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I spend my days at home with my just-over-one-year-old child, and I feel that something is no longer quite right. For a while now I’ve been seeing a new psychologist, and we’ve built a really great connection – we’re somehow very similar people. One sunny day she casually says that maybe it’s time for me to bring something new into my life.“Maybe the Tantrafestival would be good for you,” she suggests, almost in passing. No overthinking. A week later I’m already setting up my tent on the festival lawn. I can’t really put into words the feeling of “coming home” that I experience already on the first day.“So this is where you all are – my people,” I whisper to myself, deeply moved. For more than twenty years I had been looking inside myself with the help of counselors and still felt alone in this big world – even though

Kali expresses the primal form of the ten Mahavidyas. Her energetic essence is primordial energy (the void), transformation, birth and death, creation and generative power, profound inner and outer change, the reactive force of the primal wild, the experience of darkness at the deepest point of love, the shattering of the ego and rebirth. Wild and ecstatic sexuality, raw kundalini energy. She is often visualized as a fearsome goddess with blue or dark skin, red eyes, and a tongue fiercely protruding from her mouth. She stands or dances triumphantly upon Shiva, who lies beneath her in deep peace. Around her neck is a garland of 52 skulls, symbolizing the Sanskrit alphabet and, at the same time, the dissolution of the ego and the endless cycle of time (kāla), within which life and death are interwoven. By stepping out of this illusion, we can find true enlightenment and bliss.She is often

Tantra is neither a forgotten collection of ancient rituals nor a teaching about the art of pleasure. Tantra is a living science of energies, whose ultimate aim is enlightenment, yet its teachings have always enabled transformation in everyday aspects of life such as health, wellbeing, abundance, and relationships. Tantra is such a fascinating spiritual journey precisely because at its heart lies the understanding that all existence is sacred, including earthly life itself – every moment, every experience, every feeling is an expression of divine consciousness. The entire Universe, all that exists, is like the eternal dance of two energies, from which our daily reality is also born. This dance takes place between Shiva and Shakti. Shiva is the expression of pure masculine energy, pure consciousness, which is unfathomable and unchanging. Shakti is the expression of pure feminine energy, infinitely creative, dynamic, the earthly manifestation of Life itself. Think of Life

In previous articles, we explored the origins and development of Tantra, as well as its core principles. We also looked into one of the most well-known traditional tantric lineages – the teachings of Kashmir Shaivism. But do today’s tantra workshops offer these classical teachings, or has an entirely new form of tantra emerged?Anyone who has studied traditional tantric teachings will admit that the form of tantra spreading in the West today is quite different from traditional tantric practices. As such, the term neo-tantra has been coined to describe these modern Western teachings. In our exploration of tantra’s evolution, we’ve seen that tantra has always changed throughout history, so modern changes shouldn’t necessarily be viewed negatively. Let’s take a closer look at what neo-tantra really is and what common threads it shares with classical tantra.Just like yoga, tantra teachings were adapted in the 20th century to suit Western society, giving rise

In the previous parts, we provided a general overview of the origins and core principles of Tantra, and it became clear that there is no single form of Tantra; rather, Tantra has evolved over time. In addition to historical changes, Tantric teachings also differ based on different lineages. However, there are some core principles that have historically and still today united all Tantric systems. The most important of these is that Tantra is a spiritual system aimed at enlightenment (or liberation), and this is achieved by perceiving all of reality as divine. Now let’s delve deeper and introduce one particular Tantric lineage whose teachings are considered part of the higher Tantra – Kashmir Shaivism. Prepare yourself for a fairly philosophical read and try to feel what you read in your body/being. At the end, a short meditation awaits you. Kashmir Shaivism is one of the non-dual Tantra (Shaivism) lineages that

​​In the previous text, we concluded that classical tantra is primarily based on Kaula Tantra, or non-dualistic tantra, whose highest goal is enlightenment. In the West today, the type of tantra that is widespread is often referred to as neo-tantra, suggesting that it’s a kind of modernized version of tantra. But does neo-tantra still have anything in common with classical tantra, or is it just the name that remains the same? Looking at the history of tantra, it has evolved constantly over the centuries—especially in terms of its practices. Even within the same time period, different tantric lineages had differing practices. When tantra practitioners met in India centuries ago, their question to one another was: What kind of tantra do you practice? Tantric teachings were passed down through a teacher or guru, and each guru had their own specific energy they worked with and into which their students were initiated.