The Moon is currently in its New phase in the sign of Gemini. We thought we would take advantage of the moonless sky and go star gazing with my telescope in the high desert, in the middle of the night last night. I am so glad we did; it was a beautiful and healing experience. Even though the Moon was not up in the sky for us to see, her presence had been summoned by the very fact we were going out for a New Moon night adventure. Besides, earlier in the day, I had pulled The Moon card in the tarot. The message of this card is at once deep and elusive. It elicits an intuitive understanding that can feel crystal clear, even though we may not be able to put it into words.
In any event—back to the skygazing trip. After we had gotten our eyes acquainted with the night, so that we could see the explosion of little lights and the spectacle of an ongoing meteor shower, we decided to take a short walk in the desert. We carried no flashlights. Even though the night was moonless, the light from the stars made it enough to see. The silhouette of the Joshua Trees was marked against the dramatically starry skies, and so was the shape of the mighty rocks that surrounded us. Careful that we did not step on any flora, I mentioned to my friend that we should stay on this little trail we were on. “There is no trail,” he said, “our eyes are simply creating a path for us.” Amazed by this revelation, immediately my mind went to The Moon card and its spiritual meanings.
Had the Sun been shining upon us, we likely would not have made out any paths. The imaginary trail we were on would have looked like one among many possible ways. However, in the absence of full light, our eyes intuited the clearest way. It felt like magic was happening right before us. Free from the distractions of full-fledged awareness, our subconscious was given room to see the truth. We followed our little mental path to some rocks, where we lay to take in the spectacle that is the night.
In our lives, Moon moments may feel like our vision is being taken away from us. The light gets turned off. Nothing makes sense anymore. There are no clear answers to anything. The ability to make confident decisions complete escape us, and so does our grasp on truth. As we transverse such patches, when we pull The Moon card, we are being called to stay here in this darkness for a little while. We are invited to take a walk in the night of the soul. If we just hang out here for long enough, we will see our vision adjust. What were once scary shapes may turn out to be a jutting rock or the canopy of a tree. The rules are different in the dark. If we are blessed enough, a path will arise right before our eyes, where heretofore there was none. Whereas the busyness of life, like bright sunlight, would keep us from seeing the way out, The Moon gives a chance for our intuitive knowing to make out the truth. The route that our soul indicates will be made known to us. But first, our eyes need to become acquainted with the dark.
