🌿Names of the Divine
🌟 Names of the Divine as Felt Sense
A Multi-Cultural Series of Sound, Sensation, and Sacred Meaning
Each entry includes:
Name + Pronunciation
Etymology / Origin Spark
Felt Sense in the Body
Energetic Essence
Poetic Whisper / Symbolic Insight
🕊 Let’s Begin With: Ishvara (ईश्वर)
Pronunciation: Eesh-va-ra
Etymology/Root Meaning:
Sanskrit: īś (to rule, to be powerful) + vara (best, excellent, choicest).
Ishvara = the Supreme Lord, Divine Controller, or Benevolent Sovereign.
In yogic tradition, Ishvara is also the aspect of the Divine associated with surrender (Ishvarapranidhana).
Felt Sense:
“Ish” = uplifting, playful, like whistling—engages upper palate and smiles the face.
“Vaaaaar” = expansive, radiant, golden—like a wave of light from the heart.
“Raaa” = a delicate drumbeat with the tongue, awakening inner joy.
Energetic Essence:
Joyful sovereignty
Inner alignment with the highest
A sense of being gently guided and held by something vast, wise, and kind.
Symbolic Spark:
A golden thread through the spine,
a crown of trust upon the brow,
Ishvara—He who holds all things
in loving rhythm and radiant law.
🕊 GOD
Pronunciation: Gahhd (depending on language/accent)
Etymology / Origin Spark:
Old English god, from Proto-Germanic gudan, possibly from gheu(e)- ("to call, to invoke"). God is that which is called upon, the Invoked One—source of refuge and awe.
Felt Sense:
G grounds—felt in the throat and base of skull.
O opens the mouth and chest—like a round window to the heavens.
D closes with firmness—like a heartbeat or grounding step.
Energetic Essence:
Vast and unfathomable.
Protective, all-encompassing presence.
Simultaneously masculine mystery and neutral is-ness.
Poetic Whisper:
A cavernous hush
before thunder speaks.
God—
the breath between question and grace.
🌙 MOHAMED (Muhammad)
Pronunciation: Mu-HAM-med
Etymology:
Arabic: Muḥammad = “the praised one” or “worthy of praise,” from root ḥ-m-d, to praise.
He is the seal of the prophets in Islam, a vessel of revelation and mercy.
Felt Sense:
Mu rolls gently like a lullaby—felt in the lips and upper chest.
Ham has depth and resonance—activates the solar plexus and heart.
Med settles like a hum or resting hand.
Energetic Essence:
Peaceful strength
Merciful clarity
A bridge between heaven and earth.
Poetic Whisper:
The desert wind bows,
not from force but from fragrance.
Mohamed—one whose name is praise
and whose being is surrender.
🌿 Indigenous Names of the Divine
(Each tradition has many, but here are a few examples across cultures)
🌎 WAKAN TANKA (Lakota)
Pronunciation: Wah-kahn Tahn-kah
Meaning:
“Great Spirit” or “Great Mystery.” Wakan = sacred, holy; Tanka = great, large.
It is not a personified deity, but the sacred force of life that flows through all things.
Felt Sense:
Wah opens the heart like wonder.
Kahn is a call from the belly.
Tahn-kah rumbles deep like thunder across a plain.
Energetic Essence:
Mystical, natural, unknowable.
Sacred breath of all life—trees, rivers, stars, dreams.
Poetic Whisper:
The wind has a name,
but it is not owned.
Wakan Tanka—
the holy hush between heartbeat and hawk cry.
🔥 TUNKASHILA (Lakota)
Pronunciation: Toon-kah-shee-lah
Meaning:
“Grandfather Spirit” or “Ancient One.” A deeply intimate address to the sacred ancestor and protector.
Felt Sense:
Carries the vibration of love, lineage, and wisdom.
Opens the chest and spine, invoking belonging and remembrance.
Poetic Whisper:
Beneath my feet, your footsteps.
In my bones, your drum.
Tunkashila—
I am never alone.🌺 RAM
Pronunciation: Rahm
Etymology / Origin:
Sanskrit: Rama = “one who brings joy” or “source of bliss.” A name for the 7th avatar of Vishnu, the righteous, noble king of the Ramayana.Felt Sense:
Ra—like warm sunlight in the chest.
Mmm—a soft, humming close, calming the mind.
Resonates in the heart and solar plexus, steady and simple.
Energetic Essence:
Centered stillness
Gentle strength
Devotion rooted in integrity
Poetic Whisper:
A syllable of sunrise,
Ram enters not with thunder,
but with the soft presence
of one who knows they belong.
