The back story of events that led to The
Journeybook is extensive and has been unfolding for years. It's my hope
that over the winter months I will be able to chronicle the entire
journey in all of its many facets in one complete work. Because the back
story is so extensive such a work would likely be best created as a PDF
styled e-book. But this is not about recounting the whole story, simply the latest events.
The hidden ritual that is chronicled by The Journeybook's 22 chapters came about as a vision of how to break and ancient bond placed over the Goddess Hera in the aftermath of the Gods Revolt where Hera imprisoned Zeus. The bond placed over her has limited her power and status ever since which has been interpreted by mortals as Hera having a far lesser role and sphere of influence than she is intended to hold.
Within the series, 22 votives were to be placed throughout the land that collectively create points on a ritualized space that extends over a 60 mile radius with the Altar of Hera resting at the center of all of these hidden stones. But on the journey to place the final stone and perform the ritual intended to bring it all together into one monumental manifestation events unfolded that lend to the notion that the ritual is to be stopped by any means necessary. Which may also be viewed as evidence that the entire story, past and present, is a path worthy of not only gaining the attentions of Gods but also enough to have them actually appear in order to prevent it from happening.
Documenting the details of such events and creating a chronicle of the entire story seems to be just as, if not more important, than the long journey itself. And, in this world, being able to document it all in such a way where you have physical/visual evidence to present is not only needed but necessary.
On July 3, 2012 I ventured out in search of crystals along the river. I had traveled just over 7 miles along the length of the river when I cam across a massive island made of oddly large stones and boulders, so unlike the common sedimentary islands common along the same river. It was the sheer bulky look of this one island that mused me to find a way onto it.
After climbing down the steep bank and crossing a felled tree to gain access to the island I discovered that it was littered with nothing but giant versions of the common things one can discover in such a location. One of which was a particular chunk of sandstone that kept calling out to me until I finally relented to bring it back. Since I had to carry the massive stone on my back for the entire 7 miles home the stone was named "The Seven Mile altar Stone (click for photos).
That same day, on that same island I also uncovered a small green stone with the image of an eagle carved into it. I later encrusted that very stone with a pulverized fulgurite crystal as recounting in the tale of How I Stole Zeus's Lightning Bolt.
Because of the discovery of these two prominent pieces on that single island, other features of the island itself, and the most recent manifestations the island has been name "The Island of the Gods".
It was at this very spot where on November 15, 2012 at 9:58am three bald eagles (a common manifestation of Zeus) appeared around the island while I was documenting the final adventure of The Journeybook Series and making my way to place the last of the stone votives to Hera.
The first of the eagles I caught on film. I captured, slowed, and set the clip of the eagle flying over the island into a High Definition format. You can see that clip here: Eagles Over the Island of the Gods
I captured still images of the other two eagles that appeared at the same time and highlighted them in these photos:
After
the eagles appeared over the island the journey progressively got more
and more difficult. 20 miles into the quest I came to the first major
challenge of the day - a 900ft climb to the top of the east valley in
order to reach the first of three different waterfalls.
Half way up the climb I came to a clearing on the hillside where was perched a hawk (a common manifestation of the Goddess Athena, as a messenger of Hera as was chronicled in the Iliad) The hawk can be seen here:
In
spite of both the appearance of the three eagles as well as the hawk I
pushed on with the journey intent on getting the final votive in place
and the ritual completed. But ignoring the signs led to a very dangerous
situation.
I had made it all the way to the third and final waterfall, moved beyond it and had come to an old ruin about 3 miles from where the final votive is to be placed and the end of the ritual is to be performed. Nigh was falling and I had made camp to wait out the 13 hour night until dawn.
By this time I was suffering from the exhaustion of the day and an apparent abdominal injury sustained on the last climb. Hours after night had fallen I woke from a pretty deep sleep at the sound of something moving in the forest. Moments after I woke the air temperature hit the freezing point an everything began to frost over at an alarming instantaneous rate, including all of my filming gear.
The situation got worse very rapidly to the point of concern. When I called to check in and report the situation the debate came up on whether or not we should call off the journey due to the injury and freezing temperatures. After nearly an hour of debating it all the journey was called off and we arrange and emergency pick up at a near-by village.
For now, the ritual remains incomplete and the final votive is resting back on Hera's Altar while all of these new details and manifestations are considered and meditated on in search of answers to what I obviously did not anticipate.
