03/28/2022
Periodically I write something that comes from current situations. This is the most recent:
CRISIS SUFFERING, & MAGIC
Roughly 106 weeks ago we began a geoddessy named Covid 19. At the time we had no idea that it would require two full years, and millions of deaths for life to return to anything close to what we considered “normalcy.” Perhaps this was another way Gaia's saying “Wake up and see what you are doing!”, Perhaps it was/is some scientific experiment gone horribly wrong. Perhaps some of both. Any way it was and is not a local problem: we all had to deal with it - some more acutely than others. If nothing else, it has taught us -I pray- that somethings surpass man's instituted divisions.
We did have a few high spots lately; The Olympics, although summer's were delayed, did occur, Lifting our spirits, tying us both to our collective pasts, and hopefully to our futures. We learned too how dependent we have become on importation and transportation, in ways that I doubt many of us imagined. Deity grant, we act on those lessons as well.
We coped, despite being deprived of our usual coping mechanisms, with social gatherings strictly curtailed; churches closed;, hospital and nursing home visits at some times completely eliminated; even neighborly visits kept at double arms length. Memes, phone calls, video chats and Zoom meetings, may have been a poor substitute for a reassuring hug, but they were our lifeline to friends, family, and even strangers we would not have encountered otherwise, to commiserate, communicate and to some degree lean on.
Now that most of us can go to the store without the pervasive fear of bringing home something far worse than bruised produce due to a sloppy bagger, a new crisis has reminded us that no one, no city, no state nor country is unaffected by a crisis, even if it is half a world way. Only a sociopath can be unaffected by the images coming from Ukraine Some of these scenes remind us of the 'relocation' from Ghetto to concentration camps; of the devastation of saturation bombing in Germany, and japan; of the horrors of war in a way I've never witnessed in my seven decades. This is a humanitarian crisis that somehow dwarfs Panama, Grenada, Yugoslavia, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan or Syria, if only for its inhumanity Our healing circles not only work for people we know who are hurting in one way or another, they include a second round for Ukraine. Perhaps we should add a third for Gaia?
Yet though this – sometimes publicly, sometimes privately- the extended Sacred Wheel Family has endured their own crises. Some have suffered deaths, others health challenges; still others job losses, and for many of us mental health has become a less hidden conversion. I have to remind myself that:
“Deities never give us more than we can handle; but exactly as much.
It's stretching to meet their expectations that are our 'growing pains'”
Many of us are Empaths -pagan or not- but resist asking for help. Oh, we have our confidants that may see the island that shows publicly above the sea of 'stuff' we keep hidden. And like islands, global warming is burying ever more, and at the same time putting more crushing weight on what does not 'show'.
We all need to remember, that just because someone says or appears to be 'fine,' there may be issues weighing them down that they have yet to reveal. Financial stresses, social isolation, addictions, and health complications, be they our own or due to those with home we are emotionally bound, may not be openly voiced..
Clergy deals with this on steroids: not only do they endure -often in near silence- their own challenges, but they are the repository of their community's challenges.. Speaking from experience, it's far easier to deal with the problems others bring to us, than the ones we suffer in silence. Just as mental health professionals routinely ;decompress' with their own Counselors, so must we, even if its only giving that energy up to Gaia and letting her recharge us afresh.
Crisis and suffering go hand in hand. But we do have choices. As Pagans, we have the option of grounding negativity out, and in-drawing Mother Earth's or the Universe's recycled 'clean' energy. We have the option, to examine our challenges and make something positive from them. We have the potential to ACT if only by employing out will, our humanity,, our mind and spirit to MAKE change.
Acting to cause change is, for many, the real definition of Magic.
May your crisis become a Blessing,
Rev. Foxxy
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