It's tangible, the night: step outside after sunset and move to the blackest patch of it that you can find. Far away from the lights, and surrounded by the physical and psychic quiet that only comes about at this time, you'll feel it.

Night is an ether. An inky, black mass that does more than just embrace us. It carries magickal energy, and the voices of the Dark Gods and Goddesses.

And the dark miracles night embraces have called to me, as they might have to you.

Has traditional Paganism and light-side magick brought you everything you wanted? When I first found Wicca in the 1980s, I couldn't quite determine what about the Craft wasn't clicking with me. I was young, though, and figured I'd grow into whatever was lacking in my experiences. After all, it was a religion that accepted my love of magick and of the Gods of Old. Gods in whom I believed since my preteen years.

However—and no offense to the diurnal folk—traditional Wicca didn't have what I needed. All the solar aspects, the bright themes—it wasn't for me. Night had other plans for me, as it might have for you.

The Hectic Day
During the day, a lot of people of all religions are focusing on so-called mundane matters. While thinking and acting in the business world is important, the people doing so create a psychic buzz that can be quite disturbing to magickal ritual and psychic sensitivity. I felt this even as a kid, when I called it a "do-something mood" in the air. My parents couldn't follow what I meant, but I just didn't feel comfortable in the day. Even if I had nothing to do, the daytime brought about nervous anxiety in me. Only after sunset did I begin to feel truly happy.

Do you sense the psychic interference that abounds in the day? Even if you love sunlight, do you find it easy to perform a mystical rite? I don't. Ritual is psychodrama, designed to alter your consciousness just enough to access the hidden powers of your mind. Not much chance of altering consciousness with the sun outshining your candles and the noise of a lawnmower resounding over your chants. For me, performing ritual by day is like trying to record the echoes of one's voice in a stadium during an event. It's too loud, so to speak, and if you just wait a few hours you'll get the results you seek from the hidden ambiance.

The Mystical Night
Once those in your area begin to settle down for sleep, or whatever, the busyness of the day and "businessy" analytical thinking start to slow down. With the cessation of such interference, night's ether hums in a different manner. It becomes filled with the essence of dreams and wishes, and the beliefs of many that most anything can be lurking out there, unseen. Again, it's tangible—an ether composed of a quieted psychic field and a sympathetic link to the dark spirit of certain individuals. This essence is not evil, mind you—just dark. Some of us are comfortable only surrounded by things of a nocturnal sensibility. Maybe you have a touch of this in you?

Night is also a sympathetic link to the Dark Gods. You've encountered them in the myths of many lands, and there's a reason the ancients attributed so many aspects of Divinity to the Dark Ones. There is nothing evil in being dark. Evil and good can be found in nocturnal and diurnal folks equally. The ancients knew this, and identified the Dark Gods for whom magickal experiences and psychic phenomena are gifts waiting to be bestowed. Bestowed on us, their dark children.

Venture out after dark. Really listen. The night might be speaking to you.

A Dark Promise
In Nocturnal Witchcraft, I'd like to share some of what night has revealed to me over the years of my occult research and practice. Some of it will apply directly to you, and some of it you'll change to suit what new inspiration comes to you by twilight.

Did you know it's possible to read minds and gather other insight by night? Did you know that there's a way to manipulate the dark ether itself to provide you with any magickal goals you have? This is the stuff that the Dark Craft is made of, and I promise you will be able to perform such seeming miracles soon, if the night has called to you. If what I've said so far clicks with you, then I'm glad to have reached out to you, nightkind.

In the shadows, don't be a stranger.