Kali: Hindu Goddess of Time, Destruction, Creation, Change, Preservation, and Empowerment

       Ah, the great Kali, the fierce Hindu goddess.  She is feared by many for her terrifying personality.  Though, she's not always destructive.  In fact, she has a split personality: half dark and scary,while the other pure.  Originally, she was the goddess, Durga.  She was the goddess of victory of good vs. evil.  Unlike her other self, Kali lives up to her title of goddess of destruction.  She is usually shown with a demon head, necklace of heads, a bloodied sword, and a girdle of hands.  Creepy, right?
       She has two main legends that she is a part of.  The first talks of her origin.  Her original form, Durga, was fighting the demon, Raktabija.  But, every time she cut him, a clone of Raktabija would pop up.  Well, as anyone would, she got pretty ticked off.  She then changed to Kali to fight the demon and his clones.  Knowing she couldn't fight them like before, she decided to eat them.  Yup, she. Ate. Them.  But, like any death and destruction goddess would,she left enough of their corpses to dance on.  Remind me not to go to any clubs with her anytime soon.
       Her other major legend is of her most famous pose.  Legends say that Kali was drunk on the blood of her victims.  She was about to destroy the whole universe.  Her husband, Shiva, was urged by the other gods to stop her.  He laid down at her feet, and she steps on his chest.  When she realized it was her husband, she calmed.  Ashamed that she kept her husband at her feet, she stuck her tongue out in shame.

Symbols: Sword, Severed head, Necklace of heads, Girdle of hands
Worship: Human sacrifices were made, Usually worshiped by thugs
Depiction: Blue skin, naked or with tiger skin, tongue out, standing on Shiva, Four arms
Weapons: Scimitar, Trident

Fujin: Japanese God of Wind

       What a blowhard! Literally!  As a god of wind, it's Fujin's job.  Though, he's not exactly what you would expect a god would look like.  He's not some handsome, masculine hunk, he's a monster.  An ogre, or oni, to be exact.  But he's a nice ogre, I promise.  OK, maybe he used to be evil, but he's changed--kinda. He still gets grumpy from time to time and creates hurricanes and other storms related to wind. In one of his most important myths, it explains how he was changed from an evil being to one that is forced to be not so evil.  And what changed him?  Buddha. Yup, that's right. Even a demon can take inspiration from such a happy guy.  Fujin started as a Buddhist demon, then a Japanese Shinto God.  You see,  Fujin and his best bud Raijin, god of thunder and lightning, went against Buddha.  Buddha then ordered their capture.  When the two were defeated, they were forced to serve heaven as good little demon gods. 

      Now onto Japanese Shinto mythology, Fujin was apart of the most important part of any mythology--creation.  Though in Buddhist mythology, he was a demon turned god, in Japan he was always a god.  He still kept his demonic look though.  In Japanese Folklore, Fujin was born from two gods named Izanagi and Izanami.  It's said that his breath was so powerful that at the moment of his birth, all of the clouds and mists of the earth immediately dispersed and the world was full of brightness.  Though he is commonly known as Fujin, he has a nickname: Shina-tsu-hiki.

Symbols: big bag of winds, disheveled appearance, sometimes wears leopard skin
Parents: Izanagi and Izanami
Siblings: Raijin, Ryujin, Oyamatsumi

Depiction: dark demon carrying bag, usually with Raijin