Full Moon in Viśākhā: The Star of Purpose

FULL MOON

Artwork: Durga on her mount (vahana) Kota, Rajasthan, North-Western India, ca. 1860 

May 12th 9:56 AM PST | 22:26 IST

May’s full moon (Pūrṇimā) rises on Monday in the Vedic lunar mansion of Viśākhā विशाखा (sidereal Libra), the Star of Purpose.

With the new moon in Bharaṇī (Aries), we were presented with a culmination of recent energies—a pivotal threshold for purification, revealing deeper layers of the self, and initiating us into transformative new beginnings.

Libra, the sign most in need of balance, holds Viśākhā at its edge. This asterism, said to be the birth star of Sūrya Graha (the Sun), invites us to clarify our intentions. Through the churning of duality, the singular is born. Success now depends not only on the goals we set, but on whether they serve a larger whole. There is power in sustained effort and one-pointed focus—while also softening our attachment to the outcome.

Artwork: Pinterst

Viśākhā is symbolized by a triumphal arch, suggesting arrival and initiation, and its name means "two-branched"—signifying the crossroads of choice. Ruled by two deities, Indra (king of the gods and storms) and Agni (god of fire), this lunar mansion awakens the śakti (energy) of ambition, devotion, and courageous pursuit. 

It supports the inner fire needed to clear what has outlived its purpose and to devote oneself to building anew. This lunation invites a quiet harmonizing between self and other—not through striving, but through sincere presence.

This full moon is also known as Buddha Pūrṇimā—the night Siddhārtha Gautama, the one we now revere as the Buddha, sat beneath the Bodhi tree and vowed not to rise until he had seen the truth. Through the long hours of night, he faced the illusions of the mind and the final tests of the path. By dawn, he crossed the threshold into awakening.

Artwork: Pinterest

This full moon also marks Kūrma Jayantī, honoring the second avatāra of Lord Viṣṇu. In this form, Viṣṇu incarnated as the divine tortoise to support Mount Mandara during the Samudra Manthana—the cosmic churning of the ocean. Kūrma avatāra is associated with Śani Graha, who embodies steadiness, restraint, and the capacity to bear what others cannot. Śani exalts in the heart of Libra—governing the control and measured flow of prāṇa that steadies the path of dharma.
We will explore more in our monthly gathering:

Vidyā & Chai — Group Meditation & Sacred Storytelling
5/11 5:30 PM PST | 5/12 6AM IST
More info and blog link in bio. 

All my Relations - Tulsi 

“Ground yourself, strip yourself down, 

To blind loving silence.

Stay there, until you see

You are gazing at the Light

With its own ageless eyes”

~ Jalaluddin Rumi

Gaṅgā Saptamī: Reappearance of the River of Time

GAṄGĀ SAPTAMĪ

Artwork: Pinterest

Sunday, May 4th
This sacred observance falls on the Saptamī tithi (seventh lunar day) of the waxing phase of the Moon in the Vedic month of Vaiśākha (April/May), and commemorates the auspicious reappearance of Gaṅgā Devī upon Earth.  

Through King Bhagīratha’s penance, Gaṅgā descended from Svarga-loka, crossing realms to reach Earth, where her sacred waters released the sons of Sagara from their karmic imprisonment.  

While Akṣaya Tṛtīyā celebrates the boon of her descent, it is on Gaṅgā Saptamī that her celestial stream was finally released from the matted locks (jaṭā) of Lord Śiva and began to sanctify the Earth.

Artwork: Pinterest

The Purāṇas, including the Rāmāyaṇa (Bālakāṇḍa) and the Bhāgavata Purāṇa (Skandha 9), recount the tale of King Bhagīratha, whose generations-long tapasya invoked Gaṅgā’s compassion to liberate the souls of the sons of Sagara. 

Yet her descent was so powerful that it threatened to shatter the Earth—only Śiva, in his vast stillness, could receive her. Holding her within his jaṭā, he did not restrain her, but contained her—transforming overwhelming force into sacred flow.

Artowrk: Pinterest

Here lies a deep teaching: Gaṅgā is awakened śakti—pure descent, untamed grace. Śiva, as the unmoving ground, is the stabilizing force of consciousness that alone can channel her power without collapse. This is the union of śakti and śiva, the dance of movement and stillness, of becoming and being. Her release from Śiva’s locks symbolizes not chaos, but the sanctified expression of grace once held in silence.

Gaṅgā is also the river of Time—kalā herself, flowing endlessly through the three worlds. To bathe in her is to step beyond the bounds of karma, if only for a moment. Śiva, as Mahākāla, the Great Time, stands not within the current of time but beyond it, as the witness of all cycles. In her descent, Time meets the Timeless; and through her, we glimpse the possibility of release from the wheel.

Artwork: Pinterst

In yogic traditions, Gaṅgā is traditionally associated with the Iḍā nāḍī—the left-sided lunar channel, governed by the Moon’s cooling, inward-drawing current of śakti. Alongside Yamunā (Piṅgalā) and Sarasvatī (Suṣumṇā), she forms the subtle triveṇī saṅgam within the energetic body—the sacred inner confluence of breath, mind, and consciousness at the heart of spiritual awakening.

