Right Hand Path and Left Hand Path

There is danger when right and left are seen as against each other. This is when the right hand path becomes a false path. It becomes this against that, us against them, and then the left hand path is seen as frightening and evil. Thus, the person craves only the light alone and does not want to see the dark. The person looks to others for their validation instead of going inside and validating themselves, when a person refuses to see into their shadow side, they are denying any form of self-acceptance or depth of insight. This often becomes dangerous and is the beginning of a fundamentalist belief and lifestyle,

With critical evaluation and conceptualization of both paths, one will not only be enlightened beyond the present norm of divine revelation but will also discover the very nature of man. Giving a fair consideration between two paths, for me, is the ultimate solution to overcome those religious mysteries and dilemmas.

We cannot deny the light or darkness in ourselves or in our life. There is night and there is day just as we have what we subjectively call good days and bad days. Death is as natural as birth, it is only different because we perceive one to be happy and the other to be tragic.

Whether we are dealing with everyday stresses or serious challenges inour lives, we have to balance the good with the not so good, the light with the dark. If we did not have a bad day, we would not be able to fully appreciate when we experience a good one.

Without darkness, there can be no light. Without light there can be no darkness. Use your outer strengths and inner strengths to the best of your abilities both in mundane and magical workings. Study both paths and many traditions and take what you want to find what really works for you.

Christianity will always be about Christ. Wicca is almost always related to the God and Goddess. The left hand path practitioner is often agnostic or atheistic. This is hard for some people to understand, especially coming from a Christian or Muslim book religion.

Again, for the left hand pather, the practitioner is the one ultimately responsible for his success or failure. The reason is you can take Satan out of Satanism, he is not really there to being with. Satan has always meant adversary or teacher. Most Satanists today will tell you that the left hand path is one where you ask the question "Why?"

There are also left hand path pagans. They may refer to themselves as

Theistic Satanists, dark Witches, dark pagans, pagan-Satanists, and a myriad other labels for self-identification. Those who are not agnostic or atheistic work with the dark gods and goddesses. However, if they do not learn balance, they are living a needlessly harsh and cold lifestyle.

Where can we begin to find common ground?

All pagans believe in the concept of sovereignty and the importance of healthy self-esteem. We can all agree to a divine spark in ourselves and others. From the left, we learn about deep responsibility, introspection, and finding knowledge from within. From the right we learn about community, the need to serve and be served, and to seek knowledge from outside the self.

This is not just about magic. Think about working towards a balance in your personal relationships. A healthy couple would want each person to be independent and have healthy self-esteem before entering into a relationship. Then, this same couple would want to come outside of themselves and get to know the other person and have a mutually fulfilling experience interacting with each other.