Green Tara at The Goddess House

Tara means “star” or “The one who ferries across”, or “She Who Saves”.  She represents compassion in action, since she is in the process of stepping from her lotus throne in order to help the suffering sentient beings. Tara’s name is said to derive from the verb meaning “to cross” or “to traverse” or “to get to the other side”.  Like a star she shines and helps us guide our lives in a safe direction.  A third meaning of Tara is “the pupil of the eye”, suggesting her as the watching presence, who watches over those who navigate the treacherous waters of life in search of the further shore of liberation.

 

Tara is known to protect from fear and danger, heal illness, increase longevity and increase prosperity.  On the ultimate level, she awakens our wisdom so that we can realize the true nature of reality.  In Mahayana Buddhist tradition it is believed that practice of Tara mantra or reciting sacred Tara Mantra brings Green Tara’s instant help to overcome all problems and help actualize all our material needs and heartfelt wishes.  Tara is the embodiment of enlightened activity.  She is a bodhisattva, rather Buddha, who, although totally free from the imperfections of Samsara, remains in samsara to help all those that suffer.  

 

Returning Home and Opening the Heart

The following is a wonderful posting from Madisyn Taylor of Daily Om.

Return Home - Open Heart

Approaching life with an open heart means

that we have opened the door to a greater consciousness.

Spiritual teachers have always pointed to the heart as the seat of consciousness, and recently Western science has found evidence to support this realization. It turns out that the heart has its own central nervous system and is not simply under the rule of the brain as formerly believed. Anyone who has taken the time to explore the heart knows this and, more important, has realized that the heart is the source of our connection to a consciousness greater than the ego.

 

Using Goddess Moon Devotional Rosaries

Goddess Moon Devotional rosary with red jasper

The use of a string of beads for prayer or in meditative practice is extremely wider spread than what many people may realise.  Rosaries, as used within the Catholic Church, are believed to have been created somewhere between the 12^th and 13^th centuries as a form of devotion to the Mother of God, Mary.  Referred to as the “Queen of Heaven", Mary appears to have been a continuation of other deities who held that title, in particular the Canaanite Astarte and Egyptian Isis.