☾✩☽ Guest Luminaries ☾✩☽
Cathy French is an educator, channel, farmer, ancestor, dog person. She specialises in guiding yoga nidra practices that honor Irish Animism + the Celtic Wheel of the year. Her work draws on a deep love of poetry and the power of spoken word. She encourages her students to live into their questions. A Scorpio Stellium + Libra moon, she has a gift of assisting others in turning toward themselves with courage during seemingly dark times of initiation and metamorphosis. Cathy spent five years living off grid in Las'-Sik territory in Northern California and is now based in Dublin where she hosts workshops and retreats and teaches English to migrant and refugee teenagers. Find out more on Cathy's website here.
☾✩☽ Astrological Resources ☾✩☽
Here is a selection of some of our favourite Astrologers you can tune into across 2021.
↠ Blue Rose School https://www.andrewsmith.ie/introduction/
↠ Mystic Mamma https://www.mysticmamma.com/astral-insights/
↠ Chani Nicholas https://chaninicholas.com/about-chani-nicholas/
↠ Virginia Rosenberg https://virginiarosenberg.com/about-virginia
↠ Lorna Bevan https://www.hareinthemoonastrology.co.uk/lorna-bevan
↠ Paramatma Siri Sadhana https://spaceweathertransmissions.com/paramatma
↠ Matthew Stelzner https://www.youtube.com/channel/
↠ Jennifer Racioppi https://jenniferracioppi.com/
☾✩☽ Other Recommended Resources ☾✩☽
↠ Cathy’s Spotify Playlist
↠ Carolyn Cowan workshop: “Exploring the Female Arousal Cycle”, September 25th and 26th, 2021
↠ Reading: Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good by Adrienne Maree Brown
↠ Reading: To Speak for the Trees by Diana Beresford-Kroeger
↠ Essay: Uses of the Erotic by Audre Lorde (short, accessible and essential reading)
↠ Musings from Cathy : “I've been thinking about Yawning- I think we were all signalling a beautiful behavioral state change to one another in that incidence of catching the yawns on the call. The jaw is all about self expression and is closely connected with the throat centre, speech and your voice. If you (like me) are experiencing any jaw stuff then please find a way to say what you need to say under this full moon or use the journal prompts to write it down. Here is a video from Pamela Samuelson, sharing simple ways that we can release and ground some of the high charge we carry in our beautiful jaws. Enjoy.”
☾✩☽ Cosmic Intel + Teachings ☾✩☽
Full moons are a time to look at everything in full light and make changes as needed. They can represent endings, completions or something coming to a ‘peak moment,’ The lunar qualities of emotions and instincts reach their peak at a full moon. The energy of a situation is at its fullest potency and potential. We fluctuate with the moons energy and the Full Moon is time of release. La Luna affects the gravitational pull of tides, birth rates, can regulate menstrual cycle, sleep, moods, plant growth, Emergency Room, Crime Rates. Every 29.5 days the Moon reaches its full phase and so do we…..
The Moon in astrology is associated with the feminine and in particular the Mother archetype. She rules the emotional body connecting us to our instinctive wisdom and our most basic needs. She helps protect and guide us by gifting us with information about our feelings and about the wellbeing of our nature. She enables us to penetrate our deepest recesses in the personal and collective unconscious and our roots in the past, our ancestral inheritance.
We are in a time of collective and personal awakening to what has been in the shadows, oppressive and imbalanced across our implemented systems as well as our personal realities. The process of awakening can be painful, because new realities precipitate trajectory shifts. In the process of things dismantling, disassembling, and crumbling, we can feel unstable and this is why change is often so dreaded. But we are the change makers of this time, and we are here at this time for a reason. We each carry our own truth, but a universal truth is that we’re all here ultimately to learn to love and be loved.
As Above: Astrology and the Celestial Realms
Every 29.5 days the moon reaches its peak illumination, lighting our sky with its nurturing rays. Astronomically, this happens when the moon and the sun are exactly opposite of one another and the near side of the sun’s light is fully reflected on the moon’s surface.
Full moons occur when the moon and sun are opposing each other in the sky, shining a light and illuminating areas in your life which may require evaluation or change. Astrologically speaking a Full Moon at its core is an attempt to balance two opposing forces.They are a time for releasing what is no longer working, signifying the culmination and completion of what was started at the time of the new moonThe Full Moon, by definition, has the quality of revealing what has been kept in the dark. Some keywords associated with the Full Moon are illumination, clarity, culmination, and manifestation.
