I can hear some first reactions – ‘No, I don’t want to look at hideous imagery.’ But this is Kali and I even tried to soften the edges!

Nonetheless, life includes events of unpleasantness, pain and suffering. Often referred to as ‘The Dark Night of the Soul’, the trick is to not let these events fester. Carl Jung said, “The foundation of all mental illness is the unwillingness to experience legitimate suffering.”

The Goddess Kali – Artist Susan Krieg – 12″ x 12″ acrylic and neon on wood panel

A cliff note version of who Kali is in Hindu tradition: Kali represents time, destruction and spiritual rebirth. In Sanskrit the word Kala means time. She’s usually colored black or dark blue representing the infinite void of space and time. Her lolling tongue is stained with the blood of evil forces. KALI DOES NOT FIGHT DARKNESS- SHE CONSUMES IT! Her necklace of skulls is to show the death of the human ego.

Her story comes from the Legend of Raktabija. This Hindu legend from around the 6th century begins with the gods in the middle of losing a huge battle to the demon Raktabija. Every time a drop of Raktabija’s blood hit the ground a new demon sprang up. The goddess Durga, in desperation spawns Kali from her third eye. Kali rushes into battle and with her long tongue laps up every drop of blood before it hits the ground.

She eventually defeats everything, including all the demons and the armies. She is so consumed by it all that her wild dancing shakes the whole universe. She is eventually calmed by her consort, Shiva, who lays down on the ground at her feet. Before she can destroy him too, she regains conscious realization and bites her tongue and this ends her frenzy. Hindus see Kali as a loving protective mother (MahaKali). She destroys fear, ego and inner demons to free one from suffering.

The Goddess Kali – Artist Susan Krieg – photographed under black light in partial daylight.

Kali show up in life when needed for personal growth. I’ve had several dark nights of the soul in my lifetime – times when I’ve felt violated or attacked by an uncompromising force, that was out of my control. Things that I had to get through. Times where my ego has to detach from everything that it logically thinks it knows. Everyday attachments to one’s understanding of the world are shattered and lose meaning. It’s a sort of death and it requires a rebirth within oneself.

Kali came up for me from circumstances over the past two months. At the end of June 26 I packed and moved from Charlottesville, VA to Asheville, NC. Nothing came easily: from the packing, the driving back and forth three times, my dog’s stress, my stress, the unfinished house, unfinished driveway that forced me to unload my vehicle with much difficulty, no electricity for two days in very hot temps. But it culminated with the long distance movers who robbed me, literally held my furniture hostage while they forced me to go to my bank teller machine for cash, drain my zelle bank limit, buy postal checks and pay them as much cash as I had. Yes it’s a thing. A scam I hadn’t heard of before, til now. If you’ve been scammed, you know the feeling of humiliation, violation, disgust, anger, unrelenting dark thoughts etc.

Not easy to let go of, but this was a Kali moment. This was indeed a tearing away of my ego defenses, but it was also representative of the egos of the four men who robbed me. Psychologically for these men to rob an older woman, their egos had to be so distorted as to justify that their lives and needs are of greater value than the life of their victim. This is true for all the people that commit crimes and violate other. It is fairly prevalent in our world right now.

The Goddess Kali – Artist Susan Krieg – 12″ x’ 12″ panel photographed under black lite.

You can find some pretty scary images of Kali online. To keep with enough traditional imagery and symbolism, I included the skulls she wears as a necklace. I limited it to 13 skulls to represent transformation, sacred feminine energy and divine unity that transcends the rigid cycle of the number 12. (The number 13 is another whole area of misunderstanding.)

I included the lolling tongue because if you’ve ever done lion’s breath in yoga class, you know the feeling of release to stick your tongue out while exhaling and growl at the same time. Go ahead, try it now!

I also feel her piercing eyes are important. I added her symbolic red hibiscus flowers and the spiral of time. Time includes both creation and destruction and Kali’s story is all about time.

Embedded is a star tetrahedron: one tetrahedron points down representing Kali, the other tetrahedron points upward representing Shiva, her consort. This union is the perfect balance of cosmic destruction and rebirth. Like the yin and the yang it is the perfect union that keeps life rolling along.

I added the fire across the top which is used in ritual sacrifice. It takes an internal fire to release the emotions that a dark-night-of-the-soul event ignites.

When it comes to Kali events, we have to be willing to sacrifice logic and ego through compassion and emotional wisdom which is represented by the heart at the third eye chakra.

So to end my personal story I ask that the universe allow these four men to run fast enough, to get in front of the karmic arrows they shot! Thank you.

I have moved on and am falling in love with my new home in Asheville. And with Kali being my first painting since my move, I’m ready to get back in the groove.