Honouring Kali at The Goddess House

The Goddess House is delighted to announce that on Monday, 10 November 2014 as part of the Monday Night Meditation group, the Hindu Goddess Kali will be honoured in a special Kali Mantra and Meditation night, with special guest, Devidasan being in attendance and sharing his knowledge about this often feared and rather mistaken Goddess.

 

Journeying with the "Dark" Goddess

As winter draws near, we tend to turn inward, often displaying a reluctance to venture out into the cold and wet weather.  As we find ourselves doing this, we are offered an excellent opportunity to explore the inner reaches of our psyche, those hidden aspects of our selves that are often ignored, neglected or we simply don't want to acknowledge.  Psycho-analyst Carl Jung called such aspects of our inner selves "the Shadow", and venturing into these uncomfortable areas is highly recommended if we are to become a "complete" person.

 

One way that I personally find beneficial in doing this is working with Gods and Goddesses, especially those which are often classified as "dark".  This four letter word conjures up an assortment of emotions, many negative and therefore I have found that when I talk about the "dark" Gods and Goddesses, it is assumed rather erroneously that I am referring to an assortment of evil or malevolent beings.  Whilst, indeed, over time, some of the Gods and Goddesses have found themselves caught up in such perceptions, when, however, the distracting layers are removed to show their truer and orignal story, something completely different is revealed.

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.

A Day with Dark Goddesses

Dark Goddess altar

Saturday, 28 May 2011, saw this year's Dark Goddess workshop taking place, an almost annual workshop where up to six different Goddesses who fall under the guise of being "dark", have their myths explored and are met through various exercises and meditations.  What, however, makes a Goddess "dark"? 

 In our modern Pagan interpretations there tends to be a general misconception as to who exactly is a "dark" Goddess.  If the Goddess is depicted as a phase of the Moon,, then the Dark Goddess is often associated with the waning phase, that generally relating to the Crone, Hag or Death Bringer.  However such as description does not fit Goddesses such as Lilith, Pele or even Sekhmet ... all of whom are classifed as being "dark".

Autumn and the Goddess

Autumn is the secret time, for it is the twilight of seasons when we are caught between life and death.  The turning of the wheel takes us down into the centre of women power.  If compared to a woman’s moon cycle, Autumn is the Waning Moon, the time of bleeding, of the womb, of the blood mysteries.

It is the time of intense colour, the turning of leaf colours, the shedding and releasing.  All life surrenders, leaving behind the stillness of action, and prepares to enter the silence, the season of death. 

Kali-Ma – the Terrible Mother

After a rather impromptu rite to Kali-Ma undertaken this week, I thought I would share part of an article that I had written about Kali-Ma for "Insight" magazine (either in 2009 or early 2010).

The Hindu religion has a myriad of Gods and Goddesses that are openly revered and worshipped, and within this religion, the Goddesses fall into not only the nurturing side of the Divine Feminine (as we are used to in the West), but also into the destroyer aspect.  The most revered Goddess is Kali.  She is usually pictured wearing a necklace of skulls and girdle of human hands, dancing on the body of her consort, Shiva. 

With her dishevelled hair and protruding tongue, Kali does not portray the demure image of the Divine Feminine that we in the West are comfortable with, such as the Virgin Mary found within Christianity.