The Lunar Writer: 10 Tips for Using the Dark Moon Energy

This is adapted from an article that appeared on the Write Anything website last month. The original text can be found here. Today and tomorrow are the darkest parts of the moon!

As a child my Uncle worked on a horse stud and the phases of the moon were listed on the calendar that hung on their toilet door - new moon, full moon, quarter moon and so forth. The same calendar adorned the back of my grandparent’s door, so I stared at it quite a bit, intrigued, wondering what it was all about.

It was only after my son was born and I had a friend who was interested in astrology, especially the influence of the moon, that I got to understand better about the cycles of the moon and those horse stud calendars all made more sense to me.

That’s all good and fine for horse breeders, star gazers and company, but what’s this got to do with writing?

Working with the moon is a great way for writers to attune themselves with the natural world, to work with the ebb and flow of energy and to create thirteen unique project pockets (unlike 12 month calendars, there are thirteen lunar months in a year). As someone who is rather useless at personally creating deadlines that are meaningful, working with the moon phases gives me a framework that resonates.

This week begins with the dark moon before the moon is new midweek. Mystic Medusa suggests it is a good time to relax, apply some productive nostalgia and declutter.

Declutter? And it’s not just about shifting all that crap off your desk!

Nury Vittachi, author of the Feng Shui detective series shared at the Byron Bay Writer’s Festival last year how easily writers collect clutter around themselves in the form of dead energy and why it is so important to shift it.

Each piece of correspondence we receive is an energy transaction. Once received we need to do something with it. What do we do with each piece of paper we receive? We file it in a pile on our desk, and when the pile grows unweildly, we take the pile and put it under our desk.

No wonder writers working in such an environment, with so much dead energy around them, struggle to find inspiration. In this age of the paperless environment the 2500 emails in our inbox cause the same congestion of energy on our computers”

Following are my 10 tips for clearing the space - physically, mentally and energetically during the dark moon.

1. Clear, Clean and Reorder your Work/Creative Space

• Dust and run a damp cloth over your desk (mine is always inch thick with dust and cat hair)
• Check and clear whatever has accumulated under your desk during the month - both a scary and fun task
• Empty the overflowing bin
• Take any cups, plates and glasses back to the kitchen
• Return whatever doesn’t belong to you or in your space, to who or where it does belongs (this is usually my son’s toys, especially lego)

Ask yourself what works and doesn’t work in your space. Do something to rectify the situation so that your space is somewhere you love being in. If your dedicated space is an unmanageable mess (as mine was just a few days ago) you will seek out other places to work — and those we live with can be less than tolerant of our writing when we’re claiming the master bed, the couch or the kitchen table as work areas.

2. Repatriate your Books

My books tend to congregate on the bedside table and in random piles on my desk, until it reaches crisis point. Attending to them each month makes the piles manageable and allows the books to live where they are best cared for - away from spilt drinks, cat hair, dust, the direct sun and so forth … and where you can find them!

3. Clean your Computer

This means in inside and out, and also applies to your peripherals and hand held devices.

• Dust down the key board and clean your computer screen
• Defluff and dust your mouse
• Run a cloth over your printer
• Run a defrag
• Dump those temporary files that are clogging up your hard drive
• Resave or delete all the things you saved to the desk top in lieu of a better place
• Do a virus scan

Create some order on your C Drive. It’s the appropriate time to organise your folders (whether that is to create more or delete unnecessarily ones) and refile stories/articles in a logical place. For instance I have two folders that cover all the material for Reclaim Sex After Birth and the associated website but I never go to the correct folder first! This month I’m combining them all in one place.

4. Back Up your Work

Use the dark moon to back up your files monthly - preferably in two places. It is something we all mean to do and put in the ‘to do later’ pile, which incidentally is the same mythical place missing socks wash up! We’ve heard too many horror stories of writers losing work, not to be terrified of the same thing happening to us. I admit to being horrendously slack at doing this and intend to do it as part of my cleaning ritual from now on.

5. Empty your Inbox

Seriously - how many emails have you got in your inbox right here, right now?

Decide what can stay and what can go

• Keeping emails is basically welcoming dead energy, therefore be frugal. When I first started doing this it took more than three hours to go through my two email programs. I was ruthless and thorough!
• Consider all those emails (a friend of mine admitted to over 3000 in her inbox last week) as tiny potential blockages to your creativity. If you doubt me, re-read the wisdom of Vittachi above and tell me it doesn’t resonate somewhere in you?
• If you insist on keeping them ask yourself - what are you really holding onto all those emails for?

