Triyambake
In my art, you will find the symbol of three eyes of the sacred feminine, the divine Mother. This symbol is called Triyumbake, the three-eyed Mother. Triyumbake is a sacred symbol for Devi, Devi means Goddess, and Mahadevi is the Universal Mother Goddess.
The three eyes are sometimes expressed with a loving look or most often, a ferocious look. My first experience of them came from one of my India trips, where I had an extended stay and an unexpected and extraordinary experience of Her, daily. After decades of Shaiva dominant practices, this new energy of the sacred feminine was quite different.
Every day I took to a new practice of staring at these eyes and repeating a mantra given to me by a Sadhu in town who could see Her energy was all around me. If you find these eyes intense, they are. The energy is intense, but you get past that, you come to a place of discovering her subtleness, her softness and beauty through the ferociousness. Let’s be honest here, that’s accurate when it comes to the feminine!
The tantric system I was so dedicated to was referred to as the Trika system. Trika meaning three or threefold. The energy of Shiva, the manifestation of Shiva is threefold. For me, the three eyes are an extension of that, a reminder but from a feminine perspective and often mostly symbolic of Durga or Kali.
The three eyes commonly represent the left eye the in-breath, the right eye the out-breath and the third eye spiritual knowledge. The left breath is the moon and also desire, the right breath is the sun and also action and the third eye is the fire of knowledge. The third eye represents a universal perspective too, which is non-dual. An open third eye removes ignorance and suffering and provides access to higher wisdom.
For me, they appear everywhere and often in meditation. These eyes are in me, as me. They are in nature as nature. She appears as the sea, as the sky, as my body, as the river, as a tree, as music, as the sun, as the moon. Whatever we experience is there because of our awareness and that awareness is the divine and the power of this awareness to act and create is the divine feminine. It is Devi, Mahadevi.
Maybe, if you look at her eyes, if you find them in my work, you can feel Her, maybe even experience her. If anything, may these images be a prompt to remind you of Her as existence itself and to hold reverence for the world around you and all beings too?