New Year

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Introduction and Welcome

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Yucca: Welcome back to The Wonder Science Based Paganism. I'm your host, Jekka.

Mark: And I'm Mark.

Reflecting on the End of the Year

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Yucca: And today we are talking about the end of the year and the beginning of a new year. So once again, here we are at the end of a year,

Mark: Yeah, so it's a good time for reflecting on what the, what this round of the cycle has been, and then looking forward into the next year we were saying before we started to record, we're still in that, that kind of held breath in the middle of, of the winter solstice season, at least in the, in the northern hemisphere, where Everything seems to kind of stop for a moment, even though there's this frenzy of activity in your personal life, most, many people are not working.

There's just a kind of suspension of ordinariness, and there's this moment of what can be a really reflective still time, as well as a very festive time,

Yucca: right? This episode should actually come out Christmas morning. So, early Christmas morning,

Mark: always a tranquil and reflective time.

Yucca: Yes, very relaxed, there's nothing going on.

Discussing the Timing of the New Year

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Yucca: Before we get into all of that, let's talk about the timing of the New Year. Okay. Because we're talking about the calendar switching New Year, which many people count as the New Year. For me, that's usually what I go with. That's the turning of the calendar.

But for some folks, it's actually at Hallow, some people it's the Solstice, some people change at the Equinox, right? When's New Year's for you?

Mark: I have two tracks for that, and they're offset by about ten days.

Yucca: Mm hmm.

Mark: For me, the beginning of the sacred cycle of the year is at the winter solstice. But then there's the calendar year, which, you know, as we say, when you're dating something, what number do you put at the end of the of, of the date that you're writing, that changes on January 1st, and so January 1st is also a hinge point, a moment when there's a transition, and that gives us the opportunity to do what we're doing today, which is look back, kind of review what that's all been like for the past cycle, and then imagine and dream forward into the new cycle.

Yucca: Mm hmm. For me it's very fuzzy because since I don't have, typically I'm not working on the 31st or the 1st. The exact moment there isn't really a switch over, it's just this sort of fuzzy time period where it's like, oh yeah, it's the new year. I think, kinda, now I gotta get used to writing this other date, but it hasn't really happened yet.

it Really takes about until February to get used to it being a different year.

Mark: Mm.

Reflections on the Past Year

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Yucca: So, and some years just don't feel like they happened, especially in the last few years because of how things were so different with COVID, where some years just, like, feel like they're missing.

Mark: Yeah, 2020, I mean, when it happened, 2020 felt like the longest year ever.

Yucca: Mm hmm.

Mark: And then 2021 was like a continuation of the longest year ever, it was just more of the same. anD when the various Restrictions were relaxed, it almost felt like, it almost felt like that hadn't happened at all.

Impact of COVID-19 on the Perception of Time

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Mark: Like, it was just this sort of separate time when we were all indoors and staying away from everyone but it was outside of history somehow.

Yucca: It was almost like we went from 19 to 22.

Mark: Mm hmm.

Yucca: Like, those, those years, I mean, they're there, but they're not in some ways. It's very, very odd. And this year So much has happened. It's actually quite difficult to keep track of what happened this year and what wasn't this year. Just thinking about what happened within this calendar year.

It's, it's been a very full year.

Mark: it really has. I mean, everything from floods and earthquakes and volcano eruptions to, you know, political happenings here and there and wars and humanitarian crises, you know, and of course that's what the news feeds us, which is all the bad news,

Yucca: Mm hmm.

Mark: BuT I think it's fair to say that this is a very uncertain time for a lot of people.

Yucca: Mm hmm.

Changes in the Work Environment

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Mark: I think about You know, in the, in the business world, in the economy, there's this huge movement of companies that are sort of hanging on by their fingernails to their old model and wanting to go back to 2019, and insisting that their workers come back to the office, and the workers are saying, actually, no, thank you,

Yucca: Mm

Mark: uh, this works much better for me in my life, and I'm not going.

And it's, it's a very interesting standoff,

Yucca: hmm.

Mark: And it's one that I think the, the labor force, the working force is winning. I, I don't think that this idea about you have to be sitting in a chair in a cubicle in order to do your job is, is gonna succeed over the long term.

Yucca: Right. At least within certain sectors. There are certain ones that are in person.

Mark: Oh, service industries, for sure. Yeah, I mean, those people have to be there and doing their thing. I'm thinking specifically of people that were in an office. Yeah, people who were in an office and then were able to leave, which of course is a tremendous privilege.

Challenges of Remote Work

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Mark: I now work fully remotely, and although there are things that are hard about it, like, for example, the fact that you could not register an organization to receive federal funding through, like, a cost sharing agreement or something like that, or a grant with the federal government if you don't have a physical address. Because the Patriot Act regulations consider that dodgy. So I, in order to prove that we really exist, I'm going to have to change the address on our bank account of my employer to my personal address, print out the, the, the bank statement that shows that address, and then change it back to the P. O. box that we have.

Because we're a fully remote company and we don't have an office. So, it's just silly.

Yucca: Wow. And you're not gonna, you don't have any zoning problems that are gonna come from that?

Mark: No,

Yucca: Okay. Yeah. Because there's certain areas where you gotta watch out for that, that you're not allowed to have particular businesses

Mark: a

Yucca: areas and, you know.

Mark: I'm sure that that's true, but considering that it's going to last for less than 24 hours I don't really think it's a problem. The primary issue is, I think, they want to know where they can go to find a human being who is working for this company. And has some responsibility if they need to come after us for some reason.

And I, there wouldn't be any reason they would need to come after us. I mean, we're a nonprofit organization. We can't even get in trouble with them for taxes.

Yucca: Mm hmm. Yeah. But, but they can't go to a P. O. box. So.

Mark: right. That's right. So we have to, I'm going to paint a target on my door and, and invite them to come find me.

Reflection on Personal and Global Events

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Yucca: So, this year, though, there's things that have been happening on a big scale,

Mark: yes,

Yucca: and our personal lives, of course, are interwoven with that, right? But at the same time, a lot of what happens in our own lives really doesn't have a lot to do with the outside workings of, you know, what's happening with floods and hurricanes and wars and, you know, life just goes on.

for listening. for regular folk.

Looking Back and Looking Forward

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Yucca: And so each of us, you know, us, you and me, Mark, and everyone listening, we've all had our own years, our own lives that have happened, and I, we were talking a lot about this last week, about the, about solstice being this wonderful time for reflection. I think that's …