System Problems?

“If you don’t like the system, create your own system.”
— Abd’el Hakim Awyan, Khemitian Wisdom Keeper

In the true fashion of a stereotypically unreliable wizard, I spontaneously took the last two weeks off. I wanted to begin work on a fictional side-project and recharge my own batteries to prepare for the seasonal changes to come. And celebrate my birthday. Yes, I missed the vernal equinox, something attentive readers will note goes against what I’ve said before regarding my primary responsibility as a wizard to mark the turning of the year’s wheel and the High Holy Holidays.

Well, I’m a wizard, so there are times in which I am entitled to make things up as I go along.

As I write this, I type beneath the first full moon of spring and during the first moments of this year’s Holy Thursday. Like it or not, it is from here that we shall begin our celebration of the new season. In honor of the new life we are soon to see burst forward from the earth, I have redesigned the site to a layout that better reflects our purpose and intent. And so that it looks prettier. Hopefully you enjoy, but feel free to let me know either way.

Just short of six months ago, I introduced myself and this site to the interwebs. I have no idea if any of you have learned anything or benefited in any way from what I’ve brought to the table, but I can tell you I’ve learned a ton. I’ve gained a great deal from what little ground we’ve covered so far. For those things, I thank you. To those of you who are new to this little diversionary side-path we are sharing, I say welcome and salaam.

Ultimately, markers of time are not merely moments of celebration or breaks for self-congratulation but points at which to pause and take stock, to look at what we’ve set out to do, what we’re currently doing, and what we want to do. Back in October, I had a rough idea of which direction I was setting out to head in, and I don’t wish to amend any of that. To update and refresh, however, I would call your attention to the quote featured above, for it is in that simple line that I can most fully define my intent.

I am not concerned over whether everyone, or a majority, or even a plurality agrees with my views on fundamental matters of life; I suspect that many do, but I don’t spend much time thinking about it. I have become a wizard because I find our institutions and much of our culture to be lacking. Our religious institutions are lacking in that they clearly are not meeting the most basic spiritual needs of the vast majority of the people. Our civic institutions are lacking in more ways than I wish to enumerate here. Our economic way of life is destructive and divisive and ultimately unfulfilling. Our culture lacks even the most basic functionality with regard to shared mythology or even marking the changes in the year.

Without disavowing politics and activism–I would never–I understand that I’m not going to overthrow the government. No one is going to rush in an anarchist frenzy over to topple Wall Street. We won’t have an Arab Spring here, either, because we’re too bogged down by triviality and our own intramural disharmony to agree on what our problems are and who or what are responsible. We can’t just wait for that to happen, either, or go down hard in a quixotic quest to bring it about. That’s fine if that’s your thing, but it isn’t mine.

My conviction is simply this: there are small ways we can open our eyes, small ways in which we can invite just a little more truth and light into the environment and our own journeys. That’s all. And I don’t care if anyone decides to adopt it–I still think everyone will be better off just for the sake of the existence of another constructed system sitting there, available. The ways in which I construct it are mostly just attempting to live it out and attempting to talk about it.

That’s what a wizard does–but anybody else can do it, too.

HAPPY SPRING! BLESSINGS FOR HOLY WEEK! More to come…