Truth time. I’ve been afraid of this element of my priestess path. Like, really afraid.
(And if you think I’m being a bit dramatic just google images of the Creator Destroyer Preserver or Goddess Kali Ma – but maybe not before bed time. “Toto – we’re not in Kansas anymore.” Indeed.)
This is not an archetype that lives strongly in me. Embodied through the Goddess Kali Ma – the Creator Destroyer Preserver is not for the faint of heart. She is not picking wildflowers for her flower crown or gently basking under a rainbow. She is in fact looking for a resistant head to cut off and a skull to add to her bone necklace. She carries a sword, a trident, a severed head and a skull cup to catch the said severed heads blood in. Yeah. Priestess shit just got real.
People who know me well know that while I can get fired up with the best of them if I feel strongly about something, fact is I’m a loving lioness. I will try to catch ‘a fly’ with honey rather than vinegar every time. I will not be stood on or over, but if you’re going to be ‘like that’ I’m more likely to leave you to your own devices than pick a fight. However Goddess Kali Ma is ready to throw that vinegar, stoke the flames of the fire and totally pick that fight. I have learned however that she does so in love. And with intense and divine purpose.
She comes to us to help us drop our inhibitions, embrace and channel our anger, let go of what no longer serves us, liberate us from anything but the truth, and throw away the stories that we think we wear as badges of honour, but are in fact shackles of containment. Above all as the Creator Preserver Destroyer, Goddess Kali Ma is here to lay down the challenge to us to stop being small, igniting within us the knowledge that when we do so – we also keep other women around us small too.
Goddess Kali Ma not only feels confrontational. She is. She challenges us to rip away and destroy anything that stands in the way of our essence and she does not care how much it hurts and how much it will cost. Hers is a path of total blaze and commitment to enlightenment. She is the ultimate bullshit slayer, most of all from the bullshit we tell ourselves. She is committed to our fierce liberation and freedom.
But there’s a catch.
You must surrender to her. No resistance. She wants you to leave behind every.single.thing. in your life that does not matter. That holds you back. That keeps you small. That dulls your light. She is not sent to fluff you up or tell you you’re pretty and enough and ok. She’s here to burn you up and ignite everything around you so that there is nothing left but the true essence of who you are. nd when you ignore her – pain follows. She is the sign, the intuition, the feeling, the painful nudge that keeps coming back again and again and again, louder and louder and louder until you can no longer ignore her. Until what must be faced is faced.
Do you need a stiff drink? Because I do!
Whoa. So much for my ego to be afraid of and yet I know now so much to embrace as well. While it has been tempting to run towards Goddess Kali Ma and say ‘light me up baby’ I would be lying to you and doing a disservice to myself if I told you I had done so in exactly that fashion. I haven’t (yet!) but this past month in inviting her closer to me I have noticed the following…
- I have a lower tolerance to a lot of things that I would otherwise have ‘put up with.’
- A huge story I have been carrying with me my whole life has been busted open and is about to be changed. It was not done so by me but by someone close to me who I strongly suspect has Kali Ma working through them very strongly right now. This is both filling me with excitement and dread.
- I have been cleansing and cleaning and clearing around myself and my environment with great intensity. By doing so I am ridding myself of things that no longer serve me in preparation for going in deeper within myself.
- I am no longer entertaining fear in any way that stops or holds me back. In truth, I have not been doing that for some years now, but my connection to fear is getting weaker and weaker and my connection to love stronger and stronger.
And this of course makes me shake my head (and stick out my tongue!) at myself in stupidity at why I was ever afraid of Kali Ma in the first place. She is the truth telling best friend we all need to be for ourselves when we simply get bogged down with pity and fear and insecurity – and all the things that stop us from shining our full light. And like us all, I still have a long way to go before I’m totally ablaze with searing truth and unwavering self-confidence as she is – but I’m working on it. Aren’t we all?
I’m inviting into my life now more fierceness and less fear. More determination and less dogma. More bravery and less bullshit. More slaying and less slackness. More love and less lies.
Where do you need to call in Kali Ma in your life right now? What is holding you back or dulling your light that needs her slaying to be released?
Share with me below and whatever she is sending to me right now I will gladly send to you.
This made me feel so much more at peace with the “rage” i feel inside when things are just not right. I know that there is fiery passion, but sometimes I can go from loving and supportive to cut and dry in an instant- especially when people are bullshitting, being held back, or staying stuck. I feel it’s driven by love and needs to be checked to make sure it’s not from a place of pain, but it’s real.
In some sense, I keep feeling like I’m connected to 60 year old black woman who just doesn’t take anyone’s BS and does so in love. Like a Maya Angelou mixed with a fierce Rosa Parks and a tad of Beyonce. Who knows, maybe I was someone like that in a past life 😉
I’m loving this series. It’s giving me so much to think on and make peace with. I don’t need to be ashamed for this in myself. Now to learn to channel it. <3
So beautiful to hear from you Madison and here’s to absolutely naming our anger and knowing it can used as a force for good and (especially as a woman) it is not something to be denied, repressed or seen as bad. It certainly does sound as though you have some serious Kali vibes coursing through your veins and as you have read here she is SUCH a powerful archetype to use and call into your life. Powerful and no bullshit women like Lady Gaga, Susan Sarandon and Beyonce also have the Kali archetype strongly in them from what I see at a distance.
