Equinox - Balance Between Light and Darkness

View of Loughcrew Cairin during the equinox

 

Archaic humanity did not specifically acknowledge the spring and autumn equinox as much as they engaged with the solstices for summer and winter. We know this because the orientations of the various stone circles, passage tombs, and megalithic monuments built by our ancient ancestors are accurately aligned toward the southern and northern extreme latitudes depicting the advent of the solstices. The equinoxes were just the points in between the summer and winter solstices. There were exceptions, such as Loughcrew Cairns in Ireland, where the passage tomb is aligned to the rising sun of the equinoxes instead of the solstices. Additionally, the Mnajdra Temple in Malta has a temple doorway that is precisely aligned to the equinoxes, and the Crucuno Rectangle in Brittany is a megalith that is aligned to the equinoxes; They represent a different approach to antique solar observances. Were they an exception or a variation? We don’t know.

Prehistoric societies would obviously note that the sun was either incrementally moving to the south or the north, and at a certain point the duration of day and night would be equal. Whether they marked the equinoxes as an important occasion is unknown, but it is very likely in some cases. All this, of course, is just conjecture on the part of archaeologists, but the fact that there are alignments shown in these edifices to the solstices and in some cases to the equinoxes lends itself to this theory. We just don’t know how archaic humans in the Neolithic age perceived these occasions in their solar calendar, and what they did to commemorate them.

Most of the calendars in early historical times in Europe and the Middle East were lunar based simply because it was easier to measure a month based on the interval between the reoccurring lunar phases. Ancient Greece had a number of variations to their calendars, but they were tied to the agricultural events of planting and harvesting than to the specific equinoxes and solstices. Hipparchus, in the second century B.C.E., accurately determined the equinoxes mathematically, and he also discovered the precession of the equinoxes over time. Yet this didn’t seem to have much impact on the calendars of antiquity.

Ancient Rome had a calendar that was slightly more solar oriented because it began around the vernal equinox, but it only had ten months of 30 days (March through December) and the rest were considered intercalated days of winter. However, the month was typically divided into three nine-day weeks, with three days in between for religious observations and market days. This early pre-Julian calendar was more strongly influenced by the lunar phases of the month and by the agricultural annual cycle than by the actual positions of the sun. The reforms established by Julius Caesar brought the early Roman calendar into alignment with the solar year, with twelve months and observations that included the equinoxes and solstices, but the liturgical year remained pretty much the same as it was before the Julian reforms.

Celtic and Germanic people approached their calendars in a completely different manner.  Instead of hosting religious observances and celebrations on the solstices and equinoxes, Celts chose the midpoints between them. They celebrated four fire festivals that likely represented the vegetative cycle rather than the solar cycle. Whether or not they had astronomically pinpointed the exact midpoints for their religious festivals or selected them based on certain natural observations is unknown. Germanic peoples orientated their religious calendar on the summer and winter solstice, and the winter solstice was particularly emphasized. Slavic people who lived to the east of the Celts and Germans, appeared to observe and celebrate the spring equinox with fertility rites and specialized deities, and observed the autumn equinox as a time of harvest, feasting, and homage to their departed ancestors.

Christianity cleverly absorbed these various pagan calendric systems into their liturgical calendar of feasts, fasting, atonement, commemoration and celebration. They combined both the late Roman calendar and the Celtic and Germanic calendars into their liturgical cycle based on the occurrences of the life and death of Jesus Christ, and the events commemorating the apostles, the various saints and martyrs. 

However, the observance of Easter, which was supposed to commemorate the birth of Jesus, occurs on the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox. Thus, Easter, and the start of the Easter calendar and the end of Lent, is a lunar based event ensconced within a solar based calendar. The Easter liturgical cycle begins with Easter, culminates with the Pentecost, and ends with the celebration of Corpus Christi. I have stated in my books and writings that this cycle also mirrors the cycle of the Grail myth, along with the pagan chthonic antecedents that would be associated with that mythic cycle.

