SARAH DURHAM WILSON

Hey Moon Mammas, let’s talk lunar cycles. If you already love the moon, then you’re ready to go deeper. Understanding her phases helps you understand your own phases. The deeper you get into sync with the moon, just as the deeper you align with the earth and her cycles, the more you understand yourself and why your life moves the way it does. Then you're not fighting the tides, you're swimming with them. Let’s dive in—and by that, I mean look up at the Moon and see what she wants to tell you.

Let's start with the New Moon. This is her darkest phase. The Dark Goddess is synonymous with the New Moon. It’s an energy that urges you to look at your darkness, summon your inner light, and face your fears. Life tends to be pretty mysterious in the darkness of a new moon. It’s a gateway from old to new; it’s time to fully release the old and plant seeds for the new. Start new projects, dream new dreams. Close that old door with grace and gratitude, so a new one can open.

Waxing Gibbous. First Quarter Phase. Waxing moon phase means waxing energy, which is the same as building, growing. This is when you walk through that open door. Seeds are pushing up through the dark dirt you planted during the new moon. Projects are building momentum; if you're taking actions, you're starting to see results. It’s also a time of intense attraction, both positive and negative. So pay attention to your thoughts—are they positive? If so, that is what you will attract. And vice versa. Are your actions loving? These are the seeds you are sowing that will bloom at the Full Moon. So be cautious and conscious. It’s a time to put new intentions into action, to develop healthy habits. The energy of the waxing moon will help you put them into practice.

Full Moon. The Full Moon is the phase most are familiar with, when she’s biggest and brightest in the sky. You’re pregnant, so to speak, with all that energy and light. Intentions you planted at the New Moon have come to fruition. All that light in the sky shines on earth, and what was hidden is revealed. If you’ve been carrying a secret, it will be seen. People tend to go little bit crazy at the full moon (they are called luna-tics for a reason!); it’s a high electrifying time packed with energy. Be mindful to ground that energy and use it for the highest good. By nighttime, you're ready to dance it off. It's a time of prophecy and divination, for you can see most clearly under the light of the full moon.

Waning Moon. This is a moon associated with Crone, or wise elderly woman, energy. The energy from the full moon starts to die down. It's a time when you are supported to release patterns, addictions, thoughts, behaviors, relationships—all things that don’t serve you. I call it the "Let Go" moon phase. 

What the phases of the moon reveal, at least to me, is that she and we are no different at all. We can't always be full and light. We must have time to go dark and be born anew. We become empty to be full again. We fall apart to come back together, we come together to fall apart. She is full of endless mystery and magic, dark and light, just like woman.