In a season when Full Moon coincides with one of the most prolific meteor showers of the year, it’s easy to think the potential thrill and excitement of seeing meteors is diminished, but I have a different idea.
The Moon longs to intensify our experience of cosmic light, as though it would carve shining furrows into our being for strengthening our ability to emulate a greater cosmic harmony.
There are great mysteries that take place under the veil of night, made even greater when they’re draped in moonlight. The Moon’s beams are made of sunlight and starlight, and this week, of meteor light, woven together and offered unto us, as Keats would say, from the heaven’s brink.
But the magic this week is in what’s happening out of sight.
It’s like this: When the light is bright, we can be blinded, so though it may seem like a contradiction, bright light is a clue to look more deeply into the mystery of the dark: in the dark we can come to a true experience of the self, by paying attention to what comes to meet us when there is no external stimuli. Sure, this week we’ll be able to see, in the half-light of twilight, and in the bright light of the Full Moon, but the starlight and the meteor light will be outwardly diminished, which means it’s time to find their mystery within ourselves. Even Perseus, who lends his name to this week’s meteor shower, triumphs over the Gorgon Medusa not by directly looking at her, but by reflection.
It’s understood through the story of Perseus’ birth that the heroic nature is born from a shower of golden stars that are experienced deeply within, within the earth, within the self. So listen. This week’s phenomena bear a unique gift into our midst. A gentle, gradual, dazzling truth.
From within,
Mary
Hear this episode on Interlochen Public Radio and podcasts everywhere, or come take a cruise with me along the Straits of Mackinac, out under the elegant Mackinac Bridge and into the night!
Though this week’s Full Moon on August 11 will diminish an outward experience of meteors, it bears a unique opportunity for knowing what the hero finds within…