Create rules to file your email

• If your email program/client allows for it - do it!
• Rules reduce the amount of email clutter in the generic inbox and help you when trying to track down a specific correspondence.

6. File

If you have any papers lying around - file them. If like me, the filing draw is stuffed full of other miscellaneous items, (reams of paper etc) clear it out so there is room. ‘Papers’ include:

• Drafts that have been critiqued or marked up that are now gathering dust on whatever horizontal surface you can find for them
• Bills that you may have paid or are meaning to pay
• Newspapers or magazines
• Information or research you’ve printed out
• Emails you’ve printed out

They all need a home - or they need to go to the bin (not your drafts of course!)

7. Check your Pens

Are you my scary twin? Do you seem to horde pens that never work? Consider the fact that we’re not always attached to our computers, lap tops, blackberries etc. Go through your pens and jettison any that don’t work. There’s nothing worse than grabbing for a pen and you’ve got to try half a dozen before you find one that works. If the mood takes you - sharpen your pencils.

8. Revisit your Blog/Website

• Is there anything that you have been meaning to update?
• Is your profile information up to date?
• Do all your links work?
• Are there links in your blog list that you no longer visit? Links that you’ve been meaning to add?
• Is there anything you want to get rid of?

Spend ten minutes running through your online pages to make sure your blog/website is working just the way that you want it to work.

9. Write Down your Ideas

Write down any ideas that you have been carrying around in your head

• Always waiting for the right time to space to put them down - do it now! While I am reasonably good at ‘holding that thought’ often phrases of prose and snippets of conversation that come to me, don’t stand the test of time mentally filed. I found this weekend past that I was livid with myself for not having put down a particular conversation. This month I’m downloading to paper.

Take an inventory of your notebooks that you store your ideas in

• Do you know where they are?
• Are they in their appropriate homes (the glove box, your bag/back pack etc)? If not put them where they are meant to be!
• Have you got a functioning pen or pencil with them?
• Do you need a new book or pen?

10. Reflect, Renew, Refocus

Productive Nostalgia

Mystic reminds us that the dark moon is a productive time for nostalgia. I love the notion of productive nostalgia! Take time to think about what’s played out over the month:

• What have you started?
• What have you finished?
• What have you edited? What did you want to edit but never got there?
• What fantastic ideas were you gifted?
• What concepts fell on their face? What got up and ran? Any idea why?
• What people did you met and who did you say good bye to? What impact might they/did they have on you?
• What progress have you made?
• What opportunities were presented and what did you do them?
• What work was rejected and what was published? What never made it that far? Why not?

Purge so that you can renew

If there’s anything you really desperately want to get rid of (a bad habit, criticism, feeling towards a piece of rejected work, writers block) I have this great little trick. Write on a piece of paper what it is your want to get rid of and burn it. That simple. I use the mortar we grind our spices in to do this, on our back verandah. It is both cathartic and a wonderful way to release unproductive energy - literally watching it go up in smoke and drifting off into the ether.

Refocus

• Consider what you want to manifest in the following month. It’s the perfect time to think about what goals you want to work towards in the coming month (wait for the new moon to begin them though!)
• Check your diary for up coming dates - critiquing circles, deadlines for competitions or submissions, workshops, courses or talks.

Paul reminded us a few weeks ago, about the importance of simplifying and downsizing, to focus on what is important. That’s what a monthly clutter can achieve- clear the forest to see the trees so to speak.

This is a long list - lots of ideas. You don’t have to do them all - but try a couple. Different things work for different people. Experiment and share. I’d love to here your experiences.

For the new comer, the mere suggestion of working with lunar cycles can sound like hocus pocus, yet it is the way our ancestors got on with life before the advent of clocks and calendars. While I’ve always said someone with a tidy desk has far too much time on their hands, I now have to admit that keeping my creative space clean and ordered is a way of honouring and respecting myself as a writer. If I can’t honour and respect myself, I shouldn’t expect anyone else to.

