Awakening Shakti: Embodying the Great Light of Consciousness

A free 90min online community conversation with Sally Kempton
facilitated by Vera de Chalambert
Originally recorded May 6th, 10am PST, 1pm EST
(This webinar is now available on demand so you may view at anytime.)

“The Kena Upanishad says that the Self “shines through the mind and senses,” which is a poetic way of saying that it is the power of the Self which allows the mind and senses to function. So the eternally conscious Self is what makes us conscious. Essentially, it is light. At times when our inner vision becomes pure enough to let us see through the layers of psychic debris that thickens our consciousness and make it opaque, we realize that everything is actually made of light. This is why so many people’s experience of touching the Self are experiences of light - visions, inner luminosity, or profound and crystalline clarity.”  

― Sally Kempton, Meditation for the Love of ItWe are honored to have Sally Kempton, one of todays most celebrated spiritual teachers as our guest on the Emergence Series. Sally Kempton is a beloved SAND Speaker and the best selling author of Awakening Shakti: The Transformative Power of the Goddesses of Yoga and Meditations for the Love of It. Join us as we explore wisdom from tantric traditions, the role of feminine spirituality in the evolution of consciousness and touch upon practical and experiential pathways for expanding consciousness.

The non-dual tantric linages upon which Sally’s teachings are based, describe individual human consciousness as a fractal of the creative universal consciousness that is the source of all life. As such, it is the creative playground of subtle ‘feminine’ energies called shaktis, which can either contract consciousness or expand it. This insight has profound implications for practice, and is at the heart of deep feminine spirituality.

“This is the path where even suffering transforms into pleasure,
where poison becomes nectar, where the world
itself becomes the abode of liberation.”

― Utapaladera, Tenth-century Kashmiri sageSally Kempton is a powerful teacher of applied non-dual wisdom, known for her ability to kindle meditative states in others, and to help students apply non-dual awareness to practical life. She teaches teleclasses, retreats, and workshops, appearing regularly at conference centers such as Esalen and Kripalu. Sally writes a regular column, Wisdom, for Yoga Journal, as well as a column called Meditation for Life on the Internet religious site Patheos.com. A former swami in a Vedic order, Sally trained for thirty years in the close company of two enlightened masters. Sally’s teachings are based on Kashmir Shaiva tantra, and combine the wisdom of that tradition with the practical understandings of contemporary psychology and Integral theory.

THE SAND EMERGENCE SERIES

The Emergence Series is a constellation of conversations with SAND speakers and teachers, intended as an exploration of the emergence palpable in the collective field at this time and an opportunity to connect with others in our community holding a ‘large vision’ and dedicated to the evolution of consciousness on the planet.

Old structures are being shaken up, old stories have come to their limits, old systems are failing us. What is emerging, where do we go from here, how do we hold it all in the tenderness of the awakening heart? What wisdom do the worlds great lineages and traditions have for us and what does the meeting of science and nonduality contribute to the emergent conversation? How does a mystic respond to a world in crisis?

Through the magic of technology, the Emergence Series is open to the participation of the entire global SAND community, LIVE! There will be opportunities to have personal interaction and ask questions of our guests. Our intention with this online series is to foster conversation, connection and community in between conferences and to offer windows of contact, wisdom and heart.

We invite our teachers to engage us from a perspective of embodied, living wisdom, and offer practical guidance that can support us in our relationships, our work, our community and our world at this time.

The Emergence Series is facilitated by Vera de Chalambert, a Harvard-educated religious scholar, spiritual story teller and fellow SAND speaker.