Aštra’el

The Paradise and the Storm

Imagine a beautiful paradise, under a colorful but mostly red sky and an eternal sunset. There are desert areas and there are tropical areas. You see mountains, waterfalls, and lava falls. You find paths to sacred places, and forbidden caves leading into the unknown. There are ruins of ancient temples once built by ancient gods, and soothing lightning storms and winds and serene rains.

But beyond the borders of this paradise is a living storm, something you can not even comprehend... an eternal whirlwind of raging blackness with distant streaks of bright red and violet energies and lightnings, circling around this paradise beyond the horizon.

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What is the paradise and what is the storm? Some of you might have interpreted the paradise as the world we each choose to see, and the storm the world as it truly is. One, a comforting delusion... the other, a harsh, cruel and unforgiving reality.

Interpret as you will but here is how I see it.

The paradise is me. The storm is me. The paradise is who I am in some moments, the storm is who I am in other moments. It is who I am, who I was and who I am yet to be. Who I could be, at any given moment. Sometimes I am both at once, or something else entirely. It is a collection of thoughts and behaviors compiled and reinterpreted into a beautiful visualization. These are who I am, but also my greatest dreams pulling at my reality, taking me in the direction I Will with invisible magnetic strings. Not strings of fate. Strings of Will. True Will.

I might be described as a “polytheist”. My gods are shards of my soul, each encompassing several areas of human nature. These shards may come in many different colors and designs but within the reflection of each and every shard I can see my own face staring back at me.

My gods are also portraits. Just like the paradise. Just like the storm. Self portraits of me individually, but also magnificent portraits of humanity collectively, and majestic portraits of nature within and around me.

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“When I say... “seven headed dragon with twelve wings and thirteen halos”, I am not being deceitful. I am being completely honest. Every time. Those who look into my soul see it too and understand what it all means. What it means for me, and what it means for them.”

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I was inevitable.

I was always going to happen.

If not in this vessel, than in another.

I have happened, and now, here I am.

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My Aspect is Aštoreth, who wields in one hand a sword from Above and in the other a sword from Below. Balance is my calling. Balance is my passion. Sun, Moon, Heaven, Hell, Order, Chaos.... Creation, Destruction.

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