Thursday! Its morning, and I still have no idea what I am going to be writing about. LOL Yeah, this blog is a little off-the-cuff, but then Life is a spontaneous thing with me. Yes, I do plan things, but I try not to plan down to minor minutiae. Besides, Life is sometimes fun when the unexpected happens… Four hours later, I’m still sort of struggling with what to write…LOL

This is something that tends to happen with me when I attempt to force my writing. Essentially, I just blank out and lock-up. Its definitely one of the things that I have learned to deal with over a great deal of years. Mostly, I just let things go, and write about whatever tends to come to my mind. if nothing comes, I tend not to write.

Which leads me to wonder…could this happen when dealing with your Paganism? Well, why not? In fact…let’s make Thursday a permanent “Thinking About…” topic time, eh?

Ever had that feeling with your Spiritual Path? Everything was so strong, vibrant, and just right there – and then all of a sudden, it wasn’t? Where you feel like you should be walking in the forests of northern California, and instead its like you’re walking through the scrub prairie of western Texas? ::Raising hand:: I’ve been there. More than once. That spiritual dry spell, where it feels like you’re never going to have the same connectivity ever again. Definitely a tough place to be. Worse, it seems like anywhere you go for advice, its like whoever you talk to just doesn’t quite “get” what’s going on with you. I’ve gone through those before. I’ll tell you about the worst one though.

I was in Germany. I had been stationed at Sembach Air Base for two years, and had the luxury of living in the middle part of the Palatinate Forest Nature Park. This is an area in southwestern to mid-western Germany which has deeply wooded areas that are protected by law. There are a handful of cities within the forested area as well as a fairly good number of towns, but these municipalities are strictly maintained so as not to encroach on the forested regions. At least not without environmental impact studies and a LOT of discussion from city and town councils beforehand. This forested area is OLD. The walking trails throughout are extremely numerous, well-walked, and extremely well-maintained by the local Forest Service. It is beautiful countryside, and the magick is deeply rooted here. It takes very little effort to reach out and find the Spirits of the Land, the Spirits of Place, and all the Otherworld denizens living here.

My first two years being stationed at this particular area of Germany were an absolute wonder to me. I had shaken off the label of Wicca, as well as large aspects of that practice because it just did not suit who I was. Instead, I adopted the perspective of being just a good ol’ Pagan. Nothing more than that. I figured if some system was right for me, it would have to hit me in the face. That would happen nearly decade later, but that’s a different perspective altogether.

The change over from all of that feeling, emotion, and magick being right at my fingertips disappeared overnight on one weekend. Suddenly, I felt nothing. No matter how hard I tried to reach out, no matter how hard I tried to find that feeling again – it was all gone. I literally felt like a man who had been blinded and left to wander a featureless void. I spent nearly every moment trying to figure out why things had happened. Why I couldn’t feel. I even considered that I might be ill or even depressed, and went to the local military hospital to be checked out. Even though I had suffered a tough time after Desert Shield/Desert Storm, the answers were no to medical issues – and a “maybe” to Psychological stress. I used to drink heavily to get beyond tough moments in life. But for this? I didn’t even want to touch alcohol, it just wasn’t something I felt an urge for.

In time, I would screw up, and this got me discharged from the Air Force – two years prior to the end of enlistment commitment. I was sent back to the States and essentially dumped at the duty station nearest my place of enlistment – Barksdale Air Force in Shreveport, Louisiana. I was still having issues with feeling in touch with my Paganism, and could feel myself drifting in Life because of that. This was a very low tide period of my life. I would eventually find new friends, and basically relearned about the spark of living life. That renewed energy helped to re-kindle the fire in my life with Paganism. And suddenly, I could feel things beyond me again. It took a lot to realize that it wasn’t Paganism leaving me, it was me trying to deal with a lot of complex and emotional aspects of my life. Once I got over the hurdle – or around the obstacle as I am more likely to say nowadays – I could see the Path ahead. And seeing the Path ahead is what makes the difference for me.

Consider this for a moment, you’re shut in because of this virus stuff…and you’re feeling like your Paganism, your Spirituality, your connectivity with the world is slowly starting to die….perhaps its not. Maybe, if you think things through, you’ll find that being stuck inside is causing you to lose your connectivity, that you need that fresh air. Take a quick 15-minute walk outside. Avoid people, just like you have been told to do. Just take a quick walk. Try not to touch things, and if you do…wash your hands the moment you get back home. But if you gotta get outside…get outside. If you have a backyard…visit it often. But most importantly….realize this: you’re not alone. If you’re reading this – you’ve got the internet. Write an Email to your friend. Do a video call with them, if your connection allows for that (I can’t do streaming where I am because the internet connection doesn’t have enough power to facilitate that type of connection). Yeah, it sucks that we are all seemingly stuck inside…but we don’t have to lose our Spiritual connections over it.

The time frame that I described above is 1993-1994, just a touch before the time of the commercial internet as we know it. The internet has helped to reduce the feeling of all of us being so far apart. The internet may not have been able to help me sort some of the things I had going on in my head, but it may certainly have put me in touch with the people I missed the most – the Pagans that I knew in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Keep that in mind…being able to connect and talk with others can be helpful. I, for one, am here. Should you need to talk: elfster@gmail.com is my Email address. I may not have any of the answers, but I will listen.

–T /|\