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dark paganism


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What Will Non-Pagans Think??
We started using words such as "Wicca" and "Wiccan" to differentiate ourselves from the public's negative associations of witchcraft and that worked well... for a while.

At first people did not know what a Wiccan was so they would listen with an open mind. But then these words became trendy and well known outside the Pagan community. This inevitably led to "Wiccans" being misrepresented by shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Charmed, and the fundamentalists were quick to taint "Wicca" with their anti-Pagan propaganda.

The fact is, non-Pagans who judge you for your Pagan beliefs don't care what Paganism is - especially fundamentalist Christians. Do you really think there is ANYTHING you can do on your end to appease these people other than convert and "be saved"? You can try to sugar coat your beliefs as much as you want and sacrifice your individuality and freedom of expression in the process, but that will get you no where. I am sorry but I don't intend to do that. They have the problem, not me, and I will not make it worse by pussy footing around them. I apologize if my choice of using the word "dark" was enough to rattle your uneasy co-existence with fundamentalists. If I didn't do it, it would just be a matter of time before they found something else to hate you for.

Dark Paganism

There are some who find comfort in the shadows,
Who strive to comprehend the mysteries,
Who find solace in the silence of a winter night,
Who sing softly to the crone.
We are the Dark Pagans, children of the Dark Mother.
So often darkness is associated with evil. Since the term evil has no place in a nature-based religion, we Pagans are forced to look beyond such stereotypes.

Evil is a human term. It begins and ends with us. A tornado is not evil, yet it is destructive. Fire can be used to benefit life or destroy it. Nature is neither good nor evil; it simply is. It follows no moral code and has no internal motive. Only humans, with our complicated set of emotions and intellect can justify such categorizations.

Death, destruction, chaos... these are essential driving forces within nature. Life feeds on life; destruction precedes creation. These are the only true laws, and they are not open to interpretation.

When Pagans anthropomorphisize nature into something good and loving, they deny its very all-encompassing nature. When the dark deities are shunned in fear of the unknown, we deny ourselves full understanding of all deities and what they have to offer, leaving us with an incomplete picture.

It is our nature to fear the unknown. We cling to archetypal forms representing the aspects of some great unknowable, all-encompassing force, which we cannot comprehend. We call them our deities. This is not wrong; it is in fact, necessary since we cannot easily grasp the "divine" or cosmic source otherwise.

Some religions choose to see this source as one omnipotent being. However, accepting the existence of an all-good and just being dictates that there must then exist a counterpart that encompasses evil.

Since nature-based religions view the concept of deity in a more polytheistic and/or pantheistic way, the separations of creative/destructive forces are not as well defined. The deities take on aspects of nature or human ideals. Instead of one omnipotent being, we have deities of love, war, beauty, the sun, the moon, the sea... Each deity inherently contains both the creative and destructive forces.

It is through the many aspects of the Goddess and God that we come to learn more about the universe and ourselves. To shun those aspects we fear inhibits our growth. It is a goal of Dark Paganism to encourage those who hide behind the positive aspects of our deities to embrace their fears and learn.

As a life-affirming spirituality, Paganism often focuses on the positive, creative and nurturing forces in nature. It is easy to loose touch with the darker aspects, particularly when we intrinsically fear them. Life begets death and death begets life. Chaos is the fuel of creation. Something must always be destroyed for something to be created.

Those who shun the darker aspects of nature and ourselves tend to fall into what I have heard called "White-Light" or "fluffy" Paganism - Pagans who think life is all happiness and joy and that once attuned to the rhythms of nature, life becomes such wonderful dreams. Many subscribers to the "New Age" movement have this shallow outlook. To them, nature is good and just and ordered.

This simply is not the case. Take these dull-eyed individuals and place them in the wilderness with nothing but their crystals and they will be some animal's dinner before the end of the week. Nature is harsh. It is unforgiving. The weak die or are killed by the strong. Life feeds on life. Even the strictest vegan is a plant killer. Humans, with their technological and medical breakthroughs have "improved the quality life" by distancing themselves from the harshness of nature; softened us from its harsh reality.

However, despite this harsh side of nature, it is not evil. It also has its share of beauty. The point is, nature encompasses both creative and destructive forces. Ignoring the negative aspects results in an incomplete and dangerous view of nature.

