Song of the Dark Man Quotes

“As the Christian asks, “What would Jesus do?” others may ask, “What would the Dark Man do? How would the trickster manage this situation?” Nine times out of ten, the answer is indifference.”
― Darragh Mason, Song of the Dark Man: Father of Witches, Lord of the Crossroads

“Alkistis Dimech: I think people are in a state of inflammation, almost permanently, as if they’re waiting to be outraged. The readiness to take offence at perceived slights, or any deviation from a narrow orthodoxy. It’s a hyper-reactive state, and that’s a product of modern life, the need to present online, not existing if you don’t, that’s part of what’s unhinging people’s nervous systems.”
― Darragh Mason, Song of the Dark Man: Father of Witches, Lord of the Crossroads

“We need to take back our imaginal space and actively work with it and fill it with riches and free ourselves of the incessant noise. I find it really tiring to spend time on screens, and social media is the most compulsive vector of that. There’s too much information and it fractures consciousness into incoherence. And I think what’s needed for this kind of deep spirit work, particularly with a voice that’s prehuman—that contains many dead voices within it, and not just of humans, but of animals—I think you need to be able to go very deep, and you need to be very coherent in order to hear that voice and to engage with it.”
― Darragh Mason, Song of the Dark Man: Father of Witches, Lord of the Crossroads

“Sometimes the elders would tell frightening stories of the crossroads. Frightening to keep the curious away, to protect the crossroads and those who go there because it reduces the number of folks who go and keeps it safe. And, also remember that a lot of these practices come from a time when you could get arrested for being a witch or any number of things. With the crossroads in America—I don’t know if it’s still this way or not—but during the colonial times and the Reformation period, at least into the early 1900s, a crossroads was not owned by anyone. It could not be opened because it had to be accessible to everyone, which meant it was betwixt and between.”
― Darragh Mason, Song of the Dark Man: Father of Witches, Lord of the Crossroads

“I think these otherworldly forces don’t necessarily see us as distinctly as we see ourselves; they see more of the thread of our ancestry or bloodline. We’re each like a bead strung along that thread, but they’re looking at the thread, not necessarily the individual beads. They don’t play by human time-space rules.”
― Darragh Mason, Song of the Dark Man: Father of Witches, Lord of the Crossroads

“I don’t think Jung ever meant for archetypes to be these defanged, declawed, just psychologized things. I mean, if you look at The Red Book, he was working with entities. And I think archetypes were his attempt to really understand the prima materia underneath these different deity forms and forces that arise trans-culturally.”
― Darragh Mason, Song of the Dark Man: Father of Witches, Lord of the Crossroads

“[Reading from her book:] “Before me manifested the Peacock God, a beautiful being with curly dark hair, blue skin and eyes aflame and all I could say was, ‘Lord, welcome, Lord.’ And I bowed not out of subservience, but out of honor and respect. And many different associations began running through my mind as I tried to associate this being, this fairy king, with a deity. At first I thought, is it Krishna? And he responded, ‘I’m like that, Krishna was based on me.’ And I thought, is this Dionysius? And again, he responded, ‘I’m like that, he’s based on me.’ And then I remembered the Peacock God, known as Lucifer from the Anderson Feri tradition. And he responded, ‘I’m like that, he’s based on me.”
― Darragh Mason, Song of the Dark Man: Father of Witches, Lord of the Crossroads

“Death is the ultimate crossroads, and he is the Lord of the Crossroads. In the traditions around the Wild Hunt, sometimes the Devil leads from the front as the fairy host rides across the night sky accompanied by witches. They hunt for souls seeking out human beings, striking them with their fairy darts. If the darts strike home, the injured party is not long for this world. Death can strike anyone at any time. The question of cruelty and fairness is a red herring. These beings are transmoral and we must resist the urge to project human moralities on them. We must also resist the personification of great spirits like the Dark Man. To do so is to make trouble for yourself. Remember your boundaries and be cunning.”
― Darragh Mason, Song of the Dark Man: Father of Witches, Lord of the Crossroads

“In Welsh tradition, Gwyn was known as the “King under the hill.” He is associated with certain hills, beneath which he was said to have his palace. Place names like that of the hill-fort of Caer Drewyn near Corwen are thought to have originated from Tref Wyn, “the homestead of Gwyn.” Gwyn is also associated with the tradition of the Wild Hunt, which is found in many lands. Given the nature of the Wild Hunt and the gathering of human souls, it should come as no surprise that Gwyn is a psychopomp and is described very clearly as such in The Black Book of Carmarthen, one of the oldest surviving texts written in Welsh.”
― Darragh Mason, Song of the Dark Man: Father of Witches, Lord of the Crossroads

