Ritual 27: Monday, July 2, 2007

Waning Moon

In locales with high day-time temperatures, the cooler evenings offer respite from the sun's unyielding intensity. The darkness of night is a black cloak of comfort in summer. Creatures under the spell of heat-induced stupor come alive when the dusk beckons a welcome breeze. Light tucks itself into the Western horizon and insects turn industrious, renewed by the day's siesta. You may hear them whisper by, buzzing with the news: the night's alive!

The night is alive... with mystery, with secrets, with promises. When it's warm enough to make friends with the dark, summer offers up her magic. The heat causes air to expand and with it our hearts and minds. Open yourself wide to the night -- indoors if you must, but outside is best.

Close your eyes and open your senses to the symphony around you. Practice "seeing" with your ears, "listening" with your skin. The world responds in kind to your openness, revealing lullabies of crickets and frogs. Urbanites may sense a different song -- taxis and traffic, our human jazz. Do not bother with the intellectual abstraction of naming the sounds you identify. Instead, feel their texture. Coarse and cool, sharp or soft.

Know that just as you are sensing the night, the night is sensing you. The moon and the uncountable beings beneath her watchful gaze are tuning to you. The fact of your listening makes you unique, causes the world to take notice. Just as a squirrel in park will pause when it senses you watching it, the orchestra of consciousness breathes a silent resting beat under your awareness.

This is a ritual of trading secrets, wordlessly, with the power of creation. Give yourself to the intuitive dialogue. Your rational mind may not realize what you have learned. But when the time is ripe, you will call on it as implicit wisdom.

After the ritual, share your experience in our community section.