Co-creating with the Moon
Co-creating with the Moon
Diving deeper into the Moon journaling, Moon Cycles & Phases
Happy Wednesday dear ones! In this week’s letter, you’ll learn about…
✍️ My personal Moon System for Intentions & Goal setting
🖋️ Journaling with the Moon Journaling Prompts
🧭 My WeatherVane: Weekly mumbles & (personal) updates
📖 Co-creating with the Moon
If you’ve read some of my previous letters - especially those about Cyclical Living - you know I try my best to step out of linear living, linear thinking, and linear goal setting. And this is quite hard as it is the norm in Western society but, this has never worked for me.
Year ago, I was looking for another way I, another system when I came across tuning our lives into nature's cycles and rhythms. Something that is natural to us, but we have become detached from it.
That’s how I also came across working with the season, the moon, and the elements to name a few.
My intention with these letters here on Substack is to share my experiences, the lessons learned so far, and hopefully inspire others to live more in tune with nature and thus more in tune with themselves. I firmly believe that the reason many of us feel unhappy, stuck, or kind of lost is because we feel deeply detached from ourselves living a life that doesn’t make us feel alive.
In last week’s letter, I talked about how I combine the season and the moon to create change, among other things.
Today, I want to talk about my personal way of working with the moon phases.
The Moon has in total 8 phases. Some may even say there are 9 phases, but for now, we’ll stick to the 8. However, some folks like to work with just two phases: the New and Full Moon phases, and others just keep it to four phases: New Moon, First Quarter, Full Moon, and Last Quarter Moon phase.
The Moon phases can give us structure and the Moon is often used as a compass, a guide, in our lives.
Keep in mind there is no right way or just one way to work with the moon and its phases. The following is my personal way of working with the Moon.
The 8 phases of the Moon
The Moon cycle is around 29,5 days in total and in total 8 phases:
New Moon Phase
Waxing Crescent Moon Phase
First Quarter Moon Phase
Waxing Gibbous Moon Phase
Full Moon Phase
Waning Gibbous Moon Phase
Last Quarter Moon Phase
Waning Crescent Moon Phase
From the New Moon Phase until the Full Moon, the energy waxes and thus increases each day having its peak on the Full Moon. After the Full Moon, the energy starts to wane, and thus decrease. This, simply put, is the cycle of the Moon.
When looking at setting goals and actually taking action, this looks like: Setting intentions and goals during the new moon, working (hard if necessary) during the waxing phase until the Full Moon. Releasing the (hard) work/goals at the Full Moon. Wrapping up, and sharing the fruits of our labor, while releasing what no longer serves us and being able to introspect and reflect during the waning phase. Not to forget, to rest and rejuvenate at the end of the cycle.
My personal system for the 8 phases
I like to divide the moon cycle into 4 pieces: the New Moon, First Quarter Moon, the Full Moon, and the Last Quarter Moon. I see these phases as check-ins. During these check-ins, I like to take a moment and sit with my binder and journals to see how everything is flowing (or not).
For this, I have created journaling prompts but also journaling pages that are specific to each moon phase. These pages go into my binder.
I also have a separate journal where I brainstorm, add ideas, write about my progress, or just simply vent. This journal is very messy and that is why I don’t keep all of these in my binder. For me, the binder is a clear and inspirational space for creating the life I desire, and if it’s messy it really puts me off.
Even more, I don’t want my binder to feel like an encyclopedia.
Taking action
I give myself about a day for each check-in phase.
The period between each of these check-in phases is between 6 to 7 days (= a week), where I have enough space to work on my goals ==> take action.
These 7-8 days phases are:
Waxing Crescent Moon Phase
Waxing Gibbous Moon Phase
Waning Gibbous Moon Phase
Waning Crescent Moon Phase
So instead of having to continuously be journaling/checking my binder, I know I have four checkpoints, each followed by a week to do the actual work.
Note: I use my binder daily to track my energy and other things. If you want to know more about tracking check my previous letter.
Ideally, the last week of the Moon Cycle - the Waning Crescent Moon - is a week for rest and self-care.
This process, or better said, this cycle, repeats itself every 29,5, more or less. However, I personally feel that the energetics of each Moon Cycle are not always the same as I see them being part of the Seasons as well. The Moon Cycle’s structure is the same but not its energetics. Check the previous letter, combining the Seasons and the Moon, to know more.
I use astro-seek.com, under the tap “Moon Phase Calendar”, to check all dates and phases.
🖋️ Moon Journaling Prompts
During the next New Moon Phase take a moment and see/feel how it would be to set a few intentions or goals for yourself.
Create a simple action steps for those intentions/goals for the upcoming two weeks until the Full Moon.
During the Full Moon take a moment again and see what you have accomplished so far.
If you still have some steps to take or tasks, use the upcoming week, the Waning Gibbous Moon Phase, to wrap things up.
Remember to journal all your actions, steps, and feelings. It is up to you to keep it light and short or wander in yourself while writing long format.
Feel free to share your reflections in the comments:
🧭 WeatherVane’s Flow: Weekly mumbles & (personal) updates
Between the two eclipses, I’ve been feeling quite uninspired, to be honest. This is reflected in the fact that I don’t feel like sharing anything or having the feeling I don’t have anything to share on social media. And this is the reason I find it so important to track anything and everything. In this way, I can take this into account for the next eclipse season.
Instead of planning a long to-do list for this week, I decided to write some priorities, for example, this week’s letter, and finishing next moon’s cycle journaling pages.
For me, it’s all about having a flexible structure and cyclical living allows me to do just that!
On another note, I’ve going back and forth with a specific matter, not knowing yet what to do about it. I do feel like making big decisions during eclipse season is not the right thing to do even though I already know, deep in my heart, what I need to do. Still, it doesn’t make it any easier.
I hope you enjoyed today’s letter. Please feel free to leave a comment down below. Your love and comments mean so much to me.
📩 Upcoming Letter
✍️ Getting organized with journals
📝 A free gift: Entering the 2nd Spring Moon Cycle journaling page
🖋️ Journaling Prompts for creating your own journals
🧭 My WeatherVane: Weekly mumbles & (personal) updates
🌬️ Sending you magic & healing your way,
-Vane