“Elise Oursa: I think the dark man is like a spirit of manifestation. I don’t mean manifestation like “let me help you get a job.” But a cosmic force of everything that comes into existence, is how I see it. And within that, it’s necessary to have demiurgic forces: of structure and laws and rules, and this is the way it should be. And it’s also necessary to have forces of darkness and chaos, which creates a dynamo of creation. I think it’s something that’s beyond good and evil, for sure. I think it offers the opportunity for integrating ourselves into our whole selves and revealing our hidden parts, our shadow parts that are there as well. And I think it’s clearly an initiation into some kind of otherness, into an acceptance of otherness.”
― Darragh Mason, Song of the Dark Man: Father of Witches, Lord of the Crossroads

“Here Isobel describes her next meeting with the Devil, calling him a “meikle blak roch man,” meaning a “great black rough man.” Throughout the confessions he is referred to as the Devil and variants of meikle blak man. In confession three, Isobel mentions that among themselves the coven members called him “blak jon.” The color black is used not only as a descriptor but as an appellation, just as with Fear Dorcha, Fear Dubh, and Donn Dubh.”
― Darragh Mason, Song of the Dark Man: Father of Witches, Lord of the Crossroads

“Using the confessions as the primary source materials, I will focus on five key areas: The dark appearance and appellation Appearance as a composite being Shape-shifting Interceptor and trickster nature Sex and sexual interest in human beings”
― Darragh Mason, Song of the Dark Man: Father of Witches, Lord of the Crossroads

“As with the djinn and the fairies, modern American culture has largely defanged the meaning of being a witch and practicing witchcraft. The Leannán Sídhe became Tinkerbell; the Ifrit became Aladdin’s singing genie; so, too, the witch has been sanitized. There were very good reasons to fear the witch. It was after all the ultimate “other”: part wild, dangerous, with fire in the blood. Equally the witch served a purpose as an intermediary between the otherworld forces that butted up against the rural communities. The witch could remove fairy maleficence but equally could be the vehicle for its delivery”
― Darragh Mason, Song of the Dark Man: Father of Witches, Lord of the Crossroads

“This context is important, considering the shape-shifting accounts of witches. Did the experience of being in another living thing’s form in vision or otherwise serve to rewild the mind and position the witch alongside the animal world rather than above it? Like the Sorcerer’s composite body and the Dark Man’s shape-shifting, it implicitly denies our partition from nature. It is in direct opposition to Christian separation.”
― Darragh Mason, Song of the Dark Man: Father of Witches, Lord of the Crossroads

“British geographer and archaeologist Michael Dames, in his book Mythic Ireland, reflects on Tuan: Only by empathising with, and thus becoming, the “lower” species can humanity hope to return from spiritual, moral and physical death.7”
― Darragh Mason, Song of the Dark Man: Father of Witches, Lord of the Crossroads

“The salmon traveled through the waters of the otherworld to Ireland, its perfect form gliding between worlds. Tuan mac Cairill came to Ireland as before the flood, retaining the memories of his centuries of dream lives as Irish totem animals. Incarnated as a salmon, he was eaten by the Queen of Ulster who became pregnant and gave birth to Tuan the human. Like the Sorcerer on the cave wall in France, he is a composite being of fin, wing, tusk, and antler. I had been a man, a stag, a boar, a bird, and now I was a fish. In all my changes I had joy and fulness of life. But in the water joy lay deeper, life pulsed deeper. For on land or air there is always something hindering. The stage has legs to be tucked away for sleep, and untucked for movement; and the bird has wings that must be folded and pecked and cared for. But the fish has but one piece from his nose to his tail. He is complete, single and unencumbered.”
― Darragh Mason, Song of the Dark Man: Father of Witches, Lord of the Crossroads

“Nature, no longer sacred, becomes our subordinate, and its soul is demonized. Worse still, we now shape our bodies to the empty artifice of technology as we are hollowed out of meaning by modernity. Our backs are office-hunched, our shoulders rounded. We once watched the flight of migrating birds in search of auguries. Now we watch trending feeds on Twitter, a feed that offers no nourishment. Eyes that once scanned the sea’s horizon no longer look up from a phone. We have utterly abandoned the natural world.”
― Darragh Mason, Song of the Dark Man: Father of Witches, Lord of the Crossroads

“The cave was clearly a sacred space for our ancestors, perhaps seen as an entrance to the underworld or land of the dead. And the Dark Man, often horned and hoofed, has always watched from the shadows, whispering to his children.”
― Darragh Mason, Song of the Dark Man: Father of Witches, Lord of the Crossroads

“Another story of Krishna as a child involves his mother, Yashoda. When told that her son has been seen eating dirt, she reprimands him, demanding to know why he has done so. Krishna denies the charge and Yashoda asks him to open his mouth to prove it. Krishna does so and inside his mouth Yashoda sees the stars, the planets, and the entire universe. All life within the cosmos, the divine and the mundane is contained within his mouth. No doubt Yashoda’s illusions were dissolved as she experienced this wonder.”
― Darragh Mason, Song of the Dark Man: Father of Witches, Lord of the Crossroads

