Nothing is as cathartic as burning what you're ready to let go, and feeling seen and supported by a group of amazing women.
Thanks to Heather Hogan for a beautiful new moon circle, and for your flashy but safe pyrotechnics!
New Moon in Cancer
Rather than bringing feelings to the surface, this moon submerges us deep into our feelings. You have to feel your way, this is not the time for intellectual analysis.
The first thing to know is that you're safe here. And everyone around you is swimming in the same waters. We're all a bit more empathic right now so this is a good time to speak your heart and be heard. It can be really scary, but it is safe to be heard.
We often try to protect our deep tender feelings by strategizing ways to act to get approval, to show the "right" emotional response to get the reaction we desire rather than whatever we're actually feeling. But every time we use this strategy, we're putting distance between ourselves and the people we're trying to connect with.
Another way we protect our emotions is by not being present, specifically in dwelling in nostalgia. We always have these memories to visit, but when we compare the present to the past too much, thinking that the best times are gone, then we're closed off to present possibilities. It can seem safe and comfortable to be checked out, but it's not doing us any favors.
As we learn to roll with the discomfort of being seen, we can let go of strategies and distractions. We can be more present and more ourselves. This practice of being open is pointing us toward ways we can connect on a bigger scale. The invitation is to act on our empathy. When you feel connected and in tune with all of your fellow humans, you want to keep them safe and help them thrive. So be heard, keep calling your representatives. Show up to local community board meetings, volunteer, donate, be kind. Let your feelings be a motivation for connection, rather than an excuse for isolation.
New Moon in Gemini/Supermoon
Gemini is the twins, the double, the mirror. Both the sun and moon are in Gemini, right now, bringing a layer of doubles to our perception. This is not a time of either/or, it is both/and. Nothing is being split in half or added to, rather we are seeing and feeling our own multi-faceted nature.
This invites a way of being where we are at the same time our everyday self and our higher self. We are both at once all the time, but in our culture we are conditioned to to try to split them. We're told to make "logical" ego-based decisions and brush off anything that might be termed "feeling," even when that is in fact your intuition. But both sides are meant to work together.
A powerful way for working with this moon's energy is asking yourself for guidance, like you're asking a wise friend. Not sure how you feel about something, or what the best course of action? Ask yourself, your higher self, the complete and loving part of yourself. Write down the question or issue you want to ask your higher self, then center in your heart. Intend for the answer to come from your heart, higher self, soul, intuition-- whatever term feels right. Then write the answer to your question. You may be surprised by what you see! Your intuition will always be loving and expansive, and won't judge or blame you or anyone else. If you read back on what you've written and you see any blame or mean self-talk, that's no big deal, just showing where the ego and old beliefs are-- for this exercise, just cross it out.
If you feel like you want to connect to your intuition, soul, or higher self, asking is the first step. It opens the opportunity for this inner guidance to come through more and more, and take the lead in everyday life. This moon is a very good time to open up to this part of yourself, because the current is just gently pulling that way, and it requires very little effort, just willingness to open.
📷: photo by me of Black Sun by Isamu Noguchi, Volunteer Park, Seattle
New Moon in Aries
Hello under there!
Aries new moon is a check-in with The Self, the you-iest you under all the layers of disguise and insulation. That, naturally, can feel a little raw. But you're ready to emerge. This is the season of growth popping through, fresh shoots standing up to say I AM. You try it, too.
Fill in the blanks:
I AM here to:
I AM worthy of:
I AM showing up for:
Here's mine:
I AM here to be a channel for healing. I AM worthy of love and attention. I AM showing up for individual and social changes.
What's yours?
New Moon in Capricorn
NEW MOON IN CAPYBARA
I mean Capricorn, you know, the other goat-fish.
This is the last new moon of 2016, it's a great time to look back over the year and release old stuff and set new intentions, and that's really important, but it doesn't have to be serious and heavy. You don't need to plan out every detail of the coming year now. What will really help those intentions along, and make release easier, is some lightness. Shake it out, be playful. Nobody is grading you, and you won't get more out of the experience if you approach it with rigid rules. Cap is responsible and earnest, and in that earnestness is a kernel of sweetness and joy. Tap into THAT as you work with the energy of the new moon and new year. There's hard work at hand, but it's also awesome and transformative and fascinatingly weird, all at once. Laughter feeds your spirit, that's so greeting-card obvious, but it's true. Play with animals and children, watch comedy, do your silliest dance. You'll get more out of this time if you can let it be lighter.
