SAGITTARIUS NEW MOON FULL SOLAR ECLIPSE GUEST CONTRIBUTOR : MARK WEIGHTON
SAT 04 DEC 07:43 - The final edition of Moonlit on its 2021 lunar literature mission....
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Welcome to the final edition of MOON LIT, our year long, lunar literature cycle designed to shine a little inspiring, poetic moon light in the midst of the ongoing Coronovirus darkness. This edition features a couple of lunar influenced poems written under lockdown restrictions by myself, Mark Weighton, and the sublime avian artwork of internationally acclaimed Swiss artist Doris Schlaepfer.
As the Fates would have it, the end of our poetic cycle aligns with the completion of one in the heavens, culminating in dramatic fashion this Saturday with a total solar eclipse in Sagittarius....sadly only visible if you're on a weekend break in the Antarctic.
This closing Sagittarius-Gemini eclipse cycle has been in full swing since May 2020, a period which for many has become the most challenging of our lives. In that time we have had to reappraise the way we live and work; the way we relate to each other and the beautiful planet on which we all depend.
This Sagittarius Solar Eclipse therefore represents a poignant moment in which to recall the start of that cycle, those early months of global lockdown and the accompanying fears for the future, the restrictions, the acute isolation felt by many.
It wasn't a total horror show of course. Occasionally we glimpsed positive signs of humanity waking up to the consequences of its collective behaviour rather than burying its consumerist head in the sand and hoping the problems would just go away.
And to what exactly did we wake up in those unprecedented destabilising months? The squandering of valuable time with those we love in pursuit of professional aspiration and material gain? The poisonous chemical charms of regular salon hair colouring and nail extensions; the coercions of fashion and bullying 'beauty' products upheld in the high temple of Hollywood? The unnecessary nature of most car travel; the beauty of nature as it swiftly rediscovers its confidence in our pedestrianised presence? The putrid pestilence of plastic packaging ......even if it kept our saturated fat fried crisps crispier? The complete lunacy of avariciously abusing the ever generous biosphere or each other for excessive profit; the deadly viral evidence of that continuing misguided human behaviour? (Rise in pandemics as biodiversity is lost - article)
The value of family and community; the true love of self and other? The excesses of avoidable over-consumption; the comfort of cleaner air? The lengths to which we have been complicit in living lives containing the seeds of our own misery; the paper thin illusions we have come to accept in lieu of happiness? The need for appropriate investment in and remuneration for the essential professions and social infrastructure we rely upon in such desperate times? The inevitability of change and our inherent ability to align with it? The miracle of sensual perception; the delights of regular, low stress exercise; the simple, reassuring charm of a healthy body and well maintained immune system? The joys of peace and quiet; birdsong? The elasticity of time?
Did we find ways of embracing and engaging with a developing new 'normal' or resist all avoidable change? And now, at the conclusion of this particular eclipse cycle, how much of what we learned about ourselves and our fragile earthly existence has been integrated into our lives and brought improvement? Has pandemic necessity proved to be the mother of long standing invention or just an awkward phase we had to negotiate before taking up where we left off pre Covid?
As we reflect on the last year and a half, our thoughts inevitably lead us into a new cycle, a new beginning with new plans for new tomorrows. This New Moon Total Solar Eclipse in Sagittarius (like all eclipses) can be of significant assistance. It presents an open portal through which consciousness can naturally shift and transform. The energetic ease with which it empowers smooth transitions in a world of constant change can supercharge our intentions moving into the next chapter of our lives.
In actively considering solely positive intents for our future over the coming fortnight, we help pave a conducive, progressive pathway into the impending festive season and 2022 beyond. In short, this is a great week or two to plan and start new projects, to visualise your dreams with the firm intent to make them happen.
So what are our biggest, heartfelt dreams? What do we actually want for ourselves, others and the planet in 2022? Will we be instruments of change or impediments to it? Can we be part of the change we want to see: perhaps a safer, more equitable world for humanity and the biosphere on which we depend, or will we unwittingly reinvigorate the divisive, consumer led hell we have created for significant parts of this precious planet and its population?
Way back in the pagan day, total solar eclipses were seen as grave omens, karmic retribution led by angry deities who turned the sky black to crack, fall and crush penitent heads. The birds stopped singing; deathly silence reigned over the living world, perhaps for eternity. They were end of days scenarios where, thankfully, the great Sun God eventually came to the rescue, forgave mortal sin, overcame darkness and the world was reborn.