“Parsons was a founding member of JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which was transferred to NASA in 1958). Much has been written about his Babalon Working: a series of magical workings or practices aimed at manifesting an incarnation of the archetypal divine feminine, Babalon, but it is Parsons’s recognition as one of the most important figures in the history of space flight that is significant. His occult beliefs played a key part in his scientific ambitions, and he would passionately recite Crowley’s “Hymn to Pan” during rocket tests. The invention and subsequent development of rocket technology changed humanity’s fortunes forever.”
― Darragh Mason, Song of the Dark Man: Father of Witches, Lord of the Crossroads

“Irish storyteller Eddie Lenihan speaks of the fairies needing humans for their business, whatever that business might be. The same applies to the Dark Man, and what that business might be only the Devil knows.”
― Darragh Mason, Song of the Dark Man: Father of Witches, Lord of the Crossroads

“According to folklorist Máire MacNeill in her 1962 book, The Festival of Lughnasa, the primary narrative that emerges from the Lughnasadh folklore and rites is a conflict between two gods over the harvest. The grain is kept by one god, who is typically referred to as “Crom Dubh.” In the conflict that ensues, Lugh and later St. Patrick wrest the grain from Crom Dubh to share among the people. Crom Dubh is likely the same figure as Crom Cruach and shares some qualities with the Daghdha and Donn,9 further connections to the Dark One.”
― Darragh Mason, Song of the Dark Man: Father of Witches, Lord of the Crossroads

“Ossian’s star faded as evidence emerged that there was little to Macpherson’s claims to have translated the poems from third-century Scots Gaelic texts, and in fact they were largely a construct of Irish Fenian mythology, Gaelic songs, and Macpherson’s own creativity. The whole affair would have appealed to the Dark Man’s sense of humor.”
― Darragh Mason, Song of the Dark Man: Father of Witches, Lord of the Crossroads

“Robin Artisson describes the Dark Man as follows: The secret is that he has no original or native form, no beastly body, no human form, and no godly or immortal form. That’s why he’s the Master Shape-Shifter, the immortal, the most clever, the living secret beyond words and ideas, beyond measures of time and vast depths of space. This is how he opens the Eye above the Eyes that sees everything; this is how he is able to be whatever he needs to be, at any given time, when the gaze of any human falls on him.”
― Darragh Mason, Song of the Dark Man: Father of Witches, Lord of the Crossroads

“Some of the greatest minds in history have described an external force and how it drove their creativity forward. Commonly, it’s referred to as one’s daimon. Napoleon, Jung, and Goethe all described such a force. The Greek word daimon describes an intermediary spirit that acts as a bridge between the individual and the otherworld. The concept varies across geographical and ideological boundaries, and is also known as the muse, the qareen in Islam, and the co-walker or coimimeadh in Gaelic countries. Assigned to us at birth, this spirit is said to accompany us throughout life and to be neither good nor evil, but capable of both.”
― Darragh Mason, Song of the Dark Man: Father of Witches, Lord of the Crossroads

“He upsets the order of society by empowering chaos, reminding those in power of the limits to their authority, undermining their laws, faith, and science in a sort of epistemological rewilding, and doing it with a sinister smile and perfect comic timing.”
― Darragh Mason, Song of the Dark Man: Father of Witches, Lord of the Crossroads

“Whatever this force is, it has many names and avatars: The Devil, Old Scratch, Master Leonard, The Black Man, The Dark Rider, The Old One, The Master, Fear Dorcha, Lord of the Witches’ Sabbath, The Fear Dubh, Gwyn ap Nudd, Lucifer, The Lord of the Crossroads, The Meikle Black Man, and The Father of Witches.”
― Darragh Mason, Song of the Dark Man: Father of Witches, Lord of the Crossroads

“At the end of the day, we are speaking about a highly personal relationship with the numinous, mediated through a figure who remains, at one and the same time, both intimate and yet infinitely remote. The Dark Man mythos both defies categorization and transcends physical and temporal boundaries. It approximates a relationship with a trickster-like being who appears to occupy a tidal zone of meaning, one that pools, surges, and abates at obtuse angles to our daily lives, but also one which, nevertheless, beckons us to assume a more responsible, less materialistic conservatorship of life and nature.”
― Darragh Mason, Song of the Dark Man: Father of Witches, Lord of the Crossroads

“In his eleventh-century collection the “Decretum,” Burchard of Worms records the testimony of a witch who describes the actual practice of slipping away to the otherworldly, transpersonal domain of the Witches’ Sabbath: in the silence of the quiet night, when you have settled down in bed, and your husband lies in your bosom, you are able, while still in your body, to go out through the closed doors and travel through the spaces of the world, together with others.”
― Darragh Mason, Song of the Dark Man: Father of Witches, Lord of the Crossroads

“One of the earliest accounts of a community performing nocturnal “duties” under the supervision of an otherworldly overseer can be found in the writings of the Byzantine court official and historian Procopius, circa the mid-sixth century CE. In his “Gothic War”, Procopius recounts2 a curious tale concerning the men of a fishing village on the coast of Brittany. We are told that the men were “called” from their sleep late at night by a disembodied voice to ferry the souls of the dead.”
― Darragh Mason, Song of the Dark Man: Father of Witches, Lord of the Crossroads