LIGHT AND SHADOW: MOVING WITH THE MOON
"As if you were on fire from within,⠀
The moon lives in the lining of your skin."
-Pablo Neruda
Everybody has a little bit of the sun and moon in them. Everybody has a little bit of man, woman, and animal in them. Dark and light in them. Everyone is part of a connected cosmic system. Part earth and sea, wind and fire, with some salt and dust swimming in them. We have a universe within ourselves that mimics the universe outside. None of us are just black or white, or never wrong and always right. No one. No one exists without these polarities. Everybody has good and bad forces working with them, against them, and within them.
This is the same with the Moon. The Moon is darkness and light. She is birth and rebirth. She is the duality that we hold within ourselves as women.
I like to think of the Moon as a loyal companion. She is always in the sky. She never leaves even if we do not see her. She is always there, steadfast, watching, knowing us in our light and dark moments and changing forever just as we do. Every day she is a different version of herself. Sometimes weak and wan, sometimes strong and full of light. The moon understands what it means to be human. Sometimes uncertain; at times alone; cratered by imperfections.
Since working with the Moon for over 10 years, she has become my compass for inner power and reflection; it is with the awareness of her influence on us, on our emotions, flavoured by her astrological passages, that I invite her guidance.
The character of our dear Moon Mother is highlighted with each of her phases – each phase allowing connection with a different energy within her cycle. She begins invisible in the sky, hiding as the Dark Moon overshadowed by the Sun that is conjunct to her at this time, making her invisible. She then begins to grow, waxing and moving away from the sun to form the First Quarter where she is 90 degrees from the Sun and appearing half illuminated in the sky. Daily, she continues to grow in size, slivers of her becoming more visible until she is in the full bloom of the Full Moon, exactly opposite the Sun in the Sky and she is in the spotlight. But she knows not to remain there forever and begins her waning course shrinking in size. We meet her in the Last Quarter, again half illuminated, to then watch her disappear into the darkness once more.
Each day that passes she is a different version of herself. The moon constantly changes, gently teaching us that change is not something to fear but rather to embrace. As she grows, she invites in new energy and opportunities. As she wanes and moves into darkness, she releases her shadows. Connecting with your inner moon goddess allows for deep transformation and creation through the moon cycle.
Setting specific intentions with each phase of the moon creates an opportunity to live intentionally, allowing you to bring meaningful and deep transformation into your life. As I mentioned in The Power of The Moon, the Dark Moon phase is a time to discard things that you don’t want. It is the phase in which we contemplate our accomplishments from the previous phase and begin to discover the seeds you want to plant in the future. This is a time to go inward and to let go - we are preparing a blank canvas to which we can begin to add our intentions as the moon Wanes, grows in size and therefore gains momentum.
At the Full Moon, we are invited to go within, to bathe in her full illumination and watch the seeds that you planted on the New Moon come to blossom. We remind ourselves of the intentions that we set at the New Moon/Dark Moon and allow healing, peace and trust to expand the self under the expanded state of the moon. In this phase, we are asked to look at whatever comes up, with compassion, under the light of the Full Moon and become open to releasing them through the rest of her waning cycle.
By meeting the moon and her phases in this way, we allow ourselves to feel her energy coursing through us.
We are going to the moon that is not very far. Man has so much farther to go within himself.
― Anaïs Nin
Through all of my offerings, I invite you to allow the Moon’s guidance as you begin your inner journey. If you wish to dive deeper into these teachings or follow along in ceremony, I invite you to join me in a recorded New Moon Workshop for the upcoming New Moon in which I discuss the planetary influences and guide you through a series of prompts and meditations based on the Moon’s astrology or subscribe to Moon Mail and read a letter written by me about the Moon astrology and follow through with guided intentions for the month.