Is it possible that the tantric concept of the idealised female archetype could improve our relationship with the environment?
Within the Kaula tradition of Tantra there is a clear reverence for women. This is seen not only in the written texts, but also in the iconography and is evidenced by the positioning of the goddess Shakti – in one guise or another – as the primary deity. As it says in the Yoni Tantra: ‘‘Women are divinity, women are life, women are truly jewels.’’
Written in the 11th century it can be imagined that such a liberal attitude towards women was not without controversy. Indeed, even today in many sections of modern society you might be hard pressed to find such a liberated attitude. Reverence for women does not necessarily guarantee an enlightened society though. There have been various political movements in recent history who honoured women as wives and mothers, but this certainly did not represent a liberal attitude – either towards women or towards other minority groups!
The Kaula Tantras did not merely revere women as wives and mothers though. Tantric philosophy states that all of creation is the result of the unification of feminine and masculine principles that exist simultaneously within the single Absolute. Because everything that exists in God also exists in ourselves, we also share these two essential principles, however, women are seen as the physical manifestation of the feminine principle – in other words, as the goddess Shakti.
All women then are to be seen as a goddess. But the Tantras go even further than this, identifying the defining feature of divine feminine power as the yoni – or the vagina. And if the yoni is the source of feminine power, yoni tattva – or female sexual fluids – is power itself, the physical manifestation of the omnipresent energy that is so essential to the creation and sustenance of the material universe. Within Tantra the male principle (deified as Shiva) is a static and immobile awareness that is ineffective without the creative and dynamic energy of the feminine principle (Shakti). Female sexual fluids are therefore a source of liberating energy and power for a male tantric practitioner.
This philosophy exalts women beyond a domesticated role of wife or mother. Instead, it is the sexually independent woman who is most enlightened and closest to realising their own Shakti-nature.
Undoubtedly this philosophy would have been extremely controversial when it emerged in medieval India. Even today, sexually empowered women are still criticised and vilified, just as they have been throughout much of modern history. Perhaps patriarchal societies are instinctively fearful of their power and seek to suppress it, through persecution and carefully managed narratives. But tantric iconography of Kali and Shiva provides a clue as to how the tantric male should approach such powerful and enlightened women.
The legend goes that Kali – a fierce and untameable form of Shakti – was summoned to fight off an attack of power-hungry demons. Kali successfully slaughtered her enemies but, consumed with blood lust, she went on a rampage, devouring any man that tried to suppress her and taking their head as a decoration to wear around her neck. These heads are representative of ego, and the implication is clear: any man who attempts to control the ferocity of Kali through vanity and ego will be devoured by her power.
Upon seeing Kali in this state her husband, Shiva, decided to lie down in her path and turn himself into a corpse, allowing her to dance upon his body. Following this act of submission Kali recognised the god Shiva and decided to revive him by allowing him to drink from her yoni, after which Shiva made an offering of his own vital energy – in the form of semen. Kali accepted the offering, straddling him in intercourse whilst he still lay prone.
This then, is how the masculine should revere the feminine – filled with awe and egoless respect for the sheer power of an independent and sexually liberated woman; honoured by her willingness to share her energy with him.
There is of course a slightly more patronising interpretation of the tantric relationship between male and female energies. Within Tantra there was a historical foundation of tantric practitioners transforming raw and potentially destructive power into something more creative, pro-social and spiritually liberating. From this perspective the female principle (Kali / Shakti) is the wild and dangerous energy that must be harnessed and re-directed by the more sedate male aspect.
Nonetheless, the Kaula Tantras in particular exalted the female goddess, placing her above the male both in iconography and in forms of worship, and as tantric philosophy evolved it was increasingly accepted that both “female” and “male” energies reside within us all. Indeed, without the dynamic and liberating energy of Shakti, Shiva would lie dormant and useless, idle and corpse like. Ultimately, it is the authentically unrestrained and sexually liberated goddess who provides the ideal female archetype for tantric practitioners.
And this too is relevant to the practice of Eco-Tantra. Even when the Tantras were written the female goddesses were equated to nature – but this is not the caring and nurturing “mother nature” that we have become accustomed to. Rather, this is nature as a wild, often ruthless, and independent force. And instead of trying to control or contain nature, instead of trying to tame or domesticate her (as the egotistical – and ultimately decapitated – men may have done in the legend of Kali), we should approach her with humility, submissive reverence and awe. Only then will she honour us by revealing her life-giving energy and allow us to share in her power.
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