Waning Gibbous Moon

Photo by Alan Gillespie

Now the moon is waning - getting smaller - until it is new again. During the waning moon, the moon's energy changes, and we move gradually into the yin phase - slow down, go within, and focus on inner work. I back off a bit on actively pursuing my goals, and allow the ease of being a loving, thoughtful person to carry me towards my dreams and goals.

The waning gibbous moon is a time to practice opening to receive blessings, feeling and expressing gratitude, and generosity with giving (towards others AND with myself).

Agenda today:

1. Journal queries:

During the waning moon, journaling takes on a new importance. I'm engaged in inner work, and journalling is one way I access my Inner Guide. I especially want to focus on my theme for this month, which is Joy, so I remind myself today: 

“Knowing life is short, enjoy it day after day, moment after moment.” ~Zen master Suzuki Roshi

What have I learned about how to cultivate unshakable happiness?

In what areas of my life do I want to be calmer and even happier? How do I interrupt my habitual patterns of worry, judgment, and annoyance?

How can I be more generous with my time and my help, and my joyful spirit?

2. Generosity Practices: 

Every month after the full moon I take some time to plan ways I can be more generous with my time and attention. I start with ideas for being generous with myself, then my household, my family, my neighborhood, community, and the earth. I might decide to give money or a gift, or simple acts of helping and sharing my time. This next week I plan to:

• Get a haircut in an actual salon!
• Take time to season my earthcare leadings with a committee of close friends.
• Take weight loss semi-seriously and enjoy a competition with W.
• Offer an extra day of care for my grandson.
• Prepare a rock-painting project for the children's meeting.
• Finally start the "Busy-board" gift I've been planning.

When I'm motivated by the desire to give, just my willingness to listen and my intention to offer help will begin to lessen suffering in the world.

3. Gratitude walk:

I have not been able to keep a gratitude journal with any continuity - I get bored and it becomes a chore. But when I remember to feel grateful for my blessings, my days take on a different tone: I have more vigor, optimism, compassion, and peace. By noticing how I am blessed, my impatience decreases and I realize how satisfied and fulfilled I really am.

This next week, when I'm out on my daily walk, I will remember to ask myself "What do I value most about my life?" and give thanks to the universe.

The work of intentional Being, rather than Doing, is life changing! When I slow down I can see what my hard work has produced in the world and in myself, and I have the leisure to notice, absorb, and expand.

Wesak and Full Flower Moon

Tonight is the full moon. The May full moon is called the Flower Moon, because this is a month of blossoming and a promise of abundance. The flowers in my garden are a delicate reminder to me to project a gentle, honest spirit into the world. I open my heart, give my gifts with love, and receive, with gratitude, the bounty of gifts others offer to me.

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. But today it's time to CELEBRATE! The full moon is a time of fruitfulness, creativity, and completion, and also strong (sometimes overwhelming) emotion. This month I feel happy and energetic, but also somewhat anxious, and I want to acknowledge and embrace the whole spectrum of my emotions.

Today is also Wesak (pronounced way-sak). The full moon in May is the day that Buddhists honor the birth of Gautama Buddha in Lumbini, Nepal, in 623 BCE, and also honor his enlightenment and death. Buddhists all over the world celebrate this day by pausing to remember the Buddha's virtues, expressing their gratitude and appreciation for his teachings, and by finding ways to be more Buddha-like.

Agenda for today:
1. Journal queries

2. Celebrate joy
3. Find ways to be more Buddha-like

4. Make a lantern for Wesak
5. Cook Hath Maaluwa (Seven Vegetables Curry)

6. Full moon ceremony

Waxing Gibbous Moon

Photo by Alan Gillespie

The waxing gibbous moon is the not-quite-full moon: Waxing means getting larger, and gibbous means humped or protuberant.

