The Wheel Of The Year In Full Moons

Learn about the various names of January's lunation, including the Hungry Moon and the Moon of the Terrible, indicating the cold and quiet aspect of this particularly dark month of the year. Listen to the lessons and see how it feels against the January you are feeling today.

The Hungry Moon can be a particularly lonely time. That doesn't have to be a bad thing, though. If we can sit with our feelings of loneliness this month, it may teach us something about what we really want when we're ready to start moving forward with our goals later in the year.

In this class, we'll learn about the subtle but powerful shift of the light in February. This may still feel like a Snow Moon, but the light changes in such a way that we become sure that spring is coming eventually. February also houses Imbolc, the ancient cross-quarter feast day of the goddess Brigid.

This meditation can help you with the themes of cleansing and releasing in alignment with the Februalia rituals of ancient times. Clear your energy field, let go of what's not yours, and prepare yourself for the gentle new beginning of the year.

This brief meditation will give you a chance to connect with the themes of Imbolc and Early Spring Fire. This festival, held on February 1st, is an ancient way of honoring the cross-quarter day between the Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox, indicating that Spring is, indeed, coming.

In this lesson we learn about the deep underground wriggling energy of March. It is a time of balanced light, even if the world might still feel pretty wintry around you. March also houses the Spring Equinox and the ancient festival of Ostara, which connects to Easter in the Christian tradition.

Ostara marks the spring equinox, usually on March 21st. In this moment of balance, we are also inviting the brighter half of the year, with its warmth, fertility, and growth of the buds and flowers of the earth. This meditation will help you connect to these themes and ritualized Ostara for you.

My favourite name for April's lunation is the Moon When Streams Again Become Nagivable, from the Dakota people. There's something about April where there is a final melting of the winter and we actually start to feel the change in the weather and the light. It's a very encouraging time and often "awakens" something in us.

This meditation is actually a moving meditation, so you'll want to have some space with a yoga mat or clean carpet or floor underneath you. You don't need any experience or to do anything in particular to try this, it's all about moving from an intuitive place to help awaken those places within you that are still somewhat frozen. You are welcome to do it with or without music.

May is a delightful time, filled with fresh blooms and color. In May, we celebrate Beltane, or "High Spring." This is a time of joyful awakening and, traditionally, new love. Learn about the joys of blossom hunting in May.

Beltane is a wonderful celebration of the cross-quarter day, around May 1st, between the Spring equinox and the Summer Solstice. It's a time for falling in love, among other things, so we focus on opening the heart for Beltane.

In June we celebrate the coming of the berries, the magic and abundance of the earth, and the Summer Solstice, which is the peak moment of sunlight in the year (if not necessarily the peak of warmth). Please note I mispronounce Litha in this lesson, it is LEE-tha, not LIH-tha.

In this meditation, we will connect with the peak energy of the sun on the Summer Solstice. You could do this on the day of the Summer Solstice (usually June 21st) and, if you like, do it outside. You could lay out on the earth in the sunshine (but be sun-safe or choose shade). Invite the powerful energy of the Sun as you celebrate Litha.

July's Mead Moon has quite a bit of fun mythology and symbolism as one of the hottest months of the year. It's a time to drink mead, a fermented beverage made from honey, celebrate the "honey moon" or "honey month" and enjoy the abundance of the earth.

This meditation involves the practice of noticing the sweetness that already exists in your day to day life and experiencing that sweetness more fully. It's a simple but profound practice of enjoyment that's worth doing in the height of summertime.

In this lesson we learn about the hot, dry Dog Day's Moon and some mythology about that. We also talk about the symbolism of the Sturgeon Moon and the Wyrt Moon, which is a time to engage with the medicines of the natural world.

This meditation honors Lughnasadh, the grain festival held around August 1st. Here we focus on gratitude for the abundance of the earth as we shift into the first celebration of harvest season. This is the first of three harvest seasons and the joyful beginning of August.

In this lesson, we talk about Mabon, the Autumn Equinox, and harvest celebrations around the world. We learn some mythology related to these festivals and the seasonal wellness around the romantic Harvest Moon.

In this meditation, we sit with the energies of Mabon, the ancient Autumn Equinox celebration. We work with alternate nostril breathing to balance our energies and then focus on gratitude for our harvest this year. Mabon is the second of the harvest festivals in this season as we turn toward the dark half of the year.

In this lesson, we learn about Samhain and the themes of death, darkness, and ancestors that come in around the Blood Moon or Hunter's Moon. Here we move a little deeper into the dark half of the year and the energy shifts once again.

In this meditation, we learn a little bit more about Samhain, the Witches' New Year, and practice inviting our intuition for the darker half of the year. This is said to be the time when the veils between the worlds are thinnest, and a powerful time to be working with intuition.

In this lesson, we talk about the shivery bare mood of November and the importance of seasonal wellness at this time as we move into the frosty cold and flu season. We also talk a bit about Tarot as we work into the more intuitive mode of the year.

This meditation expands on our ancestor magic themes from October as we move deeper into the darker season in November. As we connect with a lost loved one, we open to our grief and heartache as well as to our love and gratitude for this person. They may be someone passed over or someone still living who we aren't actively connected with.

In this lesson, we talk about the Winter Solstice and its relationship with grief as well as some of the ancient reasons most cultures celebrate in some way or another around this time. It is a powerful time in pretty much every culture in the world, and worth considering as we move into the holiday season.

This meditation invites some reflection on the last solar year as well as some intention setting for the next year. Please find a candle, a pen and paper, a glass of clean water, and anything else that you like to have with you for this ritual.

In this lesson we talk a little bit about the Thirteenth Moon or the Lost Moon that shows up about once every 2.5 years in our solar calendar. This is the last lesson of the course! I hope you've enjoyed it, and please remember to write a review and/or any questions in the classroom area so I can hear from you.