Modern Witches and Pagans have combined both the Celtic cross-quarter observances with the solstices and equinoxes to produce the eight spokes of the wheel of the year. However, I have shown in my writings and books that this singular wheel actually contains two cycles, which are the solar and the vegetative seasonal cycles. Joining these two cycles together illustrates the mysteries of the cycle of light and darkness, and the cycle of life and death. These are endless cycles, because the ascension of light is followed by its descent, and the ascension of darkness is followed by its own diminishment. Every year this cycle is repeated, seemingly endlessly. 

Therefore, it can presumed that life follows the same cycle. That the event of birth is followed, over an unknown period of time, to death, and that death is nothing more than the transition from one life to another. However, the beginning of each vegetative cycle begins with new growth and not the resurrected life of the previous cycle. A tree might remain the same, but the leaves that appear each year are different. There is a lesson and a mystery to this observation which would qualify the belief in reincarnation as to what is actually reborn and what is lost forever in death, but I digress.

The endless cycle of light and darkness found in the ever changing solar year represents a natural balance where neither the light nor the darkness can ultimately dominate the year. As the light and darkness are in eternal transition, this cycle contains no moral or ethical constraints or judgements because it is purely a part of nature. It is model for all to follow, so that individuals, groups and nations seek to maintain a state of harmony between the light and darkness within themselves. From that balance within they can approach other individuals, groups or nations without prejudice or judgement. In this manner, they are at peace with themselves, and exist in a state of balance throughout their daily lives and social intercourse with others. 

Adherence to the light over darkness, or darkness over light, is a mistake in the eyes of those who seek a balance between the two so they might discover the very core of its mystery. That mystery is the changeless state of the eternal present, which contains all darkness and light, and is the source of life and the repository of the dead. I count modern Witches and Pagans as individuals and groups who can and probably should follow the example of the endless and ever balanced cycle of light and darkness, having rejected the idea of choosing one over the other as a premise for their religious and spiritual beliefs and practices. 

Knowing the balance of light and darkness within one’s self is the key to finding that singular source that resides in the center of all beingness, which is the point of unity and oneness. Beyond that singularity is the enfolding non-being of emptiness, the source of all that is and is not. I define a modern form of pagan enlightenment as the point where an individual becomes fully aware of this mystery and finds themselves within this state of union, thus, permanently changing the world that they see and operate through. It is also the path to obtaining the vision of eternity and timeless unity. Such a vision changes a person most profoundly, and reverberates in their consciousness even beyond the death of their body.

Happy Vernal Equinox to one and all!

Frater Barrabbas

Is My Witchcraft Magic LHP?

Over the many years I have met, corresponded with and engaged in discussions with individuals who identify as being practitioners of the Left Hand Path, or LHP. Despite the fact that I have found such practitioners to be more open to my techniques and methods of magic, I have never considered myself a member of the LHP community. I have adhered to the theological tenets of Witchcraft (sparse as they may be), which take a neutral and nonjudgmental approach to their spiritual and magical world view. Witches see the importance and the equality of the powers and intelligences of light and darkness, and we don’t feel it necessary or part of our creed to align ourselves to one or the other. We associate this kind of duality of light and darkness, or good and evil, with the prevalence of the influences of the Abrahamic faiths, which we are not a member. So, I have engaged with practitioners who consider themselves white light workers and lefthand path practitioners with equal aplomb. 

However, when I compare my magical practices to either groups, and this includes practitioners of traditional ceremonial magic, I have much more in common with the lefthand path than the right hand or white light workers. One of the main differences between what traditional ceremonial magicians do when they conjure spirits is that they guard themselves with an empowered magic circle that is used to protect themselves from unwanted spiritual contagion, and focus their evocations into a magic triangle outside of that circle. They may even use a scrying table and a crystal ball to communicate with this being, all of this so they will maintain a separation between themselves and what they are evoking. I don’t have those restrictions imposed on my magical techniques of spirit conjuring, and because I use a system of immersion so that I may engage with spirits in their own domain, I have direct encounters with all the spiritual entities that I would either invoke or evoke.

