Dark Aspects of the Goddess
With Samhain coming up I thought it would be a good time to discuss “Dark” aspects of the goddess and the forms that she takes. Being that there is so much material to cover I'll be presenting this lesson in two parts.
Kali
Kali ("the black one") who is known as the Hindu mother goddess,is the symbol of dissolution and destruction. She eradicates ignorance, Kali also maintains the world order, as well as blessing and freeing those who strive for the knowledge of God. The Vedas associate her name with Agni who is the god of fire , and he had seven flickering tongues of flame. Kali was the black tongue. The meaning of the word has been replaced by the goddess Kali, the grim consort of Shiva.
Kalli's appearance is very fearsome. She has baleful eyes, a protruding tongue, and four arms. Her upper left hand holds a bloody sword and in her left hand she holds the severed head of a demon. Mean while her upper right hand is making the gesture of fearlessness and her lower right hand confers benefits. She is adorned with a chain of severed heads and a belt of dismembered arms. She is often depicted dancing on the union with Shiva. When she takes the form of Bhavatarini, she is the redeemer of the universe, and is depicted standing upon the supine form of her spouse.
Maternal Kali
In one myth she is depicted in her maternal, benevolent aspect. After having defeated her foes on the battlefield she began to dance uncontrollably. She had become drunk with the blood of her slain enemies. To calm her down and to protect the stability of the world, Shiva is sent to the battlefield, as an infant, crying. Upon seeing a child in distress she stopped her dancing in order to take care of the helpless infant. Seeing the child's distress, Kali ceases dancing to take care of the helpless infant. She picks him up, kisses his head, and proceeds to breast feed the infant Shiva.This myth shows the goddess in a totally new light which is revered in Hinduism however is not often recognized in the west.
The etymology of the word I found rather interesting can mean kāla "appointed time"and depending on the context can be interpreted as the word death.
There are other names that she is known as such as Kalikamata ("black earth-mother") and Kalaratri ("black night"). Among the Tamils she is known as Kottavei. The center of worship of Kali is in Bengal. The more prominent temples dedicated to Kali Her best known temples are in Kalighat and Dakshineshvara.
Badb
According to Irish mythology, the word Badb translates to crow in Old Irish and vulture in the modern Irish. She was a goddess of war who was capable of taking the form of a crow, and in this aspect she was known as Badb Catha which when translated means battle crow. She was known to cause confusion among the soldiers in order to move the tide of battle to the side that she favored. Battlefields were called the land of Badb, and were often said to include Badb taking part as a crow or as a wolf. The goddess Badb is associated with the beansidhe, other wise known as a Banshee. The word bean side in Irish means woman of the side or woman of the fairy mounds who is a female spirit in Irish mythology. The Banshee is usually considered and omen of death and a messenger from the Otherworld. She was seen to have been crucial in the battle against the Fomorians.
According to Irish mythology in the second battle of the second battle of Mag Tuired . The Tuatha De Danann defeated the Fomorians in battle, Badb is said to have foretold the end of the world.
Badb is part of a trio of war goddesses which are her sisters Macha and the Morrígan, daughters of Ernmas. She is sometimes the wife of Neit, and may be equivalent with Nemain, Neit's more usual wife.
Hecate
The next goddess that I'd like to discuss is Hecate who is one of my personal favorites and is a very useful goddess to work with. She quite often is given a bad wrap and thought of as evil by some. I would have written more but it is very difficult to find much information on this particular goddess.
Hecate is the Greek goddess (the Romans know her as the goddess Trivia) of the crossroads ,a goddess of the wilderness and childbirth,witchcraft, the night, moon, ghosts and necromancy. She was the only child of the Titans Perses and Asteria from whom she received her power over heaven, earth, and sea. Hecate was usually depicted in Greek vase painting as a woman holding twin torches. Sometimes she was dressed in a knee-length maiden's skirt and hunting boots, much like Artemis. In statuary Hecate was often depicted in triple form as a goddess of crossroads.
. She is also often depicted as having; one being the head of a dog, another a snake and the other head is the head of a horse. Often she is seen accompanied by two ghost hounds. In Greek mythology there is one myth where the goddess traveled to the Underworld and rescued Persephone. She haunts a three way crossroad which is not what most folks think of nowadays as a crossroad.
Hel
Sorry if this one comes off a little thin as well I didn't find much while digging up information for the lesson on this goddess. However, I'm sure that if I had time to sit down and read more of the myths that I would have more information on her.
In Norse mythology, Hel is the ruler of Helheim, the realm of the Otherworld. She is the youngest child of the evil god Loki and the giantess Angrboda. She is most often depicted as a horrible hag, half alive and half dead, with a gloomy expression and her thighs and legs are those of a corpse mottled and decaying.
According to the myths the gods abducted Hel and her brothers from Angrboda's hall. They cast Hel into the underworld. The wicked and those who have died of old age are sent to her which she then distributes. Hel's hal is in Helheim and is called Eljundir, which means home of the dead. She has a manservant who's name is Ganglati and , a maidservant named Ganglot and both may be translated as the word tardy.
We'll be covering more of the goddesses in next week's lesson and I hope to have it up much sooner this time.
