About Kaliani

What's in a name?

When I meet people, most ask me if my name, Kaliani, is Hawaiian.  It isn't.  It is a name I chose at a Croning Ceremony when I turned 50 years old.  To me, the name "Kaliani" gives homage to the Goddess Kali, my patron goddess and denotes "Kali's little one." 

Croning Ceremony, Photo by Amalya

If you look the name up online, you'll find that various other Hindu goddesses are associated with the name, as it may be another name for Lakshmi, Durga or Parvati.  The most common meanings for the name are beautiful, auspicious and blessed. One of the sources online when I was selecting a spiritual name indicated that Kaliani meant, "she who makes auspicious things happen," and that was confirmation.

Something I found out later, was that name was a feminine form of Kalyan, which, in the Hindu epic the 'Mahabharata' was one of the open star clusters, Krittikas, or the Pleiades.

There are also a few place names associated with Kaliani or Kalyani.  In India, there is a city called Kalyani, in West Bengal, and in Greece, there's a small town in Korinthia, called Kaliani, due west of Athens.  And, another city in Bangladesh. I was happy to hear of the Greek town, as my given name is Cynthia which is Greek in origin for the Moon Goddess Artemis, who was said to be born on Mount Cynthus. 

When I chose the name I was going through a period of rapid spiritual growth, taking three different kickass trainings at once, a priestess training, Reiki master/teacher level training, and Kundalini yoga instructor certification.  Any one of those would have been transformational, but all three at once was way over the top!  Somehow, it seemed to make sense to me at the time. Then, on top of all that, I had started going on spiritual pilgrimages with Maria Yraceburu.

Rebirthing as Kaliani, Photo by Amalya

I was clearly in the midst of a big shakeup.  It was my time.  Time to figure out how I wanted to spend the "second half" of my life.  I wanted change, so I invoked Kali to help me remove from my life anything that no longer served me and to help me battle my internal obstacles to change. 

At Croning, Photo by Amalya

It's been quite a ride.  Everything I knew, and was comfortable with, was challenged--and still IS being challenged, actually.  I think I've experienced more change in the past 9 years than I had in all the 50 years before that.  Two moves, selling a home, divorce, a life-threatening illness, surgery, frozen shoulder, empty nest syndrome, menopause, breakups--you name it!  Many of my one-on-one relationships have been destroyed--some later recreated, while others bit the dust. 

Chief among the lessons of Kali is that the only thing that IS permanent, that you can truly count on, is change.  Change that is uncomfortable, disturbing, paradigm-shifting.  It's facing the truth of the fact of your inevitable death and deciding to live with a resounding YES as long as you're able.

And, She's not through with me yet.