You can register for individual circles or the entire series. We'll meet for both full and new moons throughout the year.
How do you work with January’s Full Moon?
January's Full Moon is almost upon us. Maybe you know a tad about how you can use the moon's power in your life already or maybe you have no idea but you're curious. We're going to explore the properties and energy of this full moon in this post.
Lunar Cycle Background
The moon goes through eight distinct phases as it moves counterclockwise around the earth: new, waxing crescent, first quarter, gibbous, full, disseminating, third quarter, and balsamic. These phases are created by the sun illuminating the surface of the moon at various angles as it orbits the earth. A lunar cycle starts with the new moon, when the moon is between the earth and the sun causing it to appear unilluminated, and peaks about 15 days later when the moon is opposite the sun causing it to appear fully illuminated. The moon’s visible illumination from earth slowly decreases over the next 14-15 days as the sun, earth, and moon continue their orbits until the moon is once again between the earth and sun and the next moon cycle begins. The moon takes about 29 ½ days to complete all eight phases and each phase comes with its own unique properties and energies.
Full Moon Properties & Energy
As mentioned, the full moon occurs at the highest point of the lunar cycle and brings with it bold, fast-moving yang energy. If you’ve ever noticed that you have a hard time sleeping or have less patience when there’s a full moon, you could be feeling the effects of increased yang. Staying hydrated and focusing on slower movement, such as yin or restorative yoga, can help balance yang during this time. It’s important to note that just because yang energy can feel a bit intense at times, learning to work with it can be a powerful and transformative tool.
Strong yang energy creates an excellent environment to take inventory of what is and isn’t working in your life and creates an opportunity to release what is no longer serving you, your goals, and your highest self. The full moon shines light on areas of lower energy, and negative events, patterns, and habits in your life so that they can be processed, released, and healed. As you create space, the full moon invites you to fill it with gratitude and begin to see challenges as set-ups rather than an up-sets.
As the moon moves through its phases, it also moves through the zodiac signs. It takes the moon a little less than 30 days to go through all 12 signs. In astrology, the moon rules over emotions, home, instincts, needs, nurture, safety, needs, subconscious, and femininity, and the zodiac sign in which the moon phase occurs can impact how we experience the moon’s rule over these parts of our lives. January’s full moon is in the sign of Cancer, a loyal and nurturing sign in the zodiac; however, when this sign is imbalanced, it can lead to co-dependency and neediness. Water and earth signs (Pisces, Scorpio, Cancer, Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorns) may find it easier to work with the properties of this full moon, while fire and air signs (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius, Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius) may find it more challenging.
Join me on Friday, January 6th, to explore the caring and cultivating properties of this full moon. We will take some time to nurture our bodies with a slow, grounding practice, before settling into a meditation to identify what we may be holding onto that is no longer serving us. We will complete a cord cutting ritual to sever our connection with what needs to be released and close the circle with a practice to call gratitude into the newly created space.
