The Dark Side of the Soul
Perhaps no other concept is so poorly examined by humanity’s collective mind as the notion of darkness.
If “light” evokes for everyone essentially the same cluster of images — positive, favorable, desirable components — then “darkness,” depending on one’s perspective, is understood either as something entirely negative and evil or, conversely, as something attractive and worthy.
Perhaps this confusion first arose in Ancient Greece when the concept of chaos was developed as an attribute of darkness.
Nevertheless, an intuitive grasp and some conceptualization of darkness is characteristic of both ancient and more recent religious and magical movements.
This idea was expressed in the very division of the active side of Pravi into White and Black gods, as found in ancient Slavic mythology. In that mythology, as in many others, darkness was symbolized by the image of the Serpent. At the same time, two Serpents were distinguished: the Old Serpent (the “benevolent” darkness) and the Black Serpent (the “malevolent” darkness).
Careful consideration of the concept of darkness, undertaken by traditional magical schools, showed that these two components are separated by an impassable chasm, and that darkness has two distinct aspects – 1) darkness that precedes the light and serves as the field where it spreads, the “outer” darkness, Nav’ (Heb. — Choshekh), and 2) darkness that arises from rejection of the light, a refusal of the light — the “inner” darkness, Qliphoth.
In other words, it turned out that although all evil is darkness, nevertheless not every darkness is evil.
Accordingly, in both macrocosmic and psychocosmic aspects, one must distinguish darkness as a potential field and darkness as a refusal of actualization.
For the Magus aiming to master their psychocosmic space, this distinction cannot be overstated.
Looking within himself and discovering fields of darkness, he must determine whether this darkness is merely a field of unrealized possibilities awaiting form and manifestation (contemporary para‑magical literature has adopted for this “outer” darkness the name borrowed from Latin America, “nagual”) or whether it is the dwelling place of predators who have rejected the light of awareness and live by consuming others’ resources.
In the first case, this darkness is a source of the Magus’s powers and achievements; in the second, it is the source of their weaknesses and defeats.
From the foregoing it is clear that an unthinking drive to bring out the “dark side of the soul,” so characteristic not only of some magical currents but also of rudimentary psychological practices, can not only fail to provide relief but, on the contrary, push one into deeper dead ends and bloody dungeons. At the same time, ignoring darkness in its “pre‑light” aspect limits possibilities for development and spread of light; an absolute emphasis on light inevitably leads development into a dead end when available resources are exhausted.
Only by distinguishing the aspects of chaos and darkness can the Magus find a way for his development, his actualization, and, at the same time, avoid cultivating within himself the consuming drive imposed by inner darkness. Thus, ceasing to be a victim, the Magus does not become a predator; he becomes a warrior, developing his awareness and not hindering the development of awareness in others.
A very accurate distinction – between the ‘Old’ and the ‘Black’. ‘Black’ implies New, that is, introduced in a later time period. And this ‘new’ is indeed something to be fought against. Considering the ‘Old’ only as a ‘field of potencies’ is not entirely correct; it is too narrow a view, but it is also an option 🙂 The ‘New’ is also broader and exists not only ‘within’.
Enmerkar, as I understand it, the meditative trance relates to darkness. Intent somehow leads into the darkness, while will ignites the light. Intention and light seem not to get along 🙁 Yet, in theory, intention should be a universal thing, it does not come from darkness but befriends with it. What is wrong with my intention?
Trance is, of course, a look into the unmanifested. Intention is expressed will. Therefore, there shouldn’t be any contradiction here. Perhaps you are calling something else ‘intention’, for example, the flow of energy. In that case, one needs to clarify in which direction this flow is happening.
If intention is expressed will then everything falls into place. But then it’s unclear how to name this: To direct attention to the monad, to the spark of spirit, one must use N. And at the same time, N flows from the monad and the spark of spirit. I referred to N as intention. The word power somehow does not resonate with N, because wishing for power is something I cannot do in that state, where it seems not important at all. So this N I would like to use in a more practical sense perhaps. For example, if I want something, I enter N, but it doesn’t care about what I want. N somewhat hints: If you want a donut – go to the cafeteria. If you want to build muscles – go to the gym. If you want to change your hair/eye color – sort out your issues. If you want strength – go get it. So why do I need N? – I am the most sacred thing you have, but I will not do anything 🙁
It seems I have driven myself into bloody corners. I cannot determine my relation to the darkness of the clipot – such a nasty and evil thing. It all started with the repeated “who needs you”, “who needs your experiments”, including “who needs your comments” – written by real people started to drive me into certain frames, to bind me. It’s strange that such things are written by people who seem to be on the path. And then I had a snap…. “but who indeed utters this? whom am I trying to obey?” And it turned out that it was not a personality that spoke these words; the personality merely reproduces these words spoken to her once by another “personality”, and that one repeated them too… it’s like an echo. An echo that shakes existence, depriving it of peace, bringing suffering, driving people mad, and it grows and grows. “Who created this horror? Who uttered these words that now echo?” I could not see. It is something horrifying, more horrifying than the horror happening now. Just by trying to “see” in the darkness “that” it felt as if my heart was pierced and cut out (improvements in healing the heart chakra turned out to be futile – a seal in the head). It tore out the core from the peace, the heart – for a new life, it took away life itself, leaving death, a decaying husk – old, ancient. Predators fear and flee, echoing in different directions. They fear repetition, they fear movement, but they are prisoners of it and of their potential existence. They don’t want the wheel to turn and for what was to repeat, but the wheel still spins them. They know very much – this is their punishment, while the new light is devoid of such knowledge of darkness. It’s odd, but it feels like the darkness, giving birth to light, does not separate it from itself – considering it its continuation, and this is the problem… the problem of the fear of repetition. Division, unity… I just want peace….. I understand this desire belongs to the predator? Or a trick?