This phase of the moon has the high-energy that provides a push towards completion. In four days, at the full moon, we will turn again towards the yin time of inner activity, so I make an effort in these next few days to finish my tasks that require greater physical effort. Also, the waxing gibbous moon is a good time for reevaluation, refinements, and creativity.

Agenda:

1. Journal queries

2. Creative visualization

First Quarter Moon

At the First Quarter Moon we are one-quarter of the way through the moon cycle. The moon is waxing - getting larger - until it's full again. Now is the time to remain flexible, use my obstacles as fuel for growth, and show full effort for priorities.

Agenda:

1. Journal queries

2. Make a full effort plan

3. Creative awareness practice

1. Journal queries:

Today I prepare to give full effort to my priorities. 

Which of my priorities am I having the most trouble acting on this month?

What potential challenges and obstacles do I face this week and month (things I don’t enjoy, don’t know how to do, or feel blocked on)? How can I best meet these challenges?

How will I find the inspiration that will spark full effort for my priorities, every day, over and over?

I will certainly face obstacles but I will remain flexible and use my obstacles as fuel for growth. This month I'm so busy with service projects that I'm not taking the time I need for creativity and creative awareness. The challenge to awareness is ignorance, so I will practice seeing clearly.

2. Make a full effort plan: 

Full effort (sometimes called exertion) is one of the steps of mental discipline on Buddha’s eightfold path. Buddha was urging full effort for awakening the mind; a first step is to practice full effort for whatever is most important in your life right now - for your priorities.

Full effort requires attention (remembering what it is you want to do and your deepest reasons why), a spark of energy and determination (connecting to your excitement for life each day and each moment, and sustaining it long enough to accomplish your priorities), and balance (holding your intentions lightly in the complexity of life).

3. Creative awareness practice:

My theme this month is joy and creativity. I want to re-awaken my creative awareness, insight, inspiration, and joyful spontaneity. Creative awareness means that I can stop at any moment and see a sincerely original answer to whatever question I ask, because I don’t live for other people’s opinions- I know instinctively that the answer lies within myself.

Creative awareness starts with a daily practice of observation and play: 

1. Make a plan each morning of when I want to practice. Ask “What do I want to observe today? What do I want to play with today?” - could be my morning playtime with my grand baby, my painting time, or gardening - and set a reminder "Be Aware".
2. Pause when my alarm goes off, slow my breathing and linger in a soft-focus fugue, waking up my awareness, using all my senses, and rousing my curiosity - looking, listening, digging, walking, dreaming. To be truly aware, I have to step out of seriousness and see the humor and paradox in every situation.
3. Capture one idea, maybe just a thought or a feeling, but a place to start, and write it in my journal
4. Play with my idea: I choose to pay attention to what I have observed, test it, research it, ponder it, follow it - like a scientist doing an experiment. Keep a light hold, so that my ego doesn’t stifle my creativity. The pleasure I take in this kind of everyday creation connects me with the joy of ALL creation.

Waxing Crescent Moon

Photo by Alan Gillespie

Now the moon is waxing - getting gradually larger - until it's full again. During the waxing moon, energy remains high. In these first days of the waxing crescent moon, I will give attention to my growing energy, take first steps towards my intentions, and find my motivation to follow through with persistent action.

Agenda:

1. Plan first steps

2. Set more intentions

3. Mindfulness

4. Joy Walk

New Peony Moon

The new moon rises today; the 

Beautiful peonies growing in my neighborhood.

Chinese call the fourth new moon the Peony Moon. Peonies are the flower of riches, romance, and honor, called sho yu in Chinese, which means "most beautiful." Their lush blooms are an omen of good fortune, and also foretell a happy marriage.

The new moon is the start of the lunar cycle, a time of high energy and clear thinking. Historically, the new moon is when women took time to be alone; it's a time to retreat, set intentions, and initiate something new. 

