Super Moon, Ravens and Letting Go
Moon
Tonight, Dec 4, 2025, the last full moon of the calendar year will be near its closest point to Earth in its orbit. The brightest and best is our plucky moon showing us a subtly different face every night, pulling the tides in towards earth and back out to the vast sea, teaching us to embrace all the ebbs and flows of life-no matter what!
Ravens
Ravens in my neighborhood in the starkness of winter yell across an urban landscape emptied of people except a few hardy dog walkers, people trudging to bus stops and school kids shuffling to and from school, hoodies on and hands in pockets.
Sometimes, small clusters of these large black birds roost in the large white oak tree across the street, cavorting and teasing each other, moving from the tree top to the domed roof of the long empty Methodist church.
The bitter cold wind makes the air temperature seem way more frigid than it actually is measured. This does not deter the ravens from swooping into the wind and riding the currents back-and-forth In a dance that defies logic. The same logic has me coming home to my tea kettle and my heating pads.
Meanwhile-Me
While, I am slowly recovering from my total hip replacement, my fibromyalgia symptoms seem to have awakened and kicked in full throttle. The pain points on my body, namely my arms, couple spots on my neck and shoulders, side body, and back as well as my shins, are a constant reminder to me of fragility.
Sometimes, I belabor the various sets of circumstances that perhaps contributed to my hip needing replaced. From all my years running on concrete- to years of dancing on concrete-to falling on black ice off of my porch and eventually off a bicycle in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. It seems mind blowing to me that only two years ago, I was in Nepal, in Kathmandu Valley, walking and exploring a minimum of 2 to 3 miles a day. How quickly life can change!
In regards to fibromyalgia, I am curious about the relationship between trauma, especially trauma that occurred in childhood, and adult onset of fibromyalgia symptoms.
Regardless of my Ruminating, the fact remains that this is my body today.
Letting Go
I know enough to know that my ruminating and clinging to what was in the past, a healthy, vibrant, movement oriented body, causes me suffering.
I know enough to know that my projections and fears that I may not ever regain full function or live a pain-free existence also causes me suffering.
The knowledge is not enough alone to free me from clinging to the past and fearing the future.
That is where practice shows up. The practice of existing in the present moment, which is the only moment that life occurs. The moment that instead of resisting the bitterness of winter and the chill of the wind that the ravens instead lean into it, seemingly gleefully. The practice of recognizing change is part of existence. Impermanence is part of existence. That this is where I am today. This is the gift the moon teaches me.
What I can do is practice presence and acceptance. Acceptance is not the same thing as resignation. Sometimes I don’t find myself in acceptance until I have cried and grieved. Creating space for grief is a necessary part of healing.
This last full moon of 2025 is inviting me into the fullness of Illumination of everything that holds me back from stepping into my life, as it is this moment.
The Supermoon invites clarity, wonder and recognition of my resilient and bad ass nature. I may, or may not reclaim the vibrancy of my pre-hip replacement, pre-fibromyalgia body, but I am reclaiming my wild nature alongside the ravens swooping through the crisp cold air in the light of the moon.
