"When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
― Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Sign of the Four

Image: Sherlock Holmes by Nataša Ilinčić

"Mythology is not a lie, mythology is poetry, it is metaphorical. It has been well said that mythology is the penultimate truth--penultimate because the ultimate cannot be put into words."
― Joseph Campbell

Notes: In the latest episode of The Fyrgen podcast, Dan and I bring our journey to a close as we unveil the mystical symbolism interwoven throughout Dan's mesmerising tale, Fire in the White Stone. This marks the final episode, at least for now, of The Fyrgen, and it’s honour to partake in concluding what undoubtedly stands as my favourite podcast.

You can catch up on part one here and listen to the latest episode here.

What Dan has crafted with The Fyrgen is what I consider to be "evergreen content”, timeless and enduring. If you haven't yet ventured into the depths of the archives, I urge you to dig deep, for there lie countless treasures, delightful surprises, and profound insights waiting to be discovered.

Image: Fire in the White Stone by David Thiérrée

“The Grail legend has even more relevance today, at a time when environmental crisis and industrialism run amok promise to turn huge swaths of the living Earth into a Waste Land more desolate than anything the storytellers of the Middle Ages could have imagined. Questing, knightly courage, and the art of asking the right questions still has a central role in the task of finding the Grail today.”
― John Michael Greer, The Druidry Handbook

Image: Parsifal and the Holy Grail by J. Augustus Knapp

Notes: John Michael Greer, a renowned author and Druid, often delves into the mystical realm of the Holy Grail in his work. Drawing upon his extensive knowledge of esoteric traditions, Greer like others explores the Grail as a symbol of spiritual transformation and transcendence however also posits the Grails connection to ancient fertility rites and a lost form of technology. John discusses his ideas surrounding the grail here in this short (34 mins) podcast.

“Humans tried to develop intelligent machines as secondary reflex systems, turning over primary decisions to mechanical servants. Gradually, though, the creators did not leave enough to do for themselves; they began to feel alienated, dehumanised, and even manipulated. Eventually, humans became little more than decisionless robots themselves, left without an understanding of their natural existence.”
― Brian Herbert, The Butlerian Jihad

Notes: The meme of the Butlerian Jihad has become ever more prescient the further our dependency upon machines and technology grows. The threat of technological slavery far from a dystopian science fiction nightmare is looming on the horizon and for many is now in plain sight. For more information and insights into the relevance of The Butlerian Jihad be sure to check out Morgoth Review’s excellent video essay (24 mins) here.

Image: Erasmus by Mark Molnar

“In Anglo-Saxon literature, which Tolkien knew, the place of fate (wyrd) is central. Only occasionally is it suggested that efforts of the hero are determinative. Beowulf, most famously gives himself up to the powers of wyrd before each battle, accepting as fact that the outcome has already been determined. The task of the hero, therefore, was to fight well, to earn a reputation as a great warrior.”
― Kathleen E. Dubs, "Fortune and Fate" in J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia : Scholarship And Critical Assessment

Image: Beowulf’s Funeral by John Howe

“Without myth, however, every culture loses its healthy creative natural power: it is only a horizon encompassed with myth that rounds off to unity a social movement.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy

Image: Orpheus in Hell by Pierre by Amédé Marcel-Beronneau

“The pattern of life is not woven ahead of time, like cloth to be worn later as a tunic. Rather, life is woven at the very instant you live it.”
― Brian Bates, The Way of the Wyrd

Image: A Golden Thread by John Melhuish Strudwick

“It rusteth the craft and the craftsman
It gnaweth the thread in the loom
None learneth to weave gold in her pattern;
Azure hath a canker by usura;
cramoisi is unbroidered
Emerald findeth no Memling
Usura slayeth the child in the womb
It stayeth the young man’s courting
It hath brought palsey to bed,
lyeth between the young bride and her bridegroom…
They have brought whores for Eleusis
Corpses are set to banquet
at behest of usura.”
― Ezra Pound, Extract from ‘With Usura', Canto XLV

Image: The Tax Collectors (or The Misers) by Marinus van Reymerswaele

“Our society tends to regard as a sickness any mode of thought or behaviour that is inconvenient for the system and this is plausible because when an individual doesn't fit into the system it causes pain to the individual as well as problems for the system. Thus the manipulation of an individual to adjust him to the system is seen as a cure for a sickness and therefore as good.”
― Theodore Kaczynski

Rest in Peace Uncle Ted (May 22nd 1942 - June 10th 2023)

Image: Landscape with a Wanderer by Thomas Fearnley

“Our indigenous mythologies…united man with nature and the universal laws to which we are eternally subject. Nature mirrored the people and the people mirrored nature, and the two participated in an existence where there was no sharp separation between them. Natural, untrained intelligence spontaneously moves towards the truth in all men who use their reason. Nature, wise in all her ways, bestows upon her creations the knowledge necessary for their survival.”
― Ron McVan

Image: La Dame Blanche by Greg Spalenka

Notes: "La Dame Blanche," also known as "The White Lady," embodies an archetypal adoration for the ethereal and the natural that transcends temporal and spatial boundaries. Symbolically, the stag serves as a guardian of the environment and is intricately linked to the protective Algiz Rune. From an alchemical perspective, it signifies the profound elevation of the Divine Feminine, as the Sacred Masculine harmoniously uplifts the essence of existence itself.

