This March 2021 full moon journal page was created to help you neutralize emotional triggers in a relationship.

Reflect

This month’s full moon has some helpful energy for healing what’s broken in relationships. This, of course, means that leading up to the full moon you may have noticed tension building in a relationship close to you or memories of past hurts surfacing even if you hadn’t thought about them for years. It’s one of those “Show me what I need to see” kind of moons. Life will show you where the healing work needs to be done to get you where you want to be.

One of the ways life shows you where the healing work needs to be done in relationships is with emotional triggers An emotional trigger is anything — including memories, experiences, or events — that sparks an intense emotional reaction, regardless of your current mood. Emotional triggers cause an intense emotional reaction because they point to a wound or an unmet emotional need.

One of the first spiritual practices I deeply committed to in my thirties was using my emotional triggers to help me know myself better. And when I say I was deeply committed I mean deeeeeeply committed. I practiced it diligently every day several times a day. I was obsessed but in this really great way that helped me grow and become a better human. I tried my best not to react to emotional triggers and instead I got curious. Before figuring out how to handle the situation, I wondered what the emotional trigger was showing me about myself.

The philosophy I put into practice was to believe that the very things that were causing me the most discomfort – my heartaches, frustrations, disappointments, challenges and conflicts in relationships were all just pointing me to an unmet emotional need. If I became curious and gave myself time to explore my inner landscape and figure out what that unmet emotional need was then follow that up with doing whatever I had to do to meet that unmet emotional need, how would the situation or the relationship change?

“Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.”

Pema Chodron

One of the places where emotional triggers pop up most often is in relationships. To make matters more complicated, many of us end up with life partners, close friends, family or bosses and co-workers who have the personalities, habits and conditioning that create the perfect conditions for our emotional needs to continue to go on being unmet.

Ordinary events end up triggering intense reactions because the unmet emotional needs from the past are still big gaping emotional voids in our hearts. We are not just seeing the present moment. We are seeing many moments behind that where our emotional needs were continuously ignored. Partners can’t understand where the intensity is coming from and their confusion can quickly escalate into frustration until both partners’ nervous systems’ are dysregulated – and try carrying on any kind of conversation or experiencing any kind of connection when your nervous system is dysregulated. It’s so hard.

We all have specific unmet emotional needs that were caused by traumatic or difficult experiences from our past that have left us with an emotional void. Without realizing it, filling that emotional void becomes the drive behind things we do and it becomes an expectation in relationships. For some, it is to feel loved and so they look to others to fill them up with love. For others it is to feel important so when someone does something to make them feel insignificant, they will get emotionally triggered. They will want the other person to prove to them they are important instead. This usually doesn’t work.

Believing that something or someone else has to change in order for your unmet emotional needs to be met keeps you powerless. People are unpredictable and it is not only the other person’s responsibility to manage your unmet emotional needs. In a compassionate relationship, the other person can help you co-regulate and will be kind, sensitive and thoughtful about your emotional triggers but your triggers are also your responsibility to work through. When you do, your wounded inner child will learn that they can rely on you. You will always be there for them no matter what. Your presence is enough. They will come to trust that you will not abandon them.

Emotional triggers have one thing in common, you have given them more meaning then they actually have because they remind you or prove to you that you are lacking that which you desire most…your unmet emotional need. When someone triggers you in a relationship, you’re making their words, actions or behaviour mean something.

For example, one of my biggest triggers in relationship is when someone I love withdraws from me without explaining why. I make it mean one of two things, either I am not important to them and they never have time for me or, if it they continue to pull away without any explanation whatsoever and essentially ghost me, I make it mean they are going to die and I will lose them forever and I will not survive because I am unable to take care of myself. As you can tell, the second one is a much more intense trauma response but either way, someone I love choosing to withdraw from me without explaining why may not mean either of those things. It may just mean they are overwhelmed or depressed and do not have the inner resources to connect with me or perhaps they are emotionally immature and can only avoid confrontation.

When I’m feeling triggered by their behaviour, my first step is to get curious and wonder why I am getting triggered. What emotional wound is being poked at? What is the underlying unmet emotional need I’m dealing with? When I ask myself these questions, I realize the intensity of my reaction lessens and the harsh judgment I have for the other person diminishes. I’m then ready to do what I have to do to ensure my emotional need gets met.

