Last night was New Moon, and the start of a three month Incubator I’m running called Envision Execute Enjoy. That programme focuses on the creation of heart’s desire. I choose the New Moon for the beginning of the Incubator deliberately, and recorded a New Moon Ritual designed to kickstart the process of stepping into the Heart’s Desire.
After completing my Tantrik Yoga Practice, I hit play on the recorded meditation to join my students in the process. It was the first time I’ve ever practiced along to my own recording. (That’s another post in itself!)
Suffice to say though, I went deep, and a vision revealed itself with ease and joy. It wasn’t what I expected, initially, but it unfolded as if it was already happening.
I came out of the New Moon Ritual meditation feeling in awe at what I had been shown, and the potentiality that is opening up.
This morning though, the real work started. See, doing a New Moon Ritual is one thing, but being prepared for attending to what it calls forth is another.
When we’re calling forth a vision to step into, whatever is in the way of that vision actualising, will show up.
Yup – all the fears, anxieties, undigested emotions, beliefs, and patterns that have so far prevented you from experiencing the reality of your desires could show up.
Indeed, that’s the entire POINT of the New Moon ritual. Not to magically make your desires happen like waving a wand, but to reveal why they’re not already happening so you can respond accordingly.
It’s like you say to the UNiverse through your ritual – ‘I’d LOVE to experience this.’
And the Universe is like, ‘ok sweet – here’s what you need to take care so that can happen.’
How we respond defines whether our New Moon ritual will actually have the results we desire, or whether it was all just a waste of time.
If we suppress, distract, avoid, cling, blame, fight, flee or freeze against what is coming up, we stay caught in the cycle of drama. We miss the opportunity to digest, dissolve and uninstall what’s arising – that which is in the way of our Vision.
This is where many people get stuck in the cycle of chasing dreams, visions, abundance, whatever. They do the ritual, or the vision board, or the affirmations, or whatever… but then they have no idea of what’s required to work the process in day-to-day life after initiating the ritual process.
Because they don’t know or recognise what is required, when the work shows up, they go into their normal patterns of fight, flight or freeze (amongst other things).
The way to avoid this common pitfall is to get really curious and pay attention to whatever challenging or uncomfortable situations or feelings show up in the days after the ritual.
When something shows up after a New Moon Ritual – bring as much curiosity and awareness to it as possible.
Ask: Is this related to the ritual?
Listen to your whole body as you ask the question. You’re not listening for an answer in words, but for a felt sense of what’s true.
Ask: Am I willing to fully meet this situation and let go of my stories about it?
Notice what comes up as you feel into that.
If you get a felt-sense that you’re willing to meet this situation, do whatever you need to do to facilitate that process. Reach out to a support person to hold space for you, take a bath and go inward, journal, cry, or practice. Do whatever is required for you to feel what’s present in your body without going into stories or drama around it.
If you can, meet whatever’s coming up with wonder and awe – that’s the way to super-charge the dissolving of samskaras (undigested emotions, old patterns).
Notice if the mind does go into thoughts and stories, and just keep coming back to awareness, using your favourite awareness cultivation technique.
Rinse and repeat until you’ve fully felt whatever was arising, with no stories about it. Let yourself completely digest and dissolve the old, so that the new can be birthed with ease. (Check out this article on the digestion and dissolving process for support on this. Or, book a session with me.)
This morning, I noticed emotion coming up as I was saying goodbye to my Beloved. That emotion got more intense as I faced into a challenging parenting moment.
By the time I dropped my son off at school, and started my morning walk, I could feel on intensity of emotion that needed to be digested. I curtailed my walk, high tailed it home, lit a candle on my altar, wrapped myself in a blanket, called my Beloved for support, and let myself cry.
There was no need to understand where the tears were coming from. There was no need to analyse what was happening, and definitely no need for any thoughts or stories about it. Instead, I focused on being awareness, and cultivating a sense of wonder and awe as the intense emotion was digested and dissolved.
All the while, I knew it was a result of the powerful New Moon Ritual I’d done the previous night. There was a sense of gratitude, and appreciation for this process and the way it unfolds. And also a sense of excitement at the deepening possibility of living into my Vision.
In the past, I would have done everything I could to run from those emotions, to distract myself, to avoid.
Now, I do everything I can to turn toward and fully meet what’s arising. I KNOW how valuable it is to digest and dissolve whatever shows up.
And after doing this for years, less and less and less shows up. Plus my capacity to meet it fully has grown enormously. Even 18 months ago I never would have imagined meeting intense emotionality with wonder and awe, yet that is what now unfolds.
Master this – meeting the truth of your emotion experience fully – and life will begin to unfold in apparently magical ways. Those New Moon Rituals will become so damn powerful that you’ll be cautious about when you do them…
But it’s not magic.
It’s just awakening, liberation and mastery of life.
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