A summary of the phases of the moon for the upcoming week and the inner work and magic you can do in your art journal that corresponds with each phase

Sunday

The waxing crescent moon is in the sign of Sagittarius.  In your art journal, draw a box. Outside the box, draw what freedom feels like to you. Inside the box, draw the things in your life that make you feel boxed in or trapped. When you are done, explore whether or not you can change or release anything that is making you feel boxed in.

Monday

The waxing crescent moon is still in the sign of Capricorn. Capricorn energy likes to look ahead, peer into the future and plan. In your art journal, if you haven’t done so yet, draw a tarot or oracle card (or both) for each month of the year in 2022. Lay them all out so you can see them all together. What impressions do you get from what you see? Draw and write about your impressions of 2022 in your art journal.

Tuesday

The moon moves from the waxing crescent phase to first quarter moon phase today. The first quarter moon helps us explore what it feels like to let go of the need for approval. Embrace the spirit of experimenting in your art journal today. Try a medium you’ve never tried before or blend colors you’ve never blended before or experiment with a new technique. Notice what it feels like to create without worrying about how others might judge you or your art.

Wednesday

The first quarter moon is in the sign of Aquarius. Aquarius energy likes to be innovative and think outside the box so it’s another good day to explore and try different things in your art journal. Draw something you’ve never drawn before or stretch yourself to watch a how-to-video and learn a new technique.

Thursday

The first quarter moon is still in the sign of Aquarius. Aquarius energy likes to consider how to make the world a better place. In your art journal, draw a prayer for the earth. Include gratitude for what you love about nature in addition to your wish for her future.

Friday

The first quarter moon is void of course most of the day then it moves into the sign of Pisces by the evening (in the mountain time zone). When the moon is void of course its a good time to go slow and relax. In your art journal, create something simple and repetitive that helps you relax. Dab paint in soothing colors. Fill a page with circles. Paint lines of rainbow color on the page. Don’t think about being productive or creating a finished piece. Just have fun doing whatever creative activity helps you relax and let go.

Saturday

The gibbous moon is in the sign of Pisces. A Pisces moon day is a great time to languish and focus on what brings you pleasure. In your art journal, be inspired by a favorite poem. Read the poem then create a page that reflects how the poem makes you feel.

A Little about Me

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.  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.

If you like art journaling with the moon, join me in my private Facebook community called ART JOURNALING WITH THE MOON FOR INTUITIVE HEALING. When you apply, 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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A summary of the phases of the moon for the upcoming week and the inner work and magic you can do in your art journal that corresponds with each phase

Sunday

The balsamic moon is in the sign of Virgo. This earth sign likes to pay attention to details. This would be a great day to practice drawing or painting with as much detail as you can. Take a simple subject and explore it in your art journal with as much detail as possible. Pay attention to the nuances and the subtleties. Observe your subject for a longer period of time than you normally would and notice how many new details you see just because you are paying closer attention to it. You will be surprised at how many details reveal themselves the longer you pay attention to your subject.

Monday

The balsamic moon is still in the sign of Virgo. Virgo can be service oriented so why not consider how your art can be of service to someone else. Create a page that is a prayer or a wish for someone you love. What would you wish for them? Draw or paint an image of your wish in your art journal.

Tuesday

The moon moves into the sign of Libra. This air sign can help you see how your relationships with others are a mirror of yourself. In your art journal, explore a relationship you are currently struggling with and visually tell a story of how the dynamics that are playing out in the other person are actually reflections about you.

Wednesday

The new moon is in the sign of Libra. Libra can help you create balance in your life. In your art journal, imagine your life is like a pie chart where all the areas in your life are divided into sections with sizes based on how much attention you give that area of your life. What areas of your life would you include in your pie chart: love relationship, finances, work, creativity, spirituality, parenting, relationships, friendships, family, leisure, rest? Create a pie chart that reflects how your time and attention is currently divided then create a pie chart that reflects the way you want to divide your time and attention in the coming year. Is it the same? What areas changed in size?

Thursday

The new moon moves into the sign of Scorpio. This water sign makes it a good time to explore your emotional well-being. Astrologically speaking, the new moon has a lot of intense hot energy surrounding it. Has it been affecting you? Do you have some anxious or heightened energy to release? How can you release that energy in your art journal? Use colors and moving lines to express and release whatever intense or anxious energy you are carrying. Allow it to escape on the page.

