Sometimes even the wolves are silent

I have always been curious about where it came from. The myth that wolves are drawn to howling at the full moon. Is it because wolves are more nocturnal than one might've believed? Or is it because “women of the night” in Pompeii howled like wolves when they were free for the next customer? What about us measly humans? What is it about the moon that draws us night owls to the moon to study its simple yet complicated beauty?

Between wolves howling at it, witches dancing naked around the fire under it and people associating ghostly haunting's with it; the moon has offered its guiding light to, and for, many things over the centuries. Sitting by the water and studying its light reflecting off of the surface provided a weirdly calm setting. My mind wondered to how many people were getting scared at the cemetery without any light beyond an occasional cloud covered moon. Or why the myth of the wolf howling at it was just that. A myth. Although, I would have probably sh*t my pants if I had heard that eerie howl that would make anyone's hair stand straight up.

As many of you already know, Halloween landed on a Saturday with a full moon. A blue moon. With this years COVID-19, I'm curious to know how many celebrations got canceled? How many children didn't get to go trick or treating or have a new found love of walking through a cemetery after sundown? (Thanks mom! I still remember D having bats going for her shiny Hershey's kiss costume and K crying out of fear!) There are still years of Halloween's that will come and go. Many more chances for those new found loves for creepy and ghostly things will be found. I just like to think that the universe had set it up perfectly for us to go back to our Pagan roots and celebrate a perfect blue moon themed Samhain. I know that my time by the fire pit and looking at the picturesque, moonlit water was a perfect time to reflect on different wonders of the universe.

Am I the only one who has a somewhat unhealthy obsession with the moon? A "stay wild moon child" kind of obsession? For me, it's simply taking in the beauty. I feel more alive. Energetic. It's like that first, warm and sunny day of Spring after the winter has passed. The excitement of seeing all of the vibrant colors just bursting from the ground and soaking it in compared to those cold, dreary, grey days from the season before. Everything becomes alive. Being out in the middle of the woods, water on one side, fire on the other and looking up at all of the stars and moon without city light pollution, the same energy awakens inside of me.

It's the simplistic beauty of it that draws me to the moon. The same energy that brings out the witches to practice the celebration of another safe passage of it around the Earth. And if you believe the myth, the moonlit sky brings out the howls of the wolves. Sometimes it's silent though. No howls in the wind. No dancing, chanting or spell casting among the trees or meadows. It's the moon light reflecting off of the lakes surface that's howling the loudest. Drawing people like me to the moon in hopes that during this particular phase, something new and bright emerges tomorrow with the new sunrise.

So go out and enjoy the view. And if you are like me, you’ll hope to one night figure out why the sun loves the moon so much that it dies every day to let her rise. To borrow the suns light to give a guiding light for us wondering through the fields and forests of the world.