Facing the curse of Kali
Toppling over the Precipice of Death
The roaring of her laughter deftly splinters
My illusions in their well-woven nest.

Terror that she is to my downcast eyes
Terror when I stand with arms crossed
Terror when I'm drunk on my own bitter tears
Clinging after the things I have lost.

In the glint of her sword like a mirror
Gleams the vision of who I can be
Life-Death Goddess prunes down to the essential
As I learn Nature's laws to obey.

Naked and prostrate before her
I relinquish my life's fond mirage
The blood in my veins leaps to the tune:
Kali Ma! Om Kali! Kali Ma!

Black Mother loves all her children
Though we struggle, she protects us from harm.
She tells me: "Move like the snake shedding its skin -
Become fully the Goddess you are!"

James: Number 2 of the Kali series. I painted Kali a blue-black. In this piece Woman (Venus) submits to the necessary liberation from masochistic servitude. Just as Man needs to awaken, so does Woman. The blood-red sky reflects the passion of this image. Resplendent with her symbols, Kali appears in all her glory. Her gold crown sports her word, "Om". One Creation myth from India tells how Kali uttered the "supreme syllable", an invocation of her own fertile womb, and everything in life sprung into existence. Her sword is embedded with red (feminine) and white (masculine) jewels. She holds a solar disc/wheel of fortune, a symbol of the Wheel of Time, which Kali rules. The belt I decorated in deference to Becca. The cobra of course is the Goddess' serpent companion.

Becca: I minced no words in this poem, feeling the immediacy to my own experience with Kali's transformational influence. The poem's driving beat underscores the no-nonsense messages about the "Precipice of Death", splintering "illusions", and the terror of the whole process. The terror results, of course, from our own myopic vision ("downcast eyes"), obstinacy ("arms crossed"), and self-pity (Oh! "the things I have lost"!). And of course there is the pain of letting go of our neat and tidy lifestyles ("well-woven nest") and illusions ("life's fond mirage"). I end the poem with the assurance that, in spite of our fears and struggles, Kali's infinite love sees us through. She affirms that once we release ("like a snake shedding its skin") all our fearful and self-serving trappings, we will become our whole, divine selves.
.......The poem has five (the tantric number) stanzas of quatrains written in slant rhyme of abcb. The predominant rhythm is maintained through trimeter and tetrameter of anapestic and dactylic feet, though this is broken by spondees to accent certain ideas: "Terror" which repeats three times, "Life-Death Goddess" and "Black Mother". The rhythm also echoes a chant to the Dark Goddess - "Kali Ma! Om Kali! Kali Ma!" - which I have come to hear in the background of my days.

§§ For our personal ordeals with Kali, see "Kali's Double-Edged Sword", "Kali Strikes Again", "Creating Tantric Art", and "Dream Yoga and the Tantric Wisdom Goddesses".
§§ To learn more about the Triple Goddess, refer to "The Trinity"
§§ KALI
§§ The Kali Trilogy: "Birth of a God", "Birth of a Goddess", "Newborn Hearts"

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......A great battle rages between the forces of knowledge and ignorance. Egotistical asuras overrun the Earth like demons, and oppression thrives in their reign. So powerful are the demons that even the gods cannot vanquish them. Their backs up against the wall, the male deities merge their divine energies into one force. From this ball of blinding light there emerges a female form: Durga. She steps forward, blazing with the light of a thousand suns, crowned with the crescent moon, bedecked in shimmering raiment and jewels, and armed with magical weapons.

......The aggressive demon kings attack the Great Goddess. Mountains quake and seas churn while they clash. As the asuras change form during the fight, so does Durga. As Devi, she slays the demon king Mahisasura when he charges at her in the form of a buffalo. When, as Kalika, she sits radiantly upon Mount Himalaya, the demon king Sumbha tries to seduce her, offering her worldly riches and comforts, and failing this, sends his henchmen to abduct her.

......"Lady Ambika," they say to her, "since you will not come willingly, we have orders to drag you away by the hair. Our kings Sumbha and Nisumbha demand you submit to them."

......"If you use force, well, then, what can I do?" the goddess sighs.

......As they rush at her, she purses her lips. A sound begins low in her throat and grows in volume till the Heavens and Earth resound with it: "Hum-m-m". The asura henchmen disintegrate into ashes. Demon armies rush at her but are torn to pieces by Durga's faithful lion. Incensed at such a haughty woman, Sumbha and Nisumbha attack the Great Goddess with merciless aggression.

