Come to the Dark Side, Internet Research/Notes

1. Runes are

a) nice symbols invented by the Celts who also built Stonehenge and were very, very nice people who were raped and pillaged by the nasty Vikings who also stole their runes?

b) not what I would get into because they can be and often are used for evil

c) an ancient alphabet that is used for divination and you can also put them on candles for meditation for good luck and things like that

d) a very powerful magical system which originates from the ancient Teutonic cultures

2. Faery Wicca is...

a) what I’m into because it’s all about worshipping the light and there isn’t any dark side because the fairies are very nice and kind and wouldn’t hurt anybody you know

b) all about the nice little people who live at the bottom of the garden

c) a progressive wiccan tradition described by Starhawk based on what it is thought that the Celts may have thought of the indigenous Britons (who they may possibly have thought were magical beings of some sort – or that’s the theory, anyway

3. What is your opinion of Thelema?

a) evil evil evil evil evil!!!!!! It’s the religion started by the nasty atanist Aleister Crowley and he was so totally evil, he sacrificed ten thousand baby boys!!! And used black magick so no-one found out!!

b) very dark, and dangerous. I knew someone who used to know a Thelemite and apparently he was really weird and had, like, a really dodgy aura and he said some really odd things

c) I don’t know what Thelema is

d) I’m a Thelemite so obviously I have a favorable opinion of it

e) It’s not my path, but I have a lot of respect for it

4. Someone accuses you of being a black magician. Your response is....

a) “oh no, I’m a white magician! I only work with the light and good forces. I’d never ever work with evil forces!”

b) “what the hell’s ethnic origin got to do with anything???!!!!!”

c) “magick is neither black nor white, it can be used for good or for evil, and before you say anything, I follow an ethical code which prevents me from using it for evil.”

d) same as c), but you leave out the stuff about the ethical code, not because you don’t have any ethics, but because you can’t be bothered to point it out to idiots who assume the worst of you on no evidence whatsoever.

e) you launch into an explanation of why “good” and “evil” are inadequate concepts but you go way beyond their ability to comprehend you before you get onto the fact that magick is a neutral force and cannot be described as either black or white, even if such things were adequate terms

f) you laugh, but don’t say anything

5. When you choose a book on magick do you….

a) go for one that will tell you what you want to know straight away without having to read through all kinds of discussion on boring stuff like free will.

b) check the cover, title and blurb to make sure that there is nothing suggesting involvement with dark forces

c) go for an author that your friends think is really good

d) read the forewords of all the books available, do a search on the Internet, ask friends who know about the subject to recommend a few titles and then read the books that you feel most drawn to

e) you read all the books available on a given subject and then make up your own opinion

6. Fluffy pink instant magick spell books are….

a) the only books with a proper ethical code because they firmly state the thousand fold law of Karma instead of having pages and pages of waffle about interfering with people’s free will which is only an excuse for black magicians to do black magick anyway

b) harmless, you suppose, and they might spark an interest in some people who will then graduate onto proper books about witchcraft

c) utterly despicable! You’d call for them to be banned if it weren’t for the fact that you don’t believe in censorship

d) hilariously funny. You and your friends regularly go to the new age sections of mainstream bookshops in order to take the blatant piss out of them, and delight in inadvertently scaring all the new agers who take you for being evil black magicians

7. Your familiar....

a) is a fwuffy puddy cat called Mr Fwuffykins who is your high priest and who is very very nice and kind and cuddly, - except when he broke both your legs in a freak accident

b) is a bunny wabbit

c) none of the above

d) frequently gets you in trouble because it eats other people's familiars at rituals

8. The history of Wicca is:

a) It started in my coven in the 11^th century, (we have hereditary high priestesses you know) when several witches that were fleeing persecution got together and pooled their knowledge and started a secret tradition called Wicca that’s so secret I can’t tell you anything else about it. Except a silly man called Gerald Gardener made up a fake version which is rubbish

b) It dates back to the dawn of civilization and has continued in secret(until the 1950’s when it went public) in an unbroken tradition. All the stuff about it being influenced by Thelma and Ceremonial Magick is just lies made up by Thelemites cause they’re nasty and jealous cause their religion was invented by Aleister Crowley and so not as valid as an ancient tradition like Wicca

c) It was officially started in the 1950’s, but is a continuation of one form of traditional witchcraft

d) It is a revival of what is known about traditional witchcraft, although there are other influences as well.

e) It was started in the 1950’s by an OTO initiate called Gerald Gardner. How much relation it has with traditional witchcraft is uncertain. However, the strength of a system depends upon whether it works or not rather than where it came from.

9. The stories about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table are

a) I know they’re true because my High Priestess has astrally projected back in time and talked to Guinevere and she told me that she said it’s all true

b) literally true, and anyone who says they’re not is evil

c) beautiful, inspiring stories, who cares if they’re real or not?

d) myths, with probably some basis in reality, like there probably was a king Arthur and a round table and some knights

10. Reason is…

a) Something that we never do in the Coven of the White Light of the Nice Pretty Goddess of the Fairy Elf People because our High Priestess says it’s bad and only evil people use reason because it turns people onto the Dark Path of the Evil Dark One

b) really bad for the intuition, you know. If you want to be intuitive you have to shut down the boring logical parts of the brain that do reason. Otherwise you’ll end up like the scientists. Really boring and not intuitive

c) essential. Yet it is also essential that it is used appropriately, as there are times when reason will not serve you

11. The Wiccan Rede is…

a) really easy to live with most of the time because I only work with the light side, but when I see the bitch woman that runs that other coven who’s really really horrible and bitchy (I recon her coven do black magick or something, you know!) I find I just can’t control myself and the only way I can avoid slapping her face is to be really really bitchy to her and to keep on slagging off her coven and her ability to do magic and, well, anything else that comes to mind…

b) an ye harmeth none, do whatte ye wille – or any other grammatically incorrect attempt at old English

c) if it harms none, do what you will

d) a simplified version of the Law of Thelema

12. Magick is sometimes spelled with a "k" on the end because....

a) if it's spelled "magick" then it must be black magic because only black magicians spell it that way. People who work with the Light don't need to change the spelling because we've got nothing to hide and in any case, it looks spooky with a "k" on the end

b) the people who spell it that way just want to make themselves look big and scare people

c) its the archaic way of spelling magic

d) Aleister Crowley changed the spelling for numerological reasons, and so that magick could be distinguished from pulling rabbits out of hats

http://rumandmonkey.com/widgets/toys/namegen/1100/    Fluffy Bunny Name Generator

       (From Rose Quartz Gwenyth Foxglove, aka O Evil One, Kate)

Fluffy Bunny 12 Step Program

WE STARTED THIS GROUP BECAUSE THERE ARE TOO MANY FLUFF BUNNIES OUT THERE TODAY, COME HERE GET HELP AND LEARN THE TRUTH!

The 12 steps to Fluffy bunny recovery
1. We admitted that we are powerless over our fluffieness. That our lives have become annoying to ourselves and others
2. We came to belive in a power greater than ourselves that could save us from Fluffieness ( and it is not Silver Ravenwolf )
3. We made a decision to turn our lives over to the care of the GOD and the GODDESS as we undertand them, even if we are not to sure who this god guy is ( was he in any of the books)
4. We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves, and our bookshelves
5. We admitted to the God and the Goddess, to ourselves, and to another human being that we are fluffy and we annoy people
6. We are entirely ready to have the God and the Goddess remove these defects of character.
7.We humbly asked them to remove these short comings, and most of our books.
8. We made a list of all the persons we annoyed by telling them they were wrong and became willing to listen to there points of view.
9. We made direct amends to such people whenever possible, except when to do so would annoy them or others.
10. We continued to listen to other peoples facts and opinons, and when they were right promptly admitted it.
11. We sought through prayer and meditation to actually participate in a religion. Even if it did not have cool jewelry, or piss off our family. We did so even when it was much easier to say we were witches without being witches
12.Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we will try to carry this message to other Fluffy Bunnies, and practice these principles in all our affairs.

Wednesday, June 23, 2004 -- Fluffies and Stuffies

It is clear that "Fluffybunnies" are a frequent topic of scathing conversation amongst Pagans, Witches, and Wiccans of all sorts. Fluffies have a particularly ethereal perception of the magickal world, all sparkly-sweet and dolphin-safe, and some pretty wild ideas about how magick works that appear to involve a lot of wishful thinking combined with 'Toon Physics. Everything in their universe can be solved with White Light, a pretty ritual, and a big dollop of glitter gel. For most, this is a stage which is outgrown, but those who get stuck in it are greatly amusing because they take themselves so damn seriously.

But hold onto your horses- Fluffies have their very own Evil Twin. Or at least some semblance of a moody dark Gothy spooky-scary twin.

What do you call the wannabe polar opposite of a Fluffybunny? Well, if fluffies are ethereal and difficult to grasp because they are so insubstantial, their opposite would be quite dense and dark. I call them 'Stuffybunnies', because they are all dark and morose, and hint at consorting with dark forces, and use crystals to 'capture demons'- then show it off to all their pals in an attempt to impress or scare them. Stuffies are quite amusing when they come swanning in, radiating menace, clinking dog chains and wearing trenchcoats and combat boots and hinting at naughty things. They love black eyeliner as much as Fluffies love glitter gel. They claim to be 'immune' to everything, but can be terrified quite easily, once you learn what makes them tick- which takes about the same five minutes it takes for a Fluffy to claim that they're 10th generation. For their party trick, Stuffies will attempt to make you believe that the Necronmonicon is real, and that Chthulu (which they managed to invoke with some super-secret unpublished Crowleyian ritual) is living in their refrigerator crisper drawer. Like Fluffies, Stuffies will eventually outgrow all the wannabe Goth stuff before too long.

Fluffies and Stuffies are two sides of the same coin minted of blissful (or miserable) ignorance of how magick really works. You want to hug them, laugh at them, and slap them- often at the same time. But if they serve any purpose, it is to demonstrate that life is full of Fools embarking out on their journey. Some are just more obvious than others.

Sunfell  -- Posted by: Sunfell / 8:06 PM 

No Defense For Fluffy Bunnies

I just read Karen's post on Fluffy Bunnies and followed the links she gave. And lo! I am about to run my mouth off.

Here's the deal, fellow pagans: you can't be a Fluffy Bunny and expect to be taken seriously. It just doesn't work. I agree with Karen- I'm always amazed by the FB's need for validation. But what I find most disturbing is the hypocritical idea that a FB (or what I used to call Airy-Fairy-New-Age-Crapper) can take other pagans to task for not 'honoring' the FB's 'path.' Note to the FB's- you're not a path. You're an embarrassment.

Christopher Hyatt and S. Jason Black tell a great story about a 'white witch' who prided herself on not being 'negative.' This woman remarked that 'negative' people didn't stay around her at all, since 'bad things' tended to happen to them- things that the 'white witch' had no part of, of course, it was just the 'Universe' taking care of the 'white witch's space. Hyatt remarks dryly, "I wonder if that woman ever really realized what she told Jason about herself."

Fluffy Bunnies not only cause great destruction by not owning up to their own dark sides, but they also cause a bigger problem in the pagan community at large. It's hard enough to be taken seriously in a Judeo-Christian society (we're either demonized or turned into cute TV specials these days) but to try to achieve any sort of serious discussion about paganism with a Fluffy Bunny in the room is well-nigh impossible. Fluffy Bunnies, with their airy-fairy incoherency, present an image of paganism that risks being indelibly etched in the public mind- and serious pagans have to do three times the work to be taken seriously.

As for FBs 'just trying to be positive' and 'avoiding negativity'- oh, just shut up. You can't avoid negativity. It's part of life. Without suffering and negativity, joy and positivity wouldn't exist. With the sweets come the bitter- you can't just gorge yourself on the sweets and call it life. A true measure of a Pagan is how well they have integrated suffering into their worldview- in other words, the FB says, "Oh! This is negativity! I'm damaged forever! Look at me, poor poor me!" where a true pagan says, "Wow, this is pretty painful. What's the lesson here for me? How can I deal with this?"

Here's the deal: FB's don't really want to be pagan. What they want to be is special. An FB wants to have all the power and social cachet of being a pagan and none of the responsibility. It's hard work being a pagan. Not only do you have two thousand years of entrenched cultural attitudes and holidays to work against, but you also have to do some heavy-duty research to get to a point where you even understand paganism. How can you worship the Greek gods, or the Celtic, without doing some research? Unless you're lucky enough to be born into a famtrad (and don't get me started about 'famtrads') you have to actually read some books and engage in some critical thinking- both things that FBs avoid like the plague. FBs are great at soaking up catchphrases- but just try to embroil them in a serious discussion about the history of paganism or pagan metaphysics. They shrivel like dreams deferred.