Under this Sagittarius New Moon Total Solar Eclipse it might serve us well to focus on a glorious rebirth rising from the ashes of passing darker days. Great power lies in recognising we sow the seeds of our own tomorrows in every thought, word and action, a power that calls us to consciously alter any habitual personal or societal behaviour that isn't attuned to the greater task of bringing benefit to All.
To manifest great change often requires concerted effort but equally, there is compelling evidence to suggest that many hands...and minds...make light work. As Christmas approaches, let's come together in this noble cause.
"Our human compassion binds us the one to the other - not in pity or patronizingly, but as human beings who have learnt how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future." Nelson Mandela
MARK WEIGHTON
For over thirty years, artist Mark Weighton has been creating artworks that explore the interconnected nature of existence. From his studio in Surrey, he has exhibited his work internationally and features in many private and public art collections across Europe and the Americas. Writing has been a foundation stone upon which much of his creative practice is built. Output ranges from song lyrics and devotionals, essays, poetry, personal and professional diaries, to his regular, lunar influenced fortnightly columns for the website MOONINGMONTHLY.COM and more recently here in MOON LIT. His great love of language stems from its verbal use, as exemplified by his father Peter and grandfather Bob in the family home. He recalls, "Words were toyed with as playthings at home, confidently flourished or even sung to build an unlimited, inventive playground of vibrant colour and possibility in our daily lives. From the mouths of my dad and grandfather, words became symptomatic of the great creative exercise of living." As the year long MOON LIT odyssey draws to a close, Mark offers us two poems written during last year's lockdown, the first evoking last December's solar eclipse and the second an early morning sliver of waning moon as 2021 took shape. Both draw parallels between observations of the moon's phases and his relentless internal dialogue, rumbling along like an endless muffled radio football commentary in the house next door. Does the neutral observer watch the match unfold or is their presence a defining feature of the experience? Does a running commentary determine results, or merely cast a magical, suggestive spell over both participants and audience? What is predestined? What remains in our hands to determine? At the end of the day Gary, and when all's said and done... it's a funny old game.
SOLAR ECLIPSE 14.12.20 MASPALOMAS BEACH Monday exhales The weekend spent and prepares For something maybe nothing As skyward we stare Triumphant light faces defeat for just a little while this afternoon Taken on trust Vaunted alignments Swallowed whole in unbroken sun Our diminutive Lady viewed somewhere on land shadows her loud, lusty Lord Nurses him in hand Subdues his heavy petting with a swift flick of her trusty Bic Shrivels his pride Shortens his stride Softens his insistence Saps capillaries and temporarily relieves a world consumed craven and condemned A realm twisted, torn from the stem and replicated Rolled over and over Loose leaf and golden Shredded unfiltered intoxicating cancerous burning ash Programmed and peddled Falsely promised and packaged Un collected Un delivered Passively inhaled Luna, lend us the back of your head Face away Take the blast and dread Shield us from his mortal gaze Bake his fiery eyed Reflected blaze Thor, Captain Marvel, use the tools of your trade Avenge rampant dishonour The curse of the Maid She-Ra, Sappho, strident Adora Stay queer, hold dear we shall never grow poorer Arthur, lay down your tyrannical blade All will be lost Once Isis is spayed Planetary bound tidal tremors tremble Swept out to sea in a hollow skin A decrepit craft The raft of my bones I'm carried outward, wayward, on some distant tide There is no return No place called home Where we reside is borne To stay afloat, short termist reason resists the tension bearing us above depth Who wants to dive in Plunge down and drown whilst an option lives? Why not stay surfaced Thin dull veneer whilst a glad God gives? 16:16 Somewhere beyond the horizon All radiance is she Corona, haloed in gold Pacifier, plugged into a hole, She lets me be Faced up Trajectory calmed a cool patch spreads as she accommodates Pock marked desert Arid crater pores seared then chilled Moisturised Absorbent A dry dead turned living thing Stretched by cloying collagen Rancid Botoxin Resurrection make up made over..... Because you're worth it Wind swept sand From sea to sea shore Beckons the draught The pounding heartbeat surf Spume and spray over desert turf She is illumined But not to the naked eye Her dark side aglitter Enlightened Bejewelled Festive like Beaming our pulsing star's transmission Into the darkness beyond her own Away from family and friends, the uprooted trees and L.E.Ds This sunny afternoon we can nestle into her tresses Find the nape of her sweaty neck to catch an infant breath of her natural fragrance Her dust Safe in her parental shadow Cool She protects She buys the sun blind time to recover For a moment we are neither adrift nor lost To repeat: We are borne Carried As desert sand on the breeze Sinks to the floor of the seas and then rises We find a shore We alight on scorched Earth after another failed mission to boldly go She slowly turns her face and smiles benign, "That was something and nothing Quite perfectly entwined."
