(This original article appeared on a blog I started in 2016. In some small way I felt I needed to speak out, only if it was just a catharsis for myself. Since then I’ve watched, as we all have, a circus of politics and media that makes me sad for our country. I post this now with the intent holding true, but with the post-script being that it’s time to quit talking and start acting. It’s time to start bringing people together to start healing instead of pulling people apart and perpetuating the suffering.)

The idea for this website has been a long time in the making. The concepts and ideas that I want to put forth have been growing and maturing as long as my personal spiritual path has been winding through the course of time. That said, however, with recent political and social events, it seemed like there was never going to be a better time.

On November 8, 2016 we elected a new president. I’m going to try to refrain from adding in too much of my own personal feelings on the actual outcome, but I will say that with the election and the lead up to it, we are a nation in desperate need of healing.

Candidates on both sides of the fence made us face real questions about things like morality, truthfulness, and compassion. At least one candidate brought up some extremely hurtful and distressing questions about the way they view women, minorities, and the nature of a world that I believe most of us would be loath to live in. The political theater has been bathed in grossly demoralizing energy that belies fundamental human needs and desires for understanding, compassion, respect, and love. Politics, however, has always been a messy business. What I found even more troubling was our own treatment of other people; our neighbors and even our family members, who didn’t agree with our opinions.

Social media has given us an unabated voice that is often not checked with a compassionate heart before wielding daggers of words and energies towards our victims. The scars that these attacks leave are just as real and just as painful as any physical attack on another human being.

Emotions ran high during the last weeks and months, and it’s understandable why. Frustration with the establishment, opposing views that were often contradictory even among members of the same group, and the need for drama over substance in the reporting of it all, created a world where we needed to feel some control and feel like we had a voice. Unfortunately, however, that voice often came at a high cost when we allowed ourselves to speak from anger and fear and not from a place of centered thought and grounded emotions.

During the course of the campaign I witnessed people that I understood to be good people overlook things that fundamentally are unforgivable. To say that degrading remarks about women should be overlooked because of a “greater threat” to our nation is to violate the very hearts and souls of our mothers, wives, and daughters regardless of what the perceived threat might be. To talk about making a nation great again, and then speak of subjugating major sections of the population because of gender, race, creed, or sexual orientation just resets society to a time, not of enlightenment, but of insecurity in ourselves and the darkness of ignorance.

I recently read a post on Facebook that truly touched my heart, but unfortunately in a way that makes me very sad. The individual; a man I respect very much and who has dedicated his life to the law and to this country, spoke eloquently and passionately about feeling that his life work and commitment to community and others, has been torn apart by the decisions of people who were willing to look one direction, in most cases just because they didn’t like the other direction. There has been a lot of debate about emails, gun control, health care, walls, borders, restrictions, truthfulness, morality, and character, the end result being a sort of tennis match of volleying one slap against a people back for another one. Where, amidst all of that, was the collective strength of our political system to stand up to BOTH sides and say we’re not going to allow lying, but we’re also not going to allow the very wills of our people to be broken through degradation and shameful remarks and actions of those who are suppose to be leaders? Do those in power realize that the examples they set have not made us hopeful for the future, but taken strong individuals and made them question their very existence?

Unfortunately, the past is always the past, and we can’t take back thoughts, words, and deeds. Enough has been written and said in the time frame leading up to the election and in the days since the ballots were cast, and so it’s our duty to move forward. I do sincerely believe that every cloud has a silver lining. In this case, I think that light in the darkness has to do with being a call to us all. It’s time to move forward, indeed, but it’s time to proceed with a new found determination, strength, will, and grace in the face of the tumultuous energies that churn in this world. I invite each of you to meditate on the following:

• Take time to truly look within. Think about your own dreams, desires, thoughts of self worth and love, visions for the future. Take an honest look at your own thoughts, words, and actions over the last year. If you find things you don’t like, acknowledge them and then forgive yourself in perfect love and perfect trust. Recommit yourself to a higher path; one that sees all people as unique and worthy of all the best that this universe has to offer, one that actively seeks to be a part of the change and part of the healing, one that trusts in the innate nature of the all powerful to lead us through dark times, one that commits to being a light for others.
• Often we think of strength in terms of being on the offense. We see defense as being a form of weakness. This is far from the case. With all the chaotic energies circulating in this world right now, it’s time to put up your protective barriers. By doing so you help heal yourself and those around you for future greatness. Meditate on your family and friends and send protective light to them all. Work protection spells and magick in defense of your home and family. Call on the Gods and Goddesses that give you strength to help fortify the protection. Be especially mindful of those who have felt the cutting energies of late. Call on the warrior Goddesses to help protect yourself if you are a woman, and to look after the women in your life. Call on the deities of distant lands to help bring tolerance of cultures far from ours.
• Go out into the world and spread an energy that is full of acceptance, hope, healing, and love. We all know that there are forces in the world for which we need to proactively guard against, but we also need to make sure that in doing so we aren’t fueling the fires of hate, bigotry, fear, and violence. Speak from a place in your heart that is firmly grounded in your moral path, but speak with perfect love and perfect trust that you harm none in the energies behind your words. We are much more likely to change someone’s thoughts with intelligent eloquent speech backed up by kindness, than to try to force them to back down from a misguided viewpoint with harsh, destructive words and fear. We are all looking for answers in the aftermath of this election. Be one who not only questions, but offers solutions. Be the light.

On January 20th of 2017 we will inaugurate our next president. The political machine will continue to move forward in a direction that isn’t set in stone. True action can, and will, bring true change. We lost sight for a while, but it’s time to refocus and bring the guiding principles back to this country. Only in that will we once again see a great nation reemerge.

This post was written specifically for this time and place; a time and place of emotionally troubling energy. I hadn’t planned on this being our first post, but then again, how often does life throw us curve balls when we’re not completely ready? We truly hope that after you’re done reading this you will take some time to reflect on your own world and how to start the healing within yourself, your family, and your community. We also hope that you’ll stick around with us to learn more about who we are, our personal journeys, and our vision for the future.

©2016, 2021 Marcus Everett & The Temple of the Sea Born