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Darkness and Death

Darkness does not represent evil. It represents mystery, fear, and death, which many mistake for evil. It represents absence and emptiness, the primordial vacuum from which everything originated.

Following a Dark God or Goddess in no way changes one's ethics. "Evil" is a concept that originates within ourselves, not the Gods. No one makes us do bad things. Embracing the darkness means investigating the mysteries, facing our fears, and understanding that side of nature that is violent and dangerous. The Dark Gods help us acknowledge those sides of ourselves that we preferred weren't there, allowing us to either come to terms with them or transform them. Burying those facets does no one any good - they simply sit there and fester.

There are many erroneous presumptions about following deities associated with death. Death is not evil. It is part of the natural cycle from which new things are born. Coming to terms with death, however, in no way promotes it. Killing just for the sake of killing is, in fact, incredibly unnatural, and anyone who disagrees is in need of serious psychiatric help.

When one wears black for ritual (which is by no means a requirement), it is because they are entering the circle without presumptions or factional allegiances, open to new learning to fill the void. They are not associating themselves with a particular aspect or element, but instead align themselves with the universe, which is, after all, black.