Your Magical Moon Cycle

There is so much magic in your moon cycle.  

This 28 day process offers us a window into the wisdom and messages of our body and is a powerful platform for spiritual growth and self discovery.  

Your womb is our creative portal to the divine.  It is so incredible in the way it creates new life and is a place of utmost potential and the power of our natural cycles have been cast aside for too long.  My dear Goddess, now is the time to honour your Moon time once again.  When we bring awareness to your time of bleeding get ready for a wild new world to open up for you.

For years of patriarchy, the sacred-ness and magic of the Moon time was suppressed, specifically due to the power and alchemy of the process.  What once was celebrated in ceremony was pushed aside. In the ancient temple times of Inanna and her priestesses, Moon blood was so auspicious that the women would allow the elixir to run free and stain their robes and it would be a gift to be in the presence of a powerful bleeding woman.  

In the times of the red tent, the women would come together to sit for their Moon time, sharing stories and ancient wisdom and offering their blood back to the earth.  This was by no means a banishing into seclusion due to being unclean (and being forbidden to to cook for the men), but it was a relief from the usual female duties as the Moon time was viewed as an important time for alchemy and rest.  The women were able to be quiet with themselves, supported in sisterhood, listening to the super charged wisdom of their intuition and dreams as it is also said that during our Moon time our connection to other realms is much stronger (same goes for pregnancy).  

But like many of the ancient way this too was soon forgotten as the patriarchy took hold and we were taught to believe that our menses was unclean or a hassle.  Our female rites of passage became less ceremonial and more, “have a tampon and get on with it” plus the awkward and uncomfortable process of mood swings and abdominal pain.

I remember when I got my first period.  I was 13 and at a Christmas concert dance rehearsal and I got the fright of my life as I was worried the blood would show through my leotard.  No disrespect to my Mama but I don’t remember any rite of passage ceremony other than a loving hug and a welcoming word to guide me into woman hood.  But due to my conditioning c/o society, this was not an exciting event.  It was stressful using tampons (OMG - the first time I had to take one out - holy sh%t), I was never that regular (from memory) and certainly not connected to the moon as far as I know (although I wish I’d kept a diary)  and then when I went on the pill at the same time as having my first serious boyfriend the temptation to skip my moon was huge.  How awesome I thought - I can just make it go away!  YES! 

If I had been able to grasp the sacredness of what my body was offering to me it may have been a different story… and perhaps this could have been a portal for increased body awareness and self love rather than the usual self loathing I felt.  This is why I feel so passionate about becoming a guide for our young women of the world in offering them a beautiful rite of passage into woman hood. I will start hosting First Moon Ceremonies to welcome young women into this special phase very soon. 

The cycle of our moon goes a little like this … 

You will notice that many women have their moon time around the New or Full Moon. Before electricity and artificial light and we had to live more by the moon women would tend to ovulate on the Full Moon when the energy is high and creative and bleed on the dark moon (during the inward gazing energy).  There is a physiology behind this too as the pineal gland in our brain sends messages to our ovaries via hormones, to release an egg based on the amount of light our brain senses in the night when we are asleep. At the point of most light in the night, the full moon, we are programmed to ovulate.  Our modern life (and not to mention birth control) has interrupted this natural process, however you will see more primitive women or women who live in the country still more connected to the natural rhythms… 

Never fear if you are very disconnected and have no idea of the phases of the moon, you too can reconnect simply by beginning to acknowledge the phases of the moon and noticing where you sit in its cycles.  Read my article on Living by the Moon here. 

In my personal experience when I have been diving into more priestess and dakini work I have bled on the Full Moon and when I have focussed more on becoming a mother my moon has switched to the New… and sometimes I’m out of synch and that is OK too.  Please no judgement on your body EVER! 

Our body mirrors the changes in the feminine Moon.  She grows full, ripe, energised and extroverted, filed with wildness… and then she goes in, becomes quiet, contemplative and reflecting on herself.  I highly recommend keeping a moon time journal of how you are feeling in your cycle and opening yourself even more as a channel for the wisdom of your intuition / Spirit. 

