Lord Shiva looks to parvati, who holds up a looking glass to Him.

Lord Shiva looks to parvati, who holds up a looking glass to Him. This depiction has a very spiritual message indeed!
A lot of people, especially spiritual seekers often ask 
"Why did God create the world?
Shaivites say, Shiva creates the whole world out of a play,
a lila, just to know Himself and expand Himself, by enabling what all can be done in Life . He does this through His shakti, his power, his energy, his "ability" to do.
Parvati is the swaroop (embodiment) of His shakti .
So this holding of a mirror to Him means she is the one who shows Him what all He really is.
This entire Universe is a mirror that shows God what all He is,
and it is God's Shakti which 'holds' the mirror up!
And this, is the summary of the world play,from the perspective of Divinity ,enlightenment ,and an awakened mind, an aware Atma(soul), and of course Shiva is the highly awakened Atma;
He is Para Atma (Master of souls-GOD).
It may interest you to know that not only is Shiva the greatest Yogi (one who is in conjunction with His own Godliness), but he is also the greatest Bhokta (experient ) of worldly flavour.
the Kashmir Shaiv Darsana : Kashmir Shaivism speaks of this , and says Shiva is the Para pramatr- the highest experient .
Such is the Maya of Shivji that he can actually enhance His Yoga even through Bhoga!!.
This phenomenon of God seeing Himself in his own image of the world is called "BIMB PRATIBIMB"

(shail gulhati)