I am looking out at the world through a haze of dark orange smog. While it doesn't seem to be quite as bad as what the east coast of the US experienced last week, it is nearly obscuring a church that is only three blocks away, and is literally (and metaphorically) casting a pall over the landscape. We've gone from very cool and crisp, almost fall-like, on Sunday to hot and hazy (but not smoky) yesterday, to warm and socked in with smoke today.
I am also looking out at a tree about eight feet from my window. It has a wonderful natural effect on the bark, a large "eye", almost like the eye of an owl. So I have taken to fancifully thinking of this winking owl as The Goddess. Now that I cannot see the lake for the trees, I "bow" to Her every morning, or thank Her. Interestingly, this tree is on its last legs. 'Nuff said.
Back in January, I wrote about joy, and I'm glad I could do a reasonably good job of it then, because joy has been hard to access in recent months. It is nearly impossible not to get caught up in the momentum of horrors, not to enmesh oneself in the hopelessness of an old paradigm's frenzied efforts to get a handle on all the conflict it has unleashed. Even the most cursory skimming of the news can leave one completely drained. Even the most thoughtful foray out into the world can further drain and demoralize. Where is the joy?
As ever, I have to remind myself, it can only be found within. Especially now (and in the foreseeable future). As earth's physical and spiritual energies are transformed (and those of humankind, being one with earth), it may be harder and harder for a time to find evidence of joy around us, and it is a high level spiritual challenge indeed to stay inherently joyful/joy-filled. But when I take my focus back and look at that eye of the Goddess (rather than at outward events), it centers me again. Another thing that makes me happy is the truth told by these events. Stepping back just one step from toxic smoke, or the derailment of vehicles carrying fuel, or the political free-for-all, or the senseless violence, one can see and hear the truth of who loves and who cannot, which situations are a product of love, and which are not. It's no accident: the 2020's were destined to give us an opportunity to see things more clearly, whether they are obscured by orange smoke or not.
