Hey folks, tune in to the Grand Dark Conspiracy tonight at 10pm edt/7pm pdt to hear me talk about shadow work, things that go bump in the night, and the meaning of evil. I had a fabulous time the last time I was on this show and am really looking forward to it. I hope you'll join me :)
A blog about the darker side of magick and pagan spirituality from author Emily Carlin
17 July 2012
04 July 2012
Shadow in Nature
There was a wonderful article written a month or so back on the prevalence of Pagans of various flavors to idealize nature as being benign, pure, and good (I cannot find it for the life of me, so if you can please put a link in the comments). In reality, nature - I'm talking real nature, not your local park - is glorious but brutal. Nature is not a wholesome sanctuary where we can retreat from our hectic lives to find peace and safety. Nature is a place of harsh extremes, survival of the fittest, and literally awesome vistas. There is no better place to explore the balance of light and shadow than in nature.
I spent today steeped in the extremes that nature offers us. I went to Mount Saint Helens and hiked the South Coldwater Trail to Coldwater Saddle. For those of you not familiar with this mountain, it blew up rather spectacularly in 1980. The picture above was taken this afternoon and you can see the acres of trees that are still blasted to this day. In a place like that you can see both unparalleled beauty and incredible harshness.
To have both the stunning views of Coldwater Lake and its surroundings and views of the twisted metal of construction equipment caught in the blast, Mt. St. Helens is a reminder that nature is not a happy shiny place where people can frolic in edenic bliss. Nature is awesome and terrible. She deserves our reverence and respect because she will give until it hurts and then, when we think we've got it all figured out, she'll whollup us but good.
I spent today steeped in the extremes that nature offers us. I went to Mount Saint Helens and hiked the South Coldwater Trail to Coldwater Saddle. For those of you not familiar with this mountain, it blew up rather spectacularly in 1980. The picture above was taken this afternoon and you can see the acres of trees that are still blasted to this day. In a place like that you can see both unparalleled beauty and incredible harshness.
To have both the stunning views of Coldwater Lake and its surroundings and views of the twisted metal of construction equipment caught in the blast, Mt. St. Helens is a reminder that nature is not a happy shiny place where people can frolic in edenic bliss. Nature is awesome and terrible. She deserves our reverence and respect because she will give until it hurts and then, when we think we've got it all figured out, she'll whollup us but good.
26 June 2012
Shadow Magick in Llewellyn's Magical Almanac
No, I have not fallen off a cliff. I'm still here and still writing when I can. I've spent the last few months (and will be spending a few more) stuck up to my eyeballs in a huge project at work and it's pretty much sucking my will to do anything that requires more mental effort than looking at trees and going "Oooo, pretty." So, unfortunately you won't be getting proper regular blog posts for a while. Sorry about that, but I gotta pay the bills.
In much happier news, yesterday my contributor copies of the 2013 Llewellyn's Magical Almanac arrived! I've got an article in this year's edition on basic Shadow Magick.
If you're a regular reader, then you'll be fairly familiar with the content of the essay, but it does encapsulate the important points of the basic practice all in one place. I hope you pick up a copy when it hits the shelves later this season :)
In much happier news, yesterday my contributor copies of the 2013 Llewellyn's Magical Almanac arrived! I've got an article in this year's edition on basic Shadow Magick.
If you're a regular reader, then you'll be fairly familiar with the content of the essay, but it does encapsulate the important points of the basic practice all in one place. I hope you pick up a copy when it hits the shelves later this season :)
(My article starts on page 298)
06 June 2012
Oregon Vortex and House of Mystery
Last weekend I had the great pleasure of driving down to Ashland, OR to visit the magnificent Oregon Shakespeare Festival. On our way south we decided to finally visit the Oregon Vortex and House of Mystery.
I'd been hearing about this place for years and had always been intrigued. It's one of those places that has a house full of insane angles that creates insane optical illusions. This place also claims to be host to an energy vortex that warps perception and mass. I came expecting to enjoy the optical illusions and be sarcastic about the energy claims. I was quite surprised to find out that there actually is an incredibly strong permanent energy vortex centered in the House of Mystery.
