Calling upon the "darker" deities doesn't always mean that we are attempting to do something "dark". I would teach that all deities are actually multi-faceted, both good, "evil", and indifferent. Each deity has 3 sides, all represented by different totems, depending on which side you are attempting to conjur. It is the responsibility of the practitioner to fully understand that which he/she is doing before attempting to manifest the powers of ANY deity without inadvertently evoking the other 2 personalities. Equally important is making sure that the "chain of command" is honored in that, when seeking one favor from one deity, the other associated deities are not ignored. By the way, this is applicable to Germanic Rune witchcraft, which tends to be a tad more complicated in the method of practice. However, I would feel safe in making the assumption that this same concept applies to any practice.

Sometimes anger (wrath!) is necessary in order for a person to wake up to the truth. It is an initiating power, sometimes necessary for a person (or a people) to throw off oppression and awaken to the freedom that is their birthright.

It is only destructive if the anger is held onto past its point of usefullness.
Then, it is called "chronic anger" and is a crutch instead of a tool.

Great little book about anger: ___Putting Anger to Work for You!___
by Joel Schroeder (Author), Ruth Schroeder (Author), Kelly Scanlon (Editor), Rod Hankins (Illustrator)

*What would you, the practitioner, say to those who may not understand? *

It depends on if they ask me a question about a Goddess who has wrathful qualities. I wouldn't necessarily discuss the necessity and process of wrath, especially divine with the uninitiated, because it usually is always misunderstood by most humans who follow a herd mentality that always focus on positive things, and turn a blind eye to things like death, decay, destruction, disaster, disease, etc. Most people do not want to think of those things.. Which is also why the devotee must sometimes channel wrath against narrow minded views, inner-demons, bad habits, and spiritual impediments when peaceful means have been exhausted.

*How does Her energy translate to the human realm?*

The energy that is the wrathful nature of the divine, and it's many faces are manifested in all things that bring about change through wrathful means. I believe that people who are murdered or die in a violent manner, or are subject to nature's fury, etc. Have all had karmic bondage that has required them to experience this to move on. It also applies when someone who has gained power and knows how to use it is excercising divine will. A lot of times people who need to be woken up or pay for something will be sent to a diety or a person with power to provoke their wrath and bring about curses upon themselves that are necessary for growth. When Kali, and Durga and other fierce Goddesses manifest to maintain order and defeat inner-demons as well as demons that threaten other worlds and life forms, when she beheads them or devours them, she is often also liberating them. Most asuras often obtain liberation by provoking the wrath of the divine.

*Can this power be manifested in our world, in our inner and outer environments, to bring about change and peace in a practical, responsible, and non-violent way? *
Absolutely. For example, it is a daily occurence for me to have men make lewd and overtly perverse advances toward me in public as many men do on a regular basis in the World, seeing as most women de-value themselves and take such things as a compliment, and because many men in the past couple generations are devoid of respect for women. They quickly reminded by my wrathful nature towards such foolishness that their behavior is unacceptable to any lady, especially one who can be as wrathful and can pierce their ego like I can. A lot of what I say is carefully calculated by reading their predictable demeanors and feeble minds, to hit their ego in such a way that they have nothing to say in return and can only think of the folly of their actions. That's just one example.

In ancient times (and maybe even now) some people incur the wrath of sages for disturbing their meditation or by greatly offending them out of ignorance. Whatever it is that they are doing that provokes the wrath is usually out of their own self-deluded ego, and out of ignorance, which is almost always quickly shattered when incurring the wrath of a powerful sage, seer, yogi/yogini etc. Another similiar example is someone making fun of or making disrespectful remarks to an old woman... They might just get beaten by a cane, or even cursed if the woman happens to be some type of sorceress or a true yogini (I use this term in the literal sense of a woman who has mastered yoga and is posessed of supernatural powers, not the general modern usage used in the west to desribe a female who jerks and stretches her body). They will soon learn a lesson the hard way through wrath, not to be disrespectful, because you never know who you might be disrespecting.

There can be many examples made of wrath and how it is used, and excersiced in both the cases of human and divine.

The general new age and wiccan mentality shuns any sort of mystical wrath and tends to devalue the nature of wrathfullness and the dark side of spirituality. However you can't buy anything with half of a coin, you have to have both sides of the coin. To turn a blind eye to any side of anything is to devalue it, and make it useless. The dark side of nature and the Universe, and our selves makes up 50% of manifested reality. To ignore it or avoid it, is to only be half awake. I fully agree in immersing one's self in all aspects of God and reality, and being in the gray area of all polar opposites found in nature and existence.

A quote from Caroline Casey:

"The Wrathful Dakinis are the forces of Bioremediation. They metabolize poison. They take the poison of anger and cook it into the tonic of wrath (intelligent anger on behalf of all of creation)."