May 22/Third Quarter Moon

Today is a travel day.

I am writing from Girona, Spain. Today we will spend our last day in Spain before returning to London with Henry. With a last week in London at his place my trip will be coming to an end.

A view of the beautiful city of Girona from where I am writing.

We stayed in a fabulous hostel in Barcelona. Tall tall ceilings and wonderful people that took such good care of the place and its visitors. So warm and welcoming. The streets were shady and lined with trees and the buildings extravagantly decorated like fancy cakes. And there was a surprise fancy cake from good friends for my birthday at their fabulous studio. From there we went to the Mediterranean Sea and swam with the fishes. And now here. Famous with Bicyclists and lovers of The Game of Thrones. It is a gorgeous old city with a historical Jewish quarter which we scoured for signs of mezuzahs and Hebrew. So many birds and the scent of Jasmine. And cathedral bells chiming on the hour and the quarter of the hour and sometimes for no apparent reason.

I had imagined how nice it would be to get back to a place where people spoke Spanish, a language that I have more familiarity with, and it was, but it’s more complicated than that. We are in Catalonia where both Catalan and Spanish are spoken. There is more Catalan than Spanish they say and Catalan has perhaps more similarities to French than Spanish, although it is a distinct language all its own. We met up with family and friends here. And together we were speakers of many languages. Our Lingua Franca was English, and yet some of us spoke Spanish, Catalan, Polish, Hebrew, German, French, Swedish, and maybe I am forgetting others? There are a couple people very skilled with languages among us. We represented a lot as we all gathered together and yet, it is still more complicated than that.

I got a message this weekend that the Memorial Honoring Survivors of Sexual Violence in Minneapolis was recently vandalized. This is the first memorial of its kind and is a beautiful and powerful place to visit. Its beautiful murals tell a story of healing and the transformation that happens with healing in community and with love. My sister Rachel worked on the space alongside other designers and artists and organizers and survivors. As hate crimes happen all over, we have to practice love with even more vehemence. Love as a spiritual practice towards all who need healing, including ourselves so that we can continue to have the energy to do what we can, and to continue to be there for communities that are being targeted. If you want to donate towards the repair of the Survivors Memorial there is a Go Fund Me link here, thanks to my friend Ditto for alerting me to this, and my friend Joseph for organizing.

Costa Brava near Palafrugell, Spain. Photo credits to Josh.

I remind myself that impermanence feels like this. Things change and we have to be present to let them move. This is what third quarter moon is about, as the light wanes, we prepare for the next revolution to begin. New moon next week on May 30, which is a Monday. More Soon.

Much Love, Tina