Outside the West, the Kundalini tradition presents a model of the ‘divine feminine’ beyond binary gender

(The Conversation) — Drawn from tantric traditions, Kundalini points to spiritual practices that go beyond traditionally understood concepts of the masculine and feminine.

A piece of art shows the tantric tradition's depiction of Kundalini and energy centers – or chakras. (Tantrika painting/Wellcome Collection, CC BY)

Sravana Borkataky-Varma and Anya FoxenDecember 10, 2025

(The Conversation) — The notion of the divine feminine is a recurring motif in American pop culture, playing with the assumptions people make when referring to God – often the deity described in the Bible – as “He.”

Whether it’s Alanis Morissette’s iconic portrayal of God in the 1999 comedy “Dogma” or Ariana Grande’s titular declaration in her 2018 track “God is a Woman,” the effect is the same: a mixture of irreverence and empowerment. It dovetails, moreover, with a ubiquitous political slogan: “The future is female.”

But in a historical moment when society is bitterly contesting ideas about gender, we’d note that these notions still rely on a simplistic binary.

As two scholars who study the entangled history of spirituality and gender, we often observe an especially fraught version of this dynamic playing out among “spiritual but not religious” practitioners, often called spiritual seekers. To many such people, the divine feminine represents an escape from oppressive gender norms, and yet many stumble in trying to reconcile the idea with the embodied realities of biological sex.

An approach that escapes this dilemma is the centuries-old Kundalini tradition, which paints a model of the divine feminine beyond gender altogether.

The feminine Shakti

There are certainly examples of the feminine divine to be drawn from Christian and other Abrahamic religious traditions. Yet many seekers quickly find themselves reaching beyond these borders.

When they do, one of the first concepts they come across is Shakti, a divine feminine energy that manifests in the human body as the electrifying force of Kundalini. Both terms originate in South Asian religions – especially Hinduism – that fall under the broad umbrella of tantra.

Tantric cultural and spiritual traditions, which began to emerge in the early centuries of the Common Era, take a positive perspective on the material world in general and the human body in particular, as opposed to traditions that regard both as inherently illusory or sinful. In tantra, the material world and physical body are suffused by divine energy. This energy is called Shakti, and it is feminine.

Another key idea common to tantric traditions is that the universe is composed of two fundamental principles – or rather that it has two poles: a dynamic energy, which is female, balanced by an unchanging consciousness, which is male. As the great Goddess, Shakti goes by many names, including Durga, Kali and myriad others. The masculine principle is usually called Shiva, though this can vary as well.

Divinity beyond binaries

Tantric traditions span over a millennium in time and a subcontinent in space, so it should come as no surprise that they are incredibly diverse. However, most practices that enjoy global popularity today, especially those centered on the divine feminine energy of Kundalini, can be traced to a specific tradition called Kaula Tantra, which developed in the northeast of modern-day India near Kashmir.

A picture of tantric art from the 19th century.
Pictures From History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

This tradition is distinctive by maintaining that while the cosmos is polar, it is also nondual, meaning that there is only one ultimate reality. So, the pairing of Shakti and Shiva, feminine and masculine, energy and consciousness, is best understood not as a binary but as the two sides of a Mobiüs strip, where one seamlessly flows into the other.

Take a strip of paper, twist it into a figure eight – also the symbol we use for infinity – and glue the back to the front. That’s the Kaula model of the universe.

In such a world, Shiva is Shakti. The masculine is the feminine. Both are divine, but even more than this, both are ultimate, because there is no difference between them. God is goddess, and both are nonbinary.

Awakening Kundalini

Kundalini yoga is a centuries-old practice quite different from the branded version popularized more recently by Yogi Bhajan. It involves using complex meditative and physical techniques to awaken and raise this energy from its usual resting place in the bottom of the torso.

In doing this, tradition says the practitioner experiences a radical transformation both of the body and of consciousness. Premodern texts describe Kundalini’s fiery energy burning through the tissues of the body, shooting up to the crown of the head, where the feminine Shakti unites with her masculine counterpart and all dissolves into oneness.

