In the wake of the recent hurricane, I’ve been thinking about how these natural disasters reflect problems and how we deal with them. Admittedly, sometimes we are faced with something totally unexpected, like the “century storms” or “100 floods” that most people feel they’ll never have to deal with personally. Other times things are just worse than expected. People in Florida get hit with several hurricanes a year, and feel confident that they know how to deal with them, just as we in New England can feel we are set to deal with blizzards. But some of the storms are worse, and even when we think we’re prepared, we can be overwhelmed. Nature (and other sorts of disasters) is bigger than we are.

There are two ways of dealing with the ‘stuff’ that life throws at us. We’ll start by acknowledging that prior preparation helps. That said, sometimes you have to go with the flow, ride out the storm, and wait until things calm down enough that you have some chance of being able to start fixing things. Other times if you want to survive the chaos, you have to exert yourself more actively. In times like this, it’s not enough to keep your head down and hope that you’ll still be able to do something when the storm is over. You have to keep your awareness on what’s happening around you so that you can react to it as events unfold. As my husband (the SCA fighter) used to say “Always block!”

Part of this is making yourself ready. When the tornado alert sounds, it’s too late to start building a storm shelter; frankly, it’s too late to start looking up where the nearest shelter is. When you are under attack, it’s too late to learn self defense. If you’re sick, it’s not the time to wonder about the relative value of Reiki vs herbalism. As adults we have to take responsibility to collect both the tools and materials, and the skills that we need to deal with the most likely challenges we can expect to face before they come up. Each of us can learn some form of healing, learn how to gather and focus our energy, to ward and shield.
I’ve often heard discussions about whether we should learn about curses and hexes. Whether you ever intend to use offensive magick or not, I am not sure it’s possible to learn to defend against it, if you don’t know how it works, and how to tell if it’s happening. Self education BEFORE a crisis is more responsible that simple denial, hoping you can manifest a positive future. The world we are living in right now is chaotic, perhaps more so at this point than at other points in the cycle.

Just as it’s better to board up the windows, and move things that can be thrown around to shelter before a hurricane, you want to get ready for all the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” as soon as the warning signs start. Listen to your dreams, work with your ancestors and protective spirits, and don’t ignore warnings that may be personal or that come to the community in general. Build support groups, and be ready to help each other in times of crisis. If you don’t have the ability to be a leader, you can support others in whatever ways your talents lie; with forethought, you can at least not be someone who drains the community of time and resources. We all have something to give, if you don’t know your strengths, ask your friends and allies to help you identify them. Some have strength, some have physical or financial resources, some are better at organizing, or calming down those who have, sadly, not considered that disaster was possible. Honor your own strengths, and be ready to step into the role that may be the reason you decided this time and place to be born. What a reduction of stress it is for those who have more active roles to know that someone is handling the care-taking, or more mundane needs while they are busy with things you couldn’t do.
So before a disaster, be aware of how you may need to deal with it, and during one, be aware of where you can help. Don’t assume that you are not powerful enough to help. If you’ve learned how to ‘hold space’, that may be your role. Another part of your role may be to be the “squeaky wheel” that reminds others that dangers are real, and to teach them what they may not think they will need to learn (before they do).

Almost any situation can become a useful analogy for life. Wise people find wisdom from all sources. Trust your intuition, and exercise your luck.