24 Jul The Moon and Me

As the child of a mother who brought me up on natural medicines, reiki, astrology and meditation, I think my natural inclination was to ignore what I had been raised with, and carry a sense of faint embarrassment about it all. But they say you turn into your mother… and that does appear to be what is happening in some ways. 

I’ve been following the moon for a while now, allowing the cycle of the new moon, waxing moon, full moon and waning moon to guide how I approach my work and creative flow. 

• On the new moon I will take the time to sit and write down my intentions for the weeks ahead as well as bigger life ideas. 
• Then over the following weeks I will harness the waxing moon energy to create, learn, and push these intentions forward. 
• On the full moon I will assess where I’m at, look at what may not be serving me anymore.
• The waning phase will be spent on stiller, more organisational elements of my work. I notice my energy naturally dipping and try and work on the quieter tasks that allow my creative brain to rest.

My natural instinct has generally been to give myself a hard time if I’m not meeting my expectations of productivity. This would inevitably lead to burnout, self flagellation, tears and a lot of frustration. Why can’t I be 100% all the time? Why do I feel so uneven? Why do I have such dips and surges? And the answer, I think, is because I was always fighting my natural rhythms and those of the moon.

By putting this into practice, I can allow myself the grace required to accept that it is impossible to be full power all the time. To be effective in the phases when I do feel energised, inspired, dynamic, I need to allow myself periods of rest and reflection. Sounds so simple, but I have spent a lifetime struggling to accept this. 

And it truly has felt transformative. I am more forgiving of myself, kinder, and I listen to myself in a way I have never allowed myself to previously. Up until recently I had been working with the cycle on a week to week basis, until I realised that I could look at it on a larger scale and plan out my business and creative year ahead of time. Instead of everything feeling like a mad scramble to ‘get done’, I could look at the lunar calendar over the space of the year and, for example, choose when would be the best time to design a new collection of cards, when to edit the podcast, when to do the practical prep for Christmas orders etc. It’s helped me feel like I’m in control, instead of drowning in To Do lists.

And the science you ask? The moon is powerful enough to move the tides. We are on average 65% water. For me, that is enough to know.