Full Moon: More than Love
“Who would we have become if we were allowed to follow our soul’s longings in life?
Who would we be if we all felt, down in our bones, that we are worthy of love?
Not because we have money or are smart or good at our jobs, but just because we are alive?
If we can think these kinds of thoughts, and open our hearts to our original blessings and hopes, what would we do? Who would we be? What would our world look like?”
We like to believe that "love is all you need," but the truth is that love in itself is not solitary.
In reading these questions posed by spiritual guide and therapist Cathy Pagano, I cannot help but wonder - how would Vincent Van Gogh answer them?
Last night I had the great pleasure of finally watching the film Loving Vincent. The work and legacy of Van Gogh has been instrumental in how I've learned to approach my own sensitivities. I tend to find that people with creative inclinations lean towards the more empathic. It could not be easy for someone like Van Gogh to approach the world with ease from day to day. There was far, far too much beauty - or far too much pain and anguish.
He did not sprout from nurtured soil. He grew by way of hard earth. His mother and father existed as living ghosts, leaving the responsibility of anchoring the often unmoored Vincent to his brother Theo. Love was not given to him, but was rather something he had to create. And he did- by connecting with life outside of himself. Our inner teacher is wise and kind, but also stern and powerful, much like our great Mother Earth. Honoring our pain is necessary, and continuing to move forward as we do so is now critical.
We like to believe that "love is all you need," but the truth is that love in itself is not solitary. It is not one color, but made of many. Love is an abstraction unique to each person. Love has no rules or boundaries - it is knowable only in the most personal way possible because it is ours of our own making, based upon pigments acquired over time.
Too many of us have gaping holes in our hearts. We fill them with anything that will fit - and many things will, for a time. But what this void deserves is something we already have. The obvious answer is often the last we reach for.
This full moon demands that we love ourself. It approaches us quickly, with the most urgent plea. We no longer have time to spare. This love is not just for us to enjoy - it is for us to heal. The only possibility for life to change is for us to start within; cleaning house so that we may invite others in once more. Again, this is not simply for the enjoyment of company, but for the necessity of it. The sacred does not exist alone. It lives in clusters. Galaxies, roots, star systems, seeds, communities, families - we cannot thrive without others. You are needed.
Who are you when you remove the uniform of your persona? What do you feel when you witness yourself free from all your belongings? How does it feel to know that you are all you really own, and even that will not last? What do you intend to leave behind, and how are you creating your great masterpiece?
Simplicity beckons. The mirage of illusion fades. Why cling to it when we know intuitively that there is so much more? That there always has been.
Your life is a painting you did not know would be witnessed by the world. Regardless of your hesitations, people will arrive to appraise your work and gather to create with you.
How you accomodate it is your own work of art waiting to be made - and it can wait no longer.