So the same weekend as the conference, there was also the Full Moon in Aries. The Full Moon is always in the opposite sign to the zodiac. So while it occurred in October, six months before, it's the beginning of April which is Aries season.
Well, following on from the Full Moon ritual, I opted to pull some cards from a couple of decks I have. I do write about this in a post called "Self-Care & Self-Love" because I wanted to write about my experience in the actual Full Moon ritual itself.
The intention behind this ritual was to illuminate, clear and amplify. It was meant to illuminate personal challenges, clear these away and then amplify the gifts we hold.
As always, we started with a clearing and grounding meditation so that whatever had happened in that day didn't interfere with the main ritual. This is something that I love about all the rituals I have done with Emily as it's such a lovely thing to be a part of in its own right.
Next was a visualisation meditation, visiting a place that feels like home and for me, this place was similar to the Yorkshire moors. It was a very wide and open space, just before moonrise. I was surrounded by swathes of Heather, a plant that I will be looking into working with in the future in some way. It also smelled damp, like rain had not long fallen but it wasn't an unpleasant smell.
There was a path in the heather that I took that was bathed in the light from a newly risen Full Moon. It wove through the heather to a gorge where I found a cave by a pool of freshwater. The air within this gorge was close but not uncomfortably so. Next to the pool were three vessels.
One of the vessels was stone and it was filled with the challenges that I am facing and needing to work on or release. Self-doubt, self-criticism and stubbornness took up the most space within the vessel but I did then empty this stone vessel onto the ground near the pool. The vessel itself was made of plain unpatterned stone but it definitely symbolised things that are holding me back and weighing me down.
The second vessel was made of wood and contained my gifts, things that I like to do as well as what I'm good at. Contained within were writing, listening, learning, strength, heart and love. The ones I want to amplify are learning, love and heart. I didn't have to amplify everything so I wanted to focus on half of what I found within this wooden vessel. After this, I held the vessel close to my chest and allowed my heart to absorb it, to amplify and hold safe the gifts that I don' want to work with at this time.
The final vessel was similar to a basket, woven tightly from plants. This vessel was empty but deliberately so, because its purpose was to hold the things from the first two vessels that I wanted to focus on. So self-criticism, self-doubt, learning, heart, and love were all placed inside it along with a few extras that I felt were necessary. The extras were moonlight and water from the pool.
Having put the challenges to be released and the gifts to be amplified in the last vessel, I then carried it with me as I left the pool and retraced my steps along the path out of the gorge and through the swathes of heather under the light of the Full Moon.
After coming out of the meditation, I spent a few minutes wondering what actions I could take to release the challenges that I discovered in the first vessel. Having a better self-care routine came up because I have a tendency to care more for others than I do myself. I will go into more detail about this in another blog post. Something else that I thought about during this time was to only do as much as I could do without any deadlines or expectations, whether these are put on me by others or ones that I put upon myself.
I'm unsure as to whether this meditation ritual fits with the energy of the Full Moon in Aries cards from Yasmin Boland's Moonology and Moonology Manifestation oracle decks. The Moonology card has the statement of "A fiery climax approaches!" and while this could have described my experience of the whole weekend of the Full Moon (as it included the Season of the Witch conference and a Formula 1 race weekend), I don't feel as if it applies in a more general way. The Moonology Manifestation card has the phrase "Cool your emotions" as its statement and I suppose I can take this to heart because I can let my excitement and other emotions get the better of me at times. However, the feeling I get from the image on the card is that I should learn to take a rest and not let things bother me as much if at all. I feel as if the Manifestation card is more appropriate than the Moonology card so I'll apply what feels relevant and leave what doesn't.
I hope this inspires you to think about how you can live and work with the Full Moons. This was a very powerful time for me that indicated the end of a very eventful weekend for me.
Peace and love to all!!
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