The garland and skirt are trophies worn to symbolise having liberated her children from attachment to the limited body. She destroys our attachment to the temporary body, and reminds us to enjoy the beauty of life, because death is certainly coming. Kali Ma wears a garland of skulls and a skirt of dismembered arms because the ego arises out of identification with the body. This implies that Mahakali is responsible for the powers of each of these deities.
Her ten armed form is called Mahakali, and her ten arms are depicted holding many different ritualistic objects and weapons, each of which represent the power of one of the Devas. She is most popularly depicted with four arms, though sometimes with ten. Kali’s two right hands are shown in abhaya mudra (fearlessness), and varada mudra (blessings). Kali Ma’s symbolism, In her left hands, Kali ma goddess carries a sword of knowledge to destroy ignorance and a severed head which represents liberation from the ego, or attachment to the body. The Encyclopaedia Britannica is mistaken in the following quote, "Major Hindu goddess whose iconography, cult, and mythology commonly associate her with death, sexuality, violence, and, paradoxically in some of her later historical appearances, motherly love." It is partly correct to say Kali is a goddess of death but she brings the death of the ego as the self-centred view of reality. Where there is fear, She dances in courage. Where there is sorrow, She dances to bring joy. If you find your hopes and dreams have been crushed, Kali can change the cycle and produce life out of nothingness. Even in destruction, she reminds us that good really can come of bad situations. Her symbols are flowers, dance, iron, swords, peacock feathers and honey. Kali Ma has been misrepresented into a scary tantric goddess, but what are the truths behind the goddess? Kali comes from the Sanskrit root word ‘Kal’ which means time. Kali Ma… Visually a scary looking goddess with her tongue protruding, large shimmering eyes, skulls around her neck, a skirt of arms, holding a severed head! Kali Ma the goddesses of time and change.