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I've been learning some new skills for the Long Descent. I'm still somewhat optimistic that things won't get as bad as I sometimes fear they will, as fast as I fear they will. A lot of heavy things have happened over the last few years, but thus far I've moved through it more or less intact (except for a lot of my faith in my fellow man, but that is a casualty that was probably overdue). I've tried to pick up a few skills that are pretty far outside my range as a more-or-less useless eater who once aspired to be an artist and now just aspires to survive and raise my family in a world that has kind of gone to dookie. Here's a list of things I've tried and my self-assessment of how I'm doing.
1. Gardening. I created a garden this year. It's REALLY fortunate that I am not relying on my gardening skills to feed myself. I successfully grew a boatload of tomatillos. My land seems to like producing these. I grew some tomatoes that never ripened and started to rot before I picked them. I grew a lot of sunflowers. My land also seems to like growing these, they really thrived. I harvested seeds for next year. I grew a few cucumbers and some leafy greens. I planted and grew marigolds because I heard they keep rabbits away. I don't think the rabbits got at my crops, but that was probably the fencing I put up. I think I planted the seeds and seedlings too close together, I was kind of winging it.
My self assessment is that I am a poor gardener but I've learned some and will try again next year. My biggest sense of satisfaction from my gardening efforts is that I can now understand and relate to various different gardening metaphors and analogies I've read about for years much better. It is pretty magical watching the earth produce and working in harmony with the weather and land to create something.
2. Home repair. I repaired windowsills on my house that were decaying and painted my walls so they are much brighter. I've tried to declutter a bit but there's still a long way to go. I bought some books and have watched videos on handyman/diy topics, and have purchased a number of hand tools. I took down an unstable old deck and built some stairs to replace it. They seem sound.
My self assessment is that I am a poor handyman and I am unskilled, but I can create ugly yet functional things. I am absurdly proud of every white trash modification I have made to my hovel.
3. Mundane Astrology. I subscribe to JMG's Patreon mostly to support his writing efforts, but I've also tried my hand at mundane astrology. My focus was on New Moon charts, because unless they are eclipses he doesn't cover them, although I've also drawn up ingress charts to compare to the ones he posts to see how mine look in comparison.
My self assessment is that I have become a basic apprentice grade mundane astrologer. I can pick out the broad details of a chart and have learned the meanings of the houses, placements of planets, and the main aspects. I can even cast my chart for the right time 9/10 times if I have the information right in front of my stupid face. If I keep it up, in a few years I'll probably be somewhat competent at the art, as long as I have computers to bring up the charts and I just have to interpret them.
4. Herbalism. I am learning about the magical and mundane effects of different herbs for both magic and healing. Most of this work has been theoretical thus far, although I have been buying herbal supplements and trying to improve my health with them.
My self-assessment is that learning about herbs is going to be a long and time consuming process because I know bunkus about plants and never had an interest before. I can identify a few common plants, mostly weeds that grow in my yard, and I've harvested and dried a lot of burdock to make into tea but haven't yet because I'm afraid I'll kill myself even though I'm pretty sure the burdock is burdock. I think.
5. Learning Spanish. Due to changing demographics in my area and "field", I am learning Spanish because it is really hard to manage employees when you can't talk to them. That doesn't stop HR from sending them down to me. I'm not bitter about it but it is a conundrum. I am trying Duolingo because it is free and accessible in my spare time.
My self assessment is that Duolingo is pretty good for travelers but not so great for managers. I am able to use the app fairly successfully but when I try to use Spanish to communicate with humans it all flies out of my head. I have established with my non-English speaking employees that I like to drink coffee with creamer and sugar, and also that I am an affable idiot. [Important edit: they don't know how I like my coffee because I have them make it. It's one of the few things I can remember how to say aside from basic greetings.]
6. Occultism. I have stopped spinning my wheels as a trad occultist and have expanded my practices quite a bit. I am learning in a structured way in an established order, though I am still a solitary mage.
My self assessment is I have a long way to go, but I know more or less where I'm going and more or less how to get there.
7. Building community. I have built a really solid team at work and have improved my management skills a lot (which may not be saying much because I am a human with a touch of the old autism and I'm still fairly crap at social interactions... my biggest achievement is probably managing people's expectations of me and finding ways to be successful despite myself).
