Working with the monthly lunar cycles is an important and powerful starting point for understanding the deep ebbs and flows that impact us on a daily, monthly, and yearly basis. 

It is common knowledge that the moon influences the tides, with the full or even super moon creating exceptionally high and low tides. If you think for a moment about how much of our physiology is made up of water (ranging between 45%-75%), you would naturally conclude that we are intimately impacted by the ebbs and flows of our own chemistry, directly related to the movements of the lunar cycles.  There are other influences certainly, however, the monthly lunar cycle is a key player in how we feel, engage, heal, and relate to ourselves and the world around us.

While we are all affected by these lunar cycles, female biology is particularly sensitive to lunar movements to the point that it mirrors a woman's menstrual cycle.  Of course, this has variations and nuances, but for the most part, a woman's menstrual and hormone cycle is intimately connected to the monthly lunar transitions.

I am sure you have stood out on a dark, starry night to be awe-struck by the beauty of the moon smiling back at you in the sky. Beyond the moon's physiological impacts on us, we all have an ancient spiritual connection to her as she journeys from darkness into full-bodied radiance and then back again to the womb of introspection.

It is death and rebirth.

It is potential becoming manifest.

It is the midwife to the underworld.

It is where our subconscious plays.

Why is it important to understand the monthly lunar cycles?

• Women: There is an obvious connection between women’s biology and the monthly lunar transitions, and knowing how to work with not only your own hormonal monthly shifts but also how they are impacted by the physiological, emotional, and spiritual pull of the moon will allow you to harness and work with the energies at play rather than subject to or against them.
• Men: These monthly cycles impact men's mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual experiences as well! There are swelling focus points transitioning throughout the month, and understanding and harnessing these energetic movements or pivot points will serve to deepen your own healing, catalyze and focus your particular goals, and even suggest what you need to put on the back burner until a more optimally aligned time.
• Children: Children are naturally receptive to the energetic shifts we are constantly experiencing. They are more sensitive, and because of that, it is important that we, as parents, grandparents, or caretakers, have a reference point on what they may be energetically experiencing so we can best support them and help to integrate or process their growth and development.

What is the lunar cycle & working with the unique energies of each lunar cycle.

The moon transitions around the Earth at the rate of about 29 days.  Starting at the New Moon, it grows or ‘Waxes’ towards the Full Moon, where it then reduces in visual size or ‘Wanes’ back toward the New Moon, completing its lunar cycle. 

Each month, the moon's journey progresses through each of the 12 zodiac signs.  It will stay in a zodiac sign for about 2.5 days.  This is vitally important because each of the zodiac signs adds a unique and significant focus or flavor to the expression through which the moon’s energies are being experienced.  For example, a Full Moon in Aries will feel VERY different than a Full Moon in Scorpio.  It will obviously have the same characteristics as every full moon; however, the specific focus and the way you will work with this moon (or not work with it) are directly impacted by the sign it is in or moving through.  

New Moon (Dark Moon)

When the sky is dark with no sign of the Moon

• The Energy of the New Moon is the strongest on the day of the New Moon as well as the day before and the day after.
• This is a time when we are invited to go inside and connect with our intuition and inner guidance.
• A Time of Rest & Reflection
• Align with the energies of that specific moon to set intentions, monthly healing and transformation journeys, and manifestations. We are planting the seeds here fueled by intention and catalyzed when they are aligned with the energies already present.
• It is a time to sit with the darkness within you and the mystery that lies in the unknown crevasses of your psyche and soul.
• The Veil is Thinner: It is the perfect time to dive into the shadows of the subconscious, do ancestorial and generational work, and access the wisdom encoded in your bone marrow and DNA. It is also a wonderful time for Divination work if that is in your practice.
• This is a time of Powerful Transformation, and protecting your space and energy is important.

• This is a potent time to surrender those things coming up that no longer serve you, then sit in communion and sacred space with those that walk with you, guide and protect you, converse with the divine, sharpen the language of your intuition and co-create the seeds, healing and intentions ready to be planted in accordance with the next moon cycle.

Journaling & Contemplation Prompts:

• What is being asked to be birthed, created, or transformed over the next lunar cycle?
• What inside me is ready to let go that I haven’t already? Think fears, doubts, insecurities, behaviors, attachments or relationships.
• Are there any specific allies needed during this process?
• Do I need to take any specific actions to make this happen? *This may unfold in clarity over the next few days.
• How will myself and my lived experience be different when this healing, growth or change is fully expressed? Get specific here!

Power Moon

Day 2-3 after the New Moon

• I heard about this special and potent Moon Phase from Sarah Thomas at the Upper Clarity School of Stone Medicine. Intentionally working with this brief but powerful transition of the moon takes the seed or intention you set at the New Moon and launches it with momentum and maximum potential as the Moon continues to Wax and midwife that seed or intention into full expression at the Full Moon.
• Capitalizing on this profound energy is like an added supercharge. This is a great time to lean into ritual or ceremony work to put action and clarity into what you are setting in motion.
• This is the moment that you take that dream, goal, desire, healing, or transformation from the dream time, subconscious, or darkness of the New Moon into form with full potential.
• Sarah Thomas suggests that this is a great time to activate crystals you are working with around the intention you set during the New Moon.

