Class Descriptions
Below is detailed information on current class offerings at SHARANYA. Please also refer to the Calendar of Events for dates and information about our other gatherings. For more information on our year-and-a-day teaching circle, which can lead to initiation in the Sha'can tradition, please see the Daughters of Kali page.
For those who are not able to join us in person, come be with us in community online through Kali Vidya, our Wisdom School dedicated to the engagement of our tradition and Her mysteries.
Devoted to Mahadevi (The Great Goddess):
Ritual Practices of Sha'can and Shakta Tantra
An Introduction to Worship & Devotion of the Divine Mother
in a Western Tantrick Tradition
This three-part course is an introduction to worship and devotion of Mahadevi, the Great Goddess of Hinduism, the all-pervading Shakti, and Kali Maa, Dark Mother, the Supreme Goddess of Shakta Tantra. Participants will learn the context and content of worship in the living goddess tradition of Western Shakta Tantra called Sha’can. Puja basics, including how to honor Devi (Goddess) Kali at home, will be taught. This offering may be particularly rewarding if you are considering Daughters of Kali (open to women and men), are looking to incorporate Kali worship or worship of other forms of the Divine Mother from the Hindu tradition into your existing spiritual path, and/or are seeking a fuller experience with your dedicated worship in community.
Join us to gain an understanding of Devi and Her various manifestations, powerful and often mis-represented, through ritual, myth, historical perspective, lecture, authentic Tantrick practices, readings and group discussion. This series will culminate in a puja that participants co-create from their recently-learned Sha'can perspectives as infused with devotion born of personal sadhana (spiritual practice).
Let this course be your own mythic journey into and out of the underworld...let the Goddess of the Crossroads take your hand and guide you into an unfolding awareness of your Self as seen through Her eyes. Classes require reading and participation to enhance the experience. Come ready to engage Her mysteries!
Be with us in San Francisco at our home Sanctuary for a memorable experience. All classes are two hours (7-9pm) every-other week, allowing for integration of the material and your dedicated practice with new spiritual techniques. After attending the opening class, you may choose to attend individual classes within Part I and Part II of the series. Individuals participating in three or more classes contribute to the final Kali Puja (Part III). The final ritual class is from 7-10pm.
COST:
- Individual classes (participation in the first class is required): $40
- Series of three classes (Kali Puja by donation): $111
- The entire series of classes: $201
Part I
Class One: Introduction to Kali Maa
Philosophical and historical perspectives, cosmology, cosmogony, individual voice and personal stories (January 22, 2009)
Class Two: Myth and Symbols of the Goddess
Kali's stories, guardianship, iconography, worship and rites in cultural context (February 5, 2009)
Class Three: Sha-can: A Living Goddess Tradition of Western Shakta Tantra
How do we honor the roots of Tantrick tradition and worship from our heart-felt resonance with Kali? (February 19, 2009)
Part II
Class Four: Personal Worship and Living the Practice
Creating Sacred Space & Ceremony; entering into the embrace of the Goddess, surrendering ego and releasing fear; walking on Her path with devotion and relevant spiritual technologies, including breath and energy work. (March 5, 2009)
Class Five: Prayers to Kali: How Do We Honor the Dark Goddess?
An introduction to mantra, mudra, yantra and tantra (March 19, 2009)
Class Six: The Deepening : Outer Ritual and Inner Work
Making the tantrick connection between macrocosmic and microcosmic experiences of inter-relation; meeting Maa in the middle (April 2, 2009)
Part III
Classes Seven & Eight: Devotional Puja: Jai Maa!
Bring your creative spirit, your voice, your instruments and the love of the Goddess in your heart! Together, we create a worship ceremony dedicated to our beloved Divine Mother, Kali Maa (April 16, 2009)
REGISTER: To reserve your place in one or more classes of this series, please contact us. (You may pay when you attend, or let us know in the email to send you an electronic invoice, which you can then pay online.)
Tools for Transformation: Awakening the Divine Within
A Lecture & Practice Series
This lecture and practice workshop series is focused on Yogic and Tantrick tools for transformation. All offerings include both educational and immediately useful, hands-on components; and all are set within a framework that recognizes a great spiritual truth: the personal is the planetary. Our work and commitment through each event is to broaden and deepen your experience of how changing yourself means changing the world. Join us!
"Where male and female worship one another is the play of the Divine Mother"
- Tantra Shastras
February 6, 2009 (Friday)
Infinite Admiration:
A Relationship Puja & Kundalini Kirtan
For 25 years, Stuart Sovatsky has been transforming thousands of troubled relationships and leading Infinite Admiration Relationship Pujas throughout the US, Europe, India and Russia that led to the Dalai Lama's Office endorsing his 40-country "World is One Family" Congress in India. Our interpersonal puja will close with tantric kirtan guided by Stuart's 35 years of intensive yogic worship of Mother Kundalini that prompted Silvia Nakkach to call him "one of two or three deepest kirtan leader in the US" and Tantra scholar, Jim Ryan, to state, "Stuart is the John Coltrane of Sanskrit chanting."
