It’s getting bigger and brighter by the day! We’re going to experience a Full Moon this Tuesday, January 22nd. Those of us here on the West Coast won’t be able to see it unless we’re up, like a bird, at 5:36 am. East Coast people really won’t see it because the Sun will be up in the sky by 8:36 am. So check it out Monday night, and while you’re doing that, see how you feel. Some people really enjoy Full Moons. Others have a difficult time with the energy.

Starting with this post I’d like to begin to pull out the tools of astrology and explain them, one by one, so you can avail yourself of their aid when you want to, or need to. After all, tools are meant to be used. My first commentary began the discussion of what Astrology is good for. It will probably take many future blogs to completely explain all the ways it is truly one of the best navigational tools I know of to mark one’s course through life, though I intend for each commentary to be complete within itself. Many of you readers are quite familiar with what I am talking about, others of you may not be. As time goes on I’ll try to tailor my content to what you find valuable and interesting.

The Moon and her 28 1/2 day cycle is a good place to begin. This satellite of earth really does affect all of us. Why? Because it exerts a pull on our gravitational fields that is very palpable, especially at Full Moon. Just ask any ER attendant, people who work in Police Departments, or your local psychiatric ward. You’ll bleed more profusely during a Full Moon. When a client asks me to pick a surgery date for them, this is certainly rule number one. Don’t schedule major surgery on a Full Moon.

I remember when my husband ran parking lots on a street called Broadway in North Beach, San Francisco. This used to be called the Barbary Coast. Full Moon nights were absolutely wild with an abundance of lunatics a foot ( the lunar activity gone amuck) .

Full Moons are also romantically linked to lovers. Yes! All those juices are flowing and energized by the pull of the watery realms, which include chemistry and emotions.

Try reflecting on Full Moon times in your life that have been either memorable in a good way or traumatic. Again, some people enjoy the energy while others find it discomfiting. Watery type moons usually feel these subtle energy currents more than some of the other lunar types, though a lot also depends on how the Moon is configured in your birth chart as symbolic of your emotional body.

I have another suggestion for working with this Full phase of the Lunar Cycle. Let it be a time of culmination, as well as illumination. It can be a heightened time of really getting it, if you’ve been struggling with a problem. Perhaps it is a time of fulfilling a project that you’ve been working on. It’s a great time to get that ‘aha’ inner recognition and feeling.

You don’t need to know a thing about astrology to use this tool, the Lunar Cycle. Just follow the moon in its waxing and waning cycle as it interfaces between our Earth and the Sun. The Moon truly is like an intercessor between the Sun and us as she distributes the light force. That concept can be applied to the astrology of greater cycles known as Progressions, but that is a topic for another time.

Let’s think of the Lunar Cycle as analogous to the growth of a plant. The New Moon is like the planting and germination of the seed. The tiny plant emerges from the soil just as a Crescent Moon brings the 1st glimpse of the Waxing light of the Moon some 3 days later. By First Quarter growth is really taking off full steam ahead. Full Moon brightness correlates with a plant in full flowering, and then, like the fruit laden plant, the Waning Moon signals that light is being released, and by Last Quarter we have the analogy of the fruit dying on the vine until all is released and the cycle starts all over again at the next New Moon.

Now what if we tried to live each month based on such a natural and elegant cycle? Wouldn’t we be more in harmony with the natural rhythms of life here on planet Earth? I think the ancients lived their lives more in keeping with this pattern. Agricultural societies certainly did, and biodynamic farmers still do work with the Moon as a guide to planting, cultivating, and harvesting crops. Women in primitive cultures all menstruated together either at Full or New Moon. With the transition into the industrial age and the use of electricity, those natural collective rhythms have been lost.

Here’s my suggestion, however, in spite of our hyped-up modern-day lifestyle. Try working with the lunation cycle each month in this manner: at the New Moon try to begin something within the first three days of the cycle. Let it grow and encourage its expansion right on through to the Full Moon. Full Moon time is great for gaining clarity and realization of what has been achieved. As the Moon begins to wane, allow the sharing and releasing to occur. The last three days of the old cycle of the Moon are wonderful days to go within and dream and revision in preparation for the next new beginning. If we actually worked in this manner we’d have 13 cycles per year to wax and wane our energy through projects and activities. We would truly be in harmony energetically if we could totally live our lives that way.

Of course not all projects can be completed in 14 short days. Think of a long-term project, then, as having a phasal dynamic to it and continue to work with different aspects of the project along these lines.

There are many books written about the Moon by astrologers. Two come to my mind right now as being exceptional: The Astrological Moon by Haydn Paul, Samuel Weiser Publisher. This is a very clear and well organized text for those of you interested in getting more depth on this vast subject. The second book is smaller, easier to read, and really addresses the Lunation Cycle in a beautifully illustrated way, The Faces of the Moon Mother: An Archetypal Cycle by Rowena Pattee Kryder, Golden Point Productions. I actually use her break down into 16 separate phases when explaining to a client their Progressed lunar cycle. This describes a much larger 28 1/2 year cycle in a person’s life. This book, however, describes in the best possible way the complete ‘archetypal cycle’ of the Sun/Moon rhythm as viewed from planet Earth. I know Ms. Kryder’s book is now out-of-print, but I checked and found 18 copies still available on Amazon.com.

I may introduce another way of working with the Moon in a different post. The next level of what I’m talking about is to correlate it with your own Moon sign placement and begin to see how, as the Moon passes through different signs in the zodiac, you respond energetically to each in turn. This can be fascinating. Taken to another level, yet, and you start to see how interactions with other people, whose Moon sign energy is different from your own, also impact you. There will be lots of blogs ahead to develop these themes.

One final suggestion: Full Moon and thereafter is actually a good time to begin certain actions as well. How about dieting? Don’t ever try to start a diet at New Moon. This is a growth phase. If you really want to lose weight, start it as the Moon is waning. (If you want to build muscle, however, start your exercise program at the New Moon.) Fasting is another example. I’ve done many fasts over the years, and the most effective ones were when I worked with the waning cycle. Cleaning out your storage unit, or the garage, or any type of elimination process is best started at the waning cycle. You will definitely be able to release more!

In conclusion, when working with the Lunar Cycle, think growth for New Moon to Full Moon, and release from Full Moon back to New Moon. Build up, break down. Take in, give out. Breathe in, breathe out. Isn’t that how rhythms flow?

How do some of you work with the Lunar Cycle? If you have time, please feel free to share an experience with the rest of us.