I recently met an FB who claimed to be part of a 'Sisterhood of Light' reaching back to Sumerian times. This woman bragged about translating Sumerian, Hebrew, Greek and Latin texts with only the help of a few dictionaries. I was hard-pressed not to laugh. In the first place, her 'coven' is a blatant ripoff of some published Golden Dawn tripe; in the second, she claimed that the Jewish Elohim were really the Sumerian pantheon; in the third, she tried to say that she was conversant in 'Enochian'; and last of all, as a student of Latin myself, I call 'bullshit.' I cringe to think of the damage this woman is doing when non-pagans come to her for information about paganism. Talking to her, any half-reasonable person will inevitably come to the conclusion that pagans are fruitcakes. I wouldn't blame anyone who came to that conclusion after a contact with her.

Therein lies the very real danger of Fluffy Bunnies. Pagans want to be taken seriously. We have a valid spiritual path, a path that promotes tolerance and self-fulfillment. This is in real danger of being lost if we allow the Fluffy Bunnies' cry of 'Our Path is valid!' to overpower our reason and critical thinking skills. The greatest gift we can offer the gods and each other is to offer our worship after we have USED OUR BRAINS- after all, the gods did give us our faculties for a reason, didn't they?

So word to the Fluffy Bunnies: don't try to play yourselves off as a valid 'path' or even as 'white witches' or 'just being positive.' You're not being positive, and you're not a Path. You're just lazy. You want all the kudos and good things about being pagan? News flash: you've got to do the work, and part of the work is using your brain. And facing up to the fact that there are dark things, destructive things, in the world. Quit pursuing self-aggrandizement and let the real pagans get on with the work of making this world a better place.

Posted by: Lilith Saintcrow / 11:16 AM

Defending Fluffy Bunnies ---Author: Morgan Willowmoon (Posted: April 16th. 2004)

"Come, come to the dark side." That is a statement holding little appeal for many Pagans. In this controversial essay, I will argue that the term "fluffy bunny Wiccan" should be seen as a term of endearment, not one of disrespect, because they may have slightly altered views of Pagan concepts such as Nature, deity, negativity, and death. (Disclaimer: I am not referring to "weekend Pagans" who exhibit uncivilized behaviors and disregard rules at gatherings, having the immaturity to call themselves Pagan because it's cool.)

I don't intend to change any attitudes, but rather to raise questions and viewpoints for consideration. If you choose to read this, I politely request that you do so with an open mind until I have spoken. Afterwards, you are free to state your case, since we all have a right to our opinion.

Clarification of Terminology: Here are some words and the definitions I will use when referring to them...

Fluffy Bunny - Pagan, Wiccan, or Witch who chooses not to acknowledge, work with, or honor the darker aspects of their religion.
Negativity - Any situation or emotion that we don't enjoy experiencing.
Dark Side - Undesired self-discovery of our imperfections and challenges.
Perfection - The absence of negativity.

Bearing all this in mind, let's begin.

Paganism focuses on the balance between all things, and I believe this balance is maintained exclusively in Nature. There are seasonal changes, solar and lunar phases, wheel cycles, and other polarities. This is perfectly logical. However, I feel that even though all things are made up of spirit and energy, humans shouldn't be equated with Nature. Although humans symbolize Nature in many ways, there is an overlooked fundamental difference - humans have free will and choice, while Nature doesn't. Nature is a force unto itself, maintaining balance with no human assistance, although humans may establish a deep connection with it. The wind may slightly change direction by our influence, but we can't control it by making it come to a standstill.

There is speculation as to what happens after our last incarnation, implying humans have the ability to choose whether to repeat the infinite life cycle. Because the Wheel of the Year is eternal, Nature has no choice in the matter. The natural world must go through winter's darkness, which runs for a specific length of time. We are able to choose the depth of negativity, if we decide to endure it at all.

Nature's unpredictability is evident in natural disasters. Nature may have willpower, but it doesn't have free will to suddenly stop a hurricane in the midst of a community's destruction. We are responsible for our actions, unlike Nature or animals. If we let it, our conscience allows us to permanently change our behavior and attitudes.

I view deities as omniscient, flawless people who reside in different spiritual realms (Avalon, Valhalla, Olympus, etc.) with the personifications of Nature, Sun and Moon being reminders of their existence. They favor and protect their chosen ones. Example - Gwydion, Morgan, Rhiannon, and Brigid are inherently kind and gentle, but will harm others to ensure my protection. Out of millions of deities, I selected ones whom I felt were compatible with my personality (Morgan as opposed to the Morrigan.) Since deities are loving, they don't want us to have lives full of struggles and difficulties. As my friend said, "The deities love you and want only positive things for you, but you must choose that positive for yourself."

The deities wouldn't give us tasks we couldn't accomplish, and this is why I don't think living in balance was meant for humans. If it were, there would be a way to do it successfully. Fluffy Bunnies might not be interested in this concept unless they can do it correctly, so they choose to focus only on the positive side of this balance. In order to avoid mistakes and ensure guaranteed safety, Fluffy Bunnies make decisions with the least karmic backlash, assuming the deities and the Threefold Law will take care of everything. They may choose to literally follow the Wiccan Rede by not harming anyone physically, emotionally, magickally, etc. This means you don't hurt another person's feelings or self-esteem. I believe if the requirements of the Rede were unrealistic, we wouldn't be expected to follow them. The word "ideal" is found in the Charge of the Goddess, but not in the Rede.

I believe negativity happens as a result of human actions and is not the deities' way of specifically trying to get us to learn something. If you feel you need negativity for recognition, education, and appreciation purposes, that's what you'll get. It's true that you know what something is by knowing what it isn't, but I personally don't feel negativity is absolutely essential to my life. This is why Fluffy Bunnies might accept its general existence, but not honor it. As long as they are knowledgeable about their dark side, Fluffy Bunnies have a right to ignore it, but only after they've experienced it enough to know they want to avoid it in the future. Maybe they've incorporated it into their lives to make it work for them, not against them. Perhaps they've resolved lots of issues in past lives, so when they get to this lifetime, their dark side truly is nonexistent. Maybe it is merely our interpretation of things that makes them positive or negative. Caroline Myss has books and a website that speak of neutral forces and personality archetypes we choose to interpret as either positive or negative, depending on our life experiences.

Because Bunnies are constantly for the light, there is a misconception, best summed up in this quote I received from an internet group: "I called, and it answered. This path isn't as easy as you think." I do not believe one religion is easier than another, so the comment both insulted and hurt me deeply. Religion can be as simple or as difficult as you choose to make it, because similar concepts are said in multiple ways. In fact, if you are "called" by a particular faith, it is my belief that you shouldn't answer right away but explore faiths until one resonates with you. You may have chosen a path out of a subconscious bias, or it may sincerely have found you. An excellent book on the subject is Mary Pope Osborne's One World, Many Religions: The Ways We Worship. It gives the basic tenants of Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Confucianism, and Taoism.

I see death as a peaceful transition. Why is foliage so beautiful when the leaves are dying in autumn? Why death sometimes is referred to as sleep? Death scenes are my favorite in musicals - look at Faure's Requiem. I believe in the birth-death-rebirth cycle, but not in constant repetition. The most influential book I ever read was Life on the Other Side - A Psychic's View of the Afterlife by Sylvia Browne. I believe when I've achieve my chosen level of spiritual growth I'll reside in a paradise of perfection. Although a temporary, imperfect place called Earth might have been created for our human experience, I don't believe we wrote an extremely detailed chart of our personality characteristics, physical appearances and predetermined life situations. Though Earth is sacred, it isn't equal to paradise. If it were, spirits wouldn't care where they spent their time after death. According to Browne, ."..this is not our real home... there is no such thing as death." Unless I want to return for countless reincarnations, I won't reach level 7, where I'll be absorbed into the Cosmos with Deities.

Fluffy Bunnies have a can't-we-all-just-get-along mentality illustrated in Browne's quote, "We don't dislike anyone. We just like some people more than others." In order to do this, you must modify your personality characteristics to meet everyone's needs. You don't change the core of who you are, but you do bring out certain aspects and qualities of yourself when the need arises, using tact if necessary. I am a serious, sensitive conservative person who takes everything literally, and doesn't enjoy being teased because it's difficult for me to tell if someone is being genuine. I don't take criticism unless it's in an optimistic way so teachers would start with positive comments, give suggestions for improvement, and end with positive feedback. Though not a harshly blunt person, I find a way to gently tell the truth so as to spare another's feelings. Most people say, "You'll just have to accept me and if you don't like it, tough." Acceptance is one thing, but getting along with everyone is an art.

A beautiful thing about Paganism is that we respect everyone's belief systems, regardless of how right or wrong they seem to us. Isn't it contradictory to exclude Fluffy Bunnies from the Pagan community simply because they are honest enough to admit their preferences? If you say that one must embrace a certain precise worldview to be Pagan, you are speaking of dogma. Many Catholics don't attend church but are considered Christian. Are Fluffy Bunnies less Pagan for their positive-only approach? If disrespect is attached to the term, it is partially due to the people who placed it there, not the actual Bunnies themselves. I should know. I'm one of those Bunnies.

Your comments are always welcome. May the Lord and Lady bless you on your journey!~Morgan Willowmoon

KALI 

Kali comes from the Sanskrit root word Kal which means time. There is nothing that escapes the all-consuming march of time. In Tibetan Buddhism Her counterpart is male with the name Kala. Mother Kali is the most misunderstood of the Hindu goddesses. The Encyclopedia Britannica is grossly mistaken in the following quote, "Major Hindu goddess whose iconography, cult, and mythology commonly associate her with death, sexuality, violence, and, paradoxically in some of her later historical appearances, motherly love."

It is partly correct to say Kali is a goddess of death but She brings the death of the ego as the illusory self-centered view of reality. Nowhere in the Hindu stories is She seen killing anything but demons nor is She associated specifically with the process of human dying like the Hindu god Yama (who really is the god of death). It is true that both Kali and Shiva are said to inhabit cremation grounds and devotees often go to these places to meditate. This is not to worship death but rather it is to overcome the I-am-the-body idea by reinforcing the awareness that the body is a temporary condition. Shiva and Kali are said to inhabit these places because it is our attachment to the body that gives rise to the ego. Shiva and Kali grant liberation by removing the illusion of the ego. Thus we are the eternal I AM and not the body. This is underscored by the scene of the cremation grounds.

Of all the forms of Devi, She is the most compassionate because She provides moksha or liberation to Her children. She is the counterpart of Shiva the destroyer. They are the destroyers of unreality. The ego sees Mother Kali and trembles with fear because the ego sees in Her its own eventual demise. A person who is attached to his or her ego will not be receptive to Mother Kali and she will appear in a fearsome form. A mature soul who engages in spiritual practice to remove the illusion of the ego sees Mother Kali as very sweet, affectionate, and overflowing with incomprehensible love for Her children.

Ma Kali wears a garland of skulls and a skirt of dismembered arms because the ego arises out of identification with the body. In truth we are beings of spirit and not flesh. So liberation can only proceed when our attachment to the body ends. Thus the garland and skirt are trophies worn by Her to symbolize having liberated Her children from attachment to the limited body. She holds a sword and a freshly severed head dripping blood. As the story goes, this represents a great battle in which she destroyed the demon Raktabija. Her black skin represents the womb of the quantum unmanifest from which all of creation arises and into which all of creation will eventually dissolve. She is depicted as standing on Shiva who lays beneath Her with white skin (in contrast to Her black or sometimes dark blue skin). He has a blissful detached look. Shiva represents pure formless awareness sat-chit-ananda (being-consciousness-bliss) while She represents "form" eternally supported by the substratum of pure awareness.

By not understanding the story behind Mother Kali it is easy to misinterpret Her iconography. In the same way one could say that Christianity is a religion of death, destruction and cannibalism in which the practitioners drink the blood of Jesus and eat his flesh. Of course, we know this is not the proper understanding of the communion ritual.

Attaching the idea of sexuality to Mother Kali has no basis in Her at all. There is nothing that associates Her with sexuality in the Hindu stories. In fact it is just the opposite. She is one of the few Goddesses who is celibate practicing austerity and renunciation!

