Smallest Moon of 2014

Happening now! Tonight!
Wait ~~ isn't the moon always the same size? Maybe, but it doesn't always look the same size in our perception of the night sky. With good readon. The MiniMoon is at its apogee ~ it's farthest point away from the Earth. Just as the SuperMoon, which is at its perigee, appears larger, so the MiniMoon appears smaller.

Go outside and look at the night sky ~ take a good look at the moon. If you hadn't heard that it was a MiniMoon, would you have noticed the difference? Really?

http://www.space.com/24300-smallest-full-moon-2014.html

This is the difference if you put two versions of the moon next to each other .... and who can do that in the night sky?

Is the comparative size of the moon significant to you? Why? Does your body or do your emotions respond to the moon? Differently when it's closer or farther away? If you don't know, pay attention tonight and next month and compare!

Pilgrimage

Pilgrims are persons in motion - passing through territories not their own - seeking something we might call completion, or perhaps the word clarity will do as well, a goal to which only the spirit's compass points the way. Those who pass over thresholds aware of their need to be changed. Listening to this counsel, we recall Merton's meditation that in us God wanders as a pilgrim too.

Richard R. Niebuhr, Parabola Magazine, Volume IX, Number 3 - Pilgrimage

Wandering through the wilderness ... is that what pilgrimage is about? Taking on the ritual and rites of those who have passed through these territories before? Finding oneself in new, creative, perhaps challenging places?

I believe that pilgrimage is about going deeper into the trust and truth of the Ineffable One. Finding our leading edge that connects with that Power. Learning to feel the depth of our link to God/Spirit/the Universe/Goddess. 

Merton's meditation about God wandering in us as a pilgrim fascinates me. My mind is cracked open ever so slightly more because of it. Imagine it: God/Goddess/the Universe/Spirit wandering the world within us as well as amongst us. Breathtaking!

What do you think a pilgrimage is? Where would you choose to go if you had the opportunity to take one?

Scavenger Hunt

It's easy to find a variety of quotes describing creativity. Many of them are repetitive or droll or cutesy. All of them intend to be creative in and of themselves. When I read Liz Gilbert's definition describing it as a scavenger hunt, I knew I'd hit the jackpot. My personal jackpot. 

Creativity is an essence that often seems evasive. It might feel as though it's hiding, it's playing a game of hide-and-seek. Creativity is that segment of our personal psyche that shifts. Every time that happens, every moment of shift or hiding, cries out to be noticed, to be noted and heard.

Can you feel that tweak when you discover a clue? Is your creativity solely alive in one area? or are there multiple divisions to where and how you are creative?

Good Madness

I love Neil Gaiman.
He's one of my favorite literary geniuses
 ~~ or would it be genii? 

May 2014 bring you Good Madness! What in the world, or out of the world for that matter, makes madness good? Societal norms suggest, or state most implicitly, that madness itself is an anomaly and should be avoided at all costs. And yet.... and yet... perhaps it's about allowing yourself to be different. Allowing yourself to respond in ways that maybe aren't quite, yet possibly close-but-no-cigar truly true to yourself. Even though it might not be so in the eyes of those around you.

Good Madness is also about believing in Magic and Dreams and the incredible possibility, or even likelihood, that someone out there thinks you are wonderful.

Can you imagine your coming year filled with art of all sorts: visual and literary and auditory? Your home, your space overwhelmed by color and design and light. Wow! What a year is heading your way!

What do you plan to do with it?

Shaman of Courage

The Shaman's Oracle ~ J. Matthews & W. Kinghan

As I focused on the coming week, I asked the question: What do I need for the coming week? What quality would serve me best?

And so I drew Courage. One facet of a Shaman's being is to dream the world into existence. Those dreams take courage. Courage to move forward in time. Courage to release what is no longer needed. Courage to step into one's power. Courage brings many, many gifts with it.

The image on the card is like a shadow dancer. It has hands that are over-sized to capture and to defend. From its hip comes what looks like another hand ~ or a weapon. On its head are horns. It is wavy, tall and strong and looks as though it could carry one into the future.

What need do you have for courage? What are you willing to let go? What is calling you forward? How will you dream your future?

Go With the Wild

Rose is a Rose comic for 01/01/14:

When this comic caught my eye, it really hit home. I've been wavering between impulsively shifting from my current job to ... well, something else ... and something with not as stable an income or staying with the current structure. Internally, it's been a focus of the past several months. There are many reasons for the wavering. I've had the structure of my job for many years. Not the specific job, but the role of being a teacher within a public school structure. It's one of the most stable positions around. And yet ... there are many questions about the direction of public education. Questions of outcomes; questions of accountability; questions of the basic stability of the system itself. More than that, I sense that the time has come for the younger educators to really take charge. I want to write, to work in other realms of education, to share other facets of my learning and knowledge in other ways.

So, as Rose ponders her choices, I continue to ponder my own.

What in your life could benefit from living impulsively? What needs structure and stability? Is there a way to balance the two?

New Year's Super New Moon

Happy 2014! Today begins a bright new year. It's thrilling to feel the page of the year turning....

This morning, at 3:14 a.m. PT, there was also a Super New Moon ~ one of three happening this year. Super Moons occur when the moon is at its closest to the Earth.

Maybe because the New Moon is about letting go, maybe because the New Moon is about beginning anew, maybe because the three days at Oceanside deeply connected my body with the tides of Mama Ocean.... at the time of the Super New Moon, I was awakened by my rumbling tummy.  It seems my body decided it needed to purge. Every orifice at once. Within 10 minutes.

No fever. No achiness. No more issues. Just one 10 minute extreme release. Wow.

I'm excited to begin the New Year cleansed in my body, more awake in my mind, more aware in my soul.

What are you releasing this New Year's New Moon? What are you willing to purge?