A common musical technique in many types of Northern/Pagan music is the sample of a 'windswept' ocean landscape, such as the sounds of an ocean or lake lapping against a rocky shore, evoking images of the prows of Viking dragon ships parting the misty waves, expeditions to magical lands, and the dark, natural power that runs through the veins of the Earth.Although maybe thought of as cliche in many circles, I make no apologies for its use in the opening track, "At The Gates". This landscape is very important to me, not only as a physical aesthetically pleasing place, but also as a powerful spiritual center of contemplation, introspection, and ultimately, isolation.
This isolation is of many forms. It is isolation from the world around me; not the beautiful natural world in all its dark splendour, but the world of men, their cities, their perverted technology, their ignorance and arrogance, and their spiritual and biological decay. The white-noise of their useless faded souls must be removed from my proximity. Although I must live in that world physically, my soul, cast down from higher realms, vibrates on different levels of being and sees and senses things that others do not. This isolation allows me to fully separate from that dense, coarser world, if only for a short period of time.
This isolation, in a deeper sense, is directly spiritual in its core. There are two paths of spiritual evolution and becoming: one of union, and another of separation. A deeper understanding of these paths will be discussed at another time. Suffice to say that my path of separation is much easier contemplated when no other souls are near.
When I am alone on the shores staring across the water, I can see into infinity and it stares back at me with that one all-seeing eye. I cannot only see infinitely outward, but infinitely inward as well. The portals of space and time open up before me, and I stand in a timeless place at the well of all souls. It is a time of remembering; remembering what I truly am, the powers I wield, the deeds I have done in this world and others. It is also a time of knowing where I am going, what paths are open to me, what threads of fate and destiny I may travel to achieve the goals of my True Self. Lastly, it is a time of perception of the Eternal Now, where each aspect of my existence from other times and realms converge as one. This is when contemplation turns to action, as my will reaches back out into infinity and just like a rock cast into the water, it creates ripples that feed out into the fabric of space and time. The ripples feed the future and the past, and when they return to me the circle is complete.
In my travels, I have stood on many shores. From the Great Lakes of my own country, to the rocky shores surrounding the Isle of Man, to Lindisfarne (the site of one of the first great Viking raids into England), and also the North and Baltic Seas around Germany and Scandinavia. Each of these moments have been milestones in my life, and each time I stand on any shore, the ripples of my past actions come back to me, and my will is again set forth to carve a path into the future. Each power center created is a gate, and my matrix continues to grow and stretch its tendrils and writhe slowly throughout the world.
In this 34th year of my current incarnation, certain destinies are being completed, and other paths are being revealed. I hear those windy shores calling out to me in my thoughts and dreams. It is time to return to them, to stand at the gates, and walk forward to the beginning.
— Daemonskald, 34th Summer
