Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Darth Strega

Tonight we watched Return of the Jedi. In having to explain to a child what was going on between Darth Vader, Luke and The Emperor, I realized something:

The Jedi are stupid.

Seriously. Don't use your hate or fear or anger? What kind of hippie crap is that? There couldn't be Italian Jedi. We embrace our dark side, we use whatever emotion we need to use to get the job done, or the situation taken care of.

If Luke had been Italian? That Emperor would have been toast AND Luke would have saved his father. Dude is about to kill everyone you love and destroy the rebel alliance, sealing the fate of the universe? Toast. Luke killed a lot of bad guys who were threatening his friends, like Jabba the Hut. I bet there were plenty of innocent creatures in Jabba's place when Luke blew it up. Why didn't that make Luke turn to the dark side? Pft.


Yeah, I know: Vader had to have the opportunity to come back to the good side. I think if Luke had taken on the Emperor and stayed "good" that Vader would have joined him anyway. Then there could be sequels. They could have started a new, more powerful line of those who used The Force, a combination of Jedi and Sith. One that integrated the "good" and "bad."

Why is it an either-or proposition? Why can't you use your "dark" emotions to do what needs to get done without it consuming you? Is it because this movie is a simplistic parable wherein the bad guys are wholly bad and the good guys are wholly good and you can't be a bit of both? Feh.

I will say this: Never underestimate what a parent will do for their child. The Emperor was so overconfident in Vader being completely in his dark side pocket, that he didn't realize that instinct can still take over.

This is a silly rant about a silly movie, but it does lead to a more pertinent topic: Embracing what many have come to think of as "dark" in regards to witchcraft. There's a huge difference in the Strega and Wiccan mindsets, and I've talked a bit about it here before: The Wiccan Reede is just some advice. If you do something and think it will come back, you still do what you have to do. The difference is that you own it.
When you don't know how to swim, it's more dangerous to be near a pool. My evil twin pointed out that if Anakin had been taught to use his dark side, he wouldn't have gotten sucked in by the Emperor in the first place.


In other news, half of the labyrinth has been planted and I hope to have the second half done tomorrow! I have a headache, I think from using neck muscles that haven't been used that way in some time! I'm calling it a night and hope to post a proper post tomorrow! Perhaps some psychopomp and circumstance! I'll leave you with more philosophical debate about the trilogy:


This next one is really funny and really disturbing all at the same time. Too soon? I can't embed it, so you'll have to surf over to college humor yourself!

5 comments:

  1. This one caught my eye. I recall thinking that in "Revenge of the Sith" the Jedi were being such bloody nimrods they pretty much deserved to get wiped out. Arrogant, passive and STUPID. The only ones in the whole bunch the least bit proactive were Mace Windu and Yoda. And Anakin just sucked down a bag of bulls**t from Palpatine worthy of the Republican party. Idiot. Punk. Not that George didn't totally poop on his own entire mythology in the prequel series...

    But I go get the point concerning white light pagans. And even though I am a Nativist, I have always felt that most neopagans do not in the least fathom the level of "own it" that the Rede implies. For openers, "An ye harm none...? " well, guess what? YOU don't get to DECIDE what "harm" is... the OTHER GUY does. So be conscious out there. There is no yang without yin, no light without dark, being born is a death sentence, and all things return to the Earth.

    While some folk are counting unicorns and rainbows, some us are going to roll up our sleeves and defend ourselves when someone tried to put a stick in our eyes and pick our pockets. At heart I'm a pacifist, but I also have a 3rd Degree Black belt... in three disciplines. Jus' sayin'. But I think you get it.

    But the movies were still worth the popcorn. May the force be with you.

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  2. I LOVE this post...LMAO!!! I'm in a predicament like Skywalker, but my 'dark side' is slowly taking over ;) On a more serious note, would love to talk to you about Stregheria more sometime. Your posts are always a great read ;)

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  3. I lost my *fluffy bunny* some years ago and never cared to find it. As a very good friend put it to me, "A Witch that can not hex, can not heal." It made more than all the sense in the world to me. I'm not afraid to fight back, even magickally when necessary. I don't think you can go through life unbalanced without some sort of consequences to your person.

    Great blog post!

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  4. Samuraiartguy, tell me how you *really* feel about the Jedi lol I'm glad everyone gets my point that, like Wandering Gypsie posted, if you can't hex you can't heal. I'm a bunny, but the kind Anya sang about. (5 points to whomever gets that reference. Points redeemable for one step towards embracing your dark side.)

    Terri: Don't let it take over, use it for the greatest good! And thanks! Happy to chat :)

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  5. I think you're right. Sometimes our anger spurs us on to doing good things, to defending what or who needs to be defended! I think people fear the "dark side" so much sometimes that they try to block it out. The thing is that those things we try so hard to block out usually just explode in our face one day, so it's better to find a balance.

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