......But now the Great Goddess, as Ambika, is fed up with the senseless violence of the patriarchal demons. Her face contorts with growing anger until she turns red, and then black. Suddenly her forehead opens and out springs a terrible figure: Kali! Her naked body the color of a black tornado, her wild hair flying like iron daggers, Kali is dressed only in a necklace of skulls and a girdle of blood-stained hands. Glaring with rage at the demon armies, she opens her mouth, revealing shiny white teeth and a blood-red tongue.

......"Death? You want death?" Kali cackles. Seizing horses and riders, elephants and chariots, swordsmen and soldiers, she drops them all into her mouth, loudly chomping on the carnage. Still the demon forces try to annihilate her. From the blood of the wounded demon Raktabija spring more evil warriors, but Kali follows him, licking up his blood, which only makes her stronger. Using her awesome power, she lets out a resounding "Hum-m-m-m" that echoes to the far corners of Earth. When filled with the magical vibration, the bodies of the gods produce Shakti energies, which take the form of female warriors. These new forces, with their swords and holy water, rout the demon armies. Upon seeing the turning of the tide, God Shiva begins to laugh.

......But the war is not over yet. Though Nisumbha is dead, there remains King Sumbha.

......"So, Durga, you think you are so powerful!" Sumbha arrogantly taunts the Great Goddess. "You would be nothing without the help of all your little handmaidens! There is no justice in your victory."

......The Great Goddess will not enter into egotistical banter with Sumbha and says, "Very well, Sumbha." With this, she draws her myriad manifestations back into herself - Kali, Ambika, Candika, Parvati, Kausiki, Kalika. She gathers them back into her womb like the Great Mother she is. "Here I am alone, just one woman. Sumbha, fight me if fight you must!"

......So furious is their contest that they leap from the Earth into the Heavens, locked in mortal combat. All beings on Earth cower at the cosmic fracas above them. Finally, deftly throwing her dart, Durga kills Sumbha.

.......Order returns to Earth. Under blue skies, trees burst forth into bloom, bees tend to the flowers, and rivers giggle on their way to the sea. The gods offer their gratitude and adoration to Durga. "Stay with us, Great Goddess. We pledge our eternal devotion to you!"

......Smiling upon them, she demurs, "I am always here with you. I will feed you with the vegetation that grows from my body and nourish you with the love that flows from my heart. Should the forces of ignorance rise up again, I will return to you in my terrible form. Kali defeats oppression, selfishness, and deception. Love triumphs in the end. My blessings upon you!"

.......With that the Great Goddess vanishes.

.......Kali is but one form of Shakti, the Feminine Principle. As the above myth illustrates, the Great Goddess may assume whatever form appropriate to the current need. As the Triple Goddess, she creates (Saraswati, with her male counterpart Brahma), sustains (Lakshmi, with Vishnu), and destroys (Kali, with Shiva). Kali also has her triple forms: the white Virgin, the red Mother, the black Crone. The most widely recognized image of Kali is in her sexual union with Shiva. The black goddess (representing the Self, or the active power) squats atop the white god (representing the Soul, or pure consciousness). The union of these two forces is the blissful process of creation.
.......Her worship as the Great Absorber has long attracted devotees who have sought the secrets of life and death. Many have practiced her rites in cremation grounds, to help them come to grips with the reality of death, so as to transcend it. Some have instituted animal sacrifice in order to make blood offerings at her temples, though these practices are frowned upon by most Buddhists and Hindus who are, after all, vegetarian and animal-revering. For centuries the Kalighat Temple has been a large center of pilgrimage for Kali worshippers. In fact, its host city, Calcutta, derives its name from the goddess.
.......Contemplation of the black Void, from which existence springs and to which it returns, helps the devotee pierce through maya, the mind's illusion of the world. Kali's fearsome image has been much misunderstood by modern society, who is repelled by her scary symbols of death and destruction. Sincere initiates, however, can see through them to the enduring yet cyclical truths of the Great Mother in even her painful aspects. Indian spiritual leaders Ramakrishna and Vivekananda brought the worship of Kali into the 20th century - quite appropriately, too, considering that according to the Hindu Mahabharata, we are in the Kali Yuga, whose characteristic fear, despair, anger, disease, hunger, and ignorance are plain to see. According to the Hindu cosmic calendar, it is to the Black Goddess we must turn in the Kali Yuga, the Age of Kali.

§§ SHAKTI, LAKSHMI, SARASWATI
§§ To further contemplate the Triple Goddess, please see "The Trinity".

Excerpted from The Pillow Book of Venus and Her Lover - Reinventing the Myth by Becca Tzigany and James Bertrand
© 2004 Copyrighted material