Societal Solstice | Part I: INVOCATION

We exist in a stunning moment of society, a societal solstice, of sorts. A turning point. The end of a cultural autumn… and the beginning of a long winter.

You can feel it.

A solstice is a reckoning with the darkness. An ethereal vapor, an unsuspecting chill that creeps into our bones against the wind. And though light and dark balance each other, it is at the solstice that darkness claims a fleeting victory.

This occasion arrives dressed in the plumage of pomp and circumstance, but cages itself in the hushed nuance of old hat. Quietly it assures, soothingly it whispers, 

This is just like all the others. This moment is not special. You need not worry. This has all happened before. It will all happen again.

And while some of what I write here will bow at the altar of history, know this: the incense it burns carries the wrath of the blood those history books were written with. That is one of the first lies; the first seeds of doubt they’ll use to pacify you.

You’re out of sorts because this is normal.

It’s antithetical to what your eyes tell you as you scroll on your phone at lunch. Blinded in 4K.

It’s antithetical to what your ears hear as you fumble to change the channel. Silence in stunning 3D sound.

It turns your blood cold. This dichotomy, a quiet war between truth and perception, casts a long shadow across an uncanny valley in your mind.

It plants a pit in your stomach that gnaws at your better judgment–because you know it isn’t true.

The truth is readily apparent: everything isn’t fine.

This isn’t normal.

Something is happening.

And whatever it is, is poisoning the well of our day-to-day lives.

RH

Author’s Note: “Invocation” is Part I of a multi-part essay series, Societal Solstice. The full, finalized version of this essay is currently in development for future literary publication. Please consider this an early release excerpt.