Below still frequent heat, there is an undertone of coolness. The air almost seems to move differently. We are in the early shift of the season. We are nearing a completion here in the Northern Hemisphere. The landscape is green and the fields full, but growth has slowed. The sounds have shifted; the birds are quieter and the cicadas’ hum solemn. We are turning toward the final harvests.

The August 23rd new moon (exact at 2:07 am ET, time zone converter) astro-Tarot correspondences point us toward this theme of completion as we are invited to walk the path of the Hermit, Major Arcana number 9, the last single digit. This is actually the first of two new moons on the Hermit path. The Equinox-connected September 21st new moon will keep us walking this way. This extended time with the disciplined Hermit might inspired us to commit to completing a significant project over the next moonths or to a new or renewed soul tending practice.

Hermits turn from the demands of the everyday world and embrace solitude to seek the wisdom within. Paradoxically, this looking inward also tunes them into the wisdom that flows from natural cycles, the Greater Than, and all that is beyond themselves. They integrate their personal insights with the larger patterns to find an understanding of the Whole.

Once in touch with their Inner Wise One, Hermits are called to return and share their insight with others. The lantern that is so common in versions of this card signifies this responsibility. Their periods of solitude are not permanent but periodic. They are still called to serve the communities from which they come, to respond to the needs of the world in which they live.

Being numbered 9 is apt for this card because to embody the archetype of The Hermit is an achievement that marks a cycle of growth’s completion. We may not be as old in years as the elder figures shown on Hermit cards, but we still have aged our wisdom selves when we’ve embraced a Hermit time.

So, the path of the moonth calls us to completion, but there is still work to do before we are finished. Our passage of the moonth takes us through the 8 of Pentacles.

The call of this card is: Keep at your work. In the fields, we will only have enough for the winter if we do the harvest and prepare the stores now. For our spiritual life, faithfulness to our practice is what truly tends our soul. With our activism, the troubled times we live in show us a world in need of Justice’s cultivation if we want to enjoy its gifts.

In this 8 of Pentacles passage I hear the echo of Rachel Pollack’s message that came to us through her Raziel Moon card just after the US election in November: You are in a perilous situation in which you must stay on the path.

I had pulled the Moon card in response to the question: What can we do to still work toward liberation in this time of chaos? And Rachel’s counsel said to me that the work we were doing toward liberation before the election was the work to be sure to continue—despite the waves of chaos about to crest even higher. Now that we are 8 months into this administration is a good time to check in on how we are doing staying on the path.

How are you doing?

How am I doing? My first assessment is that I’m not sure.

I continue to write poetry but with more effort than with flow. I send you these missives but wonder if they meet the moment. My activism that I was already involved in has increased. It actually isn’t just another To Do on the list, but a nourishing, connective practice. I know that we can’t just plan abstractly for the world we want and on one day just enact it. But I have doubts: Are we doing the right thing?

But my doubt is not dangerous. I accept it as part of the process. In the midst of change—and when you are in the work of the Tarot 8s—we don’t know the outcome. We have to be with uncertainty and keep moving anyway. Our movement becomes a practice that we do without focus on the outcome. So, I think that’s what I am doing. So, I think I am doing OK. How’s that for an assessment for uncertain times 🙂

Still I will admit I am kinda tuckered out by my perception of the pace I think I should keep so it is a relief to see that the correspondences of the moonth call us to be the careful explorers and steady questers of the earth traditionally known as the Knight of Pentacles.

These exploring, questing Knights are devoted to their cause but move at their own pace. Cedar McCloud writes about the earth Explorer of the Numinous Tarot: “While, like the other Explorers, there is movement in this card, it’s much slower. [They] are someone who takes their time, never rushing or making any hasty decisions.”

In the Numinous Tarot this suit associated with the earth element is called Tomes and is filled with images of books. As an artist and writer, it is not surprising to see McCloud invoke books as symbols of what manifests out of a successful journey of steady and determined work. I often use this deck when I am looking for guidance for my writing projects.

This mix of themes—creating books, dedication to path, and Hermits sharing light—guided my attention to Batool Abu Akleen, a young poet from Gaza, who has just released her first book, 48Kg. Reviewer Hilary Plum explains the book’s structure as a countdown of the poet’s body weight as she endures the bombardment, siege, and starvation from 2023 to the present of the Israeli war of genocidal impact on Gaza—made possible only because of US support, arms, and bombs.

In her review, Plum describes Abu Akleen’s struggle to write:

In her opening note Abu Akleen writes: “This book came after months of my refusing to write anything, believing that poetry wouldn’t change the world.” Conversations with friends persuaded her, she says, of the value of the work, not even for the world but for herself. We see the devastation of this insight in moments such as, “I was crying over you / & lamenting you in poems casual as your death,” at the end of one poem (a poem numbered as 22kg.—not, you might notice, a survivable weight). This line stunned me. Yes, poems, even when they take years to know how to write, are casual. Even when they travel through history toward us, that may be their limit, their charge.

Abu Akleen does not elevate poetry to a higher purpose, nor does she deny its power. She writes because the work has value for her despite being uncertain of its impact. She is Hermit-like in this way, choosing to tend her own light.

As she continues to create, Abu Akleen moves through the passage of the 8 of Pentacles, keeping at the writing persistently, as a practice, despite obstacles. She moves slowly like a Knight of Pentacles. I do not know if this is her natural rhythm; it is imposed upon her by a lack of food. She confronts a very physical reality: she is being starved even as food aid is just miles but blocked from entering Gaza. She will tell her story directly to you through her video diary post: How I work when I am dying of hunger

Abu Akleen is a person who deserves to be valued, who deserves to live not because she writes these poems, but just because she is a human being. She didn’t have to share the light of her poems with us gathered from the dark of her world, but because she has, we can receive them.

Having received her words, we are pulled into relationship with this young person so full of wisdom and her people. This relationship can inspire us to call legislators to tell them to demand relief organized by recognized humanitarian groups be let into Gaza and, those in the US, can call to tell them to sign on to Block the Bombs legislation (more legislators sign on every day, the latest is Rep. Jamie Raskin). We can support mutual aid projects led by people in Gaza who do have ways of procuring food (either from growing or paying exorbitant prices). I’ve supported the Gaza Soup Kitchen. We can read the poems and words of Palestinian writers. I’ve ordered 48kg. and Heaven Looks Like Us is a beautiful anthology to serve as a gateway to meeting poets in Palestine and in the diaspora.

During this moonth, we may not be certain of the impact of our actions. We may doubt. But we can move forward. Letting the movement, our practices, our action and creating be enough in and of itself. In this way we can be true to the path and practice walking it despite the perilous times we are in.

Reading of the Moonth

These questions are offered for reflection and to spark practice throughout the moonth. You may want to integrate them into the scenario practice above. Pulling Tarot and oracle cards in connection to these questions is appropriate, but not absolutely necessary. You might carry a question with you on a walk for example and observe what is happening in the natural world as a way to find insight into the answer to the question.

COMPLETION: What to work to bring to completion during the Hermit moons?

PRACTICE: What practice will support me to do this?

HARVEST: What will I be able to harvest if I follow my practice toward completion?

I do offer this as an e-reading in my collaborative intuitive format for $32. Sign up with Pay Pal or contact me about sending a check. When I receive notification, I’ll be in touch to let you know about when to expect to receive your reading by email. I generally have openings to do these readings on Mondays and Saturdays.