataka (focused concentration on one point or object), repetitive chanting, kriya yoga, and yoga nidra (practices that cultivate deep aware sleep) are all aids in coming to know this quality and its ramifications on gross, subtle and causal levels. Mudras too can help one focus the transformational energies of inner and outer worlds to great effect.

In working with this quality of Dark Goddess, you may wish to light candles and practice candle magick. Enjoy the play of the light on your chosen ritual objects, and see if you can enter into meditation, eyes open, while focusing about four feet away from you. Explore movement and dance, opening yourself to the physical landscape and the special features and curves of your own body and face. Create mudras spontaneously. Play with colors, sparkles, and eye-catching items on your altar, manifesting beauty and sweet flows of energy all around you. What you experience, this is an essence of the Dark Goddess.

iv. Cyclicity

The power of time, the space between dark and light where the yearning pulls us into the future, the internal mechanisms that reveal the oak tree from the acorn, the strands of our DNA, the ebb and flow of tides. Cyclicity is the fourth of her qualities, with correspondences in West and Water. Its locus is the Svadhisthana Chakra, seat of the self located at the pelvic floor. Some of the mystery may be revealed when we notice that the taste of pure water is unlike anything we know; it is clear, without particular qualities of sour or sweet, pungent or salty. Yet it is utterly refreshing and deeply satisfying to have a good drink. This is the revelation of the Dark Goddess through cyclicity.

Her tool in this place of ancestral knowing and remembrance is a water pot, which taps into the cycles of the moon and seasons, helping us open to the dynamic tension of the universe and the pull of our karmas through life, death and rebirth. Practices such as gardening that bring us into communion with nature and allow us to literally taste our efforts (as planting a vegetable garden would), as well as those that symbolically allow us to taste the fruits of life, such as devotional prayer, cooking, poetry writing, and other bhakti (devotional) offerings, can aid us in understanding and deepening our connection with this quality of the Dark Goddess.

Bring spices, food, and drink to your altar, on one level remembering and honoring your ancestors within the cycle of life, and on another remembering and honoring the seasons and what it takes to nourish living beings. Food and drink on your altar also provides a remembering and honoring of the work we do and must do to feed the spirit. Cyclicity offers the prasad (blessed food) of the Dark Goddess. Nourish yourself through the virtues of this quality on all levels, heeding the power of the eternal return. What you experience, this is an essence of the Dark Goddess.