A full moon night and possums’ teaching

Some of you many know that a few nights ago was a full moon night. For those of you who connect with astrology, the full moon was a significant event, adding to the intense energies of change and chaos of the times we live in. This is a story of how I received a Shiva teaching for these times from a group of possum visitors.

At about 2 am, I was woken up by the battle of possums on the roof just outside my first floor bedroom window. I looked out and there, under the light of the most brilliant full moon, were three possums—two large ones noisily facing off a smaller one about what seemed like a territorial dispute. Not wanting them to fall through my tiled roof, I banged loudly on my window upon which the two large ones bounded off into the darkness of the trees.

And then the smaller one did something quite extraordinary. While I continued my banging, she leant her head against the plinth of the roof and with amazing patience and grace waited out my noisy threats. I was so blown away by her completely non confrontational and peaceful stance that I stopped banging. Then she gingerly stepped out, testing each step with great deliberation. Upon which I ventured to bang again. And she spiraled into a retreat which took her around the garden fence. As she did so, she did what possums do to mark their territory!

As I watched her calmly navigate the fence, I thought to myself that she opened up the whole garden for herself rather than the measly section of roof outside my window. And she did this in her clever, spiraling retreat from me, thereby avoiding all linear confrontation.

This is the Shiva movement—a wary and watchful calmness (Shiva’s ancestors like Rudra are invoked as the leader of bandits because of their stealth) amidst the noisy clamour of threats. By simply waiting out the noise, she exposed the emptiness of my banging for it was all bark and no dog! And then, like Shiva’s dynamic, spiraling, movement of retreat from all external stories, the possum opened up a whole new domain for herself. What seemed like a retreat was in fact the opening into domains beyond the known and linear possibilities.

And this is Shiva’s invitation. It is not a withdrawal—the possum held intense presence as she waited because she was alert to any real danger. And even as she retreated and spiraled, she held great energy. Shiva is a consciousness that has assessed its circumstances and returns energy to where there is space and infinite possibilities—the spacious cosmos within us. He is not confronting the chaos, but spiraling, retreating and deepening into nonlinear domains of the inner cosmos. This movement, like the possum’s retreat, unites the inner and the outer in its very manifestation.

In my absorption with the possum’s teaching unfolding before me, I forgot to take a photo, but I did take a photo of the resplendent moon on my earlier walk to the mountain which I am sharing above.