I’m in Kürten, Germany and it is charming the pants off of me, with its little farmhouses, walking paths, and epic thunderstorms. I’ve been here, experiencing all of it, alongside the roar coming out of the RNC, the chants of “USA!” following the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, the naming of JD Vance as his running mate, and now the extraordinary day in history that yesterday was, with President Biden ending his re-election bid, and endorsing Kamala Harris to become the nation’s first Black, South Asian female President. What a time to be alive. Truly.

My partner and I have spent the last two months traveling in the UK, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and The Netherlands, even as the EU itself, and several of its member states, have been waging campaigns and casting votes of their own. You've heard of "Super Blooms" - years of riotous wildflower displays after especially high rainfall years? Well, 2024 is being referred to as a "Super Election" year due to the sheer number of world governments undergoing elections. It is, and will be, a pivotal year in world history.

The Fool lifts his chin and gazes upward. Risking foolishness beneath a bright sun, with a lightness of step, he approaches a precipice he may just fall into. He is hopeful: more interested in potential than guarantees. With a white rose of innocence in his hand, and a small bag slung over his shoulder, he expresses a pared-down sense of enoughness, and a willingness to GO. A little white dog plays at his feet, up for the challenge, excited to accompany him, wherever they are headed, together.

This time of year brings the Celtic cross-quarter holiday known as Imbolc, marking the midpoint between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. Can you feel the in-between of it? The word “Imbolc” means “in the belly,” and refers to an awakening that is beginning, but which is not yet born.

It began with a Southern drawl and being welcomed home. It began with the dual move of generosity undergirded by defensiveness and hair-trigger avoidance of further humiliation. Even earlier, it began with war. It began with shooting your neighbor in fields of grass. It began with cannon balls stuck in tree trunks.