The inner dialogue when I’m triggered might sound something like this…

“I notice I’m getting upset here. Interesting…I wonder what’s really going on? Hmmm…yes…I see…someone I love is withdrawing from me. Right! When someone I love withdraws from me I feel unimportant or unsafe. No wonder I’m upset. When I think I’m unimportant or unsafe, I get scared and want to protect myself. Oh yeah…that’s what is happening here. No big deal. Everyone has emotional triggers. Everyone has emotional voids to deal with…this just happens to be mine. Thank goodness I found out what my emotional needs are because now, instead of getting mad at this person or blaming or judging them, I know what I actually need and I can do whatever I need to do to make sure my needs are getting met. I may want the other person to stop withdrawing or to be honest and transparent with me when they feel the need to withdraw but I do not need those things to feel important or safe. I can do whatever I can in this moment to FEEL IMPORTANT OR SAFE. What are the ways that work best for me again? Oh yeah…I remember…I better take a moment now to do that then I’ll be in a much better place to handle whatever needs to be addressed in the relationship.”

On this full moon journal page we’re going to focus on an emotional trigger you’re contending with in a relationship. We will then get curious about which unmet emotional need that trigger is pointing to.

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 March full moon journal page and gather your pencil crayons or paint. You will probably also want your writing journal so you can complete the following exercise. Only the final sentence of this exercise will be applied to your full moon journal page.

Step 1

Think of a person or a relationship in your life that is currently bothering or has a tendency to bother you from time to time.

When you think of this person, how does your body respond? Don’t judge the sensations or feelings that arise. Just allow yourself to feel deeper into your experience of this person.

Step 2

Think about the person again but this time really think about the behaviors, situations or words that really trigger you. Think about how you would like them to be different. What could they say or do to make you feel better.

Now try to complete the following statement in your mind:

I would be happier if this person ________________________________

Think of as many examples as you can. Sit with this statement for as long as you need to capture deep, raw, authentic answers. You know you’ve hit the right answers when they elicit an emotional response. If none of your fill-in-the-blank answers elicit an emotional response, you probably have to give it some time and dig a little deeper.

Step 3

Choose the fill-in-the-blank statement that elicited the strongest emotional reaction.  Try to choose the answer that you felt most strongly about but don’t get stuck or hung up on trying to find the perfect one. Just trust what comes to mind. Perhaps there was a fill-in-the-blank answer that surprised you and you’d like to work with that one.

Let’s just recall the answer here. Fill in the blank to the following statement again.

I would be happier if this person ____________________________________

Step 5

Now it’s time to get those feeling words out.

Your job is to try and capture as accurately as you can how it feels to not have that person say, do or behave in the way you want them to. How does it make you feel when this person acts or responds in a way that triggers you? You might not be feeling the totality of your displeasure right in this moment but think back to those times when it bothered you most.

Use as many words as you can to describe how you feel when that person triggers you. Just allow your mind to explore and label the feelings that arise as best as you can. Do you feel dismissed, unloved, angry, hurt, empty, insecure, trapped, ashamed, unsafe, powerless, afraid, weak, judged or some other emotion?

Step 6

Now let’s look at how you would feel if you got what you wanted from that person. Before you answer, take a moment to visualize that person doing exactly what you want them to do or acting in the perfect way or saying exactly what you need them to say. How would your life be different?  How much different would you feel? Visualize the difference in as much detail as you can. Really try to capture what that would feel like for you.

Explore as many feeling words as you can that describe how you imagine you would feel if this person became exactly what you secretly wanted them to be. Would you feel peaceful, worthy, included, whole, happy, powerful, attractive, smart, equal, accepted, capable, respected, considered, loved, appreciated, taken care of, valued, safe or some other emotion?

Step 7

Now let’s narrow down all those feelings and choose just one feeling that best describes how would feel if that person in your life showed up differently or the situation around them changed. Choose the emotion that you gravitate towards the most and seems to really capture best how you would feel if this person changed or the situation around them was different then complete the following statement in your mind:

If this person changed or the situation around this person changed, I would feel ____________________.

Step 8

Let’s finish this philosophical journey by considering that you may want this person or the situations with this person to change but what you want underneath that is the feeling you believe them being different will give you.

By moving through these questions you see what you are actually attached to. The awareness is usually enough to shift your mood and your perspective about that person. Instead of remaining in displeasure, you see the source of your unhappiness. Shining the light on the source of your unhappiness is usually enough to evaporate it.

