This month’s journal page was created to help you explore your inherent worthiness.

Reflect

I associate the full moon with the Mother archetype. One of the aspects of the Mother archetype is the way she cares for others but the wise inner mother also knows the importance of nurturing her own body, heart, mind and spirit. She knows taking time to meet her own emotional and spiritual needs is a necessity because we can’t give when we are depleted.

You may not have had a healthy relationship with your own parents but you can always become the parent you always wanted and learn to reparent yourself in the exact ways you most desire to be cared for.

Many of my clients relate to feeling unworthy. I do too. Last year, I kept receiving the message from spirit that it was time to open my heart to receive and feel worthy but for the longest time I didn’t know how to do that. I didn’t know how to go from feeling unworthy to feeling worthy.  I finally realized that learning how to be constant, warm, forever welcoming, gentle and kind and committed to giving my heart exactly what it needs in the moment it needs it is how I learn I am worthy of love and good things happening to me. I teach myself I am worthy by reparenting myself with love and kindness.

Imagine a magnificently comforting energy of love that knows how to nurture you so you feel safe and supported. Imagine that love lives inside your heart and is always accessible to you. That love is the light in your darkness, the peace in your pain and the power you can draw on when you feel powerless. Personally, I define that love as the Great Mother or the Divine Mother and I know that she and I are one.

She holds the Universe in her womb and the Earth in her heart. She is the dirt and the trees, the river and the moon. She is your provider, your protector and your cheerleader. She births life and knows the profound joy in creating what comes from the heart. She wants only to support you in feeling worthy of creating the kind of life your heart longs to enjoy.

She whispers to your heart in your sleep and says,

• Your needs are important to me.
• I will keep you safe.
• I am here for you.
• I see you.
• You are special to me.
• You can rely on me.
• I will support you.
• You are cherished.
• I will help you.
• You can rest in me.

This list of beautiful nurturing expressions was created from a similar list in “The Emotionally Absent Mother” by Jasmin Lee Cori. When I read her list, it changed my life. It spoke to a deep emptiness inside me that did not always receive these messages as a child – not just from my mother but from all the adults in my life who had been raised in as emotionally unaware environments as I was.

What’s one thing you can do this month to treat yourself with kindness and love? On this month’s moon page, choose one of the messages from above and commit to starting a new habit or doing one thing consistently for the month of October that will speak to your heart and teach it that you are indeed worthy of the good things you want to create in your life.

If you are not on my email list and haven’t received this month’s moon page, visit my homepage and sign up. You’ll receive a link where you can download the hand-drawn page I created for this particular moon. Print it, grab a tea and a cozy blanket, get comfortable then follow the instructions below.

Create

If moon rituals are familiar to you, prepare your sacred space and invite Spirit to join you in whatever way works best for you.

If, however, you are new to moon rituals, I’ve included a quick guide to the steps I follow to prepare for my moon rituals in a past blog post. Take a look at it before moving forward.

Print out the October full moon journal page and gather your pencil crayons or paint.

As you color the image, you will notice it includes certain symbolism. There is a stag, a frog, roses, a sunflower, star anise, apples and acorns. The stag teaches wisdom over aggression. The frog brings the energy of transformation and, if you’re familiar with my moon pages, you know there are usually roses included because they represent Divine Mother which obviously was an energy I wanted to pull in to this particular moon page. The sunflower brings in positivity and the energy of the sun. I drew star anise because its one of my favorite spices and inspires clairvoyance and the apples bring healing. Finally, the acorns symbolize security which is something I think we experience when we realize we are safe to receive.

Scroll down and you’ll see I also created a few color palettes as inspiration for your moon page this month. I love color palettes and collect them on my Pinterest page. I wanted to create some of my own because I love the idea of supporting the emotional and spiritual work we’re doing with color. Pick your favorite palette, collect the pencil crayons, markers or paints you own that match those same colors then use them to complete your moon page.

When you are done coloring your page, write your full moon commitment in the circle. Describe one small act or habit you promise to do for yourself to teach yourself that you are indeed worthy of love and goodness.

Color Palettes

Enjoy!

