Seems that everyone who writes to me signs their letters "love and light." It has such a bright uplifting sound to it. Lightworkers are being taught to hold the energy of the light and to equate love with a warm white light that heals and protects. After what feels like an age of suppression and darkness, it all sounds like such a refreshing change, much like the first bits of sunlight after a long harsh winter. And so the pendulum swings. Still we do not find balance.

Years ago a man came to speak at our church. Forgive me for my lousy memory, but I cannot recall which indigenous tribe or belief system he taught. What I remember is that he had an amazingly calm and soothing presence and that he ran us through a chanting meditation that had the entire room spell bound with love and healing energy. What he taught is what stuck with me. He said that his people do not assume anything when sending each other healing energy. They do not predetermine that the person needs white light, or green light, or physical healing, or mental healing or anything else. They imagine darkness warm and secure like a mother's womb protecting and embracing the person who appears to need help. They send them energy that is void of all color or emotion so that the person and his spirit can do as they will with it. It's the ultimate in detachment. They simply send the darkness and allow it to become whatever it needs to become in order to heal the persons body or soul. I imagined it as pure unrefined energy rather than as highly tuned and polished energy that the Lightworkers have so beautifully crafted. The concept stuck with me. Among his people there is no battle between the light and the darkness. All energy is of the original source and all is holy and sacred.

I look to nature for reassurance that this is indeed the natural way of things. The sun and the seasons have their natural perfect cycles of light and darkness, of growth and of death. If the summer lasted forever, the grass and trees would all shrivel up and die. If the darkness lasted forever, the seeds would never sprout anew. We can love each for its gift and even have a favorite that touches us a bit more then the other, but the balance is perfect and runs along beautifully with or without our loving it. The cycles of life and death, light and darkness do not require our help nor our approval. Such is healing and religion. All that is, is.... with or without our comprehension or approval.

Light and darkness need each other as a yin yang reveals. Without the other to reflect itself off of, they cease to exist. Remember the cool shade under the trees on a hot summer day. Remember the cool dark room for healing a migraine headache. Remember the restorative sleep that is best done in the dark. The caveman inside of us may still be afraid of the dark, but it does not mean that the darkness and its energy is bad or evil. Much evil has been done in the light of day. Much evil has been done in the name of God and every other holy label we give to the light. And goodness can also come of the shadows.

The dark night of the soul is perhaps the most pivotal moment in every healer's life. Until you embrace that which is deeply hidden within yourself, you can not take your full and complete self into your sacred work. If you deny the darkness within, you deny yourself the chance for real healing, real balance, real peace, and real change. It is in our darkness that we lick the wounds we've been dealt and its in the darkness that we find fortitude and strength to carry on regardless of other people's opinions of us. It's in the darkness that the angels come and show us that we are not alone. The shaman's journey is into the darkness where man keeps his secrets and his power.

The battle between light and dark is a cruel lie that was taught to us just like the battle between men and women. One is not better than the other. One is not more important or more holy then the other. Masculine energy versus feminine energy is not a battle to be fought, but the comparison of two gifts held within each of us. The light and darkness are the same way. Do not turn your backs on each other over gender and do not turn your back on the gift of darkness just because some leaders long ago told you things that were not quite true. The darkness is no more evil then women are. The darkness is simply another piece of the game of life to be explored and experienced.

Do not think that I am advocating evil behaviors or that I'm saying you should worship Satan. I believe that karma will kick you in the head if you are mean or hateful towards others. I believe that the boomerang always comes back and you get whatever you dished out. I'm simply advocating the exploration and appreciation of the darkness. Remember that the stars sit in a black night sky. There is so much more darkness up there then there is light. Remember laying out under those stars on a warm summer night and contemplating humanity's place in the universe. Beautiful amazing inner reflection happens in the dark. Find balance between the two and learn to be whole within both. Do not assume that you know enough to judge any one color or shade as superior or inferior to another. It is the same with the colors of energy as it is with the souls of men. Love them all for they are all pieces of yourself.

Copyright 2004, Skye Thomas, Tomorrow's Edge