Inhaling and exhaling. Breathing in the moon and letting the moon breathe you.
Drink in this moon milk with all that you are. Surrender to lunar replenishment. You glow now with Goddess light, with all the divinity of the cosmos. Woman, what an amazing beauty you are! Let the lunar light nourish every cell, bone, muscle, and organ in your body. Let Her burn away your insecurities, your guilt, your shame, your fears. Just for now, just in this very moment, let the moon have its way with you.
Swallow this moon milk and feel your inner Witch revel inside your ribs. You are bringing the juice back into her veins now, and she tells you this: There you are, Woman! I have been waiting for so long! Let me show you the Old Ways. I will remind you of sacred sensuality and the soul-food of a night spent wild. I will deepen every experience with my womb-wise intelligence, and I will tell you of your power. Remember who you are, a Woman Most Wild, a Witch liberated, and the Goddess embodied. Stay fed and full, my Sister, for this is only the beginning. Your inner Witch is wide awake now. Let’s learn of your sacred rhythms and make her dance!
A woman craves practical knowledge of her soulful cycles, for she intuitively understands that she will not open her eyes tomorrow morning as the same woman she was today. Many of our bumpiest scars stem from our neglect of our cyclical nature; such patterning, when combined with the pervasive social rejection of our changeable nature, has dug a deep chasm into our self-awareness. Clarissa Pinkola Estés, in her treatise on the wild woman archetype, Women Who Run with the Wolves, emphasizes the importance of women’s cycles, arguing against the notion of women’s entire lives being compartmentalized into three seasons of girl, woman, and elder: “We cannot allow ourselves to sleepwalk wrapped in this flimsy and unobservant fabrication, for it causes women to deviate from their natural and soulful cycles.” A bone-deep fear of change runs rampant in our patriarchal society, dear Sister, and you may have noticed even those who truly love you act out a desire to keep you static. Honor your cycles, knowing they are far more complex than those described here. Accept your righteously alchemical nature. Drink the lunar nectar, and reclaim your nature as a mother-loving shape-shifter, and hear me when I tell you that you were born to be ever-changing.
LET THE WITCH SPEAK!Hearing Her Womb-Voice under the Moon
The Witch thinks, speaks, and prays with Her whole body. Sense the location of your thoughts now, my love. Do they live just at the crown of your head? Perhaps a few inches lower? Feel where your thinking mind is centered, and now begin to pull your thinking mind down to your third eye, that space of reception where your most authentic vision lives, and then lower to your throat center. Here is the place of truth, story, and voice. Pull your thinking mind down even deeper to your heart, where you will sense the energy of compassion and gratitude, then even farther to your solar plexus, where your very ego and identity reside, surrounded by the fire of your will and self-esteem. Finally, let your thinking mind drop down to your sacral center, between your hip bones. Here you are at the source of your womb-wisdom and your Witch voice.
Ask of your sacral center only one question now, and let it be this: What do I need to know right at this moment, under this moon? Let the answer bubble up from that sacred, sacral space and climb through your energy centers to your throat. The voice that whispers from your lips now is your womb-voice. Even if you do not have a physical uterus, your energetic wise womb remains and has much to say. Do not let this womb-voice startle you, Woman, for it may say things that both shock and inspire. Can you hear the tone in which your womb-voice is speaking? Can you hear it echo from your pelvic bowl as if the Goddess herself were howling from inside an ancient cave temple? Let her speak. Give her permission — not that she needs it — to tell you of your wild worth.
Learning to hear this holy voice, your truest voice, is a vital skill that will serve you well, my love; it is the very technology of feminine guidance. Once your inner Witch knows you are listening, she will speak louder and more often. She will offer you guidance when you need it, though not necessarily when you are looking for it, and she will teach you her language. Know that she may not speak in words you know; she may speak through energetic pulses in your body, sudden glimpses of images in your wild psyche, or subtle feelings that could easily be ignored, were you less still and aware. Find just enough presence every night to hone the ways of deep listening, trusting this practice is part of your holy birthright and devoting a small part of yourself to hearing your inner voices as the moon waxes and wanes.
THE NEW MOON’S SPARKYour Lunar Dawn
The new moon bubbles in your blood as if your very body were a cauldron of skin-framed, magickal brew. The earliest days of the new moon phase are marked by a subtle sense that your creativity and sensuality have been somehow heightened. An awareness of a slow build both within and outside you can render even the wisest woman anxious and hypervigilant; being aware of this lunar phase is therefore vital to your identity as a creatrix. Artist you are, Woman, regardless of whether you are birthing new life in your womb, carefully shaping a bit of clay, cooking up some hearty soup, or decorating your hearth for a holiday. All this, and every infinitesimal act on the creative spectrum, is the hallmark of new moon fire.
The subtle and blatant bursts of creativity you feel as the moon waxes are a sort of internal spring, if we were to liken this lunar energy to a solar season. New growth stirs underground in late winter and erupts from Gaia’s mud at the vernal equinox. The new moon is a mini-spring every month, with the warrior-woman energy writhing within you like so many red fire serpents. Honor this time as an energetic growth period. Do not cage your inner warrior, for she needs to be set loose now and then.
I hear you, my Sister, when you say desire can seem unladylike. I understand you when you say that you are no warrior, but I am telling you that this lunar dawn is a fertile time for starting all things new. As the moon waxes, you may become so full with creative energy, your prana Shakti, that you feel you may well explode like a violent volcano. Be the Maiden Goddess at this time and honor your sensuality by feeling, tasting, smelling, hearing, and seeing everything. Your wild woman spirit is inextricably bound to your sacred sexuality, and the new moon holds the very essence of well-purposed passion.
Painting the Wild New Moon: A Creative Dive
Gather these materials, Woman: a blank canvas and bright paint mixed from nontoxic natural elements. Put on no music; hear the night. Drink no wine; taste the iron of passion’s fire. Burn no sacred herbs; smell the rawness of your unwashed artist’s passion. This void of a canvas calls you to dive deeply into the inferno of the creatrix. Do it now!
Muster your creative mania and slather the vibrant thick color on your fingers. Pull, poke, and pinken that canvas in motions that no artist has ever made before. This is your masterpiece. Do not overthink it. Just paint as if you were the Goddess coloring the world for the first time. Every line, however unbeauteous seeming, is pure in its right to be there. Stomp and spit on the thing if it feels right, my love. You can do no wrong here, and those hands of yours know exactly how to move. Forget the outcome, though it may hang on your walls as a beacon of your rawest and most unbridled creativity. For now, there is nothing except you and this work. Paint yourself to life and then to death, and do it over and over again.
The new moon calls you to break down barriers and fight your way, sword drawn, through crowds of naysayers, even if these obstacles exist only in the confines of your psyche. If you find yourself assessing or judging your work, stop painting and recenter. Let yourself be fed by the waxing lunar energy until you can consume no more, and then collapse onto the floor with a tired, paint-splattered body and an invigorated soul. You have colored the wild new moon brightly, my love. Now rest, high on the passion of the Priestess who has reclaimed her art.
For Your Consideration: As the Moon Grows . . .
Consider this: The waxing moonlight casts a milky glow on your soul’s path, illuminating your next steps. Ask yourself these pertinent questions, and be sure to listen deeply to your inner Witch. She is concerned, above all else, with your soul’s wandering path, for she wants your wildness