Dark Moon Musings

Yesterday’s dark moon phase and solar eclipse in South America felt like a significant gateway into the darker part of the year. Between now and the winter solstice, and especially when the clocks go back later this month, we will really notice and experience the effects of the shortest days, the longest night and the sun at its lowest level. The dark is now drawing in around us. But that doesn’t have to be a ‘bad’ thing at all, yet our conditioning can lead us to experience, even that last sentence as having a sense of foreboding.

Fear of the dark is prevalent in our electrically illuminated world. Perpetual light, perpetual summer, perpetual youth, perpetual economic growth, are all ways in which our society displays its disconnection with the natural, cyclical nature of the world and resistance to the ‘dark’.

We even call the ‘dark moon’, the ‘new moon’ when in fact, the moon isn’t visible in the sky at all. The new moon should surely be the first time the crescent is visible after the dark phase? The dark moon is also still technically a full moon but is in complete silhouette due to its alignment with the sun directly behind it, as opposed to directly opposite it with the sun illuminating it at the full moon phase.

When we make friends with the dark, especially under the auspices of a dark moon, we can remember that the ‘dark’ is necessary. It’s actually safety, the womb, rebirth, metamorphosis, transformation, replenishment. Total dark is what a seed needs in order to germinate and grow, what our bodies need in order to rest at night. At night, in the dark is where children grow, just like seeds.

The dark is the embrace & realm of the dark goddess and crone archetypes. Goddesses such as Hekate and Cerridwen are not to be feared but not to be trifled with either. Working with these archetypes can lead us down to the depths (our blind spots or deepest fears,) needed to get tackle the root of an issue, which often the only way to experience major transformation.

The dark moon is where we can pause, gather & honour ourselves. It was the traditional time for women to have gathered, rested and experienced their ‘moon time’, long ago when in close community, when cycles would have synchronised with the moon and each other.

It’s the time to rest and go within to do our inner work, to be curious about our conditioning, to examine and witness our the deepest parts of ourselves, our trauma, our needs, our fears, our societal or self-imposed shame, and our wildest dreams.

We could allow for regular, nourishing, rest and fallow times & create the conditions necessary to germinate new seeds, new ideas, new energy. This principle could be applied throughout our society to align more with the natural cycle and order of things: in our busy lives, businesses, the economy etc.

By embracing the dark, we can also learn to appreciate the shadow aspects of ourselves and embrace them as the deep, dark compost from where we can grow and eventually bloom.

As we head into the darkest part of the year, we can practice experiencing this cycle of rest and renewal with the dark moon phase every month. Many of us experience SAD – seasonal affected disorder – yet I wonder how much of that is really the tension between feeling the call to slow down, rest, retreat, even hibernate and not fully understanding it or being able to follow that natural natural downward flow/spiral and instinct?

So perhaps we feel that inner physical downward pull as depression, because our society doesn’t allow for us to be in tune or supported in our natural cycle of honouring the time for ‘deep-rest’. Not only that, this time of year and towards Christmas and New Year is often the busiest, most electrically illuminated and most stressful time, completely at odds with the rest of the natural world and seasonal cycle in the northern hemisphere.

I wonder how our society, our mental and physical health and our traditional seasonal celebrations would look if we honoured the dark times in harmony with nature, our true nature? It’s certainly food for thought isn’t it?

Dark moon rituals can include self-care, tending and nourishing our ‘roots’, resting in the dark; shadow work, energy cleansing, releasing rituals, honouring ‘dark’ and crone goddess archetypes, honouring our aging process and inner wisdom of the crone, working with our ancestors; journaling around what we want to release, getting to the root of things, and setting our intentions for the new lunar month ahead.