Blue Moon Musings
Entering a new ritual.
Hello, it’s me again, writing because I have decided to try out a new ritual. On each full and new moon for the next while, I will be sending out a post filled with musings and thoughts about the moon, the seasons, art, and what’s inspiring me the most.
I am sure this newsletter will morph and change, as I will too. Some months it might be a poem, some months a personal essay. Inevitably, it will follow the seasons, both interior and. exterior.
As for why I’m choosing the moon: I’ve been following the moons for a long time, and have often hosted moon circles and other moon-related gatherings. I find that the moons are great teachers. The moon expands into brightness and contracts into nothingness. In the same way, we also touch moments of transcendence, sink into moments of disconnection and pain, and flit back and forth between them. Often the transition is jarring for us, and we make it worse by adding judgment to those times of disconnection.
But the moon reminds us, what if we saw this ebb and flow — this constant oscillation between our higher selves and our animal, earthbound selves — as natural and as right? What if we were meant to sometimes be channels of divine love and lucidity and other times lumpy coils of rage, envy, exhaustion, depression, and stupid mistakes? What if it all was part of the divine dance? (Of course it is but of course, I must constantly learn and relearn that same lesson. Fortunately, the moons constantly change. Somewhere the trickster god laughs).
Anyway, here are a few thoughts on this full moon.
What to Know About This Moon
This year’s full moon is a blue moon in in Pisces. Blue moons are, by definition, the third full moon in a particular season, and they are quite rare — hence the expression “once in a blue moon.”
I have mixed feelings on astrology, but I am keeping my mind open to it, so here’s some insight in that vein. Pisces is a water sign and it asks us, especially in partnership with the whimsical, slightly unearthly nature of the end of August. This is a time to explore, journey, and seek out wonder. Dreams, fantasies, and emotion are heightened. It is a good time to be gentle with your emotions, which could be extra sensitive. This could also be a good time to channel your more mystical, arcane side. At the same time, way up there in the cosmos, this moon is close to Saturn, which (according to the astrologers that be) can give a sense of gravity, order, and perspective to everything.
(Are planets aware of each other, like trees are aware of each other in the forest, connected by a mycelial network? Do they notice when they move close to each other, when another celestial body ripples into orbit, when a star is about to explode, when a black hole is about to open? I’m sure they do, though probably not in a way we could understand. I think the entire universe is talking).
I personally find the end of August to be a mysterious, open, wistful time. Summer is coming to a close, and yet it is not quite time to pull out our autumn comforts to ease us into that season of withering and hibernation. It is a golden, ripe moment — a time to reflect, actualize, and be as present as we can as the season slips away. I have been using this time to try to complete projects from the last season of my life, and to invoke changes that have been a long time coming. I’m using this moon to call in those shifts.
Perhaps this moon can be thought of as a portal between August and September, between summer and fall, between the world that was and the world to come.
Things I’ve Loved This Moon
Since the last new moon, I was able to speak to the lovely Kate Belew, who has the kind of career I honestly dream of having — she is a poet and witch, and she runs a magical writing school. She also actually inspired me to start writing these posts! She reminded me that having a writing ritual to return to is so important, especially as time speeds by. I hope these posts can be cornerstones of my creative practice like her newsletter has been for her. Anyway, she runs one of my favorite Instagram accounts and I’d encourage you to follow her.
I also read the book “Earthlings” by Sayaka Murata. What a bizarre, sublime book! I loved her book “Convenience Store Woman,” and this was similar, telling the story of a woman who feels at odds with the world and doesn’t understand why society demands us all to work and procreate. “Earthlings” had much sharper teeth, though, touching on all manner of taboos, eventually going fully feral, and ripping my heart out more than once. I loved it.
I also listened to an episode of the sublime podcast “The Emerald” about shapeshifting. It was magnificent, and very connected to the theme of this post and to the nature of the moon. It reminded me that civilizations have told stories about shapeshifters throughout time, and perhaps as humans we are meant to be shapeshifters in a sense.
Also, I stumbled on the podcast night night bitch by Mollie Adler, which contains a reservoir mystical bedtime stories for adults. I’m always looking for ways to improve my relationship to sleep — I’ve really never loved going to bed and I would simply not sleep if I could! — but this has felt like a lovely and strange way to guide myself into dreamland — though some episodes are more soporific than others.
Finally, I bought a miniature harp and am in love with it. I wish I didn’t have to sleep so I could just play it all night.
What I’m Overthinking This Moon
Does time genuinely seem to be going faster for anyone else? I’ve felt it speeding up for the past couple of years. It’s blowing by. I cannot believe it’s almost September, I cannot believe I’m almost 26, all of it seems surreal and impossible, and yet here we are. Allegedly.
I am admittedly in a strange moment in my life where I am feeling deeply in love with and open to all of life’s possibilities, and I’m also getting increasingly desperate to carve out more time to center creative work in my life. It never feels like there’s nearly enough time to do a fraction of the things I want to do.
I suppose another way of looking at this is as a reminder to appreciate every moment and treasure every second, especially those seconds that I am able to be in dialogue with our soul’s callings.
I suppose yet another way of looking at this is as a reminder to be more mindful, and more devoted keeping the promises I make to myself instead of letting myself withdraw away into my little cocoons of distraction.
Of course the full moon reminds us that it is possible to expand our souls and to make them larger to align with larger visions. We all contain a cosmic vastness within us. Don’t forget about the galaxies inside every atom of your body! the moon seems to say. It’s far too easy to forget about the worlds running through your veins! Don’t let the everyday grind make you forget that you are a part of the whole world’s aliveness! Open yourself to the spinning world. It is not yours; you belong to it.