SAMPLE OFFERINGS: (topics, dates, and speakers to be announced soon!)
- The Motherly Depths of Yoga Asanas, Meditation and Chanting
With only 5% of the Indo-Tibetan archive translated, Robert Thurman chose Stuart Sovatsky to write a definitive description of Kundalini, "the Great Mothering Wisdom Energy," for the scholarly book, The Quest for Immortality. Tonight, Stuart will open the depths of contemporary yoga practice all the way down to the Mother Ground where asanas emerge spontaneously, just as maternal
labor contractions, new-born baby movements and sheer-wonder meditation emerge, far beyond the realm of egoic willfulness as mere "practices." In doing so, the evening demonstration and discussion will bring your personal yoga into this same realm of pure devotion, moved mysteriously from within, by Mother's Grace.
- An Evening of Inspired Tantric Kirtan An evening of fully-inspired kirtan with Stuart Sovatsky, who has chanted in private audience with the President of Unaligned Nations of the World, and for the current Perfect Master of Meher Baba Sufism in India, in addition to leading over a thousand kirtans in the US, Europe, Russia and India since 1974. Ranging from the melodic to the primordial, we will evoke the Great Romance of Shiva-Shakti living within the dance of every molecule, to delight us with the awe and magic of endless universal creation.
- The Path of the Yoni: Tantrik Tools for Acceptance and Empowerment
Let's discuss, celebrate and explore reverence for women's sexuality; viewing our bodies in a healthy way; the tantrick traditions of Kamakhya; and together dispel myths about "tantric sex".
- Tantra & The Shamanic Path Learn and begin working with concepts of incarnation, personal responsibility and liberation; exercises such as recapitulation, stalking awareness, dreaming, and gratitudes introduced.
- Tantra & The Power of the Witch's Craft Delve more deeply into the history of what has birthed some of today's Indo-Pagan traditions; learn about initiations, spellwork, and the basics of the Western Craft (casting a circle, elements and directions, grounding and centering, etc.) relative to Tantrick practices; open to notions of what it means to hold responsibility and integrity in the practice of magick.
- Tantrik Awakening Discover the powerful techniques of pranayama (breathwork) and nyasa (placement); explore Bhakti Yoga (the path of surrender to the Divine through devotion); and learn the fundamentals of Kundalini within a Shakta Tantrick marga (pathway).
OTHER SELECTED CLASS & WORKSHOP OFFERINGS:
These classes and workshops may be scheduled by interested groups and/or may be offered by community throughout the year on an as-needed basis. Let us know if you are interested in learning more about scheduling possibilities.
Gods and Goddesses of India Series (3-4 classes)
- Goddesses of India - An introduction to the most commonly seen goddesses in India; Durga, Parvati, Kali, Lakshmi, Sarasvati, Lalita
- Gods of India - An introduction to the most commonly seen gods of India; Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, Ganesha, Krishna, Rama, Agni
- Goddesses of Tantra - An introduction to the Dasa Mahavidya and others of the Tantrick persuasion
Fierce Mothers: Tantrik Goddesses of Self-sacrifice (Workshop)
Camunda, Chinnamasta, etc. The path to embracing feminine power and self-acceptance.
WITCHCRAFT SERIES:
- WITCHCRAFT 1 is designed to give you a solid introduction to the world of Witchcraft through a combination of instruction and hands-on, experiential learning. You will learn how to create your own effective rituals from the very first class.
- Definitions & Starting Ground: What it means to be a "witch," a brief history of witchcraft, the elements of ritual.
- The Basics: The Wheel of the Year, the Five Directions, Tools of the Craft, Casting a Circle.
- Embodiment: Energy work, grounding and centering.
- The Personal & Planetary: Spells, talismans & amulets. Co-created Mabon or New Moon Ritual.
- WITCHCRAFT 2 builds on the knowledge and experience gained from the first class, but may be taken separately by those already familiar with the basics of witchcraft. This is still a basic course, but provides more in-depth wisdom and experience with spellwork, shielding, cleansing, and other important tools for every witch to master. We will focus on the elements as a means of mastering important tools and harnessing personal power.
- AIR: In-depth energy work, using imagination & meditation in magic, magical shielding
- FIRE: In-depth spellcrafting, candle & fire magic
- WATER: Personal spiritual maintenance, cleansing ritual,
the power of brooms, making moon water
- EARTH: Staying grounded, co-created Full Moon Ritual
Contact us to register, schedule a group, or find out more about our offerings - we look forward to working with you!
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