Chapter 1 Index: "Standing in the Ancient Shadow"

A mythic hike through memory, myth, and the roots of resistance.

“Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life.”
– Seneca

Chapter 1: “Standing in the Ancient Shadow”

A slow climb through fire-lit myth and fractured memory, this chapter descends into our cultural roots and ascends toward the present’s jagged ridgeline. We hike with gods and squirrels, carry maps that catch flame, and wrestle with the shadow of empire. These are the first steps — tentative, searching — on a trail where the ancient past refuses to stay buried, and the present refuses to stay still.

Mt. Lassen above Manzanita Lake

• 🧭 Back to Begin Here.

• 🎧 Podcast Trailer

• Waypoint 1.1: Vulcan’s Evangelical (🎧Audio)

  • Field Note 1.1: Goodnight Moon, Hello Caligula

• Waypoint 1.2: Trees of Forbidden Knowledge (🎧Audio)

  • Field Note 1.2: Limbs of an Old Tree

• Waypoint 1.3: The Trailhead (🎧Audio)

  • Field Note 1.3 (a): When the Messenger Divides

  • Field Note 1.3 (b): The Ratatoskr Files (🎧 Audio)

  • Revisit of 1.3 (b): The Rototaskr Files, Unearthed

• Waypoint 1.4: The Map is Not the Mountain (🎧Audio)

  • Field Note 1.4: After the Map Burns (🎧Audio)

• Waypoint 1.5: No Shortcuts to Now (🎧Audio)

  • Field Note 1.5: No Shortcuts, Just Company

• Chapter 2 Index: “The Soul’s Ascent”

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