My self assessment is outside of work, I am still basically a friendless misanthrope, so it's going about the same as it has been since Covid killed my friendships a few years ago.
Overall, I'm still pretty useless, and I'm really lucky that there are societal supports to keep me alive and able to barter my time and quirky skills for enough money to get by.
1. Gardening. I created a garden this year. It's REALLY fortunate that I am not relying on my gardening skills to feed myself. I successfully grew a boatload of tomatillos. My land seems to like producing these. I grew some tomatoes that never ripened and started to rot before I picked them. I grew a lot of sunflowers. My land also seems to like growing these, they really thrived. I harvested seeds for next year. I grew a few cucumbers and some leafy greens. I planted and grew marigolds because I heard they keep rabbits away. I don't think the rabbits got at my crops, but that was probably the fencing I put up. I think I planted the seeds and seedlings too close together, I was kind of winging it.
My self assessment is that I am a poor gardener but I've learned some and will try again next year. My biggest sense of satisfaction from my gardening efforts is that I can now understand and relate to various different gardening metaphors and analogies I've read about for years much better. It is pretty magical watching the earth produce and working in harmony with the weather and land to create something.
2. Home repair. I repaired windowsills on my house that were decaying and painted my walls so they are much brighter. I've tried to declutter a bit but there's still a long way to go. I bought some books and have watched videos on handyman/diy topics, and have purchased a number of hand tools. I took down an unstable old deck and built some stairs to replace it. They seem sound.
My self assessment is that I am a poor handyman and I am unskilled, but I can create ugly yet functional things. I am absurdly proud of every white trash modification I have made to my hovel.
3. Mundane Astrology. I subscribe to JMG's Patreon mostly to support his writing efforts, but I've also tried my hand at mundane astrology. My focus was on New Moon charts, because unless they are eclipses he doesn't cover them, although I've also drawn up ingress charts to compare to the ones he posts to see how mine look in comparison.
My self assessment is that I have become a basic apprentice grade mundane astrologer. I can pick out the broad details of a chart and have learned the meanings of the houses, placements of planets, and the main aspects. I can even cast my chart for the right time 9/10 times if I have the information right in front of my stupid face. If I keep it up, in a few years I'll probably be somewhat competent at the art, as long as I have computers to bring up the charts and I just have to interpret them.
4. Herbalism. I am learning about the magical and mundane effects of different herbs for both magic and healing. Most of this work has been theoretical thus far, although I have been buying herbal supplements and trying to improve my health with them.
My self-assessment is that learning about herbs is going to be a long and time consuming process because I know bunkus about plants and never had an interest before. I can identify a few common plants, mostly weeds that grow in my yard, and I've harvested and dried a lot of burdock to make into tea but haven't yet because I'm afraid I'll kill myself even though I'm pretty sure the burdock is burdock. I think.
5. Learning Spanish. Due to changing demographics in my area and "field", I am learning Spanish because it is really hard to manage employees when you can't talk to them. That doesn't stop HR from sending them down to me. I'm not bitter about it but it is a conundrum. I am trying Duolingo because it is free and accessible in my spare time.
My self assessment is that Duolingo is pretty good for travelers but not so great for managers. I am able to use the app fairly successfully but when I try to use Spanish to communicate with humans it all flies out of my head. I have established with my non-English speaking employees that I like to drink coffee with creamer and sugar, and also that I am an affable idiot. [Important edit: they don't know how I like my coffee because I have them make it. It's one of the few things I can remember how to say aside from basic greetings.]
6. Occultism. I have stopped spinning my wheels as a trad occultist and have expanded my practices quite a bit. I am learning in a structured way in an established order, though I am still a solitary mage.
My self assessment is I have a long way to go, but I know more or less where I'm going and more or less how to get there.
7. Building community. I have built a really solid team at work and have improved my management skills a lot (which may not be saying much because I am a human with a touch of the old autism and I'm still fairly crap at social interactions... my biggest achievement is probably managing people's expectations of me and finding ways to be successful despite myself).
My self assessment is outside of work, I am still basically a friendless misanthrope, so it's going about the same as it has been since Covid killed my friendships a few years ago.
Overall, I'm still pretty useless, and I'm really lucky that there are societal supports to keep me alive and able to barter my time and quirky skills for enough money to get by.