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I have had a couple of requests for a bit more detail on the energies surrounding the Full Moon Eclipse on 21st December which coincides with the Summer Solstice here in the Southern Hemisphere and Winter Solstice in the Northern Hermisphere. This is a powerful period and, if I were you, I’d keep an eye on what is going on around you and in the wider world to get a sense of how these energies operate at a global leve. For instance, you often get earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and eruptions in public life around these times.
I firstly want to say that I began working with the energies of the Full Moon – powerful, releasing the old – and the New Moon – gentler and opening to the new – when I lived in Traralgon in Victoria. It’s a bit like being on a gentle swell – rising up to the top of the swell for a Full Moon and then sailing slowly down to the trough at the bottom of the swell, the New Moon. It’s been a very powerful experience in aligning my energies with the Moon, considering what I need to release in my life and what new openings and opportunities are created by letting go of outmoded bits and pieces and ideas I’ve been holding onto.
I don’t manage to catch every Full or New Moon, and I don’t beat up on myself if I miss these times, because I’m learning to be a whole lot kinder to myself. What I have found, though, by regularly returning to honour the Moon/Mother within me, passions and emotions which need acknowledging and being aware of the rhythms of my life, I’ve been able to make significant steps forward. I’ve also been able to relax and simply do nothing when the feeling arises, as I’m learning to go with the flow of life on Earth.
One point I want to make about honouring the Moon’s phases is that we can work with detaching from the concept that rules our lives – that of the Father who always has to be active and on the go, because that’s what is honoured in our society. Working with the Moon is co-operating with the Mother/Moon within each of us and learning to listen to emotions, intuition, feelings, quietness and inner values.
Solstices mark the shortest day and longest night in the Northern Hemisphere – the birth of the Sun God as the journey begins from the darkest day of winter in the light of Spring. In the Southern Hemisphere, the opposite happens – it marks the longest day and shortest night, and the start of the decline of the Sun towards autumn and then winter.
I’m not going to go into details about rituals around these days because I feel it depends on each country, where you live and how you feel about celebrating these days, but they ARE powerful times of the year. For instance, here in Australia the energy of heat and dryness in summer feels quite opposite to the sort of rather humid summers you get in the UK. If I were to celebrate an energy here in Australia, it would be the fire and heat of summer at its peak, and paying homage too to the power of water to interact with fire to restore balance. In the darkness of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, the energies relate to snow, cold, water, quite the opposite. So in thinking of how you relate to these days – the longest day and shortest night/shortest day and longest night – I feel it’s important to tune into your relation with these energies, how they are operating in your life at present, and how you personally feel from your heart how you’re drawn to honour this important part of our yearly cycle.
The cyclic nature of the Solstices is further energised on 21st December by the Full Moon Eclipse in Gemini. Full Moons are times of peak lunar energy – what is secret and emotional within you which needs to be brought into the light of day and released for transmutation into new opportunities which open up at the time of the New Moon. The Full Moon is a powerful time. Humans respond to it subsconsiously, as we can see in reports of more episodes of violence, mental instability and so on at the time of the Full Moon. My faher was a Cancer, and neither myself nor my husband would go near him at the Full Moon as he would be moody and off his head with aggression. When Dad lived next door to us, Bryan used to look up on the time around the Full Moon and remark on the black energy he felt surrounding Dad’s house.
If you look at the mechanics of a Full Moon Eclipse, the Earth is casting a shadow on the Moon, and stopping it from reflecting the Sun’s light. So the Earth’s energy is actually energising this period and inter-acting with the lunar, emotional intensities being birthed by the Full Moon. It’s a time when you can tune into what needs releasing emotionally, but working with Mother Earth to give the power and grounding you need to actually do the practical work of release.
