Today’s Moon Phase: Monday, September 21st
Day 4: Crescent Moon
“I relax into my intention. I breathe.”
~ Dr. Ezzie Spencer, Lunar Abundance
CORRESPONDENCES: East, Spring, mental focus, swords, new beginnings, sowing seeds, insight and ideas, inspiration, trusting in our inner vision, the child phase, rest, balance, restoration.
THEME: Setting a tone for balance.
This first of four Yin phases is a great time to set the tone for the entire cycle to come. We live in a very Yang culture, and typically, we spend a great deal of time in our Yang aspects.
Yang is doing, acting, going.
We see these things as admirable, if not necessary for survival. We even go so far as to feel guilty about resting or taking down time. If I’m not preaching to the choir, I know you know at least a handful of people like this.
We have a hard time with slowing down, stopping, pausing, reflecting, taking time to be present. And while we legit need our Yang states to do things like bring home the bacon, we need our Yin states just as much to make those same things keep happening consistently, with joy, without burning us out and forcing us against our nature. Making space for our Yin phases also brings discernment, brilliance, and strategy to our go-go-go (Yang) nature. Without the balance of Yin, we run with no aim – just shooting off into the anywhere.
This Yin-time is relatively gentle compared with the other Yin states, the Gibbous, Disseminating, and Balsamic Moons, with each growing progressing more inward as we grow closer to the Dark Moon and begin the Cycle again. By gentle, I mean that this Yin state may bring you within, more deeply into yourself, your inner voice and wisdom, your creative and inspired ideas, but it also comes with a relatively nice amount of energy that waxes as the Moon does, as you move closer to your ovulation phase at the Full Moon.
Therefore, this Yin phase is great for making commitments and receiving ideas, plans, and taking care of the backend details so be ready to bring these ideas to life in your next couple of Yang phases at the First Quarter and Full Moons. What commitments can you make to assure you hold space for rest throughout your cycle? What rituals or routines could help you create this for yourself? Where can you modify your work schedule or daily life tasks to make space for your Yin days?
A NOTE ON YIN: How to honor your Yin states will vary as much as opinions in women do! This is about allowing space for restoration, resting, taking in nourishing foods, stretching and moving your body as necessary, if that’s something that otherwise gets away from you – i.e.: checking in! Listening. Pausing from the go to bring presence to self. How are you feeling right now? What are you craving? These two questions can be powerful portals for getting in touch with your innate rhythms and how to create a lifestyle that is naturally nourishing.
That said, we vacillate fairly quickly – a few days at a time – between Yin and Yang states, and we spend half of our Cycle in Yin. So being in Yin doesn’t mean we just sleep or stop our lives. That’s not really practical (or necessary) for anyone.
It means we check in with our bodies, we make sure we’re honoring our boundaries – which may mean creating new boundaries we didn’t realize we needed – we give ourselves any nourishment we require, we rest if needed, we take time to restore, whatever that means for us! Maybe it means doing a pet project creative thing because that’s what feeds us. Maybe it’s going to the gym because that’s what feeds us.
Yin doesn’t mean we stop; it means we listen.
YIN EXERCISE: Make a commitment to take some time this Cycle to lend presence to your energy levels. Check in with yourself to discern if you’re in a Yang or Yin phase. Then, ask your body what it wants right now. You can do this as a ritual, while writing in your journal, or casually on your walk to the car to work! Don’t overthink this, just BE with yourself.
Over time, you’ll get to know when it’s best to restore your energy and when it’s a great time for expression and doing. You can then use this information to make subtle shifts in your daily routine and work life to honor your natural energy cycles. To begin tracking your energy flow, download the Lunar Magic Magic here:
REFLECTION: Try out the Lunar Magic Wheel to find out where you are in your personal lunar cycle. Take some time now to look at where you are in your inner Lunar Cycle. Where are you in relation to Mama Moon? How is your inner phase similar and different from the larger cycle according to the correspondences you’ve placed on your Lunar Magic Wheel? How do these energies come together for you – what do you feel is the relationship between your inner lunar phase and our Mother’s?
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