Welcome to this Full Moon in Aquarius, where the realm of nature (the luminaries, in this case!) mirror the call to See, to Witness, to Receive In-Sight.
The Full Moon is at 29° Aquarius, exact on:
Sun 22 Aug, 7.01am (CDT)
Sun 22 Aug, 1.01pm (BST)
Sun 22 Aug, 10.01pm (AEST)
A light is shining brighter ~ what is being illuminated in your life?
.
WILDERNESS SOLO
In a week I head out on Wilderness Solo for the first time in eight years. Everything feels heightened, at the moment.
My blood prayers, from months ago, rest in the earth. My wordless hope and trust.
The threads that I will travel with over those three days and nights alone, without food or water or sleep, are making themselves known.
A funeral approaches, one I’ve seen in a vision, a death of self that I welcome, a surrender that would be worthy of celebration. A death that brings life.
Words from Matt Licata, arriving in my inbox this morning, name this space perfectly:
“There is a certain death that occurs as part of the healing process, a part of us unable to survive illumination… The dissolution itself is initiation as it offers vision and feeling not available in the put-back-together state. An old part of ourselves that has accompanied us for so long, a fellow traveler is no longer permitted to continue the journey by our side.”
So grateful for this timing. I feel ripe, in this fear-full COVID world, to leave behind that which no longer serves, in order to walk my path, to live my myth, with greater strength and clarity.
Always a work-in-progress, this letting go. Never complete. I’m not calling in full death, nor expecting a full resurrection. More like a snake shedding a skin.
I appreciate Martin Shaw‘s reframe:
“I see tempering as a more useful word than initiation in many cases. It brings up fewer associations with particular age ranges and a more circular, more regular encounter… Tempering, if we are really paying attention, will be a constant our whole life.”
~ from the beautiful brief read, Courting the Wild Twin (thankyou Maria for passing this on to me!)
.
29TH DEGREE
This Full Moon occurs at what astrologers call the Anaretic Degree. In ancient Greek, anareta meant ‘destroyer.’ 29 degrees in any zodiac sign marks the end of a cycle, dissolution, stress, uncertainty, the liminal space between the known and the unknown.
It’s a threshold position. We have some degree of ‘mastery’ of the tasks and lessons of the current archetypal landscape (signified by the sign), having just travelled through it, while sensing the new terrain and new lessons of the following sign.
We move from master to novice. We are invited, once again, to embrace our not-knowing.
So much courage required, to face the unknown, with no guarantees…
It is in this context that we offer our Full Moon prayers, this month.
.
(The Hanged Woman by Chelsea Monico)
LUNAR PRAYER
This is the second Full Moon in Aquarius in a row, so for a second time we are being invited into this collective prayer: “We are Hopeful.”
We are Free, Resourceful, Curious, Loving, Playful, Devoted, Sovereign, Transforming, Inspired, Committed, Hopeful and Open.
How does it feel, to encounter this invitation again?
What is hope in a time of a sixth lockdown? What does it even look like, is it even a useful quality in these times?
What is hope to indigenous activists, who know that the changes they long for won’t unfold in this lifetime without a radical spiritual-social shift?
Is hope as a sense of progressive, forward motion an imperialist overlay, anyway?
I have no answers. But questions for me are inherently hopeful.
Rites of passage ceremonies, and connecting with nature, also, are two pathways that make me feel incredibly hopeful.
And they are interwoven. I haven’t felt able to offer ROP work here, even though I’ve wanted to, in part cos I’ve still been arriving here, on this land.
Connection takes time, takes years and years.
Connection to body and place is priceless, part of the deep roots that underpin our radical self-trust.
I just bought the domain name ritesofpassagemanitoba.com as an embodiment of a Full Moon in Aquarius prayer.
A stake in the ground, a flag of longing, a hunger, a naming, an illumination.
.
EMBODYING THE VISION
I’ve been reflecting back on previous solo times, as I anticipate this coming one.
Ten years ago… I took a three-week sabbatical in Bali, marking the end of breastfeeding three children, being on call for nourishment 24/7 for much of the previous seven years.
I left my three kids, including my two-and-a-half year old (!!), in the loving care of my husband, and left to inspire my writer self (at the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival), meet new people, to be deeply alone, to find my own way, to be on my own time, to roam rice paddies with music on repeat, walking myself into ecstasy, soaking in the watery, feminine beauty of that place. Ever grateful.
I came back expanded, awake to my deep love of freedom and solitude. It was very hard to take up my ‘mother hat’ again, in the days transitioning home.
“Let me out of here,” I wrote in my journal. “Motherhood works if I throw myself into it and forget that I’m a person with my own dreams and hopes. If I don’t think about what I’m missing.”
Eight years ago… I headed out on Wilderness Solo as part of my Four Seasons Journey experience. This was the peak of a year of profound transformation, of finding a home within myself, and with others.
I was talking recently with Sarah, a fellow sister who journeyed and soloed with me at this time. She came back with a vision to start a production company.
Eight years later, she’s collaborating to give birth to a powerful film, She Listens: Giving Voice to Menopause. Offering the nourishment of story to a world that’s so hungry, for these embodied accounts in particular…
“To whom much is given, much is required.” We are always called to give back. It’s always a giveaway.
Please have a look at Sarah’s beautiful vision, and if so called, donate whatever small amount to helping these stories reach the people who need to hear them (which I think is most of us!). 😊
.
ENTERING THE UNDERWORLD
As I walk towards this threshold, I’ll leave you (and me!) with this powerful call from Bill Plotkin in Soulcraft:
“Make peace with your lack of knowing, and trust that place fiercely.”
This is radical self-trust. This is what we are invited to reclaim. This is what we are courting, what we are walking towards, if we are courageous enough…
I will report back next Full Moon (in visionary Pisces!), and share some of what the darkness illuminated…
JOURNAL PROMPTS
These are the ‘Full Moon in Aquarius’ prompts from the Cyclical Wisdom Journal, as well as a few extras:
→ What are you more hopeful about, compared to last month?
→ What ‘outsider’ perspective inspires your creative thinking?
→ If not hope, what quality do you call on to sustain you?
→ What ‘vision’, what hunger, what longing, is at odds with the neat pieces of your life?
→ What is being illuminated, this Full Moon?
.
Thanks for receiving these words… Sending love, and may the in-sights flow in…
💛 💛 💛