Have you ever felt as though you are a person of someone else’s making? Perhaps you feel that God and your parents created you—fashioning you in their desires. Or maybe you feel as though you are partially created from your partner and children’s expectations of you. Our cultures and societies certainly have their expectations that you might find yourself responding to, and you might also find your life becoming a reaction to past challenges and abuses. So who are you, exactly? Are you the person of your own choosing or has that become lost in a myriad of external expectations and internal reaction?
At our recent women’s retreat, I was delighted when the Grandmothers on the other side of the veil reminded me that in the practice they have given us, new moon begins a cycle of renewal—a time when a person can recreate themselves in the fashion of their own choosing. At each new moon, 13 times per year, we can ride the energy of the moon cycles to become reborn as individuals responding to our own inner callings.
Consider the person you would become if you spent some time in quiet contemplation on the day of new moon. Perhaps you would consider what you most want to release or most desire to become. Imagine giving yourself permission, for at least a little while, during the waxing of the moon to plant the seeds within yourself that would further your own self awareness.
You might choose to consider one or all of the Four Prescriptions of this path—surrender, acceptance, desire and commitment—by engaging your creativity, and allowing yourself to see just where you are with these four momentums in life. You might choose to dance out each prescription, write, dramatize, sing, sculpt, sew or paint about them, or quietly meditate on each, or one, of these primary momentums.
You would likely discover what long-held beliefs you wish to surrender, what aspect of your nature yearns to be accepted, what deep desire longs to be acknowledged, or where commitment would serve you in your ultimate fulfillment. What would your life be like if you allowed yourself to honor your inner longings? How might you become the person you long to become?
The Grandmothers reminded me that new moon begins the cycle of self-recreation, culminating at the three days of full moon when the energy supports us in being fully reborn unto ourselves—right into the cells of our body and our conscious awareness. Then we rest and allow our new self-awareness to integrate during the waning of the moon until the cycle begins again.
This cycle that starts with the first day of new moon is so significant that the crescent moon is the symbol of this entire practice. Imagine how your life would be different if you allowed yourself to ride the energetic cycles of the moon by creating a ritual for yourself on the first day of the new moon. Now imagine doing that 13 times throughout the year. And finally, imagine what it would be like to live reborn as the being of your choosing.
