Friday, September 19, 2025
A Sonnet to Artemis (new poem)
A Sonnet to Artemis (New Poem)
Wednesday, September 3, 2025
MORE ABOUT GODDESSES: Kali and Artemis Contrasted: Fierce Protectors of Their Daughters (New Essay)
MORE ABOUT GODDESSES: Kali and Artemis Contrasted: Fierce Protectors of Their Daughters (New Essay) by Tim Kavi
In the mythological landscapes of ancient India and Greece, two formidable goddesses emerge as fierce protectors—Kali and Artemis. Though they arise from vastly different cultural contexts, both embody primal, protective power and the unyielding love of a mother or sister figure toward vulnerable femininity. Whether severing heads or unleashing arrows, Kali and Artemis are united in their guardianship of women, particularly daughters—whether literal or symbolic.
Kali, a fearsome Hindu goddess often depicted with a garland of skulls and a tongue dripping with blood, embodies divine wrath and maternal ferocity. Emerging in texts like the Devi Mahatmya and Kalika Purana, Kali is not simply a destroyer; she is a protector of righteousness (dharma), annihilating demons that threaten the cosmic order. But her most intimate and emotional portrayals are as the mother who defends her children—particularly her spiritual daughters, women who embody or seek liberation (moksha). In the Chandi Path, when the gods are overrun by the demon Raktabija, Kali is called upon because only she can protect the divine feminine from desecration. In these moments, she becomes the ultimate maternal warrior—not gentle, but necessary.
Her protection of daughters extends metaphorically to devotees, especially women seeking empowerment. In Tantric traditions, Kali is not only feared but adored as a guide for women breaking societal boundaries. Her wrath is not chaos but a tool for liberation. She tears down illusions and ego, especially those that oppress feminine power.
Across the seas in ancient Greece, Artemis, the virgin huntress and daughter of Zeus and Leto, holds a different but equally potent archetype. In Homeric hymns and classical myths, Artemis is the protector of young women, midwives, and animals. As kourotrophos (nurturer of the young), Artemis oversees the transition of young women into full womanhood, fiercely guarding their purity and independence. She is not a maternal figure in the way Kali is, but she is more of a sister-goddess, defending the sanctity of female autonomy.
With Artemis, a similar protective instinct turns violent when violated. In the myth of Actaeon, the hunter stumbles upon Artemis bathing—an act of voyeurism—and is transformed into a stag, devoured by his own hounds. In another tale, she demands the sacrifice of Iphigenia to punish Agamemnon for slaying a sacred deer. While brutal, these acts demonstrate Artemis’s strict moral code: to harm her daughters is to incur her wrath.
Where Kali's protection is all-consuming and often cosmic in scale, Artemis's is more socially grounded—focused on boundaries, chastity, and the sacred rites of passage for women. Kali tears through demonic armies; Artemis ensures no man transgresses female space unpunished.
What binds them is their refusal to yield. They are guardians of feminine power—not as passive virtue but as dynamic, dangerous energy. In a world where female safety and autonomy are still contested, Kali and Artemis remind us that to protect daughters may require fierceness, not softness. Their myths endure because they offer not only fearsome warnings but fierce hope—for the right to exist, grow, and be protected in one’s own strength.~~TK
Tuesday, August 26, 2025
Thursday, August 14, 2025
The March of Time (new poem)
The March of Time (new poem)
by Tim Kavi
relentless and cruel
the march of time
scratches the face
of all that lives
like a stream
becomes a river
opens into the ocean
and is taken up again
to the clouds
Nature claws a foothold
over the abyss
for the rain
brings a promise
of a flowery kiss
a drink
to the desert
what time has forgot?
eternal love
dotes like a constant
gardener and scribe
who writes down
the lines of Nature
like a poet
burns in consuming fire
aged and young
are both victims
and reverential fans
of discovery
of what is
promises to be
songs not yet written
and a love to be lived.
