night sky Archives - Owl Medicine: Shamanic Healing

Astral Magnificence

If you read my post from last night, you know I was hoping to write about photos I’d taken during the walk Karl and I took last night. Sometimes circumstances all dovetail perfectly to create a moment of such astral magnificence that your breath catches in your throat and you wonder if your heart can hold it all. That’s kind of what we felt last night.

And it’s also why I talked about the Wagons of fellow journeyers (Travelers) I’m setting up each week as part of my Shamanic Caravan. One of the participants last night tried to describe the ‘space’ she’d experienced and it was obvious to all of us that the experience bordered on indescribable loveliness.

Over the years I’ve had a few journeys in which I’ve traveled to places that reminded me of being in the middle of a photograph from the Hubble Spacecraft. They sort of gave me an exquisite sense of being immersed in infinity.

Trust me, the vast majority of journeys that I’ve experienced have been far more mundane. Just writing that sentence sort of makes me laugh, though. What’s mundane – ever – about a first-hand experience of another reality?

Winter Night Sky – Photo: L.Weikel

Last Night’s Sky

The first set of photos I sent to myself last night never arrived. By the time it got to be 4:30 this afternoon and they still hadn’t appeared, I re-sent them to myself. Voila! But a short hour later (eye roll), they arrived in my inbox.

The sky this evening was overcast and the moon, which is waxing to reach fullness by this Thursday, was barely visible behind a thick layer of wooly clouds full of winter wetness. The look and feel of the two nights, while back to back, could barely have been more disparate.

No.

Tonight we were closed in. Colors all around us were muted and bleak. The murky sky admitted a moon existed but gave it no respect.

Last night? We witnessed majesty. Shadows, although sharply defined, weren’t at all scary. They simply offered refreshing clarity. But the greatest gift was when we looked up. Up and out and drank in the stars and the light catching wispy forms of…something.

One of the photos gives me the unmistakable sense of the presence of Great Beings. And perhaps we were. Or are. Maybe last night we were peeking behind the curtain of the Wizard of Oz and seeing the truth of what’s actually the foundation of the journeys we’re taking.

All I know is, I want to share this magnificence with all of you.

Astral Magnificence – Photo: L. Weikel

(T-305)

Aquariids 2019 – Photo: abc7.com

Behold the Delta Aquariids!

I love learning about stuff. And until yesterday or the day before, I don’t think I’d ever heard of the Delta Aquariid Meteor Shower before.

I’ve been a devotee of the Perseids for decades and decades – pretty much all my life, to be honest.

Perseids or Aquariids?

I remember going down the cliff to the beach at the Cape, where the expansiveness of the sky was the greatest (notwithstanding Nauset’s “I-Love-You” light sweeping across the ocean and then across the scrub pines near the cottage). Yes, I remember the odd sensation of the sand of both the cliff and the beach feeling cool between my toes, even as I could dig them deeper to reach some residual warmth that had baked in a little below the surface.

But the Perseids usually peak in August (right around both Karls’ birthdays). It’s been a family ritual to jump into the car and drive about a mile from our house so we could lay out in a field to get the widest possible view of the entire sky. All my guys have indulged me in my delight at witnessing meteor showers and other astronomical events. They’re among my most treasured memories.

forbes.com

A Little More on the Aquariids

So I find it a little weird that I’ve never heard of the Delta Aquariids. They’ve been falling (meaning we’ve been passing through the debris of the MachHolz Comet) since approximately July 13^thand will last until August 28^th. The best opportunity to see the greatest number of ‘shooting stars’ (although obviously, technically, they are neither shooting nor stars – discuss), though, is tonight and probably tomorrow night, when there will be the most particles entering our atmosphere and the sky will be darker longer because it is a “new moon.”

And…Capricornids?!?

Apparently we’re in for ‘dueling’ meteor showers this year. If you follow the tail of each meteor you see, you can use your Sky Guide app to figure out where it originated. That’s one way to identify if it was one of the Aquariids, Capricornids, or Perseids.

I’m happy to report that I’ve already seen two gorgeous, surprisingly slow-moving arcs of light travel across the sky tonight. And there’s been an added lightning show taking place in the northern sky as well, which is a little off-putting, since there are no clouds in the sky.

My sightings this evening were actually quite a surprise. Everything I’ve read recently has recommended that you go outside and look up around midnight, so I was definitely looking up simply because I was outside!

One More Immersion Into the Night Sky

As soon as I publish this post, I’m going to go outside one more time to see what I can see.

As I’ve mentioned before in my various posts about eclipses and things, I adore witnessing natural phenomena. And as I lay on my back staring up at the sky tonight, I felt that sense of being such a teeny, tiny part of a vast and virtually limitless Universe.

I am in awe.

So I strongly urge you to turn out all your outdoor lights right now and venture outside. Unless, of course, you’re reading this Monday morning, in which case set your alarm and go out this evening at around midnight. You’ll be glad you did!

(T-852)