Lunar Reflections

Have you ever had a moment where you looked up at the moon, maybe full and heavy on the horizon, or bright and blue, high in the sky, and you felt like the moon was looking back at you? Many of us have. We all share the same moon, regardless of where we live or what we believe. But we can also each have our own unique, intimate, personal relationship with the giant pearl in the sky.

I have been working intuitively with the moon for the past several years, and it is an incredibly nourishing and constantly renewable practice. It keeps me grounded in the cycles of nature. It reminds me that I am an animal, that I respond to the natural world around me, and that the needs of my body shift and change, phasing through time just like the moon.

Every month the moon waxes and wanes, building light and intensity and then drawing back into shadow once again. When we practice with the moon, we have an opportunity to observe our own waxing and waning, to feel our energy building and receding. Sometimes we feel drawn to action and social connection, while other times we need to slow down and introvert.

Forgetting that humans have natural cycles is easy in the fast pace of today’s world. But even in the deep of a bustling city, we can look outside after dark and see the face of the moon, bright and beautiful, looking right at us.

Moon practices can take almost any shape, but they generally involve some kind of pause. On the new and the full, the moon appears to pause in the sky—to stop cycling for a moment and rest. We are invited to do the same, to take a moment to check in with our bodies and our breath.

New moons invite us to think about desires and intentions, and full moons help us to see what’s normally hidden in the dark, giving us an opportunity to evaluate what’s going on in our lives and let go of what’s no longer serving us. We can do this through meditation, prayer, journaling, a mindful evening walk, or specific rituals for certain phases. These practices could be shared with a group or held privately. No matter how you do so, honoring the moon is an intimate, personal practice for the mind and the body in relationship to our natural world.