January 25/Third Quarter Moon

Awareness of Endings

This morning we had to get the car into the shop. It was 12 below zero when I went outside at about 7:15 am, the sun just rising, and the moon, a perfect half circle hanging to the south. There is a lot of snow here. And it squeaks as you step on it. There is a hole carved into the nearby frozen Lake Harriet and people were submerging in the water even at this temperature as we passed, but I say, this subzero air is enough immersion into cold, a bright freshness you can open to if you relax. The full startling danger of your breath turning to smoke, the stiff pain of fingertips and earlobes freezing. A little shot of cortisol in the morning is invigorating. There is still work to do, even, and perhaps especially, during endings. And there are many endings happening now. With this phase, deep into winter as we are, we venture into the dark moon this last week of the lunation. In this post and the next, I will be wrapping up this moon cycle. There will be more writing, but it will be different.

Josh breaking through the ice during in our winter ski trip 2021.