Our Moon Cycle:

Week 1 (Day 1 - 7) - Moon time // Maiden energy:

We become more quiet and introspective, meditating and watching our dreams and accessing the deeper psychic abilities are are available to us.  A time of clearing and shedding and great potency. As our blood stops flowing we move into Spring energy and begin to plant the seeds of visioning for this next cycle.  It’s like we fully retreat within whilst bleeding and on the other side we peak out ad get ready to launch reborn into the world.

Week 2 (day 8 - 14) - High energy & creativity phase // Mother energy:

This is Summer energy and it builds to a peak at ovulation.  We are renewed and getting ready to create new projects and new life. We are often more interested in or physical appearance and perhaps feel we can d anything!

Week 3 (day 15 - 21) - Coming Down and the Harvest Phase // Maga energy:

This is Autumn energy post ovulation - perhaps bringing triumph at becoming pregnant or sadness at not (or indifference if this is not your current plan).  This is often a time of re-evaulation and yearning for change… preparing what you are getting ready to let of of in the next phase.  

Week 4 (Day 22 - 28) - Distillation and Clarity // Crone energy:

This is Winter energy and the time of reflection on the lessons of the cycle becoming more inwardly focussed in preparation for moon time. 

This natural process unites us in sisterhood across the globe and I love to think that in any given moment that many of us are having the same experience.  The moons, the tiredness the bleeding and the pain.  My own experience of pregnancy has created an even stronger bond of sisterhood as I feel so comforted knowing that I am not alone in my process.

If you feel any distress around you cycle I suggest you get quiet and ask your body wisdom to give you a message on what it needs to reveal to you.  Much suffering comes from being disconnected from our body and ignoring it’s wisdom which is there to point out imbalances, physical and emotional needs.  Heavy moon time symptoms are often wake up calls to show us that we have too many toxins in our lives (physical and emotional), excess stress and perhaps we have not been honouring ourselves in the way that we need. 

I feel you will find the more you take the time to tune in and honour these natural phases your body will respond so well.  Like Spirit, our body is waiting for us to get quiet enough to get a word in edgeways so the more you listen, the easier things will become. 

So I invite you dear Goddess to come on this wild and wonderful journey of conscious menstruation.  I promise you will never look back.  It is like peeling the layers of an infinite onion skin… so much magic lies beneath the surface of our being. 

For some beautiful rituals for your Moon Cycle please read on here. 

I also have an article on Moon Blood Mysteries coming very soon.

Love xx 

Image credit - Chanel Baran

Forgiving the Masculine

This morning I was talking with some sisters about how to forgive the masculine in our lives as, let’s face it, so many of us have wounding around this energy.  Whether it be our father figures, our partners, or the men who have come in and out of our lives and perhaps not stood strong for us and made us feel safe.  And for some of us perhaps we have intense pain and trauma attached to this. Really horrific experiences that are hard to let go, deeply routed in our bodies. And maybe this stuff we are carrying is not even from this life but from our ancestral lineage as sisters through the ages… 

Either way… in order to break free from the suffering and pain it is necessary for us to forgive and let go… and LOVE again.   

I realise how far I have come along my own journey of forgiveness (and the transmutation of any negative energies into love) around the men in my life.  Yes I have my own father story as my parents split up when I was two, yes I have sought out love and honouring from the masculine as a result and been left feeling empty and used on many occasions.  And no I have not treated my womb and yoni as the sacred temple they are.  I’ve learnt the hard way in many respects but when I was asked to tune into my feelings of the masculine in my life all I could feel was love and forgiveness. 

And what a beautiful surprise it was... 

In these times of intensified energy that have required us to drop our shit and navigate our shadow to make us lighter for this ascension period I feel as if I’ve done more work than I give myself credit for.  And even when I delve deep and try to feel the pain that perhaps was there all it feels like is acceptance and forgiveness.  Like there is a space and softness where it was once hard and heavy. 

Energetically I can meet every man that has played a part in my story and see him as he is.  Like me he is doing his best, making good and bad decisions and learning along the way.  After all, this is what life is about… learning and growth.  I can see beyond the mistakes, the hurtful actions and the things that didn’t make me feel good.  I can see the vulnerability, the energetic being behind the body that also made a deal with me before we landed here (in this reality) to do this cosmic dance for both of our learnings. 

