Something about Polarity

If someone talks to you about witches, you will quite likely get a mental picture of a bend over old Crone holding a broomstick and accompanied by a black cat. That is the picture that has been pushed to us as prominent for centuries thus effectively attacking strong and independent woman that were more than others attuned to nature and healing. If you google Susan Smit, a Dutch writer who positions herself as a witch, you will find a picture that does not line up with the mental image painted above, far from it. Susan is a former model that writes extensively about being a witch. Though not al of her descriptions of the ideas and practices for modern witches may appeal to everyone, I feel that a lot of matter described in the book is a well thought through and well meant and relates to a lot of other wisdom traditions and even religions like Bhuddism. To mention just a small part: from her book (in Dutch, I couldn't find an English version but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist) 'The wisdom of the Witch' I will offer up some ideas and some (translated) quotes about polarity:

The wisdom of the witch

Susan explains that a lot of 'states of being' exist by the existence of its polar opposites: darkness and light, hot and cold etc. A widely known fact. It is her opinion it is usually wise to stay in the middle. A balancing act like the rope danser. The middle is a strong position because it holds both extremes. In your own mental state this might mean that moving away from 'fear' you land in the middle at 'courage' and don't go to the other pole of 'overconfidence'. We all know that we get stuck sometimes at the more extreme end of a thought process. Susan says:

Thoughts and feelings often linger because we have come to believe that they are fixed or because we believe that they are so dangerous that we should not allow them. The greatest prison is that of our own mind”

She also explains that we have to accept that life will hold good times and not so good times. To fight the bad times may not be the best way to get 'through' them. As she says:

“Move along and have faith that things will take their course. Take the bitter with the sweet, the boredom with the ecstasy, the pain with the pleasure. And try to do so without shame, self-blame, victimization or haste.

The art of living is not optimizing circumstances for happiness, but embracing life under all circumstances.”

This may not be revolutionary or new and it may be difficult to accept when life does treat you harshly but is just a tiny example how the 'witches view' on important aspects of life is rather interesting.

Susan has a lot more to say that might make a lot of sense for a lot of us. She also talks about polarity as a rather upsetting aspect of modern culture and public debate. Nowadays a lot of people seem so entrenched in their opinion and even their own truth on important societal issues that no dialogue seems possible. Susan:

“The public debate and discussions on social media have become like cockfights. Especially people who blow high from the moral tower and the "but you can't say that anymore" types are at odds with each other. On Twitter, messages and reactions are quickly seen in a framework of “agree” or “disagree”. That frame is way too tight in my opinion. It undermines any spontaneity, human plurality and connection. It robs us of the ability to want to understand, to express ourselves sincerely and to come together.”

....

“Personal opinion has become so sacred that you are no longer allowed to discuss it substantively, because then you would attack the person with the opinion. When people who gently question or nuance something are dismissed as "haters" or "trolls," all exchange stops.

and then an important view for these times:

When doubt must be suppressed, tyranny follows.

In my opinion, you respect other people's opinions precisely by discussing them substantively and, if necessary, fighting them with the weapons of reason. You care, you make an effort, you want to reach the other person. That is so much more interesting and festive than locking yourself in your own truth and canonizing it.

This quite a relevant view on a rather current issue, I feel.

By the way, the word 'crone' I used at the beginning of a blog is - beside the word witch itself - being reclaimed from its rather nasty use in these last centuries. In the witches world the word 'crone' is used for a witch that is in her stage of life as a wiser older woman. It is more a kind of an honorary title than a dismissive one.

Maybe later more on a witches view on life.

Ludicolous.