In astrological terms, this Full Moon Eclipse occurs in Gemini – communication, Trickster, truth, deception, as I mentioned in my earlier post. If you can visualise the galaxy as a circle with twelve pie shapes cut into it to represent the twelve constellations in the sky above and through which the Moon moves relatively quickly in relation to the Sun and other planets, this eclipse is happening in the latter part of the particular pie slice which represents Gemini. So it heralds endings, change and new beginnings. We are being drawn to check in withourselves to look at the endings and beginnings in our lives, and to be aware and conscious of the decisions we make with deliberation rather than with haste.
What does this mean in terms of energy in our own particular circumstances? If you look at each of us, we have the Sun/Father and the Moon/Mother within us. All too often we externalise our hopes and fears for these energies onto individuals such as political leaders, famous people and so on. In the case of the US, a lot of hope for change was placed on President Obama. In Australia, the position of women in leadership roles was placed in the spotlight with the election of the country’s first female Prime Minister, Julia Gillard. The reality is that neither of these are superman or superwoman. They’re ordinary human beings, the same as you and me. So it’s my belief that this is a time when we need to stop looking to other individuals for solutions and expecting them to do the work which is rightfully that of each individual, and look to ourselves to be the power in our lives. It’s time, you might say, to embrace your Sun/Father and Moon/Mother and sort out what power you have within you which need to be released and put to work – with pride and polish – in your daily life however you lead it.
Now this is going to be different for everyone because we are all individuals. The trick is to look deep within and honour and acknowledge the passion in yourself. What makes your life passionate? What really makes you tick? What do you love? Dig around, haul all the fears and hopes and truth out into the emotional light of day and then work with earth energies to create a ritual which releases all the stuff the holds you back and honours that which you wish to embrace in yourself and your life.
As I’ve already said above, I think it’s important to sort out a ritual which resonates for you. Quite often I’ll create a painting or dreamboard. I’ll light candles. I’ll build a small altar of crystals, stones and rocks. It depends on what I get called to do, and I don’t try and force the issue. I wait until I get images in my head because visualisation is my big strength. the one thing I always do is write down my goals on some lovely Chinese wishing paper a good friend gave me and then, when I’ve completed my ritual, I burn the paper. I’d suggest you do the same and watch how your paper burns – if it flares up and burns fast, you’re open to what you’re doing in relation to your life. If the paper sputters and goes out so you have to light it again, and perhaps relight it on many occasions, you may be experiencing some blockages which you need to dig out and have a good look at, to decide what you want to do to move on.
Some of you will be drawn to different avenues of action depending on whether your hearing/sight or feeling are your dominant ways of working. I am very strong visually, for example, as I’ve just explained. My husband’s main sense is hearing – he is very sensitive to noises and can listen to music and pick out all the different instruments, voices and so on. Me? I’m tone-deaf and while I love music, it’s the overall sound which enthralls me, I can’t distinguish the separate features. Other people FEEL strongly, they’re very sensitive to negative or positive energies, they’ll sense the relationships between people and react accordingly. So tune into yourself, that is SO important, and sort out how you feel drawn to honour how the energies of the Solstice and Full Moon Eclipse by tuning into yourself and what’s going on around you.
I’ve always felt strongly with my work that my way of working with people is to empower each person, not to hold a person’s hand and do the donkey work for them, but to offer suggestions and advice, and then let that person go so that they can go within, access their own energies, work with them, and decide what is appropriate to grow at each particular stage of one’s dance of life on Mother Earth. It’s not something you need to do in a hurry. I’ve found a more methodical approach to growing yourself – even though it might sound a bit contradictory, and it’s taken me a lifetime to work this out! – is a good way to move forward. It provides strong, steady steps and also – and this is really important – it allows you to incorporate change at a pace which suits you and which is also easier for people around you. When you work on growing into new parts of your life, if others find it challenging, they’ll do their level best to press your buttons so you stay the same, non-threatening person they’ve always known. I think it’s important – wherever possible – to work with those around you and have care and compassion for them too, so you do your work of living and working with your spiritual, heart and soul energies in an all-round way.
I hope the above is useful. Please feel free to post any queries you may have or any suggestions for other people.
