At 7:45pm on February 27th, the Moon was New again. I am posting this closer to the Full Moon than the New Moon this cycle – but I am hopeful to be able to set an intention and draw down the energies needed to manifest it.
During this past cycle, my focus was on Fraternity. I juxtaposed my own feelings around needing to keep the peace and avoid conflict with a need to be fiercely protective and nurturing. How can you peacefully fight a war?
This is all brought about by the current climate that is seeing the implosion of a world I had grown up feeling was indestructible. We were always led to believe the existential threat would come from the outside, not the inside. But that presupposed honor and integrity – the erosion of which has been accelerating for over 40 years now.
These days I am reminded of my father, who, after the terrorist attacks on September 11th, said something akin to ‘this isn’t a world I want to live in anymore’. I want to stress that what I am about to say is not any kind of ideation – but I think I get where he was coming from. We come to understand that while there are hiccups and bumps in the road, there will always be progress, there will always be evolution of the human condition. Today, I am seeing tragic regression.
I am not okay.
Nevertheless – I am a cisgender white male of Western European descent, passable as “normal’ by all appearances. I am not seen as part of an at-risk population – whether that population is the LGBTQ+ community, people of color, people with chronic medical issues, or Federal workers. I need to be an ally. I need to stand up for my chosen family. If I don’t stand, then I am complicit in the persistent attacks on them.
But I am depleted.
Nevertheless – I need to stand. So the focus for this cycle is Support.
Support has to be mutual now. It can’t be carrying, it can’t be service – at least not all the time. This is a marathon, not a sprint. It also can’t be theoretical. In the last cycle I posited that we embrace the sense of community from the ground up and lead each moment and each interaction with compassion. Still very valid strategies – when we have the energy.
Shortly after the Moon was New, I felt the need to be Supportive in real time – and in my presence I saw Support in one of the simplest shelters, the lean-to. We lean into one another, receiving support while simultaneously giving it. There may not be much forward momentum, but there is survival.
I was discussing this with a trusted soul this past week, and they referred me to a 2008 scientific paper entitled “Social Support and the Perception of Geographical Slant” (available by searching the title, the article is currently available on the National Library of Medicine website). The abstract prefaces the heart of the work in this sentence: “Participants accompanied by a friend estimated a hill to be less steep when compared to participants who were alone.”
If we extend this, when seen through the lens of sympathetic or empathetic community, maybe our struggles are not as insurmountable as they appear in the dark of night.
The song for this cycle extends the concept of leaning into one another. I am buoyed by this line in particular:
But if we are wise
We know that there’s always tomorrow
May we sustain one another into our tomorrows!