And twilight falls

This is the time of year when all things know that all things will end - except mankind, that is, which still thinks itself invincible because of its imagined superiority. People call themselves "Homo Deus", because they invented a new game of hide and seek, each one respectively and on their very own, and there they dominate the rules. But the rules are not made by man.

These people are highly intelligent. And incurably insane. They don´t know anything anymore about the simple joy of harvest. Their joys are complex and ever more complicated. It is not sin, for there is no such thing as sin, in which they indulge. But the complexity of their pleasures falls back upon them. They yearn for simplicity and do not know where to find it.

I do not know how to put it in words, exactly, that is. The more time I spend in the woods, the harder I find it to tell it to humans. I am not rich, far from that, and time was when I had issues with that. In fact, I am poor. But when I find an apple by the trailside, and some walnuts, and then I sit on a stump with a cuppa tree, this is like a feast to me.

Trees care for each other. It has now been scientifically proven that they communicate with each other via mushroom networks and nutritional exchange. This communication is complex and alien to man. And we can of course make our measurements and calculate our economic benefit from that knowledge... but we will not understand.

Maybe you can feel it. Maybe not. Either which way, any words would be futile.

I think I can feel it, sometimes. Something great moving through the woods, something which I would call peaceful and serene, but that does not do it justice. It uses no words, and words therefore are no use in describing it. It has no body, but I could tell a great many tales about the bodies it had through time.

Sometimes I think it now has mine, and lives in my heart and my soul and my spirit, and it feels good.

This is a strange time. We experience the fall of the kingdom of man, and we will be bereft of all we cherished so dearly... but we do not want to hear. They do not want to hear, because I listened, and I learned.

Ancient trees told me their tales, and I should say that if we will still have a chance, it lies therein.

A dark season it is. It is the realm of the holly king, of the twilight and the cold, cold nights of winter. Things we thought lifeless spring to life, and the living things that were so vibrant in spring go to their sleep.

Dark things instead come out, the monsters of the mind and of the tales. But that is not all there is.

The moon shines more brightly, or so it seems, but that is not all there is.

It is the season of stealthy walks through the thicket-but that is not all there is.

For it is also the season of the tales, huddled around a fire or the oven, of hot tea and cocoa and what goodness you can afford. It is the season of the dark, that much is true. But it is in a dark room that the candles shine more brightly. And even while dark things of the mind come up to the surface, so do the lighter and brighter tales. Of Tomte and troll, of Chrismas or whatever you call it.

And it is in the darkest hour of the darkest night that the light is born anew. This is the message of this season.

It´s here

 

So, we all have talked about it in the bushcraft and survival community. We have marvelled about the ins and outs of catastrophe with a sick and morbid fascination. I had not exactly a part in it, because I always knew it would be shit.

It´s here. The end of the world as we know it. The end of freedom, the end of communication.

Terrorism is bad enough in itself, but the reactions of our respective governments will be but a tiny bit less bad. We will be faced with severe restrictions, we will be faced with death every day. One could either get depression or laugh one´s head off for the stupidity of mankind.

I refuse to give up. War is here, but I will survive as long as I can.

For my  readers: Here are some links for some sensible preparations (English versions available via the mainpage)

http://www.bbk.bund.de/DE/Ratgeber/VorsorgefuerdenKat-fall/Pers-Notfallvorsorge/Pers_Notfallvorsorge.html

http://www.bbk.bund.de/DE/Ratgeber/VorsorgefuerdenKat-fall/Pers-Notfallvorsorge/Pers_Notfallvorsorge.html

http://www.bbk.bund.de/DE/Ratgeber/VorsorgefuerdenKat-fall/Pers-Notfallvorsorge/Lebensmittel/lebensmittel.html

http://www.bbk.bund.de/DE/Ratgeber/VorsorgefuerdenKat-fall/Pers-Notfallvorsorge/Hygiene/hygiene.html

http://www.bbk.bund.de/DE/Ratgeber/VorsorgefuerdenKat-fall/Pers-Notfallvorsorge/Hausapotheke/hausapotheke.html

http://www.bbk.bund.de/DE/Ratgeber/VorsorgefuerdenKat-fall/Pers-Notfallvorsorge/Stromausfalll/Stromausfall.html

http://www.bbk.bund.de/DE/Ratgeber/VorsorgefuerdenKat-fall/Pers-Notfallvorsorge/Dokumentensicherung/Dokumentensicherung.html

http://www.bbk.bund.de/DE/Ratgeber/VorsorgefuerdenKat-fall/Pers-Notfallvorsorge/Notgepaeck/notgepaeck.html

http://www.bbk.bund.de/DE/Ratgeber/VorsorgefuerdenKat-fall/Pers-Notfallvorsorge/Radio/Radio.html

http://www.bbk.bund.de/DE/Ratgeber/VorsorgefuerdenKat-fall/Baul-Sicherheit/Baul-Sich.html

http://www.bbk.bund.de/DE/Ratgeber/Verhalten_bei_besonderen_Gefahrenlagen/verhaltenbeibesonderenGefahrenlagen.html

