Reborn//Rebirth

“Reborn”

How often have you heard someone on the street or in the public house utter this word with sheer abandon?

“Man, that whale documentary was so moving that I feel reborn.”

“Dude, going vegan-macro-micro-nonsense will totally make you feel reborn brother!”

In this world of to-day, rebirth, like all that was formerly profound and sacred has been reduced to a simple tag line. A phrase. Something that will make the docile monkeys stop and stare, and for a moment forget the drudgery that is mundane life. It is very rare indeed for someone plugged into the outlets and techno-serfdom of Empire to firmly grasp and understand what rebirth truly is, let alone experience it themselves.

A wise man has said;

“What it (rebirth, second birth) refers to in its inward, mystical sense is the birth in the awakened mind and heart of a realization of the Kingdom of the Father. The first birth of man, as a physical creature motivated by the animal energies of the body, is purely biological. A mans second, properly human birth, is spiritual - as represented in the Indian symbolic science of kundalini, of the heart - of a lotus opening to the radiant sound :AUM: that is the divine creative energy resounding in all things”

A true rebirth is something felt, experienced, beyond the horizon of the profane masses, beyond the humdrum of what passes for everyday life, as everything that possesses a deeper meaning is slowly sucked dry by the vampiric opiate that is “modern progress”.

A true rebirth must be sought after, it must begin in the soul as a conscious decision, an understanding with yourself that the current modus operandi is defunct, derelict, and to be discarded. It must begin with a deep sense of knowing what must be done, or at least with one striving to be, rather than to seem. As the serpent sheds its scales by painfully dragging itself across sharp rocks, so too must we ourselves shed blood on the rocks of self-sacrifice and gaze ourselves full in the face in all our ugliness, and only then may we strike the heart of the beast that is our own shortcomings, and only then can we ascend the peaks that lead toward rebirth.

Recently, I myself have had to undergo that painful katabasis (κατάβασις, “downgoing”) and have strove with my self, as Jacob strove with the Lord. And I too, like my namesake have come from it changed. Many of you have known me for some time, and some of you have yet to meet me. That being said it’s no secret that I am a passionate man, and all of us lose ourselves from time to time. I’d been dealing with the demon of depression for some time, and the death of a man I considered my brother, as well as the myriad tests life throws your way. I won’t lie, I became lazy. Complacent. I lost my drive. I wasn’t the best partner, and I wasn’t the best version of myself that I knew I could be. As I struggled on with everyday life, I knew something had to give. I stopped seeing the might of spirit in things, I no longer felt as powerful physically or spiritually, and my depression grew worse.

Thankfully, there was a breaking point. It came to pass that I was headed back to Appalachia for a week, which I was more than willing to do. Something inside of me knew that this was necessary beyond the literal reason for my trip, so I began preparing accordingly. I held on to that sliver of knowing, and little by little I felt something grow inside of myself. The time of the journey came, and I said goodbye to my partner and the City as I headed toward whatever was coming.

My family greeted me upon arrival, and we began the roadtrip to the highest mountain range in West Virginia; the Alleghenies. For those unfamiliar, the Alleghenies, and all of Appalachia for that matter, have some of the most scenic and breathtaking views this world has to offer. My brother, who I’d not seen in more than three years, was present and we began making up for lost time, talking late into the night and enjoying the solace of being in the mountains. I could feel the weight falling from my shoulders, as steady as the pressure inside of me told me that whatever that would take place would be sure to follow. Soon after, we got on the road again, and as the twisted miles passed we began the ascent to the highest point in the state, an ethereal place that looked completely alien to the rest of its environs; wind-blasted Alpine terrain, strange upland bogs, and fields of glacial rock as far as the eye could see. We saw birds of prey soaring below us, and barely dipping above the layer of clouds and haze were the peaks of lesser mountains. This was the place, I knew it in my gut as soon as I stepped foot upon the soil.

My brother and I separated from the rest of the pack, taking in the miraculous plane we found ourselves in, both of us feeling the austere beauty and raw power of the place. We came to a field of upheaved stones, just in a clearing of evergreens, and I told him to stop. I knew then what I was going to do, clear as day, about everything. Somehow this peak revealed a peak in myself, and from the elevated space I was disconnected from all of the trivial garbage that had accumulated within my soul, and as I began to draw deep breaths I felt it swept away as a rushing river sweeps away debris from its banks. I asked him if he’d lend me a hand, and I explained to him what a hörgr was; a tower of stones devoted and reserved for offerings to the numinous powers, and a site marking spiritual elevation. The terrain was dangerous, easy to break an ankle or split a skull, but as we worked we became linked in spirit, and soon enough our aching muscles and calloused hands raised a huge cairn of stones, balanced upon the primordial rocks that were brought to that place by the last great Ice Age. I explained to him what would come next, and asked him if he’d like to participate as I began a galdr from Paul Waggener’s “Vakandibok”, a tome anyone devoted to serious spiritual reform should invest in. As I chanted ancient runes, he breathed sacred smoke into the mound, and I felt the mountains reverberate and vibrate as the primal energies of this hallowed place mingled with the outpouring of everything that I’d been holding on to and hoping for. I offered a libation of beer to the stones and to the forebears, to the spirits of that place, and I shed blood upon the altar of rocks that we brought into being together. Everything I was or could be melted away, and I was simply there. As the offering ended, we looked at each other and saw that it was good. We hiked away from the holy cairn in silence, as we headed to the Tower that brought us above the tallest peak.

As I stood above the ancient mountains, and the accumulated spirits of all tales long told, and those yet unspun quickened up to the heights where I stood. My brother at my side, we stood in might and awe of the place we were in, physically and spiritually. A crisp north wind blew into my face, filling my eyes with tears, both from its bite and of the pure emotions felt here. I stood outside of the Empire, outside and above all frustrations and troubles and toils. This was a peak of eagles, a nest of bears, a home for haughty spirits who had elevated themselves through willpower and the energies exerted through toil. I felt it, then. This was rebirth, a true second awakening to the world, the real world. This was the absolute surety of immortality, it was as crystal as :H:ail in that moment, and in that time I was and will be, forever free.

Each of us who feel the call for change and rebirth must take up this journey, and see what lies waiting on the mountains heights.

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The Operation Continues

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XCII

Blood Forever - Joy In Our Hearts