104 Comments

This is the first article of yours that I’ve read. I felt a different type of pain during the last blue moon. It was the day I said goodbye to my best friend Jessie, the 16 and a half year old rescue dog pictured in my profile photo with me. I must have taken that back in 2011 or 12 while driving us back home from an afternoon in Bozeman. She has now - as people tend to say - gone across the rainbow bridge. Tears fill my eyes thinking of the moonbow you describe. My heart hurts so much. Thank you so much for writing and sharing your story. I wish you peace and healing.

Expand full comment
author

Thank you, Chip. I'm so sorry about Jessie. Your grief is a measure of your heart, which I can tell is immense. I wish you the same peace and healing. -W

Expand full comment

I'm so sorry about Jessie. 🌈🌧️

Expand full comment

I know that pain; I am sorry too. 🐾💕

Expand full comment

This deeply resonates with me, as someone living with an unpredictable chronic condition. In my darkest moments, I imagine my body dissolving, painlessly evaporating. I hope your pain eases as I write, and that you rise to witness and experience many more rainbows.

Expand full comment
author

Same to you, my chronic pain sibling. Reach for the light in those dark moments.

Expand full comment

Beautiful, Will. As always, you make such thoughtful connections between science, philosophy, and our inner worlds.

I’m so glad that you have chosen the 5th R, and I hope that looking (and aiming) for rain/moonbows brings you a measure of peace along with beauty, an easing of your pain, and some comfort in the darkness - much like the moon watching over us.

Expand full comment
author

Beautifully said, Kathlyn. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Expand full comment

Your Lunar Dispatches have touched me in so many ways in the last year or so. I love the connection between the significance of the full moon and the STORY, the reflections and musings. I missed hearing from you last night month and appreciate that you are back this month and that once again, as bittersweet as it may be, you have given me something to reflect upon. Take care.

Expand full comment
author

Thank you, Donna. I feel humbled reading your message. And very, very grateful.

Expand full comment

Love this, Will. I wish you some ease soon 🤍

Expand full comment
author

Thank you, Katherine. The same good wishes, always, to you.

Expand full comment

I hope the chronic pain dissipates like a waning moon. I echo what others have said, beautiful writing and connections.

Expand full comment
author

Thanks so much, Simon. Yes, just a crescent of pain would be bliss, wouldn't it? It's a pleasure to have you reading my newsletter. -W

Expand full comment

Beautiful, Will. I too missed you last month. I hope your pain eases and never returns-you deserve that.

Expand full comment
author

So nice to be back in lunar touch, Joan. Missed you too!

Expand full comment

This is exquisite, Will. May you see and be rainbows.

Expand full comment
author

Thank you, Lisa. I'll meet you there ️‍🌈

Expand full comment

Wonder full communication. Thank you.

Expand full comment
author

Thank you so much, John. I appreciate these words.

Expand full comment
Oct 24Liked by Will Dowd

Stunning…thank you for sharing!

Expand full comment
Oct 7Liked by Will Dowd

Such beautiful words, Will.

Expand full comment
author

Kim—thank you. So happy to have you as a new reader.

Expand full comment

Oh Will... I looked forward to your dispatches, but did not know you were in such pain. I finished Areas of Fog yesterday and tried to figure out which entry was my favorite. Too many… You are paving a legacy of beautiful writings. And now I will never look at rainbows the same again. I am so sorry about your pain and wish you well in writing Ina dn through it.

Expand full comment
author

I'm so happy you enjoyed Areas of Fog. Your opinion means so much to me, Beth. No one likes chronic pain, but we find our escape in creative expression and great, thoughtful conversations—one reason your podcast is so important.

Expand full comment
Oct 17Liked by Will Dowd

Thanks Will and your kind words on my podcast thought echoes. Looking forward to the next dispatch with the full moon tonight! Partially clear skies in the middle if the night.

Expand full comment

I’m glad you’re back. Thank you for your vulnerable output of talent so that the rest of us can feel more connected to the universe at large. I also really enjoy all of the interesting facts, history, and art that I get to learn about through your work. The fact that you are squeezing the last bit of energy into writing is a true testament to who you are, Will. Although I do not know you, I feel your pain and honor your strength. Your expression of a perspective many of us do not have or will not experience for some time is a service in allowing the reader to understand what really matters when the distractions fade away. You give (moon)light to a collective suffering that many do not want to gravitate to just yet. Very appreciative of all of your work, especially this past year as I navigate a NDE and a new perspective of this tragically beautiful life on Earth.

Expand full comment
author

Claire, this is one of the most moving things anyone has ever said about my writing. The words "thank you" sound hollow, but I mean them. Wishing you strength and support on your own journey through the mysteries of this strange embodied life.

Expand full comment
Nov 2·edited Nov 2Liked by Will Dowd

Hi Will

Just quickly regarding Charlie Duke and the quote from Job:

"He hangs the earth on nothing" (Job 26:7).

The Nova Vulgata gives:

7 Qui extendit aquilonem super vacuum

et appendit terram super nihilum.

which I render fast as:

Who spreads out the North over emptiness

and hangs the Earth upon nothing

Aquilo, aquilonis means either the North or the North wind.

This is the author of Job pointing out how great the Lord of israel is [put into his mouth, telling Job to stop whining about all the bad things that have befallen him]. The implied comparison is with the gods of the pagans, which are wooden or metal objects that can do nothing. The God of Israel made the firmament, guys!

This imagery is all through Second Isaiah (which I worked on for a few weeks before I got distracted by Ecclesiastes, because I love his clear-eyed view of life - and it's also great poetry in Latin).

I guess I should be grateful to my friend Peter, the priest, who likes improving his Latin (but was sooo not interested in my translations of Ovid, all about trouble with his girlfriends). This has given me quite a good understanding of texts I would otherwise not read and think deeply about.

If you have any ideas about earth or Earth, Will, I should be glad of them. I really don't know how much astronomy the authors of Isaiah or Job had - and I don't want to create a tendentious text. But I shall seek enlightenment from my friend in Galilee, who will be interested in the question (the Hebrew word for North is Zaphon, according to the note in the NRSVue). Gosh, translation is a deliciously complex pleasure!

And now, to my music.

Greetings from New Zealand, on a cool spring day with a cheerful nor'wester bouncing in!

Expand full comment

What a beautiful moment of writing - thank you. As always you find a way to touch the reader. May peace be with you x

Expand full comment
author

I'm so grateful to hear this from a reader. (Especially when so many readers are, themselves, fantastic writers.) Thanks for leaving this message and I wish you peace, too.

Expand full comment

Thank you for teaching me something I knew nothing about! How interesting. You write so beautifully, so eloquently that I feel inadequate to put into words how you made me feel with this post. I wish you peace and comfort. May God bless you.

Expand full comment
author

Thank you, Corinne, for your beautiful, perfectly eloquent blessing.

Expand full comment