I want to add up to this with my very own random thoughts on preparing for SHTF, with no claim of perfection whatsoever. Just ideas to inspire your own way of dealing with it:

If disaster strikes home, get out of urban areas. Prepare bug-out sites, but, most importantly, build your own countryside networks. No farmer will be enthused if you get out to him when disaster has struck. In fact, many inhabitants of the countryside will kill you or at least treat you with hostile force.

If you get to know them first and offer your help, skill and firepower in an emergency and work together with them, they will take you. Remember nothing´s free. I am a blacksmith with a smithy that can operate without electricity, and have a load of tools that could be of a valuable service. I have several skills to offer and so I was able to generate several networks where they would take me and some other individuals.

If at all possible, build up neighbourhood assistance networks. Talk it through and dispatch responsibilities in case of an emergency.

Any Southerner of Arabian, Albanian, Syrian, Afghan, Pakistani, Turkish, Kurdish, Jordanian and similar provenience (any Islamic country), is a potential deadly enemy and should be treated as a potential lethal threat. Treat them with a respectful cautiousness. But don´t go arse over tit by getting lost in hate fantasies. Learn as much as you can about Muslim culture. Use your brain and common sense.

Don´t visit festivals, concerts, sports events or political demonstrations. If you get into a political demonstration by accident, address a police officer and ask him to show you a way around it.

Don´t visit urban areas after 10 pm. The woods are far safer. If possible, walk detours.

Don´t visit pubs or restaurants known for big events and a lot of customer traffic, if you can´t find it in you to leave it be altogether.

Don´t use trains or buses. Walk or ride a bicycle, if you have no car.

As long as it possible, visit a doctor to get yourself in the best possible state of body health before everything goes foul. Get your teeth done, for instance, before doctors can´t help you anymore and you need to visit the blacksmith. Less teeth mean less energy, because it can become hard to process the food available.

Become the gray man.

Train in a martial art, but also go for a run or ride at least three days a week. Train your endurance, but also your sprinting prowess. Every family member should do so.

Train walking barefoot. In case you lose your shoes, this will make you easy prey for any pursuer if you have not trained your feet.

Gather up provisions, resources and victualies. Gather non-electric tools. Learn how to use them. Learn homesteading techniques and start a garden, if possible. Even in a flat you can grow some herbs and vegetables. Keep your house apothecary well stocked. Include a tactical first aid kit and bandaging material also for bullet, arrow and cold steel weapon injuries. Prepare comfrey balm and keep medicinal alcohol ready for disinfection. And, most importantly, and even more important than just piling up stuff, revisit your first-aid skills. Get a refreshment course if necessary.

Minimize your trash. Get a heavy lid for your toilet with a heavy weight standing besides to keep rats out. Seal any holes in your walls  to keep critters at bay. Get killing rat and mousetraps and pesticides. Chance is, you will have to fight pest and critter animals more than actual terrorists when waste disposal comes to an end.

Get weapons legal to access. This means crossbows, slingshots, slings, bows, machetes, swords and muzzle-loaders in Germany (the latter require a "small" weapon license and a permit to handle explosives). Best use weapons with a tool character. For instance, a hoe´s handle will make a formidable and deadly pole weapon, as does a machete and an axe. Rid yourself of scruples and try to develop a killing attitude. This is crucial, because you can heap up as many weapons as you like if you are not capable of doing it. A skilled and determined fighter can use anything as a weapon, from PET bottles (even empty ones) to apples to kill, but if you lack the attitude, even automatic weapons will not do you any good. It is all in your head. Just remember a terrorist WILL kill you if you can´t get away, and if you can´t, you have to be faster. To be faster than a trained fighter (and they are) requires constant training.
Best run away, of course. But IF you are faced with a situation that requires killing, you have to keep in mind that it is you or them. I am not saying, however, that you should get yourself into trouble, and I cannot emphasize this enough. Just remember that IF the situation arises, there is no time for thinking.

Build your home with retreat in mind. Fortify the rooms up to a last respite, where you stock most of your weapons. Keep food and drink provisions in every room that can be defended, and a camping toilet in the last respite. Get a reinforced main door. If there are local restrictions on the layout of front doors, build it in behind the front door. Ideally, reinforce the whole entrance area with steel beams and concrete so that it can´t be levered out, even with hydraulic devices. Reinforce the respite room with a steel door and reinforce the entire wall with steel and concrete. Build steel-reinforced hardwood shutters for any windows and screw them in with tempered square-headed mushroom bolt screws if the need arises. Keep lighting at hand and enough batteries plus a dynamo-powered handlamp. Keep your communication devices and a shortwave receiver in your respite room.

