Dancing Lunacy in the Snow Moon

I had the most fun yesterday. My friend Sue and I, who are inexplicably competing in the the local Aphasia Center’s Dancing with the Stars fundraiser, were plotting and planning.

(Why yes, we do know what we’ll be wearing, thank you! Bling always matters! especially when you’re unsure of your steps!)

We’re only going to win this if lots of generous friends show up… ahem. It’s a great cause. You can sign up here… No one told me that being a minister would get you the good gigs… I think next year, Sue and I should solicit lots more clergy…

But in the meantime, we’re going to have so much fun. Because… hey! Dancing.

Who plots and plans dancing? Few of us. We don’t get together to dance. We don’t get together to sing.

Why is that? Because you know what? it’s incredibly fun. What else is there in your life that you say that about as an adult. It’s incredibly fun. Rise up on the strength of laughter! And where there’s fun, real fun, there’s Peace. Let’s dance!

Indulging in Snow Moon Sabbath Peace

All the beauty of winter was on display yesterday. And here’s it’s message: We have to get out in it while it’s here.

It’s a challenge, it seems to take advantage of the beauty of something as fleeting as snow. But part of snow’s Beauty is the temporary nature of it. Those sweet, beautiful flakes. those blanketing drifts.

It’s so easy to dash toward the cold and wet and the icy. But the Beauty is real.

If we don’t indulge the wonder, we lose so much of life. And the complications are real. You’re going to be late when it snows. There’s going to be extra work. You’re likely to have to pit your strength against its implacable presence. It’s slippery. It’s Winter. It’s snow. Yet another sacred manifestation of a sacred season…

But the slippery part leads to sledding and tobogganing and hot cocoa and laughter. Such different fun that any other season of the year.

And it’s unbelievably beautiful. So mind where you walk and get out there and be amazed and amused. Happy Sabbath! Happy Snow Moon! Happy Peace!

They’re all ours to enjoy and indulge. What are we waiting for?

Snow Moon Harmony and Peace

Singing is a pretty miraculous thing. We don’t give it the space nearly often enough to do what it can…

Something wonderful happens when you sing together. And it deepens when you harmonize.

And when it’s someone very different than you and you are willing to lean in to blend your voice with theirs… then magic can happen… or even Peace.

It makes the work of Peace easier. You have a softer view of someone you disagree with when you’ve just made beautiful music together… and you’ve moved from the weakness of a solitary position to the strength of joined hearts.

Let’s learn those old sweet songs again… and sing together. Let’s make Peace while the snow falls — if we’re sitting shoulder to shoulder around the fire, let’s raise our voices.

Want to have a community sing? hmmmmmmmmm…

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…

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.

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

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