Can All Have Hunger Moon Peace?

Snow Moon is far more romantic than Hunger Moon, don’t you think? And yet, snow in this case isn’t just a beautiful covering, it’s also that which traditionally prevented us from hunting, fishing, or gathering our food. Snowtires and good roads have made many snow realities a thing of the past.

Unfortunately, they’ve done nothing to eradicate hunger.

The dangerous snows of today’s Hunger Moon are poverty, income inequality, lack of work.

I can address the storms and drifts only with my voting and political will. But I have a little shovel that I can dig into the local hunger. And if I can, I must. Time to but my back into, time to use my strength.

Peace is, but it also waits for me to make it. It waits for you too. Why shouldn’t we be the snows of philanthropy and good will? Are we willing to make the difference?

Magnificent Dark Moon Peace Sky

Immediately after posting yesterday, I was poking around on FB and lo! and behold, my niece had just posted an incredible vid of the Andromeda Galexy that NASA has released. You thought you were insignificant yesterday, simply staring up at the stars? Whew!

My friend Jim reminded me of the importance of our task as appreciator of the beauty.

I find that the beauty moves me even more strongly to embrace Peace, to declare myself its ally and one of its creators.

The Universe reminds us that there is both overwhelming Abundance and breath-taking Beauty. Let’s lean back, look up, remember that our neighbors are just as awestruck as we, and let’s make a celebration of Peace and Love.

It may be through out this year as we look at the Moon with Lorraine’s beautiful Moon Shots and reflect on the Lunacy of Peace to which the Moon calls us, that the Dark Moon might become a very special celebration of the festival of the Dark of the Moon — the time when we stop and take stock of the immensity of our Cosmos and the call to respond to that wonder and awe with Peace.

Dark Moon — New Moon Peace Lunacy

And so it ends. And so it begins again.

Both have meaning. And in between is a pause. The silence. Sometimes, as an centenarian drummer told my husband — you have to play the silence.

Stop. Listen to the Stillness. Stop. Notice how strong you are. Stop. Take stock of what needs to be done and what skills you have to .

People say you can’t work on Peace until you’re at Peace yourself. Peace is hard enough without waiting till each individual’s craziness settles down! Peace is out there as well as in here… at the Dark of the Moon is a good time to Listen.

Breathe that Peace in and begin to wonder how you might contribute to the Peace cause.

What is your role, now that you notice the needs and your strengths?

Every month you have this built in pause to reassess. Use it. Luxuriate in it.

Soon that little crescent will start making herself known. But for the moment, Pause. Breathe it in. Take a moment before as the prayer says, we forgive ourselves and begin again in love.

May the Lunacy of Peace be with you…

Peace at the Dark of the Moon

I love the Dark of the Moon… I love the Moon in all her guises, but there’s something about the Mystery of this time, when the moon is invisible to us but continues to have her way with the tides.

I like that she is there, even when I can’t see her. I like that she is always strong.

I find it a wonderful metaphor for women’s strengths. We’re not always using all our strength, but it’s always there. Sometimes we need to visit the Dark and Lovely parts of ourselves.

Too often we think of the pieces of ourselves that we hide away as weak. But the Moon isn’t weak when she goes away. She’s weakest when she shines, when she can only reflect what is offered. But she exerts the same pull on the Earth facing us or turned away. Her gravitational pull is the strongest when she’s Full and when she’s Dark. Interesting, eh?

Peace — how are we strong for Peace? How do we shine it out in the world? How do we stay strong when we’re turned away from the world… and continue doing our work…

Hmmm. this has got me thinking. More later. In the meantime, it’s MLK day. go out and do something good for the world…

Martin’s Peace Lunacy

Happy Birthday, Dr. King.

We have so much to be grateful for in your leadership.

Such daring. Such truth telling. There are those who say you were just a man; that’s the genius of your work.

Because if you were human, great things can be asked and expected of us — we who are also simply human.

Peace. Courage. Conviction. Devotion. Faith.

You changed the world, and challenge us, with your life and your death, to do the same. You changed the world with your insistence that each life is sacred.

We give thanks… Let us then begin to move toward Peace in whatever way is best for us!

A Photographer of Peace Lunacy

He took so many pictures. But the pictures so many of us remember, that struck us right in the heart of our love for our little town was the one of the full moon rising behind the courthouse.

It’s a beautiful shot no matter what… but when it’s a shot of something you love… ah… it’s somehow so much sweeter.