Waxing Moon

As the Moon swells into the Full Moon

• This is a time when everything is being maximized. Your intentions are being nurtured and growing into themselves. Do things that Amplify, Build, and Nurture this process.
• Remember, YOU are the conduit of creation and transformation. Spend time weaving and fortifying this new energy into your daily life.
• As the Moon is waxing closer to the Full Moon, just as if you were preparing for a newborn child, with the same care and attention, infuse your space, your rituals, and your body with the growing energy behind the intention you are bringing into physical form.
• Pay keen attention to your thoughts and day-to-day actions during this time. We are the physical conduits for change or creation to become a tangible reality. It is important that mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually, you hold coherent space aligned with that month's focus or growing seed. YOU are literally the change and transformation that is happening! Treat this time like a prayer in motion.

Full Moon

Mid-Lunar Cycle: When the Moon is producing maximum light

• You can work with this energy on the Full Moon as well as the day before and the day after.
• This is a time of celebration and harnessing the big energy a Full Moon brings towards the seeds or intentions that were set during the New Moon.
• This is a time for you and your dreams, goals, and desires to be fully seen and witnessed.
• It is a time of expansion and where things are reaching their full maturity, being fully seen, and taking up the space of being fully present in the world. Full Expression.
• This is when you would launch a new business, project, or put your creation out into the world.
• This is a powerful time to lean into ceremony and fully embody the dream, goal, or desire down to every cell in your body!

Clearing Moon

3-5 Days after the Full Moon

• You can capitalize on this time for big releases in your body, home, emotionally, or even spiritually.

• This would be an ideal time, right after you have birthed, so to speak, your goal, dream, desire, or creation during the Full moon, to intentionally let anything that may be still clinging or holding on (old patterns, ways of thinking, beliefs, habits, etc…) gently and intentionally go. This is a process that can be effortless with personal surrender, as any hooks or attachments that would inhibit the full expression of what you are birthing naturally fall away.

• The energy here is primed to let go and clear. Sarah Thomas at the Upper Clarity School of Stone Medicine suggests this is a great time to clear crystals, especially those that have an affinity to the moon like Selenite, Pearl and Moonstone.

Waning Moon

The Moon is getting smaller.  Headed to the New Moon

• This is a time of release, letting go, banishing, and clearing.
• As the last tethers of what does not serve you based on the new expression that has been birthed are falling away, notice the new open spaces in your spirit, soul, body, and psyche that can further invite that goal, dream, and desire in.
• Grief: Anytime we let things go, no matter how unhelpful or even toxic they may be for us…there can oftentimes be waves of grief letting go of these old patterns, behaviors, and attachments. We are reconstructing our reality and identity. True inner alchemy. Just be aware that this is a normal part of the Waning process headed into the energies of the next New Moon. When you ride the waves of grief, see if you can find the vein of sweetness brought by the New You flowing in.

Journal or Contemplation Prompts:

• What needs to be released or let go as I embody a new version of myself?
• Are there any habits, unhelpful thought processes, or attachments that need to be attended to and released?
• As you embody the new version of yourself, scan your body and notice if there are any areas that are constricted, tense, or resistant. Connect with those areas. What is the fear? What does that part need to feel better or heal so it can be released?

This is a great time for cleansing rituals or practices, such as salt baths, saunas, and walks in nature.  Anytime you are working with releasing or letting significant things go that no longer serve you, be gentle with yourself.  Lean into things that feel nourishing, bring you joy, and lift your spirits. 

The Inner Compass

 Beginning to work with the Lunar Cycles and energies is a powerful starting point in bringing your dreams, goals, and desires for yourself and the world into reality, BUT it is only one aspect of the ebbs and flows we can align with and harness! 

Each Lunar Cycle is uniquely flavored and charged by the astrological sign it is in. We are pulled by the robust movements of the seasons and the effects of the solar cycles (just to name a few).  This is some of the architecture around the Sacred Calendar.  Being aware of these ebbs and flows and how they personally impact you and your family gives a framework to align, harness, and engage in a uniquely potent way. 

I hope this was helpful; if you would like a FREE, easy-to-use reference guide to print off or download, just CLICK HERE! 

If you would like to learn more about each month’s important influences in a simple, straightforward, and easy-to-understand kind of way, CLICK HERE for more information OR visit www.TheReframe.net.

As always, I would love to hear from you! Please visit us on our social media, YouTube, and wherever you get your favorite podcasts! 

Yes! I Want to Connect! 

Until next time my friends ~

 Rebecca