Everything Under the Moon

Today we celebrate a full moon. Different cultures give varying names to each full moon, and this one is often known as the Full Wolf Moon. Often the names reflect what was important or seasonally noticeable at the time, and while it’s lovely to celebrate traditional names, it can be equally fun to confer your own name to each moon, reflecting what’s more personally apparent. After all, it’s your life and your dance with each cycle. I’m choosing to call this particular moon the Deep Silence full moon.

It’s no secret I love the moon and have been a lunar votary for decades. For me this is a special moon, and while I’ll explain about that in a second, I thought I’d take some time today and give you a peek at some of the tools I use and ways I continue work with our beautiful reflective night orb.

During each year every astrological sign experiences a new and a full moon in that particular sign. It’s often considered a particularly powerful time.  Today’s full moon is in the sign of Cancer, and since I’m a Cancer sun sign, this one is a bit more special for me.  As will be the new moon when it’s in the sign of Cancer which will be on June 24^th this year.  Now, truth be told, I actually celebrate another set of full/new moons – those that happen in Scorpio, because Scorpio is my moon sign. That feels particularly aligned to me, but I suspect the association is less commonly touted as many people don’t seem to know their moon sign, although almost everyone is aware of their sun sign.  But in any case, I think it’s always useful to pay attention as one can, and celebrate as one is inspired.

Another thing worth paying attention to (and celebrating) is the phase of the lunar cycle under which you were born. See if you can see an affinity with this particular phase each month – a bit like feeling feeling more centered in yourself.  I’m a waxing gibbous woman.  This is the phase before the moon turns full, and so any easy way to think about it is working on growing to one’s full potential.  There are all sorts of online calculators to determine the moon phase at your birth, but here’s one on a site where you can also take a look at some moon phase jewelry.

But let’s get to the various things I like to work with in my moon journeys.

The 2017 Moon Book: Living by the Light of the Moon by Beatrex Quntanna. This is a resource I started using last year, and there are several things I like about it.  In particular she offers an interesting way to work with the astro wheel at each new and full moon – that encourages you to so a check-in and pay particular attention to the houses activated both in the particular lunar chart and your own birth chart.  In addition, there are a number of other features including an overview of the astrology for each month; a monthly calendar that includes moon void-of-course times as well as when the moon moves into each sign; there are several pages devoted to each new moon and each full moon.

Another thing I’m loving working with is Stargazer Li’s Calendar Journey Guide Book. She works with an entirely-new-to-me system – her interpretation of a modern Mayan-based calendar that works with spiral cycles. It’s a really unique and delightful system, and I’m just beginning to grasp it.  Enough so that I can see I want to study it more deeply and fold it into my own practice. Don’t you love it when something new grabs hold of you and drags you down the rabbit hole? That’s how I feel about this. In this system the year began on July 28, so we’re half-way through this Moon Storm Liberations Year.  If nothing else, I absolutely encourage you to check out Stargazer Li and listen to one of her podcasts or check out a blog post – she’s seriously someone I would delight in hanging out with.

Another new-to-me publication that I’m delighting in is Sarah Faith Gottesdiener’s Many Moons Workbook. It think this is only her second year publishing it, but it’s gotten rave reviews and so far, I concur. It is, as the website blurb says “160 pages full of research, musings, and information to guide you through the main Moon phases of each month. If you are interested in spirituality, the occult, magic, feminism, practices, processes, herbalism, Tarot, nature, intuition, and/or self-development, then this is your book.”  The workbook covers January through June, and volume 2 will be along later in the year.  It’s an eclectic mix of stuff, and I really like it.

Now on to some moon-y oracle decks I use.

The Moon Oracle deck by Caroline Smith and John Astrop is one of my all-time favorites. I use this deck all the time, and it is well-worn and greatly loved. The deck is comprised to three sections of cards: Moon Phases, Moon Goddesses, and Moon Mansions. Here’s a helpful review which gives a good taste of what the deck is about.

The Spirit de la Lune is a charming deck with round cards – a perfect format for the moon don’t you think? Bonus points because she calls the cards moondalas.  This isn’t a deck I use all the time, but there are definitely occasions when I’m called to it.

And finally I have Rebekah Erev’s Moon Angel Oracle deck. Again this isn’t an everyday deck for me, but it’s a quirky little gem I really like. She also recently co-published with Elsa Asher a little zine-like 30-page workbook called Moon Tools designed to guide one through a five-part creative process working through the lunar cycle with Intention, Preparation, Action, Follow Through, and Integration.

So there you have it – a peek at a number of moon tools.  What about you?  Do you consider yourself a Lunar Daughter as I do? Have any special moon practices? Doing something celebrate this Full Wolf Moon?  Or choosing to name it something uniquely yours? Do tell – you know I’d love to hear.  And if Many Moons Workbook sounds like something you’re interested in, I happen to have an extra copy I’m happy to gift to a sister moon devotee.  Leave me a comment and let me know. Should there be more than one person interested I’ll do a proverbial hat draw.