I hope you know the appearance of Goddess Kali. She is black-faced and black-bodied. She has bulging eyes. She always has a tongue sticking out and has ferocious look on her face. On top of it she wears a garland of human skulls. Don't get offended by my above statements. I am not passing any remark on Kali. I am just describing her appearance.
What I find surprising is how can anyone imagine such an appearance of Divine ! It also surprises me when you think "she represents all the attribute of the divine to me in a nice neat package".
You describe yourself as Shakta i.e. follower of Shaktism. Followers of Shaktism consider "Adi Shakti" to be supreme and worship God in female form. Goddess Parvati herself is Adi Shakti and all Goddesses like Durga, Kali, Santoshimata, Ekvira, Ambabai and all "Gram-devatas" i.e. village Goddesses are her forms.
You must be knowing Goddess Shachi who is Indra's wife and also the Goddess of happiness. The concept of Adi Shakti has its roots in worship of Shachi. The Sanskrit word "Shakti" i.e. energy is derived from root "Shak" which itself is derived from "Shach". And Shachi literally means energy i.e. personification of energy.
Nah you didn't offend me and yes I know of her imagery (fyi you missed a LOT). No the only thing offensive (its not easy to often me and you didn't) is your essentially saying I was wrong in the form of shakti I choose (incorrect by the way SHE chose ME). But since you asked I will explain to you how Maa Kali is a great image of the divine to me.
Its a long list grab popcorn :
First let's look at her name Maa meaning mother. We her deovtees do not call her scary monster kali or blood thirsty murderous Kali or demon slayer Kali. We call her mother.because she is as a mother to us.
Kali means time. According to science time and space are the same. Er go the divine IS the universe and more
Now to her image.
Her skin is dark(we see her more often being blue or purple) resembling the flormlessnes of the divine.
As mentioned before she is mother. A mother creates life and feeds it from her breast ( mind you in many images of Kali her breast are exposed and enlarged as further evidence of this). All this means the divine created and preserves all
The head she holds is our ego which she severs from our body. You motive she drains the head of blood. Meaning she is riding that which keeps our ego alive.
The garland is made of 50 heads for each letter in the sanskrit alphabet. Meaning contained within the divine is all the knowledge of this world and the next.
Her tongue is low from drinking the blood of demons. Meaning she protects us from evil, even going as far as to slay this evil which wishes us pain.
Upon Siva she stands without shakti there is no energy. The divine is that energy that allows the universe to work.
In her story she loses control and murder even human. This reminds me the divine is not just one "good" source. The divine is all things both "good" and "bad".
She makes er home in the cremation grounds . All things will die and will end up at the divines feet.
When is see and more importantly what I feel is a mothers love. I don't need to see or feel as I do. But don't assume that what you see is all there is to be seen
THANKS SUMIT! That was a great answer and I appreciate you for it.
The lion and tiger were the fiercest animals known to ancient Indians. Taking the form of a man-animal that would rip Hiranyakashipu to shreds would not violate Brahmā's boon to Hiranyakashipu to not be killed by neither man nor beast... Narasimha was neither and both.