Ritual 19: Monday, May 7, 2007

Waning Moon

The moon moves through its ever-repeating cycles of waxing and waning, constantly weaving a pattern of growth, fullness, release and emptiness. The soul follows a similar pattern — emergence, evolution, completion, renewal. If you could zoom-out on your life — go high up enough to get a moon's-eye view of it — you'd see the pattern your soul has created through fate, mishap, or purpose. You'd see the fabric of your life comprised of many threads woven together.

The Mayan moon goddess, Ix Chel, was a weaver. Also a water goddess, her name means "Lady Rainbow." Climb on up her rainbow bridge tonight, and gaze down at your life from her lunar paradise. Let the weaver show you what soul pattern you have created... by design or default.

Ix Chel, mother of water,
Ix Chel, help me discover
the weaving of my soul.
Seven strands in your rainbow;
What are the threads in mine?
What is my soul's design?

Colored pencils or crayons will come in handy tonight, but a single pen will do. Draw a circle on a piece of paper or in your journal. Label this circle "my life." Now draw a line from one side of the circle to the other. Straight, curvy, zig zag, tangled, or otherwise, consider this the first "thread" that Ix Chel is revealing to you. Let your intuition name the thread as an influence in your life. Label it on the page. Add another line. Let it flow. Is it touching the first line? What is this thread? A path, a course of study, an environment, a relationship, a choice, another influence? Keep adding lines and naming them. Soon you will have your weaving, a symbolic snapshot of your soul's journey thus far.

Notice the overlaps and the gaps between the threads. What do the relationships between the strands suggest about your life patterns?

Pull out a fresh piece of paper. Draw a new circle and label it "last month." Repeat the same process as above for this shorter time period — not your whole life, now, but just the past month. Are there influences that showed up in one weaving but not the other? (Travel didn't appear in my life view, but it was the first line I laid down in my month view. In retrospect, I see that my life at large has been defined by travel, I just didn't notice at first.)

Try another circle — one just for today.

What meaning do you weave out of the patterns? As humans, we wrap story around sensory input and call that reality. By putting marks onto paper, you give your consciousness a specific visual input from which you can construct a story. Try making up different stories about your weavings. One of the beautiful things about consciousness is its power to occupy different perspectives. Which perspective — which story — empowers you?

Ix Chel tells us that our patterns are artifacts of our attention. The focus of our attention shapes our perception.

Apply this wisdom to your life over the next week by shifting focus, shifting perspective, whenever you start relating to circumstance or people out of a habitual pattern. See if you can shift to a moon's-eye view at a moment's notice.

For now, climb back down Ix Chel's rainbow bridge and bid her farewell.

After the ritual, share your experience in our community section.