Dankquanicus' Thoughts on The Night

[Dankquanicus]

I realized, there is something wonderfully holy about the night, because it turns our attention towards Heaven. That is, the beautiful Stars and Planets become visible in the night.

I have heard that some Indian Yogis prefer to be awake in the night. Similarly, many magicians report that magick is more effective when rituals are performed in the night. Certain Medieval Sages have said the same.

There is something wonderful about the night. Many experienced heightened fear, and there is risk of being torn apart, of being hunted down, whether we go out in the city streets, or we go into the wild. And yet, in this darkness, the spiritual world above becomes clearer, and is made visible to us. There is deep and profoundly beautiful knoweldge in this.

And ironically, there are many who are drawn a certain aesthetic and theme today who enjoy seeing the night as some sort of “unholy chaos”, but this is when great order is revealed.

Perhaps there is a reason why I have often in the past simply found myself to be awake throughout the night.

[Veil]

@Dankquanicus

I have heard that some Indian Yogis prefer to be awake in the night.

@Dankquanicus

Perhaps there is a reason why I have often in the past simply found myself to be awake throughout the night.

Perhaps this explains why my sleeping pattern naturally flips on its head if I have more than two days off my 9-5 job (sometimes not even then – how delightful to sleep with the trilling of morning birds welcoming the sun outside, and to wake when the sun goes down).

Yes, there is something beautiful about the night, about hidden things, about mystery and pareidolia, of telling ghost stories around the campfire, about the light of the stars overhead, if we’re lucky enough to see them; even of feeling your way down the dark hallways of your own home; the silence; the place of dreams.

This thread is marked as a journal, so I look forward to reading more of your thoughts.

[Dankquanicus]

@Veil

Yes, there is something beautiful about the night, about hidden things, about mystery and pareidolia, of telling ghost stories around the campfire, about the light of the stars overhead, if we’re lucky enough to see them; even of feeling your way down the dark hallways of your own home; the silence; the place of dreams.

Since you mention hidden things, that has brought some more things to my awareness.

The darkness relates to occult knowledge in general. There is a ruler who rules over the hidden things in the ground, over the creatures that dwell there, and over places that extend into the ground such as caves, filled with darkness, and over the roots of the plants, which are ever hidden from view, and similarly he rules over profound esoteric knowledge, and his name is our language is Saturn.

The Moon in her waning phase signals esoteric knowledge and subtle thought.

There is something in this darkness that relates to occult knowledge and wisdom. And it is no surprise that most people fear the dark of the night. There is a risk of being torn apart, of being injured, and this is so whether it is in the city, or in the wild.

The dark also often places us into contemplation.

[Veil]

@Dankquanicus

There is something in this darkness that relates to occult knowledge and wisdom. And it is no surprise that most people fear the dark of the night. There is a risk of being torn apart, of being injured, and this is so whether it is in the city, or in the wild.

Sorry to spam your journal so early, but it reminds me of the thread you posted about fear in the occult.

I stopped fearing the dark entirely after I embraced the occult. I have had one experience I would describe as scary (due to its unexpected intensity) very early on, and one other, much later & much more recent, which I would describe as very intense but not fear-inducing as such.

The fear of being torn apart… oh, I remember when I used to sleep with a lamp on, when I’d turn a light off and sprint down a dark hallway to leap into bed and hide under the covers, and I couldn’t sleep without my entire head covered, much less let an arm or leg dangle over the edge of the bed. I no longer fear that. The dark is beautiful and peaceful.

@Dankquanicus

and his name in our language is Saturn.

So dare I ask, out of curiosity… what do you think of Ouranis? The dark who hides beyond the dark?

[norse900]

I absolutely prefer the night and the focused power that comes with it. Natural night owl, but my job says otherwise. The darkness certainly serves to limit distractions (by limiting vision and perceived movements). Best part of the day, wasted by sleep

[Dankquanicus]

@Veil

So dare I ask, out of curiosity… what do you think of Ouranis? The dark who hides beyond the dark?

I smiled when I read this. If I remember correctly, the Tao Te Ching says that the Sage’s mind is profound, and becomes hard to understand by the people. This is reminiscent of The One.