The notion that She is the goddess of death, sex and violence is simply utter nonsense. When we study the life of the great saint Ramakrishna or the great poet saint Ramprasad (both famous Kali worshippers), or listen to the traditional Hindu devotional songs to Kali, there is no hint of this death-sex-violence notion. This can also be confirmed by going to any of the Hindu websites such as www.hindunet.com and reading about Mother Kali. Also recommended is the book Kali: The Black Goddess of Dakshineswar, by Elizabeth Harding. Also there is a beautiful and genuine Kali temple in Laguna Beach, California and it may be visited on-line at www.kalimandir.org. Kali is the goddess of enlightenment or liberation. 

 Hel and Kali

There is a tendency in occult circles to take an English word and change it's spelling, in order to communicate a conceptually related but different concept. The most famous is probably "Magick," where the "K" adds either respectability, or pretentiousness, in its ability to communicate that we are not talking about Sigfreid and Roy.

This site uses the spelling "Lylyth," for example, to distinguish the concept of Indwelling “Goddessness” (Shekhina) from the concept of an individual human being (Lilith of the apocrypha).

I'd like to introduce another concept: Hel.

We all know what “Hell” is. Hell is fire, endless torment, a Bosch painting given horrid reality, the ultimate punishment, and - in Dante's cosmology – the prison of Satan.

”Hel”, historically, is a bit different. It is an afterlife and a deity, much like Hades in Greek myth is both the god of the underworld and the underworld itself, (although the Greek afterlife has many other names, and many divisions). Hel is the Norse version of this concept.

"Wait," you might say, "I thought that was Valhalla?"

Not quite. Valhalla is the place where those who die gloriously in battle go. (“Gloriously” implying not just those who were slaughtered by invading armies, or who died from the effects of war other then being slain by a man holding a weapon). As war is primarily a male domain, Valhalla is primarily a man's afterlife - that's why they have Valkyries to make up for the lack of human women, I imagine.

Hel is the People's afterlife. It is the place where artisans and craftsmen, farmers and mothers, poets and sages go when their time on earth is through. And in that place of peace, we have no need for warriors. Hel is quite different, in Norse mythology, from the Gehenna of the Christians. Christianity is a mid-east religion, and the afterlife reflects the environmental danger of the desert - HEAT. Hel, being more Scandinavian, is a cold and foggy place, reflecting the fear of hypothermia. Hel is not an unworthy place to end up, unless you consider every profession other than the slaughter of human beings to be unworthy.

The reconstructed version, used by us as a verbal symbol, is a merger of the idea behind the metaphor of Hel, with the fiery imagery of Gehenna. The reason for this merger, other than the fact that someone took the Gehenna and renamed it "Hell" long before the any of us ever came alone, is the very concept of the Black Flame. You are your flame. In Christian terms, the Black Flame is your soul.

There is a Wiccan chant that goes, "We all come from the Goddess, and to her we will return, like a drop of rain, flowing to the Ocean." Hel, as the necromantic aspect of Lylyth (The "fourth face," of the three-fold Maiden-Mother-Crone goddess, represented by the New Moon), is the Goddess that we come from, and flow to.

By now, if you don't yet see what I'm getting at, let me state it clearly. If you are a flame, then the "lake of fire" must be Hel - the dwelling place of the Eternal aspect of yourself, the source and the destination of the divine within you.

When we summon the powers of Hel within the context of spellcasting, we are opening ourselves up to the infinite. Fire may seem like a constantly moving, yet ultimately stable, thing. Yet, the continuity of a flame is an illusion - it is simply that aspect of the burning material that is currently burning. The Black Flame inside of you is never in stasis - it is the life-process of the Infinite Darkness flowing THROUGH you. When one opens the Gate of Hel, one taps upon an infinite source of power.

This is why we call our magic Theurgy. In Lylythian Theurgy, the source of the spell is your own Soul - but when you tap into the Infinite you are tapping into the soul of Hel, of Lylyth, of Satan... OF GOD. It is more than the simple realization that these souls are one in the same, it is the actualization of it. In this, Theurgy is truly "miracle working," for what is a miracle if not an act of God(dess)?

If everyone had a normal flow of Kundalini, from the Boundless Darkness, to the individual, and back to the Boundless Darkness, the essay would be over. Not everyone has a normal flow. When the flow becomes blocked, a state of spiritual sickness settles over the person. This state is called Akatharsis. For more information, see Akathartic and Ophionic States. The problem with Akatharsis is that it cannot last. The Light that comes from Darkness, the Black Flame, must return to its source. And that is where Kali comes in.

In discussing Lylyth with others more versed in the historical aspects of Her, it turns out the Lylyth.org has almost completely inverted the current representations of Lylyth and Kali. We have done this for a number of reasons. The first is the familierarity of the archetypes. While most people are not familier with the Lilith legends, those who are do understand it as part of the larger mythological context of the dominant American religion. This myth is not so much “real” as the mythology surrounding Abraham Lincoln, for example, (much of Lincoln’s mythology is probably true, making him one of the most facinating Americans who ever lived, even if he did see blacks as naturally inferior to his own race), but because it does exist within the context that most people accept as true. This is not because “believing makes it so.” Believing doesn’t make anything so. However, believing does make things believable.

Lylyth is more “real” to native speakers of English than other goddess figures, with the possible exception of Mary. Have you ever noticed that Wiccans never say, “I don’t believe in the Amida Buddha,” yet they are quick to point out that they don’t believe in any aspect of Christian mythology? Strange, considering that Buddhism is far more removed from Paganism than Christianity. While it is difficult to ascribe motive, my theory is that they are expressing an active antibelief. That is, they have an emotional attachment to the religion they profess to be not part of. In The White Goddess, Robert Graves makes a convincing argument that the actual folk beliefs that modern Wicca springs from were in fact syncretisms of the older beliefs with Christianity. In fact, modern Christianity contains many pagan customs, such as Easter eggs (a Lithuanian pagan tradition).

This should not be taken as an attack on Wicca or Wiccans, but rather an acknowledgement that the beliefs of our childhood, no matter how absurd, have a lasting effect on our religious personalities. Lylyth.org uses the archetype of Lylyth because it has an emotional appeal, much stronger than the Norse Hel or Hindu Kali.

What is Kali? Historically, Kali is a demonic and terrible Mother Goddess. Those that do worship her see her more as a cosmic version of John Water’s Serial Mom. Essential, Kali is portrayed as a loving mother to her own children, and a murdering fiend of her children’s enemies. In the Hebrew tradition, Lylyth is seen a murderer of children. One could point out that it is the children of Adam and Eve that she murders, rather than her own children. It would appear that Judaic God (or one of his angelic employees) takes the responsibility for murdering Lylyth’s children. In other words, Lylyth is no more a “baby killer” than Jehovah, and one cannot condemn Her actions any more than one can condemn His.

In Pythagorean terms, Lylyth as Hel would be “Cthonie” and Lylyth as Kali would be “Ophion.”

There is a natural flow of energy from the Boundless Darkness, to an individual, and back to the Boundless Darkness. When this flow is interrupted by the individual, that’s when Kali comes. Kali (Ophion) is the spiritual equivalent of Drano, and about as dangerous to have inside your body. The purpose of Kali is to unblock your charkas, and get your Black Flame to flow normally. Her only purpose is a dedication to the Rising of the Light. It is not that it makes you a better person to have a healthy flame; Kali is unconcerned with human happiness.

Mythologically, the Black Flame is a part of Lylyth, in her Hel aspect, that she gives to you, but it is your obligation to return it. When you do not return it, she sends her Kali aspect to get it back. Like a Mafia collector, she does not care how she takes it from you. She will take it.

I hope that Kali is an aspect of Lylyth you never have to encounter.

Embracing the Dark Goddess
by Dominae

During a dark time of my life, when I was trying to deal with the pain of past experiences, I had a vision of the dark goddess Lilith. Lilith was the wild haired and independent first wife of Adam who refused to be dominated by him. Because of this, she was cast out of the Garden of Eden and replaced by the more complacent Eve. In my vision, Lilith appeared frightening at first sight; claw-footed and winged with blazing red eyes. But I did not turn away from her. I knew that no vision comes without reason, so I drew closer to her. When she felt my fear fading she spoke to me. She told me that her beating wings were her freedom, her claws held her power and her red eyes blazed with the anger she felt towards those who had tried to suppress her. Behind the anger was pain. Behind the pain flowed the strength, understanding and the wisdom of our full feminine nature. When I stepped back from her and looked again she was beautiful. All of the fear I had placed on her had disappeared and I knew that she had much to teach me and the I had much to learn.

It is no wonder that the Crone aspect of the Triple Goddess is the most feared and misunderstood. She represents the most frightening aspects of our humanity; destruction and death, fears we have yet to face and mysteries that we have yet to know. While most of us would love to dwell in the youth and light of the Maiden and Mother Goddesses, we cannot deny the Crone's presence. Though we may try to push her to the backs of our minds, the Crone makes herself known by emerging in the horrifying forms of our nightmares and deepest fears. But it is only because most of us dread to look her in the eyes that she emerges in such terrifying forms. If we could learn to truly face her and therefore our own dark natures, we would see that she holds within her the wisdom and strength which we need to heal ourselves emotionally and to become more spiritually complete.

While the pagan God is represented in two aspects (the young, wild and passionate God of the Hunt and the older, more reserved and self-sacrificing God) the Goddess is represented in three aspects. These aspects are the Maiden, Mother and Crone. The Maiden is the young Goddess, represented by the moon which is waxing towards fullness and the season of Spring. She is the carefree Goddess who is full of wonder and budding sexuality and who rules among the blossoming of life towards Summer.

As Summer and Fall approach, the Mother Goddess takes rule as the Goddess of the full moon and Summer season which moves towards Fall. The Mother Goddess is the life-giver and nurturer of the Earth and her people.

The waning and new moon are the symbols of the Crone or Dark Goddess. She is the older Goddess who is full of the wisdom and experience of life and death. The Fall and Winter are the seasons of her reign where the circle of life moves towards and through the stage of death. She rules the Underworld, which was a place for all spirits no matter what their earthly behavior had been. Monotheistic theology transformed what the concept of the Underworld was into the more commonly known Hell full of everlasting torments. Pagan belief still holds true to the initial concept of the Underworld as a place for all to rest and prepare for physical rebirth.

The cauldron is a symbol of the Crone Goddess and is representative of the womb from which all life springs and must return. The Crone takes in energy and matter so that it may be broken down and recreated in other forms. She holds within her the greatest mystery of all which is the mystery of death and of the afterlife. Visual representations of the Crone Goddesses are usually frightening in appearance. She is the Wicked Witch who is seen in abundance during Halloween, in fairy tales and in the movies. Because of her frightening appearance, she is often feared and ignored by pagans who see her as being evil and destructive.

When someone says the word "Witch," the Crone in her modern depiction is the image which will most likely appear in one's mind. But it must be understood how patriarchal society and monotheism has portrayed the general idea of the Witch in such a negative manner because in a society where the patriarchy rules, the Powerful Woman is seen as a threat. The Witch is strong, wise and self-sufficient if she so chooses to be. The Crone possesses all of these wonderful qualities, along with a lifetime of experiences and encounters to draw from. She is not someone to fear, but a helpful and insightful guide who should be called upon to aid us in confronting our fears and feelings of being powerless. For pagan men, study and encounters with the Crone can help in understanding the strength and emotion of women as well as getting in touch with men's own feminine natures.

The Crone has many names and is included in the pantheons of many cultures. She is Kali in India, Hekate in ancient Greece, Eresh-Kigal in Sumeria, Morgana in Britian and Lilith in the Near East. In this article, I will be discussing three of the Crone Goddesses; Kali, Hekate and Lilith, along with ways in which the Crone Goddess may be helpful for emotional healing and the gaining of wisdom.

Of all of the Crone Goddesses, the Hindu goddess Kali is the most hideous and fear-evoking. Kali is a black-skinned goddess who appears to be fierce and unapproachable. She wears a necklace of skulls around her neck and has four arms which she uses to flail her victims to death before devouring them. She is often sen with protruding fangs or tusks and a long tongue which she uses to lap up the blood of her victims. The skulls around her neck were used by her to form the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet. Each skull was inscribed with one of the fifty letters of the alphabet which collectively were called the matrika (mothers) and words were formed with these symbols. When myths speak of words being formed, it is usually a metaphor for the act of creation.

