December 21, 2010.

There’s a lot going on.

At 9PM PST on Monday, December 20, 2010, the first full lunar eclipse in three years will begin.  At our longitude on the West Coast of North America, we will have one of the best views.

At 3 am Tuesday, December 21, 2010 is the exact moment of the Full Moon.  At 3:45 PM is the exact moment of solstice.

(I like to geek out about these things.  If you are astrologically inclined, this article about the unexpected Blue Moon this month is lots of fun.)

On days when so much is cosmically happening, I like to plan something special.  A meditation, a retreat, a spontaneous blowout of dancing and sweat that puts me one step closer to the divine….

This year?  I don’t know.  I’m daunted by the amount of cosmic convergence that’s happening, and I fear my plans won’t stack up to the greatness in the heavens.  I’m thinking about a sweat lodge out at Hidden Lake.  I’m considering spending an hour in a sauna followed by some energy work.  I could even head out to Rooster Rock in the freezing cold to look at the eclipse through a telescope.

When the darkness is at its greatest, so great that it even blots out the very moon itself, I’d like to imagine myself as a being that can help effect that transformation away from the shadow.  Proclaim this with a meditation or a ritual of some sort.  But am I boorish to add my meager efforts to the light?  Is this not the province of the gods?

Maybe it would be better to sit back and watch them at their work.  Marvel at the nature of the cosmos, which pushes us so far to the very brink of darkness, only to bring us back safely, into balance.

Quiet contemplation, or fantastical ritual?  It seems this is a division of the shadow and the light, itself.

But which is which?