This month has been so wonderful for stargazers, with the unexpected arrival of Comet Neowise (so brilliant and large in the sky), the return of the annual Perseid Meteor Showers, and so many planets brightly shining in the night sky (Jupiter, Saturn, Mars).
What do you see when you look up at the night sky?
What do you dream about when you see the stars, the moon, a comet or a shooting star? Perhaps they inspire you to write a poem, dance, dream . . . or create a painting?
When I was a child, I dreamt of being an astronaut or an astronomer . . . or both! I loved the night sky — identifying the planets and constellations, reading the stories of how the constellations were named, watching the phases of the moon, seeing a shooting star. I wanted to travel to far-off moons and planets and stars.
I remember learning about the speed of light and how that much of what we see in the sky is millions of years old, and may look very different now — or may not even exist at all!
I was awestruck by that! My child’s mind realized that I was gazing up at Time itself. Light from millions and thousands and fractions of light years away, touching me now. I was looking simultaneously into the deep and recent past of the Universe all at the same time.
I still want to travel through the Universe. But now I can do it from home — in a dream, in a meditation, in a shamanic journey.
And I love that the night sky inspired one of my favourite paintings, Van Gogh’s Starry Night.
In the words of Vincent Van Gogh,
“I don’t know anything with certainty, but seeing the stars makes me dream.”
Image Credits
Header, sourced via Canva.com
Collage:
- Comet Neowise, Earthsky.org
- Starry Night, by Vincent Van Gogh, from the Van Gogh Gallery
- Perseid Meteor Shower, news.cgtn.com