Dear Ones,

Some thoughts on the dark moon this weekend & New Moon occurring Sunday into Monday (depending on where you are)~

This weekend (for those of us in the Northern Hemi) we end the lunation of In-Between: the moon cycle that moved us up from under the Earth in Winter’s station and sprouted us out into the Air of Spring. We honored the Equinox, the passing of one way of being into an Other. We honored the relationship between equal day light and night dark. We honored the Space, In Between Both, and…

Consider the metaphor of each of these ideas, and how they might apply in your own life?

The relationship you have to, and movement between or from your shadows and your light.

It was stunning to me getting to witness the living alchemy of these concepts at work in the lives of not just myself but so many of you. Beginning with the alignment of Mama Moon reaching 1st quarter wax over the weekend of Ostara, or Spring Equinox, March19-21, through the Full Moon quickening and peak over the weekend of 3/26-28: so many of you found yourselves ushering in your own growth through confrontation (graceful or explosive!) of fears, old beliefs, old traumas, and all other forms of shadow…

What profound awe to witness you staying with, staying with, staying with…as the funk assimilated, brought forth insight, growth, connection and especially Transformation over and over. It was a rocky, uneasy time for many. It too was power-Full, in my own life, and yours, to Behold.

I hope with this dark moon retreat this weekend, you take the time to contemplate and appreciate your personal transformations! To BeHold, or Hold as Sacred, your own processes over this last moon cycle’s Timing & Grace.

Expect this weekend to stir some of that work up if it has gone unreckoned or untended: what you resist, persists, as they say.

And so it is we say farewell to the lunation of In-Between, and the Grace of Space Between that the Equinox’s might teach us. A grace that certainly can look like Staying With~

And we welcome the first complete lunation of Spring.

Sunday eve, we here on the MidAtlantic seaside of the States greet the New Moon: the beginning of a new cycle or lunation, and the end of one, too. She enters her first complete lunation of Spring which will bring about both Lunar and traditional Beltane, or May Day.

Beltane is a fertility festival that came into my sphere of experience studying Celtic Magic in my teens, a book by the late DJ Conway. In classic Indo-Euro mythology, there are several God and Goddess unification stories tied to this time of year. It is a fire festival, one of four cross-quarters, or High holy days, and overall is connected to the flowering fertility of Mother Earth.

We celebrate traditional May Day on May 1 (at my alma mater the long held tradition is to get naked and dance around the flag pole at midnight!)

Lunar Beltane is a full moon esbat (moon holy time), celebrated when the Mama Moon is full while in the sun sign of Taurus. This year Lunar Beltane falls on Monday, April 26.

Lunar Beltane comes early this year, and is a super moon, as well, suggesting a continuation of accelerated growth many have been experiencing so far this year.

Beltane to my way of walking is a celebration of the first bounty of blossoms and fruits of the Harvest (and Soul, dear ones) year.

Also with this lunation, early next week, upon first sighting of the crescent moon, the 9th month of the Islamic calendar begins. This is the month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast and abstain in various forms to become more focused on God. Ramadan has come into my sphere in a number of small ways this year, and so I wish to acknowledge it here this season as well.

With this, in fact, a loving shout out to our newest member~ Wise Woman Emerging, Blessed Be!

Enjoy this lunation everyone! Happiest, blessed Spring. Recall that even with the quickening of the season and the elements right now, dark moon is a time for review. Rest. Retreat. And ultimately, renewal.

Learn from the cycles of Mama Moon and Mama Earth.

Listen to You and what you need right now:

Be well, dear friends. Be good to you! See ya at Beltane~