February, 2009

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New Moon Symbolism. A No-Stuff Zone

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009
New Moon Symbolism

New Moon Symbolism


Happy new moon.Looking up into her body now, we will see only the vastness of potential available to us (at least, in the northern hemisphere).

Maybe that’s what’s bugging me.

What? Why would infinite potential bug me? The prospect of unknown opportunities -  whole new realms of mystery waiting to be discovered… These concepts are spiritual jackpots to the philosophical journeyer. So why the bugginess?

I think it’s because of the endless-openness our new moon proposes.  The new moon symbolism speaks to us of an emptiness that is unfathomable. Our ancestors knew it, and we know it too, on various levels.

New moons remind us of the void, the gaping hole that is nothingness. The first step. Another beginning. A new revolution.

With so much change going on in our lives, yet another new beginning can seem overwhelming (particularly on a cosmic level which will compound our mundane levels of change).

What’s more, a sense of empty-ness tends to prompt one to start finding stuff to fill the void. Consider that sentence – it’s vague, but astounding in it’s implications.

Is this true for you? If a sense of empty-ness is detected, do you go about trying to “remedy” it by filling the void?

I do. My Western socialized mind runs to fill up – not empty out.

So, when encountering the newness proffered by her highness the Moon, I sometimes find myself anxious and edgy – scrambling around trying to do, do, do, (gathering up, filling up, plugging the holes) instead of be, be, be. 

Whether we’re filling the void with thought or things, there’s a time to cease the stuffing.  This is that time.

Being is what the new moon, in her infinite wisdom would have us do.

This new moon, I invite you to join me in the following:

  • just be.
  • stop stuffing.
  • swim in the void.
  • relish the beginning for what it is: Freshness.
  • settle in the emptiness (resisting the urge to fill it).

Some other pages on the moon symbolism you may find interesting:

Moon Symbolism

Native North American Full Moon Symbolism

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My First Rant. The Right to Arm Bears

Monday, February 16th, 2009

bearrantThis is my first rant. Probably my last because tirades have nothing to do with symbolic-meanings. But, somethings just can’t be contained.Some folks call me mellow, and I’m agreeable to the term. Aside from being naturally amicable, I never watch TV and this is why:

To preface, bears have been drifting in and out of my dreams and meditations lately. So, when I overheard bears mentioned in the TV program my house-mate was watching, I thought it was a prompting.

I neither know the show, nor remember the location (although it was North America), but the show spoke about bears growing larger these days, and looming more close to residential homes

The camera then switched to one of these homes in which the homeowner, a woman with three kids took the cameraman on a tour of the new, sprawling residential yard.  She showed him where the bears were encroaching on HER yard.

With alarming cluelessness, she went on to tell the cameraman:  “They walk through here like they own the place. They go through my trash bins, they tromp through the back yard. I am afraid to let my kids out to play. Something needs to be done.”

To this, I would say yes, indeed something certainly does need to be done. YOU NEED TO MOVE LADY!!!!

THE BEARS WERE HERE FIRST! They DO own the place!!!

Something about the whole scene sang a sinister tune of irony that made my back teeth grind down to nubbins.

To clarify, I’m not an activist. I think it’s counter-intuitive.  

However, I was real tempted to borrow a t-shirt my mom often wears.  It’s got a picture of a grizzly bear on the front sporting a rifle and says “I support my right to arm bears.”  Nah, not my (mellow) style. 

So what’s an amicable soul to do?

Send my own message, in my own way.  Aside from this rant, I went on to publish some cool pages on bear symbolism.  If you’re interested here they are:

Symbolic Meaning of the Bear

Sacred Bears – A Native American Perspective

That’s all we can do. Fighting fire with fire only makes a situation more combustible.

But, thanks for listening to my rant, and for allowing me to let off steam.

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