Before seven o’clock this morning I slipped out my front door. Even after twelve years in this house, I still marvel that we have a wraparound front porch and that it has a view of the mountains.
The full moon was sinking into the clouds that clung to the western horizon. Naked branches held her for a moment before she slipped out of sight. I allowed myself the luxury of lingering, letting myself steep in the uncommon experience of taking in the miracle of the everyday. Mist rose from the boggy valley below and the neighborhood roosters vied to sing in the dawn. For once, I didn’t despise those lousy, endlessly noisy birds.
All this silvery gray mystery and steely lavender glory… it was all playing out in my corner of the sky.
The house hummed behind me, a hive of early morning activity. At last, we’ve assumed the school day routine, even if it’s only two days per week.
In this stolen moment, I knew absolute joy, peace, and trust in my place in the world.
This is Sovereignty in action, this claiming of a few sacred moments with a cup of coffee and a quick conversation with the moon.
This is where the quest for Sovereignty, for empowerment, for love, and for magic wants to lead. All the writing and the meditating, all the books and oracle readings, all the conversations and healing sessions with wise women and spirit guides. We walk this path and do this sacred work so we can be fully present for just a few minutes with the earth, with a poem, with a beloved’s laughter, with the feel of our own skin.
All the words I’ve worked and all the ways I’ve walked have led me to this Sovereign moment when I can be with the fullness of the moon and the fullness of a Tuesday morning and the fullness of this life.
When you can slow the pace and step out of ordinary time so you can be part of the greater sweep of time and space, you’re making room for the fundamental elements of creativity, contentment, and connection.
We all need to wrap ourselves in a bit of dream and moonglow, but the imperfections of this moment are what makes this talk of Sovereignty and magic into something real.
As lovely as this is, it really shouldn’t be sweater weather at dawn on December 1 in the Hudson Valley. My husband is heading off to work at a company that feels increasingly fragile, as does just about any manufacturing job right now. Though it feels wonderful to send the girls back to a classroom, the Covid numbers are rising and I know the cost of hybrid learning is that the teachers are doing twice as much and the students are learning half as much and no one really wins.
I hold all these realities beside the reality of the breath in my lungs, the swirl of the clouds, and the recognition that all these worries are being held by something more.
These are the details of life, and though they’re essential, they’re momentary. The details will be different the next time I hold court with a morning-after-full moon. By late December, the snow might be falling, the holidays will pause whatever routine we’ve established, and we’ll all have new, as yet unimagined stories to tell.
Actually… I know what story I will be telling the morning after the next full moon, and I would love to have you there with me.
On Wednesday, December 30 at noon ET I’m leading a half-day workshop that will help you explore, embody, and describe the qualities you’d like to bring to the new year.
Join us for A Sovereign Way 2021.
