CURRENT MOON

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Darkness

One of the principles that attracted me to Wicca was its equal emphasis on darkness and light. We're coming to the end of the "dark half" of the year, but I'm still thinking about darkness. I'm thinking about how darkness seems to harbor and nourish our fears and about how exploring the dark can help us to thrive.

As someone who's had her first bout of breast cancer, I'm always interested in research related to preventing breast cancer. Some very interesting research indicates that women who aren't able to sleep in darkness are more likely to contract breast cancer than are women who sleep in the dark.

Lately, I've been thinking about how almost no one in our society is ever, literally, in the dark. No, I don't mean that the Bush administration doesn't "treat us like mushrooms, feeding us shit and keeping us in the dark." I mean, how often are you literally in a place with no light? Even at night, when you turn off your light to go to sleep, there's a lot of light. From the street. From your clock-radio. From your computer. From the tv. Even when turned "off" these devices glow; telling us the time, the amount of battery juice left, the fact that a movie is being tivoed.

In my old apartment, I couldn't even see the stars, I was so close to the city. Here, in my little cottage, I can see the stars, but it's still not that dark. My sweet neighbor across the street has these huge bright outdoor lamps that shine even through the pulled blinds in my bedroom. The electric heater I put in my bedroom to avoid paying huge natural gas bills this winter glows to tell me the room temp and that it's on. Even when I turn my clock-radio to the wall, there's a glow.

So, tonight, I went looking for the darkest place in my house. My half-bath in the finished basement, which has only a tiny window to my backyard is the darkest place I could find. I can't see my hand in front of my face there. It's tiny, but it's where I'm going to do my daily practice for the next thrity days. Just to see what i can learn from the dark.

Where is your dark place? Have you ever seen the stars way out in the country away from the lights of any city? Do you ever seek out the dark? When? What for? Are you afraid of the dark? How does the darkness help us thrive?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

neither of the bathrooms in my house (full bath or half bath) has a window, so those are the darkest places in my house. i live in what you could call a fishing village. steveston, BC. i can see the stars out my window. its nice. i'm also wiccan. if you want to could you elaborate on the daily practices you're going to try? i'm always looking for new ideas.

Anonymous said...

We had an ice storm 3 years ago that knocked out power to a large are in southern Ohio. Mine was off for a week. For several days the closest lights I could see from my house were about 3 miles away across the Scioto river valley. Those nights were dark and cold.

And yet, there was some light, even when I had no candles burning and all my flashlights off. Power was restored downtown after the first day, and even though that's over the hill and a couple of miles south, the low clouds that continued to drizzle freezing rain on us reflected a dim glow down. When I would wake in the dark and poke my head out of my heap of blankets, I could dimly see the furniture and find my flashlight.

An odd and trying time, and it killed my oldest cat. But I won't forget the eerie beauty of the blue flashes in the night that I found out later were transformers exploding, or the dazzling crystal encasing the broken trees when the sun finally came out again.

As for fear of the dark - it's not the dark I fear, it's what it hides.

Ahianne

Anonymous said...

Interesting post.

I sleep in a room as dark as possible, but since I live in the city right near an industrial area, some light seeps in even through the extra blanket over the window.

So it was very eerie during the NE blackouts a few years ago. Not only no light, but very little noise - no traffic, no planes, no trains on the nearby tracks. Actually made it hard to sleep the first night.

Anonymous said...

I've always been partial to the darkness. It beautifully enhances introspection, and allows us to 'see' our true selves. That in itself can be scary, though, can't it? It's not the dark; it's where our minds go in the dark.

Hecate said...

Dear anonymous at 8:30,

My daily practice is a combination of practices gleaned from The Spiral Dance by Starhawk and Evolutionary Witchcraft by T. Thorne Coyle. Diane Sylvan also has a great book about the importance of daily practice for Wiccans.

Blessings!

Ellie Finlay said...

This is actually a very inspiring post, Hecate. I prefer sleeping in darkness but the light from the street lights manages to enter my bedroom around the edges of the blinds. This really makes me think it would be a good idea to get some light blocking curtains for my windows. Thanks.

QuinnLaBelle said...

At the very end of the article Hecate linked to:

To better gauge the impact of shift work on the body's hormones, Davis and colleagues plan a study to look at the effects of circadian disruption on the production of melatonin and estrogen.

"Our next step will be to compare these hormone levels among night- and day-shift nurses. We need to measure the specific biological effects of shift work, because the connection between working nights and decreased melatonin/increased estrogen has yet to be shown in humans."


oh.

okay.

So, I won't unplug that nice little nightlight in my bathroom down the hall. It does leak out where I can see it at night from the bedroom, but I find that comforting. My bedroom is very dark. The bedroom is for sleeping, not watching tv.

Anonymous said...

thanks!
i own the Spiral Dance, i think i'll look into the others you mentioned.