If you end up completing this moon page, I’d love to see what you created. You can even post the finished piece on Instagram or Facebook with the hashtag #danasartrituals or email me at support@danadaponte.com and share with me how it went for you. It’s fun for me to know there are others out there enjoying the moon with me.

with love,

Pinterest pins

This month’s journal page was created to help you consider the light you want to shine in this world.

Reflect

This week I watched as many of my white friends and family stepped up to learn about the inherent racism we carry. It was like watching a spark catch fire. Books were read. Ideas were exchanged. Revelations were shared. Books and ideas about white supremacy and racism have been around for a very long time but the conversation seemed to go viral in a way I personally haven’t witnessed in my social circles.  When it comes to the subject of race, so much pain and suffering takes place before white people (including me) listen (and we’re not even close to hearing, owning and seeing everything we need to hear, own and see) but these changes I’m seeing wouldn’t be possible if it weren’t for the brave men and women who shone a light on the darkness of racism even when it was dangerous to do so. It’s easy to shine your light when the world is already lit up. It requires a whole different level of brave to shine a light when the world around you is cloaked in darkness.

This month, the full moon is also a lunar eclipse and as astrologers point out, it is influenced by Mars which brings anger to the surface. Anger can be powerful medicine. Anger says, “This is NOT okay.” Anger says, “No more!”

This month’s moon page depicts a woman lighting a candle. My intention when creating the page was to help us consider where in our personal worlds we would like to shine a light on some darkness we see. Where do we feel angry enough to say to the darkness, “No more!”

Personally, my full moon ritual will be on invoking my spirit guides and angels to help me do the inner work I need to do so I can better stand up against racism when I am directly confronted with it. I heard an inspiring conversation from a woman named Rachel Rodgers on a social media platform and in it she called white people to do better. She asked us to do more than share posts about racism. She asked us to take action and take risks. She asked us to risk our bodies, our relationships and our incomes.

It made me face the times in my life where I chose not to take a risk. At the time, the reason I couldn’t take a risk against the racism I witnessed was because my trauma response shut me down and I wasn’t skilled enough to stay mobilized through it. I ended up with so much regret. I wondered why I couldn’t speak up and say what I wanted to say. I grew up in an environment where my voice was silenced. I was not encouraged to speak up. I was encouraged to be a good girl. I was punished if I did not obey. My emotional needs were not inquired after. My point of view was rarely valued because children’s points of view in general were regularly dismissed. I was overpowered. I really don’t think it is a coincidence that, as an adult, my immune system started to attack my throat. I have A LOT of experiences of being silenced. My personal spiritual work at the moment, if I want to shed a light in my small sphere of influence, is to do the inner work I need to do to take the risk of speaking up. I have to work on my trauma so I can face conflict.

That is, of course, only one of the many places I need to grow to be the kind of light bearer I want to be in this world. There’s a lot more work than that for me to do. For instance, I also shut down when I feel guilty which isn’t helpful because I can’t face my own internalized racism when I allow my feelings of shame and guilt overcome me. I have inner work to do to become more resilient and more able to hear when I’m making mistakes without withdrawing, becoming defensive or wanting to attack.

I want to be a woman who uses her voice and a woman who can manage big, uncomfortable emotions better and that kind of change doesn’t just happen. It will take a lot of inner work…and magic.

I’ll be using my full moon magic to bring about the changes and growth within myself so I can better show up, stand up, mobilize and protect – which, to me, is part of what it means to shine my light. I’ll be using my MAP training to work with my subconscious mind to neutralize the memories where I was silenced so I stop shutting down when I’m confronted with conflict. I will be working with somatic practices to help me stay mobilized instead of getting stuck in a state of dorsal shut down. And I will be calling on my angels and spirit guides to support me in seeing what I need to see and healing what I need to heal so I can be strong and confident and have the courage to take the risks I feel called to take.

How do you want to shine your light? What darkness do you want to illuminate? I encourage you to read the instructions for this month’s full moon journal page below and use this time to focus on what kind of inner work you are being called to do to shine a bigger and brighter light on the darkness you no longer want to see in this world.

If you are not on my email list and haven’t received this month’s moon page, visit my homepage and sign up. You’ll receive a link where you can download the hand-drawn page I created for this particular moon. Print it, grab a tea and a cozy blanket, get comfortable then follow the instructions below.

