August & summer's slow end...

Leo 1 & 2 // a special election & thoughts on autonomy

Happy Leo season, everyone! It’s finally August - my favorite month of the year! I’ve always loved this turn of the wheel and

Antonia Malchik

said it so perfectly in her beautiful post this week:

The tension of relentlessly long days starts to ease enough that I can once again light a candle in the dark when I do my early morning writing, and see the stars and Moon before going to sleep at night. I’ve missed them. …looking at the short season of growth and ripening that has barely begun, and the long months of dark and cold ahead and thinking, “How will I feed everyone?” When my fingers are often sticky and always stained—from beets, or huckleberries, or just plain dirt—and I’m fueled by what most people would probably think is too much borscht and the pen and paper on my desk start to look a little like foreign countries for a while.

I am relishing the earlier sunsets, the few remaining fireflies, the song of the cicadas coming through my window in the evening (it’s finally cool enough to open them up!), and my inner need to clean, prep, preserve. I’m also anxiously looking forward to a time when I can make pots of soup and finally have the time to sit down and write! Summer is in full swing, but the cooler, darker evenings let us know that the dark half of the year is on its way. This liminal space between abundance and decline calls to my soul. It doesn’t hurt that my birthday is at the end of the month too.

Lughnasa was on August 1st this year - the halfway point between summer solstice & fall equinox. My oldest and I made focaccia, as it was often a tradition to bake bread at this first fruits festival¹. We also harvested some of our abundant basil and sage (maybe make some sage honey soon?), and topped our focaccia with mountains of fresh tomato. I think another thing I love about this month is how all my favorite produce is in season: melons, tomatoes, raspberries! Glory, hallelujah!

Focaccia for Summer’s Slow End

The first week of the month falls in the first decan of Leo, and our tarot card is 5 of wands. In the card a group of people (or in my case, crows) seem to be sparring with 5 wands. No blood is drawn, but there is conflict. I write this on the day of a special election in Ohio - very 5 of wands energy. And the second decan is 6 wands where one combatant overcomes to “rule them all.” These cards have me thinking about the state of our world and politics specifically. It reminds me of how often our political discourse can feel like sparring - everyone throwing words at each other, trying to strike blows (proverbially, hopefully) and ultimately trying to get their preferred candidate (or position) to the top.

5 & 6 of Wands from Crow Tarot, because I literally had 5 crows in my front yard earlier this week!!

But the triumphant 6 is not exactly a positive card - Who triumphs? Who gets their moment in the sun? It’s not always the person you want. What then?

The Issue on the ballot in my state is a fundamental one - should we raise the the threshold required to make a constitutional amendment? Or put another way, should Ohio abolish the basic right of majority rule? People are sparring alright - and what issue is so concerning to our Republican state leaders that they would want to ensure the people don’t have a voice? The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety. Obviously.

God forbid a woman have the right to health and safety.You know, because we were the state where a 10 year-old rape victim had to travel to Indiana to receive appropriate care. The proposed amendment (set for November) still prohibits some abortion, but it is widely supported by both Democratic & Republican Ohioans. That’s why Issue 1 is attempting to silence the majority.

I’m reading (coincidentally) memoirs of people escaping/leaving high-control religion lately. It’s been an accidental pattern in my reading habits, but every time I find one I just can’t seem to put it down. The threads of narcissism, emotional immaturity, fear-based propaganda, toxic theology, and control run through all of them. I’m not going to make a blanket statement about any political party because groups are always made up of diverse individuals, but what I see in MY corner of the world coming out of the conservative Republican Party has all the same red flags. And who are some of the biggest champions of these political leaders and positions? Evangelical pastors².

Like

Christine Greenwald

said this week: why do narcissism & evangelicals often go together? Why must narcissistic, charismatic men continue to charm their way into positions of power, and then hold that power by indoctrinating their communities with gross, uninspired theology.

I’ve been swinging between hope and numb cynicism this week. Hope, because any time I go out to vote I am inspired to see all the people exercising their right to try and make the world a little better. But also cynical, because my body remembers the disappointment of just a few years ago when elections did not turn out as expected, and we are still feeling the consequences.

Sacred work: standing in the long line (in the rain) to early vote.

I have no idea how this election will turn out. My gut tells me one thing, my head another. I’m so sick of the sparring and especially the political pandering by conservative pastors in my city. It’s so demoralizing to see the lengths they’ll go for money and power………… like Jesus?? I don’t know who will have their moment in the sun, but I know that the wheel will keep turning and I will keep showing up.

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Memoirs of leaving high-control religion, or a list of books that my inner child is apparently really needing these days:

• All of Us Together in the End - lyrical, hopeful, paranormal

• Women We Buried, Women We Burned - heart-breaking, adventurous, resilient

• Forager: Field Notes for Surviving a Family Cult - wild, dark, courageous

I don’t usually write about politics, but when I do it’s usually because some conservative ass-hat has triggered my religious trauma - so that’s where I’m at today. Abortions are healthcare. The end. Here’s a photo of my end-of-summer-altar, full of sunflowers and honey and butterflies. May we have lion-hearted courage in the face of the unknown. Like Hagrid said, “What’s comin will come, an’ we’ll meet it when it does.”

So long, summer…

1. I absolutely loved

Amanda Yates Garcia

idea to allow this festival season to remind us to honor the people who harvest our food even now - I pass along her invitation to donate to Justice for Migrant Women. May our rituals and celebrations always connect us back to the earth and each other!

2. The white ones, mostly.