Darkfire

[jarandhel]

Edit: while the following thoughts were inspired by conversations at a reiki workshop at thresholds, darkfire was not discussed as part of that workshop and all thoughts expressed here on the subject of unmaking are entirely my own.

i have long regarded reiki and darkfire as opposites or near-opposites, and reiki and purefire as the same or very closely related. Recently, I have come to believe that unmaking through the application of darkfire is not nearly as permanent an end as most believe, and I have also been thinking about the concept of darkfire possibly having positive applications and even a place in the grand scheme of things. I believe that, thanks to a discussion at WtT of why some individuals seem to have problems working with Reiki, I may have found at least one positive application for darkfire and the energies of unmaking.

According to the theory that I heard at Thresholds, some people may have a problem with Reiki precisely because of the fact that it works to restore you to your energetic template. Some people have worked very hard to divorce themselves from their natural state; ie, people born with intense tempers who have worked to excise that aspect of their personality. These individuals would not be well-served by a healing system working to restore them to that state.

This brings me to the positive application of darkfire: unmaking those portions of a pattern/template that need to be changed. Making a truly blank slate for the creation of something new. In fact, I believe that the "negative" aspect of darkfire, commonly referred to as corruption, is the result of darkfire being applied by someone experiencing deeply negative emotions of fear and anger and particularly despair and erasing the existing pattern of something only to replace it with a warped and dark parody.

If it was not being wielded as a weapon, but as a tool, I think that it could ultimately help wipe away things we have outgrown or that have failed us, so that they can be replaced by newer, brighter dreams of how things could be.

That said, this is still just theory and will remain so for quite some time while I think on this more and make certain that there are no obvious holes in the theory.

Comments

I think you misunderstand the template...

[syleniel.livejournal.com]

ie, people born with intense tempers who have worked to excise that aspect of their personality. These individuals would not be well-served by a healing system working to restore them to that state.

I think you misunderstand the energetic template. I'm not sure that much of the personality, especially the "negative" aspects of personality are stored in the personal template. Have you looked at those templates, and seen what is there and what is not? Reiki does not support "digression" or devolution of the self or personality. It works to bring one into harmony not only with the personal template but one's best and "highest" state of being.

To speak directly to your example, I was born in this life with my moon in Scorpio, a quickfire temper, and emotions that come up suddenly and strongly. I had learned to temper my emotions, to think before acting when they came on strongly, I had learned and grown as a person. Through my Reiki initations and training, I did further work on quick, strong emotions, and worked through a lot of personal issues. My experiences with Reiki have helped me grow as a person, they have never returned me to a "lower" level of personal development.

My personal theory about the Unlife, as you have heard, is that it is energy taken out of its natural time and place, making it unnatural. There are many healthy ways of dealing with personality flaws, I see bringing in unnatural energy that usually seeks destruction and warpage (even when used for "good" ends) as counter-productive.

Re: I think you misunderstand the template...

[jarandhel.livejournal.com]

I was aware that these would be your objections about this theory. I've addressed them out of order because the points seemed to flow better that way. I've also separated them into two threads due to length.

My personal theory about the Unlife, as you have heard, is that it is energy taken out of its natural time and place, making it unnatural. There are many healthy ways of dealing with personality flaws, I see bringing in unnatural energy that usually seeks destruction and warpage (even when used for "good" ends) as counter-productive.

In the paradigm that I work with, the only unnatural thing about the energy is that it is being/has been used in an attempt to halt another natural cycle (creation-destruction-rebirth). I have never seen any evidence that leads me to believe the energy itself is alien in nature to this reality, and the existence within this reality of purefire (a near exact opposite to darkfire, possibly even an exact opposite) and other similar energies which seem to fall in a rough spectrum between the two seems (in my opinion) to lend support to my belief that the energy is native to this reality. As do many of my own memories.

As for the energy naturally seeking to warp and destroy, I would point out that so does normal fire, which is clearly a natural energy. Fire destroys just to exist, and many things touched by it are twisted and warped into new shapes and even new chemical compositions. The destruction can be so total that nothing seems to be left at first observation, with the items turned to ash and smoke. But fire can forge, fire can warm, fire can cook and fire can illuminate and fire can heal.

