Lunar Planning, Part One
The return to school and the New Moon in Virgo are really making me want to get my life together!! I’m thinking about all the practical steps I can take and how I can organise myself better. As someone with very little Earth energy in their natal chart, I need all the planners, calendars and reminders on my phone to be able to get through the day.
With that in mind, this week's blog will look at lunar planning, something I am really passionate about. When we set out goals in alignment with the moon's phases we can work with the energetic flow of the moon, helping us to accomplish more by doing less.
Syncing your life to the moon’s cycle isn’t a new thing. As far back as the ancient Sumerians of Mesopotamia, people have been setting spiritual ceremonies, planning agricultural seasons and setting religious festival dates based on the moon’s phases.
You can plan any aspect of your life with the moon’s cycles, and it is both intuitive and smart to do so. While it might be considered “woo-woo” nowadays to plan like this, when we lived more in tune with the Earth and the natural cycles all around us, this was the way it was done.
The moon affects all of us, so if we can align our actions and rest with the natural flow then we will get better results using less energy. Let’s start by looking at the phases of the moon.
The 8 phases are the New Moon, Waxing Crescent, First Quarter, Gibbous, Full Moon, Disseminating, Third Quarter and Balsamic.
While the Earth orbits the Sun, the Moon orbits the Earth reflecting the Sun’s rays to give us the 8 phases of the lunar cycle. Each phase lasts for around 3 and a half days, giving us a total lunar cycle of around 29 days. This is a Synodic month. A Sidereal month lasts for 27 days and is the time it takes the Moon to orbit the Earth.
A Synodic month starts and ends on the New Moon when the Sun and Moon are on the same side of the Earth. As the Moon moves away from the Sun, she appears to grow bigger during the waxing half of the cycle, peaking at the Full Moon when the Sun and Moon are on opposite sides of the Earth. As the Moon moves back towards the Sun, appearing to shrink, this is the waning half of the cycle.
At first, it might seem overwhelming to incorporate all 8 lunar phases into your life, but like anything cyclical, they all build upon each other. It is a natural energetic rise and fall that is repeated over and over and predictable. You could start by just acknowledging the New and Full Moons and slowly start bringing in the other phases as you build your practice.
There are many ways to keep track of the moon’s cycle through apps, diaries and calendars. I highly recommend Moon Phase Calendar or Time Passages to see the phases of the moon, or iLuna for the sign the moon is in as well. I have also started creating Lunar Calendars that you can download and import straight into your Google Calendar. I also recommend tracking your energy levels and emotions day to day when you start working with the moon so you can look out for patterns.
The waxing half of the moon’s cycle begins on the New Moon. This is the most productive part of the cycle and is when we take action. As the moon slowly appears to grow in the sky, the energy slowly builds and we build momentum. The Full Moon marks the start of the waning half of the cycle. After the peak of energy, it slowly begins to dwindle as the moon appears to shrink in the sky. This is the less productive part of the cycle, This is a period of reflection and clearing space in our lives. I hope that you can already see how working with the moon brings a balance of rest and work.
As already mentioned, the New Moon is the start of a lunar cycle. This is a time for new beginnings, for setting your intentions and planting the seeds of your dreams. This is not a time for action because the moon isn’t visible.
When working with the moon, we are working with our emotions. Set some time aside on a New Moon to connect with yourself and your heart and get clear on what it is that you really want. Write down your goals and allow yourself to dream about your life when you have achieved them. Brainstorm different ways of achieving them. Not just the things you will actually do, but other ways you could do it. The point of this exercise is to open yourself up to different possibilities rather than sticking to “this is the way it’s always been done” or “this is how other people do it”. Then highlight a few ideas and start making an action plan, to-do list, or whatever sort of plan works for you.
The Waxing Crescent phase is when the moon starts to become visible in the sky. This is when we start to take action, laying the foundation that we will work from as we move in the direction of our dreams and goals. We know what we want and we have a plan to get there, now we just have to do the things that will get us there.
The First Quarter Moon is around a week after the New Moon and because of the harsh angle between the Sun and the Moon at this time, we can feel like we are being tested. This is a good time to go back to the plan, to review how things have been going, and to adjust your plan as necessary.
As the moon swells towards fullness in the Gibbous Phase, energy and emotions heighten. This is the time for building momentum and keeping excitement around your goals high. If you need to tweak or adjust your plan, then this is a good time to do so.
What has come up for you while you have been taking action? What obstacles did you face at the First Quarter Moon? How can you overcome them and keep moving forward?
The Full Moon is around 2 weeks after the New Moon and is the high point of the lunar cycle. As Full Moons are about endings and culminations, this is hopefully where you have achieved your goals. If not, don’t worry, some goals will take more than one lunar cycle to achieve. Timewise, a good container to work in is from the New Moon in one sign to the Full Moon in the same sign, which is roughly 6 months.
If you haven’t achieved your goals, then this is when we look at why. What challenges and obstacles have you faced along the way? Not only are Full Moons a celebration of what you have achieved, but they are also a time to release the things that are holding you back. Write it all down and (safely) burn it.
The Disseminating Moon phase is a time to accept where we are and to know that is where we are meant to be. After the heightened energy and emotion of the Full Moon, I refer to this as the hangover period. It is important to do things that lift our spirits if we are feeling a bit down. Your emotions are valid, and you should feel and accept them. But it does us no good to dwell in ur pity party and sometimes those emotions are so big we time to process them. Doing something else and going back to it later helps us to not get stuck in those less desirable feelings.
Around a week after the Full Moon, we have the Third Quarter Moon which is the crossroads of the lunar cycle, This is when we look at where we were, where we are now, what we have learned along the way and where we want to go next. What are the things you have been doing that have worked really well and you wish to continue? What are the things that have not worked? Do they need adjusting or just abandoning? What will you take with you into the next cycle and what will you leave behind?
Again, the harsh angle between the Sun and Moon can make this feel a bit awkward. It is not an exercise in beating yourself up. This is how we grow, by learning from the things that are not working and choosing to try a different way. If you want different results then you have to do things differently right?
The final phase of the lunar cycle is the Balsamic Phase. Balsamic means healing or soothing and is a time to rest and look after yourself. After all our hard work during the waxing part of the cycle, followed by the reviewing and reflecting we have just done, it’s time to look after ourselves and make sure we are well-rested before the start of the next cycle.
When we follow the lunar phases and align ourselves with their energy and rhythm, it gives us a focus and an anchor. We can create a sustainable working pattern that includes self-care rather than just powering through on the days when you have no energy. It gives us time to recuperate every month before we start again.
Of course, working with the phases is just the start. We can add an extra layer by looking at the sign that the moon is in each day. The moon spends roughly 2 and a half days in each sign which flavours the energy of the daily moon just as if gives the New and Full Moon the qualities and themes of that sign. When you start to track your energy and emotions, you will see how your mood often changes as the moon moves from one sign to another.
Next week’s blog will dive into the daily moon and how to work with that.
I hope you have found this week's blog helpful. If you would like to start on your journey of lunar planning then start with my free Moon Energies Email. Delivered every Sunday, it contains details of the moons movement for the upcoming week and how to work with the phase and sign in your life and business.
