I have always struggled to accept CH definition of BA and WA. To me that meant that there are absolute rights and wrongs. That we can define good and bad, when in reality, that is all relative, in my opinion. To some extent it is just energy. I have always held a sense of non judgement towards these beings considering if plants and animals were to write about us, we might be viewed as BA to them.

I bring this up because, it seems a beast of bodmin has been trying to help me with my parasite issue? In fact it seems a lot of beings, both light and dark are trying to help. This one in particular seems interesting because I have seen it in my dreams very clearly and have seen it trying to tear apart the parasite I am fighting. And some of the pain it was inducing in me was seeming to help drive away the parasite, for a time. And I did not know this in advance, but after having cut dairy out of my diet for over a year i decided to get some whole milk recently out of the blue while at the store. When i had a glass of it I heard some entity pop out of the room. Turns out whole milk is the answer to dealing with beast of bodmin in the CH encycolpedia.

I do know this though. Spirits can be very decieving. What seems like help at first is a way to get a foot in the door and start causing probelms in the background. On the other hand I could be giving into paranoia and should be greatful for the help. Does anyone here have experience with beast of bodmin? Are they capable of help, or am i asking for more probelms than i already have?

In the short experience I have had, I've learned that BA while useful, are not technically "helpful". I have no doubt that the beast is attempting to be "helpful", but it's most definitely for his own interests. Whether this is inherently negative or neutral is up to you to decipher, but it is beneficial to him. So keep that in mind. While I too don't see BA as inherently "evil" because frankly, evil is an overrated word. There are the selfless, the selfish, and the In between. Actions may be horrendous, but even murderers can feel guilt. This is my perspective on BA. Dangerous and crafty and inherently self centered, but not evil by itself. Just capable of subjectively "evil" actions based on human definition. Granted some creatures are incapable of feeling anything at all. So I'm not saying a BA is as low as a murderer. Just capable of feeling if it is the sort to bother.

I have had friends who work with BA or have had experiences with them. I have some very dark DA, and intend to work with Demons later on when I have more experience and defenses in place. So as I said, I am not highly experienced. Take all that I said with a grain of salt.

Ishvala wrote: I have had friends who work with BA or have had experiences with them. I have some very dark DA, and intend to work with Demons later on when I have more experience and defenses in place. So as I said, I am not highly experienced. Take all that I said with a grain of salt.

Most of those are probably not BA but rather just BA by the definition of certain sellers. Some want to warn people of difficult spirits, some use it as selling point.

If you ever meet something BA, you just know. There's nothing nice or good in them. That's not how they roll. No loyalty, no rules, no nothing. Even bindings get weak over time, just by their very energy and they actively work on breaking bindings.

I was always a staunch supporter of not soften the meaning of BA by certain sellers, I do know CH does it themselves with very unruly beings.
After having met one of those beings myself, I see this misdeclaration as really problematic. It's just that many people get lucky and real BA are actually pretty uncommon.

Aprophis wrote:If you ever meet something BA, you just know. There's nothing nice or good in them. That's not how they roll.

Yes I doubt anyone would consider a being out for his own pleasure as "nice" or "good". That's exactly what I declared above. There's nothing helpful or reliable, there just is. And it will do as it wants whether you want it to or not. This can be seen as useful by some, but not "helpful". Most definitely not in the long run.

Ishvala wrote:This can be seen as useful by some, but not "helpful". Most definitely not in the long run.

Yeah, I don't know who would see them as useful.
The hours you'd need to cleanse yourself to get rid of the ick, whatever they would do that a DA couldn't do.......not sure if that would ever be worth it.
And there are some stains that never come off.

Aprophis wrote:Yeah, I don't know who would see them as useful.

Whomever happens to be on that path, choose that work, and decides to be ready to Cleanse that much. It is important to respect all paths, whether we agree with/follow them or not.

Aprophis wrote: The hours you'd need to cleanse yourself to get rid of the ick, whatever they would do that a DA couldn't do.......not sure if that would ever be worth it.

That would be for the individual to decide as well.

Aprophis wrote: And there are some stains that never come off.

I agree. This is why it's important for people to have resolve and be sure of whatever they decide. Responsibility comes with all magic of any spectrum - BA just has much more serious consequences than WA or DA.

I think it truly depends on each entity but the care comes in with not painting all with one brush. I think many would consider demons Black and mine are not they are just on the darker side of Dark. There are many different types of demons as well. If you were to ever involve yourself with Black Arts, without the proper and formal training, I believe you could be asking for trouble. Just my two cents for what it's worth....or not 2wk

Ellie44 wrote:I think it truly depends on each entity but the care comes in with not painting all with one brush. I think many would consider demons Black and mine are not they are just on the darker side of Dark. There are many different types of demons as well. If you were to ever involve yourself with Black Arts, without the proper and formal training, I believe you could be asking for trouble. Just my two cents for what it's worth....or not 2wk

Seems like solid advice for most darker dark Arts (trying not to make the darker than black anime reference--annnnnnd I failed). I'd say BA are indeed more concerned with themselves than with their Keepers, but that doesn't mean they're incapable of acting concerned or doing things for their Keepers.

It really depends on personal experience and mutual respect. No one will get anywhere if you automatically mark someone as completely unruly or unnecessary compared to someone else based on a ranking system humans gave them. How would you feel if I said, "You look just as cool as ___ but I can do everything with ___ instead of you and I don't trust you or like you for that matter so you're not worth my time okay bye."

Kinda lame reversed, huh?

I understand having a path and sticking to it but there's legitimately no reason to scare off others who feel called to the darker side of things. Nor is there reason to outwardly call out one side as not worth exploring in the overall journey. It's rude. To Keepers and Spirits of all kinds.

I'd be crushed if someone told me, "Why choose WA when you could just get the best of both worlds with light DA? Its basically the same but one is better lol."

Ishvala wrote:

Ellie44 wrote:I think it truly depends on each entity but the care comes in with not painting all with one brush. I think many would consider demons Black and mine are not they are just on the darker side of Dark. There are many different types of demons as well. If you were to ever involve yourself with Black Arts, without the proper and formal training, I believe you could be asking for trouble. Just my two cents for what it's worth....or not 2wk

Seems like solid advice for most darker dark Arts (trying not to make the darker than black anime reference--annnnnnd I failed). I'd say BA are indeed more concerned with themselves than with their Keepers, but that doesn't mean they're incapable of acting concerned or doing things for their Keepers. It really depends on personal experience and mutual respect. No one will get anywhere if you automatically mark someone as completely unruly or unnecessary compared to someone else based on a ranking system humans gave them.

That all said, I agree with you Ellie.
Well said.

I'd also like to add that I greatly admire the
respect you show all paths, Ishvala. 2hp

Ellie44 wrote: I'd also like to add that I greatly admire the
respect you show all paths, Ishvala. 2hp

I mean, I try. It's only fair right? If I judged someone else's path I might as well stop walking my own altogether. Life is all about acceptance and improvement. Sure, I might not dabble in BA, and I might have only recently gotten a WA Spirit, but I'd be hypocritical to call out anyone else who walked a different path than mine.

Sure, maybe the BA path seems unnecessary to some people, and maybe lots of things can be achieved without BA, but that doesn't mean the individual isn't called to it and that doesn't mean that they don't deserve to walk down that road and grow. If it winds up not being the path for them they can come right back here and start again - but that's their decision first and foremost. All we can do is give unbiased opinions to try and help them.