Just Keep Moving

I’ve used the phrase “our Gods are not divine helicopter parents” on numerous occasions over the years. There are advantages to worshipping and working with and for the Many Gods, but having Them take care of all your problems – or really, any of your problems – isn’t one of them.

So it should be no surprise that I and my coreligionists have not been exempt from the medical, political, economic, and other difficulties of the past two years.

I have prayed for the end of the pandemic, because that’s what I do. I have, at times, prayed more specific prayers: for protection, for healing, and especially for guidance. Given the high stakes and lack of clear facts, what should I do? Not just for my own benefit (though that’s important for all of us) but so I can do the things I’ve been called to do.

There has been one consistent response throughout this whole period. I’ve heard it from Cernunnos, from Danu, and from the Morrigan – the deities to whom I am oathed. I’ve heard it from other deities I pray to regularly, and from those I pray to on occasion.

“Just keep moving.”

As we close down a difficult 2021 and get ready for an uncertain 2022, I think it’s important to share those words with everyone.

Keep doing spiritual practice

Prayer, meditation, and offerings. Following the cycles of the sun and the moon. Reading and study, worship and liturgy. These are the things that keep us focused on our sacred relationships and our highest values. These are the things we do on a daily, weekly, and seasonal basis no matter what else is going on. It’s what we do.

We keep doing spiritual practice for the same reasons we brush our teeth, take a shower, eat good food and drink plenty of water. It feeds our souls, it energizes us and enables us to do the things we need to do, even though we don’t feel like it.

Spiritual practice is harder in difficult times. It’s also more important, and more beneficial.

Keep going to work

The past two years have been a struggle for those who just want to make a living.

Lockdowns and business closures, and inadequate support for those impacted by them. Unequal risks for those who kept working, and the aggressive and sometimes violent refusal of many to take basic safety precautions. And that’s on top of the stressful and exploitative nature of so many contemporary jobs.

It’s no wonder that many of those who can get out are getting out. If the Medicare age was lower I’d be seriously considering it.

But it’s not. And the plan I have for the next major segment of my life is based on remaining among the employed for the next several years. And so for me, “just keep moving” means “keep going to work and making a living like you always have.”

To be clear: if you’re unable to work – for whatever reason – I completely understand. If you’re able to get out, I’m envious. This is not the Protestant Work Ethic.

Rather, this is ensuring that material and financial foundations of your life remain firm and able to support you in whatever comes next.

And so I’ve kept going to work.

Keep maintaining your relationships

I couldn’t have made it through all this – particularly the first half of 2020 – without the support of my friends, my family, and my co-religionists.

Where we couldn’t meet in person, we met online. Where we couldn’t meet inside, we met outside. Where we couldn’t meet in large groups, we met in small groups. We maintained the relationships that ensured that whatever we were going through, we didn’t have to go through it alone.

And also, that the things that were too big for one person didn’t get forgotten.

This takes work. It takes dealing with inconvenience. It takes commitment. As we’ve moved out of lockdowns and into reduced social distancing, it’s presented a new set of challenges: making sure you make time for your most important relationships when you’re loaded and overloaded with other obligations as well.

But nothing else has been as important over the past two years, or will be as important in the years to come.

Keep dreaming your dreams

It’s hard to dream when you’re tied up with a pandemic, political repression, and the reality of trying to navigate “unprecedented times.” You’ve got your hands full making it from day to day. Who knows when roadblocks will be cleared we’ll be able to make real progress again. Dreaming seems more like impossible fantasies than visions of a better future.

But we can’t create a better future unless we can see it, and we can’t see it unless we dream it.

What is it that you really want to be and do in life? What is it that you’re called to be and do? What do you want, not because you saw an ad for it and the spell got its hooks in you, but because it’s something you truly desire? Whatever it is, don’t forget it.

Success is more than survival. Part of keeping moving is keeping your dreams alive.

Keep grabbing those dreams as you can

Pandemic or no pandemic, if you wait until the conditions are just right before you act, you’ll miss out on a lot in life. This has been a hard lesson for me to learn – it didn’t really sink in until I realized I was getting to the age where I had more I wanted to do than years left to do it.

FOMO (fear of missing out) is a recipe for overwork and burnout. But if there are things you really want to do, at some point you have to just do them.

This may require jumping around on your schedule. It may require substituting a lesser experience for a greater one. It will certainly require being flexible with your plans – something I’m not very good with.

But where you can grab a part of your dream, do it now.

Moving into 2022

Time and tide wait for no one.

The world will keep moving, for better and for worse. Tower Time will continue, bringing ordinary changes and magical changes.

I have not done divination for 2022 yet, but I don’t need Tarot cards to tell me that next year will not be bright and cheery, and certainly not for all of us. There will be difficulties and challenges, some of which we know and some of which will present themselves to us in their own time.

There will also be opportunities. We have a much better chance to capture them if we’re already moving forward than if we’re waiting for things to clear up.

Happy Solstice!

Today is the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. I hope you’ll take a few minutes to celebrate the shortest day, the longest night, and the rebirth of the sun.

This will be my final regular post for the year. Next week I’ll have the usual year-end features: “The 4 Best Posts of 2021 You Didn’t Read” on Sunday and “Top 10 Posts of 2021” on Wednesday.

“Divination For 2022” will be sometime on January 1 – a rare Saturday post for me.

I’ll return to my regular blogging schedule on Tuesday, January 4.