Agenda:

1. Retreat Day

2. Pick a theme

3. Goals and intentions

4. New moon altar and meditation

5. Begin something new

6. Prepare for a garden party

Mother's Day and Rogation-tide

Rogation-tide begins on the Sunday five weeks after Easter and continues for four more days, through Ascension Day on Thursday. 

Rogation is an early Christian tradition of singing psalms and chanting prayers of petition for God's protection on crops, beasts and people. Since medieval days, parishioners in Britain would walk around the parish boundaries, bearing a cross and banners, and asking for God to bless the crops, livestock, and fishing holes. The procession was called 'beating the bounds'; it helped everyone to remember the parish boundaries, in the time before maps were commonplace.

These boundary walks were also known as ‘gang days’ from the Anglo Saxon word ‘gangen’- to go. The parish would bond together as a community, offer charity to poor people they met along the way, and the priest would stop to preach at each prominent tree or landmark.

Now Rogation-tide is celebrated more as a time to honor the gift of creation of the land and waters, to offer thanksgiving for the labors on land and water that feed us, and to pray for stewardship of the earth.

Today is also Mother's Day, and a low-key time for me now that my daughter is a mother and I am a grandmother!

Agenda Today:

1. Journal query

2. Beat the bounds

3. Bless my garden

3. Call my Mom 

1. Journal query: 

What do I really want for Mother’s Day?

 

Plan three things to do for myself today to honor my role as a mother, and to bring myself peace and joy.

2. Beat the bounds:

Hawthorn tree in our front yard.

A parish is church territory, but I use it to mean the land that I feel responsible for, my home-neighborhood. This is my annual chance to look at my neighborhood and my community with open eyes, and consider how I can help to support those who work to feed me, and how I can be a better steward of the land.

It's especially important to me now, as I work on climate justice, to regain a sense of responsibility for my parish.

Sadie (looking anxious) in front of our neighborhood store, with a large black walnut tree.

The bounds of my "parish" have changed in recent years, as my children have moved nearby. Now they extend an irregular 7 blocks by 15 blocks, with our house at the northwest corner, our neighborhood store to the north, our neighborhood park and my son's apartment to the east, and my daughter's home at the southwest corner.

Beautiful tulip poplar at our park.

As I walk the bounds, I stop at "trees of importance" to say these prayers:

For rains and fruitful seasons, and your blessing upon the lands and waters, 

I pray to you, Oh God. 

Raggedy group of cedars at my son's place.

For all who work upon the earth and seas to bring forth food for all your creatures, I pray to you, Oh God. 

For all who care for the earth, the water, and the air, that the riches of your creation may abound from age to age, 

I pray to you, Oh God. 

Amen.

3. Bless my garden: 

When I get home from my boundary walk, I will go to my garden to ask blessings on my seeds, animals, trees, and beds-

Great Spirit, Creator of all things and Giver of all life, let your blessing be upon this garden, the animals and people who live here, and grant that we may serve. Amen.

4. Make Rammalation Biscuits:

While technically these are days of fasting, in England the tradition was to gather after the Rogation Procession to drink "ganging beer" and eat "rammalation biscuits." 

Unfortunately, no one knows what a rammalation biscuit really is - possibly a cookie to eat while you "perambulate”? I decided to make a classic English Digestive Biscuit, and they are very yummy. The recipe is here.

Waning Crescent

The waning crescent moon is the final phase of the Moon cycle. The next new moon, in four days, will be the Peony Moon cycle. At the new moon I'll set my intentions for the month ahead.

But right now, at the waning crescent, it's time to evaluate and brainstorm, find purpose, and surrender. I'll open to curiosity and attention, contemplate what I might want in the 30 days ahead, and rest up for the move back into yang-action mode. These next few days are a chance to look back and look forward, and think about the big picture of my life.

Agenda:

1. Evaluation Wheel:

Today I get to reflect back on the whole lunar cycle that I've just passed through. I review the intentions I set at the start of the cycle and list what I've accomplished, what I want to still act on, what has become irrelevant or didn't go as planned.

