KALI MAA JAYANTI
MOTHER OF ALL THE MAHAVIDYA’S
GODDESS OF DARKNESS
THURSDAY THE 18th OF AUGUST
20:00 – 22:00 CEST
19:00 – 21:00 GMT
21:00 – 23:00 BG
14:00 – 16:00 NYC
ZOOM
Oh Mother of the Dark Womb,
from which all things come,
to which all things return.
Hidden by a disk of darkness
many may reject you;
many may refuse your sacred fear.
Those who gaze away from your dark face
lose the touch of the femmine.
Those who look into the dark
find you there.
To you we bow.
Please note:
For this ritual, have a scarf with which to make a blindfold. Some of tge practices of this ritual will require us to ‘look into’ utter darkness.
Kali Ma has her annual ritual constellation upon the Saptami Tithi as the Moon transitions from the lunar mansion of Bharani Nakshatra to Krittika Nakshatra.
At this junction, the astral forces give access to the Shakti of Kali Ma.
Since time immemorial, by way of ritual, Tantrics have aligned to Kali Ma, and recieved her Darshan (vision) upon her ritual day.
We will follow in the footprints of the Yogins of yore, and align to the Adi Mahavidya.
She be the grand mother of the cosmic womb and the source of all… Kali Ma
The Moon of Kali Ma occurs annually when the Saptami (seventh) lunar day moves from the celestial womb that is Bharani Nakshatra, into the place of the starry Mothers of Krittika Nakshatra.
Kali Ma herself is the grand womb.
The Kali Mandir, as it is known to Tantrics, is the temple of the womb.
The Moon of Kali Ma Jayanti transitioning into Krittika Nakshatra is significant.
The root meaning of the word Krittika is to cut.
It is the Nakshatra of the Matrika mother energies, who divorce and break old structures so creation can ensue.
They are the star portal guardians who nourish life. But they be also the ones who cut the cord.
Obselete structures must come to an end for the new to be born.
Just as Kali Ma is the grand cutter that cuts the cord into and out of life.
She cuts and holds the severed head in her hand.
The head represents Rahu. This is the Chaya Grah (shadow ‘planet’) North lunar node, who eclipses the sun.
Kali Ma is the holder of the head of Rahu.
She is the darkest shade of darkness… She who eclipses even the eclipser of visible light.
ADI MA
ORIGINAL DARK
Kali Ma is the Adi Mahavidya. She is the origin of all the Mahavidya Goddesses.
Kali Ma is the darkness that envelops the opposites and unifies them together in secret unseen wisdom. All the Mahavidyas are expressions of Kali Ma.
Shakti is the Love of Shiva. When Shakti has conflict with Shiva, and becomes enraged and consumed with blood lust, she then turns into Kali Ma.
The unembellished wisdom
of impulse and instinct
is the Shakti of Kali Ma.
Kali Ma herself further multiplies into all the other Mahavidya Goddesses.
Kali Ma is the original womb that births all forms, both subtle and the manifest.
Hence her title as Adi Mahavidya, ‘the original Wisdom Goddess’.
KALI MA & TIME
HEART OF SHIVA
Her Vahaan (vehicle) is a Preta (ghost) with which she can ride across and beyond the boundaries of time and space.
Kali is the feminine of Kala (time), her name means ‘the dark one… and that which negates Kala (time)’.
For this, one often sees images of Kali trampling her lover Kala underfoot.
The central Tantric image of Kali trampling upon Kala, holds many mystical meanings.
Various texts and commentators give different interpretations of the timeless image.
Secrets of meaning are revealed by meditation on the image. This image of Kali upon Kala, is a doorway to endless mystic mysteries.
It is often called the Daksina Kali. Daksina implies the right foot, for it is the right foot that holds Shiva to the ground.
Vama Kali is the image reversed, where it is the left foot that holds down Shiva. Both forms have a different significance in Tantric practices.
The Dakshina and Vama Mudras of Tantra, are potent physical and psychic motions of connecting to Kali Ma. We will attempt then upon her ritual night.
As Kali stands on his heart, Shiva becomes sexually aroused, as is sometimes shown in the less conservative depictions. This again is a subject of meditation,
She wears a necklace of severed heads
and her eyes are deep dark pools without end.
She is the consumer of life.
Her hymns name her as the consumer of Rajas and Bindu –
that is, the drinker of Blood and Seed.
She drinketh time.
TALES OF THE TANTRIC GODDESS
The stories of Kali tell of the fate of the near invincible Asura Raktbija.
Raktbija epitomises the self-perpetuating destructive urge.
Raktbija would not be defeated, and would recreate further forms of himself wherever a drop if his blood would spill – Rakt in his name means blood, and Bija means Seed.
So literally, ‘he who’s every drop of blood is a seed’.
By this power he was invincible, for in battle he only grew more and more powerful and ‘numerous’.
Only Kali Ma had the ferocity to consume his endless duplicates, and defeat him.
She drank every drop of his blood until there was nothing left of him.
Kali is the consuming wombly force that can never be escaped or sidestepped.
As the consumer of the Raktbija – seed and blood – she is called Rakteshvari.
Her infamous bloodlust knows no limits.
The story goes on to tell how when Raktbija is consumed by Kali Ma, she becomes unstoppable and continues to consume life.
The bloodlust of Kali knows no bounds, until Shiva intervenes, stopping the consuming rage that threatens to consume everything, including himself.
The solution was to become an innocent child before her.
In doing so, her motherly instincts were aroused, and in an instant she became the nurturing mother of womb power.
DARK NATURE
THE WILD FEMININE
There are many tales which tell of Kali Ma’s indomitable nature.
Wherever Kali Ma appears, there is discord, disorder and destruction. She destroys established order and structure.
The destruction that Kali Ma brings, is the death of the known and rigid structures that imprison the wild feminine.
She be the dark all-eclipsing feminine that lives in the darkest place.
She rules the places where secret life grows.
She is the hidden power within the dark womb
Kali Ma is central in Tantra.
She is mother of all gods and goddesses.
She is the dark womb that both births and absorbs them all.
She occupies a central role in Tantric rituals.
But why is Kali Ma so central in Tantra, in both it’s iconography and texts, as well as having a central place in Tantric worship and ritual?
Tantra is the path of nature, Tantra aligns with nature. Tantra follows the rhythms of nature, Tantra makes nature central.
Kali Ma being the force of unadulterated and unembellished nature, would of course then be given this centrality.
While many ideologies may seek to manipulate, exploit, control and tame nature, Tantra seeks the surrender before nature’s Wisdom.
This is the surrender of one’s head to Kali Ma.
Kali Ma’s ritual is one of dissolving all boundaries. It is a work with the dark.
Black be the colour of the womb that contains all colours and absorbs all colours.
The work with Kali Ma is a healing work that swallows our formations and illusions and births the unseeable.
Kriim Kliim are the her Mantras that are embraced on her night of healing ritual.
They are the sounds that arouse and awaken the unseen feminine.
She goes by the name of Kali Ma – The Dark Feminine.
Hara Ring