While some texts treat this ascent as equivalent to a sort of voluntary death, others describe how, once she has ascended, Kundalini returns to bathe the body in a cooling nectar of immortality, resulting in an embodied state of enlightenment and liberation.

According to this tradition, the body may appear the same but is now enlivened with a new consciousness that has transcended all dualities – including male and female.

Is the divine feminine female?

Human gender norms often prove difficult to shake, however. Though the energy of Kundalini is understood as feminine, Kundalini yoga in South Asia has been traditionally practiced by men. The reasons for this are perhaps almost entirely social, and yet they remain a powerful force.

Ironically, the very fact that Kundalini is often believed to be associated with womanhood has resulted in women being excluded – or at least deprioritized – from cultivating their own practice. Instead, they have historically become assistants or accessories to the enlightenment of men.

The fieldwork we present in our recent book on the topic bears this out. Among South Asian practitioners, the common attitude is that women embody the maternal principle, and this makes them extremely powerful. In them, the energy of Kundalini operates naturally. Men, on the other hand, need to be purified by a woman through ritual in order to effectively engage in Kundalini practice.

A woman meditates during festival for a modern, branded version of Kundalini yoga.
Godong/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Such ideas are also common among Western practitioners, who tend to believe women have a more natural aptitude for Kundalini awakening. One of our subjects said this is because women have less ego. Another attributed it to female sexual fluids.

However, cultural difference plays a role, too. Western notions of the divine feminine are much more inclined to cling to the binary, resisting the idea that male and female bodies alike are ultimately woven from the same nondual reality.

Most striking, perhaps, one man who had spent a lifetime among seekers at spiritual retreats in the U.S. and South America told us of a long-held and common belief that only women were capable of Kundalini experience. It was, to him, an energy exclusive to the female body. He recounted having been shocked, only months prior, at encountering a copy of the 1967 classic “Kundalini: The Evolutionary Energy in Man,” authored by the decidedly male Gopi Krishna.

The broader point, however, is that the historical core of Kundalini practice has always been about transcending all dualities.

Thus, even as a goddess representing the ultimate “She,” Kundalini is best understood as nonbinary. Perhaps if we can wrap our heads around this idea, we can cultivate a more inclusive empowerment.

(Anya Foxen, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, California Polytechnic State University. Sravana Borkataky-Varma, Instructional Assistant Professor of Comparative Cultural Studies, University of Houston. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.

The Conversation religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The Conversation is solely responsible for this content.

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Why Pope Leo’s Visit To Turkey Is Important – Analysis

Pope Leo XIV addresses bishops, priests, religious, pastoral workers, and laypeople at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Istanbul, Turkey, on Nov. 28, 2025. | Credit: Vatican Media

November 29, 2025 
Arab News
By Dr. Sinem Cengiz


Pope Leo XIV’s much-anticipated visit to Turkiye — his first official foreign trip as pontiff — has both diplomatic and religio-historic importance.

Paul VI became the first pope to visit Turkey in 1967, following the establishment of relations between the Holy See and Ankara seven years earlier. This is the fifth papal visit since that landmark trip.

Leo arrived in Turkiye on Thursday and will stay until Sunday, with a busy itinerary. Traditionally, papal visits to Turkiye have had two main stops: Ankara and Istanbul. In Ankara, meetings with officials are held, in which discussions mainly focus on regional and international humanitarian issues. While in Istanbul, meetings are held with religious figures and community members.

In this visit, Ankara was the pope’s first stop. There, he visited Anitkabir, the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkiye, and was then welcomed with an official ceremony at the Presidential Complex by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Leo’s visit serves several purposes. While Turkiye is a Muslim-majority country, it is also home to the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, who is considered the spiritual leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church. His headquarters are in Istanbul. The first purpose of the visit is to send a unification message regarding Catholic-Orthodox relations.