On your full moon journal page, in the white space around the full moon, complete the following sentence:

I think I want (insert the name of the person who triggers you here) to change but what I really want is to feel ___________________.

I hope you’ve found this exercise as helpful as a great yogic stretch and as centering as a deep meditation. Use it whenever you feel emotionally triggered by another person. The more you use it, the more releasing your attachments will become an automatic response.

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,

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Use the energy of the new moon in March to communicate with your Spirit Guides and Angels!

Reflect

The new moon is in Pisces. This is a great time to be in liminal space and connect to Spirit which is why this moon page is about communicating with your Spirit Guides or Angels.

We all come from varied cultural backgrounds and each of us has our unique spirituality and a unique intuitive language or a unique way of receiving messages from Spirit.

My spirituality is as eclectic as a handmade quilt pieced together from scraps of old clothing. I resonate with many truths; some familial, some ancient and some all my own. I have awesome moments where I feel connected to what I can only describe as the great big life force animating all things. I also have transcendent moments where I feel nature’s love and wisdom pour over me and my magical moments with the Great Mother are too numerous to count, as is the help I’ve received from Archangel Michael, my Spirit Guide Chekomah or the old mystic tarot reader ghost that visits me from time to time and the many other Spirit Guides I’ve been fortunate enough to know.

But none of them share the kind of relationship I share with my guardian angel, Cassandra. My relationship with her could be compared to all the happy moments I’ve had with my women friends over the years. The bitching sessions, the deep, philosophical conversations, the teasing, the laughter, the tears and the joy. She’s an angel that feels like a best friend. That is what is so unique about her. I relate to her in a way I don’t relate to any other of my spiritual helpers.  She feels like a soul sister and that is why I cry whenever she reminds me she isn’t going anywhere – ever.

I know a lot of people would feel my relationship with Cassandra (or any of my spiritual helpers) is all in my imagination but so what if it is? Does that diminish it in any way? No. Does it make it less helpful and magical? No. Does it erase all the support, encouragement, love, insight and clarity I’ve received? No.

I wish everyone developed a friendship with Spirit and the angels…even if it is just in their imagination.

That is why this week, on the moon page, we are going to use our imagination to connect with our Spirit Guides or Angels.

Communicating with Spirit in this way may or may not work for you. If you follow the steps listed below and it doesn’t really work for you, don’t worry – there are many ways to follow your intuition and connect with spirit. And what doesn’t work one day might work another day so you can always try again another time.  Whether or not it works, I still think it’s worth a try.

I like to approach magic with a sense of detachment. Trust that LOVE has your best interest at heart and  you are always being heard but you are not in control of when or how your receive your answers.

We are all born with our own unique intuitive abilities but over time, because of the emotionally disconnected cultures we live in, these abilities were ignored, dismissed or punished. This made us feel cut-off from our natural abilities to communicate intimately and regularly with our subconscious mind and all the information available to us in the Universe. If you can’t see how you already communicate with Spirit or your subconscious mind, you don’t have access to all the information it has access to and trust me, you want to have access to that information. It makes life easier, less painful and more meaningful. We are all psychic in our own way. You just have to trust what your way is and let yourself see the value in what already comes naturally to you.

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

Print out the March new moon journal page twice so you have two pages to work with.

Clear

Clear your physical, mental and emotional space. There are many ways to do this. Ring a bell. Play a crystal bowl. Meditate. Say a prayer. Chant. Spray a mist of moon water and essential oil around yourself and the room. Light incense and move it around to clear your physical space, your mind, your heart and your energy. Listen to a guided meditation or close your eyes and focus on your breath. Do whatever works for you to step out of your everyday busy monkey mind and drop into a more relaxed, open and still mind.

Try your best to release tensions, worries, negativity, anxieties, fears and stress. You can even ASK FOR HELP with this step. Ask your angels, the trees, Spirit, a Goddess, the wind or whoever you pray to to take your worries, anxieties and negative thoughts away. Release feelings of unworthiness and self-criticism. I often call on Archangel Michael for help in this step.

Do whatever works for you to clear away the mental clutter and any fears you may be hanging onto. Ask for your mind and emotional body to be cleansed and relieved of what no longer serves you. Ask the Divine for help to prepare your body, heart and mind to open to connecting with spirit.

