This Grounding Force Is Outta This World
When I called the moon back to me
I thought she wanted my beauty
I shone in the best that vanity buys
I covered the path where my life turned to lies
And the moon kept on rising
But I felt nothing at all
She comes when the empire falls
And shines on crumbling walls
-Calling The Moon by Dar Williams
No matter where I am, no matter what my external circumstances or internal state, I can always count on the moon.So why do I forget this over and over again? Why do I get pulled away from myself? Well, because I’m human. But also because of the noise. Because humans, despite our intelligence, are wired to forget. We’re driven towards the shiny and the new. It’s our reptilian brain, forever hungering.Our world is cacophonous. Billboards and loudspeakers and opinions being thrown like confetti across the airwaves pushing us and goading us to want more, need more.And it’s seeped into our subconscious, masquerading as an authoritative inner voice. “Do this.” “Get this.”The truth is we have everything we need. It may not feel like it. We may be frustrated or angst-ridden or confused, but if we stop and breathe and move inward, the abundance available is infinite. Abundance, it has been said, is not something we acquire, it’s something we tune into.That’s the beauty of moon rituals. They offer us profound opportunities to re-calibrate and allow for transcendence and deep stillness.“I do not understand at all the mystery of grace - only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us,” Anne Lamott wrote.The irony of new moon intention setting is that it’s not actually about the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The details are fungible. It’s the desire itself that’s meaningful, that alerts us to what’s missing, what’s yearned for.If we get quiet and still enough, we realize that underneath the want we’re craving love and belonging and acceptance.What illuminates this awareness more than the profound simplicity of the moon itself?Artwork by Michelle Favin of Whys LA for Poppy & Seed. Connect with her @whyslosangeles.