We arrived shortly after noon, on the only sunny day all weekend, just in time for a tour (which took about an hour). Our guide began by going into the history of the place which has accounts of odd phenomena going back to the Native Americans. There are old stories of mammals not liking the area, so you don't see many squirrels or rodents in the Vortex - the area is famous for spooking horses. People tend to feel odd there as well, experiencing vertigo, headaches, pressure, etc. I found that as we neared the center of the vortex I could feel a palpable shift in the ambient energy; akin to moving from still water into a flowing river. As someone who can channel energy quite well I just opened myself to let the energy flow in the way it wanted to and didn't feel any negative effects.
The House of Mystery itself is an old assayers office that fell down a slope during a storm and landed all akimbo up against a tree. If you let yourself be guided by the warped visual cues it gives you, you will feel the worst vertigo of your life. Everything feels like it's going sideways. (photo from http://news.opb.org/article/oregon-vortex-offers-spooky-mystery-all/)
It's in the house that things really get interesting because the center of that vortex is right inside it. According to the guide, they were recently visited by a Celtic Shaman who said that the vortex was home to a portal of some kind. Before the guide told us where it was I went right to a spot on the floor and pointed at it, saying "It's right there." The guide confirmed that it was the same spot the Shaman had identified (confirmation that my energy senses are on track is always nice). I don't know where that portal goes but it's definitely there. I didn't sense anything negative about it so I felt totally comfortable playing with all the fun ambient energies.
If you're every travelling on I-5 through Southern Oregon I highly recommend taking an hour and visiting the Oregon Vortex and House of Mystery.
We arrived shortly after noon, on the only sunny day all weekend, just in time for a tour (which took about an hour). Our guide began by going into the history of the place which has accounts of odd phenomena going back to the Native Americans. There are old stories of mammals not liking the area, so you don't see many squirrels or rodents in the Vortex - the area is famous for spooking horses. People tend to feel odd there as well, experiencing vertigo, headaches, pressure, etc. I found that as we neared the center of the vortex I could feel a palpable shift in the ambient energy; akin to moving from still water into a flowing river. As someone who can channel energy quite well I just opened myself to let the energy flow in the way it wanted to and didn't feel any negative effects.
The House of Mystery itself is an old assayers office that fell down a slope during a storm and landed all akimbo up against a tree. If you let yourself be guided by the warped visual cues it gives you, you will feel the worst vertigo of your life. Everything feels like it's going sideways. (photo from http://news.opb.org/article/oregon-vortex-offers-spooky-mystery-all/)
It's in the house that things really get interesting because the center of that vortex is right inside it. According to the guide, they were recently visited by a Celtic Shaman who said that the vortex was home to a portal of some kind. Before the guide told us where it was I went right to a spot on the floor and pointed at it, saying "It's right there." The guide confirmed that it was the same spot the Shaman had identified (confirmation that my energy senses are on track is always nice). I don't know where that portal goes but it's definitely there. I didn't sense anything negative about it so I felt totally comfortable playing with all the fun ambient energies.
If you're every travelling on I-5 through Southern Oregon I highly recommend taking an hour and visiting the Oregon Vortex and House of Mystery.
16 May 2012
09 May 2012
People Suck
Ok, I need to vent. Yesterday I lost my wedding rings. This pisses me off to an extent I find difficult to describe. I went to the gym yesterday and forgot my rings in the locker I was using. This morning I called the gym and they were neither in the lost and found nor the locker I used yesterday. This means either the person I talked to was blind and didn't see them in the locker or someone made of with my wedding rings. I'd like to give people the benefit of the doubt and hope that they were accidentally knocked into someone's bag and they'll find them later and turn them in. I have very little hope of that. I feel extremely stupid for leaving them in the first place and deeply disappointed in humanity for someone having taken them.
