First Full Moon of this new year 2024!! WHEW!
Numerous times, I have tried to sit and write some kind of New Year Hooray message but "life" got in the way. The New Year decided to start off with a "Bang" with the boiler in my house going (exactly at the same time we experienced the coldest temps of the year, but of course),my car overheating and blowing a gasket and wouldn't you know it the part that needs replaced has been back ordered for a year and a half (!), and numerous dealings with flawed systems paperwork issues where I have spent hours in AI chatbot support menu loop from hell. So has this year felt new for me? Hell no!
Which has made me ponder what it really means to start a new year anyways... As we know, our calendar system is a completely contrived one, not based on any kind of actual cycle that occurs naturally. The recent Gregorian calendar was created/adjusted under a pope to establish taxation dates and replaced the previous Julian calendar created by a bunch of Roman Caesars to pat themselves on the back. Where do you think the months July and August got their names! Popes and Emperors dictating our lives....hmmm...
Natural calendar cycles for when the New Year starts still exist.
There are cultures that use the lunar calendar to determine the new year, or set timing related to the solar cycle linked to equinox, when seeds are first to be planted. Dates related to harvest cycle or based on religious events are the most common, and vary by latitude affecting the season, or by religious culture. You can start doing some research yourself into how our calendar and cycle of time has been completely distorted and contrived and has disconnected us in the process from anything natural. I mean really, do you even know where the sun rises and how it goes through its annual cycle, or what phase the moon is in, or where to even look for it in the sky? How about the harvest season where you live - do you know when time to seed and harvest or glean occurs? Does January 1st as a new year link up with anything organic?
And how about your own organic cycle?
Do you recognize your own rhythms of Newness? You also have a cycle of seeding, sprouting, harvesting and storage, then decomposition, death and rot. Yes, you go through death and rebirth cycles regularly. Die and Rot to Germinate and Grow....to Die and Rot again.
To me, winter solstice is the end of the old cycle. But also the unseen beginning of the next; the time of new within the dark and decomposition. Where the soil for what awaits to be planted is being created. The seeds of what is to come next aren't even known, instead the focus is on what is dead and decomposing and rotting, that miraculously will become the perfect environment for seeds to gestate within. The phase of preparation. This is what winter cycle is to me.
(Artwork by Sa Ray)
But there are also larger cosmic cycles at play.
We just had Pluto move into Aquarius, and of course there is a lot of hubbub around this monumental shift as Pluto only changes signs every 22 years or so. So this is seen as a shift in collective consciousness energy for humanity; a new Pluto generation cycle so to speak. So how do the layers of all of these things come together within our soul and when does a new cycle actually start? We have daily and hourly cycles determined by the movement of the sun, birthday cycles connected with the solar ecliptic cycle of 365 days, lunar cycles with a new moon every 29.5 days; Venus has a new cycle every 19 months, Pluto takes 248 years! And we have a larger epic zodiacal cycle where the galactic center completes an entire rotation where the stars return to the same place in the sky after 26,000 years! Years! Cycles within cycles within cycles of the grand cosmic clock.
So with this Full Moon, the first in the New Gregorian year, but the second within the winter decomposition cycle that started at Winter Solstice, these questions appear within me.
*** Where Am I within my larger soul cycle? ***
Am I in a place of "newness", and if so what energies in me feel new?
Or am I in the place of decomposing the old, What has been harvested and already used to serve me?
Am I in a place of using up those things that I stored from the harvests in the past and tending myself now until the time comes when I get an idea of what wants to be seated next?
Am I in the place of finding the seeds and waiting to know where and when is the right time in the right place and the right fertile environment to plant them?
How will I know when the "right time" is to plant seeds or begin anything?
So many thoughts and questions that I have inside myself at this time......
(Painting by NicoletteFineArt)
Animals, trees and plants all know their natural cycle and environments. But we humans are creating an artificial growth cycle of doing, going and producing constantly that we are so disconnected from any sense of natural rhythm. So my thought offering for you this newest new year and the new Pluto in Aquarius would be to consider your own cycle of growth and death and seeding and planting and harvesting and decomposition.
*** Where are you currently in the cycle?
*** How is your human made imposed schedule interfering with or supporting this natural cycle? Without any criticism or judgment - just important to start determining in our life as we become surrounded more and more by computers, smartphones, artificial technology dictating what time of day it is, what our work schedule is and keeping us addicted to artificial entertainment. Natural rhythm's become put into the background so that that true north magnetic cell inside of us that used to help us find our direction and know which way to go and when, and what felt right and at the right time has now been completely thwarted by an artificial cycle compass.
For me, the way to begin to find the answer is to shut off and go into the stillness of self.
FULL MOON RITUAL- SHUTTING OFF TO TURN ON
So my ritual consideration for this full moon is TO SHUT OFF - shut off the social media, shut off your phone, computers, smart TVS, all the technology. SHUT OFF and SIT and LISTEN. If even for 30 minutes! But better yet, make it a habit to SHUT OFF what is artificial. And TURN ON to SELF - for at least 30-60 minutes every single day. TURN ON YOUR NATURAL SELF. As the only way to find your natural rhythm. Feeling and seeing how the "true north" of the stars and the sun and the moon and what's growing inside of you actually work together and push and pull each other.
SHUT OFF the ARTIFICIAL as the only way to find what is NATURAL AND AUTHENTIC.
With deepest respect and understanding for the difficulty of existing within these challenging times of artificial structures and imposed schedules, I offer these thoughts. May they land and resonate where they will. Or discard them as you please.
May this Full moon shine upon you to reveal the place of what is Authentic, and reveal the Shadow of the Artificial such that it may be part of the old cycle, and decompose and rot so that the new seeds of SELF, AUTHENTIC SELF might be seeded. And a new cycle for humanity might sprout and flourish...