It’s significant, potent and full of mystery — a time when the veils are thin and ancient wisdom is remembered. It’s a chance to really see, into the unseen and into the depths of truth, in a way we have never been able to before.
Axis of Opposition – dancing with the opposites
Thesis – Antithesis – Synthesis. Thesis = the beginning position, Antithesis = a negation of the thesis and Synthesis = the two conflicting ideas that are reconciled to form a new proposition. In astrology, we have 12 signs distributed in 6 axes. As with any Full Moon, we work on both sides of the axis. On the one hand, we have our values – those things we care for, no matter what. On the other hand, the Full Moon comes to illuminate a higher truth, and puts things into perspective.
Full Moons always highlight the polarities of our inner and outer worlds. They display where we are at odds. When the creative force is at odds with itself and its other, the soul’s is preparing for a growth spurt . Like an old fashioned poultice - the polarities create a new pathway.
Opposition
With Full Moons, we are working with a Sun/Moon opposition. Oppositions mean duality, opposing values, habits, perspectives, and needs. Oppositions help us recognize the delicate balance that's needed in our lives and in our relationships in particular. They show us where we are lacking as well as what our strengths are. The sun in astrology acts like a spotlight, roaming through the terrain of each zodiacal sign. The monthly full moon acts like a counter or balancing light,
This is the first of two full moons in Aquarius, with the Sun sitting opposite in Leo.
This means we will be intensely working this zodiacal axis for the next month—owning what makes us unique, what makes us shine, what we burn to express, even if it goes against the collective opinion of the moment. Furthermore, this upcoming full moon is highlighting an x-square between Pluto, Mercury, Eris and Mary Magdalene. That's a lot of light and dark, masculine and feminine energy pushing and pulling against each other!
This Full Moon is in the rational, cool, emotionally detached, innovative, humanitarian and socially idealistic sign of Aquarius. Calling all visionaries, disrupters, and change agents.Having two Full Moons in Aquarius within a calendar year also puts an emphasis on this sign of the zodiac. Aquarius is an air sign that is represented by the water bearer.The water bearer has the gift of being able to collect water, which signifies the emotions of the world, in its vessel and transmute them using the power of air. The water bearer is then able to pour them back down to the world, bringing a shift in consciousness.It is this nourishing act that gives Aquarian energy a natural healing quality, and one that we can connect with on this July Full Moon. This is especially true because Chariklo, the Asteroid of Spirit Medicine is also active at this time.
The sun is in the opposite sign (what occurs at a full moon) of the Water Bearer, Leo. Leo is warm, inspired, expressive and performative. SupernovaLeo risks everything in order to be received by its audience.Royal Frequency – heart and courage. Lions Heart
Aquarius V Leo Shine Your Light. The Light The World Needs
Leo and Aquarius are two sides of the same coin. Every sign is contained within us. The zodiac is a story of the unfolding of human consciousness. Every full moon is an opportunity to experience both sides of an equation. Month by month we live through the entire mythic journey.
This moment in the journey is about the need for personal self-expression (Leo) and the need to serve the collective (Aquarius). It’s about allowing ourselves to burn bright with the fire of our personality and be detached enough to see what any given situation calls for. It’s not all about us but if we leave ourselves out completely we forgo the joy of being playfully present
Leo needs your adoration like it needs air and water. Meanwhile, Aquarius is uncomfortable with overt, explicitly personal displays of love because it’s too concerned with pouring forth water to the collective. Leo is here to remind us that we are individuals on our own, that we are unique, and that our uniqueness matters. Our uniqueness makes the world a better place, and we have come here for a very specific reason.On the other hand, Aquarius reminds us that our personal talents need to follow certain protocols, to “fit the bill”, to create value, to “make sense” from society’s perspective.
Leo invites us to step into our inner light and become a leader, an authority in our own right. Aquarius, on the other hand, ensures that the light we shine is the light the world needs.Aquarius is the societal feedback loop. We should never forget the truth of who we are - yet, we should listen to, and accept feedback from other
It’s all about consciousness And co-creation.
So Below: Earth Medicine
The tradition of naming Moons is rich in history so we honour the Native American Moon names and the folklore of those who came before us. We follow the full Moon names that were used during Native American and Colonial times to help track the seasons. The Buck Moon is a nickname given to full moons that take place in July, and it’s named for the fact that male deer antlers typically reach the peak of their growth at this point in the summer. The abundance and ripeness of summer is also at a peak during the time of this full moon — which allows us to grow at a more rapid pace, too.