I drew an evaluation wheel with my 6 priority areas. Inside the wheel I listed the things I completed in each area, and underneath the wheel I listed the things I moved forward to the next month, and the things I dropped or changed my goal for.

2. Review my purpose:

My purpose right now is to love and serve my family and my community (learning greater equanimity and compassion); lead a simple life of integrity (caring for the earth and working to become anti-racist); and be a creative force (expressing myself to the world with my writing, art, and actions).

3. Review my priorities:

I have lots of things in lots of categories that I do every day, but which of those are priorities now in my life? I only have so much time each day, so I hope to give priority to the activities and people that matter most to me right now. 

My priorities are fluid; they change with the seasons and with my responsibilities. I like to review them monthly, before the new moon. Today I ask myself:

-Which of my priorities have gotten the least attention this last month and why? 

-What seasonal focus and upcoming events are priorities now?

-What are my important responsibilities this month?

-What upcoming activities give me the biggest rewards?

-What would I do this month if I knew I only had 6 months to live?

-What activities best support my beliefs and values?

-Where do my strengths lie?

·        

After some thought, this is my slate of priorities: 

• Career is my teaching, sales, and work tasks: I need to figure out what to do next with sales and with work.
• Creativity is my writing, arts, and crafts: This is the month to blossom creatively!
• Health is exercise, eating right, etc: I need to increase my strength.
• Heart is friends, family, and volunteer service: I want to refocus on children and climate change.
• Learning is all the topics I'm studying: I'm shifting my focus to optimistic topics - Devotion and Joy.
• Home is the tasks I do to create sanctuary in my home: My big focus will be indoor painting (and finishing the window cleaning).

4. Monthly journal brainstorm:
At the new moon this week I will transition from a focus on balance to a focus on joy, creativity, and self-expression.

Today I will write down my goals, dreams, and exciting ideas for the next 30-days; just write lists of ideas without judgement - put down everything I think I should do, everything I really want to do, and everything I only dream of doing. Include these broad categories:

            -Self-care and life-style

            -Love, social skills, friends and family

            -Career/work and life path

            -Creativity and self-expression

            -Activism and service

            -Stillness, knowledge, skills and growth

            -Home and garden

            -Seasons and celebration

5. Surrender, rest, recuperate: 

This next few days is a time to be empty; the time for striving is past. As the moon’s light fades into darkness I get to relax and surrender to the universe. 

Some things will always be out of my control. As the moon's appearance dwindles, I let go of useless beliefs, unreasonable expectations, grudges, defensiveness, projects that don't fit into my life, and anything else that isn't working for me. I turn these all over to the Divine and give thanks, my way of opening to receive new intentions in the new month.

Then I give myself permission to rest! 

Third Quarter Moon

Rest in Peace, Madeline Duck

Today's waning third quarter moon energy is yin: quiet, internal, heart-driven, intentional Being-ness. The focus for the next few days is on renewal, cleansing, and self-care.

Agenda:

1. Renewal plan

2. Self-care routine

3. Cleansing

May Day

May Day, on May 1st, is a spring celebration of the blooming flowers. Maying is what we call the things we do to celebrate this beautiful month-- going on picnics, picking flowers, dancing around a maypole, and sharing our love.

May Day is an ancient holiday stemming from the festival of Floralia which honored Flora, the Flourishing One, the Roman goddess of spring. Flora is a bright nature goddess who makes trees bloom- she is a “lady of pleasure", but also a symbol of motherhood. She wears a garland of flowers in her hair, and in her right hand she holds a columbine, for fertility. 

In England a young woman is chosen as May Queen, representing Flora, and is crowned with hawthorn blossoms. She is often accompanied by a May King.

Agenda:
1. Prepare a Beltane fire
2. Bring in the May
3. May baskets
4. Make Tippaleivät (Finnish May Day Fritters)
5. Maypole Dances
6. Daily Creative Flow