As the lamps are lit, may the eternal light within be illuminated ✨
Everywhere you look, Delhi is glowing. Strings of lights ripple across balconies & stairs, flowers colour up doorways, and people adorn themselves gracefully.
Lamps flicker brightly, fireworks crackle disturbingly, and hearts feel open.
It’s Diwali – the festival of light, the most celebrated time of the subcontinent, much like Christmas in Europe.
Carried away by the amazing atmosphere and significance of this celebration, I went into reflection mode and wrote a blog – happy readings!
In essence, this festival goes beyond the lighting of lamps.
As Prasad Rangnekar so nicely captures, it is the remembrance of the eternal self-luminous Divine Light, illuminating all yet remaining untouched by them.
It is an invitation to find that same timeless luminosity that quietly resides within our being.
Just as Diwali follows the darkest night of the new moon, our own lives – and our inner cycles – follow the same rhythm. Darkness makes way for light. Renewal follows release. Every ending holds the spark of a new beginning.
The day before Diwali, Chhoti Diwali is celebrated – symbolising the victory of good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance.
Together, these two days mirror the eternal truth: both darkness and light have their place in the greater whole.
Beauty Rituals and Feminine Touch
In the days leading up to Diwali, beauty fills every corner. Homes are cleaned, doorways painted with rangoli, lights arranged with care, whilst marigold flowers colour everything up.
Women decorate their hands with henna patterns – a ritual I much enjoyed this time.
There is something about this act of beautifying: sitting together, calmly waiting as the patterns evolve, inhaling the earthy scent of henna, and practising the patience required to let it dry – the small act of slowing down while the world rushed by.
It feels both elegant and grounding – a celebration of the feminine, where beauty is not performance but an expression of joy, care, and grace.
Ultimately, beauty becomes a form of devotion – to ourselves, to life, to each other, and to the divine within and around us.
Abundance and Lakshmi
On Diwali, homes welcome Goddess Lakshmi – the embodiment of wealth, prosperity, and auspiciousness. Lamps are lit to guide her in, prayers are offered for blessings to fill the home and for wealth to flow in abundance. (pictures following after our Pooja tonight)
This made me reflect on ‘what is true wealth’?
In this capitalist society, we often forget that wealth goes beyond material accumulation, and that it is much about the inner abundance that flows from gratitude, peace, and aligned energy.
When we live cyclically, we learn to better understand how abundance isn’t constant accumulation. It is a flow – between giving and receiving, effort and rest, outward and inward, darkness and light.
True wealth circulates. It expands naturally where there is harmony, appreciation and flow, not a lack, striving or depletion.
The Shadow Side of Celebration
Amidst all this beauty, Diwali also reveals our modern paradoxes.
The streets & markets overflow insanely, advertising floods every corner, and the city smog thickens with firecracker smoke. There’s a certain charm to the chaos – and also, a deep fatigue.
Festivities can be joyful and connective, yet they can also carry pressure – especially for women managing endless preparations, family responsibilities, party pressure, and the digital expectation to spread cheerful wishes.
Much like Christmas in Europe, Diwali invites us to remember: joy need not come from doing it all. The truest celebration is the one that feels aligned – where giving doesn’t mean giving yourself away.
The invitation remains simple: to find your own rhythm, to give without depletion, and to remember that your inner light is the one that truly illuminates everything around you.
Inner & Outer Light
The outer glow of lamps – diyas, candles, fireworks – mirrors something deeper:
our longing for inner light – clarity, joy, and connection.
True illumination rarely comes from constant brightness.
It often arises after we’ve journeyed through darkness – after surrender, rest, and silence.
The new moon, the darkest night, is not empty.
It is the womb of light – a space of gestation and renewal,
where new intentions are quietly conceived.
closing Wishes
As we light lamps and open our hearts to the brightness around us,
may we also pause to honour the quiet spaces within.
Even celebration can be cyclical – expanding outward, then retreating inward.
Reflection prompts:
🪔 What light wants to shine through you right now?
🌑 Which part of your life is asking to be held in the dark?
💫 How can you cultivate true wealth - in energy, love, and simplicity?
I wish that this Diwali brings you moments of light, togetherness, peace, and abundance.
And as the last lamp fades, may we remember – the light was never outside of us ✨
With love,
Stéphanie 🌞🌙
Awareness. Embodiment. Alignment. Transformation.