The attribution to the beautiful photo has been lost in the blogosphere - and yes, I realise that it's not a dark moon, but a full moon. Dark moon pictures seem to be few and far between! I originally found it at Iris 39

On the dark dark moon

It's a dark moon energy, loitering about in Scorpio. For some reason the Scorpio vibe never gels well with me. It's a time when I sleep badly (especially when its a full moon) and seems to heighten my sensitivity to lots of things. I feel on edge, as if I can hear things that aren't there, and see things from the corner of my eye that don't exist.

While I haven't yet smudged the parts of the house that I want/need to (including my writing space) - I'm hoping I'll be up early enough to warrant setting my white sage alight and wafting it through the house, accompanied by a few well chosen words. I often wonder if the neighbours look at each other in bewilderment as to what I could possibly be smoking - as I normally smudge the house when Mr D's gone to kindy. Sadly no funny ciggies here - just bunches of cleansing sage.

Today, after the box having literally sat in the lounge room all year, I gathered up a collection of birthday presents and sent them. No I didn't sew the Red Riding Hood cape that was to go with it, nor the dinosaur tail. I thought all year was long enough to get motivated to do it - and seeings I haven't it was time for the presents, and the box that has literally been gathering dust to go. I also looked in the other box that's been sitting on the coffee table. It's got the odds and ends in it from the last make over of my creative space. It now has my unfinished curtains in there, the fairy lights and other bits and pieces that never made it back onto my desk. I think I'm resolved to hanging the curtains unhemmed and living with it. I always planned on sewing little silver bells to the bottom ... though Mr D will probably have grown up and left home (if the current rate of progress is anything to go by!) before that ever happens.

As NaNo begins on Saturday, my writing space could have a make over - not necessarily a functional one (ie. clean up all the stuff that hasn't quite been organised yet) but a beautifying one ... treat myself to the curtains - so the afternoon sun doesn't fry me, and put up the fairy lights, however impractial and ecologically nasty - it will remind me that there is something magical and special about writing!

And the desk and the present weren't the only parts of the house to get the treatment. I went through the fridge and felt embarrassed about all the biology experiments happening on various shelves and the composting project that appeared to be conducting itself in the vegie crisper. All clean and tidy now ... and Phil's back from Canada, so I started but didn't have to finished the dishes. Ahhh ....

And now I'm sitting here amusing myself, to be honest, distracting myself, while I wait for sleep to descend on me. I realise now that watching The Happenings, with this particular lunar energy, was probably not a terribly smart move. Even now I feel spooked, as I chant over and over again, it's just make believe, it's just make believe. But it got me thinking about time wasting and the plethora of distractions modern society has. What are we all escaping from. I'm OK with saying tonight that I'm escaping dark and scarey thoughts evoked from the movie ... but what are others out there distracting themselves from.

In the The Artist Way one of the exercises is to go on a reading drought - that is you aren't allowed to read ANYTHING (remembering of course that the book was published before the internet explosion). Cameron says that people medicate themselves with words ... and that's probably a very apt, and rather uncomfortable evaluation of the internet.

Tomorrow's a new day (actually it's today given that we've just clicked over midnight) ... and a new moon. What a lovely energy to begin NaNo with - but more on that soon.


I have no idea who to attribute this eerily photograph - however it was found at Iris39

A little housekeeping

It's currently the dark moon, the very darkest aspect of the moon. As night is darkest just before the dawn, the same is with the moon. And it's the perfect time to clear space. I've been taking to heart the Feng Shui advice given by author and comic Nury Vittachi at the Byron Bay Writers Festival - clear the space. Nury commented that each piece of correspondence we receive is an energy transaction. What do we do with each piece of paper we receive - we file it in a pile on our desk, and when the pile grows unweildly, well then we take the pile and put it under our desk.

The amount of laughter in the marquee was testament to the number of people who know the routine. Nury remarked that it was no wonder that writers working in such an environment, with so much dead energy around them, struggled to find inspiration. In this age paperless environment (sure you only need to look at my desk a few days ago to know how true this isn't!) the 2500 emails in our inbox cause the same congestion of energy on our computers. Nury's advice - read and delete, or read-reply-delete. Don't keep the dead energy hanging around.

The past two days I've been doing just that. It's embarrassing to admit the amount of time it has taken to scour my inboxes (I run two email programmes) and delete out all the unwanted emails. The sad truth was that around 99.9% of the emails went. I have an adversion to deleting emails, after three years of editing, it was always after one of these huge clean ups that I would be searching for 'that particular email' that I had of course designated the week prior as having no future value. It's wonderful to open my email and see only a couple of emails in there ... and no they haven't merely been filed away to all those wonderful side folders. I even went through my filing system and delated out all the old emails from there.

