So apparently 2016 retrospectives and “2016 is back” are the current “in” things… followed closely by people explaining why 2016 retrospectives are the current “in” things.
If you don’t know what I’m talking about, here’s a piece from the BBC, one from USA Today, and a very good one from Glamour. In short, it’s part nostalgia, part fascination with 10-year increments, part realization that 2016 was a major turning point in Anglo-American history (the Brexit vote and the election of Donald Trump), and part the fact that a lot of people writing about these things were teenagers in 2016 and are now well into adulthood and of course their lives have changed a lot.
Still, I’m 60-something and the 2016-2026 significance rings true to me.
2016: some good, some bad
Lots of good things happened for me in 2016. I signed the contract for The Path of Paganism – it would be published in 2017. I made my second visit to Ireland and my first visit to Scotland, which included seeing the Gundestrup Cauldron in Edinburgh. I presented at four major Pagan gatherings, including Pantheacon. There was a lot of good stuff going on in my local Pagan community, both in public and in private. I performed the Headless Rite – the impact was significant.
It wasn’t all good. I injured my back – it would take four years to heal. Some of the private local work I and others started didn’t end the way we hoped. The polytheist movement – which just a couple years earlier had seemed so promising – disintegrated into infighting, more over personalities and politics than over theology and practice.
And it didn’t take till the end of the year – or until November 8 – to realize that the era of major upheaval some of us had been predicting was already with us. In October I wrote a post titled Samhain – Burning the Old Year where I said “it is the turning of the year that interests me most this Samhain, because this year can’t end soon enough.”
So when I see people saying “2026 is the new 2016” my first reaction is “that’s not really a good thing.”
The end result of years of action – and inaction
A year is a scientific phenomenon caused by the revolution of the Earth around the Sun, but the numbering of years and especially their start and end dates are arbitrary human creations. While it’s meaningful to mark the end of one year and the beginning of the next, few things actually start and end with the changing of the calendar.
Those of us who warned about Tower Time – whether by that name or by a more generic “all this stuff” – started talking about it around 2010. I was called a fear monger more than once. Byron Ballard – who coined the term “Tower Time” – expressed sympathy with Cassandra on many occasions.
We weren’t making it up. Part of it was listening to our Gods (especially the Morrigan) and ancestors. Part was paying attention to events in this world and between the worlds.
The midterm election of 2014 was huge. Mitch McConnell and the Republicans took over the Senate, blocked everything Barack Obama tried to do, and began the process of remaking the federal judiciary to their liking. The 2022 Dobbs decision eliminating abortion rights – something the far right had been working on for decades – flowed directly from the 2014 election.
That election – and the disastrous election two years later – flowed from the inability of Obama and the Democratic Congress to substantially improve people’s lives in the previous six years. That in turn flowed from the Great Recession and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan during the Bush administration.
Author Ernest Hemingway had one of his characters explain how he went bankrupt: “gradually, then suddenly.” The same can be said for many of the losses we’re experiencing now.
A temporary reprieve or long-term change?
In the political sphere, 2026 might be not a repeat of 2016 but the inverse of 2014 – a midterm election that renders Trump ineffective for his final two years. Gerrymandering of the House and the staggered cycle of the Senate make it unlikely we’ll see a blue wave, but Trump is alienating everyone except his base (which remains formidable) so maybe we will.
And given his health, he could be gone at any time. Not that J.D. Vance would be substantially better, but at least Vance isn’t a raving egomaniac.
But I’ll repeat what I’ve said many times since 2016: Trump is the symptom, not the cause. Until we address the structural issues that give people an excuse to vote for white Christian nationalists, and until we change the culture to where people no longer want to buy what they’re selling, this problem will keep coming up over and over again – as it’s coming up in other countries around the world.
2016 to 2026 – spiritual rhyming
When I look at the Top 10 Posts of 2016, I see some real spiritual depth: the Otherworld, deeper practice, the nature of the Gods, and more. When I look at the rest of list after the top 10 (yes, I still have the data) I see a lot more polytheist theology and practice. This was the last big year of the polytheist movement as a popular phenomenon, so I wouldn’t expect to see a repeat of these exact topics in 2026. But as the old saying goes, history doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes.
What does spiritual rhyming look like in 2026?
Repeating Pagan themes in 2026
Certainly one major theme is witchcraft. Bad times inspire people to look for ways to improve their situations – or just to protect themselves – and witchcraft is one way to do that. There’s plenty of “witch content” on social media ranging from cosplaying fictional witches to traditional witchcraft to Gardnerian Wicca to the kind of mythological witchcraft and practical magic I practice (what do I mean by “mythological witchcraft and practical magic”? That phrase just popped into my head – I’m going to have to unpack it in a future post).
Part of it is still devotion. The people who were into polytheism in 2016 because it was the cool new thing are gone, but those of us who have experienced the Gods and have formed relationships with them remain. We’re still saying prayers, making offerings, and listening for their voices. The Morrigan, Odin, Hekate, and Isis are still very active in our world, and Brighid continues to quietly call people to practice hospitality in these inhospitable times. So do others. Those who will listen can hear.
Divination is important. As with witchcraft, people have historically turned to divination to help them in difficult times. Divination can’t tell us what to do, but it can show us what’s coming so we can be prepared for it. My Tarot reading for this year was quite positive. I don’t see how that’s going to be, but this is January and lots of things can happen between now and the end of December. Making wise decisions (the Queen of Swords) is always important – this year even more so.
My own 2016 – 2026 similarities
In 2016 I was making plans to step aside as Coordinating Officer of Denton CUUPS. I had a plan for what I was going to do next, but it didn’t work out the way I expected. The pandemic had a lot to do with that, but so did other factors. In 2026 I’m making plans to retire from my paying job and move out of Texas. I’m not sure if that will happen in 2027, 2028, or when – I’ll make that decision later this year. I have a general plan for what comes next spiritually, but that’s likely going to be something I have to build as I go.
In 2016 I took an amazing trip to a place I had always wanted to visit. In 2026, I have a trip booked to a place I’ve wanted to visit even more. If you know, please continue to keep silence. If you don’t know, check Facebook and Instagram in late March, or here when I get back in early April.
In 2016 blog traffic took a big jump up and would continue growing through 2020. In 2026 blog traffic is a fraction of what it was then. My goal this year is to experiment with my public Paganism and see what would be best long-term.
In my personal review of 2016, I wrote that despite all the troubles “something about this year feels right, like I did what I was supposed to do.” 2017 was a very good year for me, even though there was a lot of political and social stress, in large part because I did what I was supposed to do in 2016. I built a foundation for future success.
I’m confident that if I do what I’m supposed to do in 2026 (by my own standards, not by anyone else’s), my 2027 will be even better.
I’m pretty sure the same will hold true for you.
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