There was a time when I would have hid my face from the dark aspect of the Mother. I am glad that time is passed, though the ability to embrace death is still something completely foreign to most human beings. It is instinctual for us to fight to survive, not accept our mortality lying down - "to not go quietly into that good night".

I have found some information on Kali as Mother which I feel may help us understand this aspect of the Great Goddess a bit better, and come to a point when accepting death does not mean we have to give up our will to live.

Kali the Mother
by Sister Nivedita
(Margaret E. Noble)

The stars are blotted out, Clouds are covering clouds, It is darkness, vibrant, sonant. In the roaring whirling wind Are the souls of a million lunatics,-- But loosed from the prison house,-- Wrenching trees by the roots, Sweeping all from the path. The sea has joined the fray, And swirls up mountain-waves, To reach the pitchy sky. Scattering plagues and sorrows, Dancing mad with joy, Come, Mother, Come! For Terror is thy name, Death is in Thy breath. And every shaking step Destroys a world for e’er. Thou "Time" the All-Destroyer Then come, O Mother, Come! Who can misery love, Dance in destruction's dance, And hug the form of Death,To him the Mother comes.
Internet Sacred Texts Archive: Kali the Mother

Labels: Goddess

I was wandering around the web, new to the Goddess-blogging community, and stumbled upon At the End of Desire. In Innana's post entitled The Circle Within 2 there is this:

"Someone once asked me, "What's the point of this Wicca thing? I mean, if you're not trying to get into Heaven or find Nirvana, what are you trying to do?" I couldn't help but comment on this subject.

Grian said... On the subject of "Heaven" and/or "Nirvana" and the point of it all: Aren't we striving towards some kind of enlightenment? Most Pagans believe in reincarnation in some form, so becoming enlightened seems to go along with that concept - moving from body to body and learning as much as possible. What would the end result of this be but enlightenment? So some people call it Heaven, Nirvana, The Summerlands - but enlightenment works for me. Conciousness is a good one too. At some point it would seem a soul would have to find its way back to the source after having learned all of the things that it was created for in the first place. Oddly enough I have a section written on this already in my "little project". Here is part of that section...

After the realization of One Mother, I examined modern Paganism in its various forms; most specifically Wicca. Unfortunately, what I found was a religious system that was lacking something – something vital. That statement will probably get me in trouble and I’m the last person who wants to get somebody’s proverbial panties in a bunch, but being honest is important enough to risk it. Anyway, Wicca left me wanting more, but what did the more consist of? Inspiration came from the east. Well sort of. It all came down to asking the right questions. I wanted to know what the purpose of being spiritual, religious, etc. was. I think some people go through life just assuming they’re supposed to follow a religion. Does anyone ever stop to ask why? What’s the point? For me, the answer to this question was (drum roll) enlightenment. A big word to be sure, but what does it mean?Merriam-Webster Online defines enlighten this way: to furnish knowledge to, to give spiritual insight to.This pretty much summed it up. Why bother practicing a religion that will teach you nothing? It would be pretty pointless to look back on years of religious study to suddenly realize you had gained absolutely nothing spiritually from it. So I looked towards the Goddess and asked myself what Her lessons where – what she could teach through practice. The answers to these questions are what make up this modest volume of words.

Labels: Modern Paganism