Do you ever feel helpless in this crazy, oscillating human world? If you do, you're not alone. There ars times in our lives that send us flying into shadowy depths of our minds that are hard to exit when a feeling of helplessness compliments them. It is there that we are haunted without any sense of a cure. In the face of great challenges and more unknowns than knowns, few of us are immune to turning to dark places to find light in situations that have left us in the dark.

Before I tell you of those dark places that have the power to solve many a problem, I will tell you what I mean when I use the word 'dark'. For much of the part of human history that is somewhat fresh in our minds, the dark has been ostracized. From magic to night time parties to humans, whatever was dark or done in the dark was a bad thing. The light ruled all and perhaps this is why so many of us in this modern world feel ourselves quite literally without roots.

Allow me to elaborate: One quick look online shows that it is not the simplest of tasks to find detailed information on how darkness effects seeds and plants. Yet, there are plants that do not need light to grow and can even become tastier in darkness. For most plants it is important to not be exposed to too much sun, yet interestingly enough, studies mirror the bias of our culture and focus mainly on the effects of light.

For us humans to thrive, we need enough sleep and our quality of sleep greatly improves if it is dark. Then there are some more troublesome uses of the word 'dark'. The name that Welsh journalist and explorer Henry Morton Stanley gave to Africa is the Dark Continent. Freud gave the same name to the sexual life of adult women. It seems that both of these domains have suffered from great violence and yet both are at the root of human life. One is the continent that our species originates from, the other is the place that each individual life springs forth from.

Let us circle back to magic, often also called the Dark Arts. Those who have found this powerful practice threatening found it is easier to proliferate it as being dangerous with the potential to irreversibly corrupt the mind, body and soul of any human practitioner, by making it into something dark. Just as the people of our continent of origin have suffered, as have people who can bear children, so have those who practice magic.

So let us define the word dark anew, together. What is dark is that which helps us grow and thrive. Darkness is our roots and we all know that strong roots help us when a storm, metaphorical or real, threatens to topple us over. Without darkness we cannot thrive and we need it as much as light. One has to wonder, if it were even possible to define one without the other.

Now it is time to return to where we started. We began with great challenges that leave us in the dark and a statement that boldly makes the assumption that when all feels lost, most humans will turn to the dark, in this case, the Dark Arts, also know as magic. And now that we have redefined 'dark', we know that magic is something that helps us thrive, grow, and lies at the roots of who we are as humans. For a more elaborate thesis on why this is and how powerful it is, you can take a look at Jamie Wheal's book, Recapture the Rapture.

The secret reason why making magic matters, especially in times of great challenge that feel beyond our control, but also when life is rather wonderful:

No matter what is happening in your life, magic gives you the power to do something about it.

Stress, anxiety, even grief, hit us harder and cause more health problems if we feel we cannot do anything about it. In a disenchanted world it can quickly happen that we find ourselves at a precipice of the unknown and without a root to hold on to for stability.

Imagine you had learned ceremonies that helped you process grief.

Imagine you knew rituals that help overcome the challenges that you face and bring you on a path that feels right.

Imagine you knew magic to give beautiful moments deep meaning so you can draw on them from the depths of your soul during the dark nights.

Imagine not only what being able to make this kind of magic would do to your own life, but to all the lives that you touch.

Making magic matters, for you and for the world.

If you don't know how, you can start today.