Well, I hope that title and image got your attention in the middle of summer (in the Northern Hemisphere)! I looked at my calendar last night and saw that today's new moon marks the beginning of the Holly month in the Beth-Luis-Nion system. I have been enjoying working with that system this year. Even though I know that is is a modern construction it seems to suit me very well right now.
As I have shared before, I am a lover of winter, and no great fan of hot weather. So, even though He is also a construct, I have a special place in my heart for the Holly King as a personification of the waning, cooling half of the year. At Midsummer I do my best to comfort myself with the thought things are turning toward the time of year when I am more able to be active outdoors, as well as looking forward to those wonderful late mornings and long evenings. I suppose you could say that I endure summer in the same way that many people put up with winter. Ah, well! To each their own.
Things are out of balance, though. These days I can't help but feel that the Oak King is winning the war, rather than just one half of the cyclical battle. Although every year is different, many of us can perceive the increasing warmth of the weather all year 'round. And if we can't, there is always NASA, or some other batch of scientists calling our attention to the indisputable facts of global warming, already happening. These are no longer warnings, now they are just reports. Like many, I am sad and angry about this, and the worst aspect is my inability to change it. I am sad to see the combination of our carbon addiction, and our unbridled population growth destroying wholesale that which I think of as Nature.
My own belief is that my gods arose from Nature, and what is happening now is as inexplicable to me as it must be for a small child to see their city bombed, their home burned down and their mother violated. I find myself thankful that I am sixty years old. Thankful that I don't have children and grandchildren. These are tough times. I find myself looking to the past for some kind of map. What answers did Lailoken find after the battle of Arfderydd? How did the people of "Doggerland" cope when their world was drowning? Sadly, the devastated often fail to leave much in the way of inspirational memes for us to grasp onto. We must draw the map as we go.
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