I feel like we’re in wrap up and catch up energies currently. I’m sure part of it is the fact that we’re coming up on October, which is a grief month for me, so my own personal energy is more sluggish. Not to mention everything that’s going on in the world. You’ll remember, a few months back, I said

September (here we go!) is when we’re really going to have to buckle down and do the hard work. This could lead to riots and panic. I see a disruption in the food supply in the US as we become more and more isolated from the rest of the world. Most of our fruit that doesn’t come from California comes from Brazil, and they’re not going to have the capacity to deal with their outbreak; they barely do now. If you preserve produce through canning and freezing, start doing it now (as in the end of June). California will fare better than a lot of places in the country, but it’s still going to be hard as we lose some of our “essential” workers (migrant labor) to C19.

It also looks like we’re ahead of schedule… I have mentioned that time is speeding up, right?

In October, the US has a chance of realizing we can’t do it our way and alone and starts to look for assistance outside of ourselves, but it may be too late. If localities (counties, states, or even regions) can cordon themselves off, they’re going to have a better chance.

I feel like fascism gets thrown around a lot lately, and it has muddied the waters, so let me go with Robert Paxton’s definition:

a form of political practice distinctive to the 20th century that arouses popular enthusiasm by sophisticated propaganda techniques for an anti-liberal, anti-socialist, violently exclusionary, expansionist nationalist agenda

There is a strong possibility that October is when those violently exclusionary tendencies become clearer in this country. Some people have been seeing them for a while, true. Let’s just say it ramps up.

There has been so much going on that we have no choice but to cut away some of the things which no longer serve us. It happens every year – as we approach the thinning of the veil in autumn, we start releasing so we can be ready to meet the dark of winter unburdened.

On the wheel of the year, between the Solstices and Equinoxes, are four midpoints, called cross-quarters. The veil tends to be thinnest then, especially the ones at the beginning of May and the beginning of November. The ones in February and August have an energy unto their own, which includes a thinner veil, but in a different way. At the cross-quarter in May, the thinning of the veil is more celebratory, and takes on the energy of the Fae. The autumnal one tends to connect us to the Ancestors (both of blood and not). None of us gets anywhere without the help of others. The Ancestors have laid the foundation for our progress. It is important to connect with them in gratitude year-round if we wish their continued assistance; this is the tie when we most likely feel their presence.

Take some time for yourself this month. Sit in silence. Assess what are the things you can let go of, whether they are ideas & beliefs, people, things… Do some work to start releasing. Look within. Try to discover your blind spots. Work to release those habits and proclivities that increase your sense of separation. Acknowledge where you think you know better than others what is best for them (you don’t, sorry). Do a little bit of house cleaning (interpret that as you will).

In the Lakota medicine wheel, the Women’s Lodge is the place of silence. We are not particularly comfortable, in American culture, with silence. We fill our lives with noise and activity, increasing our baseline stress levels, and contributing to the conditions that create anxiety disorders. Sit. Get quiet. Put the electronics away. Breathe. Listen to the silence.

And take a look at what the ancestors have given you. No matter how discordant your family of origin is, there are gifts. What is the energy of your family line? How can it be righted? Go into meditation and ask your ancestors for insight. Figure out what healing needs to happen, and follow that. If you need assistance, I’ll be doing my annual Healing the Ancestral Lineage workshop on November 7th. Whether you join us or not, the energy at this time is optimal for honoring, shifting, and healing ancestral energies. There are many traditions that offer ways to do that if you look around.