The tantric view is that wherever there is Shiva, Shakti is identified with it. Because Shiva is wisdom, and wisdom implies power, so the one cannot exist without the other. Many people erroneously identify Shakti with a woman or female principle, and Shiva with the male principle. However, they are neither male nor female nor neuter. The aspirant who worships the wisdom aspect of Reality is called a Shaiva, and one who worships the power aspect of the same Reality is called a Shakta. The worshipper of the knowledge aspect will spontaneously be endowed with power.
But if one wants to attain perfection in the acquisition of power, one has to stop the wastage of energy by all means. The aspirant has to identify his inner Self with the source of all power, keep the channel of descent of that power clean by purifying himself through an ardent invocation, worship, and self surrender with a yearning heart. It is in this way alone that the great power becomes propitiated and gives boon to the worshipper. Endowed with that boon, the aspirant comes to realize the manifestation of the same Divine Mother in all women, and the living presence of Shiva, the source of knowledge, in all beings.
It is then that the aspirant truly feels the meaning of the maxim, ‘yatra jivastatra shivah; wherever there is jiva, there is Shiva’, and proceeds with all conviction to serve God in all beings because, according to tantric injunction, no individual can attain liberation until all others reach that state.
Source - an excerpt from article titled ‘The Method and Significance of Tantra’ by Swami Kritarthananda in the January 2016 edition of Prabuddha Bharata magazine.