Another way to look at the Seasons

The last post looked at the different parts of the seasonal narrative from the framework of the four European seasons...spring, summer, autumn, winter. However, that's not necessarily the only way to look at it, and by considering a trinity of seasonal energies it might help to add some perspective into what I'm aiming for. 

Mage: the Ascension (and closely related for these purposes, Werewolf: the Apocalypse) has a trinity of energies that form a similar cycle to the seasons, and since I'm a big fan of these games I'm naturally going to be influenced by the way they handle things.

The general idea of the cycle begins with chaos and raw unbridled potential (wyld), moves to order and unwavering stasis (weaver), and finishes with entropy and decayed corruption (wyrm). 

 

In this image, we might move clockwise around the circle starting at the left side with spring. Where the bottom left corner roughly aligns with the raw unbridled chaotic potential of "the wyld". AS spring winds it way clockwise around the circle, it passes to summer. Halfway through summer, the next point of the triangle is reached with the ultimate stasis of "the weaver", before slowly falling to hubris and verging toward decadence. Autumn follows the downward path from stasis to the final corruption of "the wyrm". Winter seeks a rebirth of new energies, and the corruption breaks down and new energies start to make their potential felt, working their way gradually through a point where the stability of summer breaks down in the anti-summer of winter, until a new spring emerges and with it the new unbridled potential of "the wyld".

That last bit was added as I was writing, but it brings an interesting revision to the cycle , where we get the points of the energies, and the opposites (the lines) where the opposite-vibe/anti-energy reigns. (I guess that's the thing about stream of consciousness writing, especially when I take a break halfway through a thought and then come back to it an hour later.)

Spring - Starts with the wyld, the unbridled potential of chaos, and gradually builds something meaningful and enduring (at least temporarily), which is the antithesis of entropy and the wyrm. 

Summer - Starts with the consolidation of the form, moves through the growth and stability of the concept/community/individual whose story is being told (this is the essence of the weaver), then is works toward a vibe of stifling new creativity and and potential. 

Autumn - Starts with the complete stifling of the new and interesting (which is the antithesis of the wyld), works to maintain strength in the face of the growing influence of entropy and the wyrm. Autumn ends in the thrall of the wyrm, unsure where to go next because there is no new potential.

Winter - Starts with despair and simply trying to survive. The impact of entropy has hit hard, and as the narrative energies move through the cold season, they start to consume the stifling power structures of summer and the weaver. It is this ouroboros consumption that allows cracks to form in the structure and new unbridled potential to seep through.

By using a three way split and a four way split, I could probably divide a circle into twelve segments like a clock face, but that's getting a bit heavy handed, so I'll just go back to the seasons at this stage. Things are going to get complicated enough.