Hi friends! This is the first video I'm posting to Substack. Let’s see how it goes!
The video is about 6 minutes long and explores some of the celestial science of a lunar eclipse as well as some spiritual invitations that emerge from that. Whether you’re a moon gazer or not, I think you’ll enjoy considering how a lunar eclipse reflects (in just one night) the existential and spiritual journeys we all take in our lives.
The moon’s literal passage from light to darkness and back to light as it crosses through earth’s shadows is not only symbolic of the cycle of life, death, and rebirth, but also of the weaving path of our contemplative practices. We live out in the world, we journey within to reflect and listen to our soul, and we resurface to join the world again.
Our bodies have this same rhythm of waking, sleeping, and reawakening.
All of these symbolic invitations remind us that we live in a beautiful paradox of the eternal and the changing. They also acknowledge how disturbing, unruly, and challenging change can be. It might be a necessary growth edge. It might be where possibility is born. But that doesn’t mean it always feels good.
In the Personal Wheel Course, we’re about to explore and celebrate the equinoxes in more depth, as well as how they’re always book-ended with a lunar eclipse and then a solar eclipse. Whether you’re in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere, the equinoxes mark a massive change in the dominance of the light or the dark. Spring and fall are tumultuous seasons as one energy passes the baton to its opposite/partner, and we often feel this intensity physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
The fact that the cosmos models this life, death, life cycle three times each spring and fall: first at the lunar eclipse when the moon passes through shadow, then during the actual equinox when the torch is passed between light and dark, and lastly when the moon occludes the light in a solar eclipse feels affirming to me. It’s like the Universe is saying, “I’m literally going through this myself. Change is nuts. You’re not alone. We’ll get through these passages together.”
Humans have a long history of looking up at the stars to consider the transcendent, only to be invited to look within to consider the imminent. Tensions like this always involve some personal wrestling around things that are hard to see or come to grips with about life and being human, but there’s warmth and welcome here too.
The universe is more than algorithmic systems. It is alive and generative. It is invitational and inspirational. We are a part of that. You are a part of that.
You see the universe and it sees you.
Spirit-Through-The-Cosmos is reaching a hand out to you, not just during an eclipse, but throughout nature’s beauty, science, and cycles. Go outside and take Her hand in yours for a few minutes. Let yourself be accompanied through your own seasons of growth, unwinding, and re-emergence by a force that knows—and still travels—this pilgrimage first hand.
Perhaps you will feel Spirit-Through-Nature lean in so close through blooms, stars, clouds, and sprouts that you will hear her remind you of your innate and eternal belonging.
With love and hope for all that grows in the creative tension of the light and dark,
Jen
P.S. We’ll be revisiting Imbolc and Brigid’s invitations soon, as well as explore a new way of engaging with Lent. If that’s a season you honor, this new perspective may feel inviting to you.
P.P.S. If you want to know about the next Personal Wheel Course offering, feel free to email me at jen@jencobbleworks.com. The details are coalescing for the new iteration :)
