power grab

Momentous Week – Day 1051

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Skyrunner Leaping Over Obstacles – Photo: L. Weikel

Momentous Week

No matter how you look at it, this is going to be a momentous week in the history of our country. I know, I know. It’s as if we live in a land of hyperbole anymore. “The most consequential election.” “ The worst (and most) wildfires ever.” “The scariest pandemic in a century.” We all know I could fill the page with the myriad examples of extremes being exceeded we find ourselves dealing with every day.

All of which is why I don’t toss out that first sentence lightly.

So much has changed in the past five years or so (and that’s only the most accelerated change) that it’s virtually guaranteed that the direction our country takes by the end of this week could easily mark a mass transformation of the trajectory of our country. We will either be poised to meet the future with optimism via a change of perspective and values or we will be hamstrung by the old way of doing everything and subject to oppression by the moneyed few.

Infrastructure Impacts All of Us

If our lawmakers pass both infrastructure bills, we will begin addressing climate change as a priority, thereby enormously benefiting the planet and humanity but also, on a smaller scale, creating a huge new sector of quality jobs that will finally begin re-growing the middle class.

If the entire Biden agenda is not enacted and the more ambitious of the two bills is ‘postponed’ (read: smothered), a startlingly large portion of our country will plunge into even greater despair than many of us imagined possible during the Trump presidency. Those most disappointed and despairing will include vast swaths of precisely those who profess cynicism and mistrust of ‘the government.’ I truly believe most people who hold extreme views of our country are actually people who have lost hope that anyone will actually pass laws that benefit them.

They no longer believe that our country is one where those who commit great crimes are held accountable. How many of us despair of ever seeing justice truly meted out to those most egregiously and blatantly giving the finger to all of us who do actually play by the rules?

Held Hostage

Now? Let’s face it. We are being held hostage by a cynical minority that cares only about its ability to wield power and nothing about the common good. They don’t care about us.

We have to care. It is up to all of us to stop believing the lies and stop cowering in fear of each other. The only cheaters are those accusing everyone else of cheating. The actual liars are those caught lying over and over to all of us – but are never held accountable.

Those who are busy stoking our fears of anyone who doesn’t look like us are the ones who want us to give up on our country (and fellow citizens), baselessly reject our long-standing ability to conduct free and fair elections, and smear our internal and international reputation for being a place where honest work, integrity and innovation are rewarded and celebrated.

The Outlook

I’m sure you haven’t noticed that I’m fired up about both the stakes involved in passage of the infrastructure bills as well as the craven brinksmanship and utter disregard for our country being shown by the Republicans’ refusal to raise the debt ceiling. Their behavior is akin to a fanatic holding a gun to their own head. And the filibuster is a relic that is killing our democracy.

So what is the outlook as this week unfolds? What might be in store for us as the battle for our democracy unfolds before our eyes? I asked Ellen Lorenzi-Prince’s Tarot of the Crone for insight, since a Crone is probably the only one brave enough to look this stuff in the face and call it the way she sees it. This is what she said:

I – Magician – Tarot of the Crone by Ellen Lorenzi-Prince

I – Magician

I am the Something

That comes from Nothing

I am the Mistress of Illusion

I am the Mistress of Reality

I am the One

Who Passes between

A mask with living eyes bursts out from the darkness of a cave. The Magician is the force that can manifest itself out of the void and out into the world. She is the ability to appear and act as one wills, the confidence to live one’s own life and no other and the power of originality. But the mask is also illusion. Your very body is the mask your soul wears, how your soul happened into flesh at the time of your birth. The Magician is one who knows both reality and illusion and who crosses between.

The animal of the mask is the Crone manifesting in the form of her familiar, her first companion and her aide in the making of magic. Magic crosses the boundaries between worlds, bringing the energies of spirit into form and dissolving forms back into essences. Magic will do the same for you, if you have the courage and the confidence to take it into your hands and shape it to your will.

