I couldn't see what I see right now from our house in St. Paul. The nearly full moon is setting about 40 degrees above the horizon. I've noticed that the trajectory of the moon changes-- where it rises and falls on the horizon. In September the full moon set at the end of the driveway as I put my kids on the bus. This morning's haunting moon setting into our dark NW grove with flimsy subzero clouds racing in front of it. In November the hunters moon rose to the NE over our bonfire.
There is a pattern here that I wasn't privy to before living on the wide open prairie. Now I see the point where the moon rises burning orange over the horizon and see it set yellow over the sloughs and fields in the west. There is a cycle to the moon-- but don't tell me. It is my mystery to discover.
Now I know I could Google it and know in an instant the lunar cycle. But instead I'm going to learn it the slow way-- as if I have all the time in the world. I will learn by being attentive to the moon and the land every day. To discern the pattern of its coming and going.
It will take me months and years to learn where and when the moon rises-- is it the same year in and year out? A slow and patient learning. The lesson is in the way I learn, as much as the what I learn.
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