It is the goal of Dark Paganism to remind us that there is a darker side to all things and that this darker side is not necessarily harmful and negative. There is beauty in darkness for those who dare enter the shadows to embrace it.

Many aspects of darkness are not as harsh as death and chaos. There is reflection, reverence, change, divination, introspection, trance, autumn , winter, maturity, wisdom, the distant cry of a crow in a forest, a single candle glowing in the night, the cool embrace of the autumn wind scented with the decay of leaves. These are all aspects; these are its gifts. Perhaps it is through the beauty of a sunset and sunrise and the colors of fall and spring that we are reminded of the cycles of birth-death-rebirth and of the importance - the necessity - of each phase.

A Need for Balance

It is important to remember that focusing only on the darker side is just as dangerous as focusing on the lighter side. Balance is important, and even though some may relate to one aspect more than the other, we must always remain open to the other aspects. Life consists of the interplay of these opposites, which naturally complement each other. To discard one aspect is to sacrifice our wholeness and limit our potential.

This balance does not necessarily (and rarely does) mean equality or neutrality. We typically have an attraction to the imagery of one side over the other. Dark Pagans have a connection to the imagery and themes of darkness yet they do not exclude the light. Each path finds balance within itself.

Sometimes when one side becomes unbalanced, the other side attempts to compensate, but in doing so it often throws itself out of balance. I see this with many Dark Pagans who have grown so disenchanted with the "fluffy" variety of Lightside Paganism that they have begun to feel that Lightside Paganism itself is useless and lost.

In Defense of Lightside Paganism

Lightside Paganism in itself is a very viable and powerful spirituality. It may have a disposition towards the positive/nurturing aspects of nature, life, etc, but it is well adapted in acknowledging the darker aspects as well if allowed to.

The problem is that fewer and fewer Pagans are obtaining any sort of formal training and are instead learning from very superficial "Wicca 101" books. Unfortunately this means that many novices from Judeo-Christian backgrounds are reading these books and interpreting them within a Judeo-Christian context. Thus, instead of grasping concepts of polarity and balance, they are too busy separating light and dark as if it is the same as good and evil. Worse, many try to over-emphasize the positive in hopes of combating the stereotype of witchcraft as evil.

There is currently a great imbalance in Paganism. The overly white-light "fluffy" Pagans outweigh the truly balanced Lightside Pagans. Thus the need to stress the aspects of darkness and also why we now have a need to differentiate Lightside and Darkside Pagans.

Being a Lightside Pagan in itself is not a problem since it is simply a personal disposition, just as others have a disposition towards darker imagery. Either way, both sides recognize the existence, and the need for the other. (I.e. there is not - or at least should not be - a war between dark and light Paganism) However, as soon as one decides to deny darkness then that person sacrifices wholeness.

In the same context, just because I am a Dark Pagan does not mean I don't enjoy sitting under a tree watching the animals and birds or strolling barefoot in the grass. It simply means that my overall outlook on life, nature and even spirituality varies from that of Lightside Paganism. Neither is more right. There is no absolute path; each must find the path that best works for them.

Since this book is primarily a reaction to the growing trend towards the unhealthy and unbalanced (also known as "fluffy") form of Lightside Paganism, sometimes it may seem to be a bit harsh towards lightside Pagans, but then again, I want this to serve as a wake up call.

Indeed the word "dark", like "witch" has long been used in association with the concept of evil in modern Western Society. As Pagans we know that a witch is not necessarily evil. We have worked hard to reclaim the word "witch", if only so that we can personally break free of our own social conditioning that a witch is synonymous with "evil". In seeking to reclaim the word "witch" we have often distanced ourselves from other such loaded words that carry the public's projection of evil. The easiest way to accomplish this distancing was to focus on imagery associated with goodness, such as "light".

However, there is an inherent problem with this. How pagans see the duality of light/dark is not the same as is traditional in modern Western society, which has been heavily influenced by Christian thought over the last several centuries. The Western worldview is based on dualism where duality is broken down into two very separate and distinct irreducible parts. These parts are independent of each other and can be either complimentary or in conflict. In the case of traditional Western thought, the symbolism of light and dark is deeply rooted in the Christian ethical dualism symbolized as the battle of good (light) vs. evil (dark). Paganism on the other hand has adopted a worldview based on monism, where duality is more often perceived as aspects of an encompassing whole. Dualities such as light/dark thus exist as polarities - two opposite yet complementing aspects of a whole. The yin-yang, which shows each "side" as part of a greater whole, each containing an aspect of its opposite within it, is a familiar symbol of polarity.