“The mystical life is the centre of all that I do and all that I think and all that I write… I have always considered myself a voice of what I believe to be a greater renaissance - the revolt of the soul against the intellect.”
― William Butler Yeats, Letters

Notes: William Butler Yeats, the renowned Irish poet, playwright, politician, Noble Prize winner and leader of the Irish literary renaissance, was born on this day in 1865. Despite his English and Protestant background, Yeats was actively involved with the Young Ireland movement, showing his affinity for the Irish rebellion and its heroic figures through much of his poetry. His contributions to literature transcend the boundaries of Romanticism and Modernism. Yeats steadfastly rejected modern rationalism, materialism, and egalitarianism, deeming them detrimental to the human spirit and incompatible with his aristocratic nature.

Image: Portrait of William Butler Yeats by John Butler Yeats

“The call to adventure signifies that destiny has summoned the hero and transferred his spiritual center of gravity from within the pale of this society to a zone unknown. This fateful region of both treasure and danger may be variously represented: as a distant land, a forest, a kingdom underground, beneath the waves or above the sky, a secret island, lofty mountaintop, or profound dream state; but it is always a place of strangely fluid and polymorphous beings, unimaginable torments, superhuman deeds, and impossible delights.”
― Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces

Image: Prince Valiant by John Cullen Murphy

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”
―Buckminster Fuller

Notes: Dissidents often unfortunately get trapped in a repetitive cycle of fighting against the system or hoping for a transformative political leader. This sense of learned helplessness is deeply ingrained in much of the population, afflicting even those who are aware of the system's many manipulations and deceits. For an excellent example of someone breaking free of this pattern and taking initiative to build a new model you should look no further than The Woodlander Initiative.

Image: Blue Wells by Benjamin Williams Leader

"True freedom can only exist in individuals who take personal responsibility for their own thoughts, emotions, words, and actions. It is not enough to simply claim freedom; one must actively live it by being aware of the consequences of their choices and the impact they have on themselves and others… True freedom is not a privilege or a right granted by any external authority; it is a state of being that can only be attained through self-awareness and self-governance.”
― Mark Passio

Image: Freedom of Speech by Norman Rockwell

“People take on the shapes of the songs and the stories that surround them, especially if they don't have their own song.”
― Neil Gaiman, Anansi Boys

Notes: Stories play a pivotal role in shaping and informing our perception of reality. From a subjective standpoint, which constitutes the primary lens through which we engage with the world, it is more precise to assert that stories, rather than atoms, comprise the fundamental building blocks of reality. Stories serve as the lifeblood of any human civilisation, acting as vessels through which knowledge, culture, and wisdom are seamlessly transmitted from one generation to the next. If our stories are hi-jacked by external forces we are then shaped and moulded by their narratives rather than those of our folk.

Image: The Boyhood of Raleigh by John Everett Millais

The Sophianic Myth

“The most beautiful story on Earth, is the story of the Earth.”

Voice Credit: Asa

Discover the Home Story today here.

“People, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.”
― Charles Mackay

Image: Deserter by Tomasz Alen Kopera

“Mystery teachings do not carry apocalyptic predictions, but the plot of the Sophianic myth contains a key event called “correction” (Greek diorthosis), indicating a decisive moment in the human adventure when we as a species come to terms definitively with the archon problem, the alien presence on Earth. We would resolve and correct that problem through reaching an interactive connection to the wisdom goddess.”
―John Lamb Lash, Trickster Pack: At the End of Deception – A Gnostic View of Disclosure

Image: Where None Have Travelled by Pindurski

“To inspect the evidence of the existence of a conspiracy guiding our political destiny from behind the scenes would force many of these people to repudiate a lifetime of accumulated opinions. It takes a person with strong character indeed to face the facts and admit he has been wrong even if it was because he was uninformed.”
― Frederick Gary Allen, None Dare Call It Conspiracy

Image: The Allegory of Complacency by Mear One (Kalen Ockerman)

“The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity... and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

Image: Encontrar al contemplador by Tomás Sanchez

“Gnostic Sophia literature is essentially different from that of the Buddhist wisdom books. Assuming that man has fallen into this world from a more perfect condition, the Gnostics expended much ingenuity on trying to describe the process which brought about this fall. Classical Buddhism shows no interest in what may have preceded ignorance.”
—Edward Conze, Buddhism and Gnosis

Notes: Contrary to common misconceptions, Gnostics did not believe that humans fell into this world from a more perfect condition. Rather, according to Gnostic teachings, part of the Godhead - Sophia - fell into an unusual engagement with material evolution. This event is not a split in the Godhead, as in Persian duality, but rather part of an exceptional emanation that became our habitat. The idea that humanity suffers from a fallen state is not part of genuine Gnostic teaching instead, the Sophia mythos warns that our species may fall under the deviant influence of the Archons.

Image: 佛 (Buddha) by Xin Zia