Temple of Kali

Journey with Me Blog Series

Location: Colombo, Sri Lanka

My experience there

Located on a secondary street just off a busy highway, this is a sacred place you will not just stumble upon. A dear friend tipped me off to its existence just a few days before I visited it. You can’t take pictures in the temple of Kali,  so I had no idea what it would look like—nor will you.

The day I visited the temple, I woke up early and arrived around 6:30 a.m. The temple was in a state of focused calm. Dark, powerful sculptures filled the interior space, loaded with the symbology of Kali and her sacred objects and animals, staring at me intently. A few priests, wearing white loincloths covering only their groins, looked like cats waiting to pounce on their prey.

I immediately loved it.

A loud bell rang, signaling the beginning of the morning ceremony. I can’t describe this ritual in more than vague terms. The priests went around the temple in a precise choreography, activating the many altars with fire, sound, and offerings. A man, sitting cross-legged on the floor, was playing a long trumpet, its dissonant, deep sound adding a level of urgency to the whole scene. Kali’s distinct archetypal energy, an incarnation of the Dark Feminine, filled the space.

I entered into a deep meditative state almost instantly. Shivers ran through my body, and gentle tears flowed down my face. This was not the first time I had met the Dark Feminine in a temple. In Turkey, on the shores of the Aegean Sea, I had encountered an ancient, wise, yet almost dormant incarnation of Her as Hekate. But now, in the middle of busy Colombo, Kali showed up sensual, young, fearsome. 

Wandering around the temple, I ended up in front of a small statue representing a seductive woman with the head of a wild boar. In her savage beauty, this representation of the Dark Feminine reminded me of powerful, forgotten things— parts that live in the darkness of our psyche, full of life, mysterious and innocent. 

The seductive, primal animal that resides in all of us is fierce in its desires and innocent in its purpose. It is the Dark Feminine that, granting access to the dirt and soil of our psyche, puts us in touch with those “ugly” psychic formations that are so fertile and rich. Our desire to conform to a light-loving culture has confined those forgotten parts to the basement. 

Discovering and integrating the Dark Feminine has been one of the richest and most challenging chapters of my psycho-spiritual journey. This archetype has always attracted me and scared me in equal proportions. Because one of her main requests was to stop trying to understand or dominate her, for many years I assumed that the Dark Feminine, at least in some of her forms, wanted to dominate me. Eventually, I realized that she was more interested in playing with me, ruffling my hair, and laughing together at the world’s stupidity. 

There isn’t much more to tell about my experience in the Kali temple without hopelessly watering it down.  Suffice it to say that I received the blessings the priests gave freely. I went out of it refreshed and renewed, feeling that I had been resting in loving, nourishing Darkness. 

A little bit of history:

While Sri Lanka is a predominantly Buddhist country, worshiping Hindu gods and goddesses is still widespread.

Every religion has made its contribution to the collective human consciousness. Hinduism has given us some of the most embodied and distinctive deities of any other religion in the world. Rather than going through the process of synthesis that brought many cultures to shift from polytheism to monotheism, the Hindu pantheon has stayed as varied and diverse as ever. 

This means that, for those who are open to it, Hinduism can offer something that not many other traditions can offer: a relatable, incarnated representation of dozens of different archetypal energies. From the supreme triad of Brahma/Vishnu/Shiva and their consorts, representing a fundamental high-level trinity, to the ten Mahavidyas (of which Kali is one), to a multitude of lesser Gods and Goddesses, each one of them embodying a different “slice” of the archetypal world—there’s pretty much a deity for everything in Hinduism.

This richness and complexity is one of the most beautiful spiritual gifts. In Hindu temples, worship can become an incredibly intimate process. The deity in front of us is not some abstract principle but an embodied archetype that beams at us with a particular frequency. It is truly an advanced way to relate to the archetypal world.

When you are there

You will need to do some research to find the Temple of Kali in Colombo. Once you do, I recommend you visit this temple in the early morning and that you walk there rather than take a taxi.

On your way to the temple, look for street food sellers with a few big pots lined up in front of them. Here you can buy delicious and nourishing early-morning hot drinks, like Kola Kanda.  Don’t eat anything else; go to the temple on an empty stomach. 

Once the morning ceremony starts, don’t be afraid to get closer to the altars, following the procession of the priests. Despite their fiery look, and the fierceness of Kali herself, there is an enormous amount of benevolence in this temple.

The Dark Feminine, whether embodied by Kali or another deity, will happily devour you and behead you, but only for your  good. She has no intention to make you suffer. Her medicine is healing and renewal through descent and death. 

I warmly encourage you to drink from the spring well of the healthy, aligned dark feminine that is available in this temple and other temples dedicated to the goddess Kali.