The Goddess Kali, Hindu Goddess of Death and Destruction.....
She is the embodiment of wrath and fury, a frightening dimension of the Divine Feminine.
She stands larger than life completely nude, clothed only in severed arms, severed heads or skulls, slathered in gleaming blood, with fresh blood dripping from the corners of her smiling mouth.
Her figure conveys death, destruction, terror, the all consuming aspect of reality. She is also a "forbidden thing", for she is Death itself. Her name means "Time", she devours all time within herself.
Kali denotes freedom. Especially from societal norms. She dwells outside the confines of normal society. Her home is the Cremation ground. She is unrefined, raw in appearance and habit, powerful and full of energy.
Kali is also sexually powerful.
In the Tantric texts she is called:
She Whose Essential Form Is Sexual Desire
She Whose Form Is The Yoni
She Who Is Worshiped With Semen
Kali violates the idea of the controlled woman who is sexually satisfied by marriage. Kali is sexually voracious and dangerous because of this.
One seeking to know Kali cannot fear, ignore or avoid the forbidden. In Kali's favorite dwelling place the Cremation ground, the seeker meditates on every terrible aspect of the black Goddess. Boldly confronting Kali and thereby assimilating and understanding her, transforming her into a vehicle of salvation.
Kali is the Goddess who when boldly approached
frees the seeker from
fear itself.
Kali is not only a symbol of Death, but the symbol of triumph over death.
The other two of Kali's Hands offer blessings and boons to the seeker.
Abhaya Mudra:
A boon of fearlessness. Kali's greatest gift.
Varada Mudra:
A boon bestowing the gift of compassion.
I am going to give brief explanations for Kali's fearful symbolism. These are the most accurate definitions that I have for what Kali is trying to convey.
Hair:
Kali's hair is always loose and disheveled. She is never depicted with it bound or braided. Kali's unbound hair stands for her disdain for convention. Kali is free from convention, wild and uncontrolled in nature, not bound to or limited by a male consort. It also suggests the end of social and cosmic order.
Tongue:
Kali's lolling tongue denotes the act of tasting, consuming and enjoying what society regards as forbidden, foul, or polluted, her indiscriminate enjoyment of all the world's "flavors."
Eyes:
Her three eyes represent the Sun, Moon, and Fire with which she is able to observe the three modes of time: Past, Present, and Future.
Nude, Black Skin:
Kali's blackness symbolizes her all-embracing, comprehensive nature. Black is the color in which all other colors merge, black absorbs and dissolves them.
Kali's nudity is similar. Symbolizing that she is completely beyond name and form. She is totally beyond the illusory effects of false consciousness, completely transcendent.
Kali is the bright fire of truth which cannot be hidden by the clothes of ignorance.
Adornments:
Her Girdle of Severed Arms represents the destruction of her devotees' karma. They symbolize deeds, actions, karma. The binding effects of this karma have been overcome, severed as it were by devotion and service to Kali. She blesses her devotees by cutting them free from this karma.
Her Garland of Severed Heads represent the sounds of the alphabet, the underlying essence of reality as manifest in sound. From the various sound seeds, all creation proceeds and Kali is the underlying power.
The Bloodied Sword and Severed Head symbolize the destruction of ignorance and the dawning of knowledge. The sword of knowledge cuts the knots of ignorance and destroys false consciousness, represented by the severed head. Kali opens the gates of freedom with her sword.
In her Temples in India, Kali is worshiped daily from predawn until evening and sometimes into the night as well. The single most important and elaborate worship is Kali Puja. It falls in the lunar month corresponding to October or November in the western calendar. This night of Kali Puja (worship) occurs near the time of Samhain, when the veil between the worlds is the thinnest. This is fitting since Kali among other things is a Goddess of death.
Union with the Supreme Self is attained when the obstacle of our judgmental mind is removed. This judgemental mind incudes our desires and selfishness (ego). Kali Puja is preformed to remind us that even unpleasant events are a blessing, if we can only learn the lesson inherent in each one. When we do understand, our sense of duality diminishes, and we come closer to the Self.
The love between the Divine Mother and her human children is a unique relationship.
Kali is one such deity with whom devotees have a very loving and intimate bond, in spite of her fearful appearance.
Kali is the compassionate Mother in her fierce aspect. Her wrath, which destroys negative tendencies, is limitless and so too is her love. For her sincere devotees, Kali is the most loving and protective aspect of the Divine.
For my original art I chose to create a Cremation ground for my Kali to live in. It is a place of worship for me and my ritual work for the dead. A place of meditation and a place that I know will transform my life. The following is what I wrote after my first meditation visit to the Cremation grounds I built.
Welcome to The Cremation Ground
She strips me naked, removing every scrap leaving me wearing only a cold sweat
I enter the blackened gates of her domain
Rotting corpses to my left, decaying bones on the right
I see her dancing in a mad frenzy, flanked by her fires, one of creation, one of destruction
The hot ashes of all that is dead singe my flesh and stick between my toes
Thick black smoke billows all around
as I walk the jackals follow me tracking the scent of fear I leave behind
I arrive before her and fall at her feet, the order unspoken but understood
I cry, my hair mats, blood drips from my hands
I look upon her face, she speaks
Welcome to the Cremation Grounds
Feb 28th 2006 Varia )O( Moon
Thahia Took -
Sources:
Tantric Visions of the Divine Feminine - The Ten Mahavidyas
by David Kinsley
Kali The Black Goddess of Dakshineswar
by Elizabeth U. Harding
Also for a Graphic, yet profound representation of Kali that the artist would not allow me to use please visit:
This page is the intellectual and creative property of Varia )O( Moon Copyright 2006
