New Moon Ritual: August 2025
“Stop trying to save the world, and start trying to save your community.”
That was the message a very stern Queer Ancestor shared during this month’s new moon ritual. And it is a message I’m honestly still having a hard time processing, which is why it has taken me more than a day to get around to writing this post. I mean, have they seen the state of the world? Climate catastrophes, genocides, AI guzzling up the water, rising fascism, the world’s richest people becoming even richer, data-driven police states, etc.
But there was something else in this message: a map.
In the dream brought by this ritual, I approached a gathering of people lit by handheld gas lanterns. There was a certain clandestine nature to the whole thing. I made my way to the center to find a few folks waiting for me. Between us was a large crate or barrel, and unfurled across it was map of the United States. One of the figures held their lantern higher so I could more clearly see the map.
There were certain cities that were marked by what seemed like quicksilver dots - New York City, Chicago, Miami, New Orleans, Austin, San Francisco. I quickly realized what I was looking at was a map of what could best be described as “queer enclaves”. These were the cities that over the last century became the regional and cultural hubs for the queer community. They arose out of necessity and chance - San Francisco became a gay mecca because a disproportionate amount of gay servicemen were discharged there - and grew into anchors for our movements.
As my eyes adjusted to the light I saw the map was scattered with more drops of quicksilver. These represented all of the other towns and cities where our queer and trans siblings live. The places where they have found each other and built communities. Some were other urban areas, some were suburbs, and some were rural enclaves.
The figure holding the lantern adjusted the light, and I noticed iridescent lines connecting all of these silver dots on the map. They were lines of power flowing back and forth.
That is when the the message above, “Stop trying to save the world, and start trying to save your community” was delivered. It was delivered by a figure wearing what appeared to be a World War 2 Army officers uniform.
After spending some time mulling over this dream and message I think it is starting to click for me. Those lines connecting the towns and cities on the map were more than just lines of power. They were lines of communication. Lines representing the sharing of material resources. A spiderweb of mutual aid.
My friend Irene Glasse often reminds folks that Spirit speaks to you in images and metaphor that you will understand. I think that is why the message was delivered to me by someone from World War 2. It has prompted me to spend the last day or so thinking about that map from a military perspective. What comes to mind is the importance of securing strategic footholds. The Allied Forces could not make headway against the Nazi war machine until they successfully landed at Normandy and secured a foothold on the European continent. As the frontline expanded, the secured cities and ports further away became essential for receiving and distributing resources, materiel, and aid.
Taken in that context, all of those spaces marked on the dream-map represent strategic footholds in the fight to guard our LGBTQ+ community against MAGA fascism. Protecting our community helps to guard a node in that larger network of power and support. The message given wasn’t about abandoning the world, or turning away from the larger scope of the horrors currently plaguing us, but instead just a variation on the Hermetic principle of “As Above, So Below”.
We’re in a war and we need to act as such. By saving our communities we help fortify our frontlines, our resource centers, our strategic footholds. We help strengthen a larger network, making it more resilient to fascist assault. And, ultimately, we ensure that together we create something larger than ourselves that can actually tackle these issues on a global scale.
