An open letter from Fa. David
May. 11th, 2009 11:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackMore than two millennia ago, wise men studied the boundary between life and death, even then putting it on a sound academic footing. Elijah walked bodily into the Veil Albicant and conversed with angels. When he finally grew old he boldly walked bodily into the Veil Ecolumbine and never returned. The greatest strides came later, with our Lord and messiah. He was a great leader, scholar, teacher, and wizard, but also a great necromancer. He was a direct representative of Yahweh, and the Veils Ecolumbine and Celeste we know owe as much to his wake as those of the older mystics and of God Himself.
But several times during his life he also entered death and came out bringing with him a departed soul, which he raised back to life. His greatest magical achievement came with his first greatly tortured death, or only death, when he walked three days in the near veils, and then brought himself back into life from the far side.
Ever since, the Christian church, and most other scholars and religious men and women have lauded his achievement, and great humanitarian motivations. However, though we revere the "what" and the "why", there is a tendency to reject the "how". In fact we should embrace our Lord's learning as much as his superlative achievements, strength, and morals.
There is a lot of truth in the dangers of these magics. Few people since have been able to return from death, and those who have have fallen into what we call the undead. From base motives, they have found a way back, but seeking to prolong their existence in this world, they have had to feed on souls, their own or others. Else they quickly become wandering lost things, fading like souls in the veils, but denying themselves the natural-moving on.
But it is not ignorance with which we can fight fear, but knowledge. The knowledge of Our Lord's achievement was granted him by an emissary of his even greater Lord, and he did not make his first act from his return to tutor his followers in duplicating his dangerous feat. But he must have known that time would come. The knowledge exists elsewhere, in much more dangerous forms, and we can no longer hide from dangerous knowledge solely in ignorance.
I have walked with an angel from the Celeste in the far Ecolumbine, and seen a corruption move across the landscape. We stood on a high cliff, watching an endless mass of glowing water fall for nearly a mile below into a rich, lush forest. Faint mist hung ghostly across the whole forest, last relic of the nebulous Veil Albicant. This is one of the many paths Christians walk from the Veil Albicant, through a paradise forest and all the way to the deeper Veil Celeste. Isolated souls meander happily, plucking succulent fruits and eyeing the nearing tall, proud cliffs with expectation. Merry bands travel en troupe, laughing, playing at a fondly-imagined rustic past. People moving slowly live for years or decades in towering crystal cities until they are ready to walk onward into enlightenment.
My friend smiled to see it. But over to our left, a corruption marred the landscape. A fold in the land hid a dark valley. The mists thickened and swirled into a dank, dark, hanging fog. Strange cries faintly marred the rich, joyous silence. And souls, whether anthropoid and still marching on, or having accepted peace where they are and begun to dwindle, did not progress past it.
Many souls pass through all parts of the forest, but behind the valley, they either detoured, or entered and did not come out. As I learned later, something within the pit offers souls an alternative, a firm, lasting incarnation within the valley, without need for struggle or dwindling, and a chance to return to life!
Permanent stasis is never a sane choice, but to many souls, scared of the journey, it is very attractive. None of us are immune from such an offer. The valley has drifted across the deeper veils. Those in the veil Ecolumbine have sufficient investment in the Christian journey they accept only an alternative peace. But others reject the dwindling and embrace incarnation in hot, carnivorous, deadly bodies, a nasty parody of life.
The valley represents a wake, just like one of the major veils, in which the form souls take is shaped by the expectations of the original magician or mystic. In this area, the land still has a rich jungle forest, but instead of our idyllic jungle pathways, souls in the valley swirl in a pre-sentient suarian-eat-saurian existence.
And the valley is not a path deeper into death. The souls that fulfil the progenitor's vision are fuel in a giant engine, propelling the valley slowly back from the deeper veils into life. No-one before has found a way of returning completely from the deeper veils. At most, angels like my friend journey from Celeste to Ecolumbine to bring direction and support to nearer souls, and to be passed on into life.
My friend gave me a vision of a near future, when the valley ploughed through large sections of the Veil Ruginious and crashed back into life, releasing a plague of vampires and liches into the world. Since, four souls escaped the valley, and gave me a breathless description of the domain. One end crumpled in a giant volcano, destruction-wrought souls whirling around incarnated in the bodies of Pteranodons, and the progenitor appeared to his thralls as a burning demon of smoke, as tall as the sky, foot swinging to crush the escaping souls...
Such a being has found a way to return to life, probably in perpetuity, from the deep veils. It would wreak a plague of darkness upon the world. Any soul willing to pay the prices could cheat death at the very boundary, if they accepted the demon's tutoring. It is a new apocalypse, and it is on its way!
