Following the Moon

'Moon Dance', Drozda 1998

4x3"

Lino cut print

Welcome to a brief look at the creative energy of the 'Luna See' visiting this week. It's the Summer Solstice and a wonderful night for a moon dance. Now we experience the opening of summer, the South Gate, on the wheel of the year. On the Natural Wheel Summer Solstice marks the start of the most outgoing (read: be involved) 90 days of the year. We all tend to keep ourselves on a fast track year round yet in reality the summer months are the most cranked...and today the gate swings open.

A new fresh 90 day segment of clean space waits to meet us...take a moment and notice what you want to grow creatively and place your ideas into your journal or jot notes onto your studio calendar. First honor and acknowledge what has moved through you creatively since Spring Equinox on March 20. That first quarter of the year usually carries an energy of 'ME'. Next consider the time between now and the Fall Equinox on September 22. This time period shifts so that we have the conscious opportunity to engage with 'OTHERS'. Make notes that remind you that your life and your art matters as you share it with the world.

From this point summer brings the most concentrated time for personal/creative evolution. Evolving, opening out, and unfolding within the context of 'Luna See' requires deep focus.  Have you made a commitment to expressing through the 'Highest of Arts'? The Art's evolutionary zones include both the healing/medical arts and the fine/expressive arts in all their countless variations. The Arts open us to areas of humanities highest, and hopefully most compassionate, development. The languages of the Arts ultimately demand clear communication. Clear communication is of paramount benefit at this time. What are you saying? Notice how you talk to yourself about your artist work (and your life) and how you think about others and the world at this time. This cycle each year offers a focus for speaking to ourselves as artists who see that our lives matter. This cycle has much to do with an awareness of intelligence. Speaking to ourselves intelligently... by first diving deep and listening from the heart. The poet  Rumi offers this:

Stop the words now.

Open the window in the center of your chest,

and let the spirits fly in and out.

'The Race', Picasso 1922

gouache on wood

 Musee'  Picasso, Paris

As of today, Monday, we're still in the First Quarter moon or 'take action' phase. This continues until Tuesday afternoon. At that point the opportunity is clear for deep creative investment. As artists we're engaged in the process of bringing something into being that hasn't been before. Breathe that in. Sit under a tree and feel that. When we allow ourselves to experiment with the moon's timing (while holding a clear intention) the creative stress level is reduced and a sense of being in the flow is elevated. "The spirits fly in and out".

Between Tuesday and Saturday there is every opportunity to express your brilliance. Keep in mind that this is the time to focus on intelligent communication within the yearly Illumination cycle. On  Saturday afternoon the Full moon, with an eclipse, takes place. What a great opportunity arrives for acting as if our artist life matters and for imaging what's possible for the rest of the year. Remember that when the moon is in her Full phase she reflects and shows us our shadow. You might enjoy playing in the studio during these three days each month while asking if you are sane or not (hint: insane people don't ask that question). That means you can plan on doing a check-in for that specific purpose once a month...it's a great awareness...and it helps us stay playful.

All this month is for watching your communication, nurturing your creativity and shining your brightest.  Engage all the tools you've developed that quiet your petty tyrant's voice down.
As I write in this month's 'Luna See' e-newsletter (subscribe here):

This [June's moon] is one of my favorite energy levels to study and learn through. It is about being very grown up and willing to consider what it is that you have to offer that will be of benefit and do no harm. Take the time now to see where you excel and what you want to add to our world.
Ask yourself: 'How might I hold a light for others to help them find their way?' The answers are countless and continual and eternally unfolding. See what energizes you and imagine the possibilities when you share. Make everything you touch the better for your having been involved ... an infusion of life force ... that's what the cycle is offering. Think of, and then feel, the endless waves of that and pay attention to the boost that follows.

'Buddha Nature', Drozda 2007

16x20"

Acrylic on wood

In 1989 when I began as a student of 'Luna See', learning to live and create in harmony with the moon phases, I had no attachment to it working or not working. I enjoyed socializing within the community each month and  I adored the camaraderie of a creative week at the ocean each October (this being long before I moved here). The social elements meant just as much to me as the lunar phase information. I certainly wasn't looking to prove anything, in terms of my creative work,with my involvement. My healthy artist scepticism even made me force the patterns to see if they would deliver. I got cagey, part of me wanted proof that the moon's patterns would eliminate my anxiety about 'making it' as an artist.
Slowly, through the years, I've become more and more anchored, grounded and joyful in 'following the moon'. I really appreciated coming to recognize that there's no place to 'get to' as an artist, as an expressive being, there's simply the dance. The slow and steady willingness to give these natural patterns a conscious try has turned out to be the best gift I could have given myself...ultimately they transfer into 'no pressure'. Eventually this study made clear, 'to everything there is a season.'.

It's been a most rewarding experiment setting my life onto a spiral dance within a creative rhythm that feels like a fit. I am enthused to now be sharing snippets of this approach with you once a week. My intent is to go deeper into the options and opportunities of each moon as we go on. Right now short n' sweet is feeling good and I hope offering you a bit of nutritious 'food for thought'...that would be another excellent touchstone phrase for this moon.

Please share your 'Luna See' and we'll
see you next Monday for more.

Until then
~May you sing the days