How does healing with the moon work? What steps can you take to align yourself with the moon’s phases to help yourself stay calm and rejuvenated, rather than feeling like life’s a roller-coaster? This is the last entry in the 5-part Powers of the Moon series.
Part 1 – Ancient Beliefs About the Moon
Part 2 – Discoveries About the Moon
Part 3 – How Does the Moon Affect the Earth?
Part 4 – Subtle Energy Fields
Part 5 – Healing With the Moon
Parts 1-4 of the Powers of the Moon Series have shown how the moon impacts life on earth in both rhythmic and unexpected ways. The moon’s gravity causes measurable changes in water molecules on a grand scale, like the tides, and a microscopic scale, like in our body’s cells. The moon’s orbit causes fluctuations in the earth’s magnetic field up to three days before, and four days after, the full moon each month. You, like all living creatures on earth, have a magnetic sense, which the ancients called a subtle body, which connects you to everything and everyone else in the universe, whether you feel it or not.
The ancients knew that lunar forces outside of their control impacted their lives, so they lived in ways that protected them from the worst influences of the moon, while strengthening them for the challenges ahead. Fortunately for us their knowledge isn’t lost so we can answer questions like:
– What can I do to recover the connection to my subtle body and the subtle energy that surrounds me?
– How can I mitigate the forces that assail my subtle body from lunar events and the environment?
– How can I remain healthy and thrive by living in harmony with the natural world?
Surface healing
If you’ve ever been back-country camping where you couldn’t bathe for days or weeks, that first shower when you return is special, memorable even. Your hair may be matted, your fingernails and crevices dirty, and you stink. As you wash all the accumulated grease and grime off yourself from the trip, it can feel like you’re re-emerging into the world, clean, refreshed, and renewed.
It’s similar when you’ve had an especially tough or traumatic day and you couldn’t wait to get home to take a shower. You feel like the day’s negativity or trauma is clinging to your body, getting thicker as the day wears on, suffocating you. As you stand in the shower, the water flowing over you feels like a cleansing ablution, a purification, or even a decontamination. You step out of the shower if not revitalized, at least feeling more like yourself, and perhaps more ready to deal with family or make a meal or do laundry or go to sleep … whatever’s next.
Cleaning your surface layer can do that – make you feel better, heal a small part of you. The healing doesn’t last since it’s no more than superficial, but it still helps.
The biggest difference between these two examples is the emotional component behind them. After a camping trip, the residue you wash off signifies happy or fulfilling times when you were doing what you like in nature. But on a tough or traumatic day, the residue you wash off signifies hardship and suffering, struggling emotionally to get through the day, just survive, much less thrive. You may feel clean on the outside, but you still harbor residue on the inside, and you know it. To cleanse yourself of this residue, you have to go deeper.
Healing a few layers below the surface
Many of us turn to therapists, confessors, or our BFFs when we need to talk about what’s bothering us inside. We struggle and suffer, and the load feels lighter when we share it. What do we talk about? Our destructive patterns, addictions, worries, pain and heartbreak, as well as our hopes, wishes and aspirations. We share the dreams that came to us in our sleep, the thoughts that recurred throughout the day, and the emotions we felt when things happened to us.
It may feel good to talk to someone, but it rarely changes anything. This is because your conscious mind is doing the talking but trauma and deep-seated patterns live in your subconscious. To your conscious mind, dreams, thoughts, and emotions are fleeting manifestations that come and go as they please. But to your subconscious mind, dreams, thoughts, and emotions are messages from deep inside yourself that point to healing that is yet to occur. You can’t access the meaning of dreams, thoughts, or emotions through your conscious mind; only your subconscious holds the key to unlocking their mysteries.
This is not to say that therapy, confession, and sharing aren’t helpful – they can be immensely helpful in clarifying conscious motivations and obstacles. It’s just that lasting change is about healing at the source, which requires more than just talking about feelings and emotions. It would be nice if we could wash away destructive patterns and unexamined trauma like we wash away the grime from a camping trip. But it’s not like stepping into the shower or talking with a therapist. Instead, healing destructive patterns requires purification on the deepest subconscious level, which is where the ancients knew that true healing takes place.
The deepest layers of healing
At moments of shock, fear or trauma, your brain doesn’t let you fully experience what’s going on. Instead, you become laser focused on moment-by-moment responses to ensure your survival. Reactions, feelings, and emotions get stuffed to the back of your mind and often sink below the surface of your awareness. Unprocessed trauma may disappear from conscious view, but it doesn’t disappear from the subconscious where it festers and can create destructive patterns and behaviors that hold you back from achieving your highest aspirations.
