The Leo Full Moon graces the sky, illuminating the night with its wild and radiant light. This January Full Moon has been deemed the Wolf Moon by the North American Farmer's Almanac because this is the time of year when the wolves were heard howling more clearly. This Full Moon asks us to bring out our inner wolf, willing to howl our unique song into the night sky, as well as our Lion, inviting us to live courageously from our own inner truth. Especially when no one is watching, can we call upon our inner wild to guide the way?

One of the questions the Full Moon asks us is around our willingness to be with the parts of our being that feel pain. As humans, we experience so many emotions every day. And there are memories, generational traumas, and collective pain stored in our being. It is easy not to look there, but the wolf and the lion are willing. The question we must ask ourselves is: Am I willing to go into the sticky bits that feel hard to look at and be willing to do the work to let them release?

Some people can spend their whole life not looking at the places that scare them. But fast forward to the inevitable end of life in the physical body and consider the question, "would I be content looking back knowing I did not risk diving deep into myself?" Each of us has to answer this question for ourselves and then live courageously as we explore both the inner and outer worlds we belong to.  

The Moon Deck can be a powerful tool for doing this inner work. Carving out time to sit with the mantras on the cards and the prompts in the guidebook. Journal and reflect on what comes up for you based on the cards you pull. Inner practices such as meditation, yoga, walks in nature, inspired movement, art, and any other time spent alone are also portals into the inner depths of your being. If it calls to you, bravely keep going inward. 

Astrologists say this moon brings up counter-cultural themes, which means that instead of prioritizing what modern culture is asking us to prioritize ie money, success, fame, a sense of security, etc, this moon is asking us to be courageous like the Leo lion and prioritize cultivating radical compassion, our empathic nature, and our sense of interconnection to all things. We are being asked to go inward instead of outward. 

Some of the commentary on the shadow side of the Leo sign, which the full moon is in, is the desire to be in the spotlight and the inflation of the ego. However, its only a shadow if we are focusing more on getting external validation rather than moving through the world contributing from an authentic place. We need more compassionate leaders to step forward and be willing to have their mighty howls heard. Our world needs leadership that is as grounded in interconnection as the great trees, leadership that is able to ride the waves of transition like the vast oceans, and leadership that is as loving as the full moon herself, giving her light unconditionally. We are all leaders in some way, whether we claim the title or not. We get to bring ourselves to the world in full authenticity and power.

We each get to decide how we move through the world and who we want to be moment by moment. The Leo Full Moon is inviting us into an authentic and fierce leadership. This does not mean we have to take up an external position in the world where we are demarcated as leaders. This is about a quiet knowing that we are leading life from our own inner truth and letting that guide the way forward.

Experts point to Jupiter and the Sun in conversation during this moon cycle. This relationship between the celestial giants invites us into internal examination of whether we are aligning with our own truth, interests, and wisdom or whether we are trying to fulfill an idea of how we should be. The Sun and Jupiter are asking us to be honest about the way we treat ourselves through thoughts and actions. We are being asked to take accountability for our lives and notice the conversation we are having with ourselves.

This moon is about YOU. Not the outer world, but the vast, mysterious, and ever-changing inner world. This means that we need to work with our inner critic. It is so easy to judge ourselves harshly, in fact more so than anyone else. As you move through the next couple weeks, take notice of any repetitive thoughts that are loaded with self-judgment or criticism. By witnessing these repetitive thoughts, we can notice when we are being cruel to ourselves and make an adjustment in the moment we notice it. For more on this, see the ritual below. 

Astrologists say that Mars is inviting us into the question of how we are utilizing our intention, willpower, and stamina to either create what we want or deny ourselves what we want. Over the next couple of weeks you might experience sudden surges of energy. If this happens for you, pause and ask the question, what do I want to do with my energy? Can I courageously utilize my energy to create what my heart truly wants? This might mean giving more time to a passion project, or taking a small step forward on that side hustle idea that you have been putting off. Instead of using our energy to conform to an idea of how our life should be, let's take back the reigns and make decisions from a place of brave truth. 

There is a lot of energy in Aquarius right now, which experts say is inviting us into joy. We must not forget that we have this deep well of joy that can be accessed at any time. Life is very demanding, and yet our natural state is one of joy. How we come into the world is in a state of innocence and joy. We are being asked to create intentional time to devote to cultivating more joy. Especially if we are called to do deep inner work, life can get very serious. Make sure during this moon cycle to take ample time to be in simple joy. Consider that this time does not have to be productive, in fact, try to make it not productive. Instead, tap into your joy and soak in all the medicine that joy offers us. 

Along with joy, we are invited to tap into our inner child and enter into creativity that celebrates the child within us that never goes away. Take some time with creative projects that have nothing to do with your professional work, your self-development, nor any other agenda. This is a time to call on creativity that is purely enjoyable. Think of small children finger painting: messy, spontaneous, no need to know where it's going, no constraints of perfectionism. When we let our inner child create and play, we are fueling every part of our being with aliveness and vitality. So go ahead, get messy and see what happens. 

Let the light of the moon be your guide, and know that the sky is always holding you so sweetly. 

FULL MOOON RITUAL :: Are your thoughts empowering you?

This Full Moon is inviting us to go inward in order to be with the parts of us that may need to transition from unkind to supportive, from sabotaging to cheering on. For many of us, we have the same thoughts going on loop for most of the day. We think that we are alone in the thoughts we think, and yet in reality we all share the capacity to be intensely self-critical and mean to ourselves. 

Science is starting to come around to what spiritual teachers have been saying for eons: our thoughts create our reality. Therefore, it can be a life changing, albeit sometimes long and tedious process, of examining and changing the way we talk to ourselves. 

Try this ritual for the next two weeks as a way to start to work with your thoughts and examine if they are serving the life you want to live:

1. Have a small notebook and pen that you can carry around with you or keep in a place that you pass by often. This is your thoughts notebook.

2. For the next week, whenever you notice yourself in a thought about you or your life write it down. It is helpful to have the notebook with you as you move through your day as a reminder of this ritual. If you go through a whole day without remembering to write your thoughts, take some time at the end of the day to go through your day and recall what the tone of your thoughts were.

3. IMPORTANT: Do this ritual without judgement. If you notice yourself in judgement, lovingly write it down.

4. At the end of each day, go to a blank page and make two columns: EMPOWER and DISEMPOWER. Now put each thought into its appropriate column. Notice how many thoughts are in the empowerment column and the disempowerment column. 

Again this is not to judge, this is just to notice, with love.

5. With curiosity and compassion, go through the DISEMPOWER column. How could you alter this thought so that it serves you? How could it transform into an empowering thought? Say the new thought out loud before moving to the next one. If it feels uncomfortable or fraudulent, know that it is natural, it takes time for us to rewire the way we think.