In addition, Turkiye is considered by the Vatican as a significant geopolitical actor that plays a key role in regional crises. Thus, the second purpose of the visit focuses on Turkiye-Vatican relations, which have seen improvement of late, particularly in the context of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the Gaza war.

The Vatican has expressed appreciation for Turkiye’s efforts to mediate between Russia and Ukraine. Although the Holy See has also attempted to broker a ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow, those initiatives have so far failed. In addition, the war in Gaza has intensified diplomatic traffic between the Holy See and Ankara. Erdogan and the late Pope Francis held several phone calls on the Gaza war. The Holy See has particularly drawn international attention with its stance on the plight of the Palestinians, an issue also of deep sensitivity to Turkiye.

The last papal visit to Turkiye took place in 2014, continuing the tradition of popes visiting the country in the early years of their tenures. During his 2014 visit, Francis visited the Hagia Sophia, then a museum before it was converted to a mosque in 2020, and the Sultanahmet Mosque, known as the Blue Mosque, where his prayer was widely seen as a gesture of interfaith dialogue and a symbol of strengthening Catholic-Muslim relations. Leo’s itinerary includes only the Blue Mosque. In 2014, Francis was warmly welcomed by the Turkish public and a similar atmosphere surrounds this visit. Souvenirs and posters featuring a portrait of Leo alongside the Turkish flag have been prepared.

Overseas trips are considered an important part of the Holy See’s soft power, giving the pope the opportunity to meet leaders, engage with Christian communities and draw global media attention to regional issues. During his visit to Turkiye, Leo is expected to focus on continued efforts toward Catholic-Orthodox reconciliation, strengthen dialogue between Christians and Muslims, raise concerns over regional issues, and support local Christian communities.

There have been reports that the pope is likely to raise the possible reopening of a Greek Orthodox religious seminary in Turkiye, known as Heybeliada school, which was closed in 1971 following a Constitutional Court ruling that private higher education institutions must be affiliated with state universities. The seminary, founded in 1844, is a symbol of Orthodox heritage and it trained generations of Greek Orthodox patriarchs, including Bartholomew.

Turkiye has long faced pressure from the US and EU to reopen it. Optimism grew after US President Donald Trump discussed the issue with Erdogan at the White House in September. Erdogan reportedly told Trump at their meeting that “we are ready to do whatever is incumbent upon us regarding the Heybeliada school.”

However, the central purpose of Leo’s Turkiye trip is to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea, Christianity’s first ecumenical council, which was held in 325 A.D. in today’s Iznik, in the northwestern Turkish province of Bursa. The pope will pray with Bartholomew toward the ruins of the Basilica of St. Neophytos and sign a joint declaration as a symbolic gesture of Christian unity. According to reports, 15,000 Christians are expected to attend the ceremony in Iznik.

Data from the Catholic Church states that about 33,000 Catholics currently live in Turkiye. The meeting between Leo and Bartholomew is considered an important step for the convergence of the Catholic and Orthodox churches. The pope is also scheduled to perform a prayer service to an estimated 4,000 people at the Volkswagen Arena in Istanbul. Leo has also met the head of Turkiye’s Presidency of Religious Affairs and the country’s chief rabbi.

Within this context, the pope’s first overseas visit being to Turkiye comes as no surprise. It is both a papal tradition and a deliberate choice. Turkiye is a mosaic of faiths, home to Muslims, Christians, Jews and other religious minorities. It also hosts religious archaeological sites, making the country particularly important in the eyes of other communities. The timing of the visit is also important, as it comes when greater reconciliation is needed. Leo hopes to foster stronger Turkiye-Vatican relations, while also encouraging a united moral stance toward crises from Gaza to Ukraine.

Dr. Sinem Cengiz is a Turkish political analyst who specializes in Turkiye’s relations with the Middle East. X: @SinemCngz


Arab News

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Pope Leo calls for Christian unity at Turkish site where Nicaean Creed originated

On the second day of his visit to Turkey, Pope Leo XIV joined Orthodox patriarchs on Friday in a commemoration ceremony at the site of the origin of the Nicaean Creed, a central Christian statement of belief that was adopted 1,700 years ago.


