“If the end of the world is at hand, there’s no point in reading this book—or any other book. If however there still exists one iota of hope... you have about ten minutes... to start reading this book.”
-- Peter Lamborn Wilson, author of Temporary Autonomous Zone

Traditionally, the mountains are from whence wisdom is found and dispensed, the homes of the gods, places we look up to for aspiration and inspiration. Yet there is another direction emanating insight, which involves a katabasis, from the Ancient Greek, meaning ‘to go down’, to travel from this world to the underworld. There, the chthonic gods and goddesses are just as real, just as powerful, and maybe just a little edgy from being neglected for so long. It is the journey of the initiate, to die before you die, thence to live twice-born: once of the flesh, and again of wisdom, Sophia. Katabatic Wind is an inspired collection of essays drawn from the lost unknown sacred tradition of the West. The kernel of these essays is loss, longing for return, and the grief of living in a society without an inkling of its original sacred origin story.

Stephen Crimi has a degree in English literature from Union College, and spent over a decade in traditional Yoga study at Yoga Anand Ashram in Amityville, NY. He's been previously published in Moksha Journal and Journal of Anthroposophy in Australia. He's done time as an editor, estate gardener, cook, massage therapist, and most recently, running a biodynamic garden and fiber farm, Philosophy Farm, for twelve years with his wife of three decades, Krys. They now live in the city of Asheville, in the mountains of North Carolina, where they continue to garden and midwife literature. Stephen was born in Brooklyn, and raised on the streets of Ozone Park, NYC. Katabatic Wind is his first book.