Celebrating the Dark Artistry of the Goddess

We are approaching Samhain, more commonly known as Halloween, when the veil between the living and the dead is the thinest.  The wisdom that evolves us across generations is more readily available to us during this season and so is our resistance to this wisdom.

The costumes, the glucose spikes, the masks, the characters we let ourselves become at Halloween may deepen our journey or they may become an entertaining distraction from it.  Perhaps we’ll have the best of both worlds, we’ll entertain ourselves with the truth while looking out from the costumes of the familiar!  That’s exactly the intention behind the ritual I am offering tomorrow on the New Moon,Celebrating the Artistry of the Dark Goddess, Wednesday, 6:30 to 8 pm, at Red Bean Studios.  Register here! (please note this is from 2011)

I am often asked to lead Kali inspired rituals during this season.  This year I’m recognizing that the ritual of the Dark Goddess is intimately connected to my studies of healing trauma with Peter Levine, author of “Waking the Tiger.”  The tiger in the nervous system is the one who pounces when someone attacks me.  She is the one who pumps my heart fast and steady when I speak loudly.  She is the one looking through my eyes when I trust that who I am is valuable.  When she sleeps, people can smell it on me.  The boundaries get fuzzy and protection feels like a draining task that fear has asked me to perform.

I recently joined a room of mental health professionals and therapists for a training with internationally recognized trauma expert, Peter Levine.  He works with the children in Japan who survived the tsunami.  He works with veterans returning from war and adults who grew up in concentration camps.  I dare say he works courageously close to the Dark Goddess.  Kali Ma, the hindu form of the Dark Goddess, destroys that which is untrue.  For thousands of years people have invoked Her energy to destroy the energetic imprints of the events which did not honor our true value. 

I’ll be integrating the somatic technology that Levine uses to Wake the Tiger.  He defines trauma, not as a result of a situation, but it is the result of the tiger sleeping during the situation.  Kali, like rage, is often misunderstood and feared.  Her limitless unapologetic freedom can be presented out of context, falsely legitimizing our unconscious lust and unexamined envy.  We invoke her in this ritual with great respect and purpose.  She is the Mother Nature energy at its most powerful-civilization-rumblin-core, she is the Goddess of death.  She kills illusion.  She expects us to be courageous and we have the opportunity to make her right.

Dark and Shadow are Not the Same

There is no Shadow inside a Mother’s womb or in the Earth, there is only fertile Darkness, possibility, and transformation.  The Shadow exists where light is actively obstructed.  The energy we expend to prevent this area from seeing the light of day is energy that is no longer available for trust, love, and passion.  Dark Goddess, we ask you to awaken the tiger inside us, to unfreeze the memories our body has accumlated as we grow our emotional and spiritual resources.  We ask for psychological rejuventation that allows us to break cycles that have replaced trust, love, and passion.

Come adorned in black, ready to dance, come ready to release a part of you that is no longer you!

Chocolate and fruit will be served.