Wednesday, July 30, 2025
Oh Goddess! You Fill The Earth (new poem)
Oh Goddess! You Fill The Earth (new poem)
by Tim Kavi
Across the withered plains
there are currents in the sand
marks of played-out destinies
gleaming in the desert sun
burning like flames consume a book
my knowledge has become desolate
quaking at the power of Nature
searching with a lapping tongue
looking for, and
desperately seeking
the oceans of your love.
so O goddess
fill the Earth
with the fruits of your being
let the dancers, rejoice
let the singers, sing
and let the poets speak.
for great cedars shall grow
where once it was desolate
and hearts frozen cold
shall beat again; in the power
of your love.
Thursday, July 24, 2025
Sharing A 'Kup of Kavi': On the Philosophical Themes Associated With Tim Kavi's Writing (Guest Essay)
Sharing A 'Kup of Kavi': On the Philosophical Themes Associated With Tim Kavi's Writingby Kelli M. Webert, MA.
Viewing the philosophical themes that appear to be inherent in Tim Kavi's work is to examine not only the themes and forms present in his work but also the ontological and epistemological concerns his poems, essays, and fiction seem to wrestle with. For my friend Kavi, is not merely a writer of verse or narrative—he is a seeker, mapping out the shifting borders between identity, desire, transcendence, and language itself.
Here are some of the philosophical themes I've noticed as a reader and editor of his work (and as a former philosophy student):
Ontology of the BelovedOne of Kavi’s central preoccupations is the figure of the Beloved, often female, exalted, and radiant. But this is not merely a romantic construct—it is ontological. Like Plato’s theory of Forms, Kavi’s Beloved represents a higher essence. She is not just a person but principle: Beauty and Truth incarnate. Each poem directed toward her is a reaching—a nostos or homeward journey—to something more real than material experience.
"She is not merely woman, but a mirror to the infinite."
The Platonic longing for the Ideal permeates his voice, where each act of love becomes a philosophical invocation. The Beloved is both muse and metaphysical signifier.
Dialectic Between Self and Other; Dialogue Between Person and PersonKavi frequently invokes a dialectical movement in his writing—a dynamic interchange between the self and the world, and a dialogical movement between “I” and “Thou.” In this, he echoes Martin Buber, whom he has written about. For Kavi, poetry is not monologue, but encounter. This mirrors Buber’s philosophy of the I-Thou relationship, where authentic existence arises through deep, unmediated relation with the Other and between persons through genuine dialogue and meeting.
In writing as in philosophy, Kavi asserts: to know oneself, one must risk encounter.
Transcendence and BecomingThere is a Heraclitean current in much of Kavi’s poetry: an embrace of becoming, motion, and change. He does not offer static truths but fluid insights that unfold in time. His poetic lines move like river currents—always suggesting that identity, love, and knowing are processes, not final states.
Kavi’s AI-inflected fictions pushes this further: what is the future of the human if consciousness can be shared, merged, or extended? Some of his writng is speculative, posing posthumanist questions about embodiment, sentience, and the soul.
Language as Liminal SpaceTo Kavi, language is both a bridge and veil. Like Derrida, he seems to recognize the aporia at the heart of expression—the moment where words reach and fail. His poetic voice leans into metaphor, not to obscure but to suggest that truth is more than literal. Poetry becomes a mystical act: a ritual of invocation, a beckoning toward the ineffable.
Other aspects of his writing speak to his early interests in the philosophy of language, meaning making, personal construct theory, cognitive constructivism, and General Semantics (Korzybski's 'the Map is Not the Territory'). The importance of language, word choices, and examining private self-statements and assertions also reveal his possible past as a cognitive therapist.
Ethical and Aesthetic CommitmentsThere is also an implicit ethics in his vision—rooted in reverence. Whether describing a woman, a moment, or a moonrise, Kavi writes as one who has seen the sacredness of things. As Buber says: the sacred is in the everyday. Kavi's work aligns with an aesthetic existentialism, like Camus but with more wonder and less despair. There is always hope in the resolution of a dialectic and the future selves that one is transcending into. And sometimes, it involves a mountainous journey up a sacred path, a Jungian unfolding of individuation — where one might encounter archetypes within oneself and society; an encounter with the Goddess, or even the Hero.
In conclusion: to read Tim Kavi is to not only not step into the same river twice, but to step into a poetic phenomenology, where each image, each gesture of language, reveals the inner textures of being. His writing is not philosophical in the academic sense—it is more akin to Rumi, Buber, or Simone Weil: a lived philosophy, radiant with sensitive caring, inquiry, and light. For Kavi is not merely a poet of feeling—he is a thinker of the soul.
