Shakti, “power” or “ability,” names the dynamic, creative energy of the divine, personified in Sanatana Dharma as the Goddess in her many forms, from gentle Parvati to fierce Kali to radiant Durga. Where Brahman as pure consciousness is often described as still and unchanging, Shakti is that same reality in its aspect of movement, manifestation, and action. Nothing happens, from the turning of galaxies to the beating of a heart, without Shakti; she is the capacity by which the unmanifest becomes manifest.
Shakta traditions, which take the Goddess as the supreme reality, hold that consciousness and power are ultimately one, described together as Shiva-Shakti, inseparable as fire and its heat. Shiva without Shakti is inert, a corpse, unable to act; Shakti without Shiva is directionless force. Together they are the whole of reality: awareness and the capacity to become, neither one prior to or superior to the other, both necessary for anything at all to exist or happen.
Shakti is also understood as kundalini, the coiled power said to lie dormant at the base of the spine in every person, capable of rising through the subtle body toward full awakening. In this sense Shakti is not only cosmic but intimately personal, the very energy of one’s own life, breath, and awareness. To honor Shakti is to recognize that the divine is not only silent and transcendent but also active, embodied, and immediately present in every act of creation, sustenance, and change.