It may be a hundred years or more until it arrives, but it corrupts all the veils already. How can we resist? Not by resisting the secrets of the afterlife, but only by throwing our hearts open to angels from the Veils Ecolumbine and Celeste, and following their celestial directions. My heart tells me that only by understanding the techniques and dangers of necromancy can we follow as best we can in Jesus' footsteps, and that is why I still study and teach the rejected arts. Why do you think an angel spoke to me? I plead for tolerance and understanding, and we may disrupt this creeping corruption long before it nears life again.
But several times during his life he also entered death and came out bringing with him a departed soul, which he raised back to life. His greatest magical achievement came with his first greatly tortured death, or only death, when he walked three days in the near veils, and then brought himself back into life from the far side.
Ever since, the Christian church, and most other scholars and religious men and women have lauded his achievement, and great humanitarian motivations. However, though we revere the "what" and the "why", there is a tendency to reject the "how". In fact we should embrace our Lord's learning as much as his superlative achievements, strength, and morals.
There is a lot of truth in the dangers of these magics. Few people since have been able to return from death, and those who have have fallen into what we call the undead. From base motives, they have found a way back, but seeking to prolong their existence in this world, they have had to feed on souls, their own or others. Else they quickly become wandering lost things, fading like souls in the veils, but denying themselves the natural-moving on.
But it is not ignorance with which we can fight fear, but knowledge. The knowledge of Our Lord's achievement was granted him by an emissary of his even greater Lord, and he did not make his first act from his return to tutor his followers in duplicating his dangerous feat. But he must have known that time would come. The knowledge exists elsewhere, in much more dangerous forms, and we can no longer hide from dangerous knowledge solely in ignorance.
I have walked with an angel from the Celeste in the far Ecolumbine, and seen a corruption move across the landscape. We stood on a high cliff, watching an endless mass of glowing water fall for nearly a mile below into a rich, lush forest. Faint mist hung ghostly across the whole forest, last relic of the nebulous Veil Albicant. This is one of the many paths Christians walk from the Veil Albicant, through a paradise forest and all the way to the deeper Veil Celeste. Isolated souls meander happily, plucking succulent fruits and eyeing the nearing tall, proud cliffs with expectation. Merry bands travel en troupe, laughing, playing at a fondly-imagined rustic past. People moving slowly live for years or decades in towering crystal cities until they are ready to walk onward into enlightenment.
My friend smiled to see it. But over to our left, a corruption marred the landscape. A fold in the land hid a dark valley. The mists thickened and swirled into a dank, dark, hanging fog. Strange cries faintly marred the rich, joyous silence. And souls, whether anthropoid and still marching on, or having accepted peace where they are and begun to dwindle, did not progress past it.
Many souls pass through all parts of the forest, but behind the valley, they either detoured, or entered and did not come out. As I learned later, something within the pit offers souls an alternative, a firm, lasting incarnation within the valley, without need for struggle or dwindling, and a chance to return to life!
Permanent stasis is never a sane choice, but to many souls, scared of the journey, it is very attractive. None of us are immune from such an offer. The valley has drifted across the deeper veils. Those in the veil Ecolumbine have sufficient investment in the Christian journey they accept only an alternative peace. But others reject the dwindling and embrace incarnation in hot, carnivorous, deadly bodies, a nasty parody of life.
The valley represents a wake, just like one of the major veils, in which the form souls take is shaped by the expectations of the original magician or mystic. In this area, the land still has a rich jungle forest, but instead of our idyllic jungle pathways, souls in the valley swirl in a pre-sentient suarian-eat-saurian existence.
And the valley is not a path deeper into death. The souls that fulfil the progenitor's vision are fuel in a giant engine, propelling the valley slowly back from the deeper veils into life. No-one before has found a way of returning completely from the deeper veils. At most, angels like my friend journey from Celeste to Ecolumbine to bring direction and support to nearer souls, and to be passed on into life.
My friend gave me a vision of a near future, when the valley ploughed through large sections of the Veil Ruginious and crashed back into life, releasing a plague of vampires and liches into the world. Since, four souls escaped the valley, and gave me a breathless description of the domain. One end crumpled in a giant volcano, destruction-wrought souls whirling around incarnated in the bodies of Pteranodons, and the progenitor appeared to his thralls as a burning demon of smoke, as tall as the sky, foot swinging to crush the escaping souls...
Such a being has found a way to return to life, probably in perpetuity, from the deep veils. It would wreak a plague of darkness upon the world. Any soul willing to pay the prices could cheat death at the very boundary, if they accepted the demon's tutoring. It is a new apocalypse, and it is on its way!
It may be a hundred years or more until it arrives, but it corrupts all the veils already. How can we resist? Not by resisting the secrets of the afterlife, but only by throwing our hearts open to angels from the Veils Ecolumbine and Celeste, and following their celestial directions. My heart tells me that only by understanding the techniques and dangers of necromancy can we follow as best we can in Jesus' footsteps, and that is why I still study and teach the rejected arts. Why do you think an angel spoke to me? I plead for tolerance and understanding, and we may disrupt this creeping corruption long before it nears life again.