Wisdom Rising: Journey into the Mandala of the Empowered Feminine

This book is full of beautiful and transformative teachings. I learned so much and was happy to read about the empowered, fierce and wise feminine. Especially right now! I haven't found anything like these teachings elsewhere. It is so refreshing and nourishing to learn meditation practices about the empowered feminine that are rooted in ancient wisdom, that have some teeth and juice to them. I also like how the author makes it clear these teachings are for women and men, the idea that we can all work with the empowered feminine within us (regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, etc). I am sometimes turned off my "new age" practices that feel superficial. This book is the opposite. It is grounded in authentic wisdom that has ended up helping me so much in my life. I found the chapters on the Five Families to be particularly helpful in understanding my own patterns, blind spots, and those of my close relationships. I also really am enjoying the various meditation practices working with different difficult emotions (depression, anxiety, craving...). I find at the end of a long day, I can drop in and do these practices and it really helps me. I actually feel different afterward and the "transformative" aspect of these teachings that Lama Tsultrim talks about is true! It has been revolutionary for me to realize that the energy I have tied up in anger, for example, can be freed from its struggle to actually be clarity and help me in making key decisions. Thank you for this book and these meditation practices!

This book really makes it clear that to heal our world we need to heal ourselves. A lot of people talk about this but tAllione’s book gives some concrete specific exercises we can do to become more aware of how we might unintentionally create negativity in the world. This book is a treasure!

Like Lama Tsultrim's prior work Feeding Your Demons, Wisdom Rising adapts the transformative power of a core Tibetan Buddhist practice to make it accessible and relevant to anyone (Feeding Your Demons is rooted in Chod while Wisdom Rising is rooted in mandala work.) Lama Tsultrim combines a Western understanding of the psyche with the Eastern power of mandalas and dakinis. The dakinis represent our intuitive, wild, powerful feminine side, and are something both women and men can access. By working with 5 different expressions of dakini energy - the 5 Buddha 'families' - we can come to understand how the same energy within us can manifest as either destructive and obstructive, or as wise and enlightened. Here Lama Tsultrim walks us through each grouping, and provides wonderful examples to help us understand each family and the expressions of them.Even better, she shares many stories from her fascinating life, including her experiences as the first American woman initiated as a Tibetan Buddhist nun, and then as a struggling young wife and mother, and finally as a grandmother and Lama. This is an amazing woman with an amazing transmission. This book is a gift both on the level of words and knowledge, and on the level of the wisdom transmission it puts forth. If you dive deep into it and the practices it offers, it will transform you on both levels.

Lama Tsultrim offers us wisdom and clarity to change our lives and the world around us for the better. I've gained practical methods to apply to my everyday life to ease my fears and difficulties and transform them. It's time to embrace the ways of the Divine Feminine and the Dakinis and Lama Tsultrim shows us how.

Lama Tsultrim Allione's book is a unique treasure. It is for everyone-both men and women, as it speaks on the primary subjects ushering in the new spirit of our times-the urgent need for a new level of Feminine consciousness, and the value of each individual stepping up and facing their personal psychological, spiritual, and emotional work for the greater benefit of all. Emphasizing the Mandala as an archetypal symbol of Wholeness, we are invited to the work that we all must face today in order to create a much needed shift in consciousness, and to balance the masculine and feminine in the world at large. This book addresses the neglected, denied, and repressed aspects of the Feminine side of our existance such as the need for healthy embodiment, relational engagement, recognition of the value of women and the earth, as well as respecting and caring for the natural environment, and working toward a more balanced relationship between the masculine and feminine energies within. It points to our humanity on our journey of spiritual awakening. Lama Allione unfolds the wisdom of two significant and authoritative traditions; the revolutionary psychological and spiritual discoveries of Dr. Carl Jung, and the mystical teachings of Tibetan Tantric Buddhism. Through these, she has unlocked the ancient secrets of personal transformation that have long been revered in the Tibetan Vajrayana tradition and has grounded them in Carl Jung's unique psychological discoveries and depth understanding of the Unconscious. Lama Tsultrim has given us a unique perspective and authentic methods that integrate all aspects of our being. This material addresses the needs of the Western psyche that is easily prone to emotional and spiritual by-passing when engaging spiritual practice, as well as revealing the traditional depth teachings for the committed practitioner of Dharma. The work seamlessly unfolds a path and method for engaging our inner life with authentic spiritual practices from the Buddhist Tantric path. Here we learn how to consciously meet aspects of ourselves that we are denying or are yet unconscious of, and we are empowered to meet our emotional life in a healthy and deeply transformational way. We are invited to come to face-to-face with both the darkness and the light within, and in not denying one or the other, we open the doorway to bring forth extraordinary qualities that bring deep change to our lives and those around us. In the process, we begin to meet our authentic nature from which all compassionate qualities emerge. The author has included her personal story throughout the book. In doing so she has made this material even more accessable and it serves as encouragement for others, inspiring each of us to also make our individual journey of awakening. As a Jungian Analyst and committed practitioner of Dharma, and having spent many hours in personal practice with this material, I find this to be a clear and powerful gateway into the depth work that we all need to face. In order to bring to light a new spirit in the world at this time when the Feminine and the work with the Unconscious is required for the well-being of our planet, we will need to look deeper within, take greater responsibility for personal transformation, and acknowledge our own darkness more than we've ever had to before while facing it with honesty and integrity. This book contains a direct approach to our encumbered emotions and the unhealthy patterns they create, giving us the tools for transforming them into embodied, living wisdom, and fierce compassion. Lama Allione has given us a healing path for one of the most difficult aspects of our existence, and has made it understandable and extremely practical. This is a very special book!