This work by Ravan Asteris is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.
In the Diamond tradition, the term "darkwork" is used to describe the confrontation and use of the darker side of our selves. It can encompass anything from using rage to power a ritual, facing fear and learning to harness it, to encounters with the darker gods and archetypes within our culture and society.
NOTE: Darkwork should never be undertaken lightly, or for "fun". Although sometimes it may seem that the world gives us little choice, do not do darkwork if you are not ready to face yourself in your poorest light. If you do it unprepared, it can hurt you.
The short answer is: to be whole. We are human beings. This means that we have the so-called "negative" emotions, and the capacity for mindless destruction and even "evil". To deny these aspects of our humanity is to deny a part of ourselves. Yet to face them involves risking our cherished illusions of "goodness" and what we think we should be. To bury them leaves them to lurk in the background of our lives to surface in the most inopportune ways.
To deceive ourselves about our true nature and emotions runs ultimately counter to the principle that we are responsible for our actions. How can we be responsible for our actions, and chose what we do, if we do not understand WHY we do them? Part of what drives us is the so-called "bad" emotions. If we do not understand these, and how they influence our thoughts and actions, we can easily deceive ourselves about our motivations.
Darkwork helps us balance and gain control over our "dark" natures, giving us a way to harness the so-called "counter-productive" emotions to our benefit. It isn't easy, or comfortable, but a valuable experience.
The exercises in the pages that follow are designed to give you a feel for darkwork. Do not do them if you don't feel ready, just consider them. It is highly recommended that you do the Mirror Exercise for a while, and be very comfortable with it, before you take up darkwork.
If you have any comments, please feel free to email me. Don't forget to "fix" the address!
These exercises are under construction...
Copyright 1998-2010.
This work
by Ravan Asteris is
licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.