Ross Heaven - Darkness Visible: Awakening Spiritual Light through Darkness Meditation

Darkness

Visible

Awakening Spiritual Light through

Darkness Meditation

Ross Heaven and

Simon Buxton

Destiny Books

Rochester, Vermont

For all my children of darknessmy daughters, Mili and Jodie, and my son, Ocean, and my almost sons Arran, Rouse, and baby Jaiden. And for Leonard Cohen, poet of the soul, cartographer of the darkworld. I dont think I could run Darkness Visible without your Ten New Songs!

ROSS HEAVEN

To Gwyn Ei Fyd, a true prince of darkness and advocatus diaboli, to Art OMurnaghanthe Hibernian Adeptand to Dominic and Jacob, magical children of New Europa.

SIMON BUXTON

And with thanks from us both to all our students who have made their darkness visible. You allowed us to find the statue within the stone.

Yet from those flames no light, but rather darkness visible.

JOHN MILTON, PARADISE LOST

Contents

FOREWORD

Inviting the Darkness In

IN AN AGE in the Western world when there is an almost insatiable yearning for enlightenment, what could be more timely than an invitation to reestablish a sacred relationship with darkness? Indeed, it is in the redefinition of darkness that we discover an entryway into a potent transformational experience that can assist us in rethinking the nature of both reality and healing. What might we learn about ourselves and the powers of the other world by surrendering to the beauty and opportunity for greater vision afforded us in darkness?

In all parts of this planet the first nine months of human gestation are spent in the rich, protective darkness of the womb. It is there that the being makes the transition from the spirit world to this one, and it is in the absence of light that the spirits work their greatest magic. It is in the light-absent womb that they do the necessary work to prepare the soul for its journey into life on planet Earth.

In the modern world, the newborn is evicted from the peaceful uterine environment into harsh fluorescent brightness, and it seems that the rest of the persons life is spent trying to sever ties with that nurturing, sensual landscape. In our ever more illuminated houses, streets, and cities, we seem to have lost our way; we have become blinded. We have forgotten the benefits of darkness; we have forgotten how to find our way home. Darkness, however, is ultimately inescapable, and at the end of each day, as the soporific seduction of nighttime overtakes us, we are, once again, transported to yet another gestational experience, yet another opportunity to be reborn.

From a tribal perspective, it is darkness that is the light of the ancestors. It is only in darkness that certain powerful aspects of indigenous technology can be revealed. It is of little surprise, then, that in the African village nearly all rituals of initiation are carried out after the sun has given way to the deep night. The constant presence of darkness provides a protective umbrella that prevents the intrusion of distraction and delusion. It is there that the psyche is invited to surrender to that which is not available in the daylight. It is there that the eyes learn to see what is hidden by the suns light.

Ross Heaven and Simon Buxton, in a powerful challenge to the popularity of glaringly bright modernity, have discovered and nurtured the most fundamental and fertile ground for the development of true spiritual sightedness. In their workshops, explorations, personal experiences, and writings, they have uncovered the rich resources available only in darkness. Indeed, they have gone so far as to substantiate the clinical benefits of dark-time without negating the importance of acknowledging the mysterythe unknownthat resides in harmony with the measurable. We often find ourselves ill at ease in modern society, caught in recurring cycles of disease and depression. We might ask ourselves whether our discomfort comes from compromising the sacred and balanced partnership between light and dark. What healing might be available to body and soul if we would turn off the lights and invite the powers of the night into our lives?

In the West, there is a largely undiscovered potential that can become a reality only in darkness. What is familiar and sacred to an indigenous person in the nighttime seems, at best, to be an inconvenient irritation to the modern person. The tribal person knows that there are certain types of wounds that can find healing only in the nighttime and only in the hands of the ancestors who show up for work after the last candle has been extinguished.

We would do well to learn to appropriate a definition of an elder as one who is the keeper of the gates of darkness. It is the old who have finally become disillusioned with the glittery brightness of the manufactured world and who feel the enticing whisper of the darkness, inviting them to draw closer to their earlier transitional home, to the place where they were held in their first months, in the deep liquid intimacy of the ancestral womb. It is the sweet power of darkness that invites the discerning listener to attend to the whisperings of the spirit world. In darkness true connection occurs and distraction is no more than a distant, indistinct buzz. Darkness Visible invites us to regain our magical vision. Turn out the lights; step into the beauty of darkness.

MALIDOMA PATRICE SOM,
AUTHOR OF THE HEALING WISDOM OF AFRICA
AND OF WATER AND THE SPIRIT

FOREWORD

Journeying Farther Than the Eye Can See

THE VOID, the great vast darkness, is the place before creation. It is described by the Zen Buddhists as empty yet full; the truly fertile, holy ground from which all life is born.

Every autumn plant life falls back into the earth. During the darkness of winter, deep within the earth, new life is always gestating. It is formed in the darkness and then in spring and summer, with the heat of the sun, it bursts forth into great color and beauty.

All life is born out of darknessincluding new awareness and new states of consciousness. We all know that our darker states of consciousness bring us to the depths. As we rise out of the depths new awareness is born and our lives take on new meaning.

In indigenous cultures a shaman is a man or woman who sees in the dark. There are cross-cultural shamanic initiations where initiates are placed in darkness for long periods of time. This initiation births the shamans clairvoyant and hidden healing abilities as a new sense of perception is born. We live in an exciting and powerful time in which many of us are seeking to understand the hidden universe. We are looking to unlock our creative potential. By learning about the power of the darkness we learn how to mobilize unpotentiated energy. Just as we dream each night in darkness and awaken to the sun with unlimited potential to create a new day, by doing darkness work we learn how to open our senses and experience the world in a deep, rich, and meaningful way.

As gifted storytellers, Ross and Simon do a brilliant job of inspiring us to learn more about the power of the darkness. They blend cross-cultural stories of initiations in darkness from Europe, Africa, India, Japan, Tibet, North America, South America, and Haiti with scientific findings of how being in darkness affects the brain. I am impressed with how they found a way to bring such a powerful initiation into our modern world. Throughout the book they weave in exercises that they have used in their workshops on darkness and stories from participants about the profound effect this work has had on their lives.