In tantric linages, Gaṅgā is also envisioned as the luminous current of consciousness descending from sahasrāra (the crown) through the Suṣumṇā nāḍī (central channel)—a divine fall not unlike her celestial plunge. Her flow through the inner spine mirrors her outer journey: a river of remembrance, rethreading the soul toward its Source.

Artwork: Pinterest

On this day, devotees honor her presence through mantras, ritual bathing, and silent invocation. Even remembrance is an offering. For those far from her physical waters, to close the eyes and chant her name is to be washed in her subtle presence. May we allow ourselves to be received as she was received—held, softened, and sanctified by the stillness within.

All my Relations - Tulsi

Oṁ Gaṅgāyai Namaḥ
Jaya Jāhnavī Mā

Chaitra Navarātri: Nine Nights of the Divine Feminine

CHAITRA NAVARĀTRI

Artwork: Pinterest

March 30th - April 7th

Chaitra (Vasanta) Navarātri commences on the Pratipadā tithi (1st lunar day) to the Navamī tithi (9th) of the Śukla Pakṣa (waxing moon) in the month of Chaitra (March/April). This nine-day festival marks the arrival of spring, a time of renewal, blossoming life, and spiritual purification.

Dedicated to the worship of Goddess Durgā and her nine forms, this Navarātri is one of the four sacred Navarātris observed throughout the year. It is a time of deep transformation, particularly connected to Mahāvidyā Tripura Sundarī, the embodiment of supreme beauty, clarity, and the power of refined discernment. Through her grace, we learn to see beyond the architecture of illusion, aligning with the deeper intelligence that orchestrates all things.

This sacred passage culminates in Rāma Navamī, celebrating the birth of Bhagavān Śrī Rāma, making it especially significant in the Vedic tradition.

Navarātri invokes an internal quest to locate and establish our seat within the center of the heart of the Goddess. In a world that grasps our attention and seize our mind to look outside of ourselves to seek truth, validation and even to gain a so called glimpse of the goddess - this festival calls us to go deeper within to attune with her rivers that flow within us and to cultivate a direct experience, and personal relationship with Her. 

Artwork: Pinterest

Devī is that awakening force, that primordial energy that lives within us and awaits our attention. Yoga teaches us that whatever we put our attention on grows stronger in our lives. Move beyond your ideas of who she is and how she can be reached.

This window is ripe for putting into physical practice the teachings found in the yoga śāstra. In the quieting of our mind (yogaś-citta-vr̥tti-nirodhaḥ) and the investigation of all that lies below the surface — in the observation and embrace of both our shadows and our light, which are ultimately one and the same — we’re being called now to enter into that space, and to transcend. 

As we tend to śakti, and begin to establish a firm foundation in Her, we begin to awaken our power to focus, to cultivate our dhāraṇā and draw all our energies inside — this continued focus is the active meditation requesting our attention — calling us to become completely absorbed in Her. 

She is the embodiment of all that is and ever will be, She is our very breath and that which gives life to all, yet she cannot be reached by contemplation or intellectual understanding and philosophizing, or even described through words, she can only be touched through direct experience — that which requires digestion and stabilization to be truly lived. Can you answer that call? 

ॐ श्री मात्रे नमः | Sri Matre Namaha

Tulsi specializes in Vedic Astrology & Compatibility readings, personalized Vedic Couture and Yoga Sādhana. @turiyacollection | Jyotish Consultations

Artowrk: Pinterest

The nine names of manifestation have been spoken in the Devīmāhātmyam DevĪ Kavacaṃ, by the Lord Brahmā (the creator) Himself:

"First is Goddess Śailaputrī, the Daughter of the Himālayas, and second is Brahmachāriṇī, She who observes the vow of celibacy, the Goddess of sacred study and penance; third is Chandraghaṇṭā, the Goddess of the Delight of Practice, who bears the moon in her necklace, Kūṣmāṇḍa, the Goddess of Purifying Austerity is fourth.”

“Fifth is the Goddess Skanda-Mātā, the mother of Skanda, born out of her powers, sixth is Kātyāyanī, the One Who is Ever Pure; seventh is Kālarātrī, the Goddess of the Dark Night of Overcoming Egotism, Siddhidātrī, Mahāgaurī, the wife of Lord Śiva is eighth.”

“Ninth is the Goddess Siddhidātrīm, the provider of Siddhis, and bestower of mystic powers; the nine Durgas, relievers of difficulties, have been enumerated, and these names have been revealed by the great soul of the Supreme Brahmā himself."

ॐ दुं दुर्गायै नमः

• March 30: Pratipadā (Ghatasthāpana & Śailaputrī Pūjā)

• March 31: Dvitīyā (Brahmacāriṇī Pūjā)

• April 1: Tṛtīyā (Candraghaṇṭā Pūjā)

• April 2: Caturthī (Kuṣmāṇḍā Pūjā)

• April 3: Pañcamī (Skandamātā Pūjā)

• April 4: Ṣaṣṭhī (Kātyāyanī Pūjā)

• April 5: Saptamī (Kālratri Pūjā)

• April 6: Aṣṭamī (Mahāgaurī Pūjā & Kanyā Pūjan)

• April 7: Navamī (Siddhidātrī Pūjā & Rām Navamī)