Love in the Darkness: The Wholeness that can Save the World

What does the Scorpio New Moon Truly Ask of Us?

People tend to dismiss Darkness as evil and to equate Light with holiness. This false binary disconnects the Self from the primordial experience of the Womb at the biological level and the Void at the cosmic-spiritual level.

It also dismisses aspects of the Feminine Mysteries and, unfortunately, perpetuates gendered and racial stereotypes based on colorism.

The false equation keeps things the way they are: it is time for a shift.

But why does the Dark or Shadow call to us at this time? What does it actually mean to embrace the Dark? Why do so many cultures across the globe celebrate the dead, honor them with offerings of sweets or lights? What does that have to do with the Void and the Sacred Feminine?

At some level, this question is on everyone's mind as we approach Samhain and Día de los Muertos—the thinning of the veils. This year's celebrations coincide with Deepavali/Diwali and the Scorpio New Moon.

Contemporary consumerism calls it ' spooky season' and sells you the picture-perfect image of kitty cats in witches' hats sitting in pumpkins, costumes, and candy for Halloween. As a Cat-Mommy who tends to dress up as Death and enjoys The Nightmare Before Christmas and Terry Pratchett's Hogfather, I approve of this immensely.

But it's not what the Darkness is really about.

These celebratory rituals are needed counterbalances to the actual experience of looking into Nothingness and Surrendering.

This is what gets lost in process: the heart of it.

As Professor Lupin advises Harry after a Dementor attack, the chocolate helps (afterward). You gotta do the work first, though.

So what does connecting with Darkness during this time of year entail?

How can this be a deeply sacred, transformative, and loving experience?

What does it have to do with the way things are in the world?

To get there, we must first re-frame Darkness (or rather re-member what it has always been):

A simple way of thinking about how Darkness can be a sacred experience is to think about one's experience in the Womb or a seed buried beneath the Earth. These are experiences of sanctuary, safety, and an opportunity to grow unseen. They are inherently Feminine, generative, and life-affirming.

This is where we all began. Darkness is our home and origin.

The Universe started in Darkness. Without it, we have no context for Light.

There would be nothing for Light to emerge into.

It is a fundamental component of our Existence.

Some things you find in the Dark are friends and places of refuge and regeneration.

Other things may be best left alone or disconnected from. But you still need to do the work first to determine if what you find is truly friend or foe.

Sometimes, it is your gifts that you are afraid of.

Sometimes, it is your ego's fear.

Sometimes, it is a protector from your ancestry.

Sometimes, it is a parasite you need to burn off.

It honestly depends on the situation.

People fear the Dark because it takes specific skills to be comfortable navigating and understanding its Mysteries. And they have been taught to fear it and see it as an ‘ Other ‘ that would otherwise threaten their well-being.

Darkness is not entirely a bitter truth to bravely swallow or a wounded aspect of life to nurture back into Goodness.

It can be Joyful on its own terms and, in so doing, utterly disruptive of systems of order that exclude it and those who have traditionally had access to the metaphysics of the Dark.

Your acceptance of the Dark does not redeem you, as it is not inherently something awful. It completes you.

The knowing of Darkness as Sacred and Life-Giving was linked to the Feminine Mysteries and understandings of the Goddess by her Priestesses, that patriarchy largely vilified, suppressed, and deemed as evil.

This is why you see additional interest in witches and the occult during ' spooky season'. It is tapping into a memory and experience of something deeper and far more ancient than Halloween.

It is no coincidence that Dark—Yin—also corresponds with the Feminine in Taoist understanding. But they do not vilify it in medical or spiritual practice—an excess or deficiency of Yin/Feminine or Yang/Masculine is a problem in either case.

Culturally , there is a fear of the Yin ghost waiting to drain your chi, but I can tell you from experience that is one half of the story. Yang-excess spiritual trials are no joke but less common. They just tend to be written as angry or powerful sages or emperors who got their way as opposed to the spirit of a woman who was unjustly killed and left to roam.

Let me also be clear that Masculine and Feminine are not limited to bodies coded as male or female. These aspects cut across all existence: They exist in what is formed and unformed, what was, is, and can be.

When you look at things from this perspective, that easy equation of ‘The Light as Goodness incarnate’ becomes less convincing.