If you are faced with an attack, NEVER play the hero. Get out of the way if at all possible. But also remember that any radical Muslim, Christian, Nazi or other terrorist will not trade you in for money and cannot be convinced to spare you. They WILL kill you. Get out of the way or kill them. When automatic weapons are involved, seek shelter behind something massive (concrete, bricks, stone, sandbags). A car door will not do. Keep silent, and keep a low profile. You can train on a softair site, but remember: Best stay way clear of any place where it could happen. Automatic weapons are extremely lethal, as are explosions. Best get out of areas with a high risk expectation.
All of these are just suggestions, of course, and you have to use your own brain for prepping. I will, for instance not waste my time with fortifying my flat, because I live very close to a potential target of terrorism, but put my energy into bugging out.

Get familiar with camouflage techniques in the environment you will be faced with. The "Reibert" handbook for soldiers in the German army gives some first insights on that. You can find essays about camouflage all over the place. In my opinion

-you have to know the environment
-you have to adapt to and blend into it as much as possible
-obscure your silhouette (with twigs, leaves, branches)
-offer digital overinformation (the principle of digital camouflage, i.e. offering too much information with an obscure background for human perception)
-avoid any contrasts (use paint  etc.)
-develop a mindset "don´t mimic a bush, be a bush"
-make or buy a Ghillie suit
-transfer the "Gray Man" concept onto your area of camouflage, meaning, if you are in a forest environment, observe it closely and blend into it. Make it a habit of moving in stealth - at all times.

These are also principles I will refer to in another post on Skóggángr. I hope to take up training soon, but I first have to get a training facility. Might be it can be at the ironforge.

(picture source: www.galdrasyning.is)

All in all I regret that it has come thus far. It could still be reversed, if only common sense would prevail. But we all know it will not.

I want to say that I still respect Muslims and Christians and I am meaning no offence, but the monotheistic religions are prone to a terroristic mindset. This war has been started in the early medieval ages when Bernhard de Clairvaux (and other Christian fanatics) instituted the "Holy War" with the crusades. Then Hasan bin-Sabah established the order of the Assassins, and modern IS fighters still work along the same lines. Both were a shitty excuse for a priest and should rather not have been alive. But they were.

The deity had no part in this as far as their legitimation went. It was entirely an all-too-human affair. And it is not the whip of God or Allah we are faced with, but the effects of our own ignorance, blindness and plain stupidity. And our failure to accept that we are living on a ball of rock moving through light years of void, so we´d better get along with each other. That is not to say there is no deity, and to assume so would be plain illogical, but we simply should stop our sandbox games to wake up to the real world.

Personally I am sick of hierarchic religion with people in charge who do not deserve so. They are playing at collateral damage in a sandbox made out of the world. They could not wait for hell after life, so they keep making a hell on earth. I am tired, and If I have to die, I believe will give up this life not eagerly, but calmly. But I refuse to give them the right to dominate my thoughts and feelings.

Take care and stay alive! Keep loving your loved ones and do not forget that life is not always running, hiding and fighting, but that there are still sunbeams floating through the flittering leaves. This will fuck them best. And surviving this war means more than just staying alive, but overcoming the trauma we will inevitably be faced with. For it is this trauma and the resulting fear, hate and anxiety Evil feeds on.


(Picture source: www.hedendom.com)

 

Swans on the storm

Dark clouds they gather

On the horizon

Swans on the storm

Sing their last song

Towers of green glass

They stand aflame with lightning

Perkunas rides home

From a battle far beyond

Look at all the tanks,

Look at all the rockets,

The day of doom has come,

The day has come to die.

Look at all the tanks, 

Look at all the rockets

Aeons I lived, now I shall die.

Towers of green glass

Stand aflame with lightning

Perkunas rides out

To ward the rainbow´s bridge

Aeons I lived now 

They want me dying,

Aeons I lived,

Now they will die.

Dark clouds they gather

On the horizon,

Swans on the storm

Sing their last song.

Prepare my iron chariot

And bring me my hatchet,

My rod of iron,

My crown of amber.

Aeons I lived now

Hunting the Devil,

Now I set out

To hunt humankind.

Dark clouds they gather

On the horizon

Swans on the storm

Sing their last song.

This is a song I wrote some years ago on a gloomy night in the time after Chrismas / Jul, when the furious host is said to ride through the air, and it just struck me, and I had to write that down. The moon photo, however, I made last week, and just thought it would fit in with the mood.