Can this even be talked about?

“GREAT Heav’n, whose mighty frame no respite knows,
Father of all, from whom the world arose:
Hear, bounteous parent, source and end of all,
Forever whirling round this earthly ball;
Abode of Gods, whose guardian pow’r surrounds
Th’ eternal World with ever during bounds;
Whose ample bosom and encircling folds
The dire necessity of nature holds.
Ætherial, earthly, whose all-various frame
Azure and full of forms, no power can tame.
All-seeing Heav’n, progenitor of Time,
Forever blessed, deity sublime,
Propitious on a novel mystic shine,
And crown his wishes with a life divine.” (Hymn of Orpheus to Heaven. Traslated by Thomas Taylor)

The One cannot be understood, it is beyond the intellectual realm.

Whether I have gnosis on this, I cannot say.

[Veil]

@Dankquanicus

the Tao Te Ching says that the Sage’s mind is profound, and becomes hard to understand by the people. This is reminiscent of The One.

The Tao that can be named is not the eternal Tao I’ve met an entity who I feel is closer to that description than might possibly be believed.

Looking forward to more.

[Dankquanicus]

After I had wrote about this, I was in a rather ecstatic state for a while, having contemplated these things.

This entire philosophy is cause for rejoicing. Only few are not moved when they realize that this entire cosmos is one body. The smallest of things have meaning, and purspose in this great cosmos. The soul is immortal and eternal just like the cosmos. This is recognized as beautiful even though we are not taught this. It is very different from the way many look at the world today, which is, they tend to see things as insignificant in a way (although tend to be moved by certain facts of the universe), and as hopeless in a sense.

@Veil

So dare I ask, out of curiosity… what do you think of Ouranis? The dark who hides beyond the dark?

I want to add, the Saturn I was referring to in my post is the planet Saturn, not the God Saturn. This is why I explained that he is called this in our language. He is called Zuhal in Arabic, and Sanaischara in Sanskrit, for example. All peoples have seen the Planets, and the Stars.

Also, apologies for seeming vague in my previous response, I did not mean to, but a concept like The One is genuinely difficult to speak about, although some things can be said. But it can not entirely be understood. But, it is not a spirit, or a being. It is also called “The Good”. All things ultimately spring from it. The Demiurgos (Who is seen as entirely benevolent in Platonism) arose out of The One/The Good and gave life to all of the other Gods and created the entire cosmos. They are a being, but their highest form can also not be comprehended, the same with the rest of the Gods. They exist outside of space, and they were there before time was created, to give some perspective on how they can not be understood.

[Veil]

@Dankquanicus

@Veil

So dare I ask, out of curiosity… what do you think of Ouranis? The dark who hides beyond the dark?

I want to add, the Saturn I was referring to in my post is the planet Saturn, not the God Saturn. This is why I explained that he is called this in our language. He is called Zuhal in Arabic, and Sanaischara in Sanskrit, for example. All peoples have seen the Planets, and the Stars

This, among many other things, is why I enjoy reading your words.

OK, I am going to stop spamming your journal now

[Dankquanicus]

One thing that one might associate the night with is abandonment. You are left in the darkness, everyone has gone to sleep, and you don’t know what might be out there. The city has died down, the animals have gone to sleep, and often times there is a silence, save for the rustling of branches and leaves, and the occasional sounds of nocturnal creatures, themselves often relatively solitary beings.

And yet, this is partially an illusion. When you gaze upwards, you often see the entire heavens above visible. The spiritual heavens are shining down on the world at all times. The Stars and Constellations, each with their own names, intelligences, and vast hosts of spirits under them, are gazing down upon the world at all times.

