Shakti Mantras: Tapping into the Great Goddess Energy Within

This was the first of TAF's books that I bought after being completely bowled over by listening to the 9-hour CD course "Mantra - Sacred Words of Power" There was just something about simply listening to that course that induced such unexpected energies in me. Anyway, I love "Shakti Mantras" and have had hugely powerful results from the long Kali mantra - which is actually a surprising one to find in such an accessible book. (My favourite though is "Om Parama Prema Rupaya Namaha".) Even the stories of the Divine Feminine are great and I've found that simply reading them can stir up a lot of energy in surprising ways. There is definitely something mysterious and wonderful at work in these pages! There are mantras here for spiritual development, abundance, beauty, love, reducing anxiety and all sorts of things - and as usual many come with excellent real life examples to illustrate how they can work. The pronunciation guide with each mantra is I think as good as they get too, though I would still recommend getting a mantra CD or two at some stage if you get hooked. In short, very highly recommended indeed - and if you take the practices up, it may change your life too. Richard Holmes [...]

Shakti Mantras: Tapping into the great goddess Energy Within is an excellent book. The subject of mantras and mantra practice is often obscure and little understood by western readers. This book makes a great simple introduction. It gives the readers the knowledge they need to discover the power of mantras for themselves. This book is centered on the idea that you can practice mantras for real tangible results. However it is no simplistic "chant this ___ times and you will have____ (wealth, healing, etc.) Rather it is a gateway into using mantras to achieve spiritual discipline with a tangible end product. For example I have undertaken one of the abundance mantras in this book. I did not get a sudden mysterious windfall but I did get a better understanding of how I have mismanaged my money in the past. By the end of the the second forty day discipline the end result was every bit as good as a check in the mail. The book also gives some wonderful and moving goddess myths. Several of the stories moved me almost to tears. You can tell the author is truly a life long devotee to both yoga and the Goddess. If either subject interests you I would highly recommend this book.

I often get asked for good resources for those wishing to explore mantra as a spiritual practice and being incorporating it into their personal path, and I always recommend the books by Thomas Ashley-Farrand. They are clear, concise, straight-forward, and easy for those new to Eastern religion and philosophy to understand. What I love most about Shakti Mantras, besides the mantras of course, are his amazing retellings of the myths of the various goddesses. He really has a way to make them come alive for the reader, so that they can familiar themselves with the energy of these deities before they even begin to chant. It is truly a gift! Because of the fantastic stories including in this book, I also recommend this to anyone who would like to learn more about some of the most prominent goddesses of the Hindu tradition. I love my Shakti Mantras and it's now very dog-eared as I often refer to it for my own path and spiritual development, as well as pointing out pages to those who come asking questions about the various topics addressed inside. A wonderful book that can really enhance your practice, no matter what exactly that practice may be!

This book is written in a way that a novice would be able to use the mantras in the book easily and help create massive change in their life if they commit to chanting a given mantra daily for 40 days for at least 30 minutes per day. If you are skeptical just give it a try to prove to yourself the value of mantras, even if you don't believe it will work because if you chant daily for 30 minutes you will begin to experience the power of the hidden energy in the words of power!!!

The beauty of Thomas Ashley-Farrand’s books are how he takes complex spiritual teachings and makes them accessible to all readers. I highly recommend reading this wonderful book about the Devine feminine.

I started doing two of the mantras and almost immediately saw results! The second one is coming about slower but still changing things. I also did mantras that would NOT be a change that could be atributed to positive thinking. Since it was still working I am sold! The bad part of the book was that I found a mantra had one pronouciation on one page and a different way in another chapter so you weren't sure of how to pronounce it. It's still a great book if you want to make changes.

Really enjoyed reading this book. I've learned the Gayatri mantra and I can definitely see positive changes in my life. I have no doubt that I will continue to see positive life changes as I continue to work with these mantras. Thank you Thomas Ashley-Ferrand for all the wonderful knowledge you left behind for humanity. It was not in vain.

Mantras are a great way to get the mind focused. I appreciate how the author has written out the mantras phonetically, making them easy to recite. Most of the mantras have detailed descriptions, so you'll know which mantra to recite when you need help with a specific situation. I practice the mantras in this book in conjunction with the meditations in Sally Kempton's, "Awakening Shakti". I find the latter to be great for visual meditations. Hope this helps. Enjoy!:)

Very deep insights

Un premier livre sur Shakti qui s'est avéré très intéressant, d'autant que j'apprécie particulièrement cet auteur. Il est très compétent dans son domaine et a écrit d'autres ouvrages où il partage toujours son expérience personnelle.

I absolutely love this book. It answered soo many questions I had!

Lots of new information

Excellent book.... with detailed explanations.