first things first. there is no such thing as a butterfly full moon. at least, i don’t know of any such thing. i just made it up. hehe. but, if you hang with me through this post, it;ll become clear (i hope) as to why i have “invented” the term.
there is something about rituals that are magical. it doesn’t have to be something magical that happens that is seen or experienced in the midst of the ritual, rather the magic is looking back, after time, and seeing how things all unfold and fit together. how the rituals of life mark important moments, and are the things that guide and ground us and remind us of our path.
one of my most favorite rituals is the return of the full moon every month.
let me be clear, i am not talking about any ritual that i do. other than standing at the window gazing out at the night sky. rather, i am referring to the moon, shining in all of her full glory every single month. la luna’s own ritual of illuminating our sky, and our lives, with fullness once a month.
do, i have a full moon ritual? well, no. at least, not one that i do every month… unless you count photographing her through the windows of my home. and standing in her moon beams as they spread out across my living room floor. other than that, i have no regular meditation or ritual that i perform.
i think that moon meditations and rituals are beautiful, though. and sometimes i do go a bit more all in with some yoga work, extra journaling, candle lighting and such. mostly, though, i just soak her up and pause to reflect. i basically observe her beautiful return time and time again every month.
full moons are about competition. about releasing, letting go, and moving on. but, it’s not about beginning, that is saved for the new moons of every month. instead it’s all about closing out something and evolving or tapping into something that needs to be taken to the next level.
the full moon’s beauty + energy (have you found yourself restless or having a hard time sleeping? that’s the moon’s affect on us, just like the tides of the ocean) make us feel like we can just go out and grab on to the world. like we can do + conquer anything. we have boundless inspiration and feel more empowered than usual. so, we want to go go go. and make shit happen.
like a moth to a flame. focused. determined. passionate.
but, i say, perhaps, even with all of this pent up passion + energy, its time to pause for just a second. time to reflect for just a minute before lunging forward. just for this full moon day + night.
because it is in the pause that we do not haphazardly leap forward, perhaps getting burned in the process, but that we experience a beautiful, intentional butterfly-like transformation. (there it is!)
in these few moments of pausing (and i mean, literally, it can be just a few moments of basking in the full moon glory), we might just ask ourselves what it is we really want. what our truth really is. and how much we are willing to sacrifice to live truthfully + authentically. how far do we want to go? how much to we want what we want? how willing are we do live life to the fullest – even in this crazy-ass, mixed up world.
and, as we tap into the full moon vibe, letting the truth of our souls be illuminated, we can let go and fly free. in passing to go deep within ourselves, we find our power. the power that transforms our life. the power that isn’t from the moon or from any other person or thing that exists…but, the power that is our innate and beautiful being. who we really are.
so, it’s time to end one phase of our lives or step it up to the next level. we have completed something and this full moon moment gives us just the breath we need to acknowledge all that has happened and to release what has been.
now, it is time to move on. it is time to fly and to release all of that energy out into the world. knowing our truth even better than before, it’s time to use all of this energy for even more transformation – the continued transformation of ourselves and of our world.
moon blessing to you wild ones. owwwwwww.
xoxo. liz