Issued on: 28/11/2025 
By: FRANCE 24



Pope Leo XIV joined Eastern and Western patriarchs and priests Friday in commemorating an important anniversary in Christian history, gathering at the site in Turkey of an unprecedented A.D. 325 meeting of bishops to pray that Christians might once again be united.

Leo, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I and other Christian leaders met on the shores of Lake Iznik, the site of the Council of Nicaea that produced a creed, or statement of faith, that is still recited by millions of Christians today.

Standing over the ruins of the site, the men recited the creed, which Leo said was “of fundamental importance in the journey that Christians are making toward full communion.”

“In this way, we are all invited to overcome the scandal of the divisions that unfortunately still exist and to nurture the desire for unity for which the Lord Jesus prayed and gave his life,” he said.

Pope Leo meets Turkey's Erdogan and Orthodox leaders on first overseas trip

The 70-year-old pontiff spent Friday morning with Catholic leaders before going to Iznik to celebrate the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea, a gathering of bishops who drew up a foundational statement of faith still central to Christianity today.

The prayer marked the highlight of Leo's visit to Turkey and the main reason for his trip, the first of his pontificate.

The Nicaea gathering took place at a time when the Eastern and Western churches were still united. They split in the Great Schism of 1054, a divide precipitated largely by disagreements over the primacy of the pope. But even today, Catholic, Orthodox and most historic Protestant groups accept the Nicaean Creed, making it a point of agreement and the most widely accepted creed in Christendom.

As a result, celebrating its origins at the site of its creation with the spiritual leaders of the Catholic and Orthodox churches and other Christian representatives marked a historic moment in the centuries-old quest to reunite all Christians.

“The Nicene Creed acts like a seed for the whole of our Christian existence. It is a symbol not of a bare minimum; it is a symbol of the whole,” said Bartholomew, spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians.

At the start of the prayer service, he told the men they were gathering not just to remember the past.

© France 24
01:34

“We are here to bear living witness to the same faith expressed by the fathers of Nicaea. We return to this wellspring of the Christian faith in order to move forward,” he said.

Roman Emperor Constantine had convened the gathering of bishops from around the Roman Empire after he had consolidated control following years of civil war and political intrigues.

Constantine wouldn’t formally convert to Christianity until the end of his life, in 337. But by 325, he had already been showing tolerance and favor toward a Christian sect that had emerged from the last great spasm of Roman persecution.

The version of the creed that emerged from the council, and recited today by Catholics, begins: “I believe in one God, the Father almighty … ”

Catholic and Orthodox hymns

The service commemoration, which featured alternating Catholic and Orthodox hymns, took place at the lakeside archaeological excavations of the ancient Basilica of Saint Neophytos. The stone foundations of the basilica, which were recently uncovered by the lake's receding waters, are believed to be on the site of an earlier church that hosted the council 1,700 years ago.

In addition to Leo and Bartholomew, the participants of the commemorative service included priests, patriarchs and bishops from Orthodox Greek, Syrian, Coptic, Malankarese, Armenian, Protestant and Anglican churches.

In his remarks to the men, Leo said all Christians must strongly reject the use of religion to justify war, violence “or any form of fundamentalism or fanaticism.”

“Instead, the paths to follow are those of fraternal encounter, dialogue and cooperation,” he said.

Small protest

Christians are a minority in predominantly Sunni Muslim Turkey, and ahead of the prayer in Iznik, around 20 members of a small Turkish Islamic party staged a brief protest. They said the encounter posed a threat to Turkey’s sovereignty and national identity.

Under a heavy police presence, Mehmet Kaygusuz, a member of the New Welfare Party, read a statement denouncing what he said were efforts to establish a “Vatican-like Greek Orthodox state” in Turkey. The group dispersed peacefully shortly after.