The Outcome

Four of Swords – Tarot of the Crone by Ellen Lorenzi-Prince

Four of Swords – Reason

Necessity to guide me

Purpose to ground me

Construction begins

Construction to last

Four blades of a windmill stretch in each direction in a gentle sky. Solidity in thinking is represented by Reason. There are no figures in this card, illustrating how reason’s products and effects can appear disassociated from human sensibility. Yet the card also shows how the power of logical thought and planning can benefit humanity, by harnessing natural power and building the structures that define civilization. Clarity of thought, separated from both desire and daily routine, will redefine the problem and provide the steps necessary to resolve it.

The Obvious

My interpretation of the guidance represented by these cards is that if anyone has the ability to be a Magician in the circumstances our country and Congress is facing, it’s Madame Speaker. Love her or hate her, she is a Magician when it comes to doing her job. And unlike another arguable “Master” of the realm, she genuinely has the wellbeing of the populace at heart. She actually cares about regular people and wants all of us to have a better quality of life – and hope for our future.

The Outlook card, the Four of Swords, sure seems to indicate that perhaps – just maybe – our country really may begin the process of rebuilding our infrastructure after this week. We will begin to harness our natural power, which includes our innovation and optimism. Given even half a fighting chance, our country can rebound from the pall that’s come over the majority of our population over the past 40 years. We can begin making things again. We can create a country and a world that’s sustainable and in harmony with Mother Nature. We just have to have the will to do it.

Maybe we can learn something from the Magician in the House.

(I gotta believe.)

(T-60)

Fork – Day 769

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A Gigantic Fork – Photo: L. Weikel

Fork

The photo above is of a gargantuan fork that’s been in our cutlery drawer for several decades. I put a pen beside it to give context to the extraordinary size of that fork. But even with that, I doubt you’re getting the full flavor of what I’m trying to convey.

But what I may be struggling to convey in the photo is actually something I sense we’re all feeling. Something we all know, at the deepest level of our being.

“Stick a fork in me; I’m done.” Or perhaps more accurately: “Stick a fork in us; we’re done.”

That’s the sentiment I’m feeling at the moment, and it’s threatening to overwhelm me. I don’t think I’m speaking solely for myself, either. Far from it.

So What’s My Deal?

I can’t say for sure. Perhaps this is part of what I ‘do’ in the world. I pay attention to what’s happening in our shared reality and do my best to hold space in my heart for others. We can’t all be on the front lines, after all. We can’t all be reporting on it, either. Not all of us are trained for – or even suited to – engaging in what, at this moment in our evolution, feels like exacting the greatest of sacrifices day in and day out.

But even though I’m not doing it myself, I’m paying attention. I’m also paying attention (on behalf of those who are so engrossed in the day to day efforts of keeping people alive and safe) to what is going on at the highest levels of our government, right before our very eyes. There is a concerted effort, it seems, to rip us asunder while we’re all preoccupied with exponential infection rates and vertical hospitalization and death rates.

While we fight for survival, we’re being taken to the cleaners. Sold out. Compromised in the worst ways. It’s a cynical and even diabolical calculation. But it must be called out. We must each do our part to end the madness.

What’s Our Deal?

We need to stay home. We need to be smart and vigilant and take this threat to our health seriously. We would be wise to pay attention to what we have and what we cherish – and resist the temptation to lament what we’re being asked to forego for a few days, weeks, or months.

We need to stick a fork in our belligerent refusal to acknowledge the astounding suffering of so many in our country (and around the world, but especially here). It’s done. It serves no one – except, perhaps, those who are banking on our preoccupation.

Things are getting worse. All the warnings about what would happen if people ignored the warnings about gathering at Thanksgiving are coming to pass. A single county in California just logged 100,000 new cases in the past week. And yet people shop and carry on – as if nothing is happening.

We can see – right before our eyes – what will happen a month from now. Only it will be worse. Guaranteed.

We need to stick a gargantuan fork in our denial of reality because it’s killing us and distracting us. We must refuse to be distracted any longer.

