Tales from the Darkside
Jun. 12th, 2002 10:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tinhuvielI just found this essay I wrote at the Darth Maul Estrogen Brigade a couple of years ago and thought I'd post it here. Not only is it what I believe to a great extent (not only on a Star Wars level), but it also includes one of my favourite bits from any libretto ever ~ the eloquent and infamous intro to 'Big Night Music' by Shriekback.
The mantra Power denied is power wasted is so very true, but expresses only part of the importance of abilities ignored. I think a great part of the frustration experienced by people in our society stems from the abandonment of our own personal power. From childhood we are taught that we are never truly in control of our lives. As children we must answer to superiors whom we see acting in the same manner for which we are oft-times punished. Most of us were told that all good comes from God, all bad comes from Satan, and that we are nothing more than mindless pawns or that we have 2 choices: to relinquish our Will to a higher power most usually represented by a holy man who has interpreted God's word to his own devices, or to opt for independent thought and side with the Devil. Our sense of empowerment is stripped away and, along with it, our sense of responsibility. Then society wonders why murderers are becoming younger as the years go by. Still, no one is prepared to take the responsibility. Yes, power denied is power wasted ~ on actions that are a detriment to all. We have become a society of victims, eternally turning the other cheek as we are repeatedly slapped in the face by our own failure.
Up until the past few years, I too was a victim of my own dis-empowerment. I hid from my responsibility as a sentient, spiritual being, and allowed myself to be the slave/scapegoat/"pillar of strength" for countless people in my life. I refused to acknowledge the power within me, and had it summarily drained out of me by psychic vampires, as I hungrily opted to walk a dead-end path of the New Age martyr, happily skipping to the gallows I'd built myself. And I played the role of victim so very well, refusing to take responsibility for my current state mind, that many feared for my life. Quite early in 1999, all of that ended and I've noticed that the same people (those who didn't run away after my "transformation") who had become my parasites now stood in awe (and a bit of fear) of the change in me. I no longer ignore insults. I demand respect. I welcome the chance to embrace responsibility for the things I do and say and to confront those who do not. I'm more honest with myself and others.
I don't suffer fools....period.
I express my anger, something I had never done before. In fact I'm catching up on years of suppressed anger.
That said, the little speech that Yoda makes in TPM has a ring of truth to it. Fear leads to anger (I spent many years afraid of everything and I'm very angry about that now), anger leads to hate (well, I have had some hefty grudges against some people whom I allowed to take advantage of me. I hate I let it happen and I despise those who intentionally took advantage), hate leads to suffering (my embracing the darker side of my nature has caused much discomfort for me and those around me, yes. But, in the long run, it has been worth it for most involved).
There's also the fascinating theory that typically defined Darkside activities and emotions are the motivators of our culture. The only way we humans have ever bettered ourselves is by way of dissatisfaction, fear, anger, desperation, death, destruction, etc. We probably wouldn't be meeting at the DMEB today if someone somewhere hadn't been ticked enough at the library and/or postal service to think of an alternate way of obtaining and sharing information. As Orson Welles wisely said in The Third Man, "In Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switerzland they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did they produce? The cuckoo clock."
I can't help but imagine Maul's bedroom walls adorned with breathtaking works of art, some by his own hand, while Obi Wan's walls boast Pokemon stickers and the obligatory cuckoo clock.
It should be of note that ancient cultures acknowledged and embraced the Dark much more readily than the more modern Patriarchal system. The Goddess cultures recognised and honoured the Dark Goddess, or the Crone, on a regular basis. She was the tribe's protectress, warrioress, grandmother, Mistress of Death, wisewoman, healer, among other things. These cultures, as a whole, realised that the Darkside wasn't evil, but a Mystery that one may study, learn, and draw power from, but may never solve.
The patron Goddess of my Tradition is Cailleach. One of the duties of the Cailleach of Scotland was the patron of Martial Arts. All of the male warriors of Caledonia (ancient name for Scotland, meaning Land of the Cailleach) were taught by women and the women were taught by men. And all paid homage to the Cailleach, whose fearsome blue face and leering eyes inspired terror in the enemies of the Northern Celts. Kali, the Indian version of the same Goddess, was much more mysterious in nature. She, too, had the blue (or sometimes ebony) face, her tongue stuck out like a serpents, her visage one of both terror and desire. She was a protectress of women and the Mysteries of life and death. Men who chanced upon her temple in the night became her consorts, their heads and arms adorning her belt. Even today, many women in situations of danger, have called upon Kali with extraordinary results.
