16
APSARA CULTURA
AWW
Apsara abides in the heavenly regions and flows into being like water as she dances in the
water palaces, reflecting divine sensibility.
Who is Apsara Cultura?
Apsaras are female spirits of the clouds and waters in Hindu and Buddhist mythology. They are
referred to as celestial nymphs and are heavenly beings who delight with their dance, their
beauty, their music and their song. They are the dancing girls of the divine planes. They are
featured prominently in the spiritual art of Cambodia, Thailand and Bali.
Apsara Cultura Dakini brings the vision of a high culture where refined frequencies are given a
place of honor in society. They dance to the music made by their husbands, usually in the palaces
of the gods, and entertain gods and fallen heroes. Traditionally Apsaras are described as celestial
maidens living in the God Indra’s heaven. Indra sends them to earth to seduce ascetics who by
their severe practices may become more powerful than the gods.
One legend that is often represented is the Great Churning of the Sea of Milk when it is said the
Apsaras came into being. They then taught earthly women their dance. Khmer classical dance of
Cambodia, is frequently called ‘Apsara Dance’ because it is believed that the Khmer classical
dance of today is an unbroken tradition going back to the dance practiced in the courts of the
monarchs of Angkor, which in turn drew its inspiration from the mythological court of the gods
and from its celestial dancers, the Apsaras.
Angelic Attendants, Divine Fairies, they are often shown standing or sitting on clouds, flying
through the air in graceful poses, playing musical instruments, or scattering flowers to give
praise to the gods.
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Heavenly beings invisible to the human eye, believed to fly with superhuman power and speed.
Found in Middle-eastern, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Balinese, Tibetan and Nepalese art.
Buddhist depictions show Apsaras flying over Buddha's pure land, praising Buddha by scattering
flowers, playing instruments or burning incense.
Apsaras are said to be able to change their shape at will, and specially rule over the fortunes of
gaming and gambling.
Location/Sphere of Influence
Ancient Cambodia/Angkor Wat/Thailand/Bali/Asian Temples.
Allies
Flying creatures - fantastical and actual.
Nature & Description of Dakini
Apsara Cultura is Cambodian Dakini who dances in her realm of Angkor Wat, the best known
temple complex in Cambodia. Angkor Wat is renowned for the way in which it uniquely
combines Buddhist and Hindu cosmology, blending and unifying religious factions. Here
elements of the temple are recombined to form a vision in the mindsky, representing the
immortal imprint which at one point took form on earth.
Exquisite temples and water palaces, beautiful and elegant dancing girls in fantastic head dresses
and crowns who morph in and out of Temple friezes, fragrant flowers upon their heads. The
whole scene represents a finely articulated glyph of heaven on earth, where earthly activities
emulate, as closely as they can, the vibrations of the heavenly realms. Apsara Cultura represents
culture where celebrations and artistry are dedicated to the enjoyment of the Gods/the Divine
Beings. When the worlds of the human and the heavenly merge and mesh in this fashion, we
have a glyph of true culture, which is both refined and sublime.
This portal evokes radiance and subtlety, the era of the god/king, goddess/queen. The royal
purple and gold evoke both the regal and the divine.
Apsara Cultura comes to life from the walls of the ancient shrines to bless our world with her
beauty and grace. She is here to show us another way of being, of secular culture that combines
spiritual and material principles and presents this integrated vision as art and Divine
entertainment.
She offers the golden flower.
She steps down from the Buddhafields into the plane of being.
Ankor Wat is a giant mandala, the earthly display is a mirror of the activities of the divine beings
above, as if reflected in the waters of life.
Divinatory Meaning
A divine dancing girl comes as a gift for you!
She brings you good luck. Good fortune travels with her and envelops you in its fragrance.
She engenders not titillation, but heavenly feelings and vibrations.
She embodies the concept that one can make oneself into a vessel for higher frequencies.
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She opens a portal to an exotic realm, one where the society encourages and embraces this
expression.
Discipline required to perfect form.
Dedication to a higher vision and the willingness to commit to this path.
The active expression of devotion.
Life as art. Art as spiritual practice.
The most precious aspect of living tradition - that which preserves spiritual transmission in the
form of ritualized sacred expression, not as the rules of dogma.
The desire to experience the kind of energies Apsara embodies. A spiritual homesickness for
Divine resonance.
An appreciation of beauty and refinement.
Look for the elegant solution/s.
Surround yourself with simpatico vibrations. Associate with those who bring out your more
refined aspects.
Social graces, not as an enforced set of rules, but as pleasing and elevating exchange.
Apsara Cultura represents subtlety and integration, the decorative and harmonious arts and
balanced governance.
Although Apsaras in mythology have sometimes been sent to distract aspirants from their
practices, Apsara Dakini of our pantheon is here to bring celestial vibrations into your life. To
bless you with the happiness inherent in beauty and elegance that exists only to embody that
heavenly frequency.
Apsara says yes! It is possible to have heaven on earth. It is not just a dream of another time,
another place. Reality is what you decide it to be and the principles by which you chose to
govern your life. A shift in reality on a general level is just a lot of ‘you’ waking up and
reselecting your priorities.
Spirit and matter are always dancing hand in hand.
Apsara wants to take you by the hand and soothe your soul, you who come to the temple as a
wounded warrior, and let you bathe in the sweet fragrance that is home, the magnificent temple
of eternal spirit.
As elusive as a mirage, a reflection in a pool, a vision in a cloud, as solid as an impression etched
in stone.
Indications
Seek situations and company that call forth refined feelings in your being.
Seek the subtle over the coarse.
Approach your life as a dance and move through it with elegance and grace, no matter the outer
circumstance.
Make yourself lovely as an offering to the Divine spirit that flows through you, an offering to the
Goddesses and Gods who are watching your dance of life…
Practices
1. Apsara asks you to meditate on the qualities you believe create culture.
What is a cultured society?
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2. Apsara would like to dance for you. She invites you to visualize her in her domain. A cloud
comes down to earth, landing in this beautiful temple. From it a radiant dancer emerges, dancing
just for you. With every glance from her eyes you receive waves of blissful feelings, the
transmission of her shakti (original female energy), which energizes your whole being. At the
same time the fragrance of her being, like sweet jasmine, envelopes you, calming and soothing
you.
3. You can dance with her if you like.
4. Hold in your consciousness the impression of this eternal mystical temple. See it as holding
the blueprint of how we can govern our lives by spiritual principles.
Bless Cambodia and its people for manifesting this vision as evolved social structures and
glorious sacred art.
Send recognition and appreciation, love and healing energy to the spiritual heart of the people of
South East Asia.
Dakini Transmission
I come from the heavenly abode
In song and dance I do unfold
Delights to grace the earthly sphere
With what the Gods enjoy and hear
The music flows
Like perfumed air
And I dance for you here
As I do up there…
Affirmations
I am worthy of beauty and grace
I bring these qualities
Into my being and my world
I find elegant solutions
I move through all experience
As a dancer
Performing on the stage of life
for the Goddesses and Gods
64DakiniOracle.org © Penny Slinger 2010