“Tara is a star goddess who encompasses all time and the spark of life. She extends this energy to us, fulfilling our spiritual hunger.” 
Goddess And Human
In Buddhist traditions, Tara was a Boddhisattva – a being who lived and became enlightened, but decided to stay in this wheel of life, the mortal coil, to help others along the way.
For this, she is revered as a Goddess of Compassion. She has a foot in both worlds – she is connected to God and is in oneness with every living thing.
A version of Tara exists in many cultures across the globe – each culture needs Tara for spiritual guidance. Tara is the great Goddess of the Celts, in Japan, she is Tarani Bosatsu, while in South America, she is the mother Goddess Tarahumara. In Egypt, she is Ishtar.
In Tibet, the heart of Buddhism, Tara was the consort of Avalokitesvara (the Buddha of Compassion who is reincarnated as the Dalai Lama). It is said that she appeared from a lotus blossom in the lake that formed from his first tears of Compassion.
Tara Brings The Femenine
Recognized for her goodness she was given the right to assume the form of a man, but made a vow to retain a feminine form. Her vow was:
"There are many who wish to gain enlightenment in a man's form, and there are few who wish to work for the welfare of living beings in a female form. Therefore may I, in a female body, work for the welfare of all beings, until such time as all humanity has found its fullness."
In many Eastern cultures, the gift of enlightenment is one that is only bestowed to men. Women have to reincarnate as a man before they can reach Samadhi. In this way, Tara is an important Goddess of Women, for Women.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama sees her as a forerunner of the Feminist movement within Buddhism. You can embrace the power of the feminine through her. Naturally because of her vow to work for the welfare of all beings, she is often seen as the Mother Goddess.
Although she is mainly worshipped as a Goddess of Compassion, she is the Goddess of Truth and this is her lesson to us.
Truth is how we see ourselves. Learning to speak and voice our truth is the path of self-realization. Truth is at the heart of compassion for ourselves and compassion for others.
Her lessons to us are to live in Truth, to drop attachments and to realize a path of compassion.
We can look to White Tara for inner peace and spiritual acceptance – embracing purity of mind and spirit. We can look to Green Tara for protection.
Tibetans believe that Green Tara guided their way to freedom in exile in India – it is who they look to for safe passage.
Compassion
“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion. Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive,” says His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
The message of compassion is a simple one. Essentially to be compassionate, we need to remember we are all one. There is no separation. Tara is the Goddess of Oneness - she reminds us that we are all the same.
Non-Attachment
Many things prevent us from being whole. Tara teaches a path of non-attachment. Attachment holds us to the past. Attachment glues us to our dreams, habits, and ways of being. It sticks us to our family, friends, needs and desires.
Sometimes it stops us living in truth, living in the moment, because we are following preconceptions, the paths laid out for us from our family, the expectations of those around us.
The root of Tara’s name literally means ‘to take across.’ As David Frawley says in his book Tantric Yoga and the Wisdom Goddesses, “the ultimate obstacle that we have to cross over is our own mind. Tara provides the power to take us beyond the turbulent waves of our thought currents.”
As Guru Rattana Kaur says it is time to make a transition to a heart-centred world. The heart is the centre of compassion.
“We are living in a supercharged era,” says Guru Rattana. “A time of upliftment for all humanity, a time of joining heaven and earth, a time of experiencing the higher self while living in the human body. As we take responsibility for our individual and collective lives, we will recognize ourselves as co-creators with God. As we do so, we will recognize the importance of mastering our telepathic projections, subconscious feelings and habitual thought patterns to materialize the life we desire. We are being challenged to see ourselves as responsible, both individually and collectively for our present circumstances, looking inward for causes as well as solutions. As we make our lives ‘living masterpieces’, we will be at choice to create heaven on earth.”
Tara is the energy of the Heart Chakra – the chakra of Compassion – she can guide us through these times – help us hear our wake-up call.
To connect to heart energy, you can use gemstones like rose quartz, pink tourmaline, emerald, green tourmaline. You can create a beautiful ‘Spirituality Oil’ with ten drops each of sandalwood, frankincense and rose; and five drops each of cedarwood and jasmine.