Carry the Light

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First: some difficult news.
 
 Mara "Harmony Pax" Yu died on July 18th, 2026 after a brief and unexpected illness. Her death has shocked and saddened all of us in the NYC Pagan community. Mara is and will always be a shining light. She was whip smart, inquisitive, kind, and generous. Her scholarship and inspiring questions were second to none. Any time you saw her, you'd come away with something to contemplate. Which is one of the highest compliments I can give. 

 
NYC Friends of Tolkien Meetup. Reading Day event.I saw her spiritual other half - Will - at WitchFest on 7/11/26 and she was in the hospital. Little did we know, she would unfortunately not return. Mara's presence in our community was constant. She was always the first to check in, to offer assistance or her thoughts and ideas.  
 
"Her absence will be felt for a long time and the void will never truly be filled. It is up to us now to carry on her light." - Ariel Sirocco
 
Other than grieving, things are stable. Ariel and I doing wonderfully. We continue to grow and learn with one another and our space is ever evolving to fit the people we are becoming. I'm FINALLY A LICENSED NYC TEACHER! I'm currently working at a school a 20 minute walk from the apartment and the freedom and flexibility has made all of the EARLY mornings and late nights worth it. 
 
The majority of my co-workers are wonderful and my ENL department colleagues are top-notch. It's a smaller dept, but I have a desk and laptop of my own, which is a serious upgrade. #teacherlife
 

The world is... on fire in a multitude of ways. I'm honestly struggling with all of it. I don't look at the news every day, I can't keep up. I do my best to keep informed of the large shifts, but all of it is typically so absurd, that I simply shut down.  
 
Since my move to a closer school - I thought I'd have the motivation and time to do all of the things that I "haven't had time for" in the past. That ... hasn't been the case. I know what used to bring me joy, but those things no longer do - crochet, studying, video games.  
 
So I'm trying to figure out what almost 40 year old me finds joy in. If we're being honest, I just want to figure it out as soon as possible and start doing it to get that sweet dopamine, but perhaps, the journey is more important than the destination.  

What brings you joy? 
 
One of the things I didn't know about Mara was all of the different activities and hobbies she participated in - she was in a black metal band, several different music projects, she painted, and created all types of different media, in addition to all of her extensive esoteric studies. 
 
When something terrible happens, one of the things I try to do is find the (potential) lesson in it. 
 
In this, I think the lesson is: find your passion. Whatever it may be - find it and do it to the best of your ability. It doesn't matter if you're good at it (very few of us are good at something the first time out). 
 
Another lesson that I'm taking is COMMUNITY IS ESSENTIAL. My previous work schedule did not allow me to participate as fully as I would have liked and Ariel and I are slowly re-emerging into the NYC/NJ/CT scene. We had a table for CTCW at WitchFest this year and got to catch up with a lot of old friends. 
 
We're both teaching at Changing Times Changing Worlds 2026 and I'm hard at work on my class - Arete in the Modern World - How Greek Ideals of Excellence and Forms Facilitate Positive Change. Ariel's class is Hermes centric and I'm incredibly excited to see what he creates. We'd love to see you there, if you're not already planning on it. 
 
What community events are you excited about? 
What brings you joy and happiness? 
How do you hold onto happiness when everything around you feels like too much? 
 
We find consistency and joy in community and working together. Ariel and I look forward to seeing you all in the near future.  
Musings and rants and perhaps a bit of interesting advice on everything ranging from magick, spirituality, education, and everything in between.

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