As I experience transition out of a pretty difficult interior season I couldn’t help experiencing this recent Solar Eclipse as an external symbol of that deep shift happening within. Perhaps you felt this too. As we grow more aware of our constant motion and the orbiting of our Moon around our Earth, we sense how we are always moving, never static — we’re seeing it before our eyes! We are in relationship with the Moon and it has the ability to hide parts of the light from us, but always maintains a promise that it will pass over and reveal the warmth of the Sun again.
We can even be thrown into an utter totality of darkness as some experienced in different parts of the world. Even then, specks of light around the circumference of that circle break through. I felt such love for the loyalty of our Sun and Moon on this day. They never abandon our Earth, staying in constant balance with us, although we threaten that balance of our own planet daily.
Just as the Moon passed in front of the Sun and the temperature fell, you could feel the world turn grey, everybody stopped looking at their phones, put on their iMax glasses anticipating the movie of the year. We waited in deep time together, gazing into the unknown, into the void, the place where we know we all come from at some deep primal level. I felt the sea change in my own life being embodied in the eclipse. There’s an emerging light I feel being resurrected in me, a patience and a slowing down to really look at what is there.
There is a powerful blinding nature to Reality at times, just like the Sun, or the burning bush that Moses could not bear to look at because of its fierce glory. There’s such an extreme sense of distance we feel looking out at the cosmos, attempting to comprehend a world that defies our attempts to contain it. We are both so far from the planets and yet so interdependent on them at the same time. Receiving, orbiting, pulsing with life and possibility while also moving toward eventual annihilation and reformation. That great law of energy.
My reflections come right on time with a book I’m reading right now, given to me kindly by a friend. It’s called ‘Ayurveda - A Life of Balance’ by Maya Tiwari. I’d love to share an excerpt I underlined as it speaks to this kind of Deep Time or Timelessness I found myself in during the Solar Eclipse.
“The time cycles for land and aquatic animals as well as birds, are not confined to a precise schedule. These creatures adapt themselves to the light and dark cycles and to seasonal changes; they live more on the other side of the equation, that of timelessness. The dolphin traveling deep within the womb of the sea experiences a heightened pulse rate and vibratory frequency associated with a state of timelessness awareness. The human experiences a similar vibratory fluidity during its embryonic state. While suspended in the water of life, an embryo. sustains a heart rate of 160 beats per minute. On arrival into the time-bound atmosphere of external space, air, fire, water and earth, the heart rate drops dramatically. In the process of birth, vibratory rate becomes less fluid and the timeless memories of creation become squelched. As a human species, we have adapted to charting our progress through the time-bound passage/ We came equipped with the mind and sense for proper navigation.”
-Maya Tiwari
Shout out to the dolphins. Wow.
This year I want to become more awake to the intricacies of my unique body and mind so I am excited to learn about Ayurveda. Having already identified myself as having a Vata Dosha type (Air/Water) I am coming to understand my cyclical shifts as they pertain to my vessel. Only we can find the map to our own interior worlds and in turn, make attempts to understand our subjective external experience. There is so much wisdom in the world and all we need is an openness to receive what speaks to us in the time we need it most.
I tend to believe, what you need will find you where you are.
Ponderings…
Where will we all be in 25 years when the next Solar Eclipse strikes?
Will we have made the strides we need to help our planet and the most vulnerable?
Will we have stopped the war and found the radical compassion needed for our species to evolve, break karmic patterns or at the very least survive?
Will we be further absorbed in the self-obsession of social media?
Will we have solved the food crisis and be living off the land in communities?
Will we return to rituals we rejected from the Indigenous peoples and reunite ourselves to ancient spiritual practices?
Nobody knows, but today I am grateful to be on this Earth and to witness the absolutely astounding beauty and mystery of our universe.
A Song For Solar Eclipse Reflections
I wrote song called “The Magic Hour” for my second album The Golden Echo and from 3pm-4pm in Greenwood Cemetery on April 8 I experienced a truly magical hour so it feels apt to share this song with you today.
The full lyrics are at the bottom for those that like to know all the words but there’s one line I’m feeling close to today.
In the light of the magic hour, everything just seems to slow right down.
The more I know, the less I know, in the still dancing.
If you’d like to hear some versions of this song played live also, here are some performances of it over the years (between 2014 and 2019.)
Many talented musicians accompany me across these videos including Taylor Graves, Jacob Bergsen, Zach Tenorio-Miller, Spencer Zahn.
I love changing my songs up for concerts (we you can imagine, my band just LOVE that added pressure) and I know there are many of you who prefer the stripped back styles of my work, sometimes even more than the produced versions, so enjoy.
‘The Magic Hour’ 2014, Los Angeles:
‘The Magic Hour’, 2018, San Francisco :
‘The Magic Hour’, 2019, Paris :
Till next time,
1. The Epigenetics Revolution by Nessa Carey
2. Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond ( documentary as well)
3. Determined by Robert M. Sapolsky
4.The End of Everything: (Astrophysically Speaking) by Katie Mack
These are a few books I've read or would like to read that I think have some relevance to you some of your ponderings.
Vata. Would think so too. And a pinch of Pitta I would say, looking at your fair complexion. I could be wrong there of course. Still learning here. Integrating Ayurveda into my coaching & guidance mission. :) Ayurveda has always been influencing my cooking and it slowly but surely worked its way in on other topics as well... So much to learn...