THE ARCANE ARCHIVE
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From: nagasiva 
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Date: Fri, 17 Nov 1995 13:33:41 -0800 (PST)
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To: Multiple recipients of 
Subject: Kali, Liberation and Dominators
Status: RO

originally posted to Usenet:

|Summary: Excerpts from a Catalog of Devotional Statues
|Keywords: Kali Terror Horror Deliverance Suffering

|KALI YUGA
|4995th Year, 11th Month, 17th Day
|
|"KALI - *Goddess in the aspect of Liberator*
|
|"Unlike much Western mythology, Hinduism at all times has recognized the
| feminine principle, most prominently in the form of consort to Siva or
| Siva-Shakti.  The male power, inert, is useless without this energizing
| female power, conceived of in its benign form as Parvati, and in its
| fierce or destructive form as Kali.  In this terrifying aspect, the
| goddess drips blood from her devouring mouth, and her huge sword has
| beheaded the demon Ignorance, while her other two hands signify the
| blessing implied by this penultimate spiritual deed.  The Ancient
| Goddess, in her warrior aspect of Inanna, Medusa, Athena or Morrigan
| served a similar psycho-spiritual function in Western cultures."
|
|
|"Understanding Kali
|
|"There are few archetypes in modern society that allow us to recognize
| what Jung called our "shadow" side.  In part this is a dark cthonic
| force, a compendium of what Elizabeth Kubler-Ross calls the four
| negative emotions of fear, anger, jealousy, and grief.
|
|"Kubler-Ross and other psychotherapists (especially the practitioners
| of Gestalt therapy and Re-evaluation counseling) insist on our need
| to ventilate, externalize, or discharge these feelings, either through
| tears, rageful yelling, or symbolic destroying.  Kali of the fearsome
| form is the patroness of such healing.  Kali emanates from the warrior
| goddess Durga in times of peril, and like a bloodthirsty whirlwind
| slays the demons of ignorance which conflict the human mind.  In her
| greatest of such archetypal battles, Lord Siva had to throw himself
| at her feet to halt her.  Dancing upon his body, she calmed and brought
| the universe back to life, as symbolized by Siva's enigmatic smile.
|
|"Her dance of destruction is ultimately the destruction of evil, and
| seekers who throw themselves at her feet are reborn out of pain into
| vitality, spontaneity, and appreciation of the full joy and beauty
| of existence.  Hindus recognize that beneath her frightening
| appearance is the truth that life, though fraught with suffering
| and terminated in death, is ultimately rooted in joy.
|
|"All ancient traditions created archetypes of this wisdom.  Greek
| Medusa, Medieval Hecate, Yoruban Oya, Celtic Morrigan, Norse Valkyerie,
| and Mayan Ixchel Crone each tell us that to realize this joy, suffering
| and death must be faced.
|
| Only by conquering them through recognizing them as portals of rebirth,
| thereby reconciling them with one's hopes and expectations, can peace
| and joy be found."
|
| 'JBL Devotional Statues' Catalog, p. 19.
| ________________________________________
|
|
|"JBL takes as its goal the central premise of Joseph Campbell and
| Riane Eisler: as we change the societal models and cultural
| archetypes that surround us, our Western hierarchic and dominator
| values will soften and transform into a more sharing, partnership-
| focused and eco-harmonious world view.  Our unique and colorful
| images, products of humankind's most ancient technology, reflect
| the blending of earth, air, fire and water into symbols of the
| qualities which make us most fully human: Love, Devotion, Suffering,
| Joy, Aspiration.  Created from Ganges clay in a variety of finishes,
| each statue is different; each is truly a one-of-a-kind piece of
| handcraft art.  It is our hope that when you gaze upon your statues,
| you will become re-attuned with your own personal process of
| transformation."
|
| Ibid, p. 16.
| ____________
|
|
|I'd like to hear commentary on the comparison between personal gods
|and psychological archetypes.  I'd also like to know if this kind of
|language ("dominator values") is just a reflection of _Chalice and the 
|Blade_ and Eisler's subsequent works, or if Eisler got it from 
|somewhere else.
|
|Are the emotions just 'things to get through' so as to reach peace and
|joy?  Like lessons in a cosmic grammar school?  Or are they pure and
|perfect themselves?  Does Kali's destruction imply the destruction of
|ignorance and the 'negative emotions' to which ignorance leads, or is
|it indicative of a more profound destruction, of the dividing line
|between dualities such as 'positive and negative' or 'knowledge and
|ignorance' that lead us to conceive the problem at the beginning?
|
|*Is* there such a thing as 'sin' to a Hindu?  All Hindus?  Is the text
|here reflective of all Hindus or is it overgeneralizing and inexact?
|Does it do disrespect to the gods to portray them as 'archetypal 
|creations of significant wisdom within a religious society'?
|
|Aum aum aum krim namah Kaliya!
|
|nagasiva
|tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com 
|___________________________
|
|PS, I am not employed by JBL nor do I receive any compensation from
|JBL or its subsidiaries for my reproduction of a small part of their
|catalog.  If you would like to contact them directly you may do so
|at: JBL Statues, P.O. Box 163, Rt. 1, Box 246, Vtoxry, VA 22932.
|

tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com