Darkness vs. Evil

I think they are completely seperate. One can be a matter of nature. The other is a matter of choice. You choose to be evil or not. You can be dark by nature, for example, masochists, sadists... dark, but not necessarily evil. I wonder how others distinguish between these two words, which I feel are unfairly linked.

Sometimes the good guys wear black.

People just tend to fear the Dark Aspects of anything, including Day and Night... thus anything associated with Darkness is associated with the Underworld and "Spooky" stuff... It's not to say these things are bad/evil.. they are just dark.. we must all learn to stop fearing Dark Aspects of life... these aspects are a natural counterbalance to the Light Aspects...

This is a topic in philosophy not magick
it can be answered by separating the two terms simply by defining them

Evil - Anything which might cause you or any other living being suffering or any form of discomfort

Darkness - Usually used to describe the absence of light (shadow) but also can be used to describe anything which is mystical hidden unknown esoteric sinister etc yet from the other hand melancholic and often wicked

And yes I do agree with you that they shall not be considered to be synonymous to each other but they are still linked
the personification of evil or the devil - the bringer of evil/ suffering in all cultures always described as a dark and morbid entity

Another last thing which I want to point out to is that evil is not universal
''evil'' or discomfort can only be felt by living beings
thus it only exists in the deeds of man but not in Nature

i pretty much agree with sid on this one.

evil is not truly what we see it as. As darkness is not the bad thing everyone makes it out to be.

Dark and light, law and chaos, life and death.
The opposing forces conterbalance everything in existence. Without one, the other cannot exist.
Without death there can be no new life.
Without the darkness, the light is not appreicated. Neither is the darkness that comes after the light fades.
Without chaos there can be no law.
Such is the way with good and evil.
Without one, the other cannot exist.

This is philosophical yes, but it does deal with the magickal side of things in that some believe that dark magick is evil magic. That if it is not good it is evil.

These perceptions are something that may devert one from using a spell or ritual that may be useful or helpful because it is seen as evil or dark or both.

Thank you for listening.

Scarlette

simply if there are those who think us to be evil, they do not understand our kind. It is not our contention to be evil or viewed as such. But as the case of the world is, there are many who I am sure will argue with me.

Simply summed up, there will always be those who are "high and mighty"and those whom believe themselves to be touched by the hand of their lord, that is fine and dandy with me. I say believe in that which makes you happy. Worship the way you see fit and that which best suits you. But do not claim things to be evil when you have no proof, nothing to back it up. I hate pointless arguments that always end right where we began.

I have done many things in my lifetime that may be claimed as Evil. But I suppose it depends on the judge as to my penality

This to me is both an issue of philosophy and of magick...too often we get caught up in the ideas of good/evil within our lives, but if we would stop to actually look at these ideas, there is a truth that is obvious and simple...

The thing is, in my view, is that there is no such thing as evil...the reason I say this is bc evil can become perverted into ideas of good and vice versa...it is bc of this inconsistancy that evil cannot exist as an independant idea...evil is depandant upon the idea of good...

However, what is considered darkness in my view is a perfection of the idea of evil, with light being the perfection of good...the thing about darkness is that it isnt corruptable like evil...TRUE darkness cannot become good in any way shape or form...darkness though, like evil, isnt an independant idea bc it requires the idea of light along with it...the reasoning behind them being dependant upon each other is from another idea, the one of balance...I wont get into explaining that here though bc I would be typing 4ever...

one more thing that I forgot to mention, there is a reason why this coven is called Darkness Rising and not Evil Rising, that reason being the pursuit of perfection in the idea of Darkness being perfection, and we seek to achieve that perfection...