Marici is one of my favourite deities to work with. I have always known Marici to be the Goddess of Travellers and I have a story to share with you about how I started to fall in love with her.
It was one evening in the deserts of Mexico, as I was packing to leave the next day, Marici’s mantra started spinning in my mind. I leapt onto YouTube and found a track to listen to while I continued packing. It was too late to do a sadhana practice, and as I usually do a Marici practice the day before travelling, I decided to listen and chant along while I finished packing and fell asleep with the mantra playing.
I had a long trip, I had to get from Mexico to London, London to Norwich and then Norwich to Swansea!
Now before the trip truly kicked off, as I arrived at the airport in Mexico, a Dharma friend contacted me and mentioned it was Marici’s birthday. I downloaded as many texts as I possibly could get my hands on and read every single one of them on the flight.
Aside from getting an extra friendly service from the plane staff, who were not only singling me out and spoiling me, but they also gave me extra meals (I’m a big eater and those meals aren’t enough for me), I also got on very well with other passengers (I’m usually not a chatter and more of a silent reader).
As I made my various transits, I noticed that there was a lot less chaos around me, which also meant less frustration coming FROM me.
During my time travelling in the UK I spent all of my free time studying the texts and engaging in the practices.
I was amazed by the reaction of others around me as people that I knew as well as strangers gravitated towards me but instead of dumping their problems, they brought delight! Laughter, closeness & the sharing of food. I thought I had won the lottery.
It wasn’t until I arrived in Wales, just outside of Swansea where my dad lives. In a pretty rough part of Wales, I find myself dragging my suitcase at 1am from the train station to my dad’s house and a white van pulls up in front of me. My old self would have got my defences ready but I knew this was Marici’s work.
The window wound down and the guy offered me a lift and we have stayed in touch on Facebook since.
Now I am not advocating getting into vans with strangers, I just knew that after 48 hours of constantly engaging in a Marici practise, the journey was smoother than I could have imagined.
For the following months I took myself into a semi-retreat. A full retreat is when I go 100% hermit mode and engage in the single practice that the retreat is taken for.
As I ventured into the other practices of Marici I also learned a few things……..
As The Goddess Of The Dawn (her name reflects various ways of talking about ‘light’), she arrives before light, which means she is faster than light. This epithet is practiced amongst all of the aforementioned cultures and here, she is a protector. Her light is so bright that she can limit what ‘maras’ can see, it’s like shining so bright that you blind the senses of the nasty inner voices. She is often used here as a way to prepare for an event or project.
As Goddess Of Victory she is compared with Durga (a Hindu goddess of war fare), Cundi (another great illuminator but one that is based on compassion and she rides 7 boars or horses which represent the Big Dipper.
Her connections to The Taoist Queen Mother Of Heaven Mazu, The Goddess Of The Seas, puts her in the position of a mother of mothers or goddess of goddesses. Her she brings longevity and beauty.
As The Goddess Of Healing she has cross overs with the Medicine Buddha who also has a relationship with the 7 major stars of The Big Dipper. Both of these deities have the ability to channel healing. Marici appears as part of Medicine Buddhas retinue.
Since engaging in these practices, I have managed to pull together a couple of interesting projects. One involves delivering 1-2-1 bespoke trainings and the other involves a lot of writing, which is why you may have noticed I am a lot quieter on social media.
Marici has taught me how to shine, brighter than I imagined I could before.
Marici appears with 3 faces, the red youthful maiden, the compassionate warrior mother (gold) and wrathful mother (boars have determination and can thrive in the wild).
