Full Moon Dreaming

Full moon in Aquarius – August 2020 – Photo: L. Weikel

I’m glad I managed to get some sweet shots of the very nearly almost full moon last night, because there’s not a chance it’s visible this evening. No, we’re relegated to full moon dreaming this evening – and hoping it doesn’t turn into a flash flood nightmare.

Indeed, we’re lucky we even got a two mile walk in. Only minutes after returning home tonight, my phone pinged to alert me to a meteorological prospect I’d already sussed out: we were on the verge of being hit by a severe thunderstorm. While we did receive a reasonable storm (it was nothing like what hit us last Thursday evening), the amount of rain that fell was a mere drop in the bucket to what we’re likely to experience in the early morning hours tomorrow.

It seems a bit weird that here in eastern Pennsylvania we’re getting hit with a tropical storm calling not only for up to 6” of rain falling ‘in a short period of time’ (causing flash flooding), but also winds potentially ranging between 58-73 mph and even the possibility of tornadoes.

I think I can pretty confidently say that Pennsylvanians, on the whole, did not sign up for this. Or tornadoes. Tropical storms are generally southern and mid-western state issues. What the heck is happening here? Mid-Atlantic states say, “No thank you!”

Timing

I’m sure the effects on the coastline of Tropical Storm Isaias (which I believe has regained hurricane strength as it makes landfall in the Carolinas this evening) will be exacerbated by the full moon, undoubtedly creating higher than normal storm surges and even greater erosion than usual. But beyond that, I hate to think of the suffering and risk people will endure as a direct result of the confluence of these battering storms and the unavoidable reality of the pandemic.

It seems like every day we’re bombarded with more and more stories of the precariousness of life here in the United States. Meanwhile, Congress dithers.

Something’s gotta give. And that’s usually when a full moon comes in and gives us a well-timed push.

Choices

Since the inception of 2020, all of us are facing choices day in and day out that we never imagined we would have to make. I think it may have been in this podcast that I heard that this full moon is in the fixed air sign of Aquarius, which is completing a cycle begun at the end of January, at which time we experienced a new moon in the fixed air sign of Aquarius.

I can’t help but wonder at the choices that have been made in how we viewed and dealt with Covid-19 from the earliest days of its arrival here in the U.S. (our first awareness being at the end of January) to how we’re viewing and dealing with it now (at this ‘fullness’ of the same moon as when it all began). I’d like to think that this full moon could represent the climax of the virus’s impact on our society – and had we made other, significantly different choices on how to respond to the virus’s arrival, surely wresting it under control would have been a possibility we’d be enjoying.

But sadly, this full moon could actually signify the virus just starting to hit its stride in taking us out.

Taking a Stand

This full moon could very well be challenging us to stand up to the bullying we’re enduring to have our children and teachers return to school as if the virus is contained. We must acknowledge the truth: it isn’t contained. Not even close.

And a point is going to come – soon, I sense, urged on by the pressure and illumination of this full moon – when parents are going to rise up and demand accountability. Demand testing. Demand a national strategy that will protect all of us, but especially those our government is insanely threatening us to sacrifice: our children, our teachers, those who feed, transport, and clean up after them. Our future.

The present disastrous predicament we find ourselves in did not need to happen. And as unpopular as it might be, there still exists an opportunity for us to dream another future into being. But it would entail short-term but rather draconian sacrifice. Short-term pain for long-term gain. (Something we’ve already squandered once, but hey – maybe we can still turn it around?)

In the meantime, I think Spartacus has the right idea: he’s dreaming, and possibly projecting, himself into a future featuring American humans making wiser, more compassionate choices.