There is another side to dark relics though it is very rare. There has been little peace between the types of people, and much ignorance has cropped up in place of what was once understood.
Light workers do work to cleanse these dark relics, but there are those who can use them as they were intended, or at least there were. The closest thing to this type of person we still have tends to be an artist, some musicians. Often times visual artists like painters and sculptors. They harness and clarify the energy, moving it wider so it returns to the basic ground it came from.
So my darkness is a benefit? It can be, yes, with the attendant understanding.
What were these people called? Some cultures had no name for them, but there were still pictures. It was often forbidden to speak much of them. In some cultures, they were seen as possessed individuals, oracles of unfavoured gods, sin eaters, bokors, warlocks, sha’ir. As negative as we see those terms, there was never an organized hierarchy of any great size. They were the spiritual equivalent of sewer workers. They did show up alongside ancient shamans usually having a suggestion of death around them, or illness, though rarely were they ever actually ill.
Well paid? No. They generally were not well paid. This is why they acquired a reputation as thieves, though they also served as exorcists when the village healer was stumped. In the age of empires, you still had some examples, the Priests of Anubis, or Sobek, Apophis, beings of that nature. Tengu would be an example in Japan. The mysterious mountain goblins said to instruct famous sword masters so well. The people of the snake referenced in some Native American stories. The trolls. You have to go farther back to get clear pictures.
They were often cave dwellers typically considered demoniac, though how evil that was judged to be differed from culture to culture. What was universal was a perception of the person being somehow wrong, strange, or crazed. You might ask why anyone would willingly pick up this path?
They are probably drawn to it? There is a natural calling yes, but there is another reason. There is a point beyond the insanity, an understanding that gives a great peace and strength. They walk through the fires of the passions to arrive at the peaceful dark beyond. Some tantric sects can be seen as examples of this, and many of the old mystical orders of warriors, the followers of Aphomet, and Moloch, some of the most ancient pagan deities.
Is this gray magic? Yes.
The Norse berserkers would engage in periodical ritual outings. They would go off in the woods and rage so they would not rage when among their people. The Greek maenads did the same. A society of women given to similar ecstatic rages. Heaven forbid you ignore their taboos because they are “just women.” They had a predilection for ritual cannibalism.
Ritual? Oh, yes. The person not invited to their ritual was considered an inspired sacrifice, the vessel of Dionysus.
Your thoughts are welcome. Be well friends.
Travis Saunders
Dragon Intuitive
~science,mysticism,spirituality~