✠ The Crest ✠
Fantasy, Recovery, Escape, Consolation—
These are the gifts of the High Story, the Liturgy of Exiles.
Through Fantasy, we see again;
through Escape, we journey Home;
through Consolation, we remember the End is Joy.
This is not child's play, but soul's work.By the Light of the ✠High-King—through His✠Story—the Window is Cleansed.
For the world is blurred and broken, and the heart is faint.
Let the Tales of Wonder train the heart in Hope,
That it may stand and not fall in the Day of Trial.‘In the Day of ✠Thy power
shall princes be at ✠Thy Side in priestly raiment:
like the dew from the womb of the morning
shall Thy ✠holied-warriors gather about Thee.’So take up the old stories, O Elected prince✠—
Not to flee the War,
but to win it.Behold! The Starry-Sabaoth Still Sing
Ever Onward
~ Josua—servant-scribe of Parcletus
The Formation of the Soul by Fantasy
The Bright Beacon of Story
Edict of Torgy the Sagacious:
He who would be steadfast must be trained not only by Scripture & Sacrament,
but also by the parables of wonder, the battles of other worlds, and the joy that
comes when all seems lost—then suddenly, the Light breaks in.
Axiom 3.1 – The Fourfold-Forge of the Fantastical
{✠} Fantasy – Not flight from reality, but the piercing of that which veils it;
the crafting of a frame in which things shine rightly.
{✠} Recovery – The healing of the inner sight;
to behold Trees, Stars, Bread, Tears... as if for the first time.
{✠} Escape – Neither cowardice nor abandonment, but faithful exodus;
the refusal to let Babel be called Paradise.
{✠} Consolation – The Eucharistic shape of Joy in the soul’s mouth;
a foretaste of Resurrection in every sorrowful song.Axiom 3.2 – Rule of the Sacramental-ed Imagination
Edict of Torgy the Sagacious:
Let the ✠prince/princess immerse themselves regularly in High Tales of noble sorrow and sudden joy, which feed their hearts to love the Good, even when it bleeds.
Axiom 3.3 – Story as Shield & Sight
» When your soul is harassed by shadow-thoughts, remember the journey of Frodo, the stalwartness of Mina, the grief of Psyche, the stand of Gondor, the hope of Beren- Let their songs become your anthem. » Read not merely to pass time, but to arm the mind & heart. » Teach the young not only doctrine but narrative discernment, that they may learn to spot the Dragons in every age.
Axiom 3.4 – Crisis is Fought Before it Arrives
Edict of Torgy the Sagacious:
The man who has walked through many a darkwood with songs in his chest
will not so easily be put off-Path by sorrow’s mists,
tempting them to doubt thus falling to hopelessness,
or be swallowed by the sloughs of despond.
Let it be formed,
so that it may be lived.
Next we will lay out the Soul-Forming Training Regimen by High-History, a suggested soul-discipline for the keeping of spiritual health, the warding off of despair, and the sharpening of the inner eye through ✠High-Story