Carpe Noctem

 

A golf ball

A vanilla scoop

A melancholic lady

A hailstone

A pearl...

I wish I had the skills of those who catch the lunar magnificence on camera. Instead, I capture the moon's beauty indirectly. In a poem, or how it affects the tides of my soul, or casts light on the darkest night, like last Saturday at 1:16 am:

My boyfriend encouraged me to leave the warmth of my sheets and brave the cold air of the home to catch this sight. "Like a movie", the video editor said. I could imagine Eve Ensler stepping out of the dark to sit on the spotlight and advocate for the wounded feminine, or any standup comedian wishing to entertain a quiet audience.

The moon is poetic, mysterious, magical. Apparently, I have been enamored with it ever since I was a young child. My aunt Marie once told me that at age 2 or 3, I was crying because I thought the moon was falling... My grandfather Georges-Étienne was fond of it too. I always noticed that there was often a special freshness in the air during full moon. And for many years, my boys were often more intense, rambunctious, prone to emotional dysregulation, injury or sibling conflict, exactly two days before. Two days after a difficult evening I was still recovering from, I would look at the night sky and realize it was the full moon. I noticed this frequently enough to consider it a pattern. Eventually, I noted down the next scheduled full moon so I could better prepare myself for any wild emotional shifts in all of us.

After I attended a New Moon Circle via zoom at the beginning of the pandemic, I decided to read more about it and use the moon as a way to live more in harmony with nature by paying attention to cycles, a time-keeper and symbolic reminder of the importance of intentions and rituals. Now I try to emphasize the New Moon by setting intentions and the Full Moon by doing a mini ritual, even if it is only lighting a candle. This year, I decided to use one of my fireplaces for the first time.

I think my life has been shaped the mantra Carpe Diem and it is nighttime equivalent, Carpe Noctem. This year, I ceased my revived creativity to come up with new Halloween decorations to enhance the existing ones my sons and I did when they still enjoyed this stuff. I didn't buy anything except for three mini pumpkins. I used what I had in terms of paper to create my sons' black cat, the delightful Dustmopp. The skeleton I used to teach anatomy to my sons while homeschooled during the pandemic was the perfect pirate. There is always something at the bottom of my drawers waiting for me to create some magic, many twigs on my property as gifts from the many oak trees to light the fireplace, or my shining skylight that offers a full moon to be in awe of in the middle of my dreams.

Happy Halloween !