Similarly, my acquaintances of the left hand path also claim to not use the methodologies of ceremonial magic, and in fact, they engage directly with the spirits with whom they engage, including demonic or chthonic godheads and demonic spirits. I suppose that a traditional ceremonial magician would find these kinds of direct exposure to be problematic at best, or downright dangerous or insane at the worst. Yet it is this very methodology where left hand path workers firmly agree with me on the methodology for conjuring spirits. I may use different specific techniques in my magical workings that are not shared with the LHP community of magical practitioners, but otherwise, our approach is the same. That dawning discovery on my part leads me to ask the question of whether or not my magic would be considered to be left hand path. Should I be considered a member of the LHP community because of the way I work magic, and of course, a more broader question would be, are Witches who practice witchcraft forms of magic part of the left hand path?

The answer to this question really depends on to whom it is asked. White light workers would definitely label me and other Witches as LHP. So, too, would many traditional ceremonial magicians, if they considered the magic that Witches do as any kind of competent system of magic. (Yes, I do get that ceremonial magician sneer at my forms of magic rather often.) That leaves only LHP practitioners to offer their opinion, and who often find that witchcraft based magic, whether low or high, is recognizable to them as kindred practices. Some of the LHP crowd have stated their opinions that the Horn God of the Witches is another form of Satan, to which many Witches have strongly denied, for various reasons. I have written an article about just this controversy, and my opinion is that they are not quite the same individual, but do pose similarities which some Wiccans have found disturbing.

If we consider the long history of witchcraft from antiquity to just prior to the modern age, we will find that the magic wielded by Witches was something of a mixed bag. Yet overall, it would have to be considered definitely LHP, even when considering the good works that later cunning folk who were variously considered Witches have accomplished. Witches throughout that time were outcasts living on the social margins who were feared and also sought after to perform specialized rites and magic that no one else could or would perform. That’s a far cry from the late 20th century Wiccans who vow to the public that they will harm none with their powers, and some of these groups have even rejected any kind of magical or witchcraft practices, which I find strange. Witchcraft religion without the practice of witchcraft magic is decidedly peculiar  to me from both a traditional and a practical perspective. This is because all the Witchcraft theology, mythology and folklore vests Witches with the practice of magic, as proclaimed by the Goddess of Witches herself. To only practice the religion of Wicca without the associated witchcraft magical practices is to deny that this religion has the ability to empower the individual so they may deal with an unjust and unequal world. In fact, the phrase “Witchcraft magic” is actually redundant.

We Witches have no creed, no holy books, nor even any kind of religious laws, ethics, or official cannon, so whatever religious perspectives we have are based on the dialectic process of personal gnosis, literary corroboration and peer group assessment. The famed Book of Shadows is not a gospel or a holy book of laws and moral proscriptions; it is just a book of rites, celebrations and spells. It is more akin to a priest’s missal than a bible. Witchcraft is really about magic, and it is the kind of magic that can emulate the darkness or the light, but overall, it is a kind of magic that breaks the rules and upends the status quo, so it is decidedly not strictly positive or light serving, but more suitably grey, like the real world we live in. Those who espouse “An it harm none, do what thou wilt” are hardly the true representatives of even a religious Witchcraft, since there is quite a bit of subtlety regarding what is harmful, and the need to protect oneself, family, loved ones, friends, and political allies. There is also a revolutionary kind of quality to anyone who breaks the rules of decorum or seeks justice, or wants the status quo representing inherent inequality to be overthrown, and modern Witches fit that definition as well. 

Thus, we Witches are naturally outlaws who walk a decidedly crooked path, and our magic can be considered more aligned to the darkness than to the light, but because we also work with positive magical works, such as healing, consoling, finding lost objects, settling ghosts and resolving hauntings, performing divination, invoking angels and projecting the healing harmony of nature into the material world, we can also be considered aligned with those who work exclusively with the light. However, whether we work for the good or for the ill (of deserving others), our social image is sinister, spooky and mysterious, as it has always been since the beginning of civilization. We are, in a word, a Halloween kind of people.

Frater Barrabbas