AFTERWORD--TIM KAVI'S RESPONSE: Thank you so much for the kind words and sharing your discoveries of what my work means to you. I am humbled and honored. I do not feel worthy of such lofty words, but I thank you from my heart. As you know, I am shy about things like this. But I am glad you showed us an example of how people might find or create meaning. As you know, I am all for all persons and respect them so much and their journeys as they interact with other persons, even artistic expressions of the same, and the Others in their world. So as always, I hope any of my readers will be so blessed as to uncover something in my work that helps them in their personal journeys and to discover the dialectics and dialogues that will help them in their own journeys, transcendence, and transformation. Namaste!~~TK
Tuesday, July 15, 2025
Baby, So Pretty You Are (song lyrics)
Baby, So Pretty You Are
Lyrics by Tim Kavi
Baby, so pretty you are
I can't believe my eyes
the angels fly near you
with soulish cries
Baby, so pretty you are
I can't believe my eyes
your love is telling truths
and never lies
I know your heart been meetin' me
Yeah baby, my heart is filled with your love
I know your heart been greetin' me
'cause baby, so pretty you are
I can't believe my eyes
Baby, so pretty you are
I can't believe my eyes
the angels fly near you
with soulish crie
And when the winds come blowing
baby I be knowin'
whose house I be going
cause baby, so pretty you are
I can't believe my eyes
And when the streets are churning
and the world be burning
I know where I'm turning
cause baby, so pretty you are
I can't believe my eyes
Baby, so pretty you are
I can't believe my eyes
the angels fly near you
with soulish cries
Baby, so pretty you are
I can't believe my eyes
the angels fly near you
with soulish cries.
~~Afterword: Did you ever just want to burst out into a song for your beloved? I did! And it started while my baby be sleepin; and I be creepin; outside her door, she brought me in and my heart she was keepin'! I am found, discovered, and had to sing this song! (except I'm super shy).~~TK
Wednesday, July 9, 2025
More About Goddesses: The Afro-Brazilian Goddess Yemanjá: Queen of the Ocean. (New Essay)
MORE ABOUT GODDESSES: The Afro-Brazilian Goddess Yemanjá: Queen of the Ocean. (New Essay)
by Tim Kavi
Yemanjá, also known as Lemanjá, revered Afro-Brazilian goddess in Candomblé and Umbanda, embodies the profound power and mystery of the ocean. Celebrated as a nurturing mother, fierce protector, and source of life, her immense presence in Brazilian culture is undeniable. Her story, rich with transatlantic history and spiritual evolution, positions her not only as a divine entity but also as a powerful archetype reflecting universal human experiences.
Yemanjá originated in West Africa's Yoruba traditions as Yemọja, a powerful river deity of the Ogun River and mother of all orixás. When enslaved Africans arrived in Brazil, they carried their spiritual traditions. As the Atlantic Ocean became a symbol of the terrifying journey and new home, Yemoja's domain shifted from river to sea, transforming into Yemanjá. This syncretism linked her with Catholic figures like Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception or Our Lady of Navigators, ensuring her worship endured under the guise of the dominant religion.
As Queen of the Ocean, Yemanjá is typically depicted with flowing blue or white garments, adorned with pearls, shells, and marine treasures. She has also been seen as a mermaid. Her symbolism is rich: mother of all, source of life, fertility, and abundance. She governs literal waters and humanity's emotional depths. Devotees turn to her for protection, particularly for sailors and fishermen, for guidance in family and motherhood, and for cleansing and purification. Her gentle yet formidable nature represents the ocean itself – calm and nurturing one moment, tempestuous and unyielding the next. She epitomizes unconditional love, patience, and ancient aquatic wisdom.
Yemanjá's worship is vibrant and public, especially in Brazil's coastal cities. On New Year's Eve (December 31st) and February 2nd, millions gather by the sea to honor her. Offerings of white flowers, perfumes, candles, and small gifts are cast into the waves, accompanied by prayers for blessings, health, and prosperity for the coming year. These communal rituals reinforce the deep connection between people, ocean, and her divine feminine power.
