New Year's Musings
Jan. 8th, 2023 01:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
denebalgedi777It’s well into Capricorn season, so it is past due to get writing again. I missed the date of the anniversary retrospective that I had planned last month. However, there were good reasons for this. The holiday season ended up being unusually frenetic. All of a sudden group events materialized in quick succession and, along with the distractions of mundane life, it made the whole period from the Saturnalia until well into the New Calendar Year something of a blur. Then there was the small matter of the Mercury Retrograde, which happened just before New Year’s weekend. This is advantageous, though, because it is a capital period of time for looking backward.
The week before Christmas involved a major winter storm that had crippling effects across the entire country. The Pacific Northwest was encased in ice, the South received damaging thunderstorms and winds, and the Midwest, the place of my domicile, was hit by a heavy winter storm followed by brutal cold. This storm ended up going out to the East Coast and causing frightful blizzards there, while the polar wave of cold brought chilly weather as far south as Florida. The timing of the storm seemed ominous to say the least, but it also fits into the larger pattern of this winter season that began in November. There have been a lot of winter storms, and I now am most reluctant to brave them unless it is absolutely necessary. I already had to retrieve one relative’s car from a ditch.
2022 was a wild year, during which time so many of the verities of the period before were called into question or even reversed. It was the first “opened up” year in the world since the pandemic era, but the developments of the year were quite momentous albeit in a quiet sort of way (apart from the Russo-Ukrainian War of course). The age of high globalization appears to be receding before our very eyes. For me specifically, using the John Gilbert-style numerology introduced by John Michael Greer early last year, it was a 7 year. Seven years are always ones of considerable obstacles, but they usually also possess very clarifying spiritual lessons. That was certainly my experience of it, just like the previous ones I can recall (2013, 2004).
This writing project focused so far on the fairly narrow perspective of my own life, and that will probably change in the coming year. There will be more discussion of general interest, although I cannot help sharing anecdotes from my own life to some degree, since I like that sort of narrative and firsthand accounts of life as we navigate our way through this strange era of mankind’s history will no doubt add some individual character to an age defined by massively scaled and coldly impersonal collective institutions. There will be some discussions of (meta-level) politics, economics, culture, social relations and so on, albeit with my usual esoteric spin on things. Somewhere along the journey of my life, my earlier materialism fell apart and slowly I’ve come around to a more spiritual worldview.
The inception of this project came from reflections on John Michael Greer’s Ecosophian worldview, which I have followed with interest for some time. My idea originally was a reflective project involving both the careful observation of nature, and also my continually-unfolding spiritual ideals. The two could feed one another. The ancient Hellenes believed that nature sent signs and omens in the same way that the stars and dreams did. And to an extent, all of the living things on this earth share with us the “great work of creation” that Mr. Greer discussed on his blog when trying to describe the meaning of the word “magic”. In part, writing also provides the motivation to learn my land after a chaotic period of moving to a new locale.
I also blended a theme of local history with this as well, because I believe this is one of the central yearnings of the American spirit in this the new phase of our development as a nation. In Spenglerian terms, the United States of America were founded at a time when the Western or Faustian high culture was just reaching its period of civilization, defined here as the period when the majority of the populace lives in an urban environment and the cultural milieu shifts most of its energies to urban pursuits, particularly projects of scale. This period was in some ways very chaotic and filled with upheavals, and tended to make this country’s inhabitants rootless and wandering, the proverbial Fellaheen described in Spengler’s works.
However, there is in the American identity also a yearning for settlement and belonging, and for sense of place that was lost in the great age of upheaval. It has been seen in various times and places – the Transcendentalists and John Muir expressed a version of this in the 19th century, and then again in the 20th we saw it in people like Aldo Leopold, Sigurd F. Olson and even August Derleth to name a few. If the Faustian spirit is increasingly rootless and wandering, a tendency that will be with us for a long time to come, the American spirit has a spiritual connection with the land, and often to a town or region of birth as well. This spirit needs to be renewed from time to time, and I think the Ecosophian worldview is part of an attempt to recreate it anew in the public consciousness.
I have not visited a foreign country since 2019. Obviously, this was partly from necessity and through no fault of my own. I chose to interpret it as a call from the gods to reacquaint myself with my own country, so long neglected. I had started to do just this a few years before, during the time of my spiritual awakening. The image of a pilgrimage to parts of the country I’d never before seen took shape in my mind’s eye, and I began a series of camping trips to various regions, often ones that are well off the beaten path of tourists right down to the present moment. America is certainly still ripe for a rediscovery.
That was taken to the next level when a friend of mine proposed the idea of taking day trips to explore key features of the state. That project began in 2019 and has continued to the present day. We are not anywhere near exhausting the possibilities for this latter-day pilgrimage, and I don’t imagine we will be even in old age, should it continue for so long. If there is one piece of advice I could offer to wandering souls in an age of uncertainty, it is that there is often much of interest right under your nose if only you will go and see it. It does not require a fortune to see it. Some of the best times of my life in recent years required very small sums of money.
No matter where you happen to live, be it in America or in some other part of the world, there are probably areas of great interest within a drive of only a few hours. Or in the range of trains or hiking, should you be so minded. This, at any rate, was what I discovered in my travels around the Midwestern USA over the last 7 years. I suppose if there is one way I differ from the Ecosophians, it’s that I see some beautiful things about the Plutonian age that we live in. The motor car has eliminated distance in a way that allows whirlwind tours never seen in the history of mankind. It’s not an opportunity to be missed.