Although Kali is frightening in appearance, she is a fierce warrior goddess who is a fighter of demons and yet is still able to dispense grace to her followers. She was first manifested from the brow of the mother goddess Parvati in order to slay the demon Daruka. The demon had gained divine power and was threatening the safety of the gods. It was told that a drop of blood which fell from the demon would produce millions more like him, so Kali could not slay him in a usual manner. Instead she held him up and drank every drop of blood from the demon, therefore saving the gods from destruction. But the taste of blood and the thrill of destruction made Kali insatiable. She was unable to be controlled by anyone, including the gods. The thrill and ecstasy of killing made Kali dance an uncontrollable dance of death on top of her victims. Kali was so uncontrollable that. The god Shiva was almost trampled under her dancing feet.

One of the most frightening depictions of the goddess Kali is a statue of her squatting over her consort Shiva and engaging in sex while eating his intestines. Kali is the goddess of destruction and regeneration, and it is therefore appropriate that she be depicted in this manner. While she is taking in Shiva's seed, she is destroying him simultaneously. Shiva is a god of life and Kali is a goddess of death. These two forces meet and join in this statue of Kali and Shiva, where Kali kills and prepares to create new life from Shiva's seed.

Because Kali is a manifested aspect of the Mother Goddess, she is representative of the Cosmic Power and of the totality of the universe. She is the destroyer who makes way for creation and is therefore seen as harmonizing all pairs of opposites. The four arms of Kali are often viewed as being symbolic of this harmony. Her upper left hand grips a bloody saber, her lower left hand holds a severed head by the hair. Her upper right hand is often seen making a "fear not" gesture while her lower right hand bestows boons to her devotees.

Those of the Hindu religion realize that in order to fully understand the Goddess, we must understand all aspects of her. They do not see Kali as being evil, but s being one of the manifestations of the Divine Mother, or Shatki. In fact, there is hardly a village in India which does not have a temple devoted to her. She is one of the most recognized and respected deities of the Hindu pantheon. The horrific looking Kali represents an important contribution to Vedic Hinduism by showing both the negative and positive aspects of the Mother Goddess. She symbolizes a meaningful abstract view of Hinduism, that creation and destruction arise from the same source.

As a Goddess who rules over both life and death, the Dark Goddess or Crone holds within her all aspects of the Triple Goddess. She is the mature and aged Maiden and Mother, who possesses the wisdom and experiences of youth, adulthood and old age and who stands as a bridge between death and rebirth. As a goddess who retains attributes of the three aspects of the Triple Goddess, Hekate is often seen in triple form. She rules not only over death and the underworld, but over birth and regeneration as well.

Hekate is one of the most ancient and primordial representations of the Goddess in Greek mythology. She was originally said to be the daughter of Nyx (Night) and therefore a Titan who predated the more commonly known Olympian gods. While most of the Titans were overthrown by the more civilized gods of the Olympian pantheon, Hekate was given a place in the Olympian realm and was very honored and respected by Zeus, the most powerful god in Greek mythology. She was so respected by him that he gave her dominion over the Heavens, Earth and the Underworld. He also allowed her the one power that only she retained; the ability to grant or withhold anything that humans asked of her. Mythology later changed Hekate's origin to that of the daughter of Zeus and Hera so that she could more easily fit into the structure of the Olympian myths. In Hesiod's Theogony, sh is said to be the daughter of Perseus and Asteria.

Because Hekate was given rule over all of the three realms; the heavens, Earth and the Underworld, she was originally a goddess who encapsulated all three aspects of the Goddess. However, as Olympian mythology evolved, her dominion was minimized to primarily that of the Underworld. She is said to have helped Demeter in her search for you daughter Persephone in the myth of Persephone's descent to the Underworld. In the myth, the young Persephone, who represents the Maiden aspect of the Triple Goddess in Greek mythology, is spotted by the Lord of the Underworld, Hades, while she is picking flowers in a field. He captures her and takes her to the Underworld to be his mate. While Persephone is in the Underworld, all of the plant life on Earth dies and cannot come back to life until she is returned to Earth. Her mother Demeter goes searching for her daughter with the help of Hekate, and a deal is made with Hades that he allow Persephone to return to Earth for half of the year (Spring) and spend the other half (Winter) as his mate in the Underworld. This myth was told to explain the changing of the seasons and the path of the circle of life. It is repeated in various forms in the mythologies of many cultures.

Because of the importance of the myth of Persephone, Hekate is most commonly recognized as the Goddess of the Underworld and of death and its mysteries. But as it is with all Crone goddesses, Hekate still possesses the attributes of all three aspects of the Goddess. She is the Queen of Night, who rules over magick, ritual and prophecy, but also over childbirth and regeneration. Many statues of Hekate depict her with three heads and six arms. The three heads are the three faces of the Goddess; Persephone (Maiden). Demeter (Mother), and Hekate (Crone). In the Triple Goddess form, she is known as Hekate Triformis, the Goddess who rules over the three phases of the moon.

All animals are sacred to Hekate, but the dog is her primary animal. Hekate is said to be followed by packs of howling dogs who can see the spirits of the dead who follow her. Although she is the goddess of the vast Underworld, she is seen primarily as the goddess who rules over those who have died unnatural deaths. Those who have died unnaturally, such as from suicides, executions and death at birth were often buried at crossroads, where three roads meet. This is one of the reasons that Hekate is said to be able to be summoned at the cross roads by those who would ask for her help with magick, childbirth or false claims against them. Many statues and masks of Hekate have been found at crossroads, where her presence is believed to be most powerful. Offerings of dog meat, blood and small cakes topped with candles have been found at the crossroads as gifts to Hekate. But the crossroads also have another significance. As a symbol of the place there paths of fate may be taken and where the paths of life and death meet, it is appropriate that Hekate could be summoned as asked for guidance at the crossroads.

Hekate is one of the deities known as The Goddess of the Witches. Her precedence over death and mysteries as well as her told as protectress and revenger of those wrongly accused and oppressed makes her a powerful goddess who can aid us in many different areas of need. Hekate is worshipped and respected because she has the power to destroy and create through rebirth as well as disclose the wisdom and mysteries that come with the knowledge of the afterlife.

As an initially primordial goddess who was the daughter of Titans, Hekate evolved to become the more "civilized" goddess of the Greek Olympian pantheon. As with many gods and goddesses, she changed in lineage and function in order to meet with the needs of changing cultures. However, the dark goddess Lilith is one who retained her primordial feminine self throughout the evolution of many cultures. Various manifestations of Lilith can be seen in Sumerian, Babylonian, Canaanite, Persian, Hebrew and Teutonic mythology. Persistent throughout these mythologies, Lilith is the primal seductress and she-demon of the night, a killer of mortal children and Mother of child demons.

There are several myths which account the origin of Lilith. The Hebrew Zohar states that God created the masculine sun and feminine moon initially equal in power and reign. However, because of their equality, the moon and sun were constantly arguing. Because the moon more frequently questioned the authority of the sun, god in judgement told the moon that she must diminish herself. This means that her radiance would be less than that of the sun and that she would take rule over the night. Her diminishment is seen in the waxing and waning of the moon's phases.

Lilith is created in this myth by the diminished moon, who is angry and resentful at having to distance herself from the sun because of God's judgement. The anger and rage which the mon feels from the judgment of God creates a powerful light from which Lilith is born. Therefore Lilith, in essence, is the power that is gained by the feminine when she is misunderstood, alienated and "diminished" by the masculine.

Another myth claims that Lilith was present at the time of God's first presence. It states that God and his feminine representation, the Shekina ruled above (in the Heavens) and that Sameal (the Devil) and his feminine representation, Lilith ruled below (on Earth.) These four manifestations of the one source of Power were like four shoots coming forth from the same seed.

While Hebrew myths are full of the tales of Lilith, she is very rarely seen in the Old Testament of the modern Bible, where the story of her origin comes before that of the creation of Eve as a mate for Adam. It is told in this myth that God created man from the dust of the earth and that woman was created in the same manner. Man, or Adam's wife was named Lilith, but the soil from which God created her was impure and of a lesser quality than the dust from which Adam was created. Again, Lilith argues with Adam as to why he should be the dominant of the pair. She refuses to lie under him during intercourse because she feels that this is an act of domination of her by Adam. Lilith wished to be an equal with Adam, having the same freedoms and ability to choose as he. Fearing that Adam would be able to overpower her, she flees from the Garden of Eden and utters the ineffable name of God. Lilith flies through the air and dwells in a cave by the shores of the Red Sea. There she mates with demons and brings forth millions of demon children, called Lilim.

The name Lilith is derived from the Semetic word for night. As an intense and fiery emanation of lunar and feminine energy, Lilith is a goddess of the night who rules over spirits of the dead. Her symbol is the owl, and she is depicted with wings and the owl's taloned claws. She is also often depicted as the serpent with a woman's head. She is said to have given Eve the forbidden fruit of knowledge in the Garden of Eden.

When Adam and Eve fell from the grace of God, Adam vowed in penance to avoid the sexual pleasures of marriage for a hundred years. It is said that Lilith then sought her revenge. Each night she would come to Adam while he slept, mount him and have sexual intercourse with him. She would capture his sexual emissions and use them to produce more of her demon babies.

Lilith was a succubus; a she-demon who would visit men while they slept and have intercourse with them without their knowledge. A man who was visited by a succubus would feel pressure on his chest while he slept and have a feeling of "being drained" when he awoke from sleep. A succubus would not only have sex with the sleeping victim but would also drain them of their vital energy. Therefore, a succubus is a demon seductress and psychic vampire who is feared by men.

The connection with Lilith and mortal children is a strong one. She is said to visit infants while they slept and tickle them, causing them to giggle in their sleep. Lilith is also known to have murdered many infants or to cause the children's deaths during childbirth. Numerous amulets worn to repel Lilith form pregnant mothers have been discovered.

The myths of Lilith and her vengeful actions against men show her to be full of anger, rage and resentment at the idea that she could not be wild and free and still remain in the favor of God. She represents the darkest facets of femininity; the opposite of the maternal and nurturing instinct which seeks to be sexually indiscriminate, wild and self-sufficient. While the maternal instinct causes one to desire to bear and protect infants, the qualities which Lilith represents are evident when one wishes to abandon her children, motherly and wifely duties. Women possess both maternal and dark feminine qualities and it is natural that they have both, because they are in persistent struggle to be both independent and nurturing at once. Feelings associated with Lilith may come before and during menstruation when a woman may feel compelled to speak her mind, be isolated and ride the waves of her emotions.

Masculine and Feminine energies are both extremely powerful, but significantly different in their qualities. When viewed through the myths of masculine heroes, masculine energy is a force with strategy and purpose. It is represented by the hero who plans his actions and takes a logical and rational progression towards his goal. Feminine energy differs in that as seen through the myths of the Crone Goddesses, it is often intensely emotional and chaotic. Kali dances the wild Dance of Death without logical reason and Lilith mates and murders often indiscriminately. The Crone is instinctual in her actions, but this does not mean that they have a lesser purpose than those of the male gods. It is because she is instinctual and emotional that she is able to guide us through the mysteries which may not be fully understood and yet can still be known. The realm of dead, magic and the unknown can best be known by one who does not rationally think of them but instead allows them to be revealed without conscious thought with the aid of the Goddess.

When one is overwhelmed by emotions, fears and the desire to take actions which may not seem logical, the Crone Goddess can be called upon to guide and aid in understanding the darker desires one may have. A woman cannot fully understand herself and a man cannot fully understand Woman or his own feminine nature without understanding the Crone.

As a holder of the deepest mysteries, the Crone is an obvious choice for those wishing to understanding magick and ritual as well as the art of divination. The Crone knows all phases of the circle of life, death and rebirth and is therefore able to disclose that which we as mortals may not foresee and also aid in molding energy so that it may manifest into our desired goals. It would be appropriate to call the Crone the Goddess of the Witches for these reasons.

But the Crone is also helpful in understanding the death processes and in dealing with the grief over the loss of a loved one. Since she rules the Underworld, she has knowledge of these areas which we least understand. When we approach old-age, the Crone is there to comfort and guide us to a better acceptance of this stage of life. It is for all of these reasons that the Crone should not be feared or denied. She should be faced and recognized as one of the balancing forces of nature and as a means to balance the spiritual natures within ourselves.

