Friday, March 16, 2007 at 2:02am
Kali vs. New Orleans
Column: Outing the Goddess Within
I'm currently reading "The Five People You Meet in Hell: Surviving Katrina" by the New Orleans writer Robert Smallwood. It's quirkily written, but I'm riveted by Robert's firsthand account of the horrors of surviving in the French Quarter in the days following Hurricane Katrina.
There is one scene that struck me in particular: "The police drove off with the corpse on the hood of their car like roadkill."
What struck me most about this is that this took place in the French Quarter — the historic neighborhood that got off relatively lightly (ha!) compared to Lakeview, Gentilly and the Ninth Ward. The scene is something I'd have expected to have taken place in the outer wards of the city, not in the vivacious heart of historic New Orleans.
Now, we've all gone through times when the carpet has been ripped from under our feet and we are suddenly on our tush, wondering what the heck happened to life as we know it. (We may also wonder how we came to have plush-pile carpet in our lives in the first place, but that's a whole other story.) But I am struggling to think of another time in a civilized country's history that a natural disaster destroyed the lives of 500,000 people in the course of six hours.
It would be easy to assume that a storm of this magnitude must be the work of Kali — the Hindu goddess of destruction. Typically, she is depicted wearing a necklace of skulls, blood dripping from her teeth and dancing on corpses. Not the type of girl one takes home to meet Mom, kind of thing.
But there is more to Kali than meets the eye, for it is in the act of destroying that she facilitates rebirth. That is, in destroying life as we know it, she is simply doing what it takes to get us back onto the right path — the path where we will ultimately be happier and more satisfied with our lives.
I know, I know, it can be a right pain in the neck to have your life turned upside down. I first met Kali when my first marriage started going bad. I hung in there, hung in there and hung in there some more, but it wasn't until my first husband got reeeaaaaal nasty that I got out of there and started a new life. Like me, for those of you who have been through Kali's wringer, I'm willing to bet you can look back and recognize you are in a far better place now than then.
Personally, I now find enormous comfort in being able to ride out storms in my life knowing that they are simply Kali having a tantrum about my inertia.
But back to New Orleans and how the tragedy relates to Kali's energy.
As I told my InnerGoddess members this week, every local that I met during my week in New Orleans said the same thing: "Tell your friends we are now dry (!!) and to PLEASE COME AND VISIT. Support our businesses, help create employment, and do what you can to help us rebuild our city."
So naturally, upon hearing this, I saw it as my duty to shop! I especially loved the knickknacks at Oonka Boonkas in Chartres Street, where my big spend-up earned me a hug from the store owner and a warm, fuzzy feeling in my wallet.
Also during my week in New Orleans, we dined at the oldest restaurant in America, drank at the oldest bar in America, sat on the balcony of the oldest apartment building in America, ate the most famous breakfast in America ... (ha ha, you thought I was going to say the oldest breakfast, didn't you?!).
The list goes on, but the point is, New Orleans has been around since America began to settle, and thanks to Kali's kick up the bum and the interminable, never-say-die nature of the French Quarter locals, I look forward to seeing New Orleans grow even more "fabulouser" in the generations to come.
— — —
Anita Ryan-Revel is the creatrix of Goddess.com.au, a resource-rich site aimed at helping you connect with your beautiful, sassy, intuitive, lovable, sacred and authentic self. Catch her on tour in the USA in March: See ChakraGoddess.com for details. © copyright 2007 by Anita Ryan-Revel.
There is one scene that struck me in particular: "The police drove off with the corpse on the hood of their car like roadkill."
What struck me most about this is that this took place in the French Quarter — the historic neighborhood that got off relatively lightly (ha!) compared to Lakeview, Gentilly and the Ninth Ward. The scene is something I'd have expected to have taken place in the outer wards of the city, not in the vivacious heart of historic New Orleans.
Now, we've all gone through times when the carpet has been ripped from under our feet and we are suddenly on our tush, wondering what the heck happened to life as we know it. (We may also wonder how we came to have plush-pile carpet in our lives in the first place, but that's a whole other story.) But I am struggling to think of another time in a civilized country's history that a natural disaster destroyed the lives of 500,000 people in the course of six hours.
It would be easy to assume that a storm of this magnitude must be the work of Kali — the Hindu goddess of destruction. Typically, she is depicted wearing a necklace of skulls, blood dripping from her teeth and dancing on corpses. Not the type of girl one takes home to meet Mom, kind of thing.
But there is more to Kali than meets the eye, for it is in the act of destroying that she facilitates rebirth. That is, in destroying life as we know it, she is simply doing what it takes to get us back onto the right path — the path where we will ultimately be happier and more satisfied with our lives.
I know, I know, it can be a right pain in the neck to have your life turned upside down. I first met Kali when my first marriage started going bad. I hung in there, hung in there and hung in there some more, but it wasn't until my first husband got reeeaaaaal nasty that I got out of there and started a new life. Like me, for those of you who have been through Kali's wringer, I'm willing to bet you can look back and recognize you are in a far better place now than then.
Personally, I now find enormous comfort in being able to ride out storms in my life knowing that they are simply Kali having a tantrum about my inertia.
But back to New Orleans and how the tragedy relates to Kali's energy.
As I told my InnerGoddess members this week, every local that I met during my week in New Orleans said the same thing: "Tell your friends we are now dry (!!) and to PLEASE COME AND VISIT. Support our businesses, help create employment, and do what you can to help us rebuild our city."
So naturally, upon hearing this, I saw it as my duty to shop! I especially loved the knickknacks at Oonka Boonkas in Chartres Street, where my big spend-up earned me a hug from the store owner and a warm, fuzzy feeling in my wallet.
Also during my week in New Orleans, we dined at the oldest restaurant in America, drank at the oldest bar in America, sat on the balcony of the oldest apartment building in America, ate the most famous breakfast in America ... (ha ha, you thought I was going to say the oldest breakfast, didn't you?!).
The list goes on, but the point is, New Orleans has been around since America began to settle, and thanks to Kali's kick up the bum and the interminable, never-say-die nature of the French Quarter locals, I look forward to seeing New Orleans grow even more "fabulouser" in the generations to come.
— — —
Anita Ryan-Revel is the creatrix of Goddess.com.au, a resource-rich site aimed at helping you connect with your beautiful, sassy, intuitive, lovable, sacred and authentic self. Catch her on tour in the USA in March: See ChakraGoddess.com for details. © copyright 2007 by Anita Ryan-Revel.