The Case of the Missing Moon


Each night Jupiter and Saturn greet me with a comforting, loving presence, as do all the varied constellations that the SkyView app so aptly finds and names. Most bizarrely though, for numerous nights-on-end, there was a noticeable absence in the sky – the moon. When we were in Morocco a few days before, it was a full moon. And now a few days later the moon had apparently disappeared. I rested and waited patiently for it to emerge from dusk until well past midnight. For seven consecutive nights, the moon evaded and confounded me.

Then on Saturday night I saw it. What’s especially surreal is that it was overcast and not a single star was in sight! Like a vanishing magician who to the shock and awe of the audience, disappears on stage and suddenly reappears in the theater rafters, the moon showed itself despite my having no idea where it had been and how it got there. I was looking for it for 7 days!!! Why appear now, when it was overcast and the ONLY thing visible in the night’s sky was the moon?!


Moon magician – reveal your tricks!

But wait, cancel that request. On second thought, I don’t need to know. In fact, whatever the plausible, scientific explanation is for the case of the missing moon, I don’t care. Because that’s part of the awesomeness of the experience.

Sometimes when we simply sit with curiosity and wonder, without explanation, we give ourselves the opportunity to detect a deeper meaning, one far more “meaningful.” If we allow ourselves to experience and embrace curiosity, curious things happen.

What came from the confusion of having the moon finally reveal itself on a cloudy night when not a single star was discernible – was understanding. This understanding is perhaps obvious, but for me it carried with it great, powerful, personal, meaning: the moon is always there, even if we can’t see it. So obvious, right? But yet, it was electric for me. Dare I say it was extraordinary.

Smiling in my befuddlement of where this luminescent sliver in the sky had been, I shifted from awe to understanding because I saw the relation to the Divine and realized what it was that I was really witnessing. The Divine, our Creator, the Infinite Intelligence which has many names in many religions all of which represent the same Singular Supreme Source, IS. ALWAYS. HERE.

When the moon magically, seemingly spontaneously appeared, it felt like a wink from the Divine. The Creator was looking down at me in the form of the Moon, saying “Do you see me? Seeing is a funny thing. Because you see, I never really left.”

How does this translate? We are never alone.

How is this possible? The Divine isn’t just above. The Divine is within.

Even though they may be masked, the stars still shine. Even though we may be masked, and misguided, and doubtful, and disbelieving, the Divine still shines, still lives, always remains a shining wisp of Wonder within our cosmic creation – the star that we are.

The Divine isn’t just above. The Divine is within.

We need not look. We need only remember.

With loving gratitudes,

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