The Dark Goddess

The Dark Goddess inspires a feeling of dread among many ... she is, indeed, a terribly frightening Deity ... who doesn't play many games when it comes to Death and its aspects.  I hope in the following bits of information I have captured the power and depth of darkness that surround this awesome Goddess ... Wisdom and empowerment are the gifts of the Dark Goddess of Transformation. She is known to us as Kali, Hecate, Cerridwen, Lilith, Persephone, Fata Morgana, Ereshkigal, Arianhrod, Durga, Inanna, Tiamat, and by a million other names.  

The Charge of the Dark Goddess

The Dark Goddess speaks to us, through the mouths of Lilith, Kali, Tiamet, Hekate,
Nix, the Black Madonna, Nemesis and Morgaine..
I am the Darkness behind and beneath the shadows..
I am the absence of air that awaits at the bottom of every breath..
I am the Ending before Life begins again, the Decay that fertilizes the Living..
I am the Bottomless Pit, the never-ending struggle to reclaim that which is denied..
I am the Key that unlocks every Door..
I am the Glory of Discovery, for I am that which is hidden, secluded and forbidden

Come to me at the Dark Moon and see that which can not be seen,
face the terror that is yours alone..
Swim to me through the blackest oceans to the center of your greatest fears--
the Dark God and I will keep you safe..
Scream to us in terror, and yours will be the Power to Forbear..
Think of me when you feel pleasure, and I will intensify it, until the time when I may have the greatest pleasure
of meeting you at the Crossroads Between the Worlds.  

copyright Lynne O'Connor
Please visit her website at: http://www.phatquarters.com/lilithscave/words.html
used with permission
 

Charge of the Dark Goddess #2

Hear me child, and know Me for who I am.  I have been with you since you were born, and I will stay with you until you return to Me at the final dusk.

I am the passionate and seductive lover who inspires the poet to dream.

I am the One who calls to you at the end of your journey.  After the day is done, My children find their blessed rest in my embrace.

I am the womb from which all things are born.

I am the shadowy, still tomb; all things must come to Me and bare their breasts to die and be reborn to the Whole.

I am the Sorceress that will not be ruled, the Weaver of Time, the Teacher of Mysteries.  I snip the threads that bring my children home to me.  I slit the throats of the cruel and drink the blood of the heartless.  Swallow your
fear and come to me, and you will discover true beauty, strength, and courage.

I am the fury which rips the flesh from injustice.

I am the glowing forge that transforms your inner demons into tools of power.  Open yourself to my embrace and overcome.

I am the glinting sword that protects you from harm.

I am the crucible in which all the aspects of yourself merge together in a rainbow of union.

I am the velvet depths of the night sky, the swirling mists of midnight, shrouded in mystery.

I am the chrysalis in which you will face that which terrifies you and from which you will blossom forth, vibrant and renewed.  Seek me at the crossroads, and you shall be transformed, for once you look upon my face,
there is no return.

I am the fire that kisses the shackles away.

I am the cauldron in which all opposites grow to know each other in Truth.

I am the web which connects all things.

I am the Healer of all wounds, the Warrior who rights all wrongs in their Time.  I make the weak strong.  I make the arrogant humble.  I raise up the oppressed and empower the disenfranchised.  I am Justice tempered with Mercy.

Most importantly, child, I am you.  I am part of you, and I am within you.
Seek me within and without, and you will be strong.  Know me.  Venture into the dark so that you may awaken to Balance, Illumination, and Wholeness.
Take my Love with you everywhere and find the Power within to be who you wish.  

~source unknown  

Eris

Greco-Roman goddess of Discord and Chaos adopted in the 20th century by the Discordians. Eris was the personification of strife. Known to the Romans as Discordia, she was a sister of Mars and belonged to the retinue of Mars and Bellona. She is said to have a son known as Strife. In Greco-Roman mythology she was variously blamed for strife, deceit, contention, murder, wars, disputation, and rivalry. She has been associated with the Fool and Tower tarot cards (representing both her trickster and her destructive aspects).

She is most commonly known by the part she played in:

Myth of the Apple of Discord

(this version extracted from the Principia Discordia - it's more or  less true to most versions of the myth except for the bit about hot dogs. And about Paris being French. But what do historians know anyway?)

Zeus was preparing a wedding banquet for Peleus and Thetis and did not  want to invite Eris because of Her reputation as a trouble maker. This made Eris angry, and so She fashioned an apple of pure gold and inscribed upon it KALLISTI ("The Prettiest One", sometimes translated as "To The Prettiest One") and on the day of the fete She rolled it into the banquet hall and then left to be alone and joyously partake of a hot dog.

Now, three of the invited goddesses, Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite, each immediately claimed it to belong to herself because of the inscription. And they started fighting, and they started throwing punch all over the place and everything.

Finally Zeus calmed things down and declared that an arbitrator must be selected, which was a reasonable suggestion, and all agreed. He sent them to a shepherd of Troy, whose name was Paris because his mother had had a lot of gaul and had married a Frenchman; but each of the sneaky goddesses tried to outwit the others by going early and offering a bribe to Paris.

Athena offered him Heroic War Victories, Hera offered him Great Wealth, and Aphrodite offered him the Most Beautiful Woman on Earth. Being a healthy young Trojan lad, Paris promptly accepted Aphrodite's bribe and she got the apple and he got screwed.

As she had promised, she maneuvered earthly happenings so that Paris could have Helen (the Helen) then living with her husband Menelaus, King of Sparta. Anyway, everyone knows that the Trojan War followed when Sparta demanded their Queen back and that the Trojan War is said to be The First War among men.

And so we suffer because of the Original Snub. And so a Discordian is to partake of No Hot Dog Buns.
 

Kali, the Black Goddess of Yore

Kali is not what one imagines a typical Hindu woman to be.  She is neither gentle, bashful, nor subservient toward her husband.  She moves around in the nude; her hair is disheveled; and she gets intoxicated from drinking the blood of demons..

Kali is a Goddess who fights alone.  And if she wants help, she accepts it from other females but does not seek it from men.  Whenever the male Gods are unable to subdue the demons in battle, they ask the Great Mother Goddess for help, and not until after she has scored a victory can they go back in peace and perform their normal godly duties..

The fact that Ma Kali is black makes one wonder whether this Goddess originated with an ancient African super culture.  Most scholars don't believe she is ancient.  They call her a relatively "young" Goddess who did not reach full popularity in India until the 18th or 19th century.  Their opinion is based on the Vedas which are perhaps the most ancient scriptures in the world.  They hardly mention Kali.  The earliest references to Kali are found in the Mundaka Upanishad, in the Puranas, dating back to the early medieval period--around A.D. 600..

But, one asks, what about the time before the Vedas were conceived?  Could it be that God in ancient times was a She?  According to Judeo-Christian tradition, this idea is "unthinkable," but if one seriously studies history with an open mind, one cannot exclude the possibility of a Great Mother Goddess that reigned long before the Father God appeared.  Primitive man, observing women giving birth, perceived her as magic and prayed to her to make his tribe strong and give him more sons and daughters..

Dating back to Neolithic times, the most ancient images found were always female and depicted fertility.  Many are black and mysteriously related.  One can't help but ask, "Was the Black Goddess Kali at one time worshipped by peoples all over the world?"  Modern research by Westerners certainly points in this direction..

We find Kali in Mexico as an ancient Aztec Goddess of enormous stature.  Her name is Coatlicue, and her resemblance to the Hindu Kali is striking..

 The colossal Aztec statue of Coatlicue fuses in one image the dual functions of the earth which both creates and destroys.  In different aspects she represents Coatlicue, "Lady Of the Skirt of Serpents" or Goddess of the Serpent Petticoat"; Cihuacoatl, "the Serpent Woman"; Tlazolteotl, "Goddess of Filth"; and Tonantzin, "Our Mother," who was later sanctified by the Catholic Church as the Virgin of Guadalupe, the dark-faced Madonna,  La Virgen Morena, la Virgen Guadalupana, the patroness and protectoress of New Spain; and  who is still the patroness of all Indian Mexico.  In the statue her head is severed from her body, and from the neck flow two streams of blood in the shape of two serpents.  She wears a skirt of serpents girdled by another serpent as a belt.  On her breast hangs a neck-lace of human hearts and hands bearing a human skull as a pendant.  Her hands and feet are shaped like claws.  From the bicephalous mass which takes the place of the head and which represents  Omeyocan, the topmost heaven, to the  world of the Dead extending below the feet, the statue embraces both life and death.  Squat and massive, the monumental twelve-ton sculpture embodies pyramidal, cruciform, and human forms..

     As the art critic Justino Fernandez writes in his often-quoted description, it represents not a being  but an idea, "the embodiment of the cosmic-dynamic power which bestows life and which thrives on death in the struggle of opposites." (1)

We find Kali in ancient Crete as Rhea, the Aegean Universal Mother or Great Goddess, who was worshipped in a vast area by many peoples..  

     Rhea was not restricted to the Aegean area.  Among ancient tribes of southern Russia she was Rha, the Red One, another version of Kali as Mother Time clothed in her garment of blood when she devoured all the gods, her offspring.  The same Mother Time became the Celtic Goddess Rhiannon, who also devoured her own children one by one.  This image of the cannibal mother was typical everywhere of the Goddess of Time, who consumes what she brings forth; or as Earth, who does the same.  When Rhea was given a consort in Hellenic myth, he was called Kronus or Chronos, "Father Time," who devoured his own children in imitation of Rhea's earlier activity.  He also castrated and killed his own father, the Heaven-God Uranus; and he in turn was threatened by his own son, Zeus.  These myths reflect the primitive succession of sacred kings castrated and killed by their supplanters.  It was originally Rhea Kronia, Mother Time, who wielded the castrating moon-sickle or scythe, a Scythian weapon, the instrument with which the Heavenly Father was "reaped."  Rhea herself was theGrim Reaper.... (2)  

We find Kali in historic Europe.  In Ireland, Kali appeared as Caillech or Cailleach, an old Celtic name for the Great Goddess in her Destroyer aspect..  

     Like Kali, the Caillech was a black Mother who founded many races of people and outlived many husbands.  She was also a creatress.  She made the world, building mountain ranges of stones that dropped from her apron..

     Scotland was once called Caledonia:  the land give by Kali, or Cale, or the Cailleach.. "Scotland" came from Scotia, the same goddess, known to Romans as a "dark Aphrodite"; to Celts as Scatha or Scyth; and to Scandinavians as Skadi..

     Like the Hindus' destroying Kalika, the Caillech was known as a spirit of disease.  One manifestation of her was a famous idol of carved and painted wood, kept by an old family in Country Cork, and described as the Goddess of Smallpox.  As diseased persons in India sacrificed to the appropriate incarnation of the Kalika, so in Ireland those afflicted by smallpox sacrificed sheep to this image.  It can hardly be doubted that Kalika and Caillech were the same word.. According to various interpretations, "caillech" meant either an old woman, or a hag, or a nun, or a "veiled one."  This last apparently referred to the Goddess's most mysterious manifestation as the future, Fate, and Death--ever veiled from the sight of men, since no man could know the manner of his own death..  

     In medieval legend the Caillech became the Black Queen who ruled a western paradise in the Indies, where men were used in Amazonian fashion for breeding purposes only, then slain.  Spaniards called her Califia, whose territory was rich in gold, silver, and gems.  Spanish explorers later gave her name to the newly      discovered paradise on the Pacific shore of North America, which is how the state of California came to be named after Kali..

     In the present century, Irish and Scottish descendants of the Celtic "creatress" still use the word "caillech" as a synonym for "old woman." (3)

     The Black Goddess was known in Finland as Kalma (Kali Ma), a haunter of tombs and an eater of the dead. (4)

The Black Goddess worshipped by the gypsies was named Sara-Kali, "Queen Kali," and to this present day, Sara is worshipped in the South of France at Ste-Marie-de-la-Mer during a yearly festival..

     Some gypsies appeared in 10th-century Persia as tribes of itinerant dervishes calling themselves Kalenderees, "People of the Goddess Kali."  A common gypsy clan name is still Kaldera or Calderash, descended from past Kali-worshippers, like the Kele-De of Ireland..

     European gypsies relocated their Goddess in the ancient "Druid Grotto" underneath Chartres Cathedral, once the interior of a sacred mount known as the Womb of Gaul, when the area was occupied by the Carnutes, "Children of the Goddess Car."  Carnac, Kermario, Kerlescan, Kercado, Carmona in Spain, and Chartres itself were named after this Goddess, probably a Celtic version of Kore or Q're traceable through eastern nations to Kauri, another name for Kali..