Friday

The new moon is still in the sign of Scorpio. Take this time to explore how you can honor your sensitivities. We tend to see our sensitivities as weakness but they are not weakness. A highly sensitive nature is more in tune with subtle energy and influences that other people can not perceive or feel. In your art journal, explore one way you are sensitive. Describe what that sensitivity looks like, how you have to navigate your life differently because of it, how you may have pushed passed or ignored it in the past and how you can honor and respect it in the future.

Saturday

The moon is starting to grow in energy again. In this Sagittarius energy, you might want to take out your art journal and explore your spiritual habits. Draw a calendar for the week or for the month and think about what your daily, weekly, monthly or yearly spiritual practices look like. Are there spiritual practices you’d like to add or do more of in the coming year?

A Little about Me

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.  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.

If you like art journaling with the moon, join me in my private Facebook community called ART JOURNALING WITH THE MOON FOR INTUITIVE HEALING. When you apply, 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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A summary of the phases of the moon for the upcoming week and the inner work and magic you can do in your art journal that corresponds with each phase

Sunday

The disseminating moon is in the sign of Gemini. Air moon days are great days to journal, paint, dig deep and explore and communicate what you’re truly feeling. It’s also a great day to connect with your Spirit Guides and Angels so you might want to pull out your journal and write a letter to your spiritual team. What would you like to ask them for help with? Is there any gratitude you’d like to express to them?

Monday

The disseminating moon is still in the sign of Gemini. It’s a great day to communicate gratitude and share your wisdom and gifts with others. Whether you see it or not, you are a gift to others and the world is a better place with you in it. Create a page in your art journal where you explore what you want to say or reflect on the gifts you have to share with others.

Tuesday

The moon changes phases today and moves into the sign of Cancer. The sign of Cancer pairs great with the moon as both are connected to water and emotions. In your art journal, you can use this nurturing energy to explore your emotional needs. Do you know what your emotional needs are? Which emotional needs have been met lately and which ones have been neglected by yourself and/or others?

Wednesday

The last quarter moon in the sign of Cancer is a great time to think about your inner wild nature and feeling insecure. When you want to go against the grain or make a decision that other people don’t agree with, do you feel confident or do you allow your fears and insecurities take over? In your art journal explore what kind of decisions or choices your inner wild nature would make if they felt free to live how they want to live?

Thursday

The moon is actually void of course for most of the day. Sometimes it takes some time for the moon to change from one astrological sign to another. When it’s not in any astrological sign the moon is said to be void of course. When the moon is void of course, you might enjoy doing some relaxing or repetitive art in your journal that soothes and comforts you such as filling the page with spirals or doodles.

Friday

On Friday the moon is in the fire sign of Leo. Use this time to pamper yourself and create art in your journal that feels good and sweet. What colors, shapes and images make you feel good? What art supplies do you really love using? Squeeze out all the sweetness you can out of today by creating with all your favorite supplies, textures, colors and shapes.

Saturday

The new moon is near. Use this balsamic moon in Leo to stretch your imagination and allow yourself to see how your dreams are actually possible. In your art journal, explore your wildest dreams. Try your best to capture those dreams you have a hard time imagining because your mind wants to shut them down right away and say they aren’t possible. Stretch your imagination and let your wild self imagine the impossible.

A Little about Me

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.  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.

If you like art journaling with the moon, join me in my private Facebook community called ART JOURNALING WITH THE MOON FOR INTUITIVE HEALING. When you apply, 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 one practice will help you stay anchored to your goals.

TURTLE FAST OR TURTLE SLOW

I live in Alberta, Canada and according to the Alberta Amphibian and Reptile Conservancy, the Painted Turtle is the only turtle species native to Alberta. They hang out in ponds, marshes, lakes, ditches and slow-moving streams with soft, sandy or muddy bottoms. Personally, I have never seen one but as a highly sensitive person, I often look to turtles as a way to better understand myself.

Western Painted Turtles struggle in Alberta because they lose their habitats when wetlands are drained and roads are constructed. They are also more prone to predators during droughts and we tend to have more of those now. Water pollution and release of exotic turtles into the wild by humans who no longer want to take care of their pets also challenge their population.

I assume that, like us, in ideal conditions they thrive but meeting their needs and creating those ideal conditions is not easy and frankly, not always possible.

As an empath or a highly sensitive person, you face your own set of challenges when you want to achieve a goal. Your nervous system processes information more deeply than most people and that causes you to become overwhelmed more often than most. It is very difficult to stay focused on your goals when you feel overwhelmed.

In my practice, I notice that when empaths and highly sensitive people don’t understand this about themselves, they compare themselves to other people and expect that their journey to achieving their goals should be the same – but it’s not.

