The Moon

For me the moon is both very easy, and very hard to sit down and write about. My journey with the moon began when I was barely 3 weeks old experiencing my first full moon. From that age, I never really slept during the full moon. I was wide awake. However I first started, on my own, paying attention to the moons cycles was when I was about 12. I read Jean M. Auel's book "The Valley of the Horses". When Ayla talked about noticing that her period always came at a certain time of the moon, I started to wonder if mine did. So, I wrote it down. Imagine my disappointment when with my body being the asshole that it is, my periods would sometimes be 5-6 months apart. There was of course the usual "Oh holy shit, what if I am pregnant" that any 12-16 year old would have. Nope. That wasn't the case. In fact I was in all honesty not very likely to have this happen to me. Ever. 

The moon grows, and shrinks. It has cycles that have been proven to affect human bodies, the tides and all sorts of odd things. I have always had a hard time sleeping during the full moon. Conversely during the dark of the moon, it feels like I can barely stay awake. 

During my teens, I became Mormon. This drew me away from any form of Moon worship. After all there is but One God. How can I be interested in the Moon? Bah. By the time I was 19, I discovered again how delighted I was in the moon, the stars and the like. I began my avid study once more. She welcomed me back like a lost child. I would moon bathe, always more comfortable in the light of the moon than the light of the sun. The sun was "too" bright. Too intense for me. The dark of the moon, while I never can really get past a bed during it, is my favorite time of the month however. 

Hecate chose me long ago. Giving me an affinity with dogs. Even Raging Angry Dogs, just curl up like puppies at my feet. Three Way cross roads are always a hint of mystery to me. I, love to take the road less traveled by. I celebrate of course the full moons. Doing small chargings and the like. It is the dark moons that draw me to wanting to do my deeper Magicks. 

However, I easily start new things, struggle with completing them. Esbats for that reason are difficult. The slow acting ones for me are easy though. Hence why I love and adore the Dark Moon Magick. 

The full moon is great for setting the stage for new things, doing magickal healing on "others" not yourself. Conversely the dark of the moon is for more personal things. Like Personal growth, self healing and the like. 

In my tradition there are 13 moons, each have their name. Beginning in January we have the 

Wolf Moon

Storm moon

Chaste moon

Seed moon

Hare Moon

Dyad Moon

Mead Moon

Wyrt Moon

Barley Moon

Blood moon

Snow Moon, 

Oak Moon

There is also a "floating" Moon. The Blue moon. This happens when there are 2 full moons in a calendar month. BLue moons are the Goal moon. Set slow acting goals on this time. Like...graduating from college, buying a new house. Those sort of things. Record progress moon to moon.

Blessed be. 

Fridr

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Nudity...

Going skyclad is something that scares the bejebus out of a great many Pagans. Not because we have some belief that it is wrong to be naked, to have sex etc, but because of our own body image. Many of us come from Judea-Christian backgrounds, which means lingering in the back of our heads we do have that "OMG we can't be naked being naked is WRONG" lingering but for many of us it actually boils down to our own body images. We see ourselves naked and go "What God/ess would want to have that naked in front of them." Which frankly is a bit daft. We are the imperfect children of them, why wouldn't they delight in our bodies? So, what does this mean?

It means we need to work on our body image. I am the first to say I have serious issues with my body. I don't even like to bathe naked, let alone do a ritual naked. I'm working on it though. Here's how.

My ritual goes much like this. I stand in front of my mirror, often naked sometimes not, and focus on my body. As negative thoughts come in I arrest them. Stop them in their tracks and make myself focus on something else instead. For example, typically I stare at my face and see my teeth, my bearded chin, my mustache, and go "UGH I am so not the beauteous woman I should be." I stop myself. Frankly I am pretty.
I have to arrest those thoughts, put them in chains and bury them down. Instead I make myself focus on what I love about my face. My lips. They curve in a delightful arch, they are ripe they perhaps don't smile as often as they should but when they do it is stunning. I have been told my lips are extremely kissable. This is what I have to say to myself to retrain my dendrites to produce happy thoughts instead of negativity.

I then focus on my eyes. They are a deep dark brown. Very pretty actually. With sometimes golden flecks and occasionally when the light is right and my mood is perfect they are purple. Amazing.

All this has to be done, so you can "re train" your body to see the beauty in yourself. When you look in the mirror and you see the big belly, instead of that see the stretch marks as "These came from my beautiful daughter, what an amazing gift."

In short, try small rituals out skyclad. Work on not feeling so awkward naked. You are beautiful stunning and amazing just the way you are.

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