Dear Moon, since I was a baby you have been a personal source of fascination, admiration, comfort and healing. My trusty companion in the sky, holding me through the ebbs and flows of my own life journey.
Gazing into your beautiful silvery light as a restless baby was one of my first moments of connection with you.
My parents have told me many stories of how healing it used to be to take me out at night to find you in the sky, to help me settle and finally go to sleep. And they have also told me many stories of how as a toddler I would often be found sitting on the floor scribbling “luna” on my knees…
As a child and young woman I have continued to gaze into your ever-changing glow, to track your journey in the sky so that I could feel you close from wherever I was. Whether from my own bedroom window in my family home or from other windows or wild landscapes in other countries. Being with you, knowing you were there, it has always been such a gift.
At the crossing from my 20s into my 30s, as I began a journey of reconnection and deeper understanding of my menstrual cycle, I discovered the magic that my blood cycle is a mirror of your cycle, that my blood cycle is my inner moon. And so I began a long and rich exploration of how I am/feel/move/ breathe/act/love/create/work/eat/sleep etc when we are in sync and when we are not and which gifts I can receive each time.
As a new mother, five years ago, I found myself searching for a deeper understanding of the mysteries of life and of all cycles and I found myself needing a greater cycle to hold me whilst my menstrual blood was not back after giving birth.
13 months postpartum, I started gazing up into your beautiful light again, to watch your shape changing night after night, between night feeds, whilst rocking my crying baby, or whilst simply sitting in the peaceful silence of the night…
And at that very tender time I found comfort and healing in your presence once more, and I found the magic in the mundanity and repetitiveness of early motherhood, as you reminded me of my own magic of still being a cyclical creature, despite my menstrual blood not being back yet.
During those months of observing my cycle following your own rhythm, rather than my internal one, I know I have set the foundations for my menopausal years, when I will follow your cycle as a compass to help me navigate life once my womb will stop shedding her blood each month.
Dear Moon, we have been in a relationship for some time now… and as I am about to begin my seventh seven years cycle of my life I reflect upon your teachings.
You have taught me so much.
You have taught me about cyclical wholeness:
about being ‘at home’ in the light as well as in the darkness and being truthful about it with myself and the world;
about how to trust endings and not be afraid of them;
about how to practice surrender and letting go every cycle;
about how to plant seeds of intention each cycle and how to be patient and wait for the fruits to come in their own perfect timing (sometimes even over several moon cycles);
about how there is a time for action and a time for rest and that both of them are equally important, equally valid in the wholeness of the cycle;
about how to slow down to support my changing energy levels and how to look after myself when the light is too bright;
about how everything goes through different phases and that I can let go of the old and welcome the new with every single breath I take…as the breath cycle, like the menstrual cycle, is also a mirror of your own cycle…
You have inspired me over the years and continue to inspire me daily, in my living, in my understanding of myself and the people around me, in my yoga and meditation practice, in my work with women, in my relationships with others and with nature.
And as I watch you waxing and waning through all your phases, I discover more and more about myself and I am reminded that change, impermanence and flow are the only certainties that I have in this wild and wonder-full dance that life is. And with I smile from my little heart I know that I am you and You are me, and that this is all I need to stay grounded and feel peaceful within and without.
If you wish to know more and practice self-inquiry guided by the moon, check out my online Moonday circle or my seasonal New Moon circles connected to the 8 main earth festivals.
