Kali Ma

Kali is the Mother of Darkness, she represents the side of us where light is absent. She also represents our primal urges & recognizes them as a part of us and therefore not bad. "Its not a cry that you heard at night, its not somebody who's seen the light, its a cold & its a broken hallelujah." - Hallelujah (original Leonard Cohen). To me these lyrics further demonstrate that enlightenment means to shed light on your darkness until there is no more darkness. Of course, there will always be some darkness, and if there weren't then we wouldn't have to worry about learning that lesson here on earth. We would be a guide to others who still have lessons to learn. It is important to not run away from your dark feelings like blame, guilt, jealousy, resentment, judgement, anger, fear, sadness, doubt (especially self-doubt) & disappointment. It is important to let feelings move through you. Learn form what comes up in your life and handle the tough stuff with grace, integrity & compassion. Let things move through you so you can learn, move on, learn move on and repeat. There are so many beautiful life lessons to be gobbled up here. So get to it! Embrace Kali when a need to be honest with yourself about your darkness & you need a little extra help seeing, admitting, accepting & forgiving yourself for your darkness. Turn darkness into light.

Invocation to Kali (In Sanskrit):
Aum
Kring Kalikaye Namah
Aum

Meaning (In English):
Mother Kali! Godess Of Death
Mostress Of Justice
Wake Now, Mother & Hear My Chant,
I Call You From Your Slumber,
Come & Bring The Warrior Spirit.

Another mantra you can use when you need to motivate yourself toward positive change is the Asatoma Invocation (In Sanskrit):
Om
Asatomaa sad gamaya
Tamaso maa jyotir gamaya
Mrityormaa amritaam gamaya
Om shanti shanti shanti

Meaning (In English):
Lead me from the unreal to the real
Lead me from darkness to light
Lead me from death to immortality
Om peace, peace, peace