Above the Noise: The Alchemy to Ascend

The Eagle Ascends and loses the Crow on its back

There’s a story that has echoed in my spirit lately — one that feels less like a fable and more like a mirror.

“The only bird that dares to peck at an eagle is the crow. But the eagle does not fight back. It does not waste time or energy on the crow. It simply rises. Higher and higher, until the crow can no longer breathe in the thinner air… and falls away.”

This is the path of the ascending soul.

To ascend — truly — is to shed the weight of the world’s expectations, the dense layers of programming, the masks that once ensured our belonging in consensus reality. It is to move from the gravity of conformity into the freedom of truth.

But freedom is not without cost. It requires solitude. It requires discernment. It requires letting go of needing to be understood.

The Flight from Consensus

Most of the world lives in what Esoteric Traditions calls the Consensus State — the realm of tradition, social conditioning, and unquestioned norms. It’s where roles are inherited, not chosen. Where identity is tied to family, religion, political alignment, tribe, or culture. It’s a necessary stage of development… but not the final one.

For the soul called to individuation — to embodying its unique essence — consensus becomes too tight a skin. The air down there feels thick. Something ancient begins to stir within: the call to rise.

But to rise, we must leave the flock. There are not many eagles in the sky. The eagle flies alone, not because it is arrogant or aloof — but because its nature is to soar above the fray, to seek clarity in solitude. In flight, it trusts the invisible thermals beneath its wings. It is not crowded. It is not clinging. It is not weighed down by what no longer serves its ascent.

This is what individuation feels like. You begin to shed. Beliefs. Attachments. Approval. Masks. The old ways of being fall like heavy feathers no longer suited for the altitude you are heading toward.

The Pain of Being Misunderstood

It is painful, this in-between. You no longer belong to the world you came from, and you haven’t yet found the ones who speak your soul’s language. Friends and family may whisper: You’ve changed. You’ve lost your way. You're delusional. But the truth is, you’re just no longer willing to live someone else’s map.

You're remembering your wings.

And while the crow may peck — in the form of judgments, gossip, rejection, or misunderstanding — you are learning not to respond. Not to defend. Not to descend.

You are learning to rise. And in rising, you begin to glimpse others in the distance. Not many. But they are there. Other eagles, quietly soaring. Other hearts, brave enough to leave the noise and fly the narrow path of truth.

The Sacred Shedding

Ascension is not escape. It is embodiment. And embodiment requires refinement — the fire of shedding, the ache of release, the alchemy of remembering. Each layer that falls is a layer of density removed. You become lighter. Clearer. More honest. More alive.

And what remains is not the version of you that was shaped by the world, but the essence that was always waiting to fly free of it.