Description

Dressed in her traditional red and gold saree, a symbol of spiritual prosperity, Lakshmi ascends from the Milky Ocean. She stands atop a lotus flower signifying enlightenment and the purity of spirit that she brings forth from the murky waters of the collective unconscious.

Behind her is the moon, waxing full, and emanating a divine halo that envelops her. The moon is often associated with emotions, but for Lakshmi, the moon is the mother of the ocean from which the great collaboration of the gods took place, restoring the spirit of the world.

Lakshmi’s four hands are each known to signify one of the four Vedas and the four goals of life; Kama(pursuit of love), Artha (material wealth), Dharma (duty), and Moksha (liberation from the cycle of birth and death).

In her upper hands she holds a single lotus flower, representing the transcendence of material wealth into spiritual wealth, and mundane work into spiritual work. In her lower hands representing the pursuit of love and liberation from the cycle of birth and death, she holds vessels containing the Nectar of Immortality, the elixir of life, suggesting the eternal quality of both love and liberation.

At the top is the all seeing Third Eye, adorned with jasmine, flowers of the Great Mother. The Third Eye offers a higher perspective to view the Great Work from, a perspective that is devoid of human instinct, emotion, and desire, seeing things for how they truly are.