While we're speaking of Goddesses of the Dark, I must mention one of my favourites, who also happens to be a personal patron Goddess of mine: Lilith. Her story is much older than that mentioned in the Talmud and the Bible, but I want to focus on the recent Patriarchal tales in particular because they best represent society's view of power. According to the Patriarchal myth of Lilith, she and Adam were created by God at the same time. Equal in every way they were. But Adam decreed that Lilith would lie beneath him during intercourse as a sign of her subordination. When Lilith refused, God sided with Adam. Lilith again refused and opted to leave the Garden of Eden and maintain her independence. She dwelt beside the sea in a cave (both Shamanic symbols of primal wisdom and the female Force) and consorted with "demons," giving birth to countless children (some say the origins of Faerie). God sent three angels to retrieve Lilith (Sanoi, Sansenoi, and Samangelof). He gave her an ultimatum: return and submit to Adam or 100 of your children will be killed every day. Lilith refused to deny her power and independence, and the murder of her children ensued. As a result, Lilith became an angry demon, vowing vengeance against men and children (the progeny of Adam and his new submissive bride Eve) for all eternity. She is mentioned in the Bible (Isaiah 34, 14) as the night demon or screech owl. Her legacy is that of childkiller and succubus. Men's wet dreams are attributed to a visit from Lilith. Many Orthodox Jewish families, still put the names of the three angels on the cribs of their children as protection against Lilith. The moral of this story from the view of the Dark Side of the Force is it is oftentimes the Way of the Jedi to enforce submission, subordination, and denial of one's own sense of strength and to punish those who refuse to relinquish their self-empowerment. Is it any wonder one of the focuses of the Sith is revenge? I prefer the word reclamation (from usurpers of one's natural power, by any means necessary). Because Lilith refused to submit to the Will of an equal, she was banished and demonised, much like the Sith in the SW mythos. And her only crime was her desire to maintain her identity as a powerful individual.
In my humble opinion, all who embrace their unique power and take responsibility for their actions as beings of strength are, for all intents and purposes, Sith. To acknowledge the Darkness within you, grow angry at the stripping of your independence, and to reclaim the heritage and Mystery of your inherent ablilites, is to be Sith. To fully experience and appreciate the whole spectrum emotions we, as humans, can express is to be Sith. In a Jedi world, where it's frowned upon to be truly alive, to be human in every beautiful and hideous way possible, to embrace the true power of your emotions and instincts is to be Sith. To stand proudly and say, "The Devil didn't make me do it, I did it because I chose to do it" is to be Sith.
Of course a post like this wouldn't be complete without a mention of my other favourite 'Sith Lord', Barry Andrews. Here's some of what he had to say in the liner notes of one of Shriekback's albums. It means a lot to me, being a wanderer of the Night, myself.
"SHRIEKBACK celebrate the blessed dark - the place where they were always most at home... Big Night Music is the shape and rhythm of two different kinds of nights - nights of heat and weirdness in which we alone are awake, humming with forbidden energy; nights into which we would not send our dogs - wild sea and wet forest and eyes and teeth - or those other nights - fragrant with blossom, incandescent with moonlight and dreams, possessed by a cool beauty which evaporates with the dew...We also want to leave you with an intimation that the universe, all its horrors nonwithstanding, is strange and marvellous; that love is the law and the drug and the pull and the push of all we do; that the pursuit of beauty is useful, honourable, and healing; and that our actions in this time, in choosing forgiveness over vendetta, brilliance over mediocrity, the clean difficult way over the dubious easy option, will determine whether or not we will realise the wealth of possibilities implicit in our existenceAs for SHRIEKBACK, we have a suspicion that it's all going to be fine, just fine. With this in mind, here is SHRIEKBACK'S fifth album - Big Night Music - and it's as good as we could make it. Now it's all yours..."
