![\"photo](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2023\/06\/hawk-06.24.23-03-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nA look back at Divination for 2023<\/h2>\n
As I do every year, I began this year with a Tarot reading<\/a> asking \u201cwhat does the new year hold for me and mine?\u201d The key theme was that 2023 was not going to be 2020 Part IV. So far that\u2019s been true. We haven\u2019t gone back to life before Covid, but the massive disruption caused by the pandemic is pretty much done. At the same time, the reading cautioned us to keep our focus on \u201cthis year\u2019s business\u201d and not get caught up the future (like the 2024 Presidential election).<\/p>\n Skeptics will argue that reading was vague. Of course it was vague \u2013 what else can you expect from a Tarot reading for an entire year? Divination works best when it\u2019s focused on a specific question. But divining on general questions can give us themes and trends, and those can be helpful in understanding what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not good at focusing on the present \u2013 I\u2019m always looking for the next step, the next big thing. But this year I started something I\u2019ve found helpful. I have three hypersigils<\/a> going, long-term magical workings supported by visualizations and other magic. Every time I charge them, I end by asking myself \u201cwhat can I do today to move me closer this destination?\u201d<\/p>\n Most times that\u2019s something simple: do my daily devotions. Write. Walk. Do a bit of maintenance on the house, or somewhere else in my life. Occasionally it\u2019s something bigger: plan a trip or a ritual, or do the trip or ritual. The point is to focus on today while keeping a better future in mind.<\/p>\n So far so good.<\/p>\n In March several of us wrote about The Great War in the Otherworld and in this World<\/a>. We\u2019re seeing wars in this world \u2013 including the literal war in Ukraine \u2013 and we\u2019re seeing wars in the Otherworld, including fighting by what Morgan Daimler calls Basd\u00e1n, \u201cthose who seek to unmake all things.\u201d<\/p>\n Our talk of the Great War faded in the second quarter, but that doesn\u2019t mean the war has gone away. Far from it. On the this-world side, states like Florida and Texas have passed new laws attacking LGBTQ people, especially trans kids. The Supreme Court continues to remake the country in accordance with its radical \u201coriginalist<\/a>\u201d philosophy.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not sure what\u2019s happening on the Otherworld side. I get bits of UPG about it from time to time, but nothing recently. My current work in this area is focused on defensive magic.<\/p>\n What\u2019s important to remember is that this is a multi-polar conflict and it won\u2019t be over any time soon. Pick a side and pay attention.<\/p>\n It\u2019s easy to get caught up in all the bad stuff going on, and especially in the scary directions things are headed. And while we need to pay attention, we still need joy in our lives. Another post from earlier this year was Scheduling Joy<\/a>. Spontaneity is great, but if we wait for good things to happen spontaneously we may be waiting a long time. Joy can\u2019t be commanded, but we can schedule time doing the kind of things that make joy more likely.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve done better with this in the first half of 2023. Part of that was a two-week trip to Alaska, where I saw more wildlife than I\u2019ve ever seen before (Hail Cernunnos!). But a bigger part has been doing more of the ordinary things that I enjoy doing. Some of that is my Pagan work that brings me satisfaction. But it\u2019s also reading a couple of new books, and finding some old movies on the streaming services that I saw as a kid and wanted to see again, or couldn\u2019t see as a kid but now I can.<\/p>\n Make time for the things that bring pleasure and joy into your life, even if you have to schedule them. Especially if you have to schedule them.<\/p>\n I set some personal goals this year, as I do every year. Some of them are too personal to discuss, but I will mention two of them.<\/p>\n One is walking. I\u2019ve been walking for exercise \u2013 and because I enjoy it \u2013 for many years. Last year I started tracking my walks, and I quickly found that keeping score means I take things more seriously. This year I set a goal to increase both the frequency and distance of my walking.<\/p>\n So far so good \u2013 I\u2019m on track to exceed my goals. And I walked 8.5 miles one Saturday morning in April, the longest I\u2019ve covered since I stopped running in 2004. It\u2019s hard to go that far in the Texas heat, but I can do shorter walks in the Summer, then extend them out again in the Fall.<\/p>\n The other personal goal I want to mention is home improvement. Our house is 30 years old this year, and while we\u2019ve kept up with maintenance, there are some things that could use some serious updates \u2013 mainly in the bathrooms. We had planned to renovate them this year.<\/p>\n And in then we had a lightning strike in February. It took out some electronics and one of our furnaces. That furnace and the associated air conditioner were 15 years old \u2013 too old to repair. So we replaced them. Between high deductibles and the age of the equipment, insurance paid almost nothing. That ate up our home improvement budget for the year. It needed to be done, and it\u2019s better to replace an air conditioner in February than in July. But that pushed the bathrooms back to next year.<\/p>\n You can plan all you want, but sometimes you have to be flexible.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not going to do a big Tarot reading for the second half. The reading in January was for the full year and it\u2019s still very relevant. But I did pull three cards \u2013 consider them \u201cclarifying cards\u201d for the January reading.<\/p>\n The Lovers speaks to the need to build and strengthen our relationships, especially our closest relationships. The 10 of Cauldrons shows what we\u2019ll get if we do \u2013 a solid family, in the broadest and most inclusive definition of \u201cfamily.\u201d And the 10 of Wands reminds us that there\u2019s a lot of work left to be done this year. That has a specific meaning for me that I\u2019m not going to discuss, but I will say it\u2019s a reminder to quick procrastinating on something that\u2019s rather important.<\/p>\n Beyond that, I like my schedule for the second half of the year. It kicks off with two presentations at Mystic South<\/a> next week. I have another UTAO Online Class<\/a> coming in the Fall, a driving trip in October, and the usual Winter holidays in December. Plus some local things that will both move my life in the direction I want it to go and also (hopefully) bring some joy.<\/p>\n The economy (at least in the United States) is improving. Inflation is moderating and unemployment remains low, despite the Federal Reserve raising interest rates to levels not seen since before the Great Recession. Things aren\u2019t ideal, but considering where we\u2019ve been since 2020, they\u2019re not bad. I\u2019m concerned about the overall political environment, but that\u2019s mainly a 2024 thing.<\/p>\n What will happen with the Great War? I have no idea, other than it\u2019s not going away. Keep paying attention and keep responding as you\u2019re inspired, and as you\u2019re able.<\/p>\n My first half of 2023 has been good. Not great, but overall it\u2019s been good. I\u2019m looking forward to the second half.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It seems impossible that we\u2019re halfway through 2023. Still, here we are at the first of July, with six months behind us and six months left to go. How\u2019s your year going? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1129,"featured_media":28994,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[272],"tags":[4293,81,4,5],"class_list":["post-28982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-2","tag-2023-predictions","tag-divination","tag-pagan","tag-paganism"],"yoast_head":"\n<\/a>The Great War<\/h2>\n
Scheduling joy<\/h2>\n
<\/a>Personal goals<\/h2>\n
The outlook for the second half of 2023<\/h2>\n
<\/a>