As part of our spiritual practices that honor the Divine within All, we honor the Moon every month as She turns full in each zodiac sign.
We offer our Full Moon rituals to help you attune yourself to lunar energy. Where our solar celebrations focus on outward activism in accord, the Full Moon rituals focus on the inner landscape. We focus on our deepest personal needs and our basic habits, emotions and reactions. Where our solar spell rebellions give us our spirit, it’s the lunar rituals that give us our soul.
Moon Cycles & Nature Magic
From time immemorial, the Moon has played an important part in our human culture, tradition, and history. The phases of the Moon are a powerful and constant reminder that life is a series of cycles that repeat themselves, ad infinitum. The Moon has been our constant celestial reminder of our connection with Nature, the universe, and our own alignment within it.
In the Ara Tradition, we celebrate the sunrise, sunset, new and full Moon, and seasonal changes as connected rather than separate. When we observe changes in the quality of light between the sunrise and sunset, or the changing phases of the Moon and seasons, we reconnect to a sense of organic flow—how all life experiences are woven together.
Full Moon rituals, just like our seasonal holiday rituals, are about aligning ourselves with Nature and Her natural rhythms. Full Moon rituals are about letting the mind settle and opening our awareness of new ways of processing and thinking about the issues and concerns we contend within our daily lives.
On an personal level, the Moon relates to your inner world, and when She beams at Her fullest potential, your emotions become heightened. But don’t take our word for it. Begin to notice your emotions a few days before and after a full Moon. Make notes in your journal about what is being stirred within you, on an emotional level. After a year of communing with the full Moon, see what connections you can make between your emotions and the phase of the Moon.
When there’s a full Moon, she sits opposite the Sun, which symbolizes divine feminine and masculine energies coming face-to-face to enkindle harmony between your emotional and physical reality. The Sun reflects your outer world, physical identity, and the ego; it is the way you express yourself in the physical dimension, and its light also provides you with enough strength and courage to move forward. With the Sun and Moon on complete opposite sides of the zodiac wheel, you — both personally and collectively — are being asked to create balance between your inner and outer world. One cannot exist without the other.
Connect with Nature’s Flow
When I was growing up, I used to watch cartoons of the sun, trees, and plants singing and dancing gracefully. This is actually what occurs in Nature. Every season, lunar cycle, and transition is part of a great flow.
Once you enter this state, you can join the flow of life rather than trying to control it. Nature’s flow cannot be controlled. Once you learn how to surrender and move with it—when you walk with the flow of life instead of against it—health returns on all levels.
As the moon leads us through the seasons of the year, each full Moon has a significant meaning. Our ancestors assigned names for each of the full Moons within the year, which represent the importance of the month within the year.
Full Moon rituals help to bring our awareness of our own internal seasons and how our own seasons are naturally aligned with Mother Nature’s seasons and the ebb and flow of the universe we live within.
In recent times we have either forgotten or simply lost touch with our connection with the Great Mother. Full Moon rituals are an opportunity to revive this connection with Nature, our bodies, our natural rhythms, and the universe.
And bringing a ceremonial frame of mind to your time in Nature infuses the simplest acts with sacredness.
Make your Full Moon experience more powerful…
We always recommend that our rituals be done outside, where your experiences will be a bit more visceral. And your ability to form a relationship with the Earth and the elements is a little easier. If you can’t get outside, prior to starting our guided ritual, take a moment to gather something that can generate AIR, like a feather or a fan, something that can generate FIRE like a candle with a match or lighter, something for WATER like a bowl or glass full of water, and something for EARTH, like some dirt or stones or a potted plant.
Our Full Moon ritual meditations will take you about 45 minutes to complete. Try to block this time out where there will be no distractions – no cell phones, TVs, other people – interrupting your flow.
We’ll pause within the ritual so you can raise energy by dancing, drumming, rattling, clapping, chanting, humming … if you have a particular instrument that has power for you, feel free to grab it before you start.
Then, as you’re engaging with this ritual, allow yourself to connect energetically to everyone in the Ara community. Even though we will not be face-to-face, and you may not know everyone personally in the community, you will still be able to feel the energy we create, as well as contribute to it, no matter where you are or when you participate in the ritual.
Tune in and send your energy to everyone who participates. Once your energy is “tuned in” it will flow through the energy currents that exist naturally, just the same way that a phone signal or WiFi signal does. Distance is no object for it, just as it is no object for the internet or phone communications. The energy that surrounds us carries all of these energies to the intended receiver. Each one of us is the conduit of this sacred energy.
How to participate in our Full Moon rituals
Each ritual is conducted online since our community lives all over the world and is a guided exploration of each monthly zodiac’s sign influence on the Moon. You’ll begin with mindfulness exercises of body, mind, time, space, and the four elements. Then you’ll discover how draw the Moon’s energy into yourself and open up to Divine Communication with the Moon herself. The ritual finishes by sending blessings back out into the world.
The Full Moon rituals are pre-recorded so that you can participate at any time that may be convenient for you. Even though we will not be face-to-face, and you may not know everyone personally in the community, you will still be able to feel the energy we create, as well as contribute to it, no matter where you are or when you participate in the ritual. Our combined energy will flow through natural currents, just the same way that a phone signal or wifi signal does. Distance is no object for it, just as it is no object for the internet or phone communications. The energy that surrounds us carries all of these energies to the intended receiver. Each one of us is the conduit of this sacred energy.
If you are a member of the Temple of Ara, you will receive links to the guided ritual automatically. If you’re not a member of the Temple, please note the registration links below. (And consider joining us as a member – it’s well worth the investment. The more you get involved, the more support you receive from the community as well as from the Elders in the tradition.)