“When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you set in place…” Psalm 8:3

Oh the beautiful moon! I found a lovely Finnish myth. A teal laid its egg on the knee of the moon goddess Kuu as she sat in the abyss. The egg fell and broke into pieces that formed the universe; the egg white becoming the moon and the yoke the sun. A collision! For you scientists out there, the moon was formed when a Mars-sized object collided with the embryonic earth sending debris into space that coalesced to form the moon.

The Moon, as an astrological symbol, rules eggs as well as the womb, the breasts and the cup – all associated with the birthing, nourishing earth.

Throughout time there have been myriad moon goddesses and gods, many associated with each of the phases of the moon. The movements of the moon from the sliver of the crescent of the new moon to the waxing moon, the full moon, the waning moon, and the dark night of the moon mirror for us creative processes – fecundation, gestation, birth, maturing and ripening. From ancient times, the cycles of the moon have symbolized (before our very eyes each month) the cycles of birth, death and rebirth. The moon is metaphor and symbol for the renewal of life.

I was fascinated to discover that the Jewish calendar revolves around the cycles of the moon. Theirs is a 29 1/2 day lunar calendar with slight adjustments made to coordinate with the solar calendar. The Jewish people have long compared themselves to the moon in their capacity for renewal over generations. Each phase of the moon becomes an opportunity for them to bless God with gratitude.

The New Moon

In the Jewish tradition, the appearance of the first waxing crescent of the New Moon is a holiday. It took two witnesses to sight it, announce it and bless it. How good to be thankful for “beginning again.” This sighting of the New Moon became the first day of the month. Bonfires were lit to announce its arrival. In  the Jewish mystical tradition, it’s a time to celebrate the appearance of the Shekinah, the Divine feminine presence in the created world. Just as the light we see on the moon is a reflection of the rays of the sun, creation reflects the wondrous light of the Divine Creator. Rosh Hashanah, the festival of the rebirth of the world, falls on the New Moon. What a special time to cherish all that is potentially new for us – everything that is arising in our awareness!

The Waxing Moon

Yom Kippur is calendared during this time to celebrate personal growth, change and the power of Shekinah increasing in the world. A traditional blessing over the Waxing Moon: “You are a crown of glory for those who are borne in the womb, for they, like you, are destined to be renewed.” While the shoot of a plant grows up, the plant develops a stem to carry water and nutrients from the roots, What is growing and being nourished in your own soul and in your consciousness?

The Full Moon

The 15th of the month is the day of the Full Moon. It is fully seen because the sun and moon are in opposition in the sky. Passover and Purim, festivals of freedom and abundance, are celebrated at the light of the Full Moon. Kabbalists spoke of this as an auspicious time when the earth-divine realm “peaks.” In the Zohar it’s told that the full moon signals the time when the divine womb creates pure and blessed souls. What flourishing growth are you celebrating?

The Waning Moon

We look now at our vulnerability, concerns and hopes for the future. During the waning days of the moon, Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, is celebrated. New candlelight is progressively added over eight days commemorating the miracle of the burning sanctuary oil and the re-dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem. It also expresses hopes that the Jewish people will increase and grow strong. There is much anticipation for a new month to come, one filled with blessings, peace, physical health and long life…”a life in which the Lord fulfills the requests of our hearts for good. Amen. Selah.” (Prayer of Birkat HaChodesh.) What barriers do we have to “fear not” or to trust when times are changing and seem difficult?

The Dark Moon

This is the part of the moon’s last crescent phase. The Dark Moon lasts between 1.5-3.5 days. It seems to disappear for two to three nights, 0% illuminated. The dark side of the moon is facing the earth. This is a time for fasting and atonement, for examining mortality and the hard paths we travel. The Jewish people seek purification and sanctification before the rising of a New Moon. Although we can’t see this, the New Moon actually does arise in the middle of the dark moon phase when the moon and the sun are in conjunction, close together in the sky.

What a mystery – this fecund darkness. I think of nature. Leaves and stems must die. But what is perennial (in them and in us) lives under the ground over the winter. So many times, all I can do is pause and wait, be patient. Silence stills the soul. For the New Moon will eventually appear. As life follows death, the new will be born in us from the transformation of the old. Out of darkness, light!

We look symbolically at these pairs of opposites – dark and light, dying and rising – found in the sun and the moon as part of a natural rhythm in life, both without and within. The journey of the moon mirrors us through the cycles of time and renewal.

God created light out of the dark abyss. Jesus lay in the darkness of the tomb and rose on the third day from death to immortal life as the Light of the World.

Jonah spent three nights in the belly of the whale before the course of his life would change. How many difficult but purifying “Jonah times” have we been through?

A period of pain and disorientation in our lives may lead toward a process of dying – to something being transformed through suffering. (I was in a rough spot a few years ago during a major life transition.) We can’t seem to control things, nor can we see ahead to what, when or how new life might arise. Trust!  And take courage! Jonah survived with new awareness of the service he was called to embrace for the sake of the Ninevites. There are surely miraculous transformations ongoing within us.

I think of dreams in the dark of night that bring fertile symbols for growth in the light of consciousness.

Mystics speak of kenosis, of emptiness in a dark night of silent meditation before a light of love unspeakable to the senses arises in the soul.

“Lord, it is nearly midnight and I am waiting for you in the darkness and the great silence.” Thomas Merton, Run to the Mountain

You might want to post at home, as I have done, a picture of the phases of the moon. Even Google offers a Phases of the Moon Calendar to keep us “in sync.”

It does seem clearer to me, this wondrous whole-making pattern in the creative evolution of life and consciousness. I thank God for heaven and earth, for life woven through and through with threads of eternal love. It’s a radiant world!

For anyone who reflects, the appearances of beauty become the themes of an invisible harmony…Material lights point to that immaterial light of which they are images.                                                                                            Dionysius the Areopagite, Celestial Harmony

Sleep well under the silvery moon my friends, while the Moonflowers blossom.

Mary Catherine