I think there's an imbalance in things

[Sakura Blossom]

Ahhhh, yeah, we have like... 3 churches... and a tattoo shop. And three bars. Haha. No grocery stores, nothing important for human function... But we have a tattoo shop, and three bars. XD It's hilarious.

[BabyBear]

lol in my home town there are i think 4 churches and thats just in blackshear there are another 10 or 12 in waycross also and i its really only takes 20 mins to get from one side of blashear and all the way through waycross

[ness]

Actually, I felt an universal imbalance with me and the people I knew during 2012. It was very interesting. I was going through a rough phase of some sort of spiritual search. Many people I knew were going through a transitional phase as well. Toward the end of 2012, things were clearing up and me and others started seeing and thinking things more clearly.

[loona wynd]

It could be Loki related, he's been constantly talking to me about 'growth, knowledge, expansion' which ties into what I was told. When talking with him, he told me what I posted here was on the right track, but it's all up to someone's point of view.

Like I said it could be him or some one else. I know that when great changes occur in the world there is Chaos and its typically started by a Chaos deity to bring about those changes. This you can see through the myths of chaos Gods.

Personally, though, the fact that I've noticed EVERYONE'S hard time really started around January and this year, I'm going to have to say, in my opinion, it's a universal thing and the new moons might tie into it.

All of the astrological forecasts I have read for the year say this is a year of change. For some its going to be a bigger change than others.

I think something's going to be happening, or this is what's happening, and that there's going to be A LOT of growth for everyone.

Hard times make everyone grow in ways they might not expect.

Like you, Loona, I have grown SO MUCH in terms of maturity. I'm only 20 years old, and because of my maturity, people think I'm in my late twenties.

For me I'm finally reaching my age in maturity levels. I've always been a little behind in development, but I had some terrible things happen at a young age so in some places I grew up to early and others too late. Haven taken on responsibility for making sure the bills are paid and that we were able to get the help we needed while dealing with my business and own mental health issues has been a major growth area for me. In some ways I feel I have been pushed to my limit, but today I realized it was a test and how I have been able to come back from it and refocus today is a great way of showing that I can do much more than I realized. I realize now that I probably could handle living on my own and handling my own apartment. This is something I didn't think I could do because of how I had been handling the stress.

I really feel something big's going to happen, and I've seen a lot of people turning towards the revival of 'ancient ways' and have to wonder if this is what's happening. That there really is a spiritual awakening.

This is something I have heard too. I have seen it little by little as I see more and more people stopping into metaphysical stores. More and more people have a feeling like they have no control over their lives and when they hear about magic, herbalism, and crystal work they often see these as a way to start having some sort of control over their lives. This is something I have noticed as I did market research for my business.

This is what people are referring to as the start of the New age in many places. Though there is still a lot of a challenge of accepting these concepts and practices, many people are starting to see it as a psychological aid if nothing else. Which to me if we can start the work by focusing on the mind and the ability to have our thoughts actually change, the world around us will change. So I have seen more of a philosophy and psychological approach if not a spiritual/religious approach to these older views.

I was talking with my sisters, and they said that it's honestly a cycle. People keep going and going and going, then realize they went too far (right now it'd be things such as pollution and pollution of our bodies with the chemicals they put in food), then they realized they've gone and f'd up then resort to the ways of the old to get back on track. So I have to wonder if we're heading towards that part of the cycle, or not. I'm not sure. Those are just my thoughts on this. Haha. (:

There is a cycle. Doreen Valiente covers it in the introduction to her book Witchcraft for Tomorrow though I personally had a hard time following it.