
Bringing Natural Rhythms and Cycles Into Your Wellness Plan
As we are approaching Super Full Blood Flower/Frog/Corn Planting Sagittarius Moon Full Lunar Eclipse on May 26, this is an excellent time to reflect on how to bring cyclical patterns and rhythms into personal wellness plans [note: I thought I published this on 5/24/21, but it looks like it didn’t go live! Please bear with me as I learn the technical parts of blogging… that said, the content of this post can be applied to each and every lunar cycle, solar cycle seasonal cycle, etc., not just amazing super duper eclipse moons!]. Bringing in seasonal and cyclical awareness can be a fun and satisfying way to increase connection with your own inner rhythms, with the earth’s seasons, and on a larger scale, with nature and the universe.
Throughout the days, months, and years we all interact with various cycles: sleeping and waking; high and low periods of physical or mental energy; menstruation; and plant growth cycles such as starting seeds, tending to plants, harvesting, and composting are a few that come to mind. Bringing intention and awareness to the interplay of personal and universal cycles can be a powerful and empowering practice.
I like to start setting intentions for growth and creation of projects, intentions, and changes on the new moon. I meditate, write specific intentions for growth on a piece of paper, put the paper in my wooden Reiki box, and give the intentions Reiki daily as the moon waxes. On the full moon, I read through the intentions and burn the paper as a ritual to release these intentions, like an archer letting the arrow fly. Then as the moon wanes, I consider what it is time to let go of, what I want to release, what does not serve me. I write these “releases” down on a paper, give them Reiki, and burn them on the new moon, letting them drift away with the smoke. Some people have an opposite practice, letting things go on the full moon and using the new moon to consider what to grow – what resonates most with you? The intentions can be simple and practical, such as “My injured ankle heals and grows stronger every day,” or “By the next new moon I will stop purchasing soda every day and replace it with seltzer.” They can also be larger and more abstract, for instance, “I embrace prosperity and abundance,” or “I release fear that holds me back from moving forward in my life.”
In terms of the approaching full moon, this is a big one in multiple ways! It will be a Super Full Moon, meaning closer than usual to the earth and appearing to be larger in the sky. It will be a Blood Moon because of the eclipse – the shadow of the earth covering the moon’s face will have a reddish glow. May’s full moon is also called the Flower Moon – look around outside, there are blooms in abundance! Lunar eclipses can make us aware of unconscious feelings that are ready to be examined or internal or emotional cycles that are coming to an end and are ready to be released and completed. They are a wonderful opportunity to set intentions for completion, cleansing, and resetting of projects or personal inner work.
Some questions to consider for this moon:
- What in your life is blooming right now?
- What blooms are ready to fade away and transform into fruits for future harvest?
- What is ready to be released, to create space for something new?
- What changes are calling or approaching?
- How would you like to create a physical cleansing or reset ritual to embody these shifts?
- Some suggestions: spring cleaning (including burning sage/mugwort!) in your home or around your land; journaling; writing intentions for growth or release on a piece of paper and burning or burying the paper; setting your crystals or tools outside to bathe in the moonlight; meditating under the moon…
I hope you enjoy connecting with Luna in all her spring glory!
This blogpost is also found on www.nursegrown.com.