Encountering the Dark Goddess Kali

This year's Encountering the Dark Goddess workshop will be taking place on 4 May 2013 and already the places are filling up quickly.  As such, one of re-occuring Goddesses that we work within during this workshop is the Hindu Dark Mother, Kali.  This is because even in today's 21st century, Kali is still one of the more mysterious and enigmatic of all the Hindu Goddesses.

Even to the Westerner, Kali brings about feelings of awesome (albeit often greatly misunderstood).  She holds the energies of life and death, which can be likened to the Greek Fates or the Norns, only that she is them rolled into one.

 

When approaching the Dark Goddess from any culture, often the biggest mistake people have is to focus on the external image, and with respect to Kali, this is her pending darkness, upon which all the negativities of human nature is projected.  Instead of looking at the darkness that these Goddesses eliminate as the supreme originating power, what is actually seen is one’s own repressed emotion, superstition and even primitive impulses.

To truly understand the Dark Goddess is nearly impossible.  Her darkness itself reflects back a depth that can be so profound that it disturbs our psyche.  As we find ourselves standing before the unfathomable abyss, we often are overcome with perturbed emotions and fear the apprehension that prevents us from stepping off into the unknown.

We can ignore the Dark Goddess all we want yet there is one thing that we cannot ignore and that is - she was the one who was with us as the beginning of all time (and even before time itself for she is its own creator), and she will be the one who greets us at the end of our days when we return to her.

Thou art the Original of all the manifestations;

Thou art the birthplace of even Us;

Thou knowest the whole world, yet none know Thee

Thou art both Subtle and Gross, Manifested and Veiled,

Formless, yet with form. 

Who can understand Thee?

It is Thou who art the Supreme Primordial Kalika

Resuming after dissolution Thine own form, dark and formless. 

Thou alone remainest as One ineffable and inconceivable

Though Thy self without beginning, multiform by the power of Maya,

Thou art the Beginning of all, Creatrix, Protectress, and Destructress.

"Mahanirvana Tantra: Tantra of the Great Liberation" by Arthur Avalon (1913)

If you are interested in attending an Encountering the Dark Goddess workshop yet do not live in Adelaide, then contact Frances to discuss the possibility of her bringing this popular workshop to you.