We are so used to hearing how the Light brings God.

There is truth in that, but only partially. Because God’s presence is not limited by certain shades on the colour wheel.

I've found what you might call God in those spaces of absence and presence.

Where one is filled with the Light of Love and Compassion, and where one is stripped away of everything but the Nothingness-that-Is-Full. Buddhism refers to this concept as Śūnyatā.

That too is Goddess.

However you want to call it.

Colour tonality does not guarantee the presence of the Divine.

If you've never experienced some presence of Spirit while looking up at the night sky, sitting in a forest as the sun sets, or in a cave, you're missing out.

Analogies of colour should not define your spiritual and moral compass - as people see things differently, and for good reason.

One who is actually blind can actually have far greater sight in the spiritual domain, sans the color-coded-value-signalling ...

Let’s make it more concrete:

How many of you have felt dismayed at the image of the ' white knight' politician promising you so many ideals - and delivering nothing (or making things worse) once in office? That's also a False Light phenomenon.

How many times have you seen someone overlooked because their femininity, ancestry, or spiritual beliefs were seen as non-mainstream?

That's when heteronormative, patriarchal beliefs of which bodies, races, genders, and rhetorics can bear Light, righteousness, goodness, trustworthiness, etc. remove the possibility of true wisdom and guidance from alternative voices.

It’s a big reason why things have not changed, despite so many people waking up to the realization that the world is on fire and the fire brigade (if we have one) hasn’t arrived.

And it’s not new. This rhetoric of illumination-light-masculine-divinity-whiteness also feeds into the colonial rhetoric used hundreds of years ago to ' tame the savages and bring them civilization' and to keep their [colonizer] women safe from their 'barbaric' impulses. Some people are still trying to justify it …

Humanity hasn’t decolonized itself from the forced spiritual lobotomy that was the colonial experience.

This isn't just some abstract spiritual question or trendy mystical woo-woo to consider at this time of year. This key lesson is important in so many aspects of our lives. This false binary is insidious. So many live with it without even realizing it.

To return to Wholeness, we must find the Love in the Dark, once again.

But what about the Light, you might ask?

Something that is Holy can appear in pitch blackness.

And something False can come in bright, glittery, shiny colors.

You really have to look at it first.

So much of the solution of what ails us individually and collectively has been falsely pushed into the Dark = Evil box. And it is time we dissolve it.

The Journey starts within.

What you find inside may inspire you and regenerate your will in ways you cannot imagine. You do not need anything complicated to do it.

You might use a torch (i.e. concept, psychopomp, guide, tool, etc. ) to find that innermost cave or place of deep psychic resonance within - but then you need to drop it and Surrender to the Truth of what you find.

That's scary enough for more people. You don't need to imagine figures of ghosts, zombies, and the undead. But that is what genuinely looking at Darkness takes.

Nothing but truth, honesty, integrity, and humility within.

Just as you find a seed of Yang (Masculine, Fire, Light) in the deepest part of Yin in the Taijitu (yin-yang symbol), you will find what you need to re-ignite yourself.

You must first let go of the False Illumination that has kept you from yourself.

When you are done, give thanks to the hands of Spirit that have worked in so many invisible ways, through so many beings (ancestors, angels, saints, etc.), to bring you what blessings you have now. And celebrate.

(Here's where you get the chocolate ...)

In short:

This is a time for rejuvenation and celebration, but once we have acknowledged the grief, the loss, the feared, the disacknowledged, and the falsely vilified.

Go within to find your answers and surrender to the Truth that you find. That is the alchemy of birth-death-rebirth. You will not be the same afterwards.

To celebrate true balance: Light a candle or oil lamp, leave delicious food offerings (depending on your tradition), respect saints and ancestors on an altar, celebrate the gift the Dark has brought you. And live by what you have learnt.

Happy Scorpio New Moon.

Happy Samhain/Halloween/All Saint's Day/All Soul's Day

Happy Deepavali/Diwali

Happy Día de los Muertos

Happy Celebrations to anyone honoring the Love in the Dark at this time

Dr. Bairavee, The Sky Priestess

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Text © Dr. Bairavee, The Sky Priestess, 2013-2024. All rights reserved.

Image: Claire Frances via Pixabay