In the Kahuna tradition they call it Ho'oponopono - a practice of forgiveness and I would love to share it with you.

The words are:

I’m sorry

Please forgive me

Thank you

I love you

I visualise myself standing before all of those beings I have hurt and those who have hurt me and I have this conversation with them… and I imaging them saying their story back to me. 

I’m sorry I didn’t treat you right

I’m sorry I made you sad

Please forgive me for leaving you, for making you cry

Thank you for the gifts that you gave me, the way you helped me to become stronger and grow

I love you … I love you … I love you … 

This works even better if you do it with partner - men paired with women - sharing each others gaze and breath for so long that you see past the physical.  And then share your own words of forgiveness and love with the other being, speaking your truth as if you are sharing with those who have hurt you and receiving the words of the other as if they are those who have made you feel sad and stuck in pain.  

This is powerful medicine… 

And I also want to remind you that you are so much bigger than the story you carry around and perhaps let define you.  You are bigger than the pain and the wounding. 

In my own story, the more I have been able to drop into the energy of love and forgiveness I have been gifted with the most incredible expressions of the masculine.  I am surrounded by incredible brothers and have a husband who loves me so much.  He is my King and I am his Queen.  He still annoys me sometimes but he meets me totally and I am so grateful. 

Had I remained stuck in my old patterns I never would have made the space to allow him in.  

We are living in a free will society and it is up to you whether you hold on to your suffering or put it down.  I know this is easy to say and less easy to activate but I want you to know you have the power to choose.

I love you... I hope this helps... 

Living by the Moon

I know you’ve heard me say it a lot before… but I’ll say it again.

Our world has become disconnected from our natural way of being.  Rather than living on the land, planting our feet on the earth and admiring Gaia’s incredible natural rhythms we are stuck in our cars, getting frustrated at our commutes to work (this was me for 5+ years in my TV job), posting on Facebook and instagram (guilty as charged) and generally living life behind a screen.  Fixing our depression and isolation with quick fixes like magic pills, drugs and alcohol, food and obsessive exercise. 

As women our menstrual cycles are not honoured as they should be and happen sporadically (for some).  We are out of synch with our required rites of passage making our children confused about what it is to become balanced men and women.

We are on a rollercoaster of disconnection from the natural beings we are… and it’s a bit of a mess! 

But I assure you there is a way to bring us back into balance… 

Perhaps this is a mouthful to digest and one that you may think “yeah right SJ”, there’s no way we can fix this all by tuning in with the Moon. But I beg to differ… 

On my own journey of awakening, reconnecting with the earth and her cycles was the lightbulb moment that changed it all.  Specifically in my meditations which always went so freely off planet due to the amount of ether in my chart, the moment I planted my roots back into the earth everything changed.  My energy stabilised and I felt myself expand, becoming the channel and conduit I am today.  Listen to some guided meditations and you will often here the “connect into the earth” cue = I promise it works! 

Anyway … I am really here to talk to you about the Moon and the joys and linking in and living by the cycles of this natural process.  You can think of the Moon as your gateway drug to deeper connection … I promise it is an easy one to follow as you can see it most nights in the sky!

Moon Phases… and how they affect your life

I suggest you google the Moon phases and add them to your calendar and set some reminders for yourself you you can remember where you are at.  And (obviously), get out there in the moonlight as much as you possibly can.  Call your friends together for your own free-styled ceremonies - there really are no rules.   Just allow your intuition to be your guide.

New Moon

This is the most fertile time in the lunar calendar and is the cycle of beginnings and sowing the seeds for new projects, or perhaps even making babies! This phase of the moon is about abundance and growth and is a great time for beauty, health, self improvement, gardening, job hunting, love and romance, networking and creative ventures. 

I love the New Moon Ceremonies I host as part of Sisters of the Moon as they call in our group energy to truly get clear on and manifest our wishes.  Or it is easy to create your own ceremony by creating a simple altar, lighting a candle, tuning yourself in with a grounding meditation and calling in your team and expressing your wishes you are calling during that cycle.  I like to affirm mine verbally out load using I AM as the beginning and having a full sensory experience of this wish birthing to activate the magic.