We’re Better Than This

It’s time to take responsibility for ourselves and each other. If there’s a strain of Covid that’s in the UK that’s spreading at a rate 70% faster than what we’re encountering now, we need to be smart. We need to take even greater precautions than what’s being asked of us. We need to stop living in denial and realize that what they’re dealing with, we’ll be dealing with in the blink of an eye.

We need to love ourselves and each other enough to realize that we’re in this together.

We need to stick a fork in our selfish ways. Ultimately, those ways are hurting us all. They’re breaking our hearts, wearing us down, and sapping our will to be kind and courageous. And perhaps worst of all, they’re serving those who want us distracted from an unprecedented power grab that could have untold implications.

We must find our will. We must be vigilant. We must find our compassion.

And we must remember: we’re better than this.

(T-342)

Blend Into the Background – Day 680

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 Marsh Wren – Blending In; Photo: L. Weikel

Blend Into the Background

Oh my goodness. The past few evenings have been quite the shock to my system! The chilly edge to the air takes my breath away and makes me feel – I don’t know – vulnerable. And I’m not even sure I could answer if you asked me, “Vulnerable to what?” It’s a rather ineffable sense. Nevertheless, I must admit, I’m feeling a strong urge to just stop, step back, and blend into the background.

Since the death of RBG, I’ve not paid quite as much attention to the news. Actually, I don’t know if that’s exactly true. It wasn’t immediately upon her passing that I withdrew from tracking the news. It was more like 18 hours later. It was when I saw that trusting Republicans to behave with any semblance of integrity or honor was fruitless and a fool’s errand.

There is no sense of decorum being exhibited by the Republicans nor is there even the remotest attempt to honor the historic recognition of the most basic of moral consistency or responsibility to telling the truth. I guess I knew it when the Senate refused to convict and remove DT for his corrupt solicitation of Ukraine. Or at least I should have known, since they broadcast their willingness to tolerate obvious malfeasance if the purveyor of that corruption would garner them more power.

Stepping Back

I’m feeling the need to step back and blend into the background. The assaults on my fundamental belief that people will inherently do what is right in matters of grave consequence are taking their toll. I am seeing with stark clarity that the acquisition and retention of power is everything to Trump Republicans. And yes, I do see a difference between Trump Republicans and the Republicans I knew growing up – my parents, just to name two off the top of my head.

The reason for feeling I must step back at this moment is because it is crystal clear that nothing will persuade Trump Republicans to act with integrity. There is no appealing to their sense of right or wrong, their sense of decency, or even their own sense of shame over blatantly bulldozing through supposed behavioral firewalls they professed that they could be held to account over.

Nothing matters to them other than accruing and wielding power. And winning. So much winning. Who cares if it’s at the expense of their integrity? Or causes the death of fellow citizens. What a laugh.

Marsh Wren going about it’s business – Photo: L. Weikel

Stop Wasting Energy

And so, blending into the background feels appropriate at this moment. Not because I’m giving up. Not because I have any intention of running away. Rather, it’s time for me (and all of us) to stop wasting energy expecting anything from them but the most selfish and self-serving choices and actions in any given situation, especially those pertaining to power in any form. Instead, we need to gather our resources.

Don’t waste your breath arguing. Don’t waste your time trying to shame them or appeal to their sense of decency. Instead, we are best served by blending into the background and strategizing how to counter the treachery. Imagine the worst case scenarios and plan for them. For they are broadcasting their intentions loud and clear. Everything they accuse Democrats of doing and plotting is precisely their own game plan. How many times must we see this play out?

Get quiet. Take a few steps back. Instead of expressing surprise yet again at their behavior and lack of character, pay careful attention. Observe what they’re broadcasting is their intention. How do we do that? Listen to what they’re screaming that Democrats will do to subvert the election. Listen to what they repeat over and over again will happen after November 3rd. Listen to the dire predictions of armed ‘insurrection.’ Why? Because that’s their  plan. They’re broadcasting it.

So we must stop, step back, blend into the background, and prepare.

Let’s get smart and stop falling for the bullshit.

(T-431)