     The Druid Grotto used to be occupied by the image of a black Goddess giving birth, similar to certain images of Kali.  Christians adopted this ancient idol and called her Virgo Paritura, "Virgin Giving Birth."  Gypsies called her Sara-Kali, "the mother, the woman, the sister, the queen, the Phuri Dai, the source of all Romany blood."

     They said the black Virgin wore the dress of a gypsy dancer, and every gypsy should make a pilgrimage to her grotto at least once in his life.  The grotto was described as "your mother's womb."  A gypsy pilgrim was told:  "Shut your eyes in front of Sara the Kali, and you will know the source of the spring of life which flows over the gypsy race. (5)

We find variations of Kali's name throughout the ancient world..

     The Greeks had a word Kalli, meaning "beautiful," but applied to things that were not particularly beautiful such as the demonic centaurs called "kallikantzari," relatives of Kali's Asvins.  Their city of Kallipolis, the modern Gallipoli, was centered in Amazon country formerly ruled by Artemis Kalliste.  The annual birth festival at Eleusis was Kalligeneia, translatable as "coming forth from the Beautiful One," or "coming forth from Kali."

     Lunar priests of Sinai, formerly priestesses of the Moon-Goddess, called themselves "kalu."  Similar priestesses of prehistoric Ireland were "kelles," origin of the name Kelly, which meant a hierophantic clan devoted to "the Goddess Kele."  This was cognate with the Saxon Kale, or Cale, whose lunar calendar or kalends included the spring month of Sproutkale, when Mother Earth (Kale) put forth new shoots..
     In antiquity the Phoenicians referred to the strait of Gibraltar as Calpe, because it was considered the passage to the western paradise of the Mother. (6)

The Black Goddess was even carried into Christianity as a mother figure, and one can find all over the world images of Mother Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, depicted as a black madonna..

(1) Frank Waters, Mexico Mystique: The Coming Sixth World of Consciousness, pp. 185-186..
(2) Barbara G. Walker, The Women's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, pp. 856, 857..
(3) See Sir J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion, p. 467..
(4) The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, p. 492..
(5) The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, pp. 890-891..
(6) The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, pp. 491-492..

taken from
Kali:  The Black Goddess by Elizabeth U. Harding

Kali - The Black Goddess

As children, we are taught to fear the dark.  The bad guys wear black hats; we should stay away from dark places; the enemy of Christianity is the "Prince of Darkness."  All our lives we are taught that the way to goodness is to strive towards the light, away from the dark which is bad..

But is the dark bad?  Isn't it more likely that the dark is something that we need?  There can be no light without the darkness; each day has a night in which we rest to refuel ourselves, to regain our energy.  As such, the dark is represented as a place and time for renewal.  Surely it would stand to reason, then, that we need the dark side of ourselves; but if that is the case, why do so many of us strive to rid ourselves of this aspect, to deny it and put it away?  And in so doing, might we not be causing inner turmoil in ourselves as we deny something that is really needed by our souls, minds, and hearts?   Repression of a thing is almost never good, and can perhaps lead to an eruption of our emotions and feelings, perhaps violently, as time goes by.  Our Judeo-Christian society has tried to teach us to repress anger, not to be demonstrative in our sexuality, and not to show too many emotions; we need to be calm, cool and collected, and mold ourselves into a person that is accepted in today's society.  But in so doing, have we not tried to push away aspects of ourselves that we need to express?  Perhaps this is one reason why psychiatry is a booming business..

Any of us that really look inward at our spirits, our souls, know that we are not all goodness and light.  We each have dark aspects and things that we hide from the world, since we have been taught that these things are bad.  They are pushed away into the dark; death is considered the ultimate dark and bad circumstance.  Yet many cultures do not look at death that way.  They simply see death as a gateway to another life, a part of the natural cycle, the circle that never stops turning..

In recent years, however, more and more books on exploring the "Dark Goddess" aspect of ourselves have appeared.  The Dark Goddess aspect is recognized as a product of ancient civilizations that acknowledged death and darkness as being part of the whole..

The dark goddess lives in us all; suppressed and denied she will at some point leak out as hostility and sarcasm, nagging and put downs.  Suppressed too far, she can manifest herself by turning her destructive energy inwards, creating depression and disease..

To bring dark into the light and light into the dark of our psyches can be a frightening experience.  To acknowledge intense emotions such as anger, despair, grief and fear, especially if we relate this to mothering, can be earth-shattering.  But if you remember your own mother, was she all sweetness and light?  It can be terribly burdensome trying to live up to the expectations our society puts upon us as parents, to be perfect and raise the perfect well-behaved child.  There is nothing really in our culture that validates the more intense emotions.

Some cultures, though, are not saddled with the uncertainty and feelings of failure that fall upon our shoulders when we cannot live up to our own and other's expectations.  For example, the Hindu societies worship and adore Kali, who is a triple Mother Goddess of creation, preservation, and destruction.  She is the ultimate example of the terrible mother as she gives life, but also takes it away..

'Kal' means darkness, which Kali takes away.  As all colors of the spectrum mix into black, black still remains black.  Kali, the Dark and Unknowable, takes darkness away, yet she herself remains unchanged..

She symbolizes the eternal night of death, a night that is free of illusion.  She is formless void, yet full of potential.  Her paramount place of worship is the cremation ground, usually in the dead of night during the waning moon.  For those adept at her worship, the entire earth becomes the cremation ground, Kali the pyre.

"Kal" means time and "i" the cause; therefore, Kali is the Cause of Time and is beyond time; she activates our consciousness so that it may perceive.  Her garland which is made up of human skulls is seen as the heads of impure thoughts which she has severed from her worshippers.  She slices away conflicting thoughts and silences the loud roar of mental conflict; she cuts away the sorrow of egotistical attachments; she takes the things to herself and makes of them a garland.  She wears all karma as an ornament, therefore, while ending the ceaseless myriad voices of the active mind, leaving her devotees to experience inner peace in the absorption of solitude.  She places her worshippers in the balance of divine meditation.  Giving up all their difficulties, their petty disagreements, their attitudes, even the ego itself to Kali, her devotees experience divine peace and delight..

Kali is most often depicted standing or dancing upon the corpse of Lord Shiva.  She is the recognizable form of awareness or consciousness.  However, consciousness is the observer of all action; this is why Lord Shiva is shown as a lifeless corpse, still, with fixed eyes, trained on the image of the Divine Mother.  That Consciousness  (Shiva) witnesses the dance of Nature (Kali)..

She dances to get Lord Shiva's attention, to attract him.  However, Shiva does not forget that it is Nature that is dancing, and he remains the silent observer.  Kali is nature personified; she is all of Nature, not just of the dark forces.  As Mother Nature she dances upon the form of Consciousness.  She is often associated with the Tamas, which means darkness, but not in the sense of ignorance.  There is a darkness which exposes the light, and as personification of Tamas, Kali is the Energy of Wisdom.  Her darkness spreads over the world to make seekers oblivious to the transient externals, to cover worldly desire.  Pure Consciousness knows that the world continues according to its nature in a cyclical flow--the wheel of life continues to go on of its own accord.  When one can reside within, and without attachment to the changing externals, then the supreme truth may be realized.  When Kali takes away the darkness of the outside world, she helps to illumine the inner world.  This is her Grace.  With Kali's love we can become unattached and free..

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Kali is one of the most misunderstood of all forms of God.  To the Western mind, she is terrible and hideous.  While Christians believe in a God that is good and a Devil that is bad, Hindus believe in one Universal Power which is beyond good and evil.  They use fire as an example to explain this concept.  The same fire that can be used to cook our food can also burn down our house.  Can you call fire good or bad?

Kali is the full spectrum of the Universal Power--she is Mother, the Benign and Mother, the Terrible.  She nurtures and creates, but she also destroys and kills.   The world and all we see is the play of Maya (illusion, our earthly existence), the veiling power of the Divine Mother, who is neither good or bad, nor both.  She is beyond these aspects.  She is viewed as all-powerful, as mysterious as night, fierce, passionately sensual and demanding.  But to her devotees, she is the all-merciful Protectress, who is filled with sublime love and compassion, a granter of boons.  Kali is Kali Ma, "Kali the Mother," the Cosmic Female Power who is always ready for her worshippers to remove their suffering, their fear of time and death, ready to bestow bliss and liberation.

As the limitless Void which has swallowed up everything without a trace, Kali is black.  He beautiful hair is tangled and dishevelled, and symoblizes her boundless freedom.  Another interesting interpretation says that each of her hairs is a soul or jiva, and all souls have their roots in Kali.  She has three eyes, of which the third one stands for wisdom.  Her tongue protrudes, which is a gesture of coyness.  She has four arms, of which her right arms promises fearlessness and boons, and her left arms hold a bloody sword and severed head.  She is naked (skyclad) except for a girdle of human arms cut off at the elbow and a garland of fifty skulls.  The arms represent the capacity for work; the skulls the fifty letters of the alphabet, the state of sound from which all creation has evolved..

Kali's name begins with the first consonant of the Sanskrit alphabet.  Tantric tradition believes that the whole universe is but an expression of certain primordial sounds or vibrations, which are expressed by the consonants and vowels of the Sanskrit alphabet, combined in different ways. "Seed syllables" (Bija Mantras), short combinations and "Spells" (Dharanis), long combinations of varying measures are the very "fabric" of which this universe is formed.  Through Kali's seed-syllables, names and potent Mantras, we can transform ourselves and become one with Her..

Kali is Sound, the sound that created the universe.  All knowledge is embedded in it.  Name and form changes, but sound remain.  Within ordinary people, three-fourths of this sound remain unmanifested; the only audible part is the gross sound which comes from our mouths.  Yogis, though, can hear the hidden sound, which is the transcendental sound..

As the Mistress of Time, Kali consumes all things.  Everyone must yield to her in the end.  Kali confronts man with his pitiful finite attachments, devours them, and then spits them back out in a different form in a different time.  Thus the wheel turns..

When a spiritual devotee forms a special relationship with Kali, she is no longer just an image in a temple or book.  Her presence fills the person.  A Tantric yogi sees the Great Mother present within his human body as the Kundalini.  She lies dormant at the base of the spine, like a snake coiled and fast asleep.  Through sadhana, the Tantric awakens the mother and arouses her to go upward, through the Sushumna channel; she pierces each of the chakras until she reaches the highest plane and unites there with Shiva at the crown of the head.  At this point, the Tantric experiences bliss and his mind becomes illumined.  It does not end there, though.  The full realization of the Mother only happens when one experiences illumination in all planes, even the lowest..

Many people look down on Tantra as being blasphemous.  The aim of Tantric practices, though, is to teach aspirants that the objects which tempt us and make us experience repeated births and deaths are none other than the veritable forms of God.  Modern people have moved God far away, to Heaven.  Tantric sadhana (spiritual discipline) helps seekers to bring God back into the human heart and into everything that concerns life--to adore God with body, mind and words.  Every action should be done in glorification of the Divine Mother..

According to Tantricas, the human body is the best place for worship, the best medium for realizing the truth.  This body is not merely a thing in the universe, it is an epitome of the universe, a microcosm in relation to the macrocosm.  There is therefore nothing in the universe that is not contained in the body of man.  The human body is thus the home of the truth of which the universe is the manifestation in infinite space and eternal time.  A Tantric sadhaka (spiritual aspirant) believes that the truth hidden in the body is the same truth that pervades and controls the entire universe..

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The Dakshineswar Kali Temple is situated a few miles north of Calcutta.  This temple was built by a devout woman in 1845; the image of Kali at this temple is called Ma Bhavatarini, the Savior of the World.  Pilgrims from all over the world flock to this temple to worship Kali..

A saint that lived there for thirty years was Sri Ramakrishna.  His intense worship awakened the image of Kali, and since then she has become known as a living Goddess..

Today, worship at the Dakshineswar Kali Temple begins very early in the morning, when it is still dark outside.  At shortly before 4 a.m., a priest opens the side gate to the Temple.  There is already a small crowd of pilgrims waiting to see the Divine Mother Kali.  At 4 a.m. sharp, the large iron doors are opened from inside.  The pilgrims begin to chant, "Jai Ma, jai Ma, jai Ma, jai Ma" as she becomes visible..

The sound of a conch shell being blown signals the start of the mangalarati (early morning service).  As they stand outside in the darkness, the devotees stare into the softly-lit inner shrine.  They are the first to see Mother Kali on this new day about to begin.  They pray, "Ma, may you always be on my mind."

