The White Lodge and the Dark Lodge

Over the years, I have received many questions from apprentices, clients, and friends alike, asking about the nature of the white and dark lodge. I put together a manual for my apprentices a while back, but as it is becoming more of a common question, I decided to take an excerpt from it to share with you here:

The White Lodge

The White Lodge, the Great White Brotherhood, Keepers of Balance, whatever you want to call it is not an actual “order” in the strictest sense. Instead, the concept was popularized during the time of Helena Blavatsky. She conceptualized it as a network of Ascended Masters who were spiritually awakened and who were helping guide humanity towards enlightenment. And as luck would have it, she was half right. The Ascended Masters are a big part of the Lodge, and they more or less oversee it's comings and goings. But there are more Masters than you will see on any list, and they aren't the only ones in charge. There are also spiritual entities such as Dragar Atoll, the Celestial Dragon and guardian of the Asaga, or Naga Rat, guardian of the Earth Keepers, who have leadership positions. And there are also incarnated beings, such as the heads of the secret medicine societies, who act as go betweens to guide their societies in the way of balance (hint: as Vajra Grand Masters, Baba Prajna Shiva Kalidasa and I fill part of this role). Under the leadership are various spiritual and extra dimensional forces that have joined us, such as the Ashtar Command or Dragon Knights, as well as physical groups such as the Abode of the Lion and the Knights of Mahakala. All of these various groups work together for one purpose: the preservation of the balance of light and darkness. Both light and darkness are necessary for the universe to continue to exist in harmony. If one side overwhelms the other, we would plunge into chaos. Therefore, we do not seek to eradicate the darkness, and even indulge in it from time to time to maintain our own balance. But our primary driving force is to preserve balance and keep the universe going. For some, this isn't as much an obvious focus as it is incidental, but for others, like the Kapalika Aghori, it is one of our main driving factors.

The point is, the White Lodge is made up of those people who do not seek to totally eradicate either the light or the darkness. Forget what you will hear about from the soft, new agey groups who love to talk about love and light- they're just as bad as the dark lodge. Some (me) might even make the argument that by their devotion to pure light, they are also members of the dark lodge.

So what does it mean to be a keeper of balance? Mostly, it means, just be yourself. You're going to make mistakes. You're going to get angry. You might even cast some curses. But that is fine- at the end of the day, as long as you aren't giving yourself over wholly to these things, you're not lost. You begin to edge into dark lodge territory when you lose yourself to them. In our teachings on the way of the Adawehi, we teach about the twelve tormentors. Embracing these as a part of yourself is what drives you towards the darkness. These are:

Ignorance - A state or condition in which one who is capable of improving willfully chooses not to do so.

Grief-A negative action in which one chooses to dwell upon the things of the past, and so becoming unable to move forward in life.

Intemperance -A lack of moderation.

Wantonness - A condition in which one allows emotions involved with the physical senses to dictate what they will do.

Injustice - A general lack of fairness in life which breeds fear whether it happens to ourselves or to others.

Greed - The fear of not having enough which inspires one to hoard.

Deceit- To practice deceit is to have stolen the truth

Envy - Jealousy of someone for what they have that you don't.

Chicanery -trickery

Wrath - Uncontrolled anger.

Rashness - Impatient and compulsive behavior.

Malice - Meanness for the sake of being mean.

Now, having these qualities does not make one a dark lodge member on its own. Everyone knows grief, everyone feels envy. But when your grief consumes you and stops you from fulfilling your purpose, or when envy drives you to hatred or to cause harm, that is where the fall begins.

Beyond this, we have the 10 qualities that free us from limitation. By embracing these, we find our purpose in life and in service to the Lodge. These are:

Gnosis- Knowledge from a higher source; the wisdom of experience and use of intuition.

Joy- A determined mindset in which an attitude of gratefulness exists at all times and displaces grief.

Self-Control - Active self-discipline which guarantees moderation.

Responsibility - Accountability to both yourself and others.

Justice - Fairess for all and with all.

Charity- A giving and generous attitude.

Truthfulness -Openness, honesty, sincerity and accuracy.

Uprightness - Avoidance of hypocrisy, guile and sham; doing nothing false.

Life - Purity of thought and spiritual advancement while involved in service with others.

Divine Light - Centering your life upon the divine energy of the Creator which counters both malice and impulsive actions.

Seek these things above all others, and you will find yourself naturally drawn to the service of balance.

The Dark Lodge

Now that we have defined the White Lodge, we can look at the Dark Lodge. The Dark Lodge, or the Black Lodge, stands in complete opposition to the White Lodge. They seek to overthrow the balance and plunge the universe into either complete darkness or complete light. It used to be that their goal was entirely to eradicate the light, but in the last several years, they've found an even greater foothold among those who would preach that all darkness must be eliminated. This can be seen among the “love and light” new agers as well as among the modern Christian church. In either case, these organizations tend to plunge headlong into the 12 poisons and fill themselves with fear, hatred, and a desire for complete control. Just like the White Lodge, there is a hierarchy of, for lack of a better term, “Descended Masters”, the Princes and Kings of darkness who command their underlings either subconsciously or outright, as well as physical embodiments of these beings and priests that act as their heralds. And, as with the White Lodge, there are spiritual forces that serve the Black Lodge, such as the Great Old Ones, and there are physical organizations, such as the Order of Nine Angles or the Maergzjirah Cabal. They also have many servants in this world such as the Bilderberg group, who seek to control and manipulate this world.

As you can see, the Dark Lodge is essentially nothing more than the Shadow-Self of the White Lodge, a twisted perversion, but one that is necessary to maintain balance, just as we exist in harmony with our own shadows. We have already discussed the 12 poisons, but it goes a bit deeper, and is a bit more nuanced. Being a member of either lodge is about choice, and not just “oh I'm this today.” It's a lifestyle choice, an active decision to devote yourself to the light, the darkness, or the balance. That doesn't change because of one action you take, but by your mindset and focus. If you were an active Dark Lodge servant who ‘decided’ to serve the balance, and then were able to join the Dark Lodge again overnight because you decided to take some vengeance, you never left the Dark Lodge. Similarly, if you are a keeper of the balance, and someone angers you enough to curse them, you haven't joined the Dark Lodge.