Dark vs Light

[Heartsong]

I find this thread to be intriguing. I haven't given much thought to the idea of light/dark magic, as I tend to believe that magic is the manipulation of energy to bring about a desired outcome. If you consider that this energy comes from the earth, and in order to protect yourself and others from an overflow of this energy, you ground it back into the earth, then I believe it can be safely said that this is neutral energy until you give it intent. It is through this intent that your spellcrafting is imbued, or so I think, and so has been said by others in this thread. I wonder if the argument could be made that the manipulation of the energy itself is a dark practice? I'm sure that's partially the basis of Christianity's distaste for magical practices. While I don't see it that way, I think it would make for an interesting discussion.

I'll admit that this idea doesn't take into account spirits and beings that exist beyond the physical realm, and I do think that there are those that exist on both ends of the spectrum. However, as they are sentient, they have the ability to choose each end they desire to reside on.

Personally, I'm very picky about when or how I use the Craft. I believe in the ripple effect and I usually take at least a week just thinking about the potential side effects of casting before I'll attempt it.

I'm going to see what I can dig up in my books on this subject. Ah, so many ideas to explore, so little time to do it/

[Holdasown]

Dark magic to me isn't always about negative. I think if you come from say an abused past and are using magic to deal with past hurts some of that may involve "dark" or negative feelings. While the work your doing has a positive outcome it may involve dark (hidden feelings, mental images) work. As a Heathen the Wild Hunt and working for our dead is important. These two things may seem dark to some but feeding the dead is an important part of my faith and witch practice. Some don's work with the dead at all. I wouldn't be in agreement with manipulating the dead but I think we need to feed them and treat them with respect. Sometimes the womb, the Earth, using roots for wands instead of branches could all fall under dark but that does not make them bad or evil. To me the Earth (womb) is as much about rot and decay as life and growing.

[Heartsong]

I can agree with the idea of the earth being at once both the womb and grave, so to speak. But that also seems to bring us back to the idea of duality, as Dark Moon mentioned before in the thread. The concept seems to be almost hardwired into our brains, so I wonder how we could separate ourselves from it. But then, the idea of balance is at least two parts becoming harmonized, isn't it? Food for thought.