Photo by L.Weikel

Sunset Dakini         

We took a walk late this afternoon. I’m including a few photos I took of the western sky as we crested the hill about half a mile from our house. This is the place where we’re wowed most often by the artistry of our atmosphere.

When I took the photos, I knew the designs in the sky were remarkable. But sometimes it’s not until you get home and you have a chance to look at them in a different context that the images make an even greater impression.

When I saw the first wispy squiggles taking shape, I almost ignored them. My attention was much more powerfully drawn to the burning brilliance of the sun’s rays blazing through the gaps in the clouds just above the horizon.

But something called to me. Those much paler clouds that looked like a feeble attempt at calligraphy asked to be noticed.

And as I did indeed start paying attention to that seemingly less dramatic part of the sky, those strokes of water vapor seemed to coalesce into a face of startling ferocity. Indeed, it appeared to be swooping down toward Earth in a fiery whoosh.

The word that came to mind was dakini.

mayumioda.org

Photo by L. Weikel

I honestly had no idea I was going to write about these photos – nor, especially, of my thought, “Dakini,” that had whispered in the back of my mind when I first looked at the photos I’d taken on my iPhone. Consequently, I’m a bit astonished that my Dakini – my “sky-goer” or “space dancer” which is what the Tibetan word for dakini, khandro, means, is asking to be acknowledged.

But here she is. And this is the little bit I’m finding in my brief search of the word. I refer you to the website from which I’m offering a few quotes, Dakini Power.

Dakini (Sanskrit): A Female Messenger of Wisdom

“A female embodiment of enlightenment is called a dakini. In the ancient Indian language of Sanskrit. (…) “‘The dakinis are the most important elements of the enlightened feminine in Teibten Buddhism,’ says American teacher Tsultrim Allione. ‘(…) Sometimes the dakinis appear as messengers, sometimes as guides, and sometimes as protectors.’”

I don’t honestly know why I’ve written this post. Perhaps the Dakini (it feels right to capitalize this, I’m not sure why – probably out of respect?) simply wanted to be acknowledged.

I’d like to think perhaps she is acting as a messenger to me. Perhaps she is bringing me some wisdom, perhaps tonight in the dreamtime. Or maybe simply by spurring me to look her up in this way and write about her ever so briefly, I will receive some transmission.

Who knows?

From what I can tell, I’m no further along in my understanding of what the message that I described in yesterday’s post is about.

But I saw a dakini in the sky tonight. That’s something.

(T-1035)