As for my desk - I have one bill to pay, some kindy photos to order. All the books from the recent book fair have found homes downstairs and I'm contemplating the perfect place to store the growing number of filled notebooks that constitute almost a years worth of morning pages. I think I'll build my altar on them downstairs? Also on the list of contemplation is a shuffle of my books - wondering what should leave for shelves else where and what might be needed closer to home. And then some stage tomorrow or Friday morning, I'll wave my smudge stick around, give my creative space a psychic clean and leave all the neighbours to wonder if I sit and smoke funny cigarettes while my son is at kindy. After all - isn't that how all mothers of four year old boys cope?

So - my challenge to you before the new moon hits on Friday evening (in the Sth Hems or around 11am if your in London, 6am-ish in LA) be savage, be rampant, be unforgiving in your decluttering - even if it's just attacking your indominable inbox. Seriously - you'll feel better for it.

Photo from Antishay.com which incidentally has some articles on it about decluttering! How's that for a spot of synchronicity!

Lunar-tics and Nick Earls-speak

The last three full moons have had strong Plutonic influences ... two full moons last month in Scorpio and then yesterday's full moon conjunct Pluto. I'm not sure if it's a new sensitivity to the full moon, or it's the Pluto/Scorpio effect, but the energy has made it almost impossible to settle into sleep.

The last two nights I've given up bed and resettled myself on the couch. It would seem an odd thing to do, when there are at least two other full sized beds in our house. There's something about sleeping on the couch that seperates me from sleep angst and allows me to relax. In the past I've also turned and slept at the other end of the bed, something about a change of scenery that worked as an antidote to insomnia. Well so has been my theory. The couch trick didn't work Tuesday night and but was only slightly more effective last night.

The problem last night was that I must have gone to sleep for a little bit in our bed and then woke up. My whole body ached .. including the soles of my feet. After some tossing and turning, I grabbed two pillows and marched off across the cold wooden floors, bound for the couch. The problem was, that even in that small space of time, my mind had set into creating an internal dialogue in the tone of Nick Earls (I'm currently reading his first novel Zig Zag Street)

Not only am I now suffering from an aching body, strangely aching heels, a fear of not being able to go back to sleep, but I'm now running a comedic commentary about my plight in my head. As I flop on the couch and rearrange the doona (that's left there from the night before) I'm reciting it all back to myself ... or to some other unknown listener? At least I've bought two pillows tonight, that's forethought for you .... why are my heels sore, its like I've been to a rave and I only danced on the back part of my foot all night and that's where I got this weird heel pain from ... the full moon light is seeking me out like daggers between the venetian blinds ... seriously!

Then when I do get to sleep, it's my own nocturnal take on what I'd just read. It's my turn to not sleep in my hotel room, because I'm asleep in another hotel room with someone (in this case it wasn't my boss - I have no idea who it was and there was definitely not sex involved) And thrown in there, at some point in the dream, I'm in a night club (it's nothing like I've even been in, in real life, but I've been to this club before in my dreams) and there's a man there putting make up .. and it all seems quite reasonable. I put on make up too. My eyes are made up in the most vivid, vibrant metallic magenta, in a way that's not possible in real life (because of course the shape of my eyes is different in this dream) When I look in the mirror I have long hair - down to my shoulders and it's dark and curly like my friend Michelle's. I ponder that it's odd - I was certain my hair was short when I arrived. When the dream ends I realise that because I didn't sleep in my hotel room, I've gone home and left everything that I brought in my hotel room - the unslept in hotel room.

Tonight I'm hoping for better - slightly more sensible dreams (yeah right!) and better sleep. Tonight the moon is waning in the the sensible sign of Capricorn ... well grounded and steady. Maybe I wont need to sleep on the couch tonight. I'm dog tired and I have been for days. I'm about to bleed (I've been anticipating it for days now as my rational brain has already taken leave of my body and is set up in the Red Tent waiting for the rest of me to arrive) and I just want to sleep ...