🔥 SHIVA
Pronunciation: Shee-va
Etymology / Origin:
Sanskrit: Śiva = “the auspicious one.” Lord of transformation, stillness, and dissolution—both fierce and utterly still.
Felt Sense:
Shi vibrates in the third eye and crown—cool and cutting.
Va grounds in the heart and belly—an exhale into space.
A rising and dissolving wave.
Energetic Essence:
Transcendence and surrender
Death, rebirth, timelessness
The eternal yogi in meditation
Poetic Whisper:
Silence wears a drum.
Destruction wears love.
Shiva, who dances
in the space between every breath.
🌸 MA / AMMA / KALI MA
Pronunciation: Mah, Um-mah, Kah-lee Mah
Etymology / Origin:
Ma: The primordial cry of the infant—mother. Found in nearly all languages.
Amma: “Mother” in Tamil and other Dravidian languages.
Kali Ma: The fierce mother, liberator of illusions.
Felt Sense:
Opens the womb of the voice—root to throat.
Comforting, visceral, instinctive.
In Kali Ma: “Kaaa” cuts, “Lee” flows, “Ma” contains.
Energetic Essence:
Unconditional love
Fierce protection
Wild surrender
Poetic Whisper:
Ma.
The breath before the cry,
the hand before the fall,
the lap that holds
even your rage.
🌀 OM / ONG / AUM
Pronunciation: Ohm, Ong, Ah-oo-mm
Etymology / Origin:
Sanskrit: Om is the primordial sound of creation—representing waking (A), dreaming (U), deep sleep (M), and the silence beyond.
Felt Sense:
Begins in the belly (Ah), rises through the chest (Oo), and closes at the lips (Mm).
Vibrates the entire being—especially the third eye and heart.
Feels like a tuning fork of the soul.
Energetic Essence:
Unity, origin, transcendence
The sound of all that is
Poetic Whisper:
Before form, there was hum.
Before name, there was sound.
Om: the river returning to its source.
🌿 ABBA
Pronunciation: Ahb-bah
Etymology / Origin:
Aramaic: Abba = “Father” or “Papa.” Used by Jesus to address God intimately—as a child to a loving parent.
Felt Sense:
Ah—open, vulnerable, longing.
Ba—a soft bounce of security.
Like the sound of kneeling trust.
Energetic Essence:
Tenderness
Intimacy with the Divine
Childlike love and dependence
Poetic Whisper:
Not Lord.
Not Judge.
But Father—
called from the belly
of night and need.
🔯 YAHWEH / YHWH (יהוה)
Pronunciation: Traditionally unspoken. Sometimes rendered as Yah-way or Yehovah.
Etymology / Origin:
From Hebrew root H-Y-H = “to be.” YHWH often translated as “I Am That I Am.” Sacred, ineffable, ungraspable.
Felt Sense:
Felt as a silent breath.
Many rabbis say it mimics the inhale and exhale: Yah (inhale), Weh (exhale).
Energetic Essence:
Pure Being
Mystery beyond form
Sacred awe
Poetic Whisper:
The name you cannot speak,
but breathe.
Yah… Weh…
A sigh that made the stars.
🕎 HASHEM
Pronunciation: Ha-shem
Etymology / Origin:
Hebrew: HaShem = “The Name.” A reverent substitution for YHWH, acknowledging the sacredness of the Divine Name.
Felt Sense:
Ha—soft, like an exhale.
Shem—sharp, clear, like a bell.
Energetic Essence:
Reverence
Humility before the Unnamable
Respect woven into every utterance
Poetic Whisper:
When you cannot name the flame,
call it The Name.
And still it burns holy🌿An Invitation
Do you have a favorite Name for the Divine?
A word that lives in your chest,
rises in your breath,
or calls you home?
We’re collecting sacred names, shared stories, and the felt-sense of the Divine—
for a living field of sound, soul, and remembrance.
Please feel free to reach out and share: info@treehousetreasurs.org
Here are a couple shares from Treehouse Guests:
SHANTI
Sanskrit | “Peace”
🌬️ Like wind moving across water. The body settles.
The jaw unclenches. It’s the sound I make when I finally let go.
📝 “I first heard it in a song. I didn’t know the meaning yet, but I wept. Now it lives in me like a lullaby.”
ALLAH
(Al-lah)
Arabic | “The One God”
🌬️ Felt in the breath, the diaphragm’s rise and fall—
both a sigh and a presence. Soft but vast.
Like bowing inside your chest.
📝 “My grandfather whispered this name when he watched the sunset. He said it meant 'everything and nothing, all at once.’ When I say it now, I feel his hand on mine.”
