Breath and Fire

‘Hail to thee, thou new moon,

Beauteous guidant of the sky;

Hail to thee, thou new moon,

Beauteous fair one of grace.’

from the Carmina Gadelica 

Two of Swords from the Smith-Waite Tarot deck

When people speak of the new Moon, they usually mean the visible crescent of two or three days as it sets in the West in the company of the Sun.   But when I write these Moon thoughts, it is a day or two before the moment of New, and the Moon is a barely visible sliver of light at dawn. I’m working in the dark,  blindfolded like the Two of Swords above

Two of Swords from the Wild Unkown Tarot deck.

At the moment of this new Moon, there is a fiery triangle whirling in the sky, and in our bodies.  Here where I live in New England, the heat of summer is turned up to reflect the power of the Moon and Sun in the fiery majesty of Leo; Chiron, the healer, in the Fire sign of Aries, and the Earth mother (Demeter)  in the hot sign of Sagittarius.

The Symbol for the degree of this new Moon speaks so beautifully of the art of transforming one element to another.

GLASS BLOWERS SHAPE BEAUTIFUL VASES WITH THEIR CONTROLLED BREATHING.   KEYNOTE: The need to involve one’s most spiritual and vital energies in the creative act, if it is to produce significant and beautiful new forms.  CREATIVE INTENSITY.

It seems we are always involved in transformational Alchemy and meditation, stasis and refinement.   To be an artist requires  persistence, with patience to balance our fiery desires.   Just as the glass blower uses fire to melt sand,  so must he also carefully control his breath to create something of beauty and fragility.  Nature does this all the time!

Photo: Bruce Lhuillier

In my work as a clay artist I must cooperate with all the elements, and I have probably learned nothing else from this, except how to treat frustration with patience!    Earth is worked on with Water and Air to be the perfect consistency and then the piece is turned over to Fire, not once but twice to be finished.

Clay tile: Sarah Fuhro

This new Moon falls close to the Fire festival, Lughnasadh, the first harvest celebration!  The fiery triangle will heat up our ritual and feast. Bread is celebrated at Lughnasadh, another slow and complicated process…with the harvest of grain, the growth of yeast, the mixture with salt and water and then the offering to Fire to make bread to sustain our bodies.  The careful control of breath (patience), is needed here as well.

Photo: Bruce Lhuillier

A few days from now, the crescent of the new Moon, seeded tomorrow, will be shining in the evening sky. Lovely  Venus will be nearby.   Celebrate your own ‘creative intensity’ as you look up to hail the Moon.

‘She of my love is the new moon

The God of life illumining her;

Be mine a good purpose

Towards each creature in the creation.

from the Carmina Gadelica,   Collected in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland by Alexander Carmichael.

Sarah Fuhro

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Stone Face

photo: Sarah Fuhro

Desert spirit of the mystery.

The stone,

who returned my glance,

and said:

you dare not look again.

 

But then he is there,

aroused,

waiting for me,

eyes turned,

breathing his world.

 

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Water and Stone

                                             photo: Sarah Fuhro

This full Moon is about Water and Stone….Cancer Sun and Capricorn Moon.   Moon will be in a partial eclipse,  visible in Asia, Australia, Africa, Europe, and South America.  For those of us in North America,  she will rise after her initiation,  after her disappearance and reappearance into the shadow of the Earth.

                                             from the DruidCraft Tarot deck: Will Worthington artist.

Emerging from the dark shadow of the eclipse, our own full Moon may feel renewed, ready to reflect the bright light of the Cancer Sun in a dark Capricorn sky.  The journey to this place of fullness has planetary challenges as well.

Tonight (Saturday)  the Moon rose with bright Jupiter as companion.  She will roll along and meet with Saturn and Pluto before her assignation opposite the Sun on Tuesday.  Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn urge transformation.  The security of Saturn takes us by the hand to go deep into the mysteries of Pluto.

                                photo: Bruce Lhuillier

Many of the planets in this celestial moment are in retrograde, they appear to move backwards.  This is an opportunity to mend old wounds and take care of long postponed projects.  But perhaps we will also feel a new strength we didn’t know we had.   The Moon’s symbol for this degree of bright fullness and eclipse is: ‘a store filled with precious oriental rugs.’   A treasure is held in this moment.

                        photo: Robert Fuhro

When I walked in the woods today, there were brightly painted stones along the path.  Some had messages: ‘Be Kind;’ some were designs with bright colors.   Here is one that looks like a full Moon.  I plan to celebrate the full Moon with friends on Tuesday night. There will be water and earth….fireflies and mosquitoes, food and drink.  The sky always gives us a reason to party!

               photo: Sarah Fuhro

At a quiet moment,  there can be an offering to the Moon.  A friend suggested a Tibetan ritual of gratitude for the senses at the full Moon.  On a special altar stone in the woods:

Sight.  A small mirror.

Sound. A bell or other instrument.

Smell: Incense or perfume

Taste: Food

Touch: a silk ribbon or fabric.

A small crystal ball for the sixth sense, which is formless.

                                             photo: Bruce Lhuillier

 

 

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Animal Envy

 

 

If I had feathers,

I could let the sky

take me to your nest.

 

If I had fur,

Nothing could keep me

from your cold castle.

 

But I am naked,

and deeply

wounded.

 

Claws and fangs

will never win

your steely heart.

 

Sarah Fuhro June 7, 2019

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