New Moon

Ok, so I missed the boat on a timely new year's post, but since it's the first day of the new lunar year today it seems like an appropriate subject to write about.  I had intended to write a post much sooner, but this first month of 2012 has thus far been astoundingly busy and my blog has been neglected...which is a shame really, because I have lots of things I'd like to write about - in particular, my growing fascination with and collection of these vintage new year's cards featuring my favourite mushrooms...they'll just have to wail 'til next time.

My new year's celebrations comprised a romp in the forests of Daylesford with some of my favourite people, far away from the city and the brutal heat, and under the spectacular night sky that you can only appreciate when you get that far out. We spent the afternoon playing hand drums and singing bowls amongst the trees, and the evening camped around a fire, admiring the silence and beautiful stars in the crystal-clear sky. It was exactly what we all needed, and a perfect way to welcome in 2012.

I don't usually celebrate the new year with much enthusiasm, mostly because I associate it with the kind of awful public drunkenness we're all familiar with on such occasions, but I felt this year was an important one to acknowledge. 2011 was the lunar year of the rabbit, and the year Shaun and I decided to start our own business which we named for the rabbit in the moon, unaware at the time of the significance of doing so. I'm so fond of these serendipitous things that seem to happen so often these days; in the past few months I have been seeing rabbits absolutely everywhere, including a few feral ones up at Daylesford which Shaun and I took to be a lucky sign, (we also found an Amanita mushroom in the pine forest completely out of season, which we took as another sign of luck) and I have become completely engrossed in studying the moon and all symbols, traditions and deities associated with it.

Greek goddess Luna, also known as Selene

I think the first inkling of this fascination may have occurred a year or so ago after reading a wonderful book called Full Moon Feast, which discusses how the various cycles of the moon related to the changing of the seasons and subsequently of our available food supply, as well as issues like light pollution and how this affects our connection with the moon. More recently my interest has shifted towards the lunar cycle's effect on human fertility, as well as it's role in astrology (something I've been secretly interested in since I was a teenager). Since I have neither the time nor the inclination to write about such things in any detail, I am working on a number of paintings that explore my fascination with La Luna and all related subjects. In the meantime, the new moon today welcomes in the Year of the Dragon , which promises an exciting shift in consciousness, luck and prosperity.  Happy New Year!