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blinding yourself with white light.

by Lilah Wild @ freestylewitchcraft.com The rise of the New Age movement could be seen as trading one stereotype for another - riding brooms, pointy hats, and dumping noxious ingredients into a giant cauldron has been replaced with pricey crystals, zen fountains, and "healing your inner child."

A side rant: one reason I dislike the whole concept of "New Age" - and to be fair, the media's stereotyping of it as well - is because it's cast a layer of flakiness on a lot of legitimate self-help exercises, so that people are scared off from understanding themselves because the terminology has become such a joke. So we crush things down and write them off, and disempower ourselves in the process. It's not at all weak, but strong (and quite endearing) to express vulnerability. Admittedly, some people get carried away with it (re: the entire emo movement and the whinier factions of LiveJournal) but I think that we need to brush aside the woo-woo trappings to reclaim some really effective techniques to heal the past and whatnot. (My inner 13-year-old metalhead is a fantastic help in bringing out the gore and psychosis in my horror fiction. It doesn't always have to be pink fairy dust, people.)

Now, while the softer side of the occult might work for some, I would never in my life adhere to anything that asked me to give up Slayer and trashy b-movies.

Meditation is wonderful: ridding the body of stress, focusing on the positive, giving yourself a sanctuary, etc. However, I don't think it's wise to stop there. Acknowledging only the "white light" emotions and denying the "darker" ones creates an emotional dishonesty that will leave you ill-prepared to deal with real life. Things will still break your heart. Society will still suck. The best-laid plans may still go awry. You can certainly try to direct your life towards more positive ends, and minimize the pain of living, but there's no guarantee you'll never get hurt again. Something very important to remember in witchcraft is that it doesn't make your life perfect. Many people suffer the misconception that if you practice magick, you should just be able to wave your wand and everything bad will disappear. Wrong. Magick is something to help you increase good coincidences, develop personal power, and see a little further into the world than you normally could with "rational" vision. It is not a blanket protection against all the world's ills.

As frustrating as it is when things don't turn out the way I want them to, I wouldn't want my anger or sadness to disappear for all eternity - as an artist, that would be like throwing away a couple of colors from my palette, and as a witch, I'd be losing access to some incredibly powerful emotions. (Anger is a motivator like no other.) This isn't to be confused with getting rid of needless anxiety, painful memories, or potential bad luck - it's important to shed burdens that only get in your way. But don't try to banish all rage, all sorrow, for ever and ever. Not only do you set yourself up for disappointment when they inevitably reappear, but you'll suck as an artist. Remember the scene from Brain Candy when the singer from that metal band takes the happy pills, steps up to the mic, and sounds completely lobotomized? Trust me, you want your angst.