The Starboard Sabbatical

Stargazing on the ocean was one of my favorite things. I had been on the pursuit of the sublime, with abandon.

I did not pursue this carelessness by way of frivolity. No, it had been as a result of the ripping insistence of loss and pain. The early understanding of the fragility of life, instead of creating timidity, bred ferocity. The kind that inspired me to paddle my board out into the bay, and lay there watching the stars, waving my legs through the phosphorescence that played on the surfaces of the sea, mirroring the dark night full of stars.

The light of the full summer moon, bright as a spotlight over the bay, made the whole night seem to glow. Phosphorescent water droplets trickled off my arms and legs, mesmerizing. My awareness shifting imperceptibly into that space where I am not separate, I am one with all that surrounds me.

It was in these moments of solitude, and connection with this planet that I found my deepest sense of peace. It was like heaven.

I layed down on my board, filled with awe, staring into the night sky. So many stars…the density of the spiral arm of the Milky Way stretching across the night sky. The stars began to wobble and sway, at first I thought this an optical illusion created by the light and motion of the tidal ebb that I was subject to.

As I lay there observing the fathomless expanse of space, she appeared…

A piece of the night sky, embodied and drifting towards me, I could only stare in wonder and amazement while this goddess approached me.

She descended, closer, closer, until she was floating beside me in an amorphous shimmering wave. Not able to believe my eyes, I thought, “this cannot be real, am I dreaming, have I fallen asleep?”

With that she dipped her toes into the ocean and splashed me with sprinklings of diamond droplets, and dove into the sea, only to jettison straight up into the starry night; all but disappearing into the vastness of space.

I sat up quickly, surveying my perimeter, a sense of loss and regret at the brevity of her attendance. Suddenly she re-appeared, hovering above me. She lowered herself until she was standing on my board, seeming to wait..for what I was completely unsure.

Suddenly she jumped, landing with unexpected force, sending me teetering into the sky. Flailing and terrified i floundered like a fish out of water until I realized I was not falling.

She again seemed to be waiting for me to adapt, at once I was calm. I realized that I was hovering parallel to her. My board floating on the surface below, I could see my supine form still there on the surfboard.

Before I could balk at the reality below me, like a whisp of light she was behind me, threading her arms around me, and lifting me higher, and higher. Kicking my legs I resisted this impossible sensation, until she dropped me. Though I did not fall, merely remained there suspended impossibly, wayyy above the sea. The ocean still shimmering with the otherworldly light of a phosphorescent miracle. The bio-luminescent and mystical algae that mirrored the starry night sky.

Once again, she took me under the arms, and began to fly, carrying me with her. Accelerating now, she began to show me the boundlessness of this astral state, gradually she released me to fly beside her.

Swiftly we passed over hundreds of kilometres of ocean, ascending and descending, she dipped her toes below the surface sending crescendos of crystalline droplets all around us. The sounds of humpbacks began to wail and beckon, as if in answer to her presence. A mother and baby swimming within the sprays of mist, so close I could touch them. She and her offspring made eye contact with me, as I allowed all of this beauty to infuse every part of my mind and heart, I never wanted to forget this night.

Up, Up, Up, she flew and I followed. We ascended so high I began to wonder where sky became exosphere. Then inexplicably, I saw a picture in my mind of us both passing through the ionosphere and into the blackness of space. Along with the sense of a challenge mixed with invitation to experience a new level of the sublime.

She showed me the Earth from space. She was communicating with me through images projected into my mind. In answer, I leapt into motion, faster and faster, until everything was a blur, then suddenly a windless and silent realization, as I turned back to see the Earth in all her majesty shining below me like a jewel set in the inky blackness of space.

Time had ceased to exist, I could have stayed and explored forever, but I felt the tug of my body, simultaneously beginning to paddle to shore, as I explored the wonders of this astounding astral realm, In that moment I realized~My consciousness was as boundless as the astral realms themselves, &….

🌌 Galaxies are for surfing 🌌