Dark of the Moon: New Beginning

As we head toward a reckoning at the ballot box

                                                             Dark of the moon, new beginning
                                                             Dark of the moon, plant a seed tonight
                                                             Dark of the moon, what we envision
                                                             Will come to be by the full moon's light
                                                                        -- Karen Beth

Today is Samhain, also known as Halloween. It’s the traditional pagan new year, the day when the veils between the world above, the world below, and the world in-between grow thin and spirits pass from one world to the others.

Tomorrow, Nov. 1, the moon becomes new at 8:47 a.m. Grandmother Moon is as old as ever, and as there as ever, but we humans have a hard time seeing in the dark so we think she’s gone somewhere else.¹

But immediately after she disappears, she begins her returning. This most momentous U.S. election takes place under a waxing moon. I take that as a good omen

Tomorrow also begins Día de los Muertos, the day of the dead, a day (or days) to celebrate the ancestors who have passed.

Beyoncé must have had this in mind when she spoke at the Kamala Harris rally in Houston on October 25. “Our past, our present, our future merge to lead us here,” she said. Then she invited us to “imagine our daughters growing up seeing what’s possible with no ceiling, no limitations. Imagine our grandmothers, imagine what they feel right now, those who have lived to see this historic day — even those who are no longer physically with us. Imagine all of their sacrifice, the sacrifices made so we can witness the strength of a woman standing in her power, reimagining what leadership is.”

“We need you,” she said, to everyone present and everyone watching from afar. “Your voice has power and magnitude. Your vote is one of the most valuable tools, and we need you.” And she called upon all of us to add our voices to the American song.

I often sing while walking in the woods, and one song I’ve been singing a lot lately is the one that gave this Substack its name: Dylan’s “When the Ship Comes In.”² I imagined “a stillness in the wind” as an oasis in the turbulence of the last decade, and so it is. But I’m also mindful of what comes next: “like the stillness in the wind / before the hurricane begins: / the hour that the ship comes in.”

The ship is coming in. Next Tuesday. People across the country have been voting for weeks already. This past Saturday I worked the morning shift for early voting in my town. I didn’t vote myself, however. I’ll be working at the polls next Tuesday too. I’ll vote then.

Even if Harris wins in a landslide, we've still got the billionaires and the Supreme Court to deal with. On one hand, yes, it's mystifying that this "sorry excuse for a man" was ever president and is running again, but OTOH, remember the 2016 clown car? remember the right-wing freakout after Obama was elected and the Tea Party election of 2010? The country has been headed in this direction for many decades, and now democracy really is on the line.

Most of the time I believe we’re up to the challenge. I trust the lines from “When the Ship Comes In”: “the words that are used / for to get the ship confused / will not be understood as they are spoken.”

The ancestors are with us. Generations to come are counting on us. We can do this.

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NOTES

1. Karen Beth’s “Dark of the Moon” is part of Libana’s repertoire. They’ve recorded it several times, most recently on Night Passage. You can find that version on YouTube. Libana is a women’s musical ensemble based in the Boston area. Formed in 1979, it’s been active ever since. Introduce yourself to their story and their amazing music on their website.

2. Plenty of singers have covered “When the Ship Comes In” over the years, not to mention Dylan himself, but Peter, Paul & Mary’s upbeat cover from 1965 is classic. Arlo Guthrie’s 1972 cover is more like a prophecy shared around a campfire.