“This is the initiatory task of our time:
to reclaim and activate our united and intrinsic nature as Earthlings.”

I am sharing this on the eve of Winter Solstice, December 20, 2020. The end of one solar cycle and the beginning of a new one is prime time for engaging in the ancient practice of time travel. We arrive at the three times and pause. It helps to do it on purpose, so perhaps, if you’re willing, we could settle in for a brief reflection before proceeding.  

We arrive together here, at this place where the three times meet. We arrive to look forward and back, to travel in time.  Before we begin, bow again to the four directions, and to the earth below and the sky above. Feel yourself held in the circle of the world for a long moment. 

Now consider all of the ways that the past year challenged you and taught you. Consider all of the times that you met those lessons with willingness, curiosity, and integrity. Call to mind one specific thing from last year that brought you into greater honesty with yourself.  

WHERE WE’VE BEEN

For many of us, 2020 was at least two things: a highly personal year of facing circumstances that don’t serve our best interests, and the beginnings of a collective rite of passage. In numbers beyond counting we awakened to our shared power and responsibility to address — in earnest and with focused intent — the myriad threats to life everywhere. 

We were called into a time of profound introspection, with a tiny virus serving as our silent but potent teacher. And we grew familiar with the essential, and often fragile, underpinnings of day-to-day life.  

All through the year we adapted our daily lives and choices to a new understanding of the inextricable link between personal and planetary well-being. We were given an abundance of opportunity to learn about divisiveness and its perils. Whether in the social arena or between ourselves and the living body of Earth, the pain of separation became unavoidable. 

artwork by Hannah Lewis

Throughout 2020, the voices of all that have been excluded made themselves heard. Like a sudden turn of the dial, the frequency shift brought into clear relief the impact of centuries-old systems of dominance.  

We are ready for the year ahead because we have discovered the limits of individualism and speed; because we have learned what it is to have discipline amidst chaos; and because we’ve taken a dramatic step toward mutual care and understanding the radical interrelatedness of all life. 

Now here we are . . .  hanging out in the space between stories. But not for much longer.

The new story is pushing through, like a new Sun crowning. 

THE PATH AHEAD

If we have been preparing for a collective rite of passage, then we must consider what we are initiating into. We are learning about unity in 2021, but through the side door of our own personal assignments. This is the year to update your worldview while we all look for ways to rewrite humanity’s contract with itself and with Earth. Much of the work is at the level of values and convictions, so get your moral compass properly oriented. 

We enter at a moment when dualistic thinking has truly begun to dissolve, structural cracks have grown into chasms, and wildly new possibilities are presenting themselves.

The unexpected is all around, so we might as well ask: How would you most like the world to surprise you this year?  

In 2021 we discover a twist in the plot — one that brings our heroes (that’s us) stumbling through a timegate into a world with systems, norms, and collective goals in their early stages of formation. Now we begin in earnest to unravel the knotty business of addiction, delusion, trickery and lies (whether from within or without) that have hijacked our imagination, our bodies, the planet itself.  

We were told we are ‘other’ and that there are yet other ‘others’. We have served the agenda of strife by perpetuating exclusion as a strategy of survival. This is the year that we all can be stupefied by the sheer glory of humanity returning to its inherent wholeness. This is a time in which we must insist upon building the world we want by training in disciplined and joyful means, pacing ourselves, and caring for all of our relations — human and otherwise.

This is the initiatory task: to reclaim and activate our united and intrinsic nature as Earthlings.  

For those curious about the astrological backdrop, this is playing out as Saturn and Jupiter arrive together in Aquarius, ushering in the long-awaited change of the Ages. Much has been said about the new Aquarian age, as well as this year’s series of squares between Saturn and Uranus. I refer you to the capable astrologers in our community for a full discussion of these and other astro-themes for the year ahead.  

Unorthodox and heart-centered methods now present the most pragmatic path forward. The watery realms can teach a lot about connection, dissolution, and amplifying signals. Belief systems are up for renegotiation all year as we question our faith and long held cultural assumptions.

What if things are better than you think?  

I invite you to pause now and take a few deep breaths. As you consider the terrain of the coming year, with all of its knowns and unknowns, give yourself a picture of the world you would most like to come to life. Consider the days and months ahead as a tiny but consequential sliver in the span of geologic time. Imagine this near-future and write about it, describe it, bring back a single phrase, word, or image that you can carry as an inspiration and a personal north star. 


from Dreamfruit Almanac (c) 2020 by Elizabeth Russell

Artwork (c) Nancy Holt