I realize that our history has cast darkfire and the energies of unmaking in a negative light. I have watched worlds burn from it. I do not take it lightly. Yet I strongly believe that it must have at least the potential to serve a positive purpose in this universe. I believe it is simply a matter of finding the path that brings the use of darkfire and the energies of unmaking back into harmony with the true and proper flow of things.

Re: I think you misunderstand the template...

[doltaghey.livejournal.com]

I think there's one sentence here that kind of explains the difference in opinion between you and Syleniel. Syl said:

My personal theory about the Unlife, as you have heard, is that it is energy taken out of its natural time and place, making it unnatural.

Now supposing that, given your own background as "Dream" (or the equivalent), then it could be the case that Darkfire IS a natural energy-state for you, but that for others, coming from Se'lar or Alorya, then it is un-natural for their own realities.

My personal opinion is that you're both right. Darkfire scares the crap out of me and I most certainly do not want to use it to correct *my* personality flaws - for me it would be like using thermonuclear warfare to settle a backyard dispute. But I think there are a small few people - yourself, Aladar, Anadrael... who could probably use Darkfire naturally in the manner you describe.

==Arhuaine

Re: I think you misunderstand the template...

[jarandhel.livejournal.com]

I think you misunderstand the energetic template. I'm not sure that much of the personality, especially the "negative" aspects of personality are stored in the personal template. Have you looked at those templates, and seen what is there and what is not? Reiki does not support "digression" or devolution of the self or personality. It works to bring one into harmony not only with the personal template but one's best and "highest" state of being.

"Temper", in the conversation in question, was being used as a euphemism for instinctive inner-nature related predatory instincts and blood-rage. I perhaps carried the analogy too far by simply stating it as normal tempers in the example.

On the other hand, I see such energetic templates in general differently than you seem to. You seem to view the energetic template as an ideal template that is itself always uplifting to work towards. I find that notion strange. If people can be born with genetic diseases such as Porphyria on a physical level, i see no reason to think that their energetic templates would be any less prone to distortion and illnesses.

To speak directly to your example, I was born in this life with my moon in Scorpio, a quickfire temper, and emotions that come up suddenly and strongly. I had learned to temper my emotions, to think before acting when they came on strongly, I had learned and grown as a person. Through my Reiki initations and training, I did further work on quick, strong emotions, and worked through a lot of personal issues. My experiences with Reiki have helped me grow as a person, they have never returned me to a "lower" level of personal development.

Interesting. As two counterexamples, I know of one person (the one with the intense instincts referred to above) who has vehemently worked on changing them whose system simply eats any reiki it comes into contact with. Attunements have no lasting effect. I also know another person who has drastically worked to change aspects of his nature, who has been unable to have reiki work done on him or even in his presence since that time without getting dizzy or developing a migraine. Both of these examples seem to point to Reiki trying to restore an original state and fighting the systems of the people involved with negative results. Clearly, more data is needed to further develop our pictures of the situation.

Re: I think you misunderstand the template...

[draerendi.livejournal.com]

I have often wondered about this idea of template. When does the template solidify into what it should be? Is it set before a person is born? Is it determined by the experiences of growing up? How can you know what the proper template is to be? I am curious given the blind trust that Reiki knows what is best. Is it determined for one life time or all of the life encarnations of a person?

Re: I think you misunderstand the template...

[jarandhel.livejournal.com]

Good questions. I note that in comparing the reiki paradigm with the huna paradigm, reiki corresponds to mana and it is said that mana used for healing has the appearance of intelligent action but it is an illusion caused by the direction of the subconscious mind. This may explain the often repeated idea that Reiki is intelligent but not brilliant, and the fact that sometimes its methods of healing the body can be dangerous, such as in the case of trying to make a fever higher to burn out illness faster. It is the wisdom of the body-mind/subconscious that such illness should be responded to with an increase in temperature to burn it out, but as you know the body is not always wise in this area since high fevers can cause other harm to the patient. A similar example comes from when Reiki is used to try to heal a broken bone before it is set, resulting in the bone healing faster but healing wrong.