You can't truly appreciate the silver beauty of starlight unless you walk in the Dark of Night.
The mantra Power denied is power wasted is so very true, but expresses only part of the importance of abilities ignored. I think a great part of the frustration experienced by people in our society stems from the abandonment of our own personal power. From childhood we are taught that we are never truly in control of our lives. As children we must answer to superiors whom we see acting in the same manner for which we are oft-times punished. Most of us were told that all good comes from God, all bad comes from Satan, and that we are nothing more than mindless pawns or that we have 2 choices: to relinquish our Will to a higher power most usually represented by a holy man who has interpreted God's word to his own devices, or to opt for independent thought and side with the Devil. Our sense of empowerment is stripped away and, along with it, our sense of responsibility. Then society wonders why murderers are becoming younger as the years go by. Still, no one is prepared to take the responsibility. Yes, power denied is power wasted ~ on actions that are a detriment to all. We have become a society of victims, eternally turning the other cheek as we are repeatedly slapped in the face by our own failure.
Up until the past few years, I too was a victim of my own dis-empowerment. I hid from my responsibility as a sentient, spiritual being, and allowed myself to be the slave/scapegoat/"pillar of strength" for countless people in my life. I refused to acknowledge the power within me, and had it summarily drained out of me by psychic vampires, as I hungrily opted to walk a dead-end path of the New Age martyr, happily skipping to the gallows I'd built myself. And I played the role of victim so very well, refusing to take responsibility for my current state mind, that many feared for my life. Quite early in 1999, all of that ended and I've noticed that the same people (those who didn't run away after my "transformation") who had become my parasites now stood in awe (and a bit of fear) of the change in me. I no longer ignore insults. I demand respect. I welcome the chance to embrace responsibility for the things I do and say and to confront those who do not. I'm more honest with myself and others.
I don't suffer fools....period.
I express my anger, something I had never done before. In fact I'm catching up on years of suppressed anger.
That said, the little speech that Yoda makes in TPM has a ring of truth to it. Fear leads to anger (I spent many years afraid of everything and I'm very angry about that now), anger leads to hate (well, I have had some hefty grudges against some people whom I allowed to take advantage of me. I hate I let it happen and I despise those who intentionally took advantage), hate leads to suffering (my embracing the darker side of my nature has caused much discomfort for me and those around me, yes. But, in the long run, it has been worth it for most involved).
There's also the fascinating theory that typically defined Darkside activities and emotions are the motivators of our culture. The only way we humans have ever bettered ourselves is by way of dissatisfaction, fear, anger, desperation, death, destruction, etc. We probably wouldn't be meeting at the DMEB today if someone somewhere hadn't been ticked enough at the library and/or postal service to think of an alternate way of obtaining and sharing information. As Orson Welles wisely said in The Third Man, "In Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switerzland they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did they produce? The cuckoo clock."
I can't help but imagine Maul's bedroom walls adorned with breathtaking works of art, some by his own hand, while Obi Wan's walls boast Pokemon stickers and the obligatory cuckoo clock.
It should be of note that ancient cultures acknowledged and embraced the Dark much more readily than the more modern Patriarchal system. The Goddess cultures recognised and honoured the Dark Goddess, or the Crone, on a regular basis. She was the tribe's protectress, warrioress, grandmother, Mistress of Death, wisewoman, healer, among other things. These cultures, as a whole, realised that the Darkside wasn't evil, but a Mystery that one may study, learn, and draw power from, but may never solve.
The patron Goddess of my Tradition is Cailleach. One of the duties of the Cailleach of Scotland was the patron of Martial Arts. All of the male warriors of Caledonia (ancient name for Scotland, meaning Land of the Cailleach) were taught by women and the women were taught by men. And all paid homage to the Cailleach, whose fearsome blue face and leering eyes inspired terror in the enemies of the Northern Celts. Kali, the Indian version of the same Goddess, was much more mysterious in nature. She, too, had the blue (or sometimes ebony) face, her tongue stuck out like a serpents, her visage one of both terror and desire. She was a protectress of women and the Mysteries of life and death. Men who chanced upon her temple in the night became her consorts, their heads and arms adorning her belt. Even today, many women in situations of danger, have called upon Kali with extraordinary results.
