ladysstoneheart:

MYTHOLOGY MEME: GODDESS FROM A TO Z  | KALI

Kali is India’s Great Mother: goddess of time; creation; destruction and contradictions. Kali was a tribal goddess prior to the Aryan invasions, which brought
Vedic traditions and Hinduism to India. Her veneration was so persistent, enduring
and significant that she was eventually incorporated into the Hindu pantheon as one
of its most powerful deities. 

According to myth, when all the other deities were
stymied by a demon. Kali emerged as an independent emanation of the goddess
Durga. Kali is an unstoppable force: she handily defeated that demon but was then
unable to stop her whirling dance of destruction. The entire world would have been
destroyed had not Shiva, her beloved, thrown himself at her feet, risking his own
death but snapping her out of her rampage.
Kali births and destroys her children. 

Her name may be interpreted as having to do with time but
it literally means black as in Earth’s fertile black soil or as in black holes, those
regions of space whose gravitational pull is so intense that nothing can escape.
Reputedly the most difficult of all spirits to understand, Kali’s devotees claim that
attempts to comprehend her will free you of all fear. Her stereotype depicts her as a
scary, bloodthirsty, out-of-control demon. She was notorious as the spirit venerated
by the now infamous Thuggees, secret fraternities of thieves who may have strangled
victims in her honor. However, Thuggees were always but a tiny minority of her
following. Sensationalized descriptions of Kali tend to overlook the tremendous
blessings she brings: bestowing protection; good health; abundanceand fertility on
her devotees.