In fact when it comes to Bey – I have a feeling she is an Alchemical Priestess all unto herself. Such power and light!
Loving this journey Julie. I very much feel that Kali corresponds with the tower in the tarot. Long standing beliefs that were built on a false foundation must be razed to the ground with few markers left on how to rebuild except heart and intuition.
Kali was with me very much during the height of my illness. She awaits me again as I venture into dating and relationships.
I am not eager to rush into her arms, in fact I dread it but I know I will be better for it eventually.
P.s. I would love to do a reading for you. Let me know if you are interested Julie. Xx
I would say you are absolutely right there Kerry about the tower in the tarot. Thank you for helping me see that connection now too as I had never thought of it that way before. Wishing you much love for your continuing journey with Kali. She is a force to be reckoned with!
And I would absolutely love you to do a reading for me. I did not even know you did them so how exciting!
This is all so very foreign to me, Julie, but my open-minded Piscean self is always willing to embrace something new. This sounds completely fascinating and such a powerful journey to be on!
Having been on a similar journey this year – letting go of a story that is 14 incarnations old – I can definitely relate to the power behind the busting open and changing! Good luck with all the clearing and growth that’s coming with this work!
It was all very foreign to me not so long ago Katherine! Truly. And yes, it is a powerful journey one that is unveiling new parts of myself over and over. Here’s to new (but truthful!) stories for us both!
Very interesting reading! Letting go is my theme at the moment, as I’m stuck in a job situation that makes me sick, work on a life long personal topic with strong patterns and structures and prepare for moving. So there’s a lot of transition going on and a lot of letting go. It’s helpfyl, to have a strong picture as kali for this process, which helps to do all the decisions in powerful, strong and mindful grace and to know, that I’m connected with a power, which can handle the pain it causes to myself in order to grow.
Thank you so much!
Zora
Ahh Zora – then this is the very best time to call in truth and strength in your life through Kali Ma. She loves it when we are in situations and life transitions like this because she helps us to see what we REALLY need and what we can really LET GO of. And yes (I’ve been there too) sometimes these transitions are painful but when we call upon our most truthful and brave inner self she honours us by letting us know “I am with you” and you are fierce and strong. As you are.
I loved this article Julie! I started out being very afraid of Kali Ma, she sounded so scary! But, by the end I felt like I would love to embody her! I love her fierceness and I also love the notion of leaving all that doesn’t serve me behind!
I would love to call in Kali Ma to let go of the notion that I need to hide. I want her to slay the insecurities and the fear I have around leaping into the world and showing myself!
Thank you Julie, this is beautifully written with a good sprinkling of your lovely sense of humour thrown in.
So beautiful Sam and you’re calling in Kali Ma here for the very best reason – because helping you (even shoving you!) out of the shadows and into the light is what she does so brilliantly. She is within you to encourage you to strip yourself of any masks you wear that stop the world seeing the full and real you.
What a Goddess! (Her AND you!)
Thank you Julie for this amazing post! It gave me some really helpful insights. I am actually having a lot of this creator/destroyer power in me. I’ve always been creative and rebellious, I easily stop things, break things down and create new things. However, it does also constantly breaks down the things that I care about in my personal life, which is not what I want. Really love this priestess serie.
Goddess Kali can have a tendency to do that in our lives Danielle, ie. destroy more than is we think we want her too and not create as much as we would like. This is a sign however that she is helping you shed things that you may think you need but actually don’t. A way if you will of clearing and cleansing things and even people out of your life. This is not always easy especially if it is happening a great deal – but know she always has your best interests at heart.
Kali Ma is amazing! So intense, and fearless. One of my favorite Vedantic sages ( Ramakrishna) was a devotee of hers, and reading about how in love with her and inspired he was was really inspiring. She’s such a badass.
Intense and fearless indeed Elizabeth. I have come to really love her too even though I had all those fears to begin with. Something tells me that is often what people think of Kali Ma to begin with but they then warm (or should I say fire up!) to her.
This is exactly where I am at now, thank you for a great article!
You’re welcome Sandra! So glad it was helpful.
After the Biz Goddess workshop, I know realise how powerful my Shafow Archetype is & what she is trying to tell me. It was a massive truthbomb that made me so uncomfortable – to the point of breaking down alil. I love this piece of writing as it offers why she is there for us & what we need to be doing to harness her energy.
In 2018, I will be unapologetically powerful & move forwards rather than staying small!
Cannot thank you enough for this light & for the workshop Julie x
That’s so amazing Suzi. So glad to hear. Our shadow has so much to teach us.
I have just reawoken to these archetypes within me. Something I suspected for years a deep connection to Kali & Hecate & the Morrigan. The way I have been conditioned that this is bad & that has held me back for a very long time & I am really hoping to accept myself & stand tall in my own light with all of me as whole with all my attributes & come out of my broom closet so to speak & not feel so alone anymore. Without fear. Without holding back. Without caring what anyone thinks or says or throws at me. To finally find serenity within my own power. To own & shine in my authentic self. That’s the goal I guess. I’m writing on the fly, I’m sure I could say a lot more . Brightest Blessings!!!
Thank you for sharing with us Rebecca – and how amazing you are seeing this archetype within you now and above all else – owning that without apology or holding back. SUCH a brilliant and empowering thing to do.