🦊 Revelations from my Solar Eclipse Adventure
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​ I am writing to you from a little French cafe by my house, sipping on some cold brew and trying to find my work flow again after my adventure to see the solar eclipse. In my mind, a transition should only take a day or two at the most but for me, but in reality, it sometimes takes me a lot longer before I really feel like I have truly found my flow. I am attempting to unearth my inner poet again so I can continue to write my Witch Kittens mini deck but I am not quite there yet. The words are definitely coming slowly and a little more clunkily. (I don't think that is even a word. hee hee.) My trip to the Eclipse Festival and Austin was truly healing and inspiring though and worth every challenge in both making it happen and in returning. Yes, it would be easier to just maintain my home and work life without interruption, a cozy, continuous and comfortable flow, but I am fully convinced that when my Spirit calls me to an adventure, persevering and heeding that call results in untold gifts and life-giving expansion. I want to share three revelations that I had when integrating this trip. I notice a lot of people, including myself, seem to be both wanting to explore and get out of their comfy domains while simultaneously experiencing a bunch of resistance. Sometimes, it just feels too hard. First, my mind is wrong about how I will feel when a hardship pops up.I notice that I often over emphasize the potential discomforts and logistical challenges when preparing for a journey. I worry that I will be too hot, too cold, too tired, not have enough good food or even that I will be in danger in an infinite variety of ways. Hello, tornadoes! When I am actually on the journey, a lot of things just flow in surprisingly delightful ways AND when something challenging does actually happen, I am much more resilient and committed to still having fun no matter what than I would ever imagine. Plus, people and nature spirits often come through to offer a helping hand or just bring some magic to the experience. Too hot and lost while hiking to a swimming hole? I stopped under the shade of beautiful live oak tree to cool down, poured a little water on my head and waited until I found someone to ask for directions. Maybe it took three times as long, but we did make it to the swimming hole eventually. Actual tornado watch that ended the Eclipse Festival a day early? After a the initial wave of anxiety, I got grounded, sought out more information and made an alternate plan with friends to get to safety while all promising each other we would still enjoy each moment of that day. It ended up being so magical with the sky clearing up for 20 minutes so we could watch the solar eclipse from a meadow filled with wildflowers and commune with the vast mystery. Then, I gave 50 or so Witch and Spirit Cats cards out to my fellow eclipse gazers so they could receive a healing message to take home with them. It was one of my favorite experiences from the entire trip that might not have unfolded that way save for the imminent storm. I heard a saying once that really rings true for me: "Adventure is just an attitude towards discomfort." My Spirit loves adventure so I can't allow myself to get stuck in resisting any possibility of discomfort. Second, I underestimate how infinitely interesting and exciting even the simplest new thing will be.I often worry that being in this new place without my work will feel monotonous, boring, and repetitive and I will feel trapped. This worry really started to pop up after the pandemic. In retrospect, I believe it is just some lingering feelings from that difficult time (trapped, limited, anxiously bored) that I was unconsciously projecting on potential new experiences. In reality, I am completely immersed in discovery and the unique sensual delights of the new place. Whether I am savoring a long swim in a pool or climbing over the rocks around a waterfall, dancing the night away with new friends in a luscious, vibratory field of sound and bass or noticing the colors, shapes, and smells of the native wildflowers or watching the new oak tree friend tap my hotel window or just walking down a new street, I am fully engaged and endlessly fascinated. Traveling puts me in a continuous state of savoring the moment because I know I will not be in this place forever. I actually LOVE to repeat activities like visiting my new favorite vintage-flavored French Vietnamese cafe or swimming at sunset because they are just so good and I will soon no longer have access to them. I love to pretend that for this short time, I live in this place. It is a window into another life that I will never fully live but I can get a sweet, brief taste. This practice of savoring that comes so easily to me when I am traveling can then be channeled into my daily life at home. I can pretend I am a visitor at home and that I will only have a brief time before things change which in many ways is always true. A lot of things in life end and change without warning, without even the opportunity to say goodbye, so savoring is a way to fully receive the magic that is here right now, however ephemeral it may be. I have one more revelation that I would love to share with you but I am realizing this Moon Letter is getting quite long. So I will save it for next week. To be continued... While I am talking about my recently trip here, I think these ideas could apply to any type of adventure you feel called to embark on whether it is writing a fantasy novel, moving on from a unaligned relationship, learning a new skill, starting a business, making a new friend or planning a gathering. I don't expect to not feel resistance towards future adventures. I'm sure it will pop up again but I will remind myself of all this undeniable evidence of how worthwhile it is to move through that inertia and still go, still do the thing that calls me. With sweet memories of Blue Bonnets and mischievous Grackles, Nicole P.S. Big thanks so all of you who purchased a print of my "Soft Guardians of Hope" painting. It was one of my most successful print releases yet. I am so grateful and excited to share this art with you. I am in the process of producing the prints and will start shipping them out to you in mid May. I will update you here, once they have all been shipped out. P.P.S. Stay tuned for next week's Moon Letters where I will share an update on my upcoming Wander Kittens mini deck and travel set Kickstarter. Below, you can peek at my travel altar that I set up in the windowsill of my hotel room. I used my Vision Cat Zipper Pouch to store everything and then, it became a center piece for my altar. You will also see a early prototype of my Wander Kittens travel deck and my Dream Journey travel altar cloth. A ritual bell, a pendulum, stickers on my essential oils, and my Witch Cats Coin came along for the journey too.
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