T
he moon is growing near to full right now, and the night sky has been bright with it. Throughout the week I’ve been falling in and out of sleep, listening to the frogs, insects, and birds singing through the night — undeniably Spring.
It is not always the case, but recently there’s something sweet and magical about those liminal hours. I feel myself being carried into the dream of Earth, allowing the season to penetrate my sensibilities, allowing myself to dream along. This is an ancient gift, a human birthright – to feel the living earth within and around me, to hear it dreaming.
By allowing this simple thing – the influence of the breathing night – the dominant narrative subsides, the spell of distraction breaks, and I realize just how utterly our current social, political and ecological circumstances have hijacked my attention. It feels like each day the news reveals another disturbing chapter of some nonfiction saga and I am transfixed by the story of it. The stakes get higher, the plot becomes more tawdry, and the heroes grow desperate. Many days leave me dumb with amazement and disbelief at the clash of worldviews playing out on the global stage.
And then, hyacinth and cherry blossoms. The warbler’s colors grow more bold. An altogether different storyline is alive all around me. What is it that holds my mind captive from this world’s inherent beauty and intelligence? What is driving the narrative and holding me in thrall while the interweave of life surges all around and a new world longs to be born? The integrative response becomes about reclaiming my attention, and activating my innate power to imagine something better.
Here’s the thing. Jupiter has been holding court in the sign of Scorpio since last Fall. This is the great expansive storyteller, beneficent and compelling, hanging out in the sign that rules taboo, shadow, and all that we would prefer to pretend away. The seemingly endless and wholly destructive drama of our personal and collective shadows will continue to play out until we realize that we are standing hypnotized in front of a mirror, snap out of it, and dream the world we know to be possible.
The trick in this is to not leave behind all that we’ve seen. We must bring everything along. We must fold all the shadow and shock and outrage into the new story. When ‘they’ go low, the call for ‘us’ to go high is a false solution. We have to go deep. We have to enter the night and hear the sounds it creates. We have to let it all be a part of us–a single and complex dream.
In early definitions, to fascinate meant to deprive (a person or animal) of the ability to resist or escape by the power of a look or gaze, “the serpent fascinates its prey”. So, we are called out of captive fascination and into deep imagination. We are called into “the dreamer’s seat” to dream a story that is far more powerful, creative, sovereign, and whole.
The night is filled with shadows and songs. We often sleep through it, and sometimes it scares us. But right now, with the moon bright and Jupiter keeping us awake with its storytelling, we have the opportunity to flip the script and weave something new.
Out of the Studio and Into the World
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Be Space engages contemplative and creative practices, and uncovers their power to reconnect us to ourselves, to each other, and to our world. We are cultivating a community of brave, curious and playful individuals who value embodied self-expression, the intelligence of the creative process, and a renewed authentic connection with our living cosmos.
Elizabeth Russell is the joyful creator of Be Space and Life.Art.Being Integrative Arts.