Katabatic Wind by Stephen Crimi
According to the traditions of most organized world religions, humans gained insight and inspiration by looking up to the mountains where they believed the deities resided. In his debut book, Katabatic Wind, local author Stephen Crimi explores another way people have received wisdom: by looking to the underworld where gods and goddesses are just as real and just as powerful as those above.
Translated from ancient Greek, katabasis means “to go down” and a katabatic wind is that which flows down from the mountain. In a dozen essays, Stephen looks through the lens of mythology, pre-Socratic Greek thought, and sacred geometry to explore various aspects of the lost sacred tradition of the West.
The Western world, Stephen says, holds true the idea that thought can connect us with what is real. Hence, wisdom from above is connected to science and the rational. “The ‘fundamentalism’ displayed by all religions on this planet is a form of rationalism, addiction to the word from above and not the connection to the real ground of being,” Stephen told The Laurel.
Stephen spent over a decade in New York, attending a traditional yoga school. He began learning Sanskrit to be able to read ancient texts. All Sanskrit in Katabatic Wind is Stephen’s translation. He and his wife Krys founded Logosophia in 2008. Katabatic Wind is Logosophia’s eighth book.
Katabatic Wind, 2016, hardcover; $36 by Stephen Crimi, and published by Logosophia Books, Asheville. On Tuesday, June 21, Malaprop’s Bookstore will host a reading by Stephen beginning at 7 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.
