Kali has always been my favorite goddess. I think she is completely misunderstood. Yes, she is the goddess of destruction...
But here is the rest of the story. The demon, Raktabija, was terrorizing the people. And whenever a drop of his blood was shed, another demon appeared. There were so many... A super goddess was needed to defeat them. All of their forces combined to create Kali, the dark mother, who defeated all the demons by swallowing them whole and then chopped off Raktabija's head and drank all his blood.
Hecate is the goddess that represents darkness, the moon, magic and choices or crossroads. She is often seen holding a torch, a sword and/or a key. When you see statues or artwork representing Hecate, there are often three goddesses. She is the triple goddess, a pre-abrahamic version of trinity.
Her voice might say something like...
I sit in the blackness of the dark moon night
with my hounds
at the crossroads
where three roads converge
at the crossroads
the place of choice
All paths lead to the crossroads
and all are desireable
but only one can you travel
only one can you choose
choice creates endings
and all beginnings come from endings
at the crossroads
Which one will you choose?
which way will you go?
which?
Though the choice is yours
here’s a secret I’ll share
The way to choose is to enter the void
the way to choose is to let die
the way to choose is to fly free
Excerpt from The Goddess Oracle by Amy Sophia Marashinsky
Hecate represents liberation for women. Historically, in medieval times, those who venerated the goddess were tortured as witches; even burned at the stake. Female independence was feared as women who did not submit to the church and male authority were not easily controlled. The idea of witches being evil is a product of a patriarchal superstition. Hecate was disparaged and became a shriveled old woman with a propensity for destruction as an attempt to oppress indigenous pre-Christian religions.
Carl Jung talks about archetypes as patterns that repeat. A friend on Facebook poses this question this week:
"Have you ever noticed, most futuristic movies have a woman leader? In which most of these movies portray a dystopian future for us all!"
It has caused me to think about archetypes. And a book I read a few years ago called, "When God Was a Woman" by Merlin Stone. (I highly recommend it.)
Before Christ, before history, the belief is that the goddess ruled. She didn't rule in a dualistic or opposing way to god. She ruled as a mother. As a nurturer. As a creator. (I always questioned how god was the creator when women were created to have babies.) In the matriarchal society, the children belonged to the mother. Inheritances passed through the female. That makes so much more sense... because the female keeps the children, the property, the control of the family unit. And the society supports one another.
When a tribal band of desert dwellers came into their land, they took control by force. They split families up, sending them into other parts of the countryside and the men of these invading nations dominated the women, raped them, impregnated them and forced the goddess underground. They tore down the places of worship and called them an abomination. They twisted the feminine into something evil. Patriarchy took over.
All of this has me thinking... If life is about patterns, archetypes, characters that we see replayed over and again throughout history, maybe these movies are a foretelling of a time to come when the goddess re-emerges and life comes under the rule of matriarchy once again.
I believe in the rise of the goddess culture. Again, I don't believe the intent is to oppose men, but it is not compatible with patriarchy. Goddess culture, to me, is the encouragement to use your voice and tell your story, to write your own rules and to live by them, to live and dwell in peace and to allow others to do the same.
Posts