The waving of a lit lamp before the Deity is called the arati, or aratrikam, and symbolizes the soul's surrender to God.  This is perhaps the only ritual that allows participation, and the devotees chant the divine name, while clapping their hands or sing bhajans while the priest performs the rites..

So that he does not rudely awaken the Mother, the priest avoids touching the altar.  He wakens her softly by rhythmically waving the pancha-pradeep (a brass vessel holding five ghee lights) in front of Kali.  Devotees feel a direct communion with Kali at this time.  After the five lights, the priest waves a conch filled with water, called pani sankha, in front of Kali, followed by a red cloth, a red flower, and a chamar (fan). These represent the five elements--fire, water, ether, earth, and air..

"Ma, you have given these 5 elements to me, so I am worshipping you with them."

The worship is completed by the priest offering ghee (clarified butter), rock candy and other sweets.  This worship is relatively short-about ten minutes-and is ended when the priest blows the conch.  The doors to the Temple close again for a couple of hours, as the Goddess is still resting.  She officially wakes up at about 6 a.m., when a priest removes the mosquito netting from her bed and removes her picture which is lying upon the pillow.

The image of Kali stands only about 33 1/2 inches high, but she appears much taller.  As she awakens at around 6 a.m., the Mother's vedi (altar) is cleaned.   Then Ma Kali herself is bathed with water from the Ganges and covered with scented oil and perfume.  One priest washes her, while another holds a pail to try and catch the bath water without spilling.  Her bath water is called charanamrita--nectar from the feet of the Divine.  It is precious.  Worshippers believe that anyone who sips this sacred water will attain supreme love and Kali's grace..

Priests next dress her in a sari.  Although this Goddess's essential nature is nakedness, an explanation for the sari may be that the priests look upon her as their real mother.  Who would want to see their mother exposed naked to the eyes of strangers?

Next, the priests offer flowers to her.  They decorate her with these flowers of various colors by attaching them to her feet, head and body.

At around 6:30 a.m., Ma Kali is ready to receive the next group of devotees who are waiting at the main entrance.  People squeezing through at this point will get to see a priest wave dhup (incense) in front of Kali for a few minutes until the inner shrine is filled with perfumed smoke..

At 8 a.m., her garland maker arrives to make her mala (garland), which is offered to her around 9 a.m.  At this time, priests are exchanging faded flowers for fresh ones.  These flowers are stuck in her hands and on her crown.  At 9:30, the daily worship of Kali begins with the offering of seasonal fruits, sweets, and uncooked rice.  These food items were prepared in Kali's kitchen, located behind the Temple.  The offering of the food is put in front of Kali.  Next, a lengthy purification ritual is performed..

Finally, the actual worship begins.  Worshipping a conch filled with water, the pujari (priest performing the puja) invokes the Deity into the water.  Next, uttering mantras, he sprinkles this holy water over himself and all other articles.  Suddenly, the pujari knocks on one of the puja vessels, making a loud tinny sound.  This symbolizes that the Deity has been invoked; everything is pure and ready for the puja to begin..

While the puja is going on, there are about four or five priests in the inner sanctum.  They attend to the many pilgrims that come to the front and side entrances to worship Kali with their offerings.  There is much noise in the small shrine..

People in the West have been taught to whisper in church.  In India, though, the people do not equate respect with silence.  They shout, sing, and clap as loud as they can.  It is rarely quiet in the inner sanctum..

The conclusion of the morning puja is marked by an arati.  After waving the panchadip, the pujari ignites a small bowl of camphor and chants.  When the priest puts down the camphor light, an attendee picks it up and runs and carries it from person to person.  All stretch out their right hands to touch the flame, then touch the crown of their head.  Next a conch with water is waved before Ma Kali, then a red cloth, and then a flower.  When he blows into a conch, the puja is over.  All noise stops; all heads--pilgrims and priests alike--are on the floor, bowing down to the Divine Mother.  They remain this way until the pujari stops blowing the conch..

Between noon and 1:30 p.m., Kali receives an offering of cooked food.  As the cook shouts before he arrives with the food, priests jump up and move out of the way.  After the food is appetizingly arranged, the priest offers it to Kali by uttering a mantra.  Then, everyone vacates the inner sanctum.  Kali eats alone..

After some time, the pujari claps his hands three times and shouts "Ma! Kali Ma!"  He then pushes open the iron doors.  The bhog arai now beings..

The five elements are once again waved in front of Kali, as attending priests and servants stand against the wall shouting "Jai Ma!"  The sound of a conch shell being blown signals that the arati has ended, and it is time for Mother Kali to take her midday rest..

On the other side of the temple, pilgrims have lined up, waiting for the distribution of Kali's prasad (the offered sacramental food). Prasada is considered very sacred.  Partaking of it helps one to purify the body and mind..

South of the Natmandir (the music hall) is the bali, the sacrificial pole.  It is a two-forked wooden pole used during the ritual wherein an animal, usually a goat, is beheaded and sacrificed to Kali.  Ma Kali is not cruel to animals, though.  No leather is allowed in her temple, and after the sacrificial killing of an animal, it is cooked and distributed as prasad--a gift from the Goddess..

Ma Kali is awakened at 3:30 p.m. by being served coconut milk, fruit and sweets.  Then the temple doors are opened.  The stream of devotees does not end until the evening arati which is held at 6:45 p.m. in summer and 6:15 p.m. in winter.  After the evening arati, the iron doors are closed again.  The priests take the flowers off of Ma Kali and clean her altar.  Around 8 p.m., Kali is served dinner consisting usually of fried bread, fried eggplant, milk and sweets.  No meat is served at night.  Ma Kali is put to bed before the temple is closed for the night.  A picture of her is put on a small bed next to her altar; the mosquito curtain is pulled and tucked in..

After she is officially put to bed, the priest in charge of locking up purifies the inner shrine by sprinkling Ganges water all around.  He waves incense in front of Kali, and bows to her, his head touching the marble floor.  He then closes and locks the inner and outer doors to the Kali Temple.  Now she will sleep until awakened at 4 a.m. by a priest..

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Kali Ma, the Dark Mother, holds the double-edged sword; she has the power to kill as well as to be compassionate.  At some point, it seems necessary to take Kali's sword and cut through the illusions that protect us from seeing and acting upon the truth..

It would benefit us all to explore ourselves, warts and all, and to accept the dark side of ourselves.  This dark side is a necessary part of a complete and whole life.  To deny it, we risk never becoming integrated, and never discovering our true and complete essence, never becoming who we are truly meant to be.  Kali, or one of the other Dark Goddesses, can help in this endeavor.  Do not be afraid of the dark..

"Kali:  The Black Goddess of Dakshineswar" by Elizabeth U. Harding
"The Shadow Knows" by Evelyn Henry
"The Bitch from Hell" from yOni Webzine
"Kali:  Understanding the Divine Mother" by Swami Satyananda Saraswati
"The Goddess Kalika" by Mike Magee
"The Vira Sadhana" by Mike Magee
"Tantra Goddess, Kali:  The Primordial Goddess" by ? , found on web
"Kali:  The Feminine Force" by Ajit Mookerjee
My humble thanks to The Hindu Tantrik Home Page at:  http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/gthursby/tantra/ (link no longer working)

Alternate tantra site: The Ancient Philosophy of Tantra

BTW, if anyone would like to learn more Sanskrit words <G>, try this page:  http://reality.sgi.com/atul/sanskrit/dict/  

Kali!  Death of the Ego
From a ritual by Victoria of Luna Circa  and the Rainbow Connection, 1994..

Introduction

Kali!  To the Western mind, her image is frightening: a wild, black-skinned woman with a huge black cloud of disheveled hair, nude except for a necklace of gleaming white human skulls, and a skirt of human heads and human arms..
Kali herself is multi-armed.  In her hands she bears a trident, a severed head, and a bowl full of blood.  This is Kali Ma, the Great Mother, superficially a figure of pure terror..

Yet millions of people worship her as a tender and loving mother.  She is a primary Goddess of Tantra, where she is experienced as pure ecstasy.  In some of her images, some of her many hands make mudras, gestures which convey meaning; with her mudras, she dispenses gifts and dispels fear..
So - who and what is Kali?  That is what this journey will (hopefully) help you to discover!

One of Kali's greatest gifts is to enable her devotees to see the truth..
Another is to help us to heal our spiritual ills.  
 

Kali Meditations

The World

Turn away from the outer world.  Turn inward, and feel the Kundalini that arises  in you.  The World as it is.  Let it be..

You are in India.  You have come to find illumination, but all you see is the world.  All around you, children cry out with hunger, their chests shrunken, their bellies bloated.  A woman lies under a leafless tree, barely moaning, weak with fever, too weak to call out for help.  The sickness, and the pain, and the hunger are palpable.  You begin to feel sick.  You too are in pain.  You too are hungry.  You feel an urge to run away from all of these people who press you on all sides, pushing on you with their agonies..

You walk past the crying, bloated children, past the moaning woman, through the whole throng of people.  You keep walking, further and further away.  Now the cries and the moans are barely audible.  As you walk, the sun falls behind the hills.  Night comes, and a few tentative stars begin to shine.  As you watch, the moon rises.  She is a tiny silver crescent like the horns of the sacred cow.  She is surrounded by glittering stars..

Now you pass through empty streets.  You have no goal in your mind.  You let the Goddess direct your steps, taking you where she will.  Ahead is a deserted area, surrounded by a high stone wall.  The stone is dark, and
the stone wall is cold and moist, yet you feel a warmth and a light coming from inside the walled area.  In front of you, you see a gate..

Suddenly you feel a gust of fear, as if you have been touched by an icy cold wind.  But it is not your body that has been chilled.  Slowly, with growing sense of dread, you pass through the gate..

 Cremation Ground

You are in a cremation ground, a place where bodies are taken for burning..
All around you are partially decomposed bodies, which have not yet been fed to the flames.  This is an ancient place, and the ground is covered with bones as far as you can see, countless bones, gleaming white bones,
heaps of bones, human bones.  Human skulls grin at you in the moonlight, as if they share a secret that you do not know..

Your heart pounds as you walk slowly through the cremation grounds..
Ancient, brittle bones crunch under your feet.  They splinter, and the splinters pierce your skin, and you begin to bleed as you walk.  You are only distantly aware of this.  You keep walking as if you are possessed..

Around you the night air is also pierced, pierced with the eerie cries of feeding jackals, the throaty laugh of feasting hyenas.  The air is filled with the soft, gentle sounds of black feathers brushing against the black
night.  The air is filled with the harsh croak of carrion crows, the cries of ravens, the deep-throated rumbling of vultures with blood on their feathers, blood on their bald heads..

Your gaze is drawn to one of the partially decomposed bodies, and you see that amongst the rotting flesh, there are millions upon millions of teeming white maggots.  The lesson is obvious, if you think about it..
The living feed on the dead.  Life feeds on death.  There is no escape from this truth..

If you live, you live on the life force of the dead -- whether it is another animal, or a living, respiring plant.  This is the inescapable truth.  But it is hard to see yourself as a source of food for another being.  These are not deer or cattle being consumed here in the cremation ground.  They are people.  Ultimately, they are you..

How can you live knowing this?

How can you live well without knowing this?

The World as it is.  The truth is what it is..

You continue to walk through the bones.  The jackals slink away as you approach; the hyenas threaten before melting away, the ravens look at you with yellow unblinking eyes as they fly away into the night.  You realize
that you,and the jackal, and the hyena, and the raven are all one, are all sisters.  They no longer seem so alien, or so disgusting, or so fearful..

The Fire

Curious, you approach a cremation pit in which the fire is still burning..
A partially burned corpse lies upon a bed of glowing red-orange coals..
Here the air is filled with the smell of burning flesh, burning human flesh..
The fire will remove the remaining physical body.  Fire is purification..
Soon only the pure white bones will remain to glisten in the moonlight..
Soon this skull will be liberated from the bounds of the flesh.  Soon it will join the other skulls, grinning in the moonlight..

As you watch the flames, you become aware that you are not alone here..
Another woman is walking here at night, here in the cremation ground..

This woman is old.  She walks slowly, and painfully, as if cripped with arthritis.  She is clothed in a red sari with silver trim.  Her unbound hair is long, and as white as the gleaming bones.  She comes near you, looks carefully straight into your eyes, and she smiles radiantly.  But she says nothing at all..

As you watch, she turns away from you and walks straight into the fire pit..
Her bare feet step lightly over the glowing crimson coals.  As she walks, her steps become less slow and painful.  Her steps are sure.  She reaches the very center of the fire pit..

