February Moon Cycle begins with today's new moon

 It's so gray out today-this 23rd day of January.  10 days until the groundhog has a chance to see his shadow--or not!  Regardless we will have many more gray days to get through before the spring sun dominates our Midwest sky.  Maybe it's not surprising gray is the color associated with the February moon cycle which begins today. It kind of goes with the current landscape! But, gray is also the color that represents neutrality. When we look at the events in our lives, our beliefs, our feelings from a place of neutrality, we are then able to see more possibilities and have more options for creating change. The grayness we experience in these waning winter months can have new meaning for us. We can see it as a reminder to move into a place of neutrality and then be able to see the bigger picture, rather than be sucked into mid-winter depression and despair.

Gray is the perfect background for reflecting all of who we can be and help us to see outside of ourselves more accurately. Try this: Take a gray piece of fabric (or paper), a white piece of fabric (or paper) and a black piece of fabric (or paper) and lay upon each one a colored object (or paper or piece of fabric). You will notice that the colored object has more vibrancy and depth against the gray as in comparison to the white. So it is also in our lives. When we become willing to live in the gray of things, rather than insist on a black and white world, we see things more fully and brilliantly and can also see more possibilities. By learning to come into a place of neutrality, we can release our judgments and embrace the wisdom of discernment. (For those interested in archetypes--discernment is the matured and enlightened aspect of the judge archetype.) The ability to be in the ‘gray zone’ is also the gift of humility, a necessary virtue for having wisdom.