When we walked up the hill after the funeral to the grave site, we were all moved by the view… his view… his town…

And such a crowd, so many people moved by his wonderful artistry and by his gentle soul. He walked around town with his camera, capturing unseen angles and vistas, but talking to everyone…

He was a gentle, Peaceful man who loved the moon. He taught us to see things differently. What a gift to give the world. What a gift for us to receive and take seriously. Peace. and the Moon. and Marlin. What a blessing.

Challenging Peace Lunacy

If there’s anything this Pollyanna hates to acknowledge is how challenging and sometimes painful life can be. But looking away doesn’t change that, however often we try avoidance as our coping mechanism.

Life is hard. Bad things happen. Pretending that good things always come from hard things is magical thinking. It’s true we may survive hard things, but it doesn’t always make us stronger or better. Sometimes it just makes us incredibly sad.

In the hard times, we have to search for the balm of Peace. Sometimes we find it in our friends’ or family’s love. Sometimes we find it in quiet moments of Nature. And some folks find it in loud dance music. Wherever we find respite is a good thing.

This year as we go through the year, looking at the Moon and its phases, I’m finding balm in the Moon, in the knowledge that her sweet and serene reflection is always there (even when I can’t see it.)

I like knowing that the balm of Moon shines on you and your problems at the same time. Because life is hard. Challenges do arrive. So I must take a deep breath, drink that light in, and as a favorite prayer says, forgive myself and begin again in love.

Shining Peace at the Moon

What if all of us at some point when the Moon were in the sky made the effort to look up and smile Peace and Love at the Moon?

Naïve, surely.

But it costs nothing and it hurts nothing, which is certainly not what we can say about the trying to war our way to Peace.

And it might change our mindset as we begin to have Peace on our hearts and our faces on a regular basis. It is exactly those times of being open and unguarded that we move forward in Peace, I think. And it might start us making constructive movement toward Peace in a world too frightened to let go of the hatred.

We might check our Moon calendar and see when the moon shines on Iraq or Syria and send our best Love. Or know when the Moon smiles at Nigeria and offer hope for a suffering people.

Peace begins where we are. And the Moon will be all the more radiant for our Hope and Love.

The Lunatic Peace of Oh, There You Are

A friend wrote that the moongazing felt oddly lonely — and I thought, huh, that’s not my experience… (and may be what tomorrow’s musing looks at!)

But I find at night, when looking at the grandeur, when the present is present or when it’s traveling and away, that I’m aware of the Moon or the Stars peeking in the windows of those I love and those I haven’t yet come to love — Making the connections with my Moon Peace community… a prayer for Peace…

I wonder who’s also looking at the Moon and sending Peace. Do we start a FB page to find out? Do we remind ourselves that the moon sends her very soft light on us? I read a lovely series by Sharon Shinn in which she talks about the Moon Goddess and says that the Moon can only reflect what is given Her… I loved the metaphor…

Do we give the Moon Love and Peace to reflect? Do we make conscious choices about that? (tomorrow’s musing’s reshaping under my fingers as I write to you…)

Hmmm. I think I should probably stop and ponder that. May the sweet Peace of the Moon be with you, my friends, until we meet again…

A New Generation of Peace Lunatics

It’s easy to become discouraged, even desperate, when we consider Peace. What will happen to our world, we wonder…

Antidote to despair: spend some time with some kids.

I had the most wonderful couple-hour conversation yesterday with a sophomore in college. She’s majoring in mechanical engineering because she wants to work on alternative energy. She’s a proud student athlete who loves sports and but maintains a solid gpa.

If the alternative energy angle wasn’t enough, she’s working on keeping tigers from going extinct. Apparently there’s a coalition of all the schools with tigers as mascots and they’re raising money for tigers (only 7 species left and 3,200 tigers, act now!) And then we talked about how else she and her friends might be active and how she might expand not just the numbers of friends she had, but the kinds of people she knows, people who weren’t student athletes in engineering.

I already adore this young woman so I knew it would be a pleasure to talk to her. But she was so passionate about things that matter. However she can continue to saving the world, she’s in.

She has great parents. I know them and like them a lot. She went to the best of the local schools — and it’s a good school. It’s a privileged life here, but her family is aware and helps their kids stretch. She grew up in the church where I work, so I’ve been watching her for years. They had a great youth group, liked each other, had fun. Parents matter. Good communities matter.

I’m very proud of the two communities I’m involved with, the UUCSV (and the parent organization the Unitarian Universalist Association) and thinkpeace workshop for girls. But I know there are lots of other great parents and great communities who are teaching great values and reminding us that Peace matters.

So let’s give our kids the tools they need to become lunatics for Peace and teach them to do good. There are so many children under this soft white Moon, let’s make them one another’s allies…

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

The Priestess Is In