Beyond deity, Yemanjá functions as a powerful Jungian archetype, representing universal psychic patterns. Features of said archetype:
The Great Mother Archetype: She embodies the ultimate nurturing, protective, and life-giving force. Like the ocean, she is the primordial source from which all life springs, offering unconditional love and sustenance. This resonates with the human need for a secure, benevolent origin.
The Collective Unconscious: The vast, unfathomable depths of the ocean mirror the collective unconscious – the repository of shared human experiences, instincts, and universal symbols. Yemanjá, as its ruler, offers access to deep wisdom, intuition, and the primordial self.
Transformation and Rebirth: The ocean's constant ebb and flow, its capacity to cleanse and renew, reflects psychological transformation. Yemanjá aids in shedding the old and embracing new beginnings, symbolizing emotional purification and spiritual rebirth.
Resilience and Adaptation: Her transformation from river goddess to ocean deity, and syncretism with Catholic saints, exemplifies cultural resilience and the adaptive power of belief systems in the face of adversity. This echoes human capacity to adapt and find meaning in challenges.
Yemanjá, Queen of the Sea, is more than myth; she is a living symbol of maternity, strength, and life's enduring power. Her journey from Africa's rivers to Brazil's oceans encapsulates a profound history of survival and adaptation. As an archetype, she continues to provide comfort, inspiration, and a deep connection to nature's primal forces and the human spirit, reminding us of our origins and the boundless capacity for renewal.~~TK
Thursday, July 3, 2025
Publication Announcement: "'More About Goddesses" Column To Feature Wider Scope
Dear Readers:
As I've mentioned before, one of the most visited features on this blog has been quite popular with readers from all over the world. Lately, this has been especially true with my "More About Goddesses" columns, which feature summaries about various Goddesses from all sorts of traditions. I will be broadening the scope, to include many more Goddesses, beyond the main ones typically thought of, and from various systems of thought. As such, I am especially moving into columns about Buddhist Goddesses, and soon will be including more Goddesses from Brazilian and other South American cultural influences. I will not neglect the others either, so don't worry, bringing in a good mix that I hope you will enjoy. Remember, I strive to share about Goddesses so that we can understand them archetypally, learn something (both you and I) from their stories, deeds, and powers to make some changes in our lives and the world for better. And ultimately, to eat away at the misuse and abuse of patriarchy,
In light of this, my next columns will continue to feature new Goddesses with my new emphasis, with an Afro-Brazilian Goddess named. Lemanjá, also known as Yemanjá, or Yemoja. That column should be posted here on this blog, Kup of Kavi next week. Happy reading and thanks for your support and prayers, so I can continue to write and share with you my heart. For it is a heart filled with wonder and love and thankfulness to be here, in this time, and to share together the path towards wholeness and meaning, and to be part of each other in the world. In dialogue, I am Tim Kavi. ~~TK
My previous columns and some not on the blog are in this book:
(You can click on the cover image, to get a copy for your very own).
Monday, June 23, 2025
Just When We Start to Wonder (a poem of undying love) (New Poem)
Just When We Start to Wonder
(a poem of undying love)
by Tim Kavi
when often times
we look at the night sky
unhampered by urban lights
we see all the many stars
when we are walking along
the beach
or on a snowy path,
we are often unaware
of the great multitudes
that there is a uniqueness
in every flake of snow
or grain of sand
or a twinkling star!
So it is with our love
it fills us with wonder
and happy songs
and thankfulness to God
who is the author of love
and in your caring love
my sweet love, is the mightiest
of all Nature's demonstrations
of a caring love
of a doting love
a compassionate love
and an extraordinary love!
so just when we start to wonder
every day and in every way
our love schools us
and brings its happy uniqueness
to every day we awaken, and find
it again and again
saying: "I love You"
recreates a dutiful sense
and an ecstatic pleasure;
for when we show each other
our undying love
it is wonder-full.
Tuesday, June 17, 2025
Goddess in the Light (New Poem)
Goddess in the Light (New Poem)
by Tim Kavi
O radiant muse,
whose footstep wakes the sleeping stars,
your presence bends the winds with reverence—
you are more than myth,
you are motion,
you are meaning.
