Ritual 42: Monday, October 15, 2007

Waxing Moon

Autumn is afoot. Mother Nature has exchanged her nurturing green palette for the dramatic golds and reds of the season. The days grow shorter and the weather cooler. (Unless you live in San Francisco, where its microclimate hosts summer in October.) The leaves begin to fall. Animals scurry to collect nuts and seeds, squirreling away resources for the winter.

Take a lesson from these creatures. They are aware of the impact the seasons' turns have on their abundance. Their fruitful and fallow cycles are synchronized with the Earth's tilt and orbit. Global warming and natural variations aside, their abundant and lean times are fairly predictable.

We humans also have fallow and fruitful times, but most of us haven't taken the opportunity to notice. Our abundance usually comes in the form of money, and there are times of the year when we generally have more of it or less of it. Take a moment to reflect on your financial cycles. If you use financial management software, run an income and expense report for the past five years. See if you can discern a pattern to your financial flow.

Not only do our furry friends instinctively know the importance of the season, they act on it. It is one thing to know that there will be lean times, and quite another to save for that eventuality.

Make this Moonday meaningful by squirreling away some of your resources... into a savings account. If you don't have a savings account, open one immediately! Fund it with the minimum or as much as you'd like. Even if you feel you can only afford to save the change you scrounged from between the cushions of your sofa, do it. (That's how my savings plan started.) Pennies and nickels add up. A vast ocean is made of drops of water.

Use the power of the waxing Moon to make a commitment to savings. Consider it a spiritual practice. Financial savings is a way of honoring your needs. While money is not a true need in the same way food is, in this world we use money to buy food. Even if you object to capitalism on principle, resisting it will not provide for your groceries if lean times become too lean.

Verbalize your commitment and back it up with the Moon's growing fullness.

Declare your intention to save ten dollars a month. Or 1000. Or 25% of your income. Whatever you feel you can commit to on a monthly basis. (Remember, that's a MOON-thly basis. You've got the Moon's mojo on your side.)

Chant:

Every monthly turn sees my money earn.
My money grows, prosperity flows.

Baby got bank!

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