When I started my blog, I focused on the duality within each human being. I believe each one of us, whether a man or a woman, has both masculine and feminine energies; we can use them negatively or positively and balance them.
Then I wrote about apparitions of the divine in my birth place, Motta di Livenza, TV, Italy, and in Fatima, Portugal, both recognized as apparitions of the Virgin Mary (I received a catholic upbringing in my family, especially from my mother, who was a devout catholic). These apparitions were powerful: in Motta di Livenza, March 9, 1510, a man going to work in the fields saw a young woman dressed in white, she spoke to him; in Fatima, one of the three young shepherds heard the message from the divine apparition (there were six apparitions, from May 13 to October 13, 1917)
As years went by, I formed my own opinion from readings about other religions; I became interested in Buddhism and yoga philosophy. I learned about a devotional practice which consists in choosing and worshipping an image that represents the divine. In “The Gospel of Ramakrishna”, by Ramakrishna, an Indian Hindu mystic who spent his life seeking God, I read that he taught his followers to see God in everything and encouraged them to cultivate a personal relationship with the divine through devotion, prayer, and worship. I was inspired by his devotion to a divinity he called the “Mother”, the goddess Kali, the divine Mother. When She appeared to Him (only he could see Her), he prostrated himself. He frequently went into a state called samadhi, the ultimate state for a yogi, sometimes for several days. When in that state, Ramakrishna was totally unaware of his body and his surroundings, and did not eat or drink.
It will take me countless lives to experience what Ramakrishna did. However, what’s important it to continue the journey, one step after the other. Throughout the day I bring my Chosen Image, a female divinity I call a “Bodhisatva Tara”, in my heart. I feel a loving energy which I send to the space around me, to the people and all of nature in it, to the space above me, to all my family members and friends who passed away, and to the crisis areas in the world. As often as possible I do the devotional ceremony: it consists in making offerings to my Beloved Tara with a prayer: rice represents the physical body, water, the emotions, a white flower, the higher aspirations; finally, I offer a candle and I ask my Beloved Tara to guide all my actions.
I have not “seen” the Divine Mother, as Ramakrishna did, nor my Tara, except as the small statue, but I feel a presence when I worship the divine representation I chose.