Happy 2023 and look for more frequent writings from Yours Truly,
Deneb Algedi 777
The week before Christmas involved a major winter storm that had crippling effects across the entire country. The Pacific Northwest was encased in ice, the South received damaging thunderstorms and winds, and the Midwest, the place of my domicile, was hit by a heavy winter storm followed by brutal cold. This storm ended up going out to the East Coast and causing frightful blizzards there, while the polar wave of cold brought chilly weather as far south as Florida. The timing of the storm seemed ominous to say the least, but it also fits into the larger pattern of this winter season that began in November. There have been a lot of winter storms, and I now am most reluctant to brave them unless it is absolutely necessary. I already had to retrieve one relative’s car from a ditch.
2022 was a wild year, during which time so many of the verities of the period before were called into question or even reversed. It was the first “opened up” year in the world since the pandemic era, but the developments of the year were quite momentous albeit in a quiet sort of way (apart from the Russo-Ukrainian War of course). The age of high globalization appears to be receding before our very eyes. For me specifically, using the John Gilbert-style numerology introduced by John Michael Greer early last year, it was a 7 year. Seven years are always ones of considerable obstacles, but they usually also possess very clarifying spiritual lessons. That was certainly my experience of it, just like the previous ones I can recall (2013, 2004).
This writing project focused so far on the fairly narrow perspective of my own life, and that will probably change in the coming year. There will be more discussion of general interest, although I cannot help sharing anecdotes from my own life to some degree, since I like that sort of narrative and firsthand accounts of life as we navigate our way through this strange era of mankind’s history will no doubt add some individual character to an age defined by massively scaled and coldly impersonal collective institutions. There will be some discussions of (meta-level) politics, economics, culture, social relations and so on, albeit with my usual esoteric spin on things. Somewhere along the journey of my life, my earlier materialism fell apart and slowly I’ve come around to a more spiritual worldview.
The inception of this project came from reflections on John Michael Greer’s Ecosophian worldview, which I have followed with interest for some time. My idea originally was a reflective project involving both the careful observation of nature, and also my continually-unfolding spiritual ideals. The two could feed one another. The ancient Hellenes believed that nature sent signs and omens in the same way that the stars and dreams did. And to an extent, all of the living things on this earth share with us the “great work of creation” that Mr. Greer discussed on his blog when trying to describe the meaning of the word “magic”. In part, writing also provides the motivation to learn my land after a chaotic period of moving to a new locale.
I also blended a theme of local history with this as well, because I believe this is one of the central yearnings of the American spirit in this the new phase of our development as a nation. In Spenglerian terms, the United States of America were founded at a time when the Western or Faustian high culture was just reaching its period of civilization, defined here as the period when the majority of the populace lives in an urban environment and the cultural milieu shifts most of its energies to urban pursuits, particularly projects of scale. This period was in some ways very chaotic and filled with upheavals, and tended to make this country’s inhabitants rootless and wandering, the proverbial Fellaheen described in Spengler’s works.
However, there is in the American identity also a yearning for settlement and belonging, and for sense of place that was lost in the great age of upheaval. It has been seen in various times and places – the Transcendentalists and John Muir expressed a version of this in the 19th century, and then again in the 20th we saw it in people like Aldo Leopold, Sigurd F. Olson and even August Derleth to name a few. If the Faustian spirit is increasingly rootless and wandering, a tendency that will be with us for a long time to come, the American spirit has a spiritual connection with the land, and often to a town or region of birth as well. This spirit needs to be renewed from time to time, and I think the Ecosophian worldview is part of an attempt to recreate it anew in the public consciousness.
I have not visited a foreign country since 2019. Obviously, this was partly from necessity and through no fault of my own. I chose to interpret it as a call from the gods to reacquaint myself with my own country, so long neglected. I had started to do just this a few years before, during the time of my spiritual awakening. The image of a pilgrimage to parts of the country I’d never before seen took shape in my mind’s eye, and I began a series of camping trips to various regions, often ones that are well off the beaten path of tourists right down to the present moment. America is certainly still ripe for a rediscovery.
That was taken to the next level when a friend of mine proposed the idea of taking day trips to explore key features of the state. That project began in 2019 and has continued to the present day. We are not anywhere near exhausting the possibilities for this latter-day pilgrimage, and I don’t imagine we will be even in old age, should it continue for so long. If there is one piece of advice I could offer to wandering souls in an age of uncertainty, it is that there is often much of interest right under your nose if only you will go and see it. It does not require a fortune to see it. Some of the best times of my life in recent years required very small sums of money.
No matter where you happen to live, be it in America or in some other part of the world, there are probably areas of great interest within a drive of only a few hours. Or in the range of trains or hiking, should you be so minded. This, at any rate, was what I discovered in my travels around the Midwestern USA over the last 7 years. I suppose if there is one way I differ from the Ecosophians, it’s that I see some beautiful things about the Plutonian age that we live in. The motor car has eliminated distance in a way that allows whirlwind tours never seen in the history of mankind. It’s not an opportunity to be missed.
Happy 2023 and look for more frequent writings from Yours Truly,
Deneb Algedi 777
