January 31/New Moon Number 2
January 31/New Moon Number 2
The Cycle Begins Again
A new moon cycle begins today. And with it a new revolution of this newsletter.
The moon rules the water world in its Wu Wei way. Let me explain. Although you don’t see gravity, you know it is there, right? Even early on in life you learn about it, sitting in our high chairs, dropping toast and tippy cups just to have our mother pick them up. Those early experiments in how the world works started with observation and curiosity. Through this same application of attention you could observe how the moon pulls the water and creates earth’s tides. We learn it in school, but we could learn it through observation of the sky and how and where and when the waves lap the shore, somebody spent the time observing that anyway. Even now today, you could study how the forces of the moon and sun work together to form long-period waves. All it requires is attention to the moon, a celestial body of matter in space, where it is in relation to the life we live here on earth, but often our attention is elsewhere. We focus more on the way the sun rises and sets and if the clouds will obscure it’s light. How cold this day will be compared to the next. Where the moon shows up in the night sky matters little to our plans these days. Unless we orient our life more around it.
It’s been a little bit more than a year now that I have been including the moon in my orientation to time. And over the course of the year, I’ve learned a lot about how that influences my energy, about my ability to make plans, and how I need a reminder to look back in order to go forward. I really wish I had brought the moon into my orbit of awareness long ago. And yet, no regrets, because who knows if I could have held it all before now.
The moon, through its affects on water, is related to your emotional body. This is a bit of yoga speak now. The second Chakra element concerns water. And water is the element of emotions. The moon, throughout time, has always been associated with women and motherhood. And whether this feels more woo woo (different then Wu Wei!) than you are usually comfortable with, the momentum of the moon as that kind of symbol exists because of years and years of it being included in our spiritual cannon. Also, the average 28 day menstrual cycle as it relates to hormones is part of the truth of child bearing and it comes very close to the same duration as the lunar cycle. That timing is built into our evolution as a species. And who is to say which came first, the chicken or the egg? Let me know if I got any of this wrong, please.
So all that to say, it is perfect for me to use the moon to explore this emotional loss of my mother and this journey that we are on. Partly because it is emotional, and partly because it is about my mother. The beauty of a moon cycle is it takes time and therefore gives emotions a chance to move, because that is what they want to do. We will be staying on the topic of Mom and the theme of forgiveness, and I will particularly take on the theme of forgiveness as it relates to feminism. At least for me personally in relationship to my mother. I intend to speak the truth as I know it about feminism. These are my promises. And I also ask your forgiveness if I say things that are hurtful. It is not my intention to hurt anyone. Please reach out if you think I got any of it wrong. Don’t worry about ruffling feathers, as I promise to forgive you as best I can. Birds of a feather have got to flock together. (I think I will have more to say about this.)
I will post on each of the moon’s primary phases. I may or may not post other times. Not deciding now most likely means that I won’t. I know myself well enough. But I want to give myself some time to do other things. One of which involves this project Becka and I are working on. I hope to invite you over to it soon. In the meantime, the new moon post will always be where I set my intentions for the upcoming 29.5 day period to starts me out on the right footing. It will also be the post that anchors all the administration work that comes with managing and maintaining this current writing life as I live it: Correspondence. Consistency of systems. Communication. Organization. Documentation. Calendars. Finances. I’m probably forgetting things here.
If you are new here, welcome! I am so glad you are here. I started this blog/newsletter a month ago to write about my mother, Carol Baudler, and my family’s journey with her Alzheimer’s and dementia care and all that entails. You can log into the website to read the full archives if you wish, or just join us going forward. Here is a link to my first post including a land acknowledgement that I did at the beginning of this newsletter. At some point, I will do another, but not yet. Best ways to be in touch with me is write a comments or, if you prefer to remain anonymous, you can just reply to this email. innertrollyoga@gmail.com
More soon.
Much love, Tina