Protect

Ask your spiritual helpers to protect your sacred space. Personally, I establish clear, firm boundaries of love and light, stating that only those that are here for my highest and greatest good are welcome in my space. I also invite Archangel Michael to protect my boundaries.

When you perform this step you can also create a circle around you with items like stones or salt or oracle cards to affirm your boundaries. What I try to achieve in this step is a very clear boundary within myself and within my physical space by being very clear about what kind of energy and intentions I want to hang out with.

Invite

My method of calling in Spirit is very simple. I light a candle, close my eyes, take a deep, grounding breath and say a prayer.

I speak an invitation by saying something like this,

Dear Spirit Guides, angels, Divine Love and all those that are here for my highest good,

I invite only those on my spiritual team who are most capable of working with the intentions of today’s conversation. I call into this room, into my heart and into my mind the spiritual guides and angels who are able to help me today with the most ease, the most grace and with the greatest success possible in the shortest amount of time possible.

Thank you for being with me during this conversation. Thank you for guiding my heart, body, mind and spirit in receiving any and all the support, love, release and healing energy I can possibly open up to during this conversation. Thank you for working with my subconscious mind when appropriate and for helping me to clearly and effortlessly receive any guidance, messages or energy that is meant for me to receive at this exact moment in my life.

Then I pause for a moment and consider specifically who from my Spirit team I would like to invite. I speak their names and invite them to join me. I do this in an informal way and speak as I would if I were on the phone with a friend asking them to come over. I thank them for all the help they’ve ever given me in the past and gently request their presence.

Check In

After you have invited your angels or Spirit Guides to be with you, it’s important to take note of any names that come to mind.

Close your eyes and see if you can imagine what the energy you called in looks or feels like. Information may come in a variety of ways so trust whatever comes whether it’s sensations, a knowingness, a visual image, a thought or idea, a memory, a smell…just allow whatever comes and simply observe. Take note of your observations without judging them. Try to be in an open state of receiving not a mental state of judging, classifying or rejecting. If nothing comes, that’s fine. Just move on to the next step. Don’t be attached to things having to be or feel a certain way. Let it all unfold without attachment.

Write a Letter

At the top of one of the moon pages, write a salutation to your Spirit Guides and angels. Imagine you are writing to a close friend.

I always start off with gratitude and say something like, “Dear Cassandra, Thank you for being with me tonight.” Then I continue my letter by sharing what’s troubling me. When you sit down to write your letter, try to describe what’s troubling you in as much detail as you can. Include all the emotional ways the situation is affecting you.

The most important next step is to ASK. After you’ve described the situation that is bothering you and how it is affecting you, ASK FOR HELP. Be specific. Ask a clear question.

When you are done writing your letter, close it with a farewell phrase and sign it.

Write a Second Letter

Take the second copy of this month’s new moon page and pretend your angel or Spirit Guide is writing a letter back to you.

Write down whatever comes to mind, even if it feels like they are simply your thoughts and ideas and you’re not sure if there really is an angel or a Spirit Guide answering you. Just record your thoughts and what comes to mind as an answer to your question. Don’t edit or judge it just yet.

You may notice that as you write, more information and/or insights or messages come to you. If you asked for your Spirit Guides and angels to be there and communicate with you, they will be there – even if it feels like they are not. Even if it feels like nothing special is happening and you think it is all in your imagination, just go with it. It’s perfectly fine to pretend. As my angel Cassandra has explained to me and my clients many times, the question isn’t, “Is this real?” The question is “Is this helpful?”

End with Gratitude

When you are ready to stop writing and want to close your session with your Spirit Guides and angels, there are many ways to do this but I like to do it by expressing gratitude for all the wisdom and help I received and paying attention to my breath to make sure I am fully back in my body. I make a point of really feeling the gratitude I have for my spiritual team in my heart.

Sometimes the connection to Spirit will end abruptly before you are expecting it to. Don’t be surprised if your connection to Spirit is automatically closed before you are ready to end it. If this happens, it is most likely because it is in your best interests to only connect for a little while for now or Spirit may feel like your attention needs to be elsewhere. Either way, don’t worry. You can always write to them again another time.

I hope you enjoy your conversation with Spirit. If you end up completing this 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 #danasmoonpages 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,

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Work with the healing power of the lunar cycles in a creative way

The Moon and You

You have an ancient relationship with the moon. It pulls on your heart and spirit as much as it pulls on the sea.