Earth Medicine – Lughnasa in our Celtic Tradition
Traditionally, August marked the beginning of the Harvest Season and it was a time of great celebration in rural Ireland. The festival of Lughnasa stems from an Irish-Gaelic word which translates as ‘Commemoration of Lugh’ and our Lughnasa is out native word to signify the month August. The Great King Lugh was a hero among the Celts, and held the title of High King of Ireland at one point in his earthly life. He is also known as Lamhfhada, which means ‘long hand’, because of his exemplary skill with a spear. He was a great warrior, a master craftsman, a king, and a saviour to the people.
Celtic mythology centred on the dance of opposing forces – light and dark, good and evil, birth and death, planting and harvest. Lugh, who personified the conflict in opposing forces, has symbolised harvest throughout Celtic history. The story of Lugh is an archetypal myth that has cropped up in many modern stories; probably the best known version around today is the original Star Wars film. George Lucas, was inspired by these opposing forces in Celtic mythology and morphed the Sword-of-Light-wielding Celtic warrior Lugh into the light-saber-wielding Star Wars hero Luke Skywalker.
Of the four great Celtic festivals - Samhain, Imbolc and Bealtaine, Lughnasa was the most joyous. It was a great tradition for entire communities to gather at a chosen meeting place in the hills, by a river or lake, or perhaps at a holy well to celebrate the fresh abundance of a new harvest with joy and enjoyment. People gathered to celebrate the bonds of community through social mixing, and to strengthen and honour the bonds between the people and the spirits of the land and the gods through decorating wells and standing stones, the re-telling or re-enactment of mythological tales, acts of blessing and ritual
Journaling Prompts:
🌿 What are you harvesting?
🌿 What are you releasing?
🌿 What are you amplifying?
🌿 What are you celebrating?
☾✩☽ Moon Medicine Rituals ☾✩☽
Create an altar. Create a sacred space in your home - see our guide in aftercare.
Connect with the Moon. Whether or not you subscribe to astrology, the moon is always in the sky, and attuning yourself to the moon's cycle can guide self-care.
New moon: At the beginning of the lunar month, the moon is a new moon. Metaphorically, it's a time to plant the new seeds of goals, intentions, and actions.
Waxing phase: Her growth from new moon to full moon is the waxing phase. This the Warrior Phase—where we gain momentum in our actions.
Waning phase: The Sage Phase happens as she wanes from full, —where we gradually power down, restore ourselves, and integrate lessons learned.
Dark moon: The last few days before the new moon is called the dark moon. Here's when we retreat to our proverbial caves to rest and reflect, preparing for a new cycle ahead
Cleanse. Sage your Home, Bedroom, Chariot & Office. Energetically cleanse the energetic wombs of your life, where you find yourself “creating”.
Observe. Select a journal, and record your dreams, thoughts, insights, experiences and observations.
Collect items: pen, paper, tarot cards, candles, incense, herbs, symbols to represent Luna: mirror, mother, water, seashells, etc.
Have Patience. Have patience with yourself and the journey you’re embarking. Allow yourself the emotional space to process, release, learn, develop and heal.
Lavender Oil. Have lavender in your home, bed or altar. Lavender can bring stillness, and calm an overactive mind.
I Feel. Acknowledge your emotions and journal with what emerges.
Breathe Deeply. The pull of The Moon can bring up strong sensations and emotions – and sometimes this is uncomfortable. However it’s a prime opportunity to feel more and allow the emotion to unfurl. A very practical and grounded way to do so is to focus on the breath and breathe a little deeper than you would normally. Place your hands on your Womb and Heart and take a few deep breaths and feel.
Go For A Moon Walk. Walking in the lunar light in nature can be particularly magical.Watch how the trees move and interact; with The Moon, the wind, with you, and listen, really listen in to the sounds of nature. Moon Bathing can be a truly magical and intimate experience.
Take A Loooong Luxurious Bath. The Moon affects the tides, the Oceans, the water in our body.
To get in touch with this aspect of nature within and around us – take a long bath.Add in Epson Salts, your favourite essential oil, play some soothing music, light candles and relax.
Tending to your Temple: BodyLiving consciously starts with taking care of your body; the temple that houses you, here on this planet. So, scan yourself from head to toe. How does your body feel? Give yourself all the O2 and H2O your body needs.. Your body will thank you for that.
Ground, Ground, and Ground
The magnetic pull of The Moon is strong so Grounding is super important. If you do nothing else at The Full Moon – ground. It’s especially helpful just before bed as being rooted in the body aids a better sleep.
with heart,
Beannachtaí,
from Kathy and all at The Trailblazery xo