Create

If moon rituals are familiar to you, prepare your sacred space and invite Spirit to join you in whatever way works best for you.

If, however, you are new to moon rituals, I’ve included a quick guide to the steps I follow to prepare for my moon rituals in a past blog post. Take a look at it before moving forward.

Print out the June full moon journal page and gather your pencil crayons or paint.

As you color the image, you will notice it includes certain symbolism. There are strawberries, a bottle of mead, roses and some honey because different cultures refer to the full moon at this time of year with those names; Strawberry Moon, Mead Moon, Rose Moon and Honey Moon. Here’s an explanation I saw from the Farmer’s Almanac online:

The name, Strawberry Moon, originated with Algonquin tribes in eastern North America who knew it as a signal to gather the ripening fruit of wild strawberries. Alternative European names for this Moon include the Honey Moon and the Mead Moon. It has also been called the Rose Moon, given that many roses come to life during this part of the year!

https://www.almanac.com/content/full-moon-june

The Moon and Sun cards from Amrit Brar’s “Marigold Tarot” are pictured in the bottom left side of this moon page. The moon tarot card can be a sign of darkness and uncertainty. It also rules intense feelings and unstable moods – definitely things we need to be conscious of when we’re wrapped in darkness. Darkness is not necessarily a bad thing but it can be when we’re not willing to face what we’ve hidden there. The sun card, on the other hand, brings clarity, optimism and positive energy. The sun and moon need each other. Too much optimism and we don’t face anything, much like the spiritual bypassing that happens in white circles when challenging topics like racism are brought up. I see the sun and moon working together by helping me to face my own darkness then take action on the changes I learn are needed.

There are also a couple magical tools – a pendulum and a wand. Magical tools are symbolic to me of using my magic in practical ways and in ways that bring about the kinds of changes I want to see in my everyday life.

When you are done coloring your page, write your full moon intention in the circle of the candle’s light. Describe what darkness you would like to shine some light on. It can be personal, family or political as long as it is meaningful and important to you. Full moon rituals always work best when you can deeply connect with your heart and spirit and that only happens when you dig deep enough to get at what’s important to you.

Enjoy!

If you end up completing this moon page, I’d love to see what you created. You can even post the finished piece on Instagram or Facebook with the hashtag #danasartrituals or email me at support@danadaponte.com and share with me how it went for you. It’s fun for me to know there are others out there enjoying the moon with me.

with love,

Pinterest pins

What dream are you ready to recommit to during this month’s new moon?

Reflect

The energy of this particular new moon invites us to set new goals, rebuild and reconnect to our dreams but it’s hard to dream when the world feels like its falling apart and that’s how our reality sometimes feel, doesn’t it? Even in the media, it seems as if we’re constantly breaking into pieces and crumbling down. I understand those feelings because they are valid. There is a lot of brokenness in the world that needs our attention and things keep intensifying (which I don’t think is going to stop happening any time soon) but there is also a lot of innovation and connection and positive change happening too. The world still needs us to keep dreaming. We need to keep dreaming even when we’re struggling. How do we create better ways of being in this world if we can’t dream them into reality? We can’t keep our attention solely focused on destruction and chaos. If we’re grieving, we have to give ourselves permission and support to feel what we need to feel but when we’re ready, it’s helpful to recommit to our creative dreams.

The trouble is, creative people tend to also be highly sensitive people. Our nervous systems naturally absorb more information from the energetic environment than other people. The general mood of the collective unconscious affects us more. The emotions and thoughts of the people we are in contact with affect us more. When we’re not mindful of setting our energetic boundaries or we forget to allow the energy we absorb to move right through us, we take on more than we can emotionally and energetically process and that bogs us down. It’s hard to dream when you’re swimming in heavy waters.

This month’s moon page is an invitation to recommit to a dream despite those heavy emotional waters we’re all swimming in these days. Recommitting to a dream will naturally get your energy moving and shifting. It will organically invite any heavy energy you absorbed to move through you. That’s why I LOVE moon rituals. They support our energy bodies and nervous systems in fun and creative ways. It’s healing work that feels light and playful but still gets serious results. Before you print out this month’s moon page, think about a creative dream you’ve had for a while but you’ve been procrastinating moving forward with or a dream you really want but you’re scared to let yourself have. Or even a creative dream you are ready to pursue but you want to call on Spirit for help because you can’t seem to move forward on your own (don’t worry, most of us highly sensitive creators can’t move forward on our own either and need more support than we’re used to asking for).