Cresent Moon

Timing - 3.5 - 7 days after the New Moon // Corresponds with Gemini

This moon is about movement.  Riding the wave of increased energy in the lead up to the full moon and getting the dreams and wishes that you called in during the New Moon going.  This is a time of activity and manifestation.  Keep pouring you awareness and energy into the intentions you set and call in the people and the gifts that you nee to bring them to fruition.  This is the moon of focus and getting sh$%t done! 

First Quarter

Timing - 7-10 days after the New moon // Corresponds with Cancer

This is a time of planning and making courageous moves to put your manifestation plan into action.   Dial in your ambition and take a look at the intentions you set at the New Moon and see what action you need to take to birth them.  Maybe you have friends ho can help you?  Get motivated and work your angles as you have luck on your side as your plans take shape.

Gibbous Moon

Timing - 3 days before the Full Moon // Corresponds with Virgo

We are almost at the Full Moon so feeling the energised power it brings.  However, it’s not time to get wild and crazy (yet).  This is a time of patience and persistence and increased visioning of your wishes (making sure you have all the details straight - Virgo is great with details).  Spend some tim each day tuning in with your intentions and experiencing them happening in your life - how do they look, how do they feel, what do they sound, smell and taste like.  Observe any feeling that come up that could be blocking them from becoming real and shake / move / breathe / sign / sound those feelings out of your field.  Embody your intentions and get ready for them to the come to fruition.  The energy of Virgo also calls in the peaceful and caring vibration so this is a time for checking in with and caring for your friends and family… and creating greater harmony in your community.

Full Moon

Timing - 14 - 17.5 days after the New Moon

This is a time of peak energy (and sometimes fiery wildness).  Sleep can be more difficult for some as energy is so high and perhaps you want to go and howl at the moon.  Psychic power is also heightened and when I a doing lots of priestess work I find myself having my moon cycle in union with the full moon taking me even deeper into this potent portal time.   

This is also a time of completion and conclusion… for being reflective and looking at what you were able to create during this cycle.  This is a perfect time to write a gratitude list to give thanks for all that played out. 

Things also often come to a head at a full moon so observe what is coming up for you and coming into your field… perhaps it is time to make changes and purge and let go of what does to serve.

I love to do fire ceremonies at this time and write down all the things I a purging, make a fire and drum, dance and sing as I burn, burn, BURN everything away (like a witch)! 

Disseminating Moon

Timing - 3.5 - 7 days after the Full Moon

This is the waning moon and a time of clearing.  This is a time to let go of the things that may have come up around the fun moon that highlighted what need to be dissolved.  Perhaps these are habits, partnerships, projects that are lacking energy, or perhaps stuff that you don’t need for your home.  This is not usually a time to start new things, but a time of tidying up the loose ends and clearing the slate (after all we are getting ready for the New Moon).  This is another reason I like to have my moon cycle around the full moon as it feels like the ultimate clearing and cleansing.  It is also a time to retreat and rest as goodies knows you have been busy manifesting! 

Last Quarter

Timing - 7-10 days after the Full Moon // Corresponds with Capricorn

Yet another time of more clearing and prep for the New Moon.  Spend some time tuning in with your inner and outer world and see if there is anything more you are ready to leave behind to put you in good stead for the net creative phase.  After all … it’s way easier to pack lightly when on a journey of ascension!  This is a time of breaking negative patterns, of break ups and letting go of stresses/ors that are holding you back. 

Balsamic Moon

Timing - 3 days before the New Moon // Corresponds with Pisces

This is a time of rest and preparation.  Of dreaming and contemplation to get ready for your next creative surge (coming in 3 days).  I love to spend much time alone in meditation during this time (and even cleaning my house), preparing my inner and outer worlds for the cycle of manifesto.

Some people also like to burn their old list of intentions from the previous New Moon to create space for the new ones to come in.  See what works for you and be guided by your intuition.

And then we start it again.... like clock work! 

Try this on and see how it feels for you... and if you feel to join and INCREDIBLE Lunar Sisterhood I have reduced the prices of Sisters of the Moon ... AND... you can still invite a Goddess for FREE (or both come for 50% off). REGISTER NOW - our next ceremony is on March 9. 

**I must note that you need not get too attached to the exact date of the New & Full moon as the energetic effects are felt on the 3 days on either side.