While we're speaking of Goddesses of the Dark, I must mention one of my favourites, who also happens to be a personal patron Goddess of mine: Lilith. Her story is much older than that mentioned in the Talmud and the Bible, but I want to focus on the recent Patriarchal tales in particular because they best represent society's view of power. According to the Patriarchal myth of Lilith, she and Adam were created by God at the same time. Equal in every way they were. But Adam decreed that Lilith would lie beneath him during intercourse as a sign of her subordination. When Lilith refused, God sided with Adam. Lilith again refused and opted to leave the Garden of Eden and maintain her independence. She dwelt beside the sea in a cave (both Shamanic symbols of primal wisdom and the female Force) and consorted with "demons," giving birth to countless children (some say the origins of Faerie). God sent three angels to retrieve Lilith (Sanoi, Sansenoi, and Samangelof). He gave her an ultimatum: return and submit to Adam or 100 of your children will be killed every day. Lilith refused to deny her power and independence, and the murder of her children ensued. As a result, Lilith became an angry demon, vowing vengeance against men and children (the progeny of Adam and his new submissive bride Eve) for all eternity. She is mentioned in the Bible (Isaiah 34, 14) as the night demon or screech owl. Her legacy is that of childkiller and succubus. Men's wet dreams are attributed to a visit from Lilith. Many Orthodox Jewish families, still put the names of the three angels on the cribs of their children as protection against Lilith. The moral of this story from the view of the Dark Side of the Force is it is oftentimes the Way of the Jedi to enforce submission, subordination, and denial of one's own sense of strength and to punish those who refuse to relinquish their self-empowerment. Is it any wonder one of the focuses of the Sith is revenge? I prefer the word reclamation (from usurpers of one's natural power, by any means necessary). Because Lilith refused to submit to the Will of an equal, she was banished and demonised, much like the Sith in the SW mythos. And her only crime was her desire to maintain her identity as a powerful individual.
In my humble opinion, all who embrace their unique power and take responsibility for their actions as beings of strength are, for all intents and purposes, Sith. To acknowledge the Darkness within you, grow angry at the stripping of your independence, and to reclaim the heritage and Mystery of your inherent ablilites, is to be Sith. To fully experience and appreciate the whole spectrum emotions we, as humans, can express is to be Sith. In a Jedi world, where it's frowned upon to be truly alive, to be human in every beautiful and hideous way possible, to embrace the true power of your emotions and instincts is to be Sith. To stand proudly and say, "The Devil didn't make me do it, I did it because I chose to do it" is to be Sith.
Of course a post like this wouldn't be complete without a mention of my other favourite 'Sith Lord', Barry Andrews. Here's some of what he had to say in the liner notes of one of Shriekback's albums. It means a lot to me, being a wanderer of the Night, myself.
"SHRIEKBACK celebrate the blessed dark - the place where they were always most at home... Big Night Music is the shape and rhythm of two different kinds of nights - nights of heat and weirdness in which we alone are awake, humming with forbidden energy; nights into which we would not send our dogs - wild sea and wet forest and eyes and teeth - or those other nights - fragrant with blossom, incandescent with moonlight and dreams, possessed by a cool beauty which evaporates with the dew...We also want to leave you with an intimation that the universe, all its horrors nonwithstanding, is strange and marvellous; that love is the law and the drug and the pull and the push of all we do; that the pursuit of beauty is useful, honourable, and healing; and that our actions in this time, in choosing forgiveness over vendetta, brilliance over mediocrity, the clean difficult way over the dubious easy option, will determine whether or not we will realise the wealth of possibilities implicit in our existenceAs for SHRIEKBACK, we have a suspicion that it's all going to be fine, just fine. With this in mind, here is SHRIEKBACK'S fifth album - Big Night Music - and it's as good as we could make it. Now it's all yours..."
You can't truly appreciate the silver beauty of starlight unless you walk in the Dark of Night.
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wow
Date: 2004-01-13 11:36 pm (UTC)Also, now I want to sample some Shriekback.
Thanks!
Re: wow
Date: 2004-01-14 06:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-16 12:36 pm (UTC)Thank you for pointing me in the right direction...
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