Once you have a dream in mind, follow the instructions I outline below.

If you are not on my email list and haven’t received this month’s moon page, visit my homepage and sign up. You’ll receive a link where you can download the hand-drawn page I created for this particular moon. Print it, grab a tea and a cozy blanket, get comfortable then follow the instructions below.

Create

If moon rituals are familiar to you, prepare your sacred space and invite Spirit to join you in whatever way works best for you.

If, however, you are new to moon rituals, I’ve included a quick guide to the steps I follow to prepare for my moon rituals in a past blog post. Take a look at it before moving forward.

Print out the May new moon journal page.

This month’s moon page is a visual prayer. I wanted a visual way of showing my dreams being protected. I imagine the pregnant woman is Spirit (or more specifically, the Great Mother) holding my most sacred dreams safe in a womb as they quietly grow protected from the noisy world around me. The snake on her neck is symbolic of the ability to shed an old skin which to me means letting go of what isn’t working for me so I can express who I really am. Isn’t that what our dreams are? When they are pure and true, they are an expression of our most sacred selves. The snake is around her neck because our necks is the area of our throat chakras which is where energy around how free we feel to express ourselves collects. You may want to color the snake blue to help strengthen that symbolism during your ritual. As you color it blue ask Spirit to help you unblock the energy in that chakra and think of all the ways you want feel free to be yourself. I don’t know about you but the closer I move toward my truest self, the happier I am. I don’t have fancy dreams. I don’t have loud dreams. I have quiet, simple creative dreams but they are MINE and they matter. So do yours.

The wolves in on this moon page represent three things you need to achieve your dreams. You need to:

1. Trust your instincts. Wolves have highly attuned instincts but so do you. Your subconscious mind is constantly absorbing more information than you are aware of. When you get a gut feeling to move in a certain direction, you may not be able to logically understand why you’re being pulled in that direction but it isn’t random. Your Spirit is calling you and your desire to follow a creative dream is more on purpose than you might realize – even if it feels frivolous or grandiose. Don’t let your inner critic silence your instincts and stop you from following a dream your heart really wants to pursue.
2. Guard your dreams. Wolves protect their territory. Your dreams are sacred and precious and deserve your protection. Don’t share them with people who cannot see how sacred they are. Don’t let other people put them down. Speak of them only in company that can treat them with the respect they deserve.
3. Use your rituals. Wolves have rituals and they use them to communicate to each other and to keep each other safe. Use your moon rituals to communicate your dreams to Spirit then use daily or morning rituals to stay focused on your dreams. It is so very easy to strand away from your dreams. Rituals help keep you moving in the direction your Spirit wants to go.

As you color the wolves on this moon page, think about what needs to change in your life so you are better able to do these three things to help you achieve your dreams.

When you are ready, complete the sentence on this moon page by writing everything that comes to mind in the moment. Allow yourself to write without editing yourself. Trust what flows out of you.

If you end up completing this spiritual art ritual, I’d love to hear how it went. You can even take a picture of a part of your process and share it on Instagram or Facebook with the hashtag #danasartrituals or email me at support@danadaponte.com and share with me how it went for you. It’s fun for me to know there are others out there enjoying the moon with me.

with love,

Pinterest pins:

Invite the spirit of an animal to protect your inner light with this moon page for the April new moon. 

Reflect

Last month I felt discouraged and weighed down by the events surrounding the covid pandemic. I live near the Rocky Mountains where, on top of dealing with the psychological burdens of living in this time, the sky was cloudy and the snow kept falling. I was so tired of snow. I wanted spring to greet me with a warm sunshine hug but it just wouldn’t show up. I struggled to feel on purpose in my life and when I lose my sense of purpose, joy slips away too.

I can’t be of service to love when I’m feeling like an old blanket being dragged through the dirt and it’s really important to me to be in service to love so I know first and foremost when I start my day I need to do what I can do to shift my mood and my thinking. Protecting my inner light is important work that must be given priority.