When you expect yourself to be able to achieve your goals in the same way, you don’t take your unique needs and challenges into consideration and you beat yourself up when you can’t meet your own expectations. You want to be functional and productive but you lose motivation and energy more easily when you’re not tending to your emotional needs.  You think you’re too lazy or you question yourself and wonder whether or not what you want to achieve is even possible for you or you think you should be different and end up being at war with yourself.

It’s how I imagine a turtle might feel if it expected itself to be a rabbit.

The Painted Turtle moves slowly when its on land but in water it can reach speeds up to 20 mph. That’s a significant difference!

What if, as an empath or a highly sensitive person, you’re a little like a turtle and you need to take the spiritual properties of water into consideration when you’re trying to achieve your goals?

Spiritual Properties of Water

In my spiritual practice, I see the element of water as the realm of emotions. Someone who understands how to meet their emotional needs achieves their goals like a Painted Turtle swims in a lake. Someone who doesn’t understand what their emotional needs are or how to meet them achieves their goals like that same turtle waddling in the forest.

One of the most important emotional needs empaths and highly sensitive people have is that they must REGULARLY process, transmute and release the emotions and/or energy they absorb.

I capitalized the word ‘regularly’ for a reason. It’s where I see most empaths and highly sensitive people get stuck. They assume that since they processed a big emotional experience at one time or another they are good. They forget it’s a forever kind of practice. As an empath or a highly sensitive person, processing, transmuting and releasing your emotions or the energy you absorb is a daily practice, like brushing your teeth. Your teeth aren’t going to stay strong and clean just because you brushed them that one time a few months ago. The motivation and energy you need to achieve your goals isn’t going to remain strong and clear just because you saw a therapist once upon a time.

Empaths and highly sensitive people are more easily bogged down by energy and emotional information – and I don’t just mean their own. You can be an emotional empath that absorbs other people’s thoughts and emotions. You can be a physical empath that can feel in your body where another person’s body is sick or not doing well. You can be an empath that picks up all the subtle energy in spaces, nature or the environment. You can be a plant empath that can sense what trees and plants need. You can be an animal empath that is deeply connected to and influenced by how animals feel. You can be an intuitive empath that just starts downloading information about a person’s life and past just by looking at them.

All this information affects your body. Empaths and highly sensitive people have to deal with the normal every day emotional challenges that arise in their own lives like the emotional roller coaster rides that come with being in a relationship and raising children and striving to achieve career goals but they have the added burden of having to feel, sort through and release everything they absorb from the emotional roller coaster rides everyone else in their life are on as well.

So yeah, feeling motivated and ready to tackle the To Do list gets a little more challenging for empaths and highly sensitive people.

We can’t just push through, shut down, check out, self-medicate, avoid, numb out or look for physical solutions to solve emotional problems. It may work in the short term but it never works over time. (And truthfully, it doesn’t even work in the short term because it ends up putting too much stress on the body.)

These are some of the things I do to ensure I’m processing, transmuting or releasing the emotional information I regularly absorb. Whether or not you do these things, find a regular emotional release practice that works for you.

You’ll know your emotional release practice works for you because your body will show you that it works. You’ll feel more focused, clear, certain and you’ll have more energy, be more motivated, have a greater capacity to handle setbacks and disappointments and you’ll have a higher tolerance for the challenging emotions that arise in day to day life.

You’ll know you’ve neglected your emotional release practice or you need to devote more time to processing, transmuting or clearing your energy and emotions when you feel scattered, lost, uncertain, confused, overwhelmed, distracted, overly emotional, unmotivated, lethargic, anxious or when you start to procrastinate, fall into addictive behaviors, spiral into negative thinking or feel stuck and unable to move forward no matter how hard you try.

Make It a Regular Practice

To stay anchored to your goals, find the emotional release practices that work for you and make them a regular practice. Do them even when you don’t feel like you have to. It’s like exercise for the body that way. You do it even when you feel good so that you avoid emotional build up. I know when I feel good, I tend to drop some of my regular emotional release practices and I always pay for it in the end so don’t do that. Try your best to stay on top of your emotional needs by visiting them regularly.

If you need help doing this and you’re an empath or highly sensitive person who has a goal of building a business, I created the HIGHLY SENSITIVE ENTREPRENEURS CLUB to support you. I want to help you stay anchored to your business goals so you make those great BIG strides you and your business deserve to make this year. Come check it out because the doors close September 14th, 2021. You can click here to find out more.

with love,

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