Cosmic GossipKnown for: 
Domestication, motherhood, loveOrigin:
HinduWhat’s her story?
Goddess Durga, Parvati or Lalitha is one of the many forms of Shakti, the feminine energy of the universe. The charming daughter of Himavat (lord of the mountains), she lured Lord Shiva (the god of war) away from his wild bachelorhood in the Himalayas. She visited his Mount Kailash cave every day to decorate it with fruit and flowers and sweep the floor; she eventually tamed him in marriage and together they bore the elephant god Ganesha and Kartikeya. She is worshipped for her role as maiden, wife, and mother: a fertility goddess of love and devotion with an exclusively female clergy and following. Married women emulated Parvati’s marital bliss and superb housekeeping skills, and she is represented in the Hindu religion as one holding transcendental knowledge and power. She was depicted as exquisitely beautiful; at different times she is seen with three eyes, four arms, carrying a blue lotus, garbed in white (the colour of enlightenment) with a crescent moon bound in her locks, astride a white lioness with turquoise-tipped fur. Read More
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I first discovered chakras six years ago after completing a reiki course. Someone had given me a book entitled Rainbow Reiki, and I wasn't sure exactly what that meant, as no one at my reiki school had said anything about rainbows. As I began to practice on all my friends (guinea pigs), I quickly realised that different parts of their bodies seemed to have different colours -- red around the groin, blue around the neck, etc. Then I stumbled across 'chakras' in another book and realised the Indian Ayurvedic tradition has been aware of them for, oh, about 5000 years. I had a ta-da! moment. 
If you're an adult living in Australia, chances are you've had a massage lately. Studies show that 68% of us have visited a massage therapist, while over in the States, a staggering 60 million visits are made to 85,000 masseuses each year. That's a lot of rubbing, kneading, sore muscles and stressed clients! It's also a lot of oil being absorbed by our skins -- and our blood streams, cells and organs. So how pure is your massage oil?
Most Aussies believe in psychics, miracles, heaven, life after death and angels, according to a Nielsen poll for The Herald. Although Australians are widely considered to be a secular people, nearly half of the population believe in psychic powers such as extrasensory perception, while 41 per cent believe in astrology...
