Ritual 45: Monday, November 5, 2007

Waning Moon

When you set your clock back one hour yesterday to mark the daylight savings time change, you may have felt a twinge of regret at the loss of sunlight this season brings. This would come as no surprise, since we live in a culture that venerates the light over the dark. We cling to the sun and shun the night.

We are so solar-centric that we pathologize our natural response to the shift toward winter. We call our response to light-loss — our sadness, moodiness or dip in productivity — "Seasonal Affective Disorder". That we get sad, depressed or moody when the sun dims for a season seems completely natural when we recognize that humans are, as a species, diurnal creatures. We work, play and are active during the sun's time. During the night we rest, we sleep, we dream.

From a macrocosmic perspective, the autumn and winter are our resting, dreaming times. Yet we expect the same level of productivity and cheer of ourselves as if it were spring and summer. In a hyperactive society, low energy is a threat to the economic and social order. If we, as a culture, respected all the emotions — not just the sunny ones — would we be so compelled to label as a disorder our natural response to a natural cycle? If we were truly allowed to rest when the earth rests, would we feel so guilty about our productivity dip?

Symbolically, our illuminating sun represents what you can see and know, what is conscious. Our reflective and changeable moon, on the other hand, speaks of what you can sense and feel. The moon, as a symbol, rules the subconscious.

Many people are afraid of what lives below the surface of their consciousness — the dark, unexplored places in their own psyches. "Dark" has become a synonym for "scary" or "bad" when it could mean "less light", "rich" or "deep". As the moon sheds her reflective solar cloak during this waning cycle within the large macrocosmic cycle of seasonal light-loss, reclaim the dark from oppressive cultural baggage that keeps you from knowing yourself.

Call on the dark moon Goddess Hecate to shine a light into the unfamiliar regions of your soul... and explore the beauty of the unknown.

Make yourself cozy and comfortable in your favorite room. Have a candle and matches at the ready. Turn off the lights and simply listen to yourself breathe. Settle yourself way down deep into your own skin and sense your way into these questions:

What feeling is present inside me that I am unwilling to feel? What experience am I turning away from because it scares me? What do I sense inside myself that I would prefer not to?

In the same way that you would feel your way to the light switch in a darkened room, feel your way through these questions. Is there something at the edge of your awareness, something at the periphery of your experience that wants to be called into the light of your consciousness? Don't leap at answers. Instead savor the material that arises.

When you feel ready, light the candle as you say aloud:

Hecate, mother of night, shine this light upon my soul.
Open my awareness to the truth that I am, the All of me,
In perfect love and perfect trust in my own beauty.

Let the candle burn as long as you like. Feel yourself enlightened by it.

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