MOON BLOOD: elemental menstruation

“Blood is the connection between the light and the dark ... It carries the soul, as it is the mixture of the feminine and the masculine. It is the seed of life.”
Felicity Wombwell
‘The Goddess Changes’

A woman’s womb is her sacred core. It is the centre from which she physically and metaphorically conceives, nurtures and births her creations. Menstruation is a crucial function of this space – a sacrosanct monthly activity which invites all women to reconnect with their divine selves, both as woman and goddess. This is a time when the inner and outer world is thinly veiled and to cross between is at its easiest.

There is much pleasure and empowerment to be found in celebrating the experience of bleeding each month. Menstruation is what makes us proud and strong, divine and sensual, connected and content women. Yet we are burdened by centuries of shame and embarrassment; pleasure and empowerment have been replaced with pain and disconnection. Estrangement from the natural rhythms and processes of menstruation has bought with it a myriad of menstrual disease. Women have lost their wisdom and their bond of the blood - and they are suffering.

The following is my own interpretation of an elemental experience of menstruation based on Alexandra Pope’s theory that process of menstruation is the most sensitive of our biological process to toxicity. She asserts that when we are exposed to any sort of toxicity or stressor in life, it is expressed as dysfunction in the way in which we bleed (which includes the days leading up to bleeding). My assertion is that shame and disconnection are very real toxins that are unsettling our elemental-balance, poisoning women physically, emotionally, spiritually and intellectually. I believe this is a different paradigm in which to explore our notions and experience of menstrual disease.

FIRE – self will
Fire is the element of creativity, imagination, action and passion. It is our will, our drive and motivation. It’s also considered in the Three World elemental view to represent separateness, sacredness, the unknown and madness. Fire is the red of menstrual blood and also the colour of transformation.

Fire in the negative expression is found in the anger and uncontrollable rage often associated with PreMenstrual Tension (PMT). It is the burning desire to be left alone, when we most acutely feel the lack of boundaries in our lives. Fire is also the irritability that creeps under the skin like small insects and the dissatisfaction with everything, regardless of how perfect life may have seemed that morning. It is the distance that we place between ourselves and our most sacred of biological processes. Alternatively it can manifest as apathy and a lack of motivation (which is different from feeling tired or lethargic) – the ‘I can’t be bothered ….’ or ‘who cares’. It is the literal manifestation of the too much or too little fire in our blood.

Suggestions for reclaiming menstruation through the element of fire:

*Work ritually with anger/irritation/dissatisfaction/apathy. They are pointing you, like a compass, to whatever in your life is not working. Do you need to reset your boundaries? Do you need to find a job that allows you to express your creativity or imagination? Do you need to take a good look at relationships in your life that are not working for you? Write a list of things in your life that you are not happy with, and burn them ceremoniously. Then write a new list, of things that you wish to welcome into your life. Place these on your altar to remind you of the new energy and experiences that you are welcoming into your life.

*Gift yourself a creative project for your bleeding time – is there a creative pursuit that you really love but never have time to do it. You moon time is a perfect time to pamper yourself, your creativity and your imagination.

*Wear a piece of red clothing, a red necklace or burn a red candle

*Use you anger productively - write a letter of protest to your local member of Parliament about the environment, women’s rights or another social justice issue that you are passionate about .

*Work with Pele (awakenings) or Lillith (power)*

AIR – self belief
Air is the element of thought, knowledge and communication. It is the element of our intellect, our inspiration but also our detachment. Our wisdom is bound to the element of air.

Air represents the negative beliefs and thought patterns that we have about menstruation. It is the ideas we have inherited about being cursed, dirty and shameful; the buying into and perpetuation of the patriarchal myths about menstruation and women in general. Additionally it is the emphasis on silence or the sharing of only negative experiences of bleeding. It can manifest physically as a sense of detachment or dislocation with the world. Air is most commonly experienced as forgetfulness.

Suggestions for reclaiming menstruation through the element of air:

* Read books such as the The Wise Wound, Blood, bread & roses: how menstruation created the world, The Wild Genie, Women’s Wisdom Women’s Bodies and Moon Rites and get a different view on menstruation.

* Invite a few friends over for an informal ‘blood circle’ – share your experiences of menstruation, from menarche until now.

* Write down all your negative beliefs around menstruation and replace them with positive ones.

*Work with Maya (illusions) and Minerva (beliefs)

WATER – self love
Water is the element of emotions, feeling and intuition. It is our connection to the cyclic and lunar nature of life – the never ending circle of birth, death and rebirth. It is our menstrual blood. The element of water also embodies dimensions of honour and power in the Three World view. Water is our ability to literally ‘go with the flow.’ Dreams and the experience of the unconsciousness are also connected to the element of water.

