It’s best to think of life’s journey not so much as a straight line filled with the milestones of accomplishments, but as a spiral where each year brings you back to the place where you have been before, granting another chance to connect to your soul’s mission.
Of course, this only makes sense if you view life in a cyclical manner.
Long ago, when the Wanderlores left Earth they brought with them an incredible Magic.
This Magic was deeply connected to the cycles of the Earth and to the ritualistic cycles that various peoples and indigenous tribes had created to tie the seasons of their lives to worlds they believed existed outside of the one where they were currently embodied.
These other worlds were often filled with ancestral spirits, gods, jinns, angels, and other such supernatural beings. These worlds, to early humans, were just as real as the world in which they lived.
This realness gave these supernatural worlds power, even if their actual existence could never be proved.
Legend says that after the great dying, a small collection of tribes and clans (along with ecologists and scientists of various stripes) tried to reset the Earth’s cycles with the knowledge and technology they possessed.
They figured that since most of humanity had long ago left Earth for the distant habitats there might be a chance for Earth to heal.
Of course, some realized the problem with their method. They argued that trying to restore Earth via the same technological tools that had led to the destructive Anthropocene Epoch in the first place would be folly.
It is said that the old ones believed that the Earth needed a sabbath—a time of rest where no humans lived on it at all.
This is where the idea of the Great Cycle was born.
The Great Cycle linked the natural cycles of Earth to the hidden worlds that many ancient peoples believed in.
It’s not known if the discovery of the Magic that the Wanderlores brought with them happened before or after the Great Cycle was established.
In many ways it doesn’t matter.
Legends aren’t meant to tell us fact, they’re meant to tell us what’s true.
Truth will necessarily change according to the time and circumstances that one finds themselves living in.
My understanding of the Magic and the Wanderlores has changed over time as have my views of the Icon Worlds, the Creators Realm, the Bard Era and Earth.
At the moment, I’m in a wilderness of sorts.
It’s been two years since I arrived in the Creators Realm. I know more now than I knew then. I’ve discovered certain pieces I needed to follow my path yet, at the same time, I realize that there are just as many—if not more—pieces still missing.
The Wanderlores would say that no puzzle is completed in one lifetime.
As I sit here writing these words, I’m contemplating the fall and the beginning of a new year. There are four “new years” according to the Great Cycle of the Wanderlores—none of them falling on January 01.
These new years are seasonal in nature. All four are marked by the Eternal Clock*, yet the observance of them vary by tradition.
The tradition that I follow observes the autumnal new year as would be experienced from Earth’s Northern Hemisphere.
This is when the days grow shorter, and my thoughts grow deeper, tapping into the shadows of the encroaching winter.
Autumn leads to Winter leads to Spring leads to Summer leads back to Autumn. This symbolic wheel of the year is what I use to live my life. Though these ever turning cycles don’t lead to an ultimate destination, it does provide endless opportunities where I can always begin again.
—Jellybean Reds, Creator of Little Creatures
*the Eternal Clock marks hours, days, seasons, celestial movements (as would be observed from various locations on Earth), rituals and festivals.
