Season and Spirit: Magickal Adventures Around the Wheel of the Year

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Fire, Flood, Famine, Fear: Crisis, Transformation and the Great Reset

Posted by on in Culture Blogs

Last year there was a winter of ice, and a summer of fire, where the ice melted.

Last winter, things suddenly got worse.

Last winter, an already strained planet, an already stressed populace, suddenly were presented with even more grievous challenge.  The global pandemic of the novel Corona virus, COVID-19, has become the most demanding and monstrous calamity we have faced since climate change appeared on the collective radar. The virus and its aftermath has impacted every cultural system: economic, educational, labor, entertainment, infrastructure and most of all our healthcare systems have all been strained to a breaking point. The pandemic has shown, quite starkly, the gaps in care, compassion, expertise, and responsibility in the body politic. In an already tumultuous, anxious moment, the collapse of the accountability and presence of civic institutions has created deep distress.

In a moment when infrastructure is strained to a breaking point, when traditional modes of support and sustenance are in jeopardy, when even the most basic human need to connect is nearly impossible, there is every reason to despair. And so many of us have been subject to devatstating loss of all kinds during this crisis.  The grief of those who lost loved ones, or who struggle with the still unknown long-term consequences of the virus, or whose financial stability and safety has been undermined by the economic shut down, or who struggle with mental health or addiction issues that the quarantine and lock down has only made worse, is real and devastating.

And in all this hardship, something miraculous has also happened. Not minimizing these losses, there has been a profound and not-so-subtle shift in global consciousness since this crisis began.

As quarantine was declared, and many people sheltered at home, the reduction in human activity allowed the natural world to reclaim spaces they had abandoned long ago.  Dolphins were seen swimming in the canals of Venice; deer and mountain lions were seen stalking the streets of suburban Boulder. The air of polluted cities cleared. In all the anxiety and fear, we encountered story after story of people who found in quarantine a needed break from overscheduled lives, an opportunity to connect with those in our bubble more deeply, and an unprecedented chance to be deeply present with ourselves.  Despite the devastating disruptions the corona virus has leveled upon the world, many of us found treasure in the trash.

As we bid farewell to this Plague Year, all of us have experienced losses of different kinds.  All of us have felt disappointment, derailment, anxiety, and fear.  But we have also experienced a reset: a release of distractions, a readjustment of value and cost, a new balancing of what we truly need and what we can compromise on.  Deeper intimacy with our spirits and deities, greater time spent on our spiritual work, and a more abiding knowledge of self are among the ways that CoVid and its aftermath have given us a chance to resent towards a more centered, less hectic, more intentional life.                                                                                              

Last modified on
Tagged in: 2020 Covid-19
Leni Hester is a Witch and writer from Denver, Colorado. Her work appears in the Immanion anthologies "Pop Culture Grimoire," "Women's Voices in Magick" and "Manifesting Prosperity". She is a frequent contributor to Witches and Pagans and Sagewoman Magazines.

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