One of the ways I connect with nature during the winter months is to take photos. This past month I also woke up at night and took photos of the moon as well as this sunrise.
The Cold Moon is the moon of the Winter Solstice, which will happen this year on Saturday, December 21st, the longest night of the year. The winter solstice moon takes the highest path in the sky and is above the horizon longer than any other moon. This is known to be a time for reflecting with gratitude for the past year, to sit in silence and stillness and let go of anything that no longer serves you.
When the cold moon arrived, my ancestors in Germany and Eastern Europe must have been in final preparations for the long winter ahead. I know so little of my ancestors, but learning more is woven into this 13 moons cycle project as well, delving into the old knowing of both my European ancestors and the first peoples of this nation.
Previous Lunar Cycle Reflections
The first of the 13 moon cycles, November 1 - 30, I focused on research and gathering. I suspect all 13 lunar cycles will, to some extent, since I have a broad range of interests and love to learn. I did several mind maps and decided to focus on abstract depictions of rock formations and moon sightings using drawing, painting and collage. I love keeping a log book, so much happens each day, so many insights and observations and resources that it helps when I remember to write them down in the log. I wholeheartedly recommend one for any project or studio practice.
My daily log shows some different stages of mind-mapping as I narrowed my focus for 13 moons, and also records some marks and lines I might use in my work. These are works in progress, as well, and I'll continue to revise and refine the maps over time, removing some items and adding others.
Other Interesting Resources
I am drawn to myths and fairy tales, which led me to a series of publications that help me learn about my own personal mythology through a journaling process. What story do I tell about my life? I am reading and working on identifying what personal myths have guided my own life and whether those stories are ready for revisioning for a new mythology. I'll be taking a course in January through Pacifica Lifelong Learning called Mythic Mapping, a study of internal archetypes and the myth of self.
I listened to Clarissa Pinkola Estes' audiobook, "The Creative Fire". In it, she describes creativity as a vital, life-sustaining force that is an intrinsic energy within each of us. That force needs to be nurtured, however, as it is a transformative process that helps reconnect us to our true selves. That's where I am now, feeding that process with the wonderful resources that setting out with intention on a new path attracts. I love her quote on honoring the creative spirit:
"To create is to worship life itself, to say yes to the sacred forces that drive us." - Clarissa Pinkola Estes
A Stream of New Ideas and Resources
Each day I'm uncovering many new and fascinating resources to help me with connecting my creative practices to the natural world. I've tried to record as many ideas, resources and connections as I can and find a new tidbit of insights or discovery every day that helps to add flesh to the bones of the original idea.
It all feels a bit overwhelming on the days where wonderful ideas seem to pile up on top of one another so rapidly I wonder how I will ever get to explore all of them. Do I really need so much , I wonder, but the sifting and sorting will happen organically. Some fascinating new insights will not seem as wonderful or exciting on revisiting and others that started off slow will gain momentum. (I am counting on that sorting happening)
"But creativity can't be "scheduled, it evolves on its own timetable, and I am happy to let it lead."
I have learned already that although I follow the lunar cycle, I live in human time. It is, for example, not the new moon today at all that I'm sitting down to finally write and share what I've been doing with you, although I've been sorting and journaling ideas about what I've learned this month it since before Thanksgiving Day.
Today I did my studio practice and now can sit down quietly and sort through all the entries I've logged in my log book over the past few weeks. Some are valuable, others less so, but they've given me insights on how I want to follow-up on what has the most value to me now. Were I committed to a schedule, I would feel "behind." But creativity can't be "scheduled", it evolves on its own timetable, and I am happy to let it lead.
I woke up three or four nights before and after the November Full Beaver Moon and tried to photograph the feeling of the night sky with the full moon to inspire my paintings. The moon, I have discovered, now that I'm paying such close attention to it, has a different pattern of rising and setting from the sun that changes by about 55 minutes a day. The reason I sometimes don't see it (other than dense lake effect clouds often obliterate all signs of it), is because it can rise just as often in the morning or afternoon as evening or night. Its orbit is closest to the sun's around new moon, so it is less likely to be visible in the daylight when the sun is also out.
While I appreciate what scientists have learned and theorized about the moon, I think my love of the moon has little to do with the factual information I've gathered. I like the idea that both today and millions of years past, my ancestors and I both looked up at the night sky and watched the moon wax and wane, bringing calming light into the total darkness and allowing those who look at it to feel wonder. I like the idea of keeping some sense of magic and mystery in our world.
One thought I have as this new moon cycle begins is to make lots and lots of of samples of moons in a sky filled with rapidly drifting cloud formations - drawings, paintings, collages - small, medium or large, any or all media - then respond to those, choose the ones I like best as a jumping off place for new works. I admire the work of Arthur Dove and downloaded a number of his moon images to use as a starting point for my own explorations. Here are a few of them:
I will write again around the time of the December Full Moon, and hope to have some interesting new samples in motion plus more things I've discovered and am excited to share with you.
Metta Prayer
May I be peaceful. May all beings be peaceful.
May I be happy. May all beings be happy.
May I be safe. May all beings be safe.
May I awaken to the light of my true nature.
May all beings awaken to the light of their true nature.
May I be free. May all beings be free.
Peace to all,
Jeanne
Thank you for reading and for your interest in my new projects. If you feel so inclined, please share this post with friends you think may be interested and subscribe to receive future posts in your email inbox.
So great to read all that's new in your life! Wonderful posted work. Mine is on Facebook if you follow. Fiber Design Forum is up and meeting again each month. Some old members are still coming...Phyllis Vasbinder, Annette Meyer-Grunow, Isabel Berger, Barbara Evans, Linda Reinagal. Several new members now all working in different fiber techniques, and still meeting at the Carnegie Arts Center. Rosellen Ring-Easton passed last year from lung cancer. I was with her in her final days as I had worked for 9 yrs at Roswell Park Cancer Hospital as an Artist-in-Residence and could help navigate things....Brenda moved to NC (?) and has published books on her energy artwork. Good luck with your new inspiration.