Trauma and unprocessed experiences live on in your subtle body long after the events that created them. They’re expressed in the form of dreams, thoughts, emotions and behaviors, as well as physically in the form of pain, depression, chronic illness, or feeling stuck. (If you want to learn more about how trauma embeds itself in your body’s organs, muscles, and joints, read the Authority Magazine interview, Female Founders: Suteja and Paula Grace of Inner Treasure Hunt On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder, by Candice Georgiadis.)
No one wants to relive trauma (going through it the first time was bad enough), but the good news is that when you find, address, and heal trauma trapped within the deepest layers of yourself, you create lasting change on all the layers of your being! You heal deeply-held trauma through a process called shadow work. You can think of shadow work as shedding light on, and disinfecting, what’s normally hidden and afflicted, including the parts of ourselves we prefer to ignore, disavow, or disown.
Emotions, dreams, and physical pain are indicators of something going on deep inside, which is different and unique for everyone. Your subtle body contains the pathways to your subconscious, and since it is integrated into your physical body, you can use your physical body to establish a connection with your subtle body. One way to do this is through guided meditation, where you focus your mind on being quiet and your body on relaxing and becoming receptive. In this way, you can begin to perceive your subtle body.
As your subtle body emerges, your subconscious also emerges and you can allow yourself to follow the thread of whatever comes up. Often an emotion or pain surfaces, which you can connect to a part of your body in which you feel it. Something’s buried there, and unpacking it starts with defining the characteristics of what you’re really feeling. Where is it in your body? Is it hot or cold? Stuck or moving? Heavy or light? Does it have a color? Does it have a shape? What is its name?
Your job is to listen and remain open to whatever comes, as hard as that can be. After all, you’re digging into the relics of an earlier trauma you suppressed, so all the pain, struggle, shame, or fear associated with the experience gets awakened. Sometimes it’s hard to just keep your eyes closed, stay awake, continue breathing, and follow the thread. If tears show up, let them flow. There’s a message coming through, but you must be really quiet to hear it. Everyone’s message is different and how you interpret yours may or may not lead to action. This is because the best decisions are those that balance conscious and subconscious knowledge, not one over the other.
The Toltec civilization, which flourished in what is now Mexico between the 10th and 12th centuries, specialized in this type of healing. They believed that we are all one and we are one with nature, and they used natural rhythms to guide their lives.
Their ultimate goal was to connect the conscious mind, which they called the Tonal (day, sun, physical plane, awake) with the subconscious, which they called the Nahual (night, moon, subtle/astral plane, asleep).
Nahualism, their shamanic tradition, is many things: a method of self-inquiry and personal development, a complete system of healing, a coherent and unique philosophical system, and a modern-day path to enlightenment. Nahualism teaches that healing happens on all the layers of our being, and we can access our layers through our shadow.
Your subtle body is the key to healing on the deepest levels. By connecting with the energy of your subtle body, you can confront buried trauma and transform it into a healthy part of yourself. You can train yourself to hear and trust the messages your subtle body tells you when you’re quiet and tuned into it. And the moon can help.
Healing with the moon
The moon can support your self-healing efforts in many ways. When you align yourself with the phases of the moon, you benefit from being more balanced, centered, and calm. You can think of the moon’s cycle in terms of four parts:
– The new moon, the beginning of the cycle.
– The waxing phase, the two weeks between the new moon and the full moon, when energy builds.
– The full moon, the mid-point of the cycle, when energy is at its peak.
– The waning phase, the two weeks between the full moon and the next new moon, when energy disperses.
The ancients had suggestions for what to do during each of these times to best support your inner journey.
NEW MOON
A new moon is a time to go inward and rejuvenate. Ideally, beginning three or four days before the new moon you’ll reduce the amount of work and external obligations you have so you can create more quiet space for yourself. Now is the time to recharge your batteries that have been running down since the last full moon. Meditate, sleep longer, and write about what you discover in your times of introspection. On the new moon, think about an intention you have to change something about yourself, and write a positive affirmation related to it that will support you in achieving your intention during the coming month.
WAXING PHASE
The waxing phase is the two weeks between the new moon and the full moon when energy increases. Just like you shower your physical body every day, meditating at least fifteen minutes a day is like a shower for your subtle body. It keeps you connected to your subconscious and provides the kind of calm and balance that can mean the difference between a day being tough or manageable. Daily practice keeps you in touch with your subtle body, grounds you, and supports you as the energy around you increases over the two weeks until the full moon.