Here is an excellent translation of a prayer to various constellations taken from a Babylonian Source:

Diviner’s Prayer to the Gods of Night

“The princes are closely guarded,
The bolts are lowered, rings set in place.
The noisy people are fallen silent,
Gates once opened are locked.
The gods of the land, goddesses of the land,
Šamaš, Sîn, Adad and Ištar
Have gone off into the lap of heaven.
They will give no judgment, they will decide no cases.
Veiled is the night.
The palace, its chapel, and sanctuary are dark.
The wayfarer calls out to the god, the petitioner keeps on sleeping.
The judge of justice, father of the destitute,
Šamaš has gone into his sanctuary.
May the great gods of the night,
brilliant Girra, warrior Erra,
the Bow, the Yoke, Orion, the Dragon,
the Wagon, the She-Goat, the Bison, the Horned Serpent,
stand by!
In the extispicy which I am performing,
In the lamb which I am offering,
place for me the truth!”
(From the source given above).

So while it may seem like you have been abandoned with this absence of light and this calming down of the world, this is only an appearance. The heavens are shining beautifully, and are ever present, even when they are not seen. One can not be removed from their sight.

[CosmicTofu]

Zuhal in Arabic

Something edgy that reached out to me called itself Oomdal. May be unrelated, but they sound similar.

[Mythopoeia]

Percy Shelley, To Night

[Dankquanicus]

I encourage everyone to look at the Stars and Planets whenever they can.

I am always comforted when I look outside and I see them visible. There is something serene about them… I get the sense of wisdom from the starry night sky as a whole. Rather abstract and difficult to explain. You could perhaps say it feels like all is aright in the world.

Now, I read recently about various traditional names and lore of various stars from African peoples in a certain region. It made me realise that also to a lot of pre-modern cultures, the stars and planets were intimately connected with life.

The stars and planets signal the season and time of year. The Norse Poem ‘Vafþrúðnismál’ from the Poetic Edda suggests that the Sun and Moon’s operation is to tell the time to mankind.

Nowadays, while of course the heavens are the foundation for time and such for us, we don’t observe the Stars and Planets as often or rely on them directly. We rather rely on other sources, primarily the internet.

I was not able to identify any constellations before this year, and this year was the first time I had observed one celestial body move further than another. It also came to my attention that the celestial bodies generally move eastwards, which is not something that particularly crossed my mind before.

I think for a lot of people they similarly have not observed the stars very much, and so have a similar experience.

But I think there is an interesting psychological effect when the stars are observed to become more connected to life.
Just gazing at them and realizing they are entirely connected to this entire cosmos brings a nice feeling!

Of course, to most people today, that’s not going to be too significant. To most, the Stars and Planets are simply abstract material bodies who have been generated by randomness, and are too distant to affect anything on Earth (Save for the Sun and Moon, although the latter is mostly limited to the waves), because the only causility that exists is material causality, making magic and divination impossible to begin with.

My own perspective is quite different of course, as I view everything as having spiritual causality, but also as the entire heavens being highly significant. I view each of the Stars and other Celestial Bodies as having their own intelligence and spirit, and so they are able to be invoked. In a way, they have power over the entire world and are present in everything. That is part of my personal view.

But however you view the Stars and Planets, they are wonderful, and indeed connected to this cosmos. So, take some time to observe them every now and then if you can!

[Dankquanicus]

When the sky is clear and the weather is calm, it’s interesting to notice how serene the night is. It seems like there is a gentle stillness to it. And then, the crickets sing their hymn, the bats fly over, and shooting stars appear in the sky. You realize, everything is in perpetual motion, and there is a clear and peaceful harmony that becomes apparent.

It’s interesting to note the stillness of the night. That is, how little there is going on outside. Most things have gone to sleep or are hiding. And they are hiding because night is when vicious and perceptive predators appear.

You would almost think it would be the reverse. Where the day is more dangerous and all chaos breaks free, because there is fewer place to hide, and everything is awake. But rather it seems at least people have a greater fear of the night, and with good reason. Human adversaries tend to be active in the night too, along with wild predators to hunt their own prey.

And yet, at the same time, there is still this gentle stillness, harmony, and beauty to be found.

Esoteric Image:

The Moon is glowing in the background. A man is standing wearing a dark grey cloak and he is looking forwards with a calm and still look on his face, having a slight smile or being straight-faced. He is about to be torn to shreds from both sides by two fierce adversaries. A wild beast on the left, a thief or murderer on the right.