The woman steps on to the burning body.  You see her standing on the remains of the corpse.  She turns back to face you.  She is still smiling.  She lowers herself into the lotus position and begins to meditate.  The fire
creeps up to her, eagerly, like fat little puppies wanting to play.  Little flames begin to fondle the silver trim of her red sari.  Soon the sari catches fire, and the little flames begin to dance up her body.  She is still smiling, deep in meditation, deep in bliss.  The flames creep higher..
They ignite her flowing hair, and the pure white mass turns flaming red and orange.  Flames wreathe her smiling face, for she is still smiling, still deep in unbroken meditation.  Her skin begins to smoke, and to blacken.  Her sari is completely consumed; she is naked under the moonlight.  A black cloud of smoke settles around her head.  It forms a mass of black, tangled, disheveled hair.  She lifts her arms to the night sky, and you see that she has four.  Each hand carries a familiar symbol: a trident, a severed head, a sword, a bowl full of blood.. As you watch, transfixed, Kali rises to her feet and dances among the flame, dancing upon the blissful, prostrate body of her husband, the Lord Shiva.  Watch Kali dance.  This is what you have come so far to see..

With an open hand, Kali beckons you to join her.  You are drawn irresistibly to the Terrible Mother.  You walk forward.  Your bare foot touches a live coal.  Pain shoots through your whole body.  But Kali is inside you
now as well as outside of you.  You find that the pain does not really matter; it is only physical, only a limitation of this Earth, only one of Maya's illusions.  You take another step, and then another.  You walk
straight into the burning heart of the fire.  Your own sari catches fire, yet your heart remains calm.  Your sari burns away, and now you too are naked like Kali, free, like Kali.  Your own hair catches fire, and turns
into smoke.  Your own skin begins to blacken.  And you know..

Now you too are Kali.  Know this, and dance among the flames.  Dance with the Terrible Mother, here in the cremation ground..

The dance is over.  Kali takes your hand, and together you walk out of the fire pit.  The woman Kali is no longer old.  Her steps are easy and light, no longer halting.  Her hair is a glossy rich black.  She is transformed into a beautiful young woman.  You feel that Kali's fire has transformed you as well.  What is it that you transformed into?  Do you need a mirror to see it?  Then look deep into Kali Ma's three eyes..
You will see yourself mirrored within..  

Slaying the Demon

In the distance you hear bells, drums, sweet music.  Women are chanting the praises to Kali, and praises to Durga, the mother of Kali.  You are drawn to this powerful sound.  Kali bids you to follow your heart, and
to go and seek the truth about yourself.  The Terrible Mother bids you to go from her side and find healing..

You are loathe to leave Kali Ma, but you know that you must.  You turn away from her radiant blackness, her terrible beauty.  You seek the source of the chanting.  It comes from the South, from a vast temple.  As you
go closer, the music becomes louder, sweeter, the drum beats more insistent..
You feel the holy ecstasy of the chanters..

The chanters are women, dressed all in red.  Love shines out of their eyes..
Power radiates from their hearts.  They are priestesses of Kali Ma.  One of them looks up and sees you..

"Ah, you have come at last!  Mother told us to expect you.  Sit down and listen to my words..

"Kali deals in death, but she is not evil.  Often, it is evil which she kills.  The severed head that she carries belongs to an evil Demon whom she slew in battle when none of the Gods could defeat him.  Now the Demon's
head is a symbol of the death of evil..

"The severed head is also a symbol for the slaying of the human ego.  Are these two symbols so different?  What does your ego do for you?  What does your ego do _to_ you?  Your ego may block your spiritual evolution.  This is when Kali steps in, sword in hand.  She is here to help you..

"But Kali seldom uses her sword herself; it is you who must pick it up and use it.  Kali offers healing.  But her healing is not the gentle administration of herbs, not the gentle binding of wounds.  Kali is like the surgeon
facing a patient with a gangrenous leg.  The patient is attached to her leg; she does not want to let go of it even if it is clearly rotten, even if it is black and bloated, even if it is spreading poison and death throughout the rest of the body..

"Letting go of such ego-bound attachment is such a difficult decision!  But if the woman will not let go, she will die.  She will be reborn of course, but she will not progress up the great spiral; she will merely be sent back
to the same level to try again.  How many life times will she refuse this challenge?  How many life times will she refuse to learn this lesson?  How many life times will she refuse to let go? "Think!  What part of you is rotten?  What part of you is black and bloated, spreading poison that is eating up your spirit, bit by bit, so slowly that you do not even see it?  What is the source of the poison that courses within you?

"Which of Maya's illusions holds you in thrall?  Is is material wealth? Is it pride?  Is it another human soul?  Have you bound yourself to another so tightly that your own self is lost?

"Seek the source of the poison!  Find this source!

"And when you find it, Kali's sword stands ready to heal you."  

The Mountain

The Priestess of Kali continues speaking to you.  "Here is a lesson that may help you.  Sit and meditate: You have decided to climb a mountain.  At first the going is easy; the trail is well-marked and you walk over gentle,
nearly flat ground.  You walk up and up, journeying higher and higher.  As you ascend, the trail becomes less well marked, the ground rockier, the scenery more intense, the air thinner.  Now walking requires exertion.  You feel your muscles cramp and protest; your lungs strain, your head aches..

"Still, the mountain continues to rise.  Still, you must continue to climb..
Now the trail has disappeared entirely and you must scramble up over the rocks, making your own path, seeking only to go higher and higher.  Your route becomes steeper and steeper.  You reach a place where there is only
a solid wall of rock, a steep cliff face.  Still you must climb higher..

"You feel for cracks in the rock face where you can find a foothold, or a handhold.  Each move must be thought out; each move seems to take forever..
Though your progress is slow, and your heart pounds, you are still rising..
The rock wall looms steeper yet.  You must strain to find a space for even a toe or a single finger to grip.  You begin to wonder: how long can I continue upward?  Still, the mountain continues to rise, so you must continue your climb..

"You look down.  Below you there is only space.  The ground so far below, so lost in the gray mist that it might not even be there anymore.  You look up.  Above you there is only rock, overhanging rock, sheer rock with no
place for you to grip with even a single finger..

"You are frozen to the rock face.  You cannot climb up.  You cannot climb down.  For a frozen time you hang, suspended, terrified.  There seems to be no end to this mountain.  Perhaps there _is_ no end to this mountain..

"What can you do?  Slowly, very deliberately, you let go your hold on the mountain.  The feeling of release when yu finally do let go is pure bliss..

"Ask yourself: What mountain are you still trying to climb?"  

The Dakini Temple

You are back in the temple of Kali, back with the chanting priestesses..
Your priestess motions for you to be silent, and to look around the temple.  It is time for you to do pooja, which is personal worship..

You approach an image of Kali, a great bronze statue, huge, ornate, well-detailed.  Kali is trimmed in gold.  Her image is nearly covered with mounds of flowers left by other worshippers: red roses, scarlet hibiscus, crimson opium poppies.  Brightly colored malas wreath Her image..

The air is so heavy with the scent of incense, rose, nag champa, and patchouli, that you can scarcely breath.  You choose an incense, and offer it to Kali.  You lay flowers at her feet, beside an ornate sword..
Kali herself is a blue so deep as to be seen as black.  All of the colors of the rainbow are lost within her radiant blackness..

Her three eyes stare deeply into your spirit as you light the ghee lamp and offer the five sacred flames to the Goddess.  It is said that one of Kali's eyes gazes upon the past, her second eye gazes upon the present, and her third eye, the eye in her forehead, gazes into the future.  Kali can see all time at once.  Her name itself means "time", and like time she devours all things, and yet Kali herself is timeless.  She can see into your heart: how you came to be, what you are now, what you may become.  She sees what part of yourself that you offer her now, as you pick up the sword of Kali and begin to dance..
 

Your dance done, your pooja complete, you spiral away from the center and examine the rest of the temple.  You see that this is a Dakini Temple, for all around Kali, the gray stones walls are alive with dancing images
of Dakinis, embodiments of female power and wisdom.  The breasts and hips of the Dakinis are carved full and round.  Their scupltured eyes glint, their mouths smile, their bodies seem to writhe in the fire light.  There
are 64 Dakinis here, each one an expression of an archetypal energy found in all women, each one found in you.  You are in the Center, you _are_ the Center.  The 64 Dakinis circle around you.  They dance and spin around you, faster and faster still.  Their forms shimmer, and become a blur..
They dissolve into gray mist.  The Dakini temple itself dissolves.  And you yourself dissolve..

LILITH

The Lady watched the Men and Women, looking thru the eyes of a myriad of Women, children, young girls, mothers, daughters, wives, lovers....all of the Women there were in the World. And She saw that, in many places, the Men had forgotten that the Women were to walk by their side as equals and partners, working as a team, but regarded Women as not-equal, and as possessions.

"This must not be," she said. "What shall I do to teach them?" She thought, and remembered that the Fool would teach Men and Women, in His own way, and that Way might work for Her, too. She turned, and was the Maiden, and was in the World.

A Man saw Her beauty, and seeing not Her Divinity caught and raped Her. Another took Her, and put Her in chains, and set Her to serving him. In the midst of the night, a band of men broke into the house, killing the slave-maker, and took Her away. They forced Her to serve them as a prostitute, and took the money she was paid for themselves.

On and on it went, with humiliation and degradation piled higher and higher, until, on a still, dark night She spoke, and said, quietly, "Enough!" And the quiet coldness of the Word was enough to freeze the Moon in its path, and the singing insects of the night stilled their song. And the Maiden turned, and moved to the other side of the Coin, and became Lillith.

She embodied the pleasures of the flesh, and the animal wildness of the wilderness; the lust of the bitch-in-heat and the fierceness of a mother defending her young was Hers, and Her eyes were mad. And She enslaved the men in Her turn, enslaving them to Lust and Passion, making them mad to possess Her, She that cannot be possessed, and fettering them in silken chains of desire.

She showed the women Herself, and taught them Freedom, and Wildness, and all the secret places where Wildness lives, and the Mystery of being Woman. She was Lillith and Diana, Artemis and Athena, Scatach and
Morrigan, and all the Wildness of Woman was in Her. She took the women to the secret places within themselves, and looked back out at them with feral eyes. She ran with the wolves, and howled. She flew with the hawks and ravens, and hunted with the owl. She crawled with the serpent, and stalked Her prey with the lioness, and all of this was put into Her Dance.

"Know you that you are free," She cried to the women, "And let none put chains upon you not of your own making. Live as you will, not as another would force you. You are partners with Man, not his slave, and I am in you forever!" And the Wild was in the women, singing in their blood, and, so long as they remembered, they were free.

"That was pretty spectacular." said the Fool. "A bit severe for my style, though."

The Lady grinned at Him, and said, "Well, you're not the only Teacher around here, You know."

The Fool rolled over on His back and swatted at a stray piece of dandelion fluff that had settled on His ear, and said, "Never thought I was!" He seemed a bit huffy.

"I just hope they can handle it," said the Lord. "They sure can make simple things complicated fast."

"Oh, they'll mess it up a bit, as usual," said the Lady, "But it will all come out right eventually."

"I hope so," said the Fool. "They sure can get balled up in nonessentials. By the way, I just invented ice-cream. Want some?"

"Sounds interesting," said the Lord and the Lady.

And They all smiled at each other.

Thus it was, and so it is, and evermore shall be so!  

DARK GOD

The Charge of The Dark God 

Listen to the words of the Dark God, who was of old called Acheron, Chamer, Anubis, Hades, Mors, Hoder,
and by many other names.
I am the shadow in the bright day, I am the reminder of mortality at the height of living. I am the
neverending veil of Night where the Star Goddess dances. I am the Death that must be so that Life may
continue, for behold, Life is immortal because the living must die.
I am the strength that protects, that limits. I am the power that says No, No Further, and That Is Enough. I
am the things that may not be spoken of, and I am the laughter at the edge of Death.
Come with me into the warm enfolding dark, feel my caresses in the hands, in the mouth, in the body of
one you love, and be transformed.
Gather in the moonless night and speak in unknown tongues. The Dark Mother and I will listen. Sing to us
and cry out and the Power will be yours to unfold.
Blow me a kiss when the sky is dark, and I will smile, but no kiss returns, for my kiss is the final one for
all mortal flesh.

Copyright © 2005 Circle of the Crystal Grove
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Kathleen S. Granville,  WebMistress
Date last modified: 09/16/2009