"Night, the beloved. Night, when words fade and things come alive. When the destructive analysis of day is done, and all that is truly important becomes whole and sound again. When man reassembles his fragmentary self and grows with the calm of a tree." Antoine de Saint-Exupery
I love to do something really weird, and dangerous, at Night. First of all, you have to understand, the Night is my time. My whole life I have been a Night-Owl. As far back as I can remember I have been staying up late into the Night to do things I should have, could have done during the day. I literally feel better when the Sun goes down, and I don't think it's purely psychological.
In any case, I love to do something really weird, and dangerous, at Night. There is a road here in Bowling Green, right in the city, that is surrounded by fields, and dare I say forests, and I love to walk it at Night. It has no sidewalks so I walk against traffic, trusting in my boon staff to get me into a ditch in time, and I have found many truths along it's stretch during the Night.
In the Night you have to truly admit to yourself what you do and do not believe. Take tonight for example; I was walking and I saw something in a field off to the side. Shadowed as it was, I could not tell what it was except it was a hunched shape and the closer I drew to it, the more I was sure that it was some sort of gnome or other northern creature, ready to devour me. Of course it wasn't (I am here to write this!) but I had to admit to myself that I actually believed it was a possibility they existed. This is not a Truth I could have discovered in the Light of Day, I had to let Night touch my heart to find it out.
At Night a tree is a tree, it is also the site of a nature shrine, the totem of an old spirit, and the harp a god of the wind is playing. A stream babbles as it runs over rocks, and it is also crying out for a sacrifice. Nothing is sure, Nothing is safe, Nothing is concrete.
Only in the moments of uncertainty can we discover what, for us, is Truth. I have heard that there is no Truth, only Perception and this is made abundantly clear at Night. I think there is still a lot of value to Truth, even if it is our own Perception, because as magickal practitioners we are called upon to upon our Perception, our Will on Reality. That is Truth, and I found it in the Night.
I think also the truth in the day washes out/contrasts the truth in the night. I find that at night when I think a situation/relationship/activity/place has all gone to hell, dump it/them now before they suck you down to the stinking morass that is their current situation, in the morning I find that I get to thinking "Well, he/she/it isn't so bad, I'll just put on my thinking cap, get out my rubber gloves and scrub brush and soon I'll have it right and spiffy. course, maybe thats rest and sleep instead of daylight, but still...
ReplyDeleteI've always been a night person. I used to think I had really good night vision, but I have come to realize I don't. It is just at night, when everything is dark, I stop trying to use my eyes and rely on other senses and that makes me feel more secure. I have always felt safer and more powerful in the dark (I think in part because so many people feel unsettled in the dark).
ReplyDeleteI am the opposite of you Jane :P I am more likely to obsess over the obvious or freak out over something during the day. At night I can tend to let go of preconceived notions or the mask someone is wearing and deal with what is underneath it.