Ask Angus
Louis: There is lots of talk in Wicca about balance and embracing the dark. How do you reconcile this idea with the recent tragedies in Boston? How dark is dark, and what is it that we embrace about it?
Dear Louis,
Well ‘dark’ is a big word. It encompasses the balanced, ‘absorbtion of all colors’ type of darkness that we pagans deal with, as well as the understanding of the cyclical nature of Nature, which calls for a periodic sacrifice as part of the growth and rebirth process.
Way off at the other end of the word ‘dark’ though we have the kind of vacuum-heads who think they are better than everyone else and think mangling innocents is a necessary step to……….something. These same idiots often think that God (as revealed to them via wisemen) wants them to cleanse the land of people who don’t go to their church. This is different than what we pagans do because to them terrorism isn’t dark at all.
The Darkness that we witches utilize is merely the cream off the top of the Can O’ Dark. The idiots who pulled off the Boston marathon bombing had been supping on the dregs from the bottom of the can, as well as getting high off of the fumes.
The raw power that each witch draws is neutral – that is, it is a mixture of dark and light; delirious blessings but also potential mischief. What we do with it is positive and/or healing, but the possibility always exists to turn someone into a toad. This is what the rule of three and the rede is for: Reminders of what will happen to you if you wade in too far and lose sight of the shore.
This bombing, on the other hand, happened because of the following equation: If population (A) grows to a certain (B) size, then (X) numbers of deranged asshats can be counted amongst the group. This formula is the reason why there are no large communes anymore, and also why public restrooms are often so despicable.
I think the base reason for these attacks lies in something not reasonable at all. I believe that there is an inherent danger with fundamentalists – which more often than not means Religion, and manifesting more publicly with revealed faiths. When any group, anywhere of any size, stands up and declares that they are the one, right, true and only way, then the above formula kicks in and terrorism may now spawn.
With occult religions conversely the onus is on the individual to study and practice on their own (or in small groups), and so the potential to be sucked in as a brainless drone serving feckless elders is miniscule.
Witches do not embrace the dark – they acknowledge its presence as part of the balance of nature that we tap into in order to serve positive and healing ends. The potential for evil is always available, and it grows as the power of each witch grows. But if you know enough to do it, then you know enough not to do it. What happened in Boston, however, was truly evil (and truly tragic) because the perpetrators fully believed that they were doing Right.
~Ask Angus
Angus McMahan
@AngusMcMahan
Send your questions to: angusmcmahan@gmail.com
Photo Credits: John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe/GETTY, thehiddenchildrenofthegoddess.com
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