"Everything that comes to us belongs to us if we create the capacity to receive it.” -Rabindranath Tagore
This Moon Ritual is about receiving. As always, we work with the moon cycle. This month we also consider the annual solar cycle.
Each Moon cycle has four stages:
1) New Moon - time to plant intentions
2) 1st Quarter - time to fertilize and watch them grow
3) Full Moon - time to release control and allow them to ripen
4) 2nd Quarter - time to harvest and integrate
Obviously, we are at the Full phase of this Moon cycle. We are also at the 2nd Quarter "harvest" phase of the annual solar cycle. The Winter Solstice will be the "New Moon" "planting" phase, so it is helpful to think back on what your intentions were last December.
If you didn't perform a September New Moon ritual, or you aren't the type to actively set New Year intentions, that's no problem. We are always manifesting our reality, so whatever you have brought into focus this year so far, is what you are meant to harvest and receive from.
To help us in receiving, we call upon The Empress.
The Harvest Moon will be at its fullest on Sep 20th at 4:54 PM PST. You can harness this Full Moon energy both the night before and the night after.
The nuts and bolts of this ritual are very simple, but working with The Empress energy can bring up a lot of big feelings.
We all experience feelings of separation from the divine, and all our feelings are valid; but, the separation is not true. The Empress reminds us that we came into this world inherently worthy of care and love, just by being.
Just as the Moon shines, whether you receive its light or not, so too do you. You are inherently worthy of love, whether you are currently receiving it or not. You are not separate from the divine, the divine is love, hence, you are love.
The Empress is the third key in the Major Arcana. She is seated on a luxuriously cushioned throne with flowing robes and a star-studded crown. She has plentiful wheat at her feet and a lush forest and waterfall surrounding her. She is the embodiment of idyllic mother love.
All of our mothers were our soul's first mate. The person who grew your body inside her was the front door to your soul's experience in your body. Whatever your relationship is with your mother, if you are reading this, that means as an infant you were cared for and loved by someone - without question of worthiness or reciprocity. To survive, babies must receive everything.
Learning how to receive is such an important lesson that it takes place before anything else. Before cognition, we are taught to receive. And yet, this is the lesson that most of us have the hardest time mastering.
During an especially trying time in my life, I was feeling tremendous separation from love and grace. My answer was to act in service to others. I explained to my therapist that, "It is in giving that we receive." To which she accurately replied, "But you're not receiving!"
I frequently recount that eureka moment when this card shows up for my clients because it is true for so many of us. When we think about reclining and receiving what we need and want, it can produce huge anxiety. We are taught that we have to work for everything and most of us feel like we can't trust and accept love, money, admiration, or security.
The truth is that it is possible to receive with ease, without guilt.
If you think as I did, that it is only in giving that you can receive, but you haven't got the receiving part down yet, this Moon is for you!
To Begin:
1) Create your ritual space with either a circle or an altar and a candle. If you want to charge your crystals or your Mabon items, now is the time. If you have a deck, bring The Empress card here for support and guidance.
2) As you settle into your body and your breath, look at the moon and repeat, "I am receiving this moonlight. This Moonlight is meant for me. I am enough". As you say this, really mean it. If you can't see the Moon, find something that you can experience. That can be a tree, the light from your candle, or gravity itself.
3) Only when you really feel that the Moonlight is for you and you are receiving it with ease, write down in the present tense what your intentions to receive are. These can be from the New Moon, or from December, or in the moment. For example, "I am receiving wealth" or "I am receiving love"
4) Repeat these statements together. For example, "I am receiving this moonlight. This Moonlight is meant for me. I am receiving love. Love is meant for me. I am enough"
5) When you feel the receptivity in your body, take your written intentions and offer them to the divine by safely burning them with your flame. As you to so, offer up your thanks. Thanks for the Moon, thanks for your practice, thanks for everything that you have harvested by opening and deepening your channel of receptivity.
Highest and Best
xoxo
Meredyth
P.S. I just love this photo of Elizabeth Taylor in her crown. She's a real-life Empress inspiration for sure!
