Darker Side of Divinity

For a brief time during my entry into pagan spirituality and witchcraft, I was intent on proving to my parents that it was all pure, good, and ultimately harmless. From the perspective of a young person trying to ensure their parents that they themselves are being safe, this is understandable. But as I’ve gotten older I’ve come to realize that it completely defeats the purpose.

Witchcraft as a practice has, traditionally, been inherently connected with exploring the darker aspects of life, of divinity, of human experience. The mysteries of the new moon, the secrets that lie in the shadows of the mind, the veil between life and death. Your definition of “dark” might vary, but I’m going to define it here as meaning the untamed, the potentially dangerous, the possibly deadly, as well as the parts of human life that we too often deem bad or evil.

The darker side of religion has very consistently been skewed in the mainstream as “evil” in the modern era. Death, illness, aging, and other very human experiences are considered bad and unwanted, while things like birth and healing are miraculous. This in many ways explains our society’s obsession with defeating death, whether by faith healing or medical procedures—as well as, ironically, our alarming tendency to neglect people who are sick, mentally unwell, or reaching the end of their lives. This rejection of and refusal to work with darkness explains another insidious trend—the tendency to blame victims for their own misfortune, because they lack the willpower to overcome their own darkness. This exists across major religions, and even within the sphere of paganism.

It’s an easy thing, a human thing, to want to detach ourselves from unpleasant experiences. Whether it’s facing a major, temporary, challenge that will force us to go outside of our so called comfort zone, or accepting that we will eventually die like every other person. But turning away from the darker aspects of life—from the unexplained and unfathomable, to the stark facts of life that are illness, tragedy, and death—puts us at risk from doing the exact thing that contemporary evangelical Christianity commands. To blame the victim, to reject bad thoughts as evil and physical or emotional illness as curable, and above all to foolishly, blindly assume that you have power over these domains.

Witchcraft aims to simultaneously break down the assumption that we can avoid or prevent "evil" and also empower us to no longer be afraid of darkness. By working with our shadow selves and fully examining our primal fears and desires, we rise above them. Instead of fearing death we can welcome it as part of a natural cycle. Instead of repressing our sexuality or shying away from fully expressing our authentic selves, we can walk our paths with confidence and certainty.

Darkness isn't the enemy. Truly evil people throughout history have almost universally preached a message of overcoming poverty and discomfort while they simultaneously tightened the leash on vulnerable people and used fear of those things to dominate them. When we embrace the darkness of Spirit, seek to understand and accept fear instead of rejecting it, and to no longer condemn ourselves as lesser, meeker, weaker beings because of our faults, we rise above and come into our power.