Unfortunately, the little most Westerners know about the Hindu Goddess tradition is what they learn fiction Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Horrison Ford is called upon to rescue struggling victims about to be sacrificed to a horrible, multi armed female deity. There is no way to sufficiently express how offensive this depiction of Goddess spirituality is to Hindus!
Europeans of the Victorian era also mistakenly believed that Shaktas engage in drunken sex orgies. No such luck! These myths got started from rumors based real tantric practices, though. A Shakta would purify himself or herself for weeks, fasting and chanting a Goddess mantra millions of times. Then under the close supervision of a Shakta master, the aspirant would drink high-proof liquor, strong enough to knock the socks off even the sturdiest drinker, much less a teetotaler like most Hindus.
The point of the practice was to learn to face death consciously. Most people die in a state of unconsciousness, which is bad news from a Hindu point of view because you want to be alert so that you can direct the stages of the after-death process. By learning to maintain awareness despite the stupefying effects of strong liquor, the Shakta is training to remain conscious during the process of death itself.
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