Kalarartri

She appears beneath the cloak of night, revealing the truths that must be known to set the heart free. She offers you an opportunity to engage in a profound and enduring transformation. This will lead to a powerful rebirth, free from even the most persistent patterns or pains of your past. Your soul is in deep healing. Recovery can be painful, but that pain is temporary, and you will emerge renewed and released. In time, you will greet your rising destiny from an entirely new and improved inner foundation. You are blessed to experience a new life within this lifetime.

The goddess, Kalarartri, appeared when a warrior violated the rules of law and violently assaulted enemy troops resting under cover of night. She appeared in terrible form, making sounds that expressed her horror at the suffering taking place. This is the weeping and wailing Black Madonna. No matter how people try to cover up what is happening, glossing over things with cleverly manipulative words, she is the truth witnessed and laid bare.

For those who have been cajoled or coerced to deny their intuition and authentic experience, Kalarartri breaks through the ‘crazy-making’ and brings us into the truth of what is happening. She brings the relief of truth, even when it is difficult to bear. She breaks open toxic systems and reveals deceptive behaviors. In unmasking the terror of what has happened-or is still happening-we become able to disconnect from sources of abuse so we can begin to heal the trauma. That which is not acknowledged can never heal, but is doomed to be repeated. The acknowledgment of Kalarartri is not an intellectual understanding, but a bone-deep agony of release. It is like pulling the thorn out of the lion’s paw. It hurts but is the way that leads to healing, rather than the hurt that would come from trying to ignore the thorn and dealing with increasingly negative consequences.

The name, Kalarartri, literally translates as ‘black night’, a time that is sacred and honored with celebration in the Hindu tradition. It is also an emanation of the goddess, Kali, herself. In that sense, Kali is our dark night of the soul. In the Hindu scriptures, Kalarartri is known as the dark night of final dissolution, the formal and absolute ending of something that no longer needs to be. She signifies that there is no going back. She is the spiritual solvent into which we-as we have known ourselves and experienced our agonies-can dissolve.

On the spiritual path, to go through a dark night of Kalarartri is considered a protective and enveloping experience. Here, we can be held in a psychic container that allows us to dispense with all we have been working through or are holding on to. It is where we try to figure it out and just let it all go — similar to what happens during sleep. During the ‘spiritual sleep’ of Kalarartri, we drop the ego and intellect, and allow for the divine reorganizing and healing power of the Sacred Feminine to work its restorative magic. Energies are processed and cleared away. From her, as the cosmic womb, we can then be recreated, reborn.

The oracle brings a message of total change, of a need to let go of what has been so that a new form can be established. You will not know what the new form is going to look like, just as you do not know what you will dream of before you go to sleep, nor in what state you will awaken the following morning. As you enter into this spiritual sleep, you cannot know all that will happen. Yet, this is Kali. So, we can trust. Sleep only comes when we let go, so too, this deep and restorative spiritual surrender can only happen when we are willing to let go of our attachment to what has been.

This form of the Goddess is said to ward off dark entities, ghosts or spirits, and negative energies, as they all flee upon her arrival. The sanctuary of night and all it entails (such as coming face to face with our fears and through that, releasing them) is a temple for healing with the Goddess. So, the many gifts of Kalarartri include increased fearlessness and freedom. The oracle guides you to trust in her protection and her promise that under her guiding hand, you shall become all you are destined to be.

Invocation Ritual

Say the following prayer:

Jai Ma Kali, dark mother of the black night, cosmic womb of Kalarartri, I honor you, the divine dissolution, the ending necessary to yield the promised fulfilment. My trust in you is unconditional. I openly acknowledge my suffering and give voice to the agonies I have experienced with intention only to release all of it to you. Bless me with the courage of your honesty to attain complete release. What I have known is less than a drop in the oceanic divine nature that you are awakening within me. I cross the threshold into your healing darkness of unknowing. Here I rest for as long as needed, gently and lovingly dissolving into your being, until I am ready to be birthed anew. May all beings feel your love and know your beautiful liberation. Jai Ma Kali!

Rest now, perhaps in a darkened room, or with a lightweight cover resting comfortably over your eyes to reduce the light. Be in the space of not knowing for a while. Know that it is okay, that it is a part of the journey. Give yourself permission to return to this space as often as you need. There will be a time when you no longer need it, but for now, be here with trust. When you are ready to emerge, complete the practice with your hands in prayer at your heart. You have completed your healing process.