Full Strawberry Moon

Tonight is the full moon called anishnalya, the "camas ripe" moon by the Kalapuya of our area, and the Strawberry Moon by others.

We are now at the peak of the strong-energy yang phase of the waxing moon, and will soon begin the quiet-energy yin time of the waning moon. 

Agenda:

1. Take a vision walk

2. Celebrate synergy

3. Read Happier at Home

4. Synergy with my garden

1. Take a vision walk:
The full moon shines a bright light on everything, and I might experience intuitive and creative breakthroughs. I might be shocked by the clarity of my insights. I might see some ugliness - the full moon illuminates all the things I've left in the shadows, some heavy truths and some embarrassing mistakes.

Today I'm going to settle in to silence and access my intuitive mind - my connection to the Creator and the Inner Guide -  and seek a leading of the spirit with an open mind and heart.

Today I call on the Spirit of Light to guide me, bring me clarity and open my eyes. What is the Truth that is coming into focus for me now? 

What teams am I playing on, and what are my roles? How do I play to your strengths? 

What is the right action I am taking, and towards what "better end"? Do I have faith that things will change for the better?

Where do I need inspiration or a helping hand? Who are the angels in my life?

What is the unity I'm seeking? What is my experience with flexibility?

2. Celebrate synergy:

My theme this month is synergy - the ability to seek unity, embrace teamwork, live holistically, and work tirelessly towards a better end. Synergy is the eternally active primal force of creation: No matter what the conditions are, they will change. You create synergy in your life when you make the effort to see clearly, stay open-minded, and take persistent right action. Synergy will allow you to experience the people in your life as angels, and the places you live, work, and play as paradise.

Today I remind myself of my intentions for the month, and then celebrate how far I've come, give thanks for the lessons learned and the blessings received, and reaffirm this theme for the next two weeks. Each month I choose a different way to celebrate the full moon, and I am ready to celebrate synergy today in these ways:

1. Explode into synergy with my garden
2. Work on a team project - demolish something with my son!

3. Read "Happier at Home":

I'm reading Happier at Home, by Gretchen Rubin (2012). The first chapter is Possessions. Gretchen's advise is to cultivate  shrines - to transform some areas into places of engagement by choosing and arranging items with care. She suggests a shrine to family, with photos and other objects that evoke memories that are rotated by season, and she also talks about making her office space "shrine-like".

I've been making good headway on my paper shrine project, with an In-Basket Shrine, and a Memory Box. We are also starting a big outdoor Tool Wall shrine project! In fact, I'm so inthralled by this idea, it's hard to move forward in this book. Gretchen says, "There is no one right way to happiness, but only the way that's right for a particular person -- which is why mindfulness matters so much to happiness." Cultivating shrines in a mindful way does make me happy. 

She goes on to talk about how collections of objects become meaningful to us by their association to memories of people and situations; those of us who have ties to other people tend to represent those ties with concrete objects.

4. Synergy with my garden:

Last weekend I made a plan for inner synergy for papers that was quite effective. Today I want to do the same for my June garden; this time, though, I hope to open to synergy with the Earth as well. I wrote this intention:

I intend to live into a transformative eco-justice model of living; that is, healing and transforming my relationship with the cycles and being of the planet that I'm part of, educating myself and others about what it means to live in unity with the land, reflecting on the challenges of co-existence from perspectives that include non-human beings, grappling with the complexities of addressing complicities in ecological harm, and developing stamina and resiliency for the slow and challenging work that needs to be done in the long term. 

Inner synergy is when your body, mind, spirit, and heart are all cooperating to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects. If I add in all of Nature as a teammate, it could be stunning! My plan for this next week: 

1. Engage my mind: I will research and gather information about permaculture and the June garden - especially ways I can cooperate with Nature, and address the harm I've done with my buying habits and complicity in global warming. I'll make a June calendar of tasks and ways to invite unity with the Earth.

2. Engage my heart: The love component is clearly healing and transforming my relationship with the cycles and being of the planet that I'm part of. I'll plan a daily meditation to send the "pink light of love" to myself and the planet.

3. Engage my spirit: I've chosen a mantra that is a question to the Earth: "What do you need from me today?"; I'll repeat it often as I work or see my garden. And I think taking time every day to be alone in the garden will help.

4. Engage my body: If I touch dirt, I'm engaged. 

5. Start a fire: My garden synergy intention is an all-day way of being, but I plan to reignite a spark between myself and the Earth at least once a day:

1. Review my June calendar for Earth unity.
2. Step out into the garden alone for a moment to send the "pink light of love" to myself and the planet.
3. Put my hands into the dirt and -
4. Ask the question "What do you need from me today?"