Water represents the mood swings and unpredictability that is the flip side of the anger and rage of PMT. It is the depression, the sorrow and tears that are shed. It is best symbolised by the use of tampons, which literally plug the flow of blood from the body, thwarting the flow of power within our body. It is the dishonouring of the most essential part of our womanhood, the hatred that we lavish ourselves through the hatred of our bleeding. The element of water can also manifest as dreams of blood. Water in its most negative manifestation is the manner in which divorce ourselves completely from the process of menstruation pharmacologically by continually taking the Pill, or consenting to injections and implants that stop the cyclic process all together.

Suggestions for reclaiming menstruation through the element of water:

* Use cloth pads and allow yourself to experience the flow of blood from your body. Allow yourself to feel honoured, powerful and loved.

* Consider natural and time honoured methods of contraception that do not interfere with your natural cycles.

* Chart your cycle using a moon diary.

* Consider working with a therapist, in the fields of kinesiology, acupuncture, homeopathy or naturopathy if you feel your extremes of emotions affect your ability to function.

* Relax in a warm scented bath

* Eat roasted sweet potato to help balance out mood swings.

* Mourn and let go of the disappointments of the preceding month. Use a similar ritual as the one detailed in the fire section.

* Keep a dream diary, and note common themes or messages in relation to their place in your cycle.

* Write a list of simple pleasures which you can treat yourself to every day, as a way of saying to yourself ‘I love you’ – but especially in the days before you bleed and while you are bleeding.

* Work with Morgan le Faye (rhythms) and Changing Woman (cycles)

Earth – self nourishment
Earth is the element of grounding, of the real and tangible. It is the element of physical experience – of pain and pleasure. Earth is the element of fertility, nurturing and nourishment. It is the element of sensuality.

Earth is experienced as a feeling of heaviness in the body, of low energy and tiredness. It manifests physically in bloating, breast tenderness, migraines, cramping, back ache and the debilitating pain of bleeding. This is the element also associated with sugar cravings. And it’s where we buy into consumerism and the ultimate dishonouring of our blood. We buy tampons and synthetic, artificially scented sanitary pads that poison our bodies, aggravating our wombs, causing pain and increased bleeding. And then we throw away our blood.

Suggestions for reclaiming menstruation through the element of earth:

* REST! (either before or during your bleeding) when your energy is at its lowest ebb. This is honestly the kindest thing you can do for yourself and your family. One day of nurturing will recharge you for another month and can work to avert the worst of the physical manifestations (such as migraines and debilitating pain – which force your body to stop!)

* Nourish your body with organic, well cooked food – especially lots of protein to counter sugar cravings.

* Make or buy cloth pads and use the soaking water to fertilise and nourish your
garden.

* Use natural forms of pain relief, such as hot packs and essential oils

* If you experience extreme pain during bleeding, considering doing a detox or work with castor oil packs to purge your system of toxins in between moon times (great information is contained in Alexandra Pope’s ‘Wild Genie’ for those who are debilitated by menstrual pain.)

ETHER – spiritual connection
The ether is also called the spirit. To me it is the connection that binds us all together – individually to the Great Creatrix and collectively to each other.

Due to the shrouds of shame and each woman’s ideas of being dirty and cursed by menstruation, the sacred experience of menstruation has been denigrated and disconnected from a spiritual source. It is said during menstruation that the veil that divides us from our inner self is at its thinnest and we can be at our most connected, and I see that this is the same with our connection with the Creatrix if we are willing to explore. Menstruation is an invitation and opportunity to walk and work with Her.

Women were never meant to bleed alone, in obscurity and derision. Any of you who have ever share housed with at least one other woman will know that cycles link up. To me this is a very clear sign post that menstruation is intended to be a social activity, to be done collectively as sacred and important. As a special significant social activity, it is imperative that young girls are initiated into power and pleasure of bleeding at menarche by other women. This is where the quiet revolution begins.

By embracing and exploring the negative expressions of our menstruation, I believe that we are able to move closer to sealing the breech between the light and the darkness. By using the characteristics unique to each of the five elements, I believe we can all find ways to re-channel pleasure and power back into our experiences of bleeding, and to assist in rescuing our most sacred aspect of womanhood. Women need to act now to spark a rebellion against shame and disconnection if they are to reclaim menstruation as precious, sacred and significant. And when they do, each women will again be valued, blessed and powerful.


