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Rhythm and Flow: The Crescent Moon

triple

The Triple Goddess

Dave, thank you for asking me to say more about the crescent moon here. It led me to a time of reflecting on and meditating with the moon in all its phases ”“ just a few days before the new moon/solar eclipse occurring on July 11. What a lovely synchronicity that you happened to ask about this just now 🙂

You asked me to say more about the crescent moon’s symbolic history and how to use it in your SourcePoint Therapy practice. The configuration is taught in Module Two. It is also one of the energetic structures we work with that can easily be used in meditation and visualization. So, here is more about the crescent moon including a meditation.

The crescent moon has been worshipped for millennia. In every culture, in every spiritual tradition, in every pantheon, there is a god or goddess of the moon. In one of my all-time favorite books, The Myth of the Goddess by Anne Baring and Jules Cashford, it is said, in the chapter on the Paleolithic Mother Goddess “ [the moon]”¦in its dual rhythm of constancy and change”¦provided not only a point of orientation from which differences could be measured, patterns conceived and connections made, but also in its perpetual return to its own beginnings, it unified what had apparently been broken asunder”¦Duality, imaged as the waxing and waning moon, was contained and transcended in her totality.” The archetype of the moon can be a powerful transformative energy..

In many cultures the moon was worshipped as the triple goddess, the maiden, mother and crone, who in her triune nature reflected the phases of the moon: waxing, full and waning. The moon reflects this fundamental trinity of all incarnation, all creation. The information of order, balance, harmony and flow that we access by connecting to the crescent moon is about this constant rhythm of waxing, fullness and waning. In Buddhist terminology it is called “arising, staying, ceasing.” And arising once again.

Often the moon and its phases are interpreted symbolically as the cycle of birth and death. But literally, this cycle happens every month; every moment, with the breath. It is constant change; yet there is continuity and stability in the constancy of the rhythm. This is why this practice/meditation is good for our times. It brings stability in the midst of change. It connects you to the continuity of universal energy flow, to the support of the universal energy that is present always as we experience the changing circumstances of the every day world. Maiden, mother, crone. Waxing, fullness, waning. Arising, staying, ceasing. The constant rhythm.

The goddess, even the Lady of Guadalupe still, is often shown with the crescent moon beneath her feet. The crescent moon grounds us in our spiritual dimension or self. Every night the moon reminds us that the universe is vast and mysterious. If we pay attention, it whispers to us of our intimate relationship to the cosmos. The sun reminds of our life in the material world; we feel our vital life force energy flowing in its presence, and our connection to the world around us. The moon reminds us of spirit, of the unknown, of mystery. It is a portal between worlds. When I think of the crescent moon of SourcePoint providing support and stability for moving through challenging times, I get the image of the goddess kind of surfing on her crescent moon, through all the waves of change, all the rhythms, the days and nights and months and years”¦. As we are asked to do every day, to navigate the waves of change, and can’t we use all the help we can get”¦

People often speak of the new moon as a time of new beginnings, for intention and manifestation. Yes, and yet consider that it isn’t about making a list of everything you want to accomplish. Really, there is no new beginning; there is continuity, the rhythm, re-weaving. The archetype of the crescent moon is intimately related to the archetype of the weaver and the web, the great web of universal life, and the web of one’s own personal life. The threads weave together, come apart, and are re-woven. If you are attuned to the moon’s rhythm, then at the waning of the moon, you review the tapestry of your life, you look for the tears, the gaps, the knots, what you wish to re-create. At the new moon, you re-weave, using the threads of the past to create the present. The new moon is a time of awareness, to feel the rhythm of your being, to ask yourself, what is the rhythm of my being now, what is its ebb and flow, what streams and tides do I need to follow? What is the flow of my being, and where is it taking me? At any phase of the moon, it is good to take time to sit with the rhythm and flow of your being. As always, simply being aware of the breath is a wonderful way to do this.

The new moon, the full moon, and the waning moon are all times for heightened awareness, when the “veils between the worlds” are thin, good times to tune into yourself in a wordless, deep way and let the information of order, balance, harmony and flow attune your energies to the cosmic rhythm. Many people find it hard to sleep at the full moon. That’s because spirit is calling us to wakefulness, awareness; it is calling us to listen to the cosmic rhythm. We ignore spirit at our own risk; hence the ancient legends of people driven mad by the moon. The waning moon turns us inward, to rest and nurture the spirit within. The new moon asks us to turn outward and tend to our lives on this earth, those we love, and the earth itself.

Lie down in the dark. Imagine the phases of the moon unfolding before you, beginning with the crescent moon facing your left, the full moon as a circle, and the waning moon facing your right. Allow them all to dissolve into the dark phase of the moon, where the moon itself disappears into a vast darkness with infinite points of light, the stars, where the individual self is merged with the great cosmos. Allow the cycle to repeat itself: waxing, full, waning, dark, and back again, silver to gold to silver, to dark. Let the image change whenever and however it needs to.

Then imagine that crescent moon under your feet, supporting you, connecting you back to yourself, here now, this moment. When you meditate with the moon, you do not see yourself surrounded by light, but by radiant darkness. It is all about the rhythm of light and dark, appearance, manifestation, release and letting go. This meditation is for all the phases, the new moon, the full moon, the waning moon, and the dark of the moon.

Pay attention to the rhythm of the moon. Mark its phases on your calendar. Take time to listen to the rhythm of the universe, the tide of yourself, to experience the light and dark, the in-breath and out-breath, to feel continuity and presence in the midst of never-ending change.

Next week: I’ll talk about the specific uses of the crescent moon configuration in SourcePoint Therapy. As always, any questions or comments on this theme will be addressed.

©2010 Donna Thomson and Bob Schrei

For further, very detailed reading on the history of the moon goddess, see M. Esther Harding’s classic, Woman’s Mysteries. She was a Jungian analyst and the book was written in the 1930’s. The terminology and perspective on masculine and feminine reflect the time, but it is truly a classic with a huge storehouse of information.