I have a feeling as time goes on it is going to become more and more important to protect our inner light. In this world, there are so many circumstances and factors that do more harm to our inner light than good. It’s exhausting but it’s imperative we navigate through the mud and the muck and become intimate with our beauty and power. We are divine beings. We are limitless. We are magical. The more we understand just how magical we are, the better we grow our inner light and if there is anything this world needs right now it is a lot of glowing hearts.

This month’s moon page was created to help you invite an animal to help you protect your inner light. You will find the instructions below but before you read them, I encourage you to read these words from Tad Hargrave of Marketing for Hippies. He created a Facebook live video and I loved his words so much I wanted to share them here. I think they fit perfectly with this month’s moon page.

Whether you believe this covid pandemic is real or not both are an indication that we’re in troubled times. Could it be that you are your ancestors best response to this time? You are needed in this world and you come with gifts to give and if you don’t offer them it places more burden on the rest of us. Nobody else has the exact combination of gifts and nature and wounds that you have. Perhaps there is a reason you were born NOW and HERE with the gifts you have. Maybe everything you carry is to be put together in service of the world. I’m not saying that’s how it is but what if it’s true? What’s your role in the community going to be because the world needs a lot of help? There’s a place for everyone. The skills you have, the things that come easily to you that don’t come naturally to someone else, those might be yours to use as a gift to the rest of the world.

If you are not on my email list and haven’t received this month’s journal page, visit my homepage and sign up. You’ll receive a link where you can download the hand-drawn page I created for this particular moon. Print it, grab a tea and a cozy blanket, get comfortable then follow the instructions below.

Create

If moon rituals are familiar to you, prepare your sacred space and invite Spirit to join you in whatever way works best for you.

If, however, you are new to moon rituals, I’ve included a quick guide to the steps I follow to prepare for my moon rituals in a past blog post. Take a look at it before moving forward.

Print out the April new moon journal page.

You’ll notice the page shows four animal cards laying on a table and a hand holding a blank card. The four animals are the ones that came to me when I asked Spirit to guide me and show me which animals wanted to step forward and offer their spiritual support during this time. I saw a porcupine, a herring, a sparrow and a beaver.

A porcupine may have quills but they are actually very gentle creatures and don’t actually use their quills unless they are afraid or defending themselves. I see that as a reminder for us to be mindful of how fear skews our perspective. It has become easy to be gripped by fear. Nowadays it can take a lot of work to live with an open trusting heart. Some days it is easier to achieve than others but it’s important we keep trying otherwise we run the risk of shooting quills and hurting others when it is not what we actually want to do.

When I looked up the spiritual symbolism of herring, I saw that it is a sign that we may face financial problems that seem difficult to solve but that in the end everything will work out and our efforts to make changes will prove successful. It also offers a cautionary message and asks us to be aware of thoughtless action we will later regret so like the porcupine, we’re being advised that protecting our inner light means moving from a calm, centered state not a fearful reactionary state.

In the book “Medicine Cards”, the authors describe the message of beaver as inviting us to accomplish our goals by working with Group Mind. Imagine how well we can protect our inner light when we all work together. I suspect community will become one of our greatest allies in the coming years. Beaver also asks you to protect the creations which you put your love and energy into. Your dreams and creations are expressions of your inner light. They deserve protection too.

In the book “Animal Speak”, the author speaks of sparrow as a symbol of triumph after long suffering. I find it interesting that in the book the author also shares a story of how sparrow, in the Middle Ages, was a symbol for the peasants and lower classes who felt powerless over nobility. They loved to hear tales of how the insignificant sparrow triumphed over stronger animals like wolves and bears. Sparrow reminds us to protect our inner light by not forgetting what we are worthy of.

On this moon page, the blank card is for you to draw the spirit of an animal you want to invite to help you guard your inner light. If an animal doesn’t immediately come to mind, spend a few moments in meditation and allow the spirit of an animal to show itself to you.

If you end up completing this spiritual art ritual, I’d love to see a part of your process. You can even take a picture of a part of your process and share it on Instagram or Facebook with the hashtag #danasartrituals or email me at support@danadaponte.com and share with me how it went for you. It’s fun for me to know there are others out there enjoying the moon with me.

with love,

Pinterest pins: