Halloween's Blue Moon

Tonight on Halloween we will see a blue moon. The moon will not appear blue. The phrase refers to the time when a second full moon occurs in one month.

Historical origins of the term arise in mystery and interpretation.

That the term blue moon means something rare originated when smoke and ashes after a volcanic eruption turned the moon blue. Folklorist Philip Hiscock has suggested invoking the blue moon once meant something absurd would never happen.

The more popular definition of the blue moon, that of the second full moon in a month, results from a misinterpretation made by amateur astronomer James Hugh Pruett in a 1946 edition of Sky & Telescope magazine. The error spread and even made its way into the answers of the 1986 version of the board game, Trivial Pursuit. Today, this definition is considered a second definition of the blue moon rather than a mistake.

Tonight's moon calls on us to become authentic through thoughts and actions. 

Awakening to enlightenment on all levels prepares the path in our challenging time.  

We can accept change as a positive and remain grounded. Inner strength arises through taking time in nature, possibility thinking, and release of tension.

Go out and howl. Have a chuckle with the blue moon.

Opposites and Reversals

In the 18th century, Francois Rabelais published, The Life of Gargantua and of Pantagruel. 

A teacher named Epistemon takes a visit to the afterlife and back in the story.

While on the other side, Epistemon finds famous dead heroes employed in humble states. Alexander the Great mends old socks. Cleopatra hawks onions in the streets. King Arthur cleans hats while Helen of Troy supervises chambermaids.

Consider reversals you would like to see in life and art.

What's enormous that should be small?

What's proud that could be humble?

Where will humor add to opportunity?

Reverse your polarity. Play with imagery in sight, sound, and scent to move into different realms of thinking and creating.

Add texture. Let humor swirl to color ideas.

Find Ferocity

David Whyte believes that even though life causes constant heartbreak, we need to keep reviving ourselves. "When you close down to heartbreak, you cannot hold things in affection," he said. "The whole of creation is just waiting for you to appear and stay open."  

"Everything is waiting for you," he says as he questions why everyone needs to be "up" all the time. It goes against nature to avoid changes.Nature follows a pattern of growth, fullness, cessation and decay. Nothing in the world is "full on" all the time. 

Whyte encourages a courageous conversation with oneself and then others. We have so many loses in life,  part of the healing involves the willingness to come out and be found again.  

It seems his metaphor for heartbreak involves the Fs we do not like to face: fear, failure, frustration. How do we make friends with them?

Also, we must learn what they have to offer us without pushing away. A ferocity in our attitude keeps us patient through the minor Fs. This involves the creative spirit in facing life's challenges.  Think of the flow of nature and go with the seasons.

Question the heartbreak metaphor. In reality,  the heart does not break. It does not even fray. It's a muscle. If we keep it energized by dietary choices, exercise along with positive involvement with each moment, it will stay healthy. It will receive and expel blood and do work as life passes through us.  

Become Ferocious for Positivity.

A Writing Ceremony

The Japanese tea ceremony honors four guiding principles of discipline: to seek harmony (wa) with nature and other human beings; to show respect (kei) for all things and people; to revere the purity (sei) of a clean and orderly environment; and to enter a state of tranquility (jau) amid the chaotic world in which we live.

In the environment of the tearoom, the splendor of natural materials reveals itself in utensils and furnishings. Within a calm and orderly atmosphere, guests show respect for their host and objects used to prepare and serve the tea.

Careful attention paid to the craftsmanship in the objects creates appreciation. A poetic message inscribed on a hanging scroll sets the theme and refers to the season.

The host pays attention to the needs of his guests. Nothing extraneous is present in the room nor in the conversation. No unkind words are spoken. Tragedies and turmoil of the outside world are left outside the garden gates.

For the moment, host and guest reflect upon the time given together - ichigo, ichie - each moment only once.

 Consider how the above ceremony might apply to your daily writing practice.

Do you seek harmony with nature and other human beings in your choice of subject matter?  In what ways does your writing show respect?  How will you bring order to your writing environment?

When you write, what helps to bring you a state of tranquility so you leave the chaotic world behind? As author, how do you pay attention to the needs of your audience of readers?  Will you make the most of each moment the pen flows on paper or fingers push keys?

Write your own principles of writing practice.

Lorca and Duende

Federico Garcia Lorca, gypsy poet of Southern Spain wrote, "Theory and Play of Duende" suggesting most artists search for perfection at the cost of the need for struggles - the duende. This force, not an angel or Muse, becomes an "energetic instinct." 

A writer may have the force, the style and the ability but will never triumph unless duende resides within. All through Andalucia, people speak of duende and recognize it when it happens. It is a spirit that is more than one's spirit. This force becomes more of an "energetic spirit." Lorca says, "I mean secret and shuddering . . . where the angel dazzles and the muse dictates, surges from outside of us. 

The duende has, "to be roused from the furthest habitations of the blood. Seeking the duende, there is neither map nor discipline. We only know it burns the blood like powdered glass, that it exhausts, rejects all sweet geometry we understand, that it sharpers styles. Emotion is impossible without the arrival of the duende." 

Duende also means a radical change to all the old kinds of form. "Each person finds something new that no one had seen before, that could give life and knowledge." 

Lorca discusses three arches which have within them the Muse, the angel and the duende. "Through the empty archway a wind of the spirit enters, blowing insistently over the heads of the dead, in search of new landscapes and unknown accents: a wind with the odor of a child's saliva, crushed grass, and medusa's veil, announcing the endless baptism of freshly created things." 

When asked why he wrote, “A thousand tambourines of crystal wounded the light of day break,” he replied, “I will tell you I save them in the hands of trees and angels, but I cannot say more. I cannot explain their meaning and that is how it should be. Through poetry a man quickly reaches the cutting edge that the philosopher and mathematician silently turn away from.”

Lorca felt that, "Through poetry a man quickly reaches the cutting edge that the philosopher and mathematician silently turn away from."

Find a new path.

Bring in the Light

Do not be dismayed by the brokenness of the world. All things break. And all things can be mended. Not with time, as they say, but with intention. So go. Love intentionally, extravagantly, unconditionally.  The broke world waits in darkness for the light that is you. 

                                                     - L. R. Knost

Today we face challenges that do not belong to us alone. We cannot control the pandemic, the media, our government, or others' opinions by ourselves.  

Personal intention makes a difference. Once our eyes grow accustomed to the dark, details appear. Shapes and colors arise for consideration and choices. Breezes bring in scents not noticed before. 

Birdsong announces another view.

What we do next involves giving the best of love, respect, and devotion to making decisions beyond the darkness. 

Creativity moves us into possibilities.

Gradually we gain ideas of what we can do to enhance life for ourselves to translate to others. 

Our enlightenment revels in thoughts put into actions.

Jump beyond wallows in a wilderness of frustration. Make plans to greet the day with brightness and acknowledge others who walk with their heads down. Bring their eyes level with yours and turn their frowns upside down.  

It takes small steps. The flash of a bee at work will bring illumination into your world. 

When wandering in the dark, discover three ideas to arouse awe. Use your potential.

Manage from your inside out to bring in light necessary for renewal. Follow Rollo May's directive and develop the Courage to Create.

At Any Intersection

 

Observe for a time any intersection.

Notice a blue Mercedes coup

zoom past the line at the Stop sign

Just as a tan Buick turns left.

Yells. Hand gestures soar

into the air at the coup.

Shimmery in silver, a Honda
pounds the horn as a bicyclist

slows in his rightful lane.

White Ford driver smiles 

at a lady in pink-flowered pants.

Waves as she crosses at the walking sign.

Where will emotions take them

once drivers have left frustrations

or civility at the intersection?

What might animal drivers do

if they escaped from the zoo?

Write Gathas

When birdsong is loud in the trees
I vow with all beings
to put down my work and to listen,
recreated as song.
                             - Robert Aiken 
              from The Dragon Who Never Sleeps


A gatha is a vow that expresses the interconnectedness and interdependence of an individual with nature.  

The first line sets up a situation in nature beginning with the word when or whenever.

When planting lilies in my garden
When I hear the sparrows sing
When I smell sea spray

The second line, "I vow with all beings" represents the basic commitment of the gatha. You might substitute another commitment or promise.

I promise to myself
I make a commitment to the earth
I pledge myself

The last two lines tell of the promise and begin with to.

to put aside worries
to stay focused
to engage with . . .

Gathas focus on everyday aspects of life and express how all beings and things connect.  The gatha form becomes meaningful way to express the interdependence felt when observing nature.

When I hear the Black Phoebe's call

I promise to us both

to remain in the moment

and sing of love.

Arrange your gathas today to connect and express your interdependence with nature.

Dewdrop Views

This dewdrop world

Is but a dewdrop world

. . . and yet?

                         Isso

A delve into roses inside out.

The petals fan and flair with the nurture of dew.

               
Shadows pose behind and beyond; shapes and curtains flow.

Harmony of upside down and turn around in traces and hearts unfurl.

What self-conversation stumbles among the shapes that reveal a secret core?

To peer, without haste and permit the eyes and nose to investigate. 

The hands and body bend to each shrine of nature.  

Musicality trails the leaves.  A taste of tart and surprise entreats.

. . . and yet?

Awake in the wild of impermanence, the temple

draws an adventurer.

What do I know of secrets I don't understand?

Like dew, a phantom or the flare of sunset gone.  With hope revisited.

and  yet . . . to awaken and arrive again at dawn.

 

Considet impermanence.

Find a metaphorical view.

Curiosity and Anger

 

" . . . anger is one of my favorite creative resources." 

 - Justin Kleon

Focus the feelings of anger on the curiosity of that emotion.  Avoid the first reaction of complaining or lashing out.

Instead of attempting to "get even" with the situation, redirect your energy. Take five deep breaths with the eyes closed.

Open the mind to imagination and creative connections.

Write with the color blue, a scent and a favorite song. Blend into the flow of words. 

You will surprise yourself at how quickly anger disburses.

Portals for Adventure

A picture 
lives by companionship.  - Mark Rothko

"There are things known and things unknown and between them, the doors." - Jim Morrison

What happens beyond the gate?

Words in response to pictures reflect and interpret the world and form a relationship with others. Sentences search a world of paradox and mystery. Barriers invite curiosity as portals to adventure.

Natural entrances invite a story or poem.  

Do you see the man of the sea hiding?

Take a walk and capture a collage of portals. Or, use the three above. 

Do a freewite to investigate their connections. Do stories and poems arise from one side of the entrance to the other? 

Sock Sagas

Everyone has a lost sock story. 

Where do they wander from the washing machine to the dryer? 

             How do they lose their way from the dryer to the drawer?

Imagine a spy thriller. Mated for years, one sock goes on the lam when it receives a call to investigate the pockets of jeans and t-shirts.

A white sock has always wanted to turn green. 

It sneaks away from the laundry basket and hides until a load of colors arrives. 

Then it wriggles deep inside a green shirt that's put in the wash for the first time. 

Around and around it goes until, "Whee, I'm turning green."

Always put down and stepped on during its tiny life, one sock dreams of rising and becoming a pant leg or beyond. Then it meets a single sock and sparks of love fly.

Let the saga of the single sock stimulate fun and wisdom today. 

Develop Perspective

"Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious. However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed."  - Stephen Hawking

Develop a big picture perspective to transform your world view. 

Notice the nuances in nature. Nurture your curiosity to find successes.

 "To stop rushing around, to sit quietly on the grass, to switch off the world and come back to earth, to allow the eye to see a willow, a bush, a leaf, is an unforgettable experience." 

- Frederick Franck