The phase and sign the moon is in at any given time can deeply affect your emotional well-being. You can work with the moon phases and moon signs to help you manage your emotions and relationships and to help you understand yourself better. 

The light aspects of the moon represent your intuition, dreams, and turning your ideas into reality.

The dark aspects of the moon represent your shadows or the hidden memories and beliefs you’ve buried in your subconscious mind.

The things you bury in your subconscious mind can include your fears or the emotions you find difficult to deal with like guilt, rage, shame, rejection, grief and loss. They can also include the shadow aspects of humanity and systems of oppression you’ve internalized like white supremacy, ableism, fat bias, sexism and the effects of capitalism and colonialism to name a few.

Working with the moon helps you access those hidden parts of yourself so they don’t pop up and influence you to act in ways you don’t want to act or say things you don’t want to say or make choices from the wounded parts of your past or the wounded parts of your culture’s past.

I started working with lunar cycles because as a highly sensitive person who grew up with trauma around adults who did not know how to emotionally care for themselves or teach me how to manage my own sensitivities I ended up needing a lot more emotional support as an adult than I could afford to access. At the time, I couldn’t afford private sessions with a therapist and there weren’t as many options available to me as there are now so I had to find alternatives. Nature became my spiritual and emotional support system and living aligned with the moon phases and signs helped me feed my heart and spirit in ways it just wasn’t getting fed otherwise.

One of the simplest ways to start working with the healing power of lunar cycles is to start an art journal and create a new art journal entry every time the moon enters a new phase.

Art journals are a perfect moon pairing because they naturally spark your creativity, help you listen to your intuition and help you explore what you are feeling or thinking. Your art journal is a private and personal space where you can dive into those challenging emotions that you don’t necessarily feel safe exploring with anyone else just yet.

You can work out what’s on your heart and mind. You can connect with Spirit and receive insight and messages. You can release heavy energy and emotions instead of burying them inside you. You can dream and plant seeds of intention on your journal pages. You can explore the steps you need to make to move forward in your life without committing to them yet. Not to mention, playing with color automatically shifts your mood and energy. Art journals are a gentle and fun way to heal and explore your spiritual powers.

When you pair all this up with working with the phases of the moon, it becomes a magical experience.

My Journey with the Moon

Seven years ago I thought it might be time to give up on my goals and dreams. My life exploded in a mess of chaos and pain. The book I worked so hard to write wasn’t selling. The business I started with my best friend fell apart – it was the second time a dream I tried to create with a best friend crashed and burned so I was devastated. My close inner circle of friends no longer felt safe. And to top it all off, I became severely and mysteriously ill.

Despite everything, something kept telling me not to give up on myself or my dreams. That inner voice wanted me to hang on and keep going. It wasn’t logical and I was afraid people would judge me or think I was stupid. Who would keep risking so much for dreams and goals that just didn’t seem to be panning out? But I couldn’t give up. It just didn’t feel right. I had to figure out how to be well again. I had to learn how to run a successful business doing what I love while living with a chronic illness. I just couldn’t let my dreams die.

So I kept going.

I had to start all over again.

I started listening to my instincts. I wanted to paint so I did that. I wanted to align myself with the moon more so I let myself be pulled in her direction.

I kept praying and doing moon rituals and setting new goals and intentions. Every new and full moon I spent time digging deeper into my wild creative nature. I used the moon as my mirror. I let it teach me about myself. I used the full moon to release all the emotional and energetic garbage I was carrying.

I’m a healer and an empath with a highly sensitive nervous system. I absorb a lot more information from my environment than most people. The regular full moon cleansings started to help me feel lighter, clearer and more energized.

Next, I would use the new moon to claim my worth and revisit my goals. I had a loud inner critic and after the setbacks I experienced I needed a lot of encouragement and a constant reminder to keep me focused. My new moon rituals gave this to me.

I fell deeper into the natural rhythms that support me. I started to feel vibrant and alive and aligned with the life force surrounding me. I came back to myself. My intuition strengthened and I started to know what steps to follow next.

Working with the phases of the moon in a creative way facilitates this kind of change. Each phase of the moon naturally takes you on an emotional and spiritual journey.

The waxing phases are when energy is building until it reaches its height at the full moon and the waning phases are when energy is slowly diminishing and drawing you inward until it reaches its deepest, darkest point at the balsamic and new moon.

