Living by the moon

It was a couple of years ago now that I started paying more attention to the moon and it’s phases. I set my intention to live by the moon cycles, but at first I found myself losing track of whether the moon was waxing or waning and I felt frustrated because the moon wasn’t always visible to be able to check up on it.


I designed my first moon phase calendar so that I could see at a glance what was happening and also know the ‘old name’ for each moon. To me the names of each month’s moon, such as ‘hunter’s moon, cold moon and wolf moon’ all held their own energy that helped give me a sense of connection to nature.


This has been really useful to me and I want to share a bit about how I approach working with the moons energies.


What I like about paying attention to the moon’s phases is that it is a cycle, there is a beginning and an end. I think of it a lot in terms of yoga, where the new moon is the in breath, it is the beginning of the movement. Even before you make your first movement in yoga, you would connect to your foundations, become aware of how you are feeling and prepare for movement.

This is new moon energy, it is the moment before you step out into action. A good time to do some journaling and write down your overarching goal for the month. Once you have this clear in your mind you start moving forwards and taking action. The waxing moon has a feeling of new beginnings to me. It’s like a mini new year every month! You can start afresh.


I tend to use the energy for my art and my business, it’s a time for goal setting and planning and pushing forwards, but it could be used for all areas of your life. It all depends on your personal needs. Do you need to focus on health and exercise? Relationships? Diet?


You can then use the first quarter to check in with yourself. Are you moving forwards? What didn’t go to plan? What do you need to do next in order to reach your goal for the full moon? It’s important to remember that it only takes two weeks to go from a new moon to a full moon, so it’s good to be realistic!

The full moon has a lot of energy and you can feel it 3 days before and 3 days after the actual full moon. It’s a good time to charge your crystals and yourself! You might well be feeling a bit tired as your consciousness shifts through becoming more self aware and the extra energy available to you.


It’s also worth noting that each moon has an astrological association and this is something that I am still learning about. It’s worth following Kara Melendy and Jordanna Levin to get detailed reports on the particulars!


The full moon is also the out breath and it’s useful to take a pause and reflect and start to let go of your efforts.


I was listening to a podcast by Jessica Lively and she was doing a channeled session. Some of her words really stuck with me. She was talking about how you can have fun baking a cake, mixing the ingredients etc, but you are not the oven!

This is the feeling of the waning moon. You have put things into motion with your intention and action, but things don’t happen overnight however much we wish them too. So this is a good time for taking stock, cleaning your home, decluttering and self care. It’s restorative and reflective.


The process then puts you in a really good position for the new moon when you get to decide all over again what you want and what you want to achieve.


Now of course, things don’t always run like this! I have entered new moons feeling pretty wiped out and low on energy. We are all different and each cycle will be different. What I think is important is that this is a natural cycle that we can use to check in with ourselves.


It’s a tool for going deeper into our minds because the more we do this, the clearer our habits become. We can learn what our blocks are and we can also learn to accept the times when effort is not required.


So this is how I use the moon. Of course there is much more you can do, especially if you like working with spells/ritual magic and/or like to garden! I’d love to hear how you use and interact with the moon’s energies. Let me know in the comment section or follow me on Facebook www.facebbok.com/glitterandearth


You can also buy my moon calendars in my Etsy shop www.glitterandearth.etsy.com