New White Moon

Tonight is the new moon. The Chinese call the eleventh new moon the White Moon, perhaps because it brings the snow, or perhaps because it's a yin time of year. 

This season puts limits on our lives. Chinese philosophy says the winter season is a time of conservation and storage; the night, the feminine, water, and cold is dominant. We slow down, go inward, and spend more time on quiet, yin activities.

Luckily, advent is four weeks long, allowing us to grow slowly and steadily towards the light. We are halfway through advent, on the darkest night of the month: Let yourself go inward now - be like the bear in her cave, saving your strength and relishing the darkness. Don't celebrate Christmas too soon; allow yourself to experience the darkness of winter, against which it shines.

Agenda Today:
1.  Journal queries

2. Prayer for the Light

3. Make luminaries

1. Journal queries:

The new moon is my monthly time for “seeding” intentions. Having this regular time each month to focus my goals has helped to give me clarity of purpose.

This is the last new moon before the new year, so I have a lot to consider. Today I will look forward into the future (with a feeling of hope) and write about what I want to do with myself in 2021.

What is my inner Guide leading me towards?

What might give my life more wholeness?

What do I need to testify to and act on in 2021?

List the possibilities in these areas-

Self, Friends and Family, Teaching, Artwork, Writing, Home and Garden, Work/Business, and Volunteer work.

2. Prayer for the Light:

As the earth grows colder,
the winds blow faster,
the fire dwindles smaller,
and the rains fall harder,
let the light of the sun
find its way home.

3. Make luminaries:

One way to experience the darkness of the season is to go without electric lights as much as possible. Use candlelight or one small electric light in the evening. Light a single luminary outside to be a beacon in the night.

And - yes- this is another craft made from recycled materials!

Supplies:

• glass jar with straight sides- peanut butter jars work well
• scraps of tissue paper in many colors
• watered white glue or acrylic medium (I used acrylic medium because I had a big bottle of it.)
• glue brush
• waxed paper or freezer paper

1. Tear the tissue paper into the shapes you want. I used strips.


2. Set your jar on waxed paper so it won't stick. Brush watered-down glue on the outside of the jar, in one area, and cover with tissue. Leave a bit of tissue at the top to fold over the rim. 

3. Keep brushing more glue and adding more strips, overlapping each by a little, and folding the tops over the rim. 

(If your doing this project with children, this is a good chance to talk about additive color, since the two colors that overlap will create a third color.)


4. Gently brush more glue over the top of the tissue. Don't worry about the extra tissue at the bottom- you can trim that off later.

5. Let the glue dry, and add a tea light or a small candle, using melted wax to stand it up in the bottom of the jar.