Prepare for the New Moon

Every month just after the third quarter moon, I take some days to be quiet and contemplative and prepare for the next phase of my life. I'm lucky that this year I have a three day Earthcare retreat just at the right time!

Agenda:

1. Read "Perspective"

2. Monthly journal brainstorm:

3. Brainstorm my Earthcare message

4. Cleansing 

1. Read "Perspective":

I'm reading this book by Meridith Elliot Powell, subtitled Reignite, Reinvent, Reframe (2025). This is the work I am dedicating myself to this year.

I'm on Chapter six, Language of Leadership: Words that shape culture. "Culture is how people feel... It's the unwritten rules. The behaviors that get rewarded. ... It's the collective perspective of your team."

Perspective is how we interpret reality and culture is the shared story that shapes the interpretation - the group perspective. "If you want to shift perspective, you have to shape culture."

You shape culture through language, interactions, and how you lead. Culture either invites fresh perspective or shuts it down - it starts with inclusive, inviting language. Words shape our reality and sets the tone. They influence our mindset, behavior, and belief.

Practice: Brainstorm my message and the inclusive language I can use.

2. 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: 

• Brainstorm goals, dreams, and exciting ideas without judgement - include at least a few crazy, improbable notions;
• Reflect on 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; 
• Then take time to weigh the possibilities.

3. Brainstorm my Earthcare message:

Today I'm going to focus on the messages I want to present to my little Earthcare Action group going forward - how do I bolster their energy and rally them into new action?

Some ideas / themes:

1. Make Peace with the Earth: War is bad for the environment.
2. Climate change: We need to have a climate grief session for our Action group first.
3. Democracy and Earthcare: How do we connect the dots for people?
4. Native plants: How do we use the seedling beds?
5. Tree walk and worship sharing about forests.
6. Solidarity with other parts of the world.

4. Cleansing: 
Every month just after the third quarter moon, I think about things I'd like to clear and clean, and how I might release trapped energy, habits, burdens, and excess possessions of all kinds. 

Moving towards this next new moon, I want to release two thing:

• The whole concept of teaching my grandsons with projects and themes, so that I can move to a looser, more spontaneous sharing.
• Junk in the studio, so I can USE it.

Today I will try to find myself in a garden in the rain, with a stem of peppermint or lemon balm, and try this short ritual:

1. Stand in silence in the rain, and smell the smells and listen for the sounds. Be present with this small space in nature.
2. Open my spirit to join with the earth's spirit, in this one patch of earth; or in other words, acknowledge that I am a part of nature, and our souls are one.
3. Expand this oneness to include the natural space and all the people in my neighborhood, town, county, state, and wider. We are all one.
4. Crush the herbs in my hands and rub them on my body, letting the herbs and the rain wash away grief, doubt, or feelings of inadequacy - we are enough; we are the ones the earth needs.