New Moon Newsletter 11/22/14
The New Moon is always a time of reinventing ourselves, as is Spring time, birth, and morning. The Moon’s cycle is one of many cycles in our lives that make growth and change more likely. As we move into the dark of the year’s cycle, the dark of the New Moon intensifies the forces within our lives that shift us into new ways of being with whatever shows up. And it certainly seems that lots of stuff is presenting itself to us these days to give us opportunities to choose a different path.
The cycles of change
Present opportunities
To choose a new path
Cycles of Change
When I talk to people about their experience with growth and change in their lives, there seems to be a common theme. I also see this pattern in my own journey. First we become aware of the inner voice that is calling us to change. There is no doubt that what the voice is suggesting would be in our highest interest. However, there is another part of us that resists the change for a variety of reasons – it might be hard to do, it is one more thing to do, it is overwhelming to think about, you’re fine the way you are, etc. Making the change requires awareness while staying the same – even if it is painful – can be done on autopilot. Then to make matters worse, that same part that resisted the change starts to be critical because you continue to do the same old thing even though you know better!
Such is the process of growth and change. Perhaps that is why we have so many possibilities for new beginnings created for us by the cycles of nature. We release the old habits and plant seeds of new beginnings over and over again. In some ways it is like maintaining a garden. We plant seeds but need to tend the new growth and keep removing the weeds. A garden that is planted and not tended may look great for a while but sooner or later those hardy weeds come back just like our old habits do. If we do not continually tend and weed, we end up right back where we started.
So each beginning is a time to check the “weeds” or old habits that are inconsistent with the change we have seeded and toss them into the compost.
It is also a time to love the new plants growing – the times you are able to hold onto the new path and live the new awareness. Just because a weed appears and that old habit shows up again doesn’t mean that all you have done is worthless. It is simply a part of the cycle of change – we get it, lose it, and get it again. Each time we are able to return to the new path sooner and easier until it is firmly established in our lives. Even then unexpected changes that show up allow the weeds to emerge once more.
Have compassion for yourself in this process. Don’t give up on the weeding project! If you look back on your life, there are many seeds you have planted, tended, and weeded that have borne fruit as part of your way of being in the world. We all experience the same cycle of awareness and resistance when we grow. Use the New Moon to reflect on what “weeds” need pulling and what seeds need nurturing.
A New Moon rising
A time to plant seeds and weed
Collective cycles