These days, on our new acreage, I have been feeling overwhelmed with all there is to do. With all there is to get done before the winter really sets in, before the spring comes. The potential for me to become stressed is always there. Sometimes, despite my best intentions to stay calm and present, to breath deeply, I have to admit, I give into the pressure of it all. The other day however, whilst stacking wood for many hours, I remembered something Carl Jung once said, and it had a powerful effect. It goes like this: “If you are on the Journey, you are at the Goal.”
Now, doesn’t that quote just take the edge off life? Doesn’t that bring the breath deep down into the belly, and don’t your shoulders drop six inches just considering it? Mine sure do. And you might be wondering what does this have to do with Moon Mysteries? With the blood cycle? With the Goddess? Where in the hell is Nao going with this? Well, it goes like this, you see, Carl Jung’s wisdom got me thinking, it got me thinking about the goals I have achieved in my life, and whether or not I noticed the journey before I found myself at the goal? That is to say, have I ever really and truly considered the beauty and signifgance of a journey, whilst I was on it? Having given this some good and proper thought, I must confess, it seems I rarely notice the journey’s magic as it is happening. It is usually in hindsight that I recognize the beauty of a journey taken, of a road travelled, or of an experience shared. In my humanness, I am not always present to the magnificence of the moment. I am far from the Buddhist way of being, in the compassionate now-ness of it all.
Which brings me to consider the writing of Moon Mysteries. This, was indeed, a journey. An organic journey that took five long years, and during those years I cannot say I noticed the magic of this experience enough. And so it is with this in mind that I would like to take a few moments now to share with you some of the truly wonderful things that happened on this journey. The journey of three women, with a vision to write and share and create.
The first thing I want to celebrate is the wonderful tea we shared, the many pots of steamy brews we drank together.
I want to give thanks for those cozy winter mornings when we gathered together and sat on pillows in my living room pulling tarot cards and sharing the rhythms of our cycles with one another. Sometimes we would drum and smudge and invite ritual into our creative time’s.
Other times we would spend an hour sharing the dreams that came to us the night before. I remember the day that Eyan called Nikiah and I in tears because of a dream she had that begged her to bring her art into the book, and I remember the magical moment when Eyan first brought those images to us, and how we nearly cried at their beauty.
The second thing I want to celebrate is the delcious food that we ate whilst each meeting was taking place. The baskets of salads and berries I brought in from garden, the fresh honey from the hive, the chocolate platters that Nikiah never arrived without, and the red wine that Eyan generously poured as we raised glasses over beautiful dinners, and shared the story of our days.
We created this book the way women do the things they love. We did it in community, we did it together, we did it sharing food and our hearts. We dropped the male paradigm of deadlines. We pushed meetings back when kids were sick, or the bees swarmed, or we were all bleeding. We let the Goddess guide us in her organic ways, in the ways of Mother Earth, and this meant that a span of time was involved for the full fruition of the project to be come forth. Five years it took, it was a full five year gestation before the birth. Five springs, summers, falls and winters, and as the seasons cycled, so did we. We changed, we grew, we were sometimes wild and sometimes quite. Sometimes we got angry, sometimes we cried, sometimes we hung up the phone on one another in a fit of Pre-Moon-Madness, sometimes we sat in stillness, but no matter what, we always forgave one another, and we always laughed later.
It was indeed a journey, and one whose beauty I did not realize so much until now. Until I found myself sitting here this morning, with the goal in my hands, curled up by my woodfire, editing our book for it’s second printing. It is only now that I look back and see that the marvelous journey that we were on these past five years to bring Moon Mysteries to the world. It was one of profound grace and abundant magic, and this recognition, I think it calls for celebration.
Nikiah and Eyan, it has been an honour to share this experinece with each of you. I thank you both from the very depth of my soul. I look forward to our continued journey together, but this time I shall make more of an effort to notice the magic of the journey itself. The other thing I wish to say now, goes out to all of the women out there who find themselves sitting in a pile of tasks, of things that need doing, of inspirations not fully formed. I beg you, take heart, because as the wise Carl Jung once said, “if you are on the Journey, you are at the Goal.” And, the Journey sisters, it is a beautiful thing~
Blessings,
Nao
Since we/ Nao and I were both inspired by the Blue moon happening tonight we decided to co-write a blog post sharing a little bit about what we would both be doing for this full/Blue moon tonight.
