Sometimes the Moonlight Speaks

Moon Halo Image by Jeff Lankston

 

sometimes the moonlight speaks
showing me my place in things

sometimes the river sings
piercing its love straight through me

sometimes the night wind calls
coaxing me up into the stars

sometimes the raven stares
pulling me deep into the mystery

sometimes the forest hums
reminding me who I am.

~Nancy L

Go Deep Under a Scorpio Moon

moonphases

New Moon in Scorpio,

 Transformative Ruler of Deep water and Deeper emotions.

As we head into the dark of winter, take time alone with yourself.

Take time to go Deep within.

Embrace your strengths and your flaws.  

Embrace it all, light AND dark, pain and joy, confidence and fear.

Accept and Embrace it All.

☾☽

Calling All Warrior Women

Dancing with Fire

Tomorrow’s full moon is in Aries, the fiery sign of the spiritual warrior who champions
Truth and Justice. 

Hundreds of thousands of women are feeling the fiery pull of this moon. They are fired up & fed up.  They are taking to social media to speak out against sexual aggression and assault. They are standing in their power and calling men out for dishonoring and disrespecting girls and women for far too long. They are shouting ‘No More!’

A tsunami wave of fierce feminine power has been unleashed. Sexism is being uprooted and brought to the surface. 

To warrior women everywhere: Take a deep breath, find your inner balance and GO!

Speak your Truth.

The Soul, Like the Moon

 

Moon Starfish
Moon Starfish

The soul, like the moon,

is new, and always new again.

 

And I have seen the ocean

continuously creating.

 

Since I scoured my mind

and my body, I too

am new, each moment new. 

 

My teacher told me one thing,

live in the soul. 

 

When that was so,

I began to go naked,

and dance. 

 

~Lalla, 14th century Kashmir,
Translation by  Coleman Barks

New Moon Forgiveness

Moon Phases

Look up tonight. The sky will be dark and the stars should be especially bright. This is new moon time.

Each month, our moon cycles from dark phase to full, then back to dark again.  This particular new moon occurs when our moon is in the earthy sign of Virgo. Traditionally Virgo represented the Priestess, keeper of sacred timing and rituals. Our ancestors who lived closer to the earth and in synchrony with the moon and sun cycles, liked to place rituals during this potent new moon time.

Forgive and Let Go

“We are all like the bright moon, we still have our darker side.”
~Khalil Gibran

The dark phase of the moon is the perfect time to let go of inner darkness and make space for more light and love. Many times we hang onto dark events in our past because we cannot forgive another person. Or we cannot forgive ourselves. When it comes to forgiveness, ritual can be a great help to us. Ritual can help us amplify our intentions. Ritual can put a little extra power into our prayers.

When most people think of rituals, they picture an elaborate high Mass at church, or long drawn out funeral. But ritual does not need to be elaborate to be meaningful. I share below a simple ritual to help you forgive and let go.

10 Minute Forgiveness Ritual

  • Create a list of 3-6 things you want to forgive and release.
  • Light a candle.
  • Offer up a short prayer; ask Spirit to help you forgive and let go.
  • Breathe slowly and deeply.
  • As you breathe, offer yourself love despite some mistake that haunts you.
  • Then offer that same love to others who hurt you as well.
  • If tears come, allow yourself to cry and release.
  • Burn your list.
  • Dance to release even more; put on a favorite song and move. Dance and shake!
  • Think of one intention you want to hold for the months ahead.
  • State your intention aloud.
  • As you blow out the candle, thank Spirit for helping you forgive and move on.

In this potent new moon time, let’s choose to consciously let go of past troubles and mistakes. Let’s release our heavy baggage, so we can “lighten up” and flow joyfully into fall.

Synchronicity Above and Below

Ring of Fire Sequence by Jia Hao
Ring of Fire Sequence photographed by Jia Hao

In the heavens above us, a full lunar eclipse and a solar eclipse occurred this month. I share Jia Hao’s images of this week’s solar eclipse above  (link to more eclipse info). What a bizarre and amazing sight to see our sun temporarily snuffed out by the shadow of our moon!

My astrologer friends tell me that eclipses intensify and stir up whatever is going on in our lives here on planet Earth. Some believe that eclipses bring up our subconscious shadow selves to be healed. But the Cardinal Grand Cross that formed in our sky a week ago is even more unusual than an eclipse. This huge planetary cross was created by Jupiter, Pluto, Mars and Uranus; 4 planets actually lined up in a perfect cross formation in our sky this month. You can bet that I sat up and paid attention when I heard that this cross was slowly forming in our skies and would be perfectly aligned on April 23, my birthday. Yikes!

I don’t know about you, but it has definitely been a month of shakeup and shifts for me and my entire family; we moved into a new home, lived through huge job shifts, a delay in the release of my book, and weird illnesses with odd body symptoms that hang on and on… There have been so many unusual events happening in my neck of the woods that I can’t help but shake my head in wonder. And the world around me seems all stirred up too. I have been engulfed and surrounded by chaos and shakeup all month.

I can’t help but wonder what wisdom is held within this crazy, chaotic Grand Cross time for us? Shamanic astrologer Tami Brunk shares this on her web site,  Astrology for Earth Renewal:

“This Cardinal Grand Cross is about a cataclysmic transformation of human culture. At its center is the heart–of our shared humanity, and each of us as individuals. The heart of Retrograde Mars in Libra on an inward journey asking the question–how do I care for both others and myself? Jupiter in Cancer asking–how can I find a home in my own heart, and nurture my family, my tribe? Pluto in Capricorn asking–how can I break down the structures and fortresses and walls that have been constructed between each human being, between masculine and feminine, between humanity and the Earth? The heart of Uranus in Aries asking–how can I awaken humanity to a New Beginning, a radical new path forward,  filled with Spirit, with consciousness?” 

~Tami Brunk 

It seems funny now that I never paid much attention to astrology (or astronomy) when I was in my 20’s and 30’s. Back then I would read my horoscope for laughs, but the movements of the planets just didn’t seem that important to me. But over time, I’ve come to realize that the workings of the sun, moon and planets actually do have an effect on my life; I’ve experienced so many instances of shifts in my life lining up with shifts in the heavens that defied the odds of chance.  And as I watch the heavens this month, the synchronicity between my life and the cyclic movements in the sky above me just gets more and more obvious.

My Celtic ancestors would laugh at how long it has taken me to accept the idea that I might actually be affected by what’s happening in the heavens. The Celts believed in the spiritual principle of “as above, so below”; what happens in the heavens is synchronized with what happens on planet Earth. The Celts actually studied how the movements in their sky affected and interacted with events on Earth. They used the synchronicity between heaven and Earth to inform and guide their lives.

I wonder why this synchrony between heaven and Earth is such a strange and foreign idea for us today? When did we lose this knowing and why? 

Quantum physicists have shown that just the act of observing the inner workings of atomic particles changes the behavior of those particles. Maybe it’s not so weird and far fetched to believe that the movements of huge planets around our sun actually affect and interact with all life on Earth. Maybe, just maybe my Celtic ancestors were onto something important.

I look at everything that’s happened recently in my life and I can’t help but nod and affirm what my ancestors knew so long ago, as above, so below…

“Not just beautiful, though–the stars are like the trees in the forest,
alive and breathing. And they’re watching me.”

~Haruku Murakami 

☾ ☽