In Śākta Tantra, the Divine Mother is revered as the supreme reality and dynamic power, and her worship unfolds through a spectrum of outer ritual and inner contemplation. Formal pūjā employs images (mūrti), pictures, and especially yantras such as the Śrī Yantra as focal points for invoking her presence. Offerings of water, flowers, incense, lamps, food, and other sacred substances are made, often with the understanding that each part of the yantra or image corresponds to a limb of the Goddess. Devotional hymns, stotras, and bhajans are recited, and in many traditions this worship is woven into daily practice as well as into larger communal observances. Through such ritual, the practitioner gradually learns to see the entire ritual space as permeated by Devī’s presence.

Mantra is central to this path, for the Goddess is approached and invoked through sacred syllables and names. Seed syllables such as HRĪM, ŚRĪM, and KLĪM, as well as longer mantras and texts like the Devī Mahātmya or the thousand names (sahasranāma), are repeated with focused attention, often using a rosary. This practice is usually grounded in dīkṣā, initiation from a guru, in which the mantra and its method of use are transmitted. Such recitation is not merely vocal; it is coordinated with breath, mental focus, and sometimes mudrās, so that the practitioner’s whole being becomes attuned to Śakti. Over time, mantra-japa becomes both an act of worship and a means of inner transformation.

The worship of the Divine Mother also takes a subtle, yogic form. She is experienced as Kuṇḍalinī-Śakti, the latent spiritual energy at the base of the spine, which is awakened and guided through the cakras by means of mantra, prāṇāyāma, visualization, and meditation. Each cakra is envisioned as a lotus in which particular aspects of the Goddess and her letters reside, and this “cakra-sādhana” becomes a way of honoring her presence within the body. Practices of nyāsa, in which mantras are placed on different parts of the body, sacralize the practitioner as a living temple of Devī. In some lineages, more advanced rites may include the use of the pañcamakāra and other powerful offerings, undertaken with strict discipline and a symbolic understanding of their meaning.

Alongside these structured practices, Śākta Tantra emphasizes inner worship (antar-yāga), in which the heart and mind become the primary altar. The Goddess is visualized as seated on a lotus throne, radiant and compassionate, and mental offerings are made in the form of virtues, awareness, and even one’s own limiting tendencies. Symbolic offerings of thoughts, emotions, and ego are imagined as being surrendered into her, so that all experiences may be recognized as movements of Śakti. Festivals such as Navarātri and Durgā Pūjā, pilgrimages to Śakti pīṭhas, and the distinctive traditions of Kālī, Tārā, Tripurasundarī, and other forms of Devī all serve to deepen this relationship. Ultimately, the worshipper seeks the realization that the Divine Mother, the act of worship, and the worshipper are not separate, but expressions of a single, all-pervading consciousness.