THE CURVE OF YOUR FACE The curve of your face Your body's pale crescent Sleepy and relaxed Your work seems done as mine begins Settle down, breathe easy Pull the blanket of day up under your chin Make sure the toes of night are tightly tucked in Let me offer you a lullaby Woodlark, thrush, shrike and crow Tremble the dew of wakening form Tyres, tarmac, Radio 1 to 6, cut the mist As the world breaks into populated crumbs and separates. Your heartbeat my blood Your breath my song Your caress my finger tips through the golden curls on your sweaty brow You are not mine But I am yours Entirely. I am sworn to protect your tiny body As it finds its way to rest from my neediness The day ends The day begins One metronome One, missing every beat like a middle aged white man on the dancefloor Softly but intentionally I disturb a young buzzard from sleep on his wire perch He too shakes the dew from his down Hops around on model pins All yellow spats and bib Wide eyed but still with dream Heart yet to pump flight into wing He looks my way Cocks a grin And remembers Where he's been, By default The world within and now its outer glory Close enough already Get back in your biscuit box and feed on the crumbs.
MARK WEIGHTON 2020 www.markweighton.com
Welcome once again through the perennially open doors of our very own art gallery MOON LIT DISPLAY. Exhibiting drawings, paintings, prints and sculpture with a lunar bent, visual artists share their most recent creative output alongside our literary guests, ensuring our exhibits complement the contemporary, enquiring nature of the prose and poetry.
Under this Sagittarius New Moon Total Solar Eclipse, I am thrilled to share a platform with the work of internationally acclaimed artist Doris Schaepfler. Born and raised in Switzerland, she studied at St Martin's School of Art in London and now lives in southern France where she combines her studio practice and regular exhibitions with management of her beautiful artspace Nulle Part (@NullepARTestarac) just outside the small coastal town of Bages. Recent work has explored the patterns of flocking starlings and seagulls in large scale paintings and drawings. Doris offers us six of her large scale ink drawings on burlap of congregating starlings in flight, all called Murmure (translation: murmur). The collection was first shown at Kunstraum Hochdorf, Switzerland in 2019.
You can see more of Doris's remarkable work on her website www.dorisschlaepfer.com
MURMURE
ink, acrylic on burlap
240 x 190 cm
MURMURE
ink, acrylic on burlap
240 x 190 cm
MURMURE
ink, acrylic on burlap
240 x 190 cm
MURMURE
ink, acrylic on burlap
240 x 190 cm
Doris Schaepfler 2019
http://www.dorisschlaepfer.com
Just so you know, MOON LIT has sought to present literature and artwork that celebrates and reveres, marvels, champions and cherishes, whilst never shirking the necessary excavation of life's rich shadows in search of the priceless shining diamonds within. Each edition has been a poetic invitation to contemplate our reading of, and reaction to, circumstance, that we may more consciously direct our thoughts, words and actions toward positive benefit for All.
Throughout 2021 MOON LIT has offered a monthly meditative pause under the poetic guidance of our distinguished literary guests. We are so glad readers found time in hectic schedules to unhurriedly savour the work published; to read and reread these new perspectives on the miraculous, beguiling life experience to which we all belong. I am extremely grateful for all the encouraging feedback that was so generously given.
MOON LIT was published at every new moon of 2021, alongside its full moon sister publication MOONING MONTHLY which will continue to offer loosely astrological lunar forecasts each month during 2022. (Mooning Monthly 123 'VOICE A CHOICE!' still available here) Subscribe for free HERE at your leisure to ensure future emails hit your inbox when it matters.
And of course, do please share MOON LIT with friends and family of similar lunar sensitivities, in the hope that this final illuminating endeavour brightens our currently challenging, darkened times with the light of beauty and Love.
With love 'til next time
Mark
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