Dark Moon, New Moon, turning toward Solstice
Be present with the season + a Winter New Moon blessing
I’m starting the Sunday posts with a peek at some of the cards from the suit of Winter in my oracle deck-in-process. I’ll invite you to be present with the season and/or the lunar phase. I’ll offer a couple of journaling prompts too.
Each of the holy days of the Wheel of the Year corresponds to a lunar phase. Winter Solstice marks the shortest day of the year, when the sun is lowest in the sky. After the moment of Solstice, the sun “turns” and each day grows in length, although minutely at first.
Winter Solstice resonates with the New Moon. At the moment the moon turns from Dark to New, it begins to wax and grow in strength, even though we can’t see it in the sky at first. If we’re very lucky, we might see a thin thumbnail moon just at sunset.
Metaphorically, a “dark night of the soul” or “dark moon phase” represents a time in our lives when we’re deep in grief or despair. We have to take it on faith that the sun will return, the moon will wax to fullness once again, and we’ll experience joy again alongside our sorrow. We may have to take action — metaphorically or literally — to make sure the light returns.
Or — we may experience the metaphorical darkness as nurturing, restful, and restorative. We may even decide to cultivate those qualities and to change the way we think about the dark. We know we’ll emerge from “sweet darkness” rested and ready for a new phase of the journey.
Tonight we embrace Dark Night and Dark Moon, preparing for the New Moon in Sagittarius on Tuesday, December 12th (feast day of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe).
I offer this image and blessing to you.