SIVA
SPIRITUAL
SUPPLIES
in HOODOO and CONJURE
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Siva is typically depicted as a thin, near-naked man with
long hair worn in a top-knot. He usually has two arms when
shown seated in meditation as an ascetic and four arms when shown
performing his tandava dance of cosmic destruction. In his ascetic form he sits
on or is clothed in a tiger-, leopard-, or lion-skin. He carries a double-headed
drum and a trident or gig, called in Sanskrit a trisula, which he uses as a weapon. His
vehicle is a bull whose name is Nandi. His chief decoration
consists of the crescent moon in his hair, and bracelets and
necklaces of living cobra snakes (nagas). He is sometimes
shown holding prayer beads (malla) in one hand. His forehead
is marked with a design of horizontal stripes.
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Because one of the major sites of Siva-worship is the ice cavern of Amarnatha in Kashmir, where a giant natural ice-stalagmite serves as a linga, Siva is often shown meditating in the snow among mountain ranges. In his hair, especially in contemporary images, one can often find the small face of the goddess of the river Ganges spouting water, symbolic of his home in the mountains, from which the sacred river begins its course. This Himalayan image also accords with Siva's status as the consort of two ancient regional mountain goddesses, Uma and Parvati. As the consort of Parvati, the god is usually shown in an outdoor domestic setting, a happy husband and the father of the elephant-headed god Ganesh and his half-brother Kartikeya.
On the contrary, when Siva is viewed as the consort of the fearsome Bengali goddess Kali, his usual posture is supine and motionless beneath her treading feet (a pun on Siva and saiva, the latter meaning "corpse") as she dances above him brandishing a beheading knife, her tongue protruding and her hair dishevelled. Such pictures often take place in a cremation ground, and the most extreme devotees of Siva typically mark their bodies, especially their foreheads, with ashes and live in extreme voluntary poverty, near naked in emulation of their god.
In northern India, Nepal, and Tibet, a fierce protector god called Bhairava, has come to be identified with Siva. He is identifiable by his bulging eyes, blue or black skin, and distinctive mustaches.
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Whether one views him as the Godhead, the consort of the Goddesses Durga, Parvati, or Kali, or as a minor god, Siva is both the most ascetic and the most erotic of the Hindu deities. His universal symbol is the linga (sometimes spelled lingam) or penis; in fact, the very word linga means "sign," "symbol," or "mark." Scholars debate the origin of Siva's worship, but it seems to have been endemic in India among the Dravidian people before the so-called Aryan invasion, for there are Aryan texts in which the native people of the sub-continent are laughingly referred to as "penis-worshippers."
The Siva linga stones shown here are of a type found exclusively in the Narada River in central-western India. They can only be collected from the riverbed during the dry season of the year, and the work of gathering, shaping, and polishing them is performed by a few families who have passed on their traditional techniques from one generation to the next for hundreds of years. The linga shape itself represents Siva; it is a grey composite rock made of basalt, agate, and quartz. The reddish-brown markings, called the yoni (female genitalia), represent Shakti and are comprised of iron oxide that was deposited in the river bed millions of years ago by a meteorite, in what seems to have been a divine copulation between the Goddess and the God. The one at left is 1 1/4" long, suitable for use as a pocket piece, and the one at right is 2 1/4" long, appropriate for placement on a small altar. Larger sizes are available -- up to 3 or 4 feet in length -- but due to the difficulty of finding large stones with clear markings of the most desirable type, and the time it takes to work them, they are quite rare and are priced accordingly.
Hindu gods and goddesses appear or are described on the following Lucky W Amulet Archive web pages:
- Kali, Durga, Parvati, and Kurukulla
- Siva and Bhairava
- Ganesh the elephant-headed luck god
- Sarasvati
- Hanuman
- Laksmi
- Durga's magic number triangle
- Hindu religious medals
- Nepalese Wall Masks: Kurukulla, Bhairava, Ganesh
- Thai penis amulets
- Nepalese skull malla
- Siva as My Lord of Cars
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Related pages of interest:
- Hindu Deities for various occupations and conditions
- Gods and Saints as Lucky Figures
- The Relationship between Luck, Protection, Religion, and Magic
- Order Hindu Deity Postcards from the Lucky Mojo Curio Co.
- Order Hindu Statuary from the Lucky Mojo Curio Co.
- Order Indian Amulets and Siva Linga Stones and Siva Linga Stones and Siva Linga Stones and Siva Linga Stones from the Lucky Mojo Curio Co.
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Order Siva Oil from the Lucky Mojo Curio Co. |
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Order Siva Incense from the Lucky Mojo Curio Co. |
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Order Siva Bath Crystals from the Lucky Mojo Curio Co. |
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Order Siva Sachet Powder from the Lucky Mojo Curio Co. |
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Order Siva Vigil Light Candles from the Lucky Mojo Curio Co. |
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Order Siva Vigil Light Candles to be set on our Spiritual Altar for you |
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