La Luna

Shaky hands hug a warm mug of my favorite French press coffee. Heart racing; breath shallow.

Centering my focus on the mug, it’s warmth, and the sweet smell of black coffee. I fill my lungs completely, so that they press and stretch out my upper ribs, bringing that delicious space into my upper back. Holding for a moment, sipping a bit more air into my chest, then sighing. Sighing out all the tense&sticky bits&pieces the Moon has been bringing me.

They’re like little gifts, little reminders of how to breathe, move, relax, contemplate, inquire, discover.

The past week, with big cosmic movements: the full moon, Mercury in retrograde in Scorpio, and a lunar eclipse, have left me jittery and scattered, yet contemplative and introspective.

I often feel the Moon lifting me up and pulling me closer to her heart. It’s these moments that I begin to lose footing, walk on tippy-toes, and move quickly, almost rabbit-like. These waves are refreshing as I relish in bubbly excitement, which, as usual, is traveling alongside it’s twin brother, energetic anxiety.

So as sleep eludes me, coffee ignites me, and the moon holds me, I have been discovering, accomplishing, creating.

I set my alarm for 5:10 on Wednesday morning. I set up my beloved camera on the rooftop of my yoga studio to witness and attempt to capture La Luna in all her glory. The lunar eclipse and the moonset occurred just before sunrise. A trinity of celestial magnificence.

I wanted to capture it, to somehow possess it on film. There is something so ethereal and elusive about photography. It’s a moment, a piece of the past, never to occur again, forever embodied into a still image. It’s spectacular.

As I bundled up and hurried to the car, spilling coffee on my chilly, purple-nailed fingers, and nearly forgetting my shoes, I was caught off guard, nearly winded by the brightness the sky possessed at such an unexposed hour. No clouds to interrupt my view, it was as if the stars intrinsically knew that this was a special moment so they shined all the brighter so that they too could bask and celebrate the awesomeness of the moon.

So I watched. Bore witness to astral awesomeness. Attempted to capture the moment on film. The Sun brightened the sky in the East, while La Luna slowly, gracefully, purposefully hid in her shadows and descended from vision.