This polarity of light/dark in Pagan thought is no longer the same as the dualism of good/evil, but rather associated with such complimenting principles as creative/destructive, external/internal, attracting/repelling, clarity/mystery, active/passive, solid/flowing, static/dynamic, masculine/feminine, and order/chaos, to name a few. The moralistic connotations that were opposed upon the light/dark dualism by traditional Western thought simply do not apply under the monistic approach. (Don't confuse "monism" and "monistic" with "monotheism", that is another issue completely.)

Being raised in a society based on dualism we have a natural habit to want to break things down into components, even when we have chosen to take on a spirituality based on monism. Thus, as we Pagans (often coming from a Judeo-Christian background) began to use the dualistic imagery of light (good) from Western thought in association with the word "witch" to reclaim it from the negative association of darkness (evil) we unconsciously altered the polarity of light/dark in Pagan thought to fit this imagery. Duality in a monism is not the same as duality in a dualism.

Additionally, as Paganism became more mainstream in the 1980's and 90's, less attention was a given to formal study and practice, and sadly many authors over emphasized the concept of "insta-witchcraft" as 101-style books flooded the market. Covens and even traditions were formed by novices and yet attempted to take on students. This had (and is still having) drastic results when mixed with New Age influences that strip away the cultural context of various beliefs and negative associations, to provide a more palatable, trendy form, which is geared for the masses. Paganism has become overrun with beginners lacking direction and clarity. Although I am a strong proponent for the validity of solitary practice, the sudden shift in majority from coven-centric to solitary practice has not come without a cost.

Normally, when one begins to study and practice a Pagan religion, there is a shift in his or her worldview of dualism in spirituality to monism. This shift is an internal process - an initiation - and happens to both the solitary and coven member alike. The external self-dedication or initiation ritual uses imagery to help catalyze this internal initiation; alone such rituals are but empty forms and useless. One of the reasons coven novitiates must wait a year and a day before a formal initiation is to allow the novitiate time to experience the mysteries of the Craft; a personal understanding of Pagan symbolism in the proper context. Of course this same process can happen to a dedicated solitary with discipline and motivation. A shift in worldview can only occur through practice and experience. One must work under the principles of the new worldview before it "clicks" and becomes a part of us, and this takes time and effort, two things many unguided novices (or unqualified teachers) fail to see.

This is much akin to culture shock. When we cannot relate to a foreign culture, its practices that do not compliment our own culture may seem strange or even barbaric. If, however, we were to live within the context of that culture we would eventually start to see those practices within the proper context and perhaps appreciate (or at least better understand) the local practices that we once scoffed at. What has been happening in the Pagan community more and more is an influx of people taking its symbolism and mysteries out of the context of monism and translating them to fit their own context based in dualism. Light and dark become opposed and polarities are thrown out of balance as anything associated with darkness is disowned. Popular Pagan religions such as Wicca become "fluffy" loosing their depth. Such Pagans are not receptive to challenges to their comfortable niche in their spirituality. Here they find release from the overburdening aspects of their former Judeo-Christian religions while finding the security and encouragement of the more flexible Pagan paths. The flexibility can be taken to the extreme of assuming that anything we no not like can simply be discarded without concern.

Unless this imbalance is corrected, the true mysteries that Paganism offers are lost. Pagan traditions are becoming empty shells of what they once were and the sense of community is becoming shattered by "witch wars" and silly politics. Before we can salvage our beliefs we must first reclaim "darkness" and encourage this reclamation from within. The road ahead will not be an easy one, but with effort those serious about the Craft can slowly pull itself out of the pit of ignorance and again embrace the true teachings and mysteries that Paganism offers.

To end on a positive note, I have noticed many new books beginning to emphasize practice and steer away from the cookie cutter books that follow the same template of generic information with filler spells, rituals, and catchy graphics. Many new books since the end of the 1990's have begun to concentrate on the principles and meaning behind the practice and to rely on sound research and personal experience. Sadly there will always be unscrupulous authors and publishers who will continue be motivated by profit alone, but it is comforting to know that some established authors have begun to appreciate their responsibility and not underestimate their influence - for better or worse - on the Craft.

                                credits and rights to John Coughlin