Tirza Schaefer: Romance Author & Goddess Facilitator
Maya
I love to explore the Divine Feminine and write about Goddesses. For a list of those, click on the link: Goddesses. In order to become more balanced within ourselves and, through that, to bring greater balance and harmony to the world around us, we must find greater balance between the masculine and feminine energies within ourselves that each one of us possesses, regardless of physical gender or any other ways of self-identification.
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The Veil
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Maya literally means illusion or magic. It refers to the illusion of living in a dualistic, material world. When we enter (being born into) the material world, we lose consciousness of unity, being one with all that is, an expression of divine energy. We could not operate in the material world as physical beings without this consensus of perceiving the world in the state of duality (hot/cold, small/large, good/evil, etc.).
The veiling power of the Divine Consciousness, or the infinite Supreme Consciousness (Brahman), a.k.a. God, Goddess, Life Force, Great Spirit, Divine Intelligence, is called maya. In other words, the Goddess Maya represents the veiling of perception on ultimate truth in order to experience physical reality. This creates ignorance, a non-perception of knowledge (avidya: a = no/non, vidya = knowledge). We perceive the world in multiplicity, many different entities of matter, like individual people, animals, plants, rock, and so on.
We also see these various entities as different and separate from ourselves, thus subscribing to the belief that we are separate from each other, other beings and things, and from the Divine energy. In this construct, God is an entity outside of ourselves who is somehow bigger, better, all-powerful, and can lead us like puppets on a string if he/she/it so chooses. This also creates a feeling of feeling unsafe, unworthy, and of having to prove ourselves worthy of love and support in some way or other.
The story of Maya in the oldest Hindu scripture, the Rig Veda, is not a qualification of being good or bad, or exclusively one or the other, rather, a power of discernment, or the lack thereof, of what is perceived and what is not perceived, the appearance of the world versus what really is.
The Magic of Power or Powerful Magic
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Maya is a powerful magic that is used by gods and demons to fight each other. In the Atharva Veda, maya is the power of creation, rather than illusion. It is the power that makes manifest, that matters in the world, that can change the material world as we know it, and thus, is a power or magic that can give you the freedom to create your own reality in this earthly existence.
Once you understand that the world as we know it, is an illusion, made up of energy in particular ways, and you are then able to form energy in such a way consciously that is serves your intent (whether that is “good” or “bad”), you can manipulate the energy and, by extension, the world around you, according to your will.
To understand the illusion of matter, we can do a deep dive into our own bodies. In all ancient religious texts, it says that your body is your temple. Looking at ancient temples, they are constructions that have an (or several) outer areas, leading to “the holiest of holies” inner sanctum in which the greatest mysteries are revealed. Looking at our bodies with its 53 trillion cells, we come to the DNA which is present in each one of them. To explore this further, I would like to recommend to you to watch this interview by Amrit with Gregg Braden on YouTube (or you can read Gregg Braden’s books on the subject of the divine power of the human body – in this video, in contrast to technological interference inside us):
The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Divine DNA
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Gregg Braden followed the instructions given in The Dead Sea Scrolls, treating it as a scientific experiment, rather than trying to fit it into preconceived mainstream scientific ideas and concepts and found that when the DNA chemical codes were translated into the root alphabets of human history, Cuneiform Sanskrit, Hebrew and Arabic, that it translates in each case to one and the same text:
“God eternal within the body.”
This brings a whole new dimension to what we perceive our bodies to be. In fact, the way cells, DNA and the brain work by Braden’s explanation, shows that the human capacity for creation is infinite, when technological aids (computer chips, etc.) are finite, limited by their physical construction and makeup of the components they are made up of.
Maya is a concept and a Goddess in ancient religious texts, very much like Sophia (wisdom) in ancient Greek philo(friend)SOPHIE. We can see by Braden’s explanations, that we are multifaceted in our individual human form, as a species, but also One, as the Divine Intelligence, or energy, is inherent in literally every single of those 53 trillion cells of our bodies.
When I channelled Maya as an archetype/Goddess that appears to me as a woman, cloaked in veils, she gave me the following message:
Maya's Message
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I am that which creates the illusion of physical and, therefore, mental/spiritual limitation, and yet, I am also the greatest power of infinite creative force you’ll ever know, because I am the magic of the Supreme Consciousness itself. I am the Divine Feminine energy that creates and destroys, I am your most loyal ally and yet, your greatest fiend. I am beyond good or evil. I am a tool necessary to navigate the physical world with. I can be used for great benefits to you and others, or for carnage and destruction. See me as a hammer. In an “evil” person’s hand, it can be used to bash someone’s head in, in a loving person’s hands, it can be used to build a home, a loving, safe space to raise a family in, welcome guests and experience love unhindered by adverse natural conditions around you.
You need to see the veil of perception as what it is, an illusion, but the knowledge of which, is great power. The knowledge of how to apply this power, is even greater power still. How will you use it? How will you use me? Have you considered longterm effects versus instant gratification? Have you thought about the ripple effects, as everything is connected? Where does your path lead you? What tools and beliefs do you apply to navigate physical existence? How do you treat yourself (the divine temple) and others (divine temples)?
When I lift the veil for you to see beyond and the beauty of the Absolute, the One, the All That Is, what changes inside you? Has a belief changed? A perception? An ideology? Are you scared or filled with love, ready to bring more love into the world yourself? Has it given you a greater sense of appreciation for creation or do you denounce it because it is an illusion? So many deep questions for you to ponder. Your very essence in question. Yet ultimately, it comes all down to one thing. It is your choice what you believe in, what you choose to acknowledge, how you decide to live your life, and which reasons you have for the justification thereof.
Let me be your friend, let the true knowledge be your guide, and pair it with a deeper appreciation not only of yourself as an expression amongst myriads of expressions of the Divine experiencing itself, but also for creation itself. Illusion or not, it is magnificent, is it not?
Stand in a forest, in the desert, look into a child’s smiling eyes, and you will catch a glimpse of the eternal, loving soul that you are, inhabiting a body that is grandiose and complex, and yet breathtaking in its simplicity. Beyond the veil, there are no more illusions, and yet, experiencing these illusions in the manifest world are divine miracles in each moment, each experience.
Use me wisely, use me with love, for then you will bring greater love to all of creation, as all is connected.
Confusion or Clarity?
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​With these final words, she smiles at me lovingly, satisfied to have said her piece – or peace. I have felt for so long that there is more beyond opposites, beyond duality, that seemingly opposing or contradictory thoughts, people, entities and experiences can be seen in a unifying way that means that one does not exclude the other. Maya is a messenger, giving those feelings a voice, those thoughts a home. She unities all within her and beyond her. And this knowledge gives me peace and a deeper appreciation of who I am – a divine temple on two legs, as well as a part of the divine energy that is one with All That Is.