Iznik resident Suleyman Bulut, 35, acknowledged his town’s deep historical and spiritual significance for Christians and said he had no issue with them coming to honor their heritage.

“Muslims (too) should go and visit places that belong to us in the rest of the world, in Europe,” he said.

But Hasan Maral, a 41-year-old shopkeeper said he felt uncomfortable with visit. “The pope coming here feels contradictory to my faith,” he said.

'Viva il Papa'

Leo began his first full day in Istanbul by encouraging Turkey’s tiny Catholic community to find strength in their small numbers. According to Vatican statistics, Catholics number around 33,000 in a nation of 85 million, most of whom are Sunni Muslims.

He received a raucous welcome at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, where he was greeted with shouts of “Papa Leo” and “Viva il Papa” (Long Live the pope).

“The logic of littleness is the church’s true strength,” Leo told them in English. “The significant presence of migrants and refugees in this country presents the church with the challenge of welcoming and serving some of the most vulnerable.”

Leo later visited with a group of nuns, the Little Sisters of the Poor, who run a nursing home in Istanbul.

“He was so simple. We just felt he was at home. He felt very much at ease. Everybody got what they expected: a blessing, a kind word. It’s just enormous,” said Sister Margret of the Little Sisters of the Poor Nursing Home.

On Saturday, Leo continues with his ecumenical focus, meeting with Bartholomew and other Christian leaders. But he’ll also visit the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, commonly known as the Blue Mosque, and will celebrate a late afternoon Mass in Istanbul’s Volkswagen Arena.

Leo heads to Lebanon on Sunday for the second and final leg of his trip.

(FRANCE 24 with AP)

Pope to visit Istanbul's Blue Mosque

Istanbul (AFP) – Pope Leo XIV will visit Istanbul's famed Blue Mosque early on Saturday on the third day of his trip to Turkey.

Issued on: 29/11/2025 - RFI

Pope Leo XIV is on a four-day visit to Turkey, the first overseas trip since he was elected as head of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics © Andreas SOLARO / AFP

It will be the first time the American pope, who was elected in May as leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics, visits a Muslim place of worship since taking over from his late predecessor Francis, who championed dialogue with Islam.

With such a highly symbolic gesture, Leo follows in the footsteps of Pope Benedict XVI, who visited the site in 2006, and Francis who did the same in 2014 accompanied by the Grand Mufti of Istanbul.

But unlike them, he will not be visiting the nearby Hagia Sophia, the legendary sixth-century basilica, which was built during the Byzantine Empire and converted into a mosque following the conquest of Constantinople in 1453.

In a key reform by post-Ottoman Turkish authorities led by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the Hagia Sophia became a museum in 1935. And 50 years later, it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site.

But in 2020, it was converted back into a mosque in a move that drew international condemnation, including from the late Pope Francis who said he was "very saddened" by the decision of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Critics have accused Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted AKP party of chipping away at the Muslim-majority country's secular pillars.

The Blue Mosque -- which gets its name from the vibrant blue Iznik tiles that line its interior -- is one of Istanbul's main tourist attractions.

With its six towering minarets, the mosque was built in the early 17th century during the reign of Sultan Ahmed I, on part of the former Hippodrome, a huge chariot-racing stadium that was a central feature of Constantinople when it was the Byzantine capital.

On Saturday afternoon, Leo will meet local church leaders and attend a brief service at the Patriarchal Church of St. George before joining Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I at his palace on the banks of the Golden Horn estuary.

There, the two spiritual leaders will sign a joint declaration, the content of which has not yet been made public.

Later that same day, Leo will hold a mass at the city's Volkswagen Arena, where some 4,000 worshippers are expected to join him.

The pontiff flew to Iznik on Friday for an ecumenical prayer service to mark 1,700 years since one of the early Church's most important gatherings.

On Sunday morning, after a prayer service at the Armenian cathedral and leading a divine liturgy, the Orthodox equivalent of a mass, at St George's, he will head to Lebanon for the second leg of his trip -- his first overseas tour since being elected to the position.

© 2025 AFP