Tag: moon

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More Moon Blessings

More Moon Blessings

12/03/23

Nobody warns you that when you become an astrologer you’ll most likely end up setting your alarm for very weird hours of the night just so you can catch the best election. I started studying Electional Astrology with Chris Brennan in July and recently felt I knew enough to have a stab at electing a time for an important milestone in my business. I wanted do do The Thing at some point within a 2.5-month window and went through the many complex steps required to find some good options. I settled on one that I felt pretty good about and, for fun, checked to see which day and time Chris & Leisa had picked for the Electional Astrology Report for the month in question. I couldn’t believe it when I found that my election was just a few minutes off from theirs – what a result!

When the auspicious night rolled around I crept out of bed at 1:55am and sat in my robe at my computer, saying a few prayers and making my intentions as clear and heartfelt as I could with the level of consciousness I had available to me at that hour. Then, when the stars were literally aligned, I clicked the pertinent box and The Thing was done.

Feeling a bit too antsy to go right back to bed I wandered around the house for a bit and, remembering that my election had the Moon up in the tenth house, craned my neck to look up through the skylight and see if the night was clear enough for me to see her. It was quite cloudy but sure enough there was a bright glow in one area and, as I gazed up, a little patch of blue emerged in the clouds around the glow and there she was. I gasped a little: it continues to thrill me to do my nerdy calculations in the theoretical realm of apps and screens, and then go to the actual sky and see things right where they’re supposed to be. Thank you once again Luna, for blessing me and my path as I stand quietly in my dark house gazing at the sky.

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Moon as Community, Moon as Memory

Moon as Community, Moon as Memory

11/25/23

Last night I woke up at 4am all full of thoughts and got up to nap on the couch with the help of a podcast. When I walked into the front room I was greeted by this amazing waxing gibbous Moon in Taurus, just minutes away from setting behind a bank of cloud.

I was inspired to dip back into one of my favorite astrology podcasts, Luminaries In and Out of Sect, specifically the episode on Taurus Moon as the Luminary Out of Sect, with Steph Koyfman. It’s been a while since I’ve listened to this particular pod, and once again I was reminded of how much nourishment and inspiration I get from hearing other people talking about their astrological practice.

After two intensive years of astrological study I made the choice to take 2023 off and it’s been good to have a bit of breathing space. However I’ve also noticed that my energy and enthusiasm for astrology have waned a little without that regular input of classes and conversations. I was reminded of a tarot reading I had a few years ago with the amazing Kelly-Ann Maddox around my lack of inspiration for my Dharma practice. One of her invitations, based on an intuitive read of one of the cards she pulled for me, was: “pay attention to what you are taking in”. In fact, with some reflection, the takeaway for me was around what I wasn’t taking in – I hadn’t been on retreat for a long time and wasn’t doing any listening to or learning from other Buddhists about their practice. Apparently even though I’ve been practicing a long time, I still need some input of inspiration from outside to keep my energies up. Unsurprisingly it turns out the same is true with astrology. Even just 20 minutes of listening to Steph and S.P. talking about the Moon was enough to get me thinking in new ways and feeling pulled back into my own lunar devotions.

So this is just a reminder to me that however much my Aquarius Moon may think I can sustain myself just fine all alone out in space, I do actually need community and the energy that other people sharing their practice (Dharma, astrology or otherwise) can ignite in me. Thank you Taurus Moon for helping me remember.

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Creating Space for Simplicity

Creating Space for Simplicity

01/03/23

When Twitter seemed like it was going to die a sudden death a couple months ago I panic-followed a bunch of my AstroTwitter mutuals on Instagram, as well as setting up my own accounts on Mastodon, Post, Tumblr and probably other places I’ve since forgotten about. Unsurprisingly I’ve found myself feeling overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of words and images and thoughts that I scroll past as I peruse my various feeds. Even though most of it is actually really good, thoughtful stuff that people have clearly poured a lot of time and wisdom into I find I just don’t have the bandwidth for it all. So, I did some radical pruning a couple of weeks ago in an attempt to honor what is slowly forming into a pressing need for quality over quantity.

Photo by Tom Crew on Unsplash

When I first learned about the aesthetic aspect of Wabi Sabi, I was struck by the concept of placement. Things need space to breathe. You can have a house full of beautiful objects but if they’re all jumbled together in chaos, you can’t appreciate them properly. Better to have a small number of treasured items and enough space and time to truly take them in.

I’ve started thinking about content consumption in the same way lately. Left to my own devices I fail horribly at simplicity, despite it being a quality I claim to value highly. Every tiny crack in my day, every moment of boredom or confusion is immediately filled with a torrent of tweets or Instagram stories or what-have-you and nothing has room to breathe, least of all me. Since I discovered ancient astrology a couple of years ago I’ve filled all the larger spaces in my life with lectures, books, study groups and homework, ever hungry for more information on the philosophy, theory and practice of this modality I have fallen in love with so very deeply. Truthfully it’s been one of the happiest periods of my life, but as I peer into the coming year and see my current round of formal training coming to an end soon, I find I’m not rushing to sign up for the next intensive class. Rather I am desirous of a period of time to integrate and let settle everything I’ve learned so far. I’ve even been very gently venturing back into meditation again which has largely been shelved in favor of more mentally stimulating activities in recent years.

It’s my Gemini placements that fuel the constant hunger for more words, ideas and concepts, and my quieter Aquarius Moon that craves open space and simplicity in which to sit still and let the magic of the universe speak to me in its own language. With three planets in Gemini, including my Sun, that part of my chart can be pretty overpowering and yet if my life is to feel balanced and nourishing I have to let my Moon have what she needs as well.

I’ve been pondering what kind of astrologer I want to be and that’s a journey which is only just beginning. For now, I know that I want my client sessions to feel deep and open. I want them to have that Wabi Sabi quality of simplicity and thoughtful placement – a cherished vessel in which my clients feel that they, too, have room to breathe.

So, I quietly declare 2023 to be a year of spaciousness, of daring to be quiet and finding nourishment from and for my lunar self, and sharing that goodness with clients and loved ones and others I meet along the way.