If you’re interested in working with the moon in a creative way, I highly encourage you to find an art journal that inspires you and start creating a new journal entry every time the moon moves into a new phase.

If you don’t want to do it all your own  and you would prefer to join a community of fellow moon lovers and receive tips, tricks and journal prompts for each phase of the moon, I invite you to join my private Facebook community called ART JOURNALING WITH THE MOON FOR INTUITIVE HEALING

You are welcome to come and make creative moon magic with us. Whether you prefer to go it alone or join us, these are my suggestions on how to best use align with the moon in this creative way.

I work with eight moon phases. Each phase of the moon motivates you to explore different emotional and spiritual themes. I’ve created a summary of some of these themes here. Use this summary to help get started and remember; there are no rules – only suggestions!

The New Moon

The new moon is the darkest of the moon phases. I like to think of this phase as an empty garden plot filled with rich black dirt just waiting for me to plant a seed in. It is a time to go inward, be still and dream up what you next want to create in your life. You can help yourself get unstuck by using this time to get clear on what it is you really want, look forward, plan and think about what success means to you in all the different areas of your life.

During the New Moon, I like to create art journal pages around manifesting, getting clear on what it is I really want, looking forward, planning and thinking about what I want the next Moon Cycle to look like.

The New Moon is a perfect time to stretch your imagination so you can better conceptualize what is possible in your life. We have a tendency to not see our value or our worth and feel as if we don’t deserve all the love and abundance available to us and consequently we dream and/or think small.  I like to spend some time creating pages that explore themes of receiving and worthiness.

Themes you can explore in your art journal during the new moon phase include, setting new intentions, manifestation, planning, dreaming, imagination, receiving and worthiness.

The Waxing Crescent Moon

This moon phase is when a silver sliver of the moon begins to appear in the night sky. The moon is moving from being still and invisible to growing and coming into full power. I like to think of this phase as the time when the dream seeds I planted during the New Moon are just starting to form shoots or tiny roots. I might not be able to see my prayers being answered or my dreams manifesting but I can have faith that despite the limited capabilities of what my physical senses can pick up, Spirit is conspiring in my favor and there are invisible forces at work in my life helping me to grow, heal, evolve and create.

In my art rituals, this is the time when I’m meditating on the intentions I set during the New Moon. I’m revisiting my intentions and trying to call them up in my imagination again and trying to tap into the emotions those intentions evoke within me. I’m feeding my dreams with the power of my imagination and my emotions.

The waxing crescent is also a great time to explore themes around inner child healing in your art journal.

Themes you can explore in your art journal during the waxing crescent moon include meditation, imagination, creativity, joy, play, attachment wounds, trauma healing and healing inner child wounds.

The First Quarter Moon

Only half the moon seems to be lit up in the night sky during this moon phase. This is the phase in the creation cycle where there is a tendency to give up or doubt the process. Challenges or obstacles may come between you and your goals and your job is to remain committed despite whatever gets in the way. This is the time to observe your self-talk and heal whatever shadows surface. Make sure you are taking actions and making decisions from your Spirit and your inner wisdom rather than listening to your insecurities and doubt.

Emotional and spiritual themes you can explore in your art journal for the first quarter moon include themes around commitment, doubt, insecurities, body image, self-esteem, your inner critic, your passion, purpose and bigger reasons for being.

The Gibbous Moon

This moon phase is when the moon seems almost full. In the creation process, it’s a great time to clear any trapped emotions or energy so that all parts of you, even the hidden wounded subconscious parts, are on board with your goals. Some of those blocks include ancestral memories stored in your body, past life memories or energy and emotions you unconsciously absorbed from other people. You are most likely carrying subconscious beliefs or stories that are working against you so it is helpful to spend time in your art journal tending to those.

In my art rituals, this is the time when I’m thinking about whether or not my everyday life supports my New Moon intentions. What about my everyday life can be shifted or changed to better support the direction I hope I’m heading? Are there routines or habits I can begin that will better support my dreams and goals?

Themes you can explore in your art journal for the gibbous moon include, clearing ancestral memories, your family tree, past life memories, co-dependency, the heart chakra and daily habits and routines.

