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Dancing with the Gift of Contrast
Our lunar goddess is rich with wisdom. Through her phases, she teaches us how to move from darkness into light with the gracefulness of a ballroom dance. We step in, we step out – and we circle back around again. And with each step of this dance, we gain a new experience – a new awareness. What do we receive in darkness that we may not see in the light? And how does the light magnify what’s tucked away in darkness? This is where the gift of contrast comes in – and how the wisdom of the moon serves as a wonderful teacher. Imagine looking up at the night sky during a first quarter lunar phase – and seeing a moon that’s half lit. It…
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Dancing Between Darkness and Light
Our lunar goddess is rich with wisdom. She teaches us how to move from darkness into light with the gracefulness of a ballroom dance. We step in, we step out – and we circle back around again. Looking up at the night sky during a first quarter lunar phase, we see a moon that’s half lit. It serves as a reminder that there’s always more to us than what meets the eye. It sparks a strong sense of curiosity within us. When we ponder any type of change in our lives, we can choose to look at this moon phase as half light – with lots of room for possibilities and expansion. Or we can look at it as half dark – with lots of space to hide,…
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Opening the Door to a Creative and Juicy Life
On a recent winter evening walk, I couldn’t help but take in the beauty of our lunar goddess as she began to make her way out of darkness and into her first sliver of light. It was a glorious sight! It was just enough light to see the definition of the moon in the night sky, bringing her out of complete darkness – but not quite enough light for the waxing crescent phase. It reminded me of those many times in my life, when I would peek my head out of that place of “not knowing” into the light of possibility. Getting a glimpse of the light, both inner and outer, always stirred an excitement within me. This is the beauty of the waxing crescent moon phase – a peek at what’s…
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How Darkness Can Inspire New Beginnings
We’ll be moving into another new moon phase soon – which always brings a time of new beginnings. Where one door closes, another one opens. During a new moon phase, the sky is completely black, other than the surrounding stars. It’s the point in every month when the moon takes a retreat and begins to grow again, redoubling her light and reflecting new creative energy on the world. It brings to our awareness the potential that darkness has in shedding light on life’s lessons and the many gifts that would otherwise go unnoticed. As poet Mary Oliver once wrote, “Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this, too, was a gift.” The energies of the dark moon can feel especially…
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Managing the Ebb and Flow of Life
American writer and mystic, Thomas Merton once said, “We cannot be happy if we expect to live all the time at the highest peak of intensity. Happiness is not a matter of intensity, but of balance and order and rhythm and harmony.” This speaks to the ebb and flow of life. Humans aren’t machines. We don’t have a constant source of power from which we draw upon – to perform complicated functions all the time without breaks. Rather, our power supplies (our energy and emotional levels) dip and rise with each hour of the day – and even wax and wane on a much larger level. We either find ourselves in periods of great motivation and energy – or in periods where we just want…
