A Wizard's Guide to Surviving September
The weather out there is very bad, and you should not place any trust in it. There’s no sense in sugar coating things in a time like this - and, of course, I am not talking about the fact that we here in New Hampshire are in the midst of a drought with no end in sight, although that is also bad. We are talking about the space weather, the unseen forces and alignments that bring to bear tremendous influence over our circumstances and the tenor of the general mood. Sometimes, this weather can be great. Other times, it’s not so great, but not so bad that we ourselves cannot make some use of it. This month - this year, really - we deal with something else entirely.
If you wish to remain upright and able at the end of the remaining two-thirds of this month,, it is unwise to place your hopes in fortune, or even in other people. It’s like that.
Based only on the general vibe I get from the ether of social media, I suspect it will be difficult for many to imagine that the last couple of months have been “calm” or “easy”, but I’ll ask you to try. Think back to April, May, and June - it’s almost impossible to deny that, frenzied and frustrating as things continue to be, they’ve been mildly better. It’s a low bar. Hopefully, you can see this, because now I’d like you to imagine that it’s all about to end, because it is. Any perceptible lull or relief we’ve been lucky to gain is about to be disrupted by shadows, unwelcome adventures, chaos, sorrow, weakness - quite possibly even bad habits.
Think of a sadistic Inquisitor - this is his hour. Try to compromise or meet these forces halfway and you’ll only be taken advantage of. Our fortifications are at their weakest point and we will unlikely be able to achieve the things we want.
Unfortunately, such times happen. Such times come. There is no cause for despair. We will see another side. It will not be pretty - but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing we can do.
For starters, you will have many opportunities to fight in the coming days, but I cannot stress enough that the plethora of opportunities should not be construed to mean that this is a good time for combat. It’s a terrible time for combat. You will probably lose. Don’t do it. You have no influence and no means to will it back into existence.
Instead, unpleasant as this pill may be to swallow, the best advice I can give is for you to find your lane and swim in it. Don’t falter but don’t try to climb. Don’t try to force anything. There will still be moments of joy amidst the ruin - find them and cling to them and watch for your good friends to show up at just the right time with wine to share.
On the other hand, this is a dangerous time for forgiveness and leeway, since it’s likely there are many who seek to take advantage of kindness and repay it with malice. In a similar counterintuitive way, it should not thus be assumed that it is a time to withhold our pardon; indeed, it is likely that this is precisely what will be required of us.
When trying to determine your best place, base your action and orientation not on the tactics of the moment or the strategy of a dark year but on the broader, more universal aspects. What are your core principles? What do you, in the deepest part of your being, know to be right? It’s in times like these, when it often seems like the best time for excuses and exceptions, that we must rely on these principles and the conscientious perception of Right to be for us a foundation. No other foundation will stand. And to be precise about this, what we’re after is not a foundation for our words, but a foundation for what we do. Our words, however flowery or even inspirational they may be, are unlikely to be heard right now. Our actions, however, will absolutely be seen, even if we do not go out of the way to make ourselves visible. The other people in your life can see.
When it comes to other people, we are promised a mixed situation in which our fortunes and perhaps even respective temperaments depend upon those around us instead of from within. This is less than ideal in the sense that it means we are doomed to be tossed about, to and fro, like a ship in a storm. We can, as Marcus Aurelius would certainly remind us, control our own selves, our own responses, our own dispositions, but we cannot control those of others. Nonetheless, there’s a flip side to this idea: when we are forced to rely on others for everything, we are also conjuring images of love, family, and community, for all of these depend upon mutual reliance and can never be achieved through solitary alignment.
Be ready. The new day is upon us, even if we can’t see it yet. By the end of the month, all of the pieces will be lined up. New aeons always begin with a dark age. Remember that, and think of the Renaissance to follow. There’s a whole (new) shitshow that will kick off as September turns into October, but by then we’re likely to gain in both strength and love - if we spend our time right.