September Moon: Answering Our Longings

The new moon for September was on the 29th of August this year-and it totally slipped by without my notice. Having my granddaughters here from Montana was just too much of an attraction and I misplaced my daily inspirational reading which would have reminded me of the approaching new moon. But, the whole idea is about the practice of living consciously and in the present moment--not about doing it perfectly-just about living it.  I cut myself some slack-those beautiful 18 month old and a 3 year old brought so much life into our house, that was enough. 

But now, I am reflecting on the arrival of the season of Autumn-it is one of the seasons that sneaks in on me, before I am ready for it-every year.  The ninth moon cycle is about honoring our longings.  Acknowledge them and do something about them.  Maybe not fulfilling them, but recognizing them and treating them as living viable energies.  Make a list of your longings-the things you long for in your life.  I don't mean passing longings,but the stuff, ideas, dreams and prayers that have been around in more than a passing moment or two.  The ones that keep coming back. Or wake you up at night.  After you make your list, imagine that each one of them is a living being-give them a an image of a body or a form.  Then, face to face, talk to each one of them about your feelings about them, your plans for them-whether you intend to let them go or out them on the shelf or do what you need to do (change what you need to change in yourself) to bring them into reality, not just imagination.  This exercise could take some time.  You might need to grieve the longings you recognize you must let go of to move forward in your life.  You might also grieve the habits and addictions you need to let go of to bring others into fruition.  And you can cherish the ones you are setting on the shelf for the future-they will keep you growing.  Fall is the time for harvest.  You are harvesting and sorting your longings this month.  I am,too.

Working with the Healing Moon of August

For the next 10 or so days we have the opportunity to gather healing energy,feelings thoughts, behaviors and prayers into our lives as we live in the waxing cycle of the August Moon.  In Eath Medicine, on page 207, Jamie Sams writes, "There is nothing that has been done to you or that you have done to yourself that the Great Mystery and the Earth Mother cannot heal."  What if you really lived this truth for even the next ten days.  How do you think it would change your perception of your self? of your life and your world? 

Here is the catch, however, that in my eperience, both personally and with clients, which keeps us from being able to embrace Sams' words. (And certainly, she is not the only one who has written or spoke of this truth.  You can find similar teachings about healing in the words of all our great teachers and healers through out history.)  The catch is, particularly in our western culture that we confuse 'healing' with 'curing'. 

As I struggle with some hip pain and a lump in the bottom of my foot that has been 'coming and going' for over a year I am reminded that I still wrestle with my belief of what it means to be 'healed'.  At the very least, this struggle keeps me from judging clients who also insist that to be healed means their malady (which sometimes is very serious) must go away. 

For today,  contemplate what healing meansto you?  Is it different from being cured?