Hymn to the Moon

Have you ever felt the inspiration to create something artistic, but with the added pressure of having a deadline for the experience?  About a year ago, I felt the urge to write a song honoring the new moon and the beauty of her cycles.  At the time, I was living in the city and needed a reprieve so I could reconnect with my muse: mother nature.  So we hopped in the car, drove about two hours away to stay in a tiny little loft in the middle of the countryside.  There was a beautiful bay window overlooking the gardens, a tiny kitchen, one bathroom, a couch, and a bed, but it was perfect!  I sat down and had a nice little breakfast to start off the day.  I then proceeded to set up my mobile music writing studio.

At the time, I was carrying around a small, portable, eight-track, a mic, my laptop, a tripod, and my harp.  The loft window (which made this tiny space completely charming btw), was the perfect place to protect me from the pollen of the giant ragweed, while still enjoying the inspiration that mother nature had to offer.

I wrote like a woman possessed, racing the clock, challenging the darkness to fall before I finished my praises to the new moon's dark beauty.  Hour after hour passed as I scratched away note after note, pacing impatiently to retrieve inspiration's slippery ribbon as it glided from my hands.  If you've ever written a song or created something artistic from scratch that was on a timeline, then you know how I felt.  Yet I was determined to finish this in time for the setting of the New Moon.

As sunset befell me, I was close, but I had not quite finished.   I decided to set up my ceremony for the moon in order to help inspiration flow.  In this case, I kept it very simple.  I set up a sacred sole circle of candles around me and my harp.  As the sky began to darken, I lit the candles.  It was well after 9pm when the sky was finally completely dark.  Finally I had something I thought was acceptable for the occasion.

As I went to set up the camera, the angle didn't seem quite right to capture the beauty of the space, especially now that the sun had set, and you couldn't see out of the beautiful bay window.  I needed to have the camera directly above me in order to capture the beauty of the sacred circle....but how was I going to do this?  I noticed there was a fan directly above me, so I took the two hair twisties I had lying around, removed the lightbulb, and tied my phone up to the fan as best as I could.

I turned on the video setting and began my silent live video.  As I came near the closing of the piece - inspiration hit directly from the moon and she finished the last few phrases of my new piece, "Hymn to the Moon".  Hope you enjoy!  Would love to hear about your experiences creating something artistic on a deadline!

 

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