Gathering together and creating ceremony is the best way to activate the energies of transformation and healing.
Ceremony is hard wired into us. It is ancient. It is essential, it is cross cultural.
In our modern world, our common rituals and ceremonies have left many of us feeling empty or unsatisfied. Moon Ceremony offers us a chance to experiment with something ancient and profound, that belongs to all of us. And most importantly, Ceremony actually has potential to produce results!
Through conscious ceremony, we establish gateways to our ancestors, unseen forces and our own deeper selves. We gather, we connect, we find our place in the river of life.
Celebrating the Moon Cycles enhances our Body-Mind connection, shifts attention to the intuitive feeling part of our selves, shows us how to be in the present with awareness of our place in the cycles. Becoming aware of these cycles supports the natural unfoldment of our strength, joy and freedom. And, it’s FUN!
“Lose your mind and come to your senses” Fritz Perls
Life becomes a graceful dance when we can move out of grief over the past or worry about the future, when we let go of the illusion that we can control people or situations. Living with awareness of moon cycles brings us into harmony with the rhythms of nature.
Rather than control, we can learn to exist in harmony with our own biological rhythms, those of Mother Earth and the entire Natural World. Living in harmony with moon cycles cultivates within us the capacity to experience self compassion, acceptance and understanding while we cycle through the powerful transitions of our lives.
When we can live in harmony with the natural cycles, we can integrate a greater cosmic intelligence, and flow with life joyfully and with greater well being.
Each Lunar month has 8 phases :
NEW MOON – Sprouting Crescent Moon – Growing First Quarter Moon – Flowering Gibbous Moon – Pollinating
FULL MOON – Fruit Bearing Disseminating Moon – Harvesting Last Quarter Moon – Cultivating Balsamic Moon – Seeding
The NEW MOON expresses a new theme that will unfold during that lunar cycle (approximately a month) This is an important time to go within and listen for an inner message or an impulse or a desire. All that is required is to go within, to listen and to trust what you are sensing. It may take a day or two for the theme to emerge – it may come through a dream or a message of synchronicity or any other seemingly strange occurance. The important thing is to take notice!
During the new moon phase – the first 3 or 4 days after the new moon, you have an opportunity to let go of any limiting beliefs, concepts or patterns. Notice how you have done things in the past and how you may like to change this. Even just awareness of these old ways can help to release their hold on our unconscious minds. This is a time to release anything that limits our opportunity for creativity and growth.
NEW MOON is a good opportunity for a RE-set. You are starting new. Blank Slate. Fresh Start. Plant a New Seed. We use this time to celebrate a fresh cycle, and re-commit to something we want to create in our lives. Gathering together, there is an amplification of our intent, and we supercharge our awareness.
As the moon waxes, the theme grows and expands. You may take steps to move forward in new ways, you may attract people who support this.
FULL MOON is a time of realizing the purpose of this lunar cycle. This is a time to relax and allow this realization to occur. It is time to bring forth the fruits of what was born at the new moon. There can be a last minute intensity as things come into place. This is a time to be ready for the birth, a new awareness, a new way of being.
CEREMONY may include smudging, stillness, song, guided meditation/journeying, offerings and sometimes a craft or journaling. Wear a piece of jewelry or clothing that is meaningful to you. Bring something small to put on the altar to presence yourself. Everyone performs ceremony in a unique way. My personal way includes irreverence, humor and fun. We go deep but we also always keep in mind that humor is one of the best healing modalities in our world.