Independence Day and the Full Moon shared the fourth of July this year.The teaching of this moon cycle for July is LOVE TRUTH. She seems to be calling out to us to love the TRUTH of our country, the United States of America. We need a comprehensive and unconditional Love to face the truth of our country's history.  Facing the truth in our country's history is the only way to manifest the vision for our country written by our imperfect founding fathers. Like most communities, our town did not have official fireworks this year, yet neighbors cobbled together their own informal shows.  I went outside to look at the full moon. A friend had texted me the moon was unusually large and exceptionally beautiful. A disorganized yet seeming unending barrage of flashes disrupted my intention of contemplating this deep yellow globe hanging just above the horizon. My feelings from earlier in the day flashed in my mind--I woke up feeling an ambiguous but deep grief.  I moved through my day, unsettled by feeling, but trying to focus on preparations for a social distanced barbeque.  When Alexa selected a patriotic play list, the identity of my grief made itself known: the meaning I held of this holiday had been torn away from me-not by the president, although he is the principle catalyst, but by the explosion of truth telling that is bursting forth upending every aspect of our lives. There was my grief; the meaning of 'independence day' has been shattered.  I stood in the dark, watching. Fireworks flared and faded, sulfur smoked wafted thick and then drifted away. This July full moon, whose meaning for me is a reminder to LOVE TRUTH stayed steady and unaffected.  It is possible to love truth even when it is ugly and has caused deep and long harm.  Anyone who has recovered from an addiction with the help of the principles and tools of a twelve-step program has this experience.Our country needs-we need, this kind of love of Truth that explodes the old myths and lies and nurtures the seeds of possibility and potential that the visionary authors of our 'declaration of indepence' compiled nearly 245 years ago.  We are a country in need of recovery, and we may not have another chance if we fail to embrace our truths yet again.   

Inside the Soul of Speaking TruthRed Moon in the MakingCJFaivre, 2018, 30X30 Acrylic on CanvasEvery Full Moon brings two invitations. One is to let go of whatever it is in our life that no longer serves us, or that is harmful to us or to others.  The second invitation is to offer the gifts we carry within us to those whom our life touches.Most of us spend many moons learning to let go of what holds us back before we enter the space where we get a glimpse of what we can offer others.  Over time,  we spend more time in this space learning about the gifts of our own being.To Speak Truth requires we know this space.  I know this space as the 'heart of my soul'.  The story of my life is here.  I sit in the dark womb of this space with intention. In the dark my fingers are my eyes, and I read the stories of the life I have lived. They are marked on a red timeline in the heiroglyphics of my heart's own language.  Here I learn to read the Truth of my stories. Stories of my relatives are here, my ancestors, marked as thumprints of gold, they paint the walls of this sacred space. Touching these marks, I can read the Truth their stories have for me. A luminous cross of blessing is suspended in this space, and the wind of the Spirit blows through this space, refreshing both my life and my spirit. Tonight, as I sit in my soul space, on the eve of June's Full Moon, the Red Moon shines down on our country as citizens are marching, standing up, kneeling, lying down and crying out for life, for justice and for peace. I am grateful for my timeline of remembering, and for the history of my ancestors, and for the blessing and life-giving breath of Great Spirit.  May I learn from my history and the history of others. May we each visit the hearts of our souls and learn the gifts we have to offer and be willing Speak Truth.

Image: cj faivre; May Moon: Hear Truth 2020 Acrylic on Canvas 10X30This is a long post-It's been a long cycle!The fifth moon cycle invites us to become willing and attentive to Hearing Truth. The gift this moon cycle offers is the practice of patient listening.  In our current time of upheavel and uncertainty in our communities and countries, many voices are coming at us from many directions and sources.I know that for myself, it has not been easy to be patient when those voices are loud and persistant about their version of 'truth', or when the voices speak for and devision. By the time May's new moon began (April 22nd) there were already so many voices from so many sources, I often found myself in a state of uncertainty about where to set my trust for helpful guidance.  My days end in a weary kind of exhaustion.In inspiration for the May moon cycle painting came on an evening walk at the end of one of those days. It was the first non-rainy day of the cycle and the moon was showing a sliver of crescent. May's new cresent moon rose just above a convergence of electric poles, wires and an ancient elm at thecorner of Illinois and Summit streets; the planet Venus hung in the background, as if in witness.  I stopped and looked up, struck by the symbolism. Poles reaching to the sky as if in competition to reach the moon first. Wires crisscrossing in all directions, grandmother tree appeared to arch away from the chaos.  May Moon- Hear Truth-hung present, rising above, resting above, it all.I sensed this a powerful image, a lesson from Mother Moon. I determined to paint the visual gift she offered me.  As I painted over the course of the next ten days, her message for me became clearer:  In this age of quantum technology, there IS an onslaught of voices, from all directions.  Hearing what is Truth is complicated during this time.  May moon invites us to move through the cycle we are experiencing as she moves through her cycles. First by recognizing the newness of the cycle; next, in the waxing phase, take time to take without attachment what is being presented.  Then, in the light of the full moon we can focus and begin to discern what we are hearing. During the time of the waning moon as this cycle moves toward closure, she teaches us to shed what does not resonate as truth.Were are now at the the time of the 'closing moon', or 'dark' moon. we are invited to rest, to integrate what we now know, or perhaps to reflect on questions we may need to ask for more clarity. There will be time for this asking in the new moon to come when we experience the Moon of Speaking Truth. But for now,  Moon's message is to be patient, to observe what is unfolding, to let go of what does not resonate, to rest, and to listen for questions that will rise as we prepare to learn to Speak Truth.