Kali the black

Parvati's slough

Kali, also known as Kalika (Bengali: কালী, Kālī / কালিকা Kālīkā ; Sanskrit: काली), is a Hindu goddess associated with death and destruction. Despite her negative connotations, she is not actually the goddess of death, but rather of Time and Change. Although sometimes presented as black and violent, her earliest incarnation as a figure of annihilation still has some influence. More complex Tantric beliefs sometimes extend her role so far as to be the "Ultimate Reality" or Brahman. She is also revered as Bhavatarini (lit. "redeemer of the universe"). Comparatively recent devotional movements largely conceive Kali as a benevolent mother-goddess.

Kali is represented as the consort of god Shiva, on whose body she is often seen standing. She is associated with many other Hindu goddesses like Durga, Bhadrakali, Sati, Rudrani, Parvati and Chamunda. She is the foremost among the Dasa-Mahavidyas, ten fierce Tantric goddesses.

In spite of her seemingly terrible form, Kali is often considered the kindest and most loving of all the Hindu goddesses, as she is regarded by her devotees as the Mother of the whole Universe. And, because of her terrible form she is also often seen as a great protector.

In Indian mythology, the origins of Kali are very interesting. Parvati (a maternal godess) was criticised heavily by her lover Shiva for many things, one of them being her point of difference to him, the darkness of her skin. She wanted to have a baby with him and he was withholding his seed, so in order to please him she sloughed off all that displeased him. The stuff sloughed off became Kali.

So reclaiming the 'dark' parts of the female nature that differentiate women from men is what Kali is about. She embodies the feminine power feared in patriarchy. By the way, Parvati ended up making a baby by moulding the dirt from her body into the form of a human, it gained the head of an elephant and became Ganesha.

St. Sara, the patron saint of the gypsies (Roma), is called Kali the black. My wife, Sara Brown, drives a black Honda, and has a 'she' tattooed on her. A goddess in so many ways. We live in a weird, wired, wacky world.