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Brendon O'Brien: April 8, 1958 — March 23, 2015


Christopher O'Brien

Back in the Saddle Aginn
Staff member
brendon.jpg

I am extremely sad to announce that my brother Brendon passed away yesterday after a whirlwind three week battle w/ cancer. The quickness and severity of the spread of the disease was almost beyond belief, but he is now out of pain and in a better place. His longtime partner and friend Jonnie Channell and his step-daughter Eden were at his bedside and our hearts and thanks go out to the staff of the New Mexico University Hospital ICU.

Brendon was the most important person in my life. We were adopted together by the O'Brien family in September 1962 when we are 4 and 5 years old. Sadly, we left our 3-year-old brother Mitchell behind at the foster home. The two of us spent the next 50 + years pursuing our passions.

Brendon was the first in the family to get a college degree (in Theater). He was a true artist, visionary and innovator. Brendon was the first to build a straw bale house (and then an Earthship tire-house) in Crestone, Colorado, which is now know as the "alternative building capital of America." Brendon pioneered many of the stawbale building techniques in wide use today. He was a master plasterer who produced some of the most beautiful finishes ever seen as a result of his innovations w/ natural plasters and modern tools and natural colors. When he lived in Mexico, he was asked by the Quiche Maya (among the world's finest plasterers) to train them in his technique. When he was 28, he attended a Masonic Lodge open house in the oldest lodge in New England, where he shocked the old dudes with the width and breathe of his esoteric knowledge. He was rushed through the degrees and was made chaplain (holder of the secrets) of Zetland lodge. One of his true passions was the study of the Western Esoteric Tradition. He was a walking storehouse of knowledge, but humble and extremely low-key concerning this knowledge.

Brendon was my chief sounding board. I spent years developing theories, ideas and concepts for my investigation and research pursuits, and he would gleefully, with great humor, point out the holes/flaws in my thinking and then propose out-of-the-box ideas that would then re-jump-start my thinking. We shared countless amazing experiences together and I will always cherish the many years we were the best of friends and closest of brothers.

In 2001, amazingly, we were re-united w/ our birth family. The 4-day weekend we spent together with my other two brother's Mitch and Sean and our mother was one of the most surreal and rewarding experiences of my life. We lost our mother two weeks later on Christmas Day, and Mitch from a heart-attack in 2011.

I wanted to write this short summary to share with you all this amazing man's life. He was the most selfless and giving person imaginable and his passing will leave a gaping hole in the heart's of those who knew him and called him friend. Jonnie's son Van sent a beautiful Huichol-style painting he had made for Brendon. His word's on the back speak volumes about the man: Dear Brendon, you will always be a huge part of the person I have become, for which I am grateful!. I will take the lessons you taught me about life and pass them onto others…

Thank you all for your prayers and best wishes. Rest assured that we all have an amazing powerhouse kicking ass and taking names on the other side. Brendon was a fearless soul and a true Magickal warrior. Even if you didn't know him, you will find this out when it is your time to transition!
 
Our profound sympathies Chris, my heart sank as soon as I saw the thread topic even though it wasn't fully apparent. Given what you posted earlier it would seem he lead a pretty full life so in that i would find some solace.

I have always told myself if it ever came that i lost my current job it is my intention to apprentice at the Cal Earth Institute out in Hesperia Ca. Did your brother ever go there or stay there ?
 
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Chris, my heart is with you. Thanks for sharing your brothers life with us and spreading all the goodness he brought with it. Take extra care for yourself in the days coming, this is hard.
 
You'll take comfort and have precious memories as the years roll on in that you had such a deep friendship, shared love, and a trusted brother too. Still, to lose him so quickly must be very hard in saying goodbye. That he led such a magical spiritual life is a worthy path to have followed... you seem to still be on the same path together. He is not gone; always inside your heart he remains. Talk and sing to him, and you will see.
 
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Really sad news and the speed of the illness beggars belief. But you have written a fine obituary here which demonstrates what Brendon meant to you and the varied and full life he led and how he influenced others. Like yourself with your books and research, the things Brendon taught people carry on and in a way are like memes he began himself that may linger for centuries.

Rest easy Brendon, the battle is over.
 
My heart goes out to you, Chris; and to Jonnie, Van and the rest of your/his family. Brendon was clearly an amazing, original, shining man who had a truly adventurous soul. You were deeply blessed to share so much of your life with him. Someday, you'll have a joyous reunion.
Thank you for the beautiful eulogy. Wishing you peace.
 
Chris, you have my deepest empathy at your loss and grief {there is no pain like what you are suffering now}, and also my joyful relief at hearing that you know the loss is only temporary. Of that I am certain, and knowing it has released me (and will release you in time) from the pain of losing the presence of one so deeply loved. Take care.
 
Thank you, Chris, for sharing such beautiful words about your brother with all of us. His life sounds like it was indeed filled with equal measures of magic and passion. From your description it's easy to see you were brothers. Like you, he was an incredible innovator, a person who sparked ideas, a person who knew how to build and create. Echoing the sentiments here, I feel most for his family as that's a deep absence, but so is the loss of a brother. Constance says it well, to know the release from pain and to be able to live with that absence of presence is a potent magic all on its own.

Death is a mere transition, just a step into the next room. Let the names of the dead be spoken as they always were, with no trace of shadow or sadness, but with the same common joy as when they first came into this world.

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there - I do not sleep.
I am the thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints in snow,
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
As you awake with morning's hush
I am the swift-up-flinging rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there - I did not die.
 
Sorry for your loss Chris. I always liked this poem, may it give you comfort :

So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view, and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of your people.

When it comes your time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song and die like a hero going home.

~ Tecumseh
 
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We all cross the river. Those urgently needed by the Creator cross sooner. God has an Accutron watch and He knows what time it is, for each of us. Our life on earth is a gift and at the appropriate time we are re-gifted. There is peace in knowing that God doesn't make mistakes.
 
Rest eternal grant unto him, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon him.

May his memory be a joy to you, Chris, until the day when you are reunited.
 
So very sorry, Chris. Cancer can be the thief in the night, that is certain. It's hard when it's unexpected. Strength to you and yours.

The wound is the place where the Light enters you.” - Rumi

 
My most heartfelt condolences on the passing of your brother, Brendon. This world has obviously lost a very special person. Your words of remembrance reverberated with love and joy in who he was, and is, and shall ever be.
 
Chris.

In remembrance of the kid that loved his guitar, and my sis, whome i chose this track for, at her funeral.

Hope Brendon would of liked it, im gutted for both of you, and family.

 
Chris,

Your brother was clearly an amazing human being. Thank you for sharing some details about the kind of man he was. My deepest sympathies on your loss of a close family member.

Sincerely,
Chris Johnsen

"He's really not dead. As long as we remember him." - Leonard "Bones" McCoy | Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
 
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