The Full Moon

This phase is when the moon is full and bright and round. This is a time of letting go and releasing. You might want to let go and release your goals to a higher power or you might want to work on releasing things in your life that are no longer helpful. The full moon can be like a nice big energetic cleansing where you forgive yourself and others, let go of grievances or surrender and trust. It’s also a great time to connect to Spirit and ask if there are any messages you need to receive regarding your goals or the direction you want your life to move in. Take a few sacred moments to find out if Spirit has any wisdom or advice to offer.

Themes you can explore in your art journal during the full moon include; surrender, trust, intuition, communicating with Spirit or your angels, the third eye chakra, the crown chakra, forgiveness, release and the energetic cleanse.

The Disseminating Moon

This phase is when the moon is just starting to become smaller.  It is a time to rest, relax and rejuvenate and move inward and focus on self.  This isn’t a time to start anything new. It’s a time to reflect. It’s a great time for expressing your devotion to Spirit and for presenting offerings to Spirit, your ancestors or the Earth. I like to use this phase to perform random acts of kindness or give back to my community in some way as a way of saying, “Thank you.” to Spirit.  It’s also a great time to show my gratitude to Mother Earth and all the ways She nurtures and supports you.

This is the time when I’m thinking about self-care as well as emotional and spiritual nourishment. Which emotional needs have gone unmet? Did I feed my Spirit what it needed or is it hungry for nature, stillness, play, creativity, passion, magic, wonder, depth, devotion, freedom or love?

Themes you can explore in your art journal during the disseminating moon include; spirit offerings, gratitude, giving back, ancestors, self-care, nature and acceptance.

The TheThird Quarter Moon

This phase is when the moon once again is half in light and half in shadow. To me, this symbolizes choices and decisions. Take time to consider the choices you make in your everyday life and how they impact you and your community. It also symbolizes seeing both sides of a story so finding ways to put yourself in the shoes of someone you disagree with at this time can help you gain wisdom or a perspective you had not considered before. It also a time to celebrate how far you’ve come, how much you do and how much you’ve grown.

In my art rituals, this is the time when I’m considering how I can deepen my relationship with myself. How can I better value what is important to me? How can I honor my feelings? How can I better trust my intuition? How can I mother my own heart? How can I better support my own dreams? Where do I need support and how can I reach out and ensure I am receiving it?

Themes you can explore in your art journal during the third quarter moon phase include looking inward, trusting your own path, inner compass, celebrating your emotional and spiritual growth, asking for help, choices, decisions and openness.

The Balsamic Moon

This phase is when the moon is once again a silver sliver in the sky. She is retreating and preparing to hide away in the darkness of the New Moon. This again is a time to move inward; to grow still and quiet and change the direction of your looking and to look within and trust your own wisdom and truth. Communing with Spirit and your deepest self is helpful during this phase.

I use this phase to make time to communicate with the angels and my Highest Self. I try to tune into the wisdom and support I carry within me. The veil between Spirit and my conscious mind is thinner at this time of the moon cycle so it eases communication and intuition. It’s also when I’m focusing on my intuition, paying attention to Spirit Signs, making notes of my sleeping dreams and communicating with Spirit.

It is a good time to address the shadow aspects of my personality and to get curious about what I have buried in my subconscious. Sometimes, when life is busy, I don’t have time to process the emotions and triggers that arise in my everyday life and in my relationships. This phase of the Moon is a good time to deal with whatever I didn’t have time to deal with earlier on in the moon cycle. Taking this time to make friends with my shadow before a new moon cycle begins helps me to be clearer and less influenced by my wounded parts as I make my New Moon intentions.

In my art rituals, this is also the time when I’m thinking about the strength and wisdom I find in my shadow side. There are so many parts of myself that I have suppressed in order to fit in and be loved. By pulling up the parts within me that have been repressed, I heal my wounds and learn to embrace and accept every precious part of my being. I pull up the places in me where I feel shame, guilt or fear and I ask Spirit to help me bring unconditional Love to these aspects of my being. Without my mistakes or shameful qualities, I am incomplete therefore I must embrace and love ALL parts of me – even the parts others could not show compassion or acceptance for. It’s also a good time to explore the shadow side of humanity as a whole.

Themes you can explore in your art journal during the balsamic moon phase include; intuition, spirit signs, dreams, synchronicity, subconscious healing, unconditional love, self-love, inner mother, shadow work, guilt, shame, fear, loss, grief, rage, dark mother, facing your own internalized oppression, racism, white supremacy, ableism, sexism, homophobia and the effects of colonialism and capitalism to name a few.