It would seem that in order to complete the ritual there are for more powerful challenges to face besides the land and weather themselves. Whatever it is going to take and whatever level I am going to have to be at in order to finish the ritual as I intended to do, I'll find it, I'll achieve it, and this set-back will not make a bit of difference in the end.
The hidden ritual that is chronicled by The Journeybook's 22 chapters came about as a vision of how to break and ancient bond placed over the Goddess Hera in the aftermath of the Gods Revolt where Hera imprisoned Zeus. The bond placed over her has limited her power and status ever since which has been interpreted by mortals as Hera having a far lesser role and sphere of influence than she is intended to hold.
Within the series, 22 votives were to be placed throughout the land that collectively create points on a ritualized space that extends over a 60 mile radius with the Altar of Hera resting at the center of all of these hidden stones. But on the journey to place the final stone and perform the ritual intended to bring it all together into one monumental manifestation events unfolded that lend to the notion that the ritual is to be stopped by any means necessary. Which may also be viewed as evidence that the entire story, past and present, is a path worthy of not only gaining the attentions of Gods but also enough to have them actually appear in order to prevent it from happening.
Documenting the details of such events and creating a chronicle of the entire story seems to be just as, if not more important, than the long journey itself. And, in this world, being able to document it all in such a way where you have physical/visual evidence to present is not only needed but necessary.
On July 3, 2012 I ventured out in search of crystals along the river. I had traveled just over 7 miles along the length of the river when I cam across a massive island made of oddly large stones and boulders, so unlike the common sedimentary islands common along the same river. It was the sheer bulky look of this one island that mused me to find a way onto it.
After climbing down the steep bank and crossing a felled tree to gain access to the island I discovered that it was littered with nothing but giant versions of the common things one can discover in such a location. One of which was a particular chunk of sandstone that kept calling out to me until I finally relented to bring it back. Since I had to carry the massive stone on my back for the entire 7 miles home the stone was named "The Seven Mile altar Stone (click for photos).
That same day, on that same island I also uncovered a small green stone with the image of an eagle carved into it. I later encrusted that very stone with a pulverized fulgurite crystal as recounting in the tale of How I Stole Zeus's Lightning Bolt.
Because of the discovery of these two prominent pieces on that single island, other features of the island itself, and the most recent manifestations the island has been name "The Island of the Gods".
It was at this very spot where on November 15, 2012 at 9:58am three bald eagles (a common manifestation of Zeus) appeared around the island while I was documenting the final adventure of The Journeybook Series and making my way to place the last of the stone votives to Hera.
The first of the eagles I caught on film. I captured, slowed, and set the clip of the eagle flying over the island into a High Definition format. You can see that clip here: Eagles Over the Island of the Gods
I captured still images of the other two eagles that appeared at the same time and highlighted them in these photos:
After
the eagles appeared over the island the journey progressively got more
and more difficult. 20 miles into the quest I came to the first major
challenge of the day - a 900ft climb to the top of the east valley in
order to reach the first of three different waterfalls.Half way up the climb I came to a clearing on the hillside where was perched a hawk (a common manifestation of the Goddess Athena, as a messenger of Hera as was chronicled in the Iliad) The hawk can be seen here:
In
spite of both the appearance of the three eagles as well as the hawk I
pushed on with the journey intent on getting the final votive in place
and the ritual completed. But ignoring the signs led to a very dangerous
situation.I had made it all the way to the third and final waterfall, moved beyond it and had come to an old ruin about 3 miles from where the final votive is to be placed and the end of the ritual is to be performed. Nigh was falling and I had made camp to wait out the 13 hour night until dawn.
By this time I was suffering from the exhaustion of the day and an apparent abdominal injury sustained on the last climb. Hours after night had fallen I woke from a pretty deep sleep at the sound of something moving in the forest. Moments after I woke the air temperature hit the freezing point an everything began to frost over at an alarming instantaneous rate, including all of my filming gear.
The situation got worse very rapidly to the point of concern. When I called to check in and report the situation the debate came up on whether or not we should call off the journey due to the injury and freezing temperatures. After nearly an hour of debating it all the journey was called off and we arrange and emergency pick up at a near-by village.
For now, the ritual remains incomplete and the final votive is resting back on Hera's Altar while all of these new details and manifestations are considered and meditated on in search of answers to what I obviously did not anticipate.
It would seem that in order to complete the ritual there are for more powerful challenges to face besides the land and weather themselves. Whatever it is going to take and whatever level I am going to have to be at in order to finish the ritual as I intended to do, I'll find it, I'll achieve it, and this set-back will not make a bit of difference in the end.
