Kama of Kali

She is completely and utterly in love with your divine essence, and in her love, bestows endless gifts. Your path need not be one of endless effort. Connecting with pleasure as a path of personal empowerment with an intention to bring spiritual benefit to the collective through softening and opening your heart, is an act of worshipping the Divine Feminine. Relax into the presence of what is, as you slow your pace, and make swifter progress.

Kama is a Sanskrit word that refers to the sweet stuff of life – pleasure, emotional fulfilment and being completely present so we can experience life through all the senses. So, it is also sensuality and physical vibrancy. Without the quality of kama, our experience of life can become dry, bleak and intimidating, a joyless existence with simply more tasks to be completed. If we are feeling exhausted, lacking in the qualities of delight and lightness of heart, then we have become deficient in kama, sacred pleasure. In the realm of the Goddess, the enjoyment of life is a sacred act of devotion, gratitude and celebration.

In the throws of profound challenge and transformation, we can feel disconnected from our joyfulness. It’s as though it were akin to the bright days of summer and we are midwinter, wondering how it ever was that we could frolic about in barely anything when we now feel the need to cover ourselves with abundant protective layers. This is to be expected during times of intense suffering when we are dealing with an issue that has elicited grief or anger. Yet, if we allow our minds to remain open to the possibility of joyfulness and pleasure, they can find their way through like the sun breaking through clouds to bring us comfort. The oracle can indicate not only a more pleasurable way of being as part of your future but also an offering of pleasure now, even if you are struggling to ease the strain and make the way easier overall.

Accessing pleasure requires embodiment, a connection with the senses and the subtle nuances of feeling and beauty. Through embodiment, it is easier to receive healing. It can manifest through the uplifting scent of aromatherapy, the warmth of a shower, gratitude for a safe and comfortable place to sleep, the sumptuousness of warm clothes or a satisfying meal, the delight of playful silliness in animals, the nutty sense of humour of a beloved human, the simple appreciation for the flow of the breath, or through the openness of being that spontaneously occurs in response to an expansive vista of trees and mountains. Kama is the spiritual practice of presence that leads us into joy, even ecstasy and bliss. It is the juiciness of feeling truly alive.

If we have a complicated or confused attitude toward pleasure, the natural need for it can be denied or repressed. Yet, it will not disappear. It will arise in some indulgence, addiction or peculiarity of behavior, which creates suffering because it is not the natural expression of the natural need. The Kali of Kama helps us reconnect to our need for pleasure and its healthy expression. The oracle speaks of a gift entering your life from the will of the Goddess. It is an invitation to relax and receive.

Sometimes, we may unconsciously attribute divine will with intentions to demand more and more of us. Yet, divine will has our best interests at heart. When we need to develop strength, it will certainly provide the experiences necessary for us to do so, but it also provides sweetness and pleasure which we can embrace, or not, using our free will. The oracle speaks of a need to embrace pleasure and the many gifts of the Goddess. This is not an indulgence. It can actually help you make progress on your spiritual path.

To be able to embrace joyfulness is a gift. It provides us with relief and release when the path has been truly difficult. It is the summer to the soul’s winter. To grow, we need both. The Kali of Kama is a message that we should not discard our need for pleasure. So much of what society promotes as pleasure is little more than disembodied escapism that creates further suffering rather than healing. The natural and enhancing experiences of pleasure, however, are a mystical medicine. We can only access it through presence, spontaneity and connection to ourselves and life. The Kama of Kali is genuinely healing. That is how we recognize sacred pleasure, through its effect. It has far-reaching positive consequences and leads to more energy, commitment and discipline as a natural response to the alleviation of excess pressure.

This teaching is not about becoming hedonistic, or pursuing pleasure at any cost, without wisdom or benefit. Instead, the oracle asks us to engage with pleasure as an act of worshipping the Goddess. When divine worship is genuine, it doesn’t add to the suffering of the world, but aids relief. To understand this, we can give up the notion of pleasure as selfish and begin to associate it with the sacred. The oracle brings comfort. It speaks of the forthcoming grace of pleasure in your life and your capacity to truly be with it as an act of blissful divine devotion.

Invocation Ritual

Reflect for a moment on your most pleasurable experiences that awaken joy and gratitude in your heart. Let that feel good.

Gaze at the oracle image. The lotus is a symbol of divine beauty and the pleasure this brings. Allow it to represent whatever you need at the moment, even if you don’t consciously know what that could be. Be open, and simply allow for the sensation of your heart being filled with such sweetness and delight that it causes a purging of old energies and an expansive sensation of floating, freedom and love. Let your heart rest in this beauty now. Let your soul relax.

You may like to repeat the mantra of the goddess, Kali, and the goddess, Lakshmi, to seal in these gifts of the Goddess and allow them to multiply in your life for the spiritual benefit of all beings.

Om Krim Kaliyei Namaha. Om Shrim Mahalakshmiyei Namaha.

(Sounds like, OHM KREEM CAR-LEE-YAY NAM-AH-HA. OHM SHREEM MA-HA-LUCK-SHMEE-YAY NAM-AH-HA.)

Finish with your hands in prayer.

You have completed your process.