Days in Darkness and the Rising Sun

Honoring our Ancestors as We Walk into the Future

by David Metcalfe


Originally presented as a prelude to the Winter Solstice of 2010 at
openmythsource.com



Guarded by warriors we knew, guided by our ancestral voices The Raven King,
Killing Joke
We are surrounded by a wealth of words and wisdom if we look carefully. The book of
nature is open to those who would seek its wisdom, and many have passed before whose
influence still lives in us and through us. This is the heart of tradition, something thats
often lost in the fevered lurch towards progress that our culture has assumed as a normal
course.
The darkest days approach, Winter solstice comes on, this year attended by a lunar
eclipse, total darkness. There is no better time to remember those who have passed before
and those still with us who offer themselves as friends, companions and guides. This is at
the heart of the gifts given in this season, do you remember?
There is no progress without a fertile past, a well attuned present. Cycles of nature return
to remind us that we are not alone in the walk. Cycles of commerce have weakened this
sense, let us look deeper then, past the branding that binds us, into the consequence and
care that has been passed down.
I ask her of her next of kin and loved ones in her care, she gestures all around her
then she whispers everywhere Pandemonium, Killing Joke
Does the earth cry out in suffering? It was through the actions of those who came before
that this situation arose. Do we find solutions to overcome the present pain? That too
arises from the past, ageless voices calling us to a brighter day. There is no death, only
forgetting, so let us not forget.
Expression of wisdom comes from our active hands, courting wisdom comes from
respecting the guidance of those who have walked before us setting the markers along the
way. Dont be fooled by the mirror of time, those who lay behind walk before us, this is
truth.
We look West to a sinking sun, and while we stare off into the horizon, the sun moves
beneath us, and comes up behind. Are you surprised at daybreak? Or have you kept the
fire burning in your heart and on the heath as a reminder of this process?
Vista Interiora Terrae Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem
Visit the interior of the earth, there to discover and rectify the hidden stone. Look to the
manifestations of a civilization to mark its mind, ours is an outward quest to the physical
stars, to the material planets. There is another way, a way inward, seeing the past as the
future, our ancestors as those who are ahead, looking past the fall to come, into the
redemption and new Eden beyond.
Oh, how ingenious the centuries of lies, Ezekiels chariots streak across the skies,
Holy books and history texts forget because we know, souls are recycled in the death
and resurrection show. Death and Ressurection Show, Killing Joke
Winter washes the earth, the cold wind that whines through barren trees, beseeches us to
lay down if we are tired, or to steel ourselves if we are strong. This is the cycle of life, all
that ends is merely moving to a new beginning, the dead arise and walk ahead, beckoning
with joyful hands to a future we can barely see as the sun grows wane in the West and
rises brightly in the East.
So as this years Winter solstice approaches, and remember whenever you read this that
the solstice is always approaching, let us remember our ancestors, hold in our hearts the
flame of renewal, and sail our ships through silent waters, ever forward as we become the
past. This is the heart of the permaculture revolution, a sacred return to the cycles of
nature wherein we find the true fulfillment of spirit.