New Moon

Tonight is a new moon. Which means that the moon lies directly between the earth and the sun and all the light falling on the moon is being deflected away from the earth. In essence, we are on the dark side of the moon. In Wicca, from my understanding, this is a time of hopes, new beginnings, fresh starts. It is also a time of uncertainty. What will this new moon bring? What will be revealed in the growing light of the waxing moon?

While not a Wiccan myself, I do certainly wish I took more time to scan the heavens for more signs of meaning, change, life. If the moon can move the oceans and a woman's reproductive cycle, why wouldn't it move me and my spirit as well? Its easy to laugh off ancient theology as pre-scientific superstition or new-age WASPy escapism, but in an age when our uber-scientific mindedness is destroying our planet at an incalculable rate, maybe we should take ourselves and the marvel of modern man a little less seriously.

A psychologist once told me that the point of therapy/counseling/mental check-ups is not to address the immediate situation (the break-up, the anxiety, the depression) but to identify the patterns we as individuals follow. Sometimes we identify them so we can break them, sometimes we identify them merely so that we can live into them rather than fight them. It is only when we see ourselves and our lives in the light of these patterns that we can even begin to understand and then address the problems we face.

This lunar cycle I want to try and live into rhythm of life that is greater than me and my petty worries, than paychecks and dirty dishes, and hope to hear a little more clearly God's plan for me. Perhaps by using the lunar model as a guide for my spiritual walk this month, I will find myself stepping into a rhythm, danced to which, my life becomes more intelligible.

There are four basic moon phases. So far as I can tell, these are their super-simplified significances:

New Moon: Rest and Rejuvenation

Waxing Moon: Time of growth and increase

Full Moon: Fullest potential, celebration of abundance

Waning moon: Time of cleansing, decrease

Maybe I'll use them as a guide to my prayer life or other spiritual disciplines, maybe i'll just spend some time looking at the moon, maybe I'll meditate, maybe I'll just not be so neurotic and try to live all these phases at once...