Dark Places: A Journey Into Witchcraft

In my beginnings into Witchcraft I found so many concepts that confused me, this is the reason I began my website over seven years ago. I wanted it to be a place where I could simply express into words my thoughts, occasional rant and feelings. It was my online journal that held my world of Witchcraft related experiences.

One of my great writing passions is the dark side because it was through my experiences there that I learned some of the greatest lessons. As I stated before I hit many states of confusion within Witchcraft and one of those subjects was surrounding the darker side. Repeatedly, I heard and read word tired that it was some evil place that we should never go. I'll be honest this portrayal quite frankly just instinctually felt wrong. Maybe I was weird but each time I heard or read this I felt as if I were a child back in church listening to a hell, fire and brimstone sermon.

So, in my original confusion I began to ask questions of these people who spoke out about this evil place and while some never responded others did. Yet what struck me as odd in the responses was one thing, they said they would never go there so they could not tell me what they saw. Call me loony tunes but my response to them was "how can you say it's evil, if you've never been there" in other words how can you purport to understand something you have no perception of? It was crazy to me and so I concluded that they received their information from someone, which boils down to "somebody said it, so it must be true". That concept just doesn't work for me because I'm more a hands on type person, so I sat down one night and decided to go there. Though, before my visit to that realm, admittedly I conditioned myself shedding the thoughts of what I had heard. I knew I could not enter that place and hope to learn something if I carried predetermined thoughts or shards of closed-minded opinion. I entered willingly with an open mind and without fear of what I may find or see. It was a journey unlike any other I had ever experienced and what I saw and heard shall remain with me throughout my life and I hope pieces will follow me into the next.

What I found upon entering the dark side was strange, as I had an overwhelming feeling of deja vu'. I knew within that I had somehow been there before though I knew otherwise, at least in this lifetime. I felt unusually comfortable all my conditioning for this visit now seemed unnecessary. My original feeling was this is a place of balance, yet a place of looming sadness, it was unlike the lighter places I had journeyed into. I recall thinking could we have caused such an affect of sadness on another realm through our disbelief in it or through our words of loathe? I think at that moment, based on what I felt, I thought it quite possible.

Silently standing there in the shadows I noticed a faint outline of what appeared as an opening. I felt compelled to walk toward it and as I drew closer I began to notice that it was an entryway into a cave. I felt drawn to enter and enter I did. As I began to journey into this narrow cave I felt as though the ground beneath was gently sloping downward. Looking back it seems as though I were in that winding cave for what seemed a long while. Though, as I recall those moments I remember feeling excitement, an excitement of experiencing something new but also nervous knowing that I was about to face the unknown.

Soon after I noticed what looked to be a flickering light coming from a place ahead of me. I recall feeling relief because I had struggled to see my way through and now I had a light to guide me. As I write this the phrase: The light at the end of the tunnel comes to mind as a fitting quote.

My pace began to hasten toward the light as I reached the place that had supplied light to me in the darkness. I saw and felt something that I shall never forget. The cave opened up into a large area with damp, crag walls, a small pool of water shown in the center and large boulder type rocks scattered about the area. Yet, that was only but part of the scene as atop one of the rock structures sat what I knew to be a God; one that resided in this dark realm.

My eyes were fixed upon him as if everything around me fell away for a few moments. His hair was wavy appearing as free and flowing as a fire lit torches that burned in the backdrop of this place. Yet, its color was as black as the darkest night, so dark that it glistened as brightly as spun gold. His body was muscular but not bulky, his face was chiseled and strong. Though the most outstanding feature was his eyes, they were the bluest eyes I had ever seen. They were
mesmerizing I knew they held a story unlike any I had ever heard. I fought to not remain fixated on them and I looked away, only to have my visual fixation replaced with overwhelming emotion. A feeling unlike any I had ever experienced, it was so powerful and so complex that I struggled to understand or process it to some degree.

Within moments I felt as though I were taking on another soul within mine. My eyes swelled with tears, I felt an anguishing painful emotion of sadness and death. My hands clenched to fists, I felt anger for humanity. I felt desperation, this place was dying and it needed to be freed from the hold of negativity purported in its name. I felt peace, knowing one day the beauty could be returned here. There was as well a feeling of happiness; maybe it came from
simply standing in this place. There was love, compassion, anger, peace, sadness, despair and power in this place. This place held the balance just as the places of light and the places in-between.

I believe at that very moment, consumed with every emotion at once that I had for the first time felt an unequivocal true balance. I think he gifted me with experiencing only to a small extent what he felt, what this realm felt and I know had I never experienced it I surely would have never understood it at all. At that moment of realization, the feelings began to dissipate leaving me drained but also strangely, very alive. It was then that I noticed I had fallen to the ground at some point during the experience. I looked up at him and his face shown that of compassion. I slowly rose to my feet as he motioned for me to come closer and sit with him. I did so in silence as my words had escaped me. Though looking back until that moment neither he nor I needed words, I believe it was about feeling to understand. My silence finally broke and I asked him to speak with me about this place.

Though, I was close to the truth before this journey, he gifted me much more as he spoke explaining the following to me.

The soul is where true evil and good lives within humanity. Understand the dark places encompass balance as all places within the realms. Though it appears dark, the darkness is only the absence of light, physical darkness has no feeling or way. It is simply dark, just as the night in our world is neither good nor evil; it is no different there. What humanity does in the darkness rests upon them; if they do evil in dark places it is not the fault of the dark for what they do, it is the fault of the doer. If one does good deeds within the darkened shadows, likewise it comes from their souls intentions not from the shadows in which they stand.

True hate, evil and anger hold within the souls of humanity, they have free will, it was a gift but some chose to use it as leverage for lies and blame. Humanity does not reflect easily on their deeds or actions of greed. Because of this lack of accepting blame for their actions they have instead shifted the blame onto the dark realms. They claimed lies as truths and fed upon humanities greatest weaknesses, fear and greed. The lies became etched within the pages of time as truths. Though most know within that lies can be easier to accept than truths, blame is much easier passed to another than onto one's self and greed much easier to allow than cease. Humanity sought to blame the darkness for their ill deeds. It is from the soul of humanity that deeds of love or hate, compassion or anger take form.

We are here as we have always been, awaiting the time when the truth again shall become the truth.

You know personally from your many experiences in this lifetime that your anger from the past manifested from your hurt and not from us. Humanity was given the gifts of understanding us, our places and our ways, but now it has been manipulated, taken from beauty and balance to ugliness and evil.

Speak to all that will listen of your experience here and of what you learned. Fear not the outcome of your words.

After this journey, no longer did I have to fall upon hearsay or opinion because my soul now knew the truth of what I experienced. Though, this experience could/may be construed as opinion or rumor of one person and in truth, it is. My thoughts in response is stop talking, criticizing that in which one has never experienced and start doing. Go there, see it and experience it, for my words cannot express neither what one feels, nor paint a picture vivid enough to give it the justice it deserves. If nothing else were to come from my many journeys into the darkness, I can only hope that my passion for the subject may help someone who once felt afraid of entering this place, to now make the journey unbound by the instilled fears given us by humanity.

I have explored many places in my journeys none have shown themselves to be neither all loving nor all evil. I've said it a hundred times, I could stand within any ether place; the light, the dark or in-between and do either positive or negative works. It comes down to my intentions and not where I choose to stand to project those intentions.

Live it, know it, feel it - This is my law, this is one of my many journeys into Witchcraft.