As a shadow worker I spend a lot of time with my negative emotions and I know how angry and bitter I can be. Hell, I'm the kind of witch that will sling a hex with no qualms, so I expected to be a lot angrier than I am now. I just can't help wondering what kind of circumstances someone would have to live in to think that stealing someone else's wedding rings was their best bet in a situation. They're wedding rings - these are objects that always have immense emotional significance to people. What sort of unhappiness would someone need to dwell in to not have empathy for that? My shadow looms large in my life and I would never, ever do something like that. What must theirs be like? Honestly, I feel sorry for anyone who's life is so awful and empty that their sense of decency would be so deadened. So to whomever has my rings - you're a pathetic dick and I feel sorry for you.
01 May 2012
Book Review - Feeding Your Demons
I just finished a fabulously shadowy book called Feeding Your Demons
by Tsultrim Allione that I heartily recommend to anyone interested in
shadow work at any level. The book is about the psychological technique
of looking at our “demons” and nourishing and satisfying them rather
than battling or repressing them. In essence, it’s shadow work in a
psychological rather than magickal framework.
Allione bases her techniques in the Chod practice of Tibbetan Buddhism. She outlines a five step process of identifying and visualizing your demon, asking in questions and trying to get to the root of it, and then feeding it. I like the fact that she clearly distinguishes between hearing what the demon says it wants and identifying what it actually needs in order to progress - something that is a huge part of shadow work. So often we think that what we want is what we actually need, when it can be just the opposite. Looking at our problems as demons is an interesting and quite effective way of separating ourselves from those problems and allows us to look at things from a fresh perspective. The approach of feeding, rather than battling, those demons is essentially the same as integrating our shadows.
Allione looks in depth at many different kinds of “demons” that can afflict people. She looks at just about every ill in life as a potential demon and something that can be dealt with using her five step process - everything from disease and depression to addiction and abuse. Her examples are very interesting, but I must admit I skimmed through the sections on demons that I didn’t think applied to me because reading about people doing the same thing in different circumstances gets a tad old. That being said, I think all the examples are very necessary and that everyone will be able to find something that really resonates in there.
The only other minor issue I had was the book’s distinctively Buddhist slant - and that’s only because I’m not Buddhist. I completely respect the Buddhist view that attachment to the good things in life can be as destructive as attachment to the bad, but it’s not something I embrace. Perhaps I haven’t reached the stage in my life where I’m ready to see through that particular lens; maybe I never will. Just because I don’t embrace that view doesn’t mean it isn’t valuable and I think that all shadow workers would do well to at least explore those arguments.
Overall, I loved this book and found it to be incredibly valuable. I fully intend to explore Allione’s techniques and look forward to giving them my own witchy spin.
Allione bases her techniques in the Chod practice of Tibbetan Buddhism. She outlines a five step process of identifying and visualizing your demon, asking in questions and trying to get to the root of it, and then feeding it. I like the fact that she clearly distinguishes between hearing what the demon says it wants and identifying what it actually needs in order to progress - something that is a huge part of shadow work. So often we think that what we want is what we actually need, when it can be just the opposite. Looking at our problems as demons is an interesting and quite effective way of separating ourselves from those problems and allows us to look at things from a fresh perspective. The approach of feeding, rather than battling, those demons is essentially the same as integrating our shadows.
Allione looks in depth at many different kinds of “demons” that can afflict people. She looks at just about every ill in life as a potential demon and something that can be dealt with using her five step process - everything from disease and depression to addiction and abuse. Her examples are very interesting, but I must admit I skimmed through the sections on demons that I didn’t think applied to me because reading about people doing the same thing in different circumstances gets a tad old. That being said, I think all the examples are very necessary and that everyone will be able to find something that really resonates in there.
The only other minor issue I had was the book’s distinctively Buddhist slant - and that’s only because I’m not Buddhist. I completely respect the Buddhist view that attachment to the good things in life can be as destructive as attachment to the bad, but it’s not something I embrace. Perhaps I haven’t reached the stage in my life where I’m ready to see through that particular lens; maybe I never will. Just because I don’t embrace that view doesn’t mean it isn’t valuable and I think that all shadow workers would do well to at least explore those arguments.
Overall, I loved this book and found it to be incredibly valuable. I fully intend to explore Allione’s techniques and look forward to giving them my own witchy spin.
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