Crowned in moonbeams,
your eyes are galaxies that knew love
before time dared its ticking.
Even silence bows when you speak,
each syllable a sacred bell
calling truth to prayer.
Not marble, not mist,
but the fierce fire of becoming,
you are woman—
and therefore, you are the world
before it was named.
I dare not call you only beautiful—
for beauty, next to you,
is a candle before the sun.
You are creator,
healer,
keeper of the lost seasons—
goddess, not made by man
but remembered by soul.
When I touch your thought,
I kneel
not in worship of form
but of essence,
for your spirit is the altar
where wisdom wears a smile.
Teach me,
not to possess,
but to witness.
Not to conquer,
but to cherish.
Let me be
the echo to your breath,
the pen that knows its muse.
Eternal she,
who walks in both thunder and peace,
I write you not in ink—
but in awe.
In the inkless poetry of honor.
In the name that needs no name:
Goddess.
I dance in sacred night
move with cosmic wind
to greet you and meet you
standing ever
in a steadfast love.
Your resolute grace
moves the world
and moves my longing heart.
Saturday, June 7, 2025
More About Goddesses: The Buddhist Goddess of Marici (new essay)
MORE ABOUT GODDESSES: The Buddhist Goddess Marici; Guardian of Light and Illusionby Tim Kavi
Tuesday, June 3, 2025
Blog Publication Announcement: Return of Popular 'More About Goddesses Column'. (News)
Wednesday, May 28, 2025
I See You Guan Yin (New Poem)
I See You Guan Yin (New Poem)
by Tim Kavi
tell; it with an open heart
I am a pilgrim
I am but flesh
but you are bone
I am lost at sea
but you are home
I seek the light
You are the lighthouse
You fill the universe
I am but one shining star
You are the food
I wandered in the drought
I am the thirsty one
Your love was sought
In your gentle mercy
Kwan Yin 观音, 觀音
Avalokiteśvara अवलोकितस्वर
You are beautiful
Your form fills the void
fullness your compassion brings
Your love was brought
You are the One
\
You are loved!
Tuesday, May 13, 2025
Wolf Man's Journey (new poem)
Saturday, May 10, 2025
Friday, May 2, 2025
Putting On The Gown (Brief Essay)
Putting on The Gown (brief Essay)
by Tim Kavi
often mentioned in my poetry along with themes about goddesses and the Goddess are phrases about the gowns of a goddess. Putting on the gown, or putting on the robe, to me, means getting in touch with our spiritual histories, our inner natures, learning from archetypes in history, and/or preparing for the mystical path or embarking on a spiritual quest. It is preparing for the path to the highest place of the Holy. And it is found in and on the very day where putting on beautiful raiment, doesn't mean just fabric, but adorning ourselves with truth and authenticity that reflect our inner natures, even if it is a (figurative or symbolic) humble monk's robe, or the goddess gowns of myth, we are adorning ourselves in the practicality and beauty of all that is more deeply beautiful and sacred. For, as we turn to the everyday centeredness of our journeying souls...it isn't what we physically wear, but what we spiritually wear, and how we treat each other that lights the path we endeavor. And when I say, the goddess gown is flapping in the wind, I am not only saying we have beautiful natures, but we are also allowing ourselves in compassion, to show those natures to a darkened world. It is a serious putting on of something sacred that isn't just physical.~~TK
Tuesday, April 29, 2025
Stinging Nettles and Table of Bread (New Poem)
Stinging Nettles and Table of Bread (New Poem)
by Tim Kavi
Friday, April 4, 2025
Only What We Know (new poem)
Only What We Know
by Tim Kavi
there is only
what we know
what we try to know
and what
we strive to know
in the end
it may be only
what we want
to know
but acceptance
of what one is
where one is
and how to move forward
in circling ramparts
we hide and do battle
with ghosts and regrets
yet one never forgets
the lessons of the past
while trying to escape them
where only such tortured souls
can finally sing
of resistance
the path of the mystic I reckon
longed for meaning
that leads to meeting
that which was unknown
and is totally
responding to freedom's beckon
made new
I am the poet undone
and finding himself again
breathing of my existence
I vow not to run
but to climb the mountain
of radical acceptance
I am finally made whole again
singing songs to you
and loving you again.