The Dark Night

No, I don’t mean the Batman.

He was called the “Dark Knight.” But I am talking about some similarities to the Batman. He had to deal with issues arising from watching his parents’ senseless murder. He wants to follow a path that will prevent others from having to deal with the issues he did. In fact, he becomes so obsessed with his path that he becomes the archetypal loner, pushing away not just friends, but even companionship. He’s like the Hermit of the Tarot, a shining light if others will follow. Few will.

When most people start on a spiritual path, especially a non-traditional one such as the path of magick, it usually starts as a relatively minor interest. Eventually, that interest turns to a focus. For some, that focus may even turn into an obsession. Magick isn’t something you do. Magick is something you are.

The Separation

As you follow a spiritual path, something odd happens, especially when that path isn’t swimming on the mainstream. You become fascinated, intrigued, and virtually in love with your path. And when you love something it’s a common desire to want to share. Share your path with friends. Share your path with relatives. Maybe even share your path with strangers.

And they all look at you as if you’re the stranger.

Congratulations! You’ve left the mundane. You’ve left the world of the ordinary for something closer to the Divine.

But your friends, the ones you’ve known for years, perhaps all your life, are firmly swimming down the mainstream. You’re evolving. You’re changing. You’re asking, “But why? What if we…?”

In response, they continue swimming down the mainstream. “Don’t make waves. Swim with us.”

But you can’t. You’ve seen too much. You’ve experienced too much. The universe is so very much bigger than you used to imagine. It’s so much bigger than they still imagine.

They’d like to keep you with them. They’re you’re friends! But their path is no longer your path.

You’d like to take them with you, soaring through the astral plane around new universes filled with light and life and pure love. But they can’t go. They’re stuck. It’s so easy for them to swim down the mainstream. It’s so easy not to try a different way. It’s so easy not to question.

They’d go with you if they could, but they cannot. They can’t see what you see. Their world view is too small. You have no choice but to separate.

There Is No Try

Yoda of “Star Wars” knew it. You can try to stay with your friends, but to do so means abandoning your path. On some dark night you have a choice to abandon your path of spirituality and stay with your friends, or let them go. Can you abandon your path? “Do or do not,” says Yoda. “There is no try.”

Stay with them, abandon your path, and eventually you feel angry, restricted, unhappy. It comes out in arguments, disagreements, and then you leave your friends anyway and don’t understand why you’re unhappy.

Or abandon your friends and stay on your path. Alone. They are friends. They’d come with you if they could; but they cannot. And so, you’re alone.

Alone

Alone

The night is dark.
There are no stars to guide you.
You’ve never been so……alone.
So very,
very,

alone.

But when you’re at the bottom of a crevasse, there is only one way to go—up. Yes, you have given up much, but you’re receiving something far more than others can imagine. From the distance, a beam of pure, scintillating light confronts you. It brings you perfect love. It brings you feelings of spirituality and bliss that go beyond anything the muggles could possible imagine.

You are at one with the Divine and the Divine is at one with you.

No religion does this. No faith does this. It transcends both. That’s not to say religion or faith are bad or lacking, only that they do what they do. This is a bliss beyond comprehension. This is ecstasy beyond imagination. You can’t abandon this again. The sheer power of the experience literally makes you glow. Your aura expands.

Emergence

Slowly, you emerge from the crevasse. The dark night ends and the Sun rises in the east. You pull yourself up. The climb has left you stronger than ever.

And then, a strange thing happens. People notice your glow. Oh, they may not recognize it for what it is, but somehow, on a subconscious level, they recognize it. They want to drink it, to feed off your endless supply of spiritual energy.

And the solitude fades.

Somewhat.

For even though you are no longer alone, you remain by yourself. They want to be around you, not follow the same path you are on.

But something happens. Your energy cannot be defined or ignored. It is magnetic. It draws to you not just those who want your glow, but those who recognize a kindred spirit.

They don’t need a secret handshake or special password to know you.

They know.

You.

And you recognize them, too.

Finally, as you walk down your path, you have people to walk beside you. Not leading. Not following. Just beside you.

And you know you’ll never be alone again. You know?

Are You There?

I have met many people who are going down into the crevasse or are at the bottom. There is no Moon in the sky, no north star to guide their journey. Their night is beyond dark.

Are you there? If you are, I’m writing this to let you know that no matter how dark, you have options. You can return to swim with your old friends down the mainstream, forever being unhappy, having a life that is…ordinary.

Or you can choose to know that this dark night will end. The sun will rise. Things will be better than before. You can live a life that is extraordinary.

You may not climb Mt. Everest, swim the English Channel, or rocket into outer space. But an extraordinary life doesn’t have to be that obvious. If you can help one person, if you can change one life for the better, you are changing the universe.

And nothing is more extraordinary than that.