If you don’t want to explore these phases on your own, come join a community of creative magic makers and receive tips, tricks and journal prompts for each phase of the moon. To apply, click on this link and be directed to my private Facebook community called ART JOURNALING WITH THE MOON FOR INTUITIVE HEALING. You’ll be asked three simple questions and if you’re a good fit, you can join our circle of artists, healers, empaths and highly sensitive spirits.

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This February 2021 full moon journal page was created to remind you to protect your energy.

Reflect

Most people are already weighed down by the emotional baggage from the past never mind the emotional baggage they continue to accumulate in their everyday lives. This is a problem especially for empaths and highly sensitive people whose nervous systems absorb a lot of information from the people and spaces around them.

If your culture did not teach you how to process, neutralize, honor or acknowledge difficult and challenging emotions, instead of letting emotions move through your body, the energetic load you carry will be heavy. You don’t have room or space to lug around heavy energies that are not yours. When you don’t even realize it is happening, it makes you more susceptible to being negatively affected by the heavy energy hanging around you.

Negative or heavy energy isn’t like in the movies. It’s not all monsters and horror but it can make life more dramatic and challenging. Instead of feeling energetic and motivated, it can keep you feeling low and insecure. Instead of waking up optimistic, you can struggle with nightmares all night and wake up feeling lethargic and sad. Instead of being able to effectively deal with the emotional issues that arise during the day, you can feel easily overwhelmed and emotionally triggered.

Protecting your energy sets the intention that anything which does not serve your highest and greatest good will not interfere with your goals and dreams.

On one level+, I don’t believe I’m truly in need of protection. I can’t be hurt…not really. The Dana that walks around in this mind and body can suffer, feel loss, experience rejection, death and pain but there is a place within me that is more. The more I visit that space, the more I know that only love is real.

The answer isn’t to protect myself from everyone and everything that might hurt because let’s face it, pain is a part of the journey. The answer is to visit daily the space within me that is unbreakable, forever at peace, and beyond any dramas I might have to endure. I am so much more than my body, my mind or my emotions. I am the divine essence that fuels it all. My divinity is forever safe, lives in peace and is one with all life. We are all one therefore we are all safe but that is not always accessible to me. I am also human with all the frailties and uncertainties that come with that and protecting my energy brings me ease and well-being.

One this moon page, we’ll be doing a five step process for protecting your energy.

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 February full moon journal page and gather your pencil crayons or paint.

There are two symbols of protection on this moon page, the owl and the cloak. Owls have eyes as large as ours but they’re only a couple feet tall. They can see well in the dark. They hunt at night and sleep during the day which can represent the ability to see in the shadows, a helpful ability when wanting to protect your energy. They also represent listening to your intuition which is another helpful skill when wanting to protect your energy. In some cultures, the owl was honored as the keeper of spirits that traveled from one plane to another so to me, it seems a fitting symbol to represent protecting our physical bodies from the world of Spirit and energy.

A cloak is like an overcoat, it protects the wearer from the wind, cold and rain but a magical cloak is often worn to protect the wearer from the effects of elements, energy and magic. It’s like creating a magical circle of protection but instead of creating it in the physical space around you, you can wear it and carry it with you.

The moon on the top right hand of the picture contains five leaves. Five is a number that has also been associated with protection. Listed below are the five steps to protecting your energy that we’ll use for this moon page.

In one of the leaves, write why you would like protection. How will that spiritual or energetic or emotional protection help you?

In a second one of the leaves, write what you would like to cleanse from your energy. It’s helpful to cleanse your energy before you build a shield of protection around it. Consider any heavy energy you may have absorbed throughout the week or the month and as you write it down, imagine the emotions, thoughts, memories, beliefs or energy you no longer need burn in a sacred fire.

In another of the leaves, call in from the world of Spirit who you would like to help protect you. You can call in Love, the elements, an animal spirit that fills the role of guardian for you, your guardian angel, the archangels, a goddess or whoever you feel spiritually connected to.

In another of the leaves, write a blessing or offer a gift of thanks to Spirit for helping you.

In the final leaf, make a declaration of protection. Declare that a bubble of light surrounds you or declare that a cloak of light surrounds your whole body or ask to be surrounded in every direction by your spiritual protectors.

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,

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