There is in Huna the idea of an energetic template for the body, and in certain instances it is theoretically supposed to be possible to turn a portion of the physical body into nonphysical substance, reform it according to that energetic template, and then change it back into physical substance... this is their explanation for spontaneous healing that in other paradigms would be labeled miracles. There are also supposed to be corresponding energetic templates for the mind and the soul. However, these are seen as much more akin to astral/etheric bodies for each portion (somewhat similar to the egyptian paradigm with the ka and the ba and the other portions of the human mind/soul) than they are as perfect ideal templates of how they could be.

Re: I think you misunderstand the template...

[draerendi.livejournal.com]

Ah then I was right about the energy of it. The template changes as the person changes so why would you seek to return it to the begining? Perhaps the origional was not correct for the person at the time. I do not believe in perfection to begin with. I look at it as an ideal to reach for nothing more. To force a change can not be a good thing. To open the way for a change to occur is a good thing but the change has to come about of its own accord to become a real change. I can want to be anything I choose as long as I am willing to do the work required. To have that issue forced upon me would cause me to reject it. Some times I see people who are afraid and they also reject it. Some desire the change but are unwilling to to do the work so in a way it is also rejected. I think as far as templates go...What if we are reincarnated? The template remain with the first or adjust for the second? A dragon has tendancies incommon with vampires but they are not vampiric so does it matter? What if you have tendencies for both or even others thrown in...which is the correct template? For my peace of mine I think there are two many if statements in the equasian to give such a pat answer. Would you not think that the correct template would be human for this place? Oh yes, If there are more than one template which does the rieki know to change or maybe it just changes and resets the whole program? I deal with energy work all the time. I see little difference in them as far as this is reiki this is not. I see differences in vibration,frequency texture and so on. I have found it to be no different than what I already use in that vein. What makes it different is the person using it that I can see...so that could also be the reason it does not agree with some people.

[draerendi.livejournal.com]

This may or may not have meaning for you. I think that energy is energy be it darfire or not. I think the evil is not in the energy but that which weilds it. There for anything that can be used for evil can be used for good and the reverse. That being said I also maintain that it takes a very strong foundation to keep the balance.

[jarandhel.livejournal.com]

I agree entirely with that sentiment. I do not believe in energies that are of themselves good or evil, entirely harmful nor entirely helpful. Not even darkfire and reiki.

[rialian.livejournal.com]

===Same page for the most part here. Even the best tools can be applied wrong...sometimes ESPECIALLY the best tools.

===To dive into alternate mythologies for a moment, I know the Elenari tend to laud their "Temple of the Sun" folks....you know, they found the "corrupted" and "healed" them....

===Of course, in their belief structure...a change in template that adapted to a different environment would be a "corruption"....

===Makes one wonder how such folks would react if one of their folks got to here, and then returned....and had even a sign of adaptation.

[jarandhel.livejournal.com]

I am not immediately familiar with the stories surrounding the Temple of the Sun... the name strikes a familiar chord in me, but I do not know if it is from any lives connected to the Elenari, and the term strikes me as one that might be found on many worlds. That said, the chord that is struck does not feel like a pleasant one...

I also note that the individuals working the most on altering templates (physical and energetic) would have been those mages working on forms of genetic engineering and its mystical equivalents. If memory serves, that would have been the black robes, correct? Weren't they accused of corruption in many circles at one point? And not just for their use of technology?

[doltaghey.livejournal.com]

I agree with you in principle that energies in themselves can not be good or evil (unless they are sentient and have their own agenda - thinking of Pattern & Logrus from the Amber Chronicles).
I think that any energy, in it's proper and natural environment, would be about 50:50 harmful:helpful. Take the energy out of it's natural environment however and that balance could shift dramatically (in either direction, I suppose). I also would not rule out the possibility that in certain environments, a particular energy could be always, entirely harmful.

==Arhuaine

[helen99.livejournal.com]

On a somewhat unrelated note, what you're saying above reminded me of this:

http://www.dreampower.com/ht/becoming.html

This is one of RJ Stewart's Dreampower tarot deck called Becoming/Vanishment (one being a part of the other).

[jarandhel.livejournal.com]

*nods* That rings very similar and very true to me... in the paradigm I work with, unmaking and dream (the former of which can be seen as a step beyond destruction, and the latter of which can be seen as a step before creation, if looking at it that way makes the connection more obvious) are two sides of a single being. They're also associated with despair and hope, respectively.