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FRIDAY’S POEM FROM RHYTHMS AND CYCLES: Phoenix Moon
As I write the Old Moon has another day of life. We are about to enter another cycle of the Moon’s appearance to us as she orbits our world and the Sun. The Moon is exactly conjunct the Sun tomorrow, Saturday, November 22 at 7:32 am EST. And then we have a New Moon and the cycle repeats.
I don’t know if you feel the energy of the Moon as she goes through her cycle each month. I sure do. And I celebrate this cycle and all of her phases to honor her, life and the rhythms we all experience. I have written many poems to the Moon. Today’s is a new one for you to tap and experience.
Phoenix Moon
Bright day, heavy energy
As the Moon races, just ahead,
The Sun eating the distance
With every pulse between them.
The beat is felt if not heard –
The heavy sound too low
To press on human drum.
The closing gap pinches
The visible sliver of Grandmother
To nothing in the distant East.
Early morning darkness deepens
With her loss of limb.
Old Grandmother Moon again
Loses her race with her Son.
He dismembers and burns her
In his brightness, his sizzle.
But wait! In three days passing
She reappears on the other
Side of the world – resurrected!
Phoenix Moon is new. Blessing!
©2014 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
The Moon and YOU! – Richard’s Commentary
Do you pay attention to the moon? Right now we are being inundated with rain here in Maryland, so I can’t see the moon. But I know she is waning after fullness last Saturday. We’ll soon be coming up on last quarter and then a week later a New Moon. The cycle repeats reminding us of rhythm. Moon cycles are like breaths; she swells from newness to fullness as with a two-week inhale, and then shrinks from fullness back to newness on her two-week exhale. She reminds us to breathe with her: big, full abdominal breaths.
As some of you may know I cast an I Ching Gua on every New Moon. A gua is a six-line hexagram made up of yin and yang(open and solid) lines. (My last post about this can be found HERE for the last New Moon.) I do this for a number of reasons but the key one is I am curious about what new things the New Moon is bringing in, especially what the energies, specifically the energies of change may offer during the month between the New Moons. It is fun to go back over the month and the “reading” of the I Ching to see the correspondences between the reading and actual events! I am amazed at the accuracy!
Another tool I use in conjunction with moon cycles is my Possibilities Playbook I created during Rosemary’s January Possibilities Playshop. My Playbook is a 12-month notebook filled with pictures, phrases, themes and other guidance that I intuitively chose to go into my book in January. Of course, the book is laid out according to the moon phases. Now I record plans, events, feelings and senses of how unfolding reality aligns with what I set in motion in January. This tool is like a “vision board on steroids.” The pictures, words, phrases are pulled from magazines not with desires, hopes, plans in mind but how I want to feel. Looking back on the process I had no idea why certain pictures appealed to me. Now as I examine the pictures in context of what is actually happening I get it! And I am continually amazed!
There are lots of reasons to pay attention to the moon cycles in your life. Certainly gardening and farming, fishing and boating are activities influenced by the moon. I was pleased to learn, during a tour of Napa Valley a few years ago, that at least one vintner, Grgche Hills Estates, uses the phases of the moon for planting, pruning and harvesting. As they say: “Committed to natural winegrowing and sustainability, we farm our five estate vineyards without artificial fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides, rely on wild yeast fermentation…”
The moon has so much to offer us if we let her into our lives. Think of all the songs we would miss if not for the moon! Pay attention. Note the days on the calendar when she fill, empties and goes dark for a time. Keep a diary of how you feel in relation to the phases. Note your dreams and if they are influenced. Be aware of peoples’ driving and how it changes with the changing moon. You too may be amazed at what you find!
ROSEMARY’S INSPIRATION: Do You Pay Attention to the Moon?
My “Two-Minute” Video for this Week: Do You Pay Attention to the Moon?
Goddess Guidance Oracle Cards: Sekhmet and Coyote Woman
It is a cool and cloudy day in Colorado. We are expecting rain, maybe even some snow between today and tomorrow. And the wind is blowing. With trees blooming there is all kinds of stuff in the air. Both Rosemary and I are feeling the effects of blowing dust and pollen, low pressure and clouds. Oh, and the moon is waning rapidly so we are dealing with a very old and tired moon. She becomes new again on Thursday at 7:04 pm MDT.
All of this “weather” tends to lower my energy; it’s almost like a combination of “hay fever”, Springs fever, Moon weakness – it’s just an overall low feeling. If you are feeling anything like this consider the moon’s influence in your life. Begin to watch your own bio-rhythms as the moon travels through her phases every 28 days. The moon’s phases are just some of the many signs to point us toward guidance for conscious living. I’ll talk more about this tomorrow as I comment on this week’s Mystic Message.
So, as I drew cards this morning in this low-energy state, I asked as an intention for strength. And, the Goddess Guidance Oracle Card I drew was Sekhmet: Be Strong! And, according to Dr. Doreen Virtue, Sekhmet says: “You are stronger than you think you are, and your strength assures a happy outcome.” And even more specifically she says: “See yourself as strong and victorious. Don’t complain about anything. Don’t blame anyone or any condition. You’re the embodiment of strength, not victimhood.” Yes, I get that. And here I am trying to blame the weather, the moon, tree pollen, any other condition that I can think of rather than telling myself to “suck it up and get on with it.” Yes, I asked for strength and got the message to find the strength within myself. Oh, and if the words are not enough, the card pictures Sekhmet seated on a lion thone. I am a Leo; of course I can find the inner strength!
Sekhmet is the Egyptian Goddess of the Sun. “Her name means strong and mighty.” You may have seen her depicted as a woman with a lion’s head. She is fierce and protective.
The Grandmothers Card I drew this morning is Coyote Woman, Wise Woman. She says she became a Wise Woman through Coyote. “Coyote kept laughing at me and showed me how foolish my ideas about myself sometimes were. Finally I gave up and learned to laugh at my own foolishness and it has been such fun to grow with humor.” I can find strength in humor too. As I look at my sense of low-energy and my excuses for feeling weak I need to chuckle at myself; yes, I can find lots of ways to blame the Universe for my weaknesses. But I also know I have many sources of strength. Rather than sink into blame and fatigue I can call on my powers for strenghtening my resolve and I can look back, or look inward, and laugh at my hesitations and my foolish reactions to everything that is natural and occuring around me in its own time.
And I can laugh at the cards I draw today! There is so much humor in the guidance the Universe provides.
Coyote is a wonderful teacher. Call on her when you need a good laugh! And Sekhmet is the strong Sun Goddess. Call on her for a boost of lion energy.
Men and The Goddess 