Reflections in this New Reality

It's been far too long since my shadow darkened the entrance to this comforting Lair.  Professional responsibilities, personal interests, and the daily grind had preempted my time here.  Alas, these draws are insubstantial in the face of all that's occurred over the course of the last five days.

I'm reminded of a verse by Wm. Wordsworth--

The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not. Great God! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.

For those of us who empathize "too deeply," the past five days have been utterly exhausting to the emotions and the mind.  Negativity and fear-mongering reign on social media and in the news...hatred and bloodshed and pain prevail in areas recently healed or formerly peaceful...confusion is everywhere.  Lives are lost, shattered, permanently altered, and yet we are at the periphery--spectators to the living drama unfolding all around us.

This morning, I was awakened by tornado sirens.  The skies themselves were boiling with anger and unchecked horrors.  As the storms swept past, the rains poured down, and the winds ultimately calmed, She gave us our answer to the confusion.  This current storm is in its infancy, but it's ephemeral.  It will not last.  We ARE "Pagans suckled in a creed outworn" and we DO "Have glimpses that would make [us] less forlorn" and we must not lose sight of that.  We must banish the negativity--even if only in ourselves.  Mend the broken, be they hearts, relations, or understandings.

Our overarching rule is, regardless of Path, to do no harm.  To me, at least, that means we must help those harmed to heal. There are a LOT of folk out there who haven't a warm Lair to enter...who haven't encouragement and concern given them...who haven't hope.  They don't understand us (and many still fear us for no logical reason), but they need us. They need our strength, our compassion, and our empathy...and, for them, we may be the only open heart they find.

Be the light, my loves.  Be the soft Moonlight in your lives.  Be the tenderness and compassion and understanding.  Be that which our very nature and belief charges us to be!


In the softness of the Moonlight...

The Greening of the Year

'Tis come again, my darling ones.  She has taken on her Spring maiden's mantle and is shyly returning from her Winter's rest.  Can't you feel the gentle touch of warmth kissing your skin?  the anticipatory hush of the breezes whispering in your ear? the cloying scent of blossoms perfuming the air?

Embrace the increasing beauty...the possibility...the silent life.

In the softness of the Moonlight.