FULL MOON
The ancients fasted on full moons to let the impact of the moon’s most powerful energy strengthen them, and you can, too. Fasting on the full moon reinforces the intention you made, and the affirmation you’ve been repeating, since the new moon.
WANING PHASE
The waning phase is the two weeks between the full moon and the new moon when energy disperses. Keep showering every day; both your body with water, and your subtle body with practice. It may be harder to keep your energy up since energy is dissipating around you. Notice fluctuations in your energy, and prepare for your energy to diminish as the new moon approaches. Instead of 15 minutes a day, you can practice 30 minutes a day to maintain your energy. As the waning phase draws to an end, prepare to go inward on the deepest levels with the coming new moon.
Stay connected to your subtle body
Connecting with your subtle body for the first time can be an exhilarating experience. You’ve raised to awareness a part of yourself that exists within you but that you hadn’t been in touch with. You may have gone so far as to connect old trauma with a painful part of your body, a part which felt less pain afterwards. Even if it takes many practices before you connect with your subtle body, each practice reinforces your objective of healing with the moon and takes you closer to your goal.
The 15-minute daily practices in the 28-day Moon Meditation Essential Program are a good way to stay connected to your subtle body. Each meditation associates a specific energy center in your body with the particular day of the moon’s cycle, thereby strengthening and supporting both your physical and subtle bodies.
In addition to daily practice, you can help yourself stay connected to your subtle body by these simple actions.
– Avoid long stretches of time without being in nature. A walk in a park can rejuvenate many layers of your being.
– Move regularly throughout the day. Your subtle body is energy, and when you move your physical body, your subtle body responds.
– Don’t seek out commotion and excitement.
– Moderate your activities so you don’t over-extend yourself. While this isn’t always possible, daily practice will help mitigate the draining effect of too much activity.
– Pay attention to the moon’s cycle so you know what phase the moon is in.
Trust the messages your subtle body tells you when you’re quiet and tuned into it. These come from your own subconscious and are the key to your health and vitality.
Stay connected to the moon
As you now realize, the moon influences your subtle body in considerable ways, and by paying attention to what phase the moon is in its monthly cycle you can gain great support for achieving your life’s goals. An easy way to do this is at the Inner Treasure Hunt Bulletin Board which lists the point activated by the moon daily.
Remember that the moon is your friend on the journey of your life, and her presence can help you stay connected to your subtle body and thrive. The ancients benefitted from her companionship, and so can you.
Resources
Read more about scientific discoveries regarding the moon and life on earth:
The Scientist Magazine article Can Humans Sense Magnetic Fields as quoted by the BBC.
The Smithsonian Magazine article Some People’s Brains Can Sense Earth’s Magnetic Field.
The Guardian Newspaper article The sixth sense: can humans detect the Earth’s magnetic field?
Learn more about how the predicted wobble in the moon’s orbit will affect the moon’s gravitational pull thereby amplifying rising sea levels in the CNN report Moon wobble to bring surge in coastal flooding in 2030s, NASA study predicts.
Learn how you can heal yourself with the moon by reading the entire Powers of the Moon Series:
Part 1 – Ancient Beliefs About the Moon
Part 2 – Discoveries About the Moon
Part 3 – How Does the Moon Affect the Earth?
Part 4 – Subtle Energy Fields
Part 5 – Healing With the Moon
Learn more about the moon’s influence and what you can do to live in alignment with the moon’s natural rhythm, watch the six lessons in the 28-Day Moon Meditation Essential Program. If you want a short (15-minute) daily practice designed around the phases of the moon, check out the daily practice videos for this program.
Learn more about consciousness and wellness at Lucid Dreaming Techniques from the Ancients, Meditation Script for Sound Healing With Your Voice, Journaling Benefits-5 Tips to Become More Calm & Resilient, What Are Mandalas and How Can They Benefit You?, Wellness vs Mainstream Medicine, Myofascial Release Pioneer John F. Barnes, The Science Behind Sound Healing, Awakening Your Chakras, and 5 Ways You Can Build Resilience.
Experience deeper consciousness and self-healing in the programs: Awaken Your Chakras, Birth of the 6th Sun, Self-Healing in Times of Change, and the 28-Day Moon Meditation Essential Program.
Learn more about healing and consciousness at Inner Treasure Hunt. If you liked this post, you can subscribe to the Inner Treasure Hunt newsletter to stay informed about new posts, programs, and events.
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