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“Your skin smells like light. I think you are the moon” -Nayyirah Waheed

Monthly I work with the moon to set intentions for my own growth, to check-in with myself, and to connect cycling within the seasons. As I finish writing this, today marks a full moon in the sign of Libra. This April full moon is known as the “Pink moon”, a reference, according to the Farmer’s Almanac, to the color of flowers that blossom this time of year. Here in the Pacific Northwest, the sun is appearing more to interrupt the heaviness of grey skies, and we Seattle folk are beginning to thaw, stir, and wander about, like new born calves learning to stand on all fours.

For the most part the cold is behind us, now comes the promise of strawberries and melons, shorts weather and all the festivities that come when the sun is constantly kissing us…but it all goes so darn fast. There’s block parties, and birthdays, weddings and vacations, the end of school, the planting, the harvest , the meal and the celebration.

While the sun is out and we are caught up in the heat of it all, this is where the moon really works her magic. Her invitation is to slow down by becoming rooted in observation of what is happening within us, and outside, in the world around us. Working with the lunar cycles as people have for centuries, is a way of engaging the passage of time by connecting with the rhythms of nature. To me it’s an invitation to approach the world and myself in recognition of all things having their own timing, some of which is best celebrated outside of a linear construct.

The moon brings us outside of the linear by inviting us to witness the dance and preparations around us.

Never have I smelled Night Blooming Jasmine so sweet as on a full moon night, or witnessed a forest so quiet as those nights when there appears to be no moon. When the moon is full the energy of most plants is present in the blossoms; during the new moon, the energy of the plant is present in the roots.

Observing how my own energy flows in relation to the lunar cycles is a practice I’ve deeply enjoyed.

The moon rules the earth’s bodies of water. As she waxes and wanes, she moves the tides, drawing the water to and from the shore; her cycle is roughly 28 days, a period of time that echoes the waxing and waning of menstruating women.

In astrology the moon represents the watery realm of the subconscious, our emotions and our intuition; the moon tells us about our relationship to our mothers, and where, and how, we seek nourishment in our lives. She talks to us about our instinctual nature; When she’s out, we howl, or are made lunatics, or sometimes, we hide and tend to our own waters.

In hopes that you will cultivate your own relationship to the moon and her magic, my offering is a simple one: look at the moon.

If you feel called to, sit in community or with yourself and share what it is you’d like to plant anew in your life. It is lovely to sew seeds of intention with the new moon. With the full moon, harvest your lessons, observe what is illuminated in your life, and release that which has served its’ growing season. A meal, a bath, a tea, a walk or simply a “good night moon”, are all celebrations where you can invite the moon in all of her different phases, into your own. The moon is the body I look to when I find myself deeply missing home, I remind myself of all the people I love who are looking at her too, in this embrace I always feel nourished and illuminated.