So yes, the Nightsisters see no real difference between the healing influence of the Winged Goddess and the strengthening influence of the Fanged God. Together, they are seen as the essence of natures vigour, and not unlike the Mikyo monks of Japan, Nightsisters undergo periodic periods of isolation in the Dathomir wilderness as they do believe that Dathomir has a unique role in the Force/spirit world. Their traditional understanding of the Force does revolve around that ecosystem, and from these periods of isolation they gain new insight into the Force/will of the spirits.
When they travel away from Dathomir, it’s as mercenaries. The clan mother selectively enters into contracts or agreements with various parties, and it’s believed that the display of the power of a Dathomiri witch leads people to understand the strength of the spirits which itself strengthens the spirits. Not unlike the Sith and Jedi, among those spirits are their ancestors. In anything, their encounters with ancestor spirits are more common than they are for the Sith and Jedi. To their view, there is no separation between an ancestor spirit and a nature spirit. They are equal. The ancestor having grown to be the equal of nature spirits through the trials and strength they gained while alive, and just as Luke continued to receive some guidance and teaching from Obi-Wan, the Nightsisters receive insight and traditional training from their ancestors. So their history is more than just verbal tradition, it’s preserved in the memory of their spirits as well.
So if they have any flaws, it would be in their “primitivism”, and their cultural embrace of natures savagery as a social value. If you see those things in that way.
What is the Dathomiri schism? Oh, I already touched on that. Those who hold to the Book of the Law versus the Book of Shadows. They are not at peace with each other. The Nightsisters believe that those who call hold to the Book of the Law are weaklings, deluded regarding the true nature of the spirits.
There is a real world parallel to this in many cultures. The later druid practices would be an example, as well as the Magian Reformation. Specifically, the Magian Reformation is historically the most clear. The Persian faith, lead by the priests we call Magi, originally gave recognition both to a dark god, Ahriman, and had rituals that revolved around turning away this dark gods aggression as well as rituals that honoured their god of light, Ahura Mazda. With the emergence of the prophet Zoroaster, they ceased to give reverence to the dark god and embraced a prophecy that eventually the two gods would come to a final war and those who allied with the god of light would ultimately win. This gave rise to later christian heresies also, typically called the Manichean heresy.
What is the Manichean heresy? The idea that Satan opposed and was a rival to god, and that Satan could influence or collect souls for any reason.
How are the druids similar? Ah, they, in their early history, gave homage both to positive and negative natural powers leading to rituals like the Wicker Man where they sacrificed prisoners of war and criminals to the gods. Later, as their nation grew less warlike and prosperous, those practices were abandoned. Perhaps because they believed that because of their prosperity the land no longer required those things. No clear written record of the reasoning behind that was made so we can only speculate. We just know that the druids came to be profoundly effective peace keepers. Maybe the experience of such a dark time is what lead them to have such faith in the druids?
What do you think of the Nightsisters view of the Force?
I like how shamanistic it is and seeing the force as spirits. It would be a form of neoshamanism as they do have technology. They don’t pursue it very far as they believe it is weakening.
Maybe Disney will do a Nightsisters movie. They easily could. Place the story on Dathomir, maybe make the Nightsisters the villains. That is what people would expect.
So yes, the Dathomir witches Force tradition is shamanic as opposed to the Jedi monastic tradition.
Till next time friends, may the spirits be with you. Your thoughts are welcome.
Travis Saunders
Dragon Intuitive
~science,mysticism,spirituality~