She is not the aesthetic of darkness she is the work
Resonance
Those in tantric lineages those at the end of something
Symbols
TridentSkull cupRosaryBookCremation fire
Mythology Summary
Bhairavi is the fifth Mahavidya, the fierce (bhairavi) consort of Bhairava, and in Bengal she is the goddess of the cremation ground, close to Kali in appearance and worship. The tantras describe her as Tripura Bhairavi, the terrible form of the beauty of the three cities, with the trident, the skull cup, the rosary and the book. She is a living tantric presence rather than a literary one: the Bhairavi Brahmani who instructed Sri Ramakrishna was a practising adept of this current, and the name also denotes a lineage office.
Modern Practice
Bhairavi belongs to the cremation-ground and left-hand lineages, and her practice is transmitted by initiation rather than read from a book. Outside those lineages she is honoured at Kali Puja and in the Navaratri sequence; inside them she is the fire that burns the last of the ego.