The Wonder of the Moon.

We're halfway through the Major Standstill!!

Last evening I attended the Moonrise Event at Griffith Observatory here in Los Angeles. My friend and neighbor works at the Observatory and Julie generously invited a few of us up for the show (complete with guest parking privileges and a hot cocoa.) She also might be one of the greatest humans I know.

It was the most beautiful moonrise I have ever seen. We are halfway through the Lunar Major Standstill. Talk about a metaphor for midlife, amiright y’all? Realized I am halfway through my own major standstill as I slapped on an estrogen patch just to help me leave the house, CAN YA FEEL ME??

Last night involved three of my favorite things: friends, the moon and the Observatory! You may be familiar with the Observatory and its art deco, Greek inspired building from movies and tv (very famously in REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, it is so closely associated with that film, there is a prominent bust in honor of its star, James Dean, on their grounds!)

Some of the best views of Los Angeles can be seen from the Observatory, in addition to wondrous visual access to the sky and the Hollywood sign. The video above shows last night’s absolutely GORGEOUS moonrise as seen from the lawn. It was spectacular enough to share, and I hope you will enjoy it. About halfway through the video is when the moon comes up above the San Gabriel mountains.

I’ve always been enthralled by our moon. I’m a real lunar-head, or as Julie called me, a lunatic (ok, guilty!) Watching the moonrise was also a necessary reminder to commune with the natural beauty we all have access to in our sky. Cloud art and glowing moons are enough to cause me a brief moment outside of my own torturous head and feel a warm and comforting connection we all have to one another in the face of the mystery and the vastness.

Me & Kathryn, A sun tornado?, waiting for the moonrise, I spy a telescope operator up there!

Go get your moon on, or at least check out the video if you can’t get outside!

If the moon is still this captivating and powerful halfway through a major standstill, it must be telling me to have patience and cultivate wonder with my own life cycles that dictate my existence. It’s saying to me, every phase must have an element of glory. Or maybe it’s just pretty fucking spectacular to look at?

Hope everyone is hanging in there and taking care of their head and hearts.

Janie 🌕