Have you ever wondered why we are told to do intention setting during the new moon and release practices when the moon is full? Why do we do rituals anyway?
Now days, if you google “full moon” you will be provided a plethora of information about what each full moon means, what kind of ritual or practice your should do on that day and even what might happen if you don’t. With all the information we can feel overwhelmed and left to wonder what is the best thing to do.
These types of summons can be a form of spiritual gaslighting! A feeling of dread or guilt may come over us if we forget it’s that time of the month. There’s nothing worse than feeling like you screwed up because everyone you follow on social media is doing some fancy dance, at a specific time when the alignment of the moon is perfect, and you missed the invitation!
What I’ve come to understand through my own relationship to rituals is that it’s not so much the day, date and circumstances around our rituals, but the ritual itself that holds the value.
Yes, there are certain cosmic energies that are more potent during certain times of the month and the year, and we can harness that energy when we take advantage of the timeline, but if we are only doing the ritual because we think we “should”, the value of the energies available to us becomes watered down.
It’s more important to create ritual that feels dynamic and that you will stick with than it is to follow the advice of someone because they published an article in a popular magazine, or because your friend is doing it and you have FOMO.
Rituals provide a personal and sacred connection to our relationship with our own Divinity and our deeper connection to the Universe. When we look at our daily practices from this vantage point then everything we do throughout our day is actually a ritual.
Many of us rush through our lives and rarely stop to observe ourselves and how we relate to our day. If you take pause, even for a few seconds before you move into action and set a conscious intention around the actions you take, you will find life becomes more meaningful. Something as simple as brushing our teeth, when done mindfully, becomes more purposeful. When I brush my teeth and I am fully present, there is a reverence for the blessing that my teeth are, and I appreciate my body at a deeper level.
Prayer is a form of ritual that sets us up for intentional living. If you think about the times we traditionally pray: before we eat we say thank you for the food. This form of mindfulness makes eating more sacred because we allow ourselves to connect to the journey the food has taken to get onto our plate. We are reminded of all the hands that were a part of the process, and we actually eat differently. This changes what we choose to eat and how we choose to eat it. It can also even affect the way we digest! The more mindful you are while you eat the better your digestion, which then translates to better overall health.
When we exercise, if we are more intentional and present during our workouts we will get better results. As we focus on the muscle group we are working we will be more engaged, therefore the muscle is more engaged and this naturally produces a better result than if you just distractedly go through the motions.
As we experience this strawberry full moon on June 24th, I invite you to reflect on what ritual means to you. Meditate on the rituals that you participate in every single day.
Allow yourself to ponder the rituals that you engage in that may not be healthy and set your intention now to stop conducting those!
Invite yourself to recognize the importance of the small ones that you may have never thought about as a ritual. Then begin to do those behaviors from the conscious awareness that everything we do, in fact, is a ritual. This will allow you to approach your life for a more connected and attentive space, and you will awaken to the Divine in every moment, not just when the moon is full!
Stacey Justis, CHt 