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Ritual for the Full Blue Moon in Libra

These first three months of 2018 have hit me hard. We have had two blue moons in the first three months and one month with no full moon but a beautiful New Moon.  When the year started, I knew it was going to include some different energy, I just didn’t know how powerful these changes would be.

I have spent the last few months focusing on healing. This healing is not just physical but also spiritual and mental. I have been going through 30 years’ worth of memories, reliving each one and then letting them go.  I have been sorting much of my life down to the bare essentials.  I have become living proof of the magic of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing.  I have sorted much of my life and found some gems of truth and parts of myself that were long hidden.

I have come home.

During this process I found it was important to protect myself. As I travel back in time across the mountains of memories, I have been going quiet to really hear about they had to say. This resulted in very little communication with the outside world and very little writing. I spent my days moving and working, paint brush in hand, ladder set-up and ready to be climbed.  I thought about my childhood and how I got to this place.  I thought about different people in my life as I sorted photos from middle school, high school, Europe, college, New York City, Wisconsin, Olympia, and Seattle, to name a few. I thought of trips to California to see childhood friends and family. I looked at photos of family reunions, weddings and graduations.  I thought about all these things as I cleaned and painted. I made trips to the Goodwill, to the dump and many trips to the hardware store. I chatted with strangers about phases in life and how I think of them differently as I ease into middle age. I have connected with other women that were starting to think about what they were going to do with their parents, their relatives, their friends that are all aging and changing as well as themselves.  I thought about how my life is so different than what I imagined it would be like when I was younger. I continue to make new friends but I also still hold onto people from childhood. While I have changed in some ways, I still feel very much connected to who I was when I was younger and healthier.

I also have spent regular time with a very core group of people. I have cried in front of them while explaining my life-changing illnesses. I have been forced to be raw and vulnerable during this time and could only survive if I started setting up boundaries and taking care of my full self; Body, Mind and Spirit.   I have moved through some of the stages of grief and observed how things have changed during my cleaning process. I finally have reached a level of acceptance that makes it possible to feel gratitude for this current stage and the new one that is starting to appear.

I’m beginning to feel the change of energy and I’m ready to embrace it. Even though the last few months have been difficult, in the last few weeks, I have been made to blush, been hugged, been made to feel special and been kissed. I spent time laughing with people and being vulnerable with them.  I am enjoying this time spent with people so much more now.  I have also worked on my tech addiction so that when I am with someone, I rarely check my phone or computer. I look people in the eyes and really hear what they have to say. I have no interest in being in two places at once anymore, and am learning to enjoy silence with other people. It’s been beautiful.

I know that I still have a lot of work to do over the course of the year and I’m hoping with the end of the blue moon season, I will come even more out of my shell. I am just starting to realize that these changes are part of my journey.   I wrote weekly rituals for years and then, suddenly, I needed some time to heal.

Ritual for Connection

Now that we are coming up to the last blue moon in Libra, we are wanting connection, we are wanting to communicate from our hearts and to give really long hugs.  But also please be aware, this Blue Moon comes with some unsavory energy.  We may feel needy, ungrounded or ready to get intertwined with people, even if it is not a good idea.

The emotionally unavailable, the bad choices that seem so sexy, the ones that hurt, all will be a little shinier during this phase. We want to use this time to think about how to connect with people in ways that are good for us in the long term, not just for our pleasure.

Part of my process working up to this Blue Moon has been to finally say to others what I have been holding onto inside. I feel too tired to defend my feelings anymore to certain people because, why should I have too? I understand life from my heart telescope and that is the beauty of life. We get to see things differently. We can work to understand each other and how we all got to certain places, but with no need for us to change any of this. I find myself drifting away from people that can’t hear or see me into the arms of people that not only see me but also care about how I got here.  I find myself connecting with friends and loved ones in ways that I been denying myself for a long time.  A hug is a good thing. Time spent talking is an elixir and laughter is a cure-all.

How can we use the positive Libra energy of connection to open ourselves up to love in all it’s forms?  A best-friend is as needed as a partner.  Connection is not just about family and partners, it’s about community and our chosen-family.

Spend some time this week with people that make you smile, make you laugh, make you sparkle.  Plan a girlfriend brunch, a children’s outing or a date night.  Make plans to have fun with others.  Let’s plan some time when our computers, iPads and phone are put away and we can just be present to those in front of us.  Let’s all be extroverts for a couple of hours this Full Moon and enjoy our time together.  Then let’s go back to our homes and spend some time in silence to recharge.  Let’s connect with our community to make sure we are headed in a direction we need to go in, and if not, let’s think about what we can do to help make the world a better place.   Let’s give thanks to our loved ones, including ourselves.  Spend the day exploring something that makes your heart and spirit happy.   That’s your only work this Blue Moon.  Do something that fills you and others with Joy.  Throw a party, go out for a meal, talk a walk with your best friend, take the kids to the Zoo.  Do something that will allow you to connect to people.