Discussion on Darkness

[HoldAll]

It seems like darkness is the primary bogeyman for you. For me it’s illusions, and to a certain extent we refer to the same thing. It may also be a question of semantics - „darkness“ will inevitably trigger replies reminding one of the importance of shadow work, of integrating the darkness into one’s personality or soul, of members quite liking the darkness, thank you very much, etc. However, hardly anyone would like to integrate their illusions, and whether using one’s illusions as suggested by Axl Rose is helpful or even feasible is a matter of debate.

For myself I have realised that focussing on fighting my illusions head-on as the main theme of my spiritual work is counter-productive, a game of whack-a-mole: once you think you’ve eradicated on, two new ones will appear that will occupy my attention far too much to get anything done in other areas. Buddhists would claim that illusions are part of the human condition anyway and that you’ll just wake up in a new one once you’ve defeated the old ones, which is why I find it best to ask myself now and then instead if I’m not deluding myself when making assumptions („No one can fool you like yourself“ is my motto), or if one or several of my deepest convictions aren’t illusions instead of making the battle against an imaginary foe the center point of all my endeavors.

I thin it’s pointless to externalise one’s own darkness and then declare oneself an innocent Child of Light who’s beset by the Forces of Evil from outside, it just strengthens the ego you try so hard to suppress - which can become another ego trip in and of itself btw. I don’t believe in Darkness as an objectively existing force independent of humans, and making it the grand supreme bogeyman doesn’t help at all. Your preoccupation with darkness could also be a symptom of clinical depression, for example, or general disgust with people or the way of the world. Try giving it another name for a while and see where it leads you.

 

[Morell]

Goetic Evocation, Enochian Keys- the physical manifestation of either entities are equally terrifying to the much smaller, puny, soft fleshed magician. You probably wouldn't really know what you're actually looking at if you were fortunate enough to invoke a physical form with a successful ritual. There's angels like Abbadon, Azrael, and Samael who destroy under God's Commands. And then there's Goetia like Paimon the art teacher, Marbas the doctor and Astaroth the Liberal Science Professor. Angels won't punish you for seeking out assistance from a Goetia either. This does further elaborate on the widely held belief that lightness/darkness is indeed subjective.

Aye. Even among modern pagans there is agreement that gods don't usually have issues with ther gods from other pantheons. often not even among gods of one pantheon, despite the hate in the mythology. They simply act adult and don't mess with each other when they happen to be in contact with the same person. At the worst they prefer not to be present when their hated antagonist is present.

Demons, gods, angels... they are powerful and since the world is not falling apart, we can guess safely enough that they are responsible with it. There is peace "up there." At least I think that.