📷: gianthamster.com
New Moon: Mugwort Tea and Death
New moon 🌑
Mugwort tea and Death 🍵
Our invitation now is about letting things find their natural end. Letting go of things that have already ended. This time feels so much like a beginning, though, in its endingness. By letting go with grace, we're clearing out to make room for our own growth. Like raking up decaying leaves to find the first crocus sprouts underneath. We have so much potential, and all we have to do is make the space for it to flourish. (Here's where the message I'm bringing in reminds me of something else: @wildsoulhealing's beautiful post about this new moon as an activation. Read that if you haven't already.)
Happy new moon, everyone.
New Moon/Samhain/Halloween/All Souls Day
New moon/Samhain/Halloween/All Souls Day reading:
How can we release fear?
Strength.
Deal with the scary things up close and personal. Hold them gently, especially the scary parts of yourself. When you can be soft and close with the things that inspire fear, and with the parts of yourself that experience fear, you'll find that fear naturally has less of a grip on you.
What cycle is closing?
The Moon.
We're moving out of a period of unconscious knowing, deep dreaming, and instinct. It's a weird place, and can be hard to grapple with because its very nature is pre-language. But if we can be present to the lesson of The Moon, even if we don't understand it at the time, we'll come to a place down the road where looking back, it will make perfect sense. We're moving toward that place now.
How can we be more in the flow?
Four of Wands.
Celebrate life, it's a dance. Connect with other people in joy and excitement, and give your energy a creative outlet. By being in the flow, I mean participating and creating, giving and receiving, without trying to control or scheme or explain everything. We can flow more, and more easily when we take time for pleasure and fun. Energy put into pure fun recharges us.
What cycle is opening now?
The Sun.
This is a beautiful counterpoint to The Moon. This is when all of the recent mysterious stuff will start making sense. We're moving into a cycle of expansion, clarity, warmth, energy and joy. So enjoy it! Look back on the last month, times that were dark and hard. Now you'll start to see how they were in fact lessons, and what they meant.
New Moon in Leo
You have everything you need already inside you.
Here in the dark of the moon, I asked what guides us when there's no light, no map?
Ten of Pentacles is a rich life in every way, but it's also a state of trusting that you have enough and will always have enough. Lack is an illusion. Right now you may not be able to see exactly how you'll fund your dreams, but you don't need to know every step before starting. You can move towards your desire, trusting that what you need will come through for you.
And Strength is here again, too. When there's nothing outside you to point the way, reach out and feel the way for yourself. You are enough, you have enough, you will always have enough. So keep going, keep expanding and evolving. The only thing stopping you now is your own resistance and fear, and you're ready to drop that.
It's time to go big, and step into creating the life you want. Know that you've got support all around you, and most of all you can trust your own strong heart.
New Moon in Cancer
[This is part of my monthly reading for myself, that I felt I had to share. It ties in so much with the energy of this moon. Hope it helps you. ❤️🌑🦀] Strength in vulnerability, that is your natural state. Allowing yourself to be open and gentle and in that natural state is your power, and it's what allows you to connect with other people and help them heal. You don't have to "master" yourself by tamping down your emotions to get there, just take a minute to get calm and centered, and you can tap into that state any time. You can just be in the flow of it.
Vulnerability is a powerful form of self care. It's saying, I accept myself completely, and there is no possible reaction anyone else could have that would shake my love for myself. I trust myself so completely that I don't need to seek outside validation, I simply offer what I have. When you release your expectations for any particular outcome, you allow yourself to say yes, take chances, make mistakes. You do something because it feels in alignment for you, not because you're trying to control circumstances or people.
Vulnerability doesn't mean that other people will be able to hurt you or manipulate you. In fact, it makes you pretty much immune to bullshit because you're putting your whole self out there, with no shame or vanity for anyone to play on. Rather than opening yourself to harm, you'll be opening the way for other people to find their own way to healing. People will think, why is she happy and calm and unfuckwithable? How do I get that way, too? And after all, aren't you this way because you saw someone else's happy, calm, aligned example, and thought, I want to live that way, too? It's possible for everyone. This is our natural state.
New Moon in Taurus
Get grounded, get physical. Reflect on what you've made real, give those things the attention of your hands. Touch your art, water your plants, hug your kids. Then plant the seeds for new creations: sketch, write, make plans to meet with collaborators later this month.
Use all that retrograde energy to through your clothes and books and sort out what you really want to see and use in your day-to-day physical life.
Take extra good care of your body. Get it outside, lie on the grass, climb, run, hike. Eat root vegetables and new spring greens. Anytime you feel tough emotions, get into your body. This is the best time to really feel the really real way your body and spirit work together.