Full Moon Fever!

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“Oh…my…God!”, I said. As my eyes lit up and doubled in size. My mouth opened wide while the rest of my body felt an electrical wave go through it, and could do nothing more than sit there in awe. As the warm waves continued to rise me up and roll through, I couldn’t take my eyes off of the massive orange-yellow disc emerging low on the horizon from the green, tropical cliff bank at the edge of the peninsula. It was the Moon, and it was in charge. The Full Moon. And not only was it controlling the tides at present moment, but it had me in a tractor beam of amazement. I had to be careful to pay attention to the ocean too or I would be smashed by the incoming waves. Ah, but to tear my eyes away from the moon in such a holy procession seemed to be no less then heresy at this point. A crime, not only of the body, but of the soul as well.

I gaze on. And as my feet dangle in the warm water and the rolling waves push me up and slide me down again I felt I was on an enchanted, esoteric ride at a sacred amusement park. As night began to fall I told myself over and over again, “one more wave”, “one more wave”. Ah, but I know myself, and I know I can never leave after just one – even if I have been in the water for hours. And this time the sky was putting on a show akin to an ancient, mysterious ceremony administered by cloaked men and women with long, white tunics covering their bodies and light glowing from inside to signal that they were not from this world.

I took “one more wave”; then another. Then another as the sky continued to darken. Eventually, as the fading electric purples and reds from the sunset diminished, the ocean turned an inky black with the full moon on the rise to take her seat on her throne at the Zenith. Surfing turned more into a blind feeling than actually navigating by sight. Not only was the feel of riding the waves intense, but the energy of the moon was completely hypnotizing. And it should be, for the moon acts like an extremely concentrated mirror of the sun’s mighty energy. A blast of electrically charged photons raining down as an oasis of light in the dark, deserted night. Not only that, but its effect on the world’s oceans is an extreme phenomenon that has made its presence known throughout the ages. The ancients viewed this with both intrigue and fear as massive amounts of water were pulled from one part of the planet to the other by the power of the Moon. She was worshiped and cursed. The ancient Druids would hold nocturnal ceremonies and view the night as the darkness within ourselves once again conquered by the overpowering light of the full moon. They would beat drums and play flutes as fires raged and dancing commenced. Out of the darkness and into the Light. The Vikings saw the moon as their first glimpses into eternity; a symbol of life, death, and regeneration. Legend has it that in the time it takes for the moon to travel its path through the night sky, a dance or procession around the stone called the Odin Stone (Odin = king of the Norse gods) by the Vikings was performed. At full moons, the dancers looked through a hole in the Odin Stone hoping for a vision of the future; a pathway to another world.

At this particular moment in time, it was I who was in worship. Grateful to be alive; grateful to see, to hear, to feel, and to move around this planet like a dragonfly- bouncing in random flight from place to place, hoping to discover the “new” and the “brilliant”. And at times when we are feeling down & out and destroyed by the world, the only alternative, truly, is to be grateful. If you honestly look, you’ll find far more things to celebrate than to loathe in your life. And ironically, this is the turning point from living in a cloud of negativity to climbing the stairs to the Light. The brilliant thing about it is that there is always a choice. It’s all about where you want to be.

Now it was full blown night. I have never been surfing this late before. I know better. As soon as the sun goes down the sharks are not far from beginning the quest to satiate their hunger. When I was in Western Australia a few weeks ago, 1 or 2 people were attacked by sharks per week! Crazy! As good a time as any to conquer your fears, no? Or declare yourself truly insane.

I heard a sound from behind my left shoulder, a splashing of the water. Same thing from my right a few seconds later. I gaze over and see nothing at first. Then, as the light of the moon begins to glow brighter, below the surface, about a meter down or so, I see a dark shape moving through the water. Damn. I wait. Running from a shark will only make you look more like it’s natural prey. I already look enough like that just sitting on my board in the water at feeding time. In fact, you are “supposed” to have no fear at all and point the shark out so that you take away its element of surprise, or actually punch it in the nose! People have done this before! At this time, however, it was too dark to make out a nose until it got closer, but it was definitely big and it was definitely checking me out. Do I let fear rule or do I remain calm and just stay vigilant. I see no alternative but that latter. After about 2 minutes of watching the dark shape emerge then disappear it finally breaks the surface. I struggle to make the image out as it is about 8 o’clock and night has arrived. It disappears again. Ten seconds later it pops up about 3 meters away from me and I can make out whiskers. Whiskers?!! I look closer and see a tiny, little nose and two beautifully, dark eyes staring back at me – it almost seems to smile. My entire inside lets out an exuberant, “Wahooooo!” and I begin to laugh out loud. The seal stuck around for a few more minutes before taking its, “one more wave”, and I decided it was time to take mine. As I walked out of the water with the short 5’8″, duel fin board from the 1980s that I was borrowing I kept laughing and breathing and laughing and breathing in bliss. The stars began to light up in the sky one by one. I made wishes on the first 4 that I saw. Then it was over the beach and up the hill to where my bike was stashed in the bushes. Currently the bike I am borrowing has no breaks and all that I am wearing are boardshorts; no shoes. It’s OK, I can do it. I pedaled home to my wonderful amiga Nicholetta’s house with board under my right arm, no shoes on my feet, and the warm Australian wind blowing me dry under a full moon, just laughing away. I can’t say that I’ve ever had an experience like this before. Surreal. And the World spins on…

Some say that all human actions are motivated, at their deepest levels, by one of two emotions: Love and Fear. All other things stem from these two powerful elements; happiness, bliss, Light, hatred, jealously, darkness. Every moment we choose which one to Live in- Love or Fear. I thought about that in the water and I thought about it’s implications on Life. How many times have we chosen fear and allowed it to ruin our relationships or cause an unnecessary fight; depress us about money or work or things we cannot change? How many times have we chosen the opposite path and seen Life light up before our eyes; seem to have everything fall into place like magic? Why do we get “distracted” and change course? The power we have in simply making a choice far exceeds that of guns and bombs (and sharks), and it sets in motion a world we create, in our own image, not one created for us. It really comes down in how we choose to view our Life in this world. With eyes of Light or eyes of darkness – within every breath of every moment, the choice is ours…

~Jefferson

Byron Bay, Australia

February 2012