Full moon days in a month, this is what I just typed on my google search.
Not that I did not know but I wanted evidence.
I have never given much attention to this natural event since I moved to Santorini.
Before moving to the island, I lived in Milan, Rome and London. I have always been very busy working and following my passions. My three years in London, for example, they were full of jobs (five, six, I cannot event remember – yes at the same time!) and do not ask me how I could even find time to go to the cinema, exhibitions, theatre and reading! My life there (and pretty much in the other cities) was like a marathon dictated by where I had to be during the day, metro stops and meetings. Looking back now I am very proud of myself as I was able to keep up my focus very high.
Being so busy, I fed my self with everything that was related to my passions: I was reading as much as possible on my tube routes, going to all the exhibitions that I was interested in, started loving contemporary dance theatre and theatre in general. I think I was very lucky to live in such a city, I had the chance to meet so many charming people and projects.
When I decided to move to Santorini, everyone’s fear was that I could not cope with the lack of such events. I was a bit scared too but still very committed to my dream.
I moved, three years now, and I can say that I handled it quite well because my focus moved to a different kind of life. Living in Santorini, especially in the summertime, can be quite hectic and stressful as well, but generally speaking, my daily routine is completely different from the one I had for all my life.
When you take out ‘stuff’ from your life, you discover there are so many other things that you have missed and wasted for a long time.
As here the cultural life is not as busy as it is in London, I decided to look for something else and I learnt that this something is what I was missing all these years.
Living on an island is such an intense experience, you start understanding the power of nature.
Your days are not any more influenced by the tube, office hours, being on the hype. Your new life is about the things you cannot control.
You cannot control the weather, this is the first thing you check in the morning.
Is it sunny? That’s good!
Is it cloudy? Should I make my laundry?
Is it windy? From which side? (I am not very good at this guess, yet)
Is it rainy? For how long is it going to last?
Is it rainy and windy? Stay home.
Someone here talks about the energy of the volcano as a magnetic force and I might be a good example of this.
What I have really started feeling since living in Santorini is the power of the moon.
I don’t want to sound a guru or similar, but this is something that for me is real and pragmatic.
I was totally ignoring the moon before, it did not have a special place or moment in my daily life.
I learnt about it by chance.
I started feeling weird, sad and very anxious only in some days of the month and one time an old lady told me it was because of the full moon coming. I did not give to much credit to this but I also did not forget about it, it stayed in the back of my mind, till when again, the next month, happened again.
That is when I ‘realized’ that we have full moons every month. I knew of course but I just did not consider this as an important fact in my life.
I don’t do any specific ritual or similar, I just take a note of this when it’s happening and I am always pretty amazed about the power of nature.
When you live in a city, it might be more difficult (even though not impossible) to live a life which is closer to nature. There are lots of distractions every day, at any time.
When you are in a place that depends on more natural effects and characters (the weather, the sea, the earth) your life becomes grounded.
As for the moon, our experience is based on phases and they are all necessary to each other. Each phase has its specific feature and they are all required to get to a certain point.
I don’t deny my many previous lives, but I pretty much prefer my new down to earth life in Santorini.
I like waking up to see the sun up every day.
I enjoy sitting in front of the sea and watch it breathing.
I don’t like sunsets because to me they are the end of the day (I know, I live in Santorini…).
I am in tune the silence very much, especially at the beginning and at the end of the day.
I love my new life. Books, movies and art are still and always will be present in my life, just in a different shape.
©Nicoletta Barbata/One Quarter Greek