Published in this month's GAIA newsletter

Wishes for a New Moon: Capricorn

• I want to consciously and easily use time to my best advantage


• I want to easily find myself demonstrating my competency in fiction and non fiction writing


• I want to be filled with confidence and self discipline, successfully reaching my goal of being a published writer.


• I want total clarity in setting appropriate goals that lead to success in the area I desire.


• I want to easily find myself recognising and utilising opportunities when they arise


• I want to easily find myself filled with the right ideas leading to success in the area of writing


• I want to easily find myself seeing life in a way that bringsjoy.


• I want to easily find myself managing my time in a way that allows plenty of time for work, play and family.


• I want to easily find myself filled with optimism and faith, pursuing directions that make me feel free.

Themes for the current Capricorn new moon:

future security

handling responsibility

reaching goals

success and recognition

management skills

authority figures

releasing controlling tendencies

Jan Spiller, author of New Moon Astrology (where this information and the above wishes is derived) suggests casting or making your wishes within eight hours of the new moon, for best affect, but at any time during the 48 hours past the new moon (unless the moon goes void of course). She also suggests making more than one wish, but no more than ten. The last two points she suggests are that they wishes must always be handwritten (I have a special diary that they are written n) and that you go with your gut feeling on the wishes - I guess without the aid of the book it opens you to go with your intuition for what you want to wish for based on the above themes.

I've been doing this since May last year, and find that it helps to chart my course, by best harnessing the energy present at the beginning of each month. It's not surprising I guess that a lot of my wishes are focused on writing - seeings this is the major aspect of my life that I want to nurture and develop in the coming year. It also seems to bring together what is going on in my life at the time, and synthesizing it into a positive format with which to work with.

At the end of my little writing ritual I always go to my Goddess pack and draw two cards - the top and the bottom cards to see the energy that I have to work with to allow the wishes to materialise ... and as always there is a definite synergy between the cards at the wishes. I got a new pack of Goddess cards for Christmas, so this was their first trip out for the lunar wishes.

This month I drew on the top (which I refer to as the conscious, or what is definitely 'on top' for me in my life at the moment) Nu Kua, who is a Chinese goddess who embodies "Order". With all the reordering that has been going on - this was no surprise. Her wisdom to me:

"Now is the time to nurture yourself with order that assists rather than chockes your life force ... when life is ordered in a natural way, you nurture your path to wholeness."

The bottom card (which I refer to as the unconscious, what is rising to the surface to be understood or acknowledged or is passing and becoming incorporated into life ... and the two cards always seem to work together - often what is on the top one month, is on the bottom the next month) Gyhldeptis is a North American Goddess who embodies 'Synthesis". Her wisdom to me:

"This is the time to find the common thread that will serve your needs in the best way ... wholeness is created when all the parts are honoured and listened to."

More musings on this beautiful Goddess wisdom later. And a Happy New Moon and astrological/lunar year to everyone.

Artwork: "To Be Born" by Remedios Varo, Sagittarian Surrealist ... painting came through with my AstroRave this morning and seemed quite fitting, not to mention beautiful.

Dark Moon decluttering

The Moon is currently waning - that is slowly disappearing in our skies, waiting to be born anew on Tuesday.

I've been taking full advantage of the energy to clear out stuff - my email inbox has been attacked, resorted, new rules applied and mountains of emails simply culled to the deleted box ... and it feels good.

My work station/desk/office is in the throes of being re modelled. Whilst I probably wont get as far as building a new mini bookshelf for the desk, I'm hauling all the HMA stuff off, putting it in a box and handing it over on Monday. As for the rest of it ... its also in a box (which a few more pieces to follow tomorrow) so I can give the desk a good wipe down and start afresh. I want to make room for the my desk tidy that Dylan and Dave lovingly created for me for my birthday.

The next on my hit list in the bedroom - reduce the piles of clothing stacked on drawers to zero and rebuild my altar - though that could possibly wait until the new moon.

Anyway - I am well aware that this is the second last (penultimate) dark moon before the Chinese New Year (my new year) and lots has to be moved, shipped off, burnt, thrown out, au revoired .. you get my point. For me the New Year hasn't really begun ... and this limbo land, betwixt (I've always wanted to use that word) two years is a great time to let it all go.