The fool moon rises

Whether it is waxing or waning. Whether it is full, or not around at all. Many people also don't know that the words "month" and "Monday" are related to and named after the moon. This is more obvious in the Dutch language, where the word for Monday is "maandag" and "maan" is "moon".

I first became aware of the moon's path when I moved away from the city and into the Flinders Ranges. It was here I first saw a full moon rising. Something I had been deprived of while I was living in the city, where it is always light and - as a result, much more difficult to observe the cycles of the moon. What a glorious experience it was to observe this event for the first time. I was sitting on my verandah one evening when a huge globe - soft as a balloon, richly coloured like an egg yolk - rose to illuminate the landscape. The colour became paler as the moon ascended into the sky.

Another time, as an artist in residence in Korea, I was taken on an evening walk by some of my students. Imagine a path along the side of a mountain. We looked down onto a lake. At one stage we came across a huge rock standing on the side of the path. On it, some carved calligraphy. When I asked the meaning of this writing, I was told that it said: "full moon viewing point". And indeed, after a while, more people arrived and in a most reverent quietness watched the moon appear over the edge, then majestically ascend while at the same time its reflection descended into the lake. Magnificent. Moving. Just the moon rising. What a rich culture to give that event this kind of attention.

Here, I remembered another story from when I was working with the Pueblo Indians in New Mexico. This was life changing. There, one evening a village elder took me for a walk. We arrived at a point where we viewed the moon, which at that stage was the first moon. It floated like a delicate silver bowl on the horizon of a darkening blue desert sky. I was told that they call the moon at this stage: "the receiver". This so moved me that I decided there and then follow the path of the bowl in my ceramic work. I was also told that the headman of another tribe, the Lakota, is called "black moon". Which further inspired me to make the bowls black. The rest is history. I was moon struck. This reminds me of the "blue moon". "Once in a blue moon" because a blue moon is a phenomenon that occurs only rarely. It is the second full moon during the one month.

That wise spirit and local woman Vera Howell, now passed, once told me that when she was young, events like country dances would be held around the time of the full moon because it allowed folks to walk home in enough light afterwards.

So, in order to give the moon its due, and learn more about its whereabouts in the sky, I propose an idea. This is to come together to celebrate the full moon rising at Lake Daylesford, and thus remove the ignorance we have in relation to this monthly journey.

Plus, have a wonderful experience at the same time. Let me know via email to art@petrusspronk.com if you are interested and I'll organise it. Maybe we could bring a drinks and snack. And let us celebrate this event on a monthly basis, if for no other reason then to meet with friendly folk by the light of the moon.

Petrus Spronk