The August Third-Quarter Moon energy is yin - quiet, internal, heart-driven, intentional Being-ness. At this phase we can ease off a bit on actively pursuing goals, slow down, go within, and attend to inner work and self-care.
1. Renewal plan for next month
2. Evaluation House
3. Review my Purpose
4. Read "The Earth Path"
1. Renewal plan for next month:
I try to renew all four dimensions of my life (body, mind, heart, and spirit), as Stephen Covey taught: I spend about an hour each day on a combination of physical, mental, and spiritual regeneration activities, plus work to improve my social skills and relationships. Today's waning half moon is my opportunity to review how I'm doing, and make note of new ideas for the month ahead.From my journal: As August winds down I begin to yearn for fall - cooler days and more energy! Soon I will take more walks, throw myself back into painting, and revel in adventures and field trips with my grandson.
2. Evaluation House:
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 new moon and draw a house with 2 rooms:
- A room for celebration of all I have accomplished already this month.
- A room for discerning what to do with the unfinished parts (Some of these I will finish in the next couple days, some I will save for next month, and some I will release because they have become irrelevant or didn't go as planned.)
3. Review my purpose:
A couple times a year I like to review and re-write my purpose statement. I want an exciting, compelling, powerful paragraph, that will guide me for the next chunk of my life. It should make use of my skills and gifts, and invoke my passions; it should explain the choices I make and the goals I set; and it should make me long to get to work every day!
4. Read "The Earth Path":
I'm reading Starhawk's book, The Earth Path (2004), which is all about how to connect to nature. She concludes chapter two, Seeds and Weapons, with a discussion about magic.
"Whenever an area of knowledge is considered suspect, our minds are constricted." She talks about media and academic bias, and how scientific Gaia theorists are careful to deny that they believe the earth is a living being, so they will be taken seriously.
"Does magic work? Not by waving a wand, Harry Potter style ... but magic does work, in the terms of its own worldview. Which is to say, once we understand the universe as a dynamic whole ... we also understand that any change in any aspect of the whole affects the whole. Magic, then, is the art of discerning, choosing, and attuning oneself to those changes."
The interconnection of Paganism (magic) and Quakerism (mystic) is pretty clear to me. Quakers also choose to believe that an unknown entity will speak to us, guide us, and fill us with Light, and that we must take the time to discern what we are asked to do.
"Today we live in a world so devitalized, so alienated and fragmented, that many of us are hungry for magic: for a way to perceive and experience the whole ... (magic is) a vital understanding that can help us become healers of this wounded world. For we cannot intervene effectively, cannot say something back to the world, unless we first understand and hear something. And we cannot hear unless we open our ears and realize that the world is speaking to us."
5. Monthly journal brainstorm:
At the new moon (next week) I will transition from one focus to another, and a whole new field of opportunity. This week I'll take time to write down my goals, dreams, and exciting ideas for the next 30-days. This exercise has three parts:
Part 2 - reflect. Have a little chat with myself on paper about the next month of my life, and what my best month would look like, moving me in the direction of my most important reasons for living.
Part 3 - weigh the possibilities. Take a break for a few minutes. Get a fresh cup of coffee or go outside to look at the sky, then come back and read what I wrote. Write a very brief synopsis of the next month of my life.
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!
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