Erratic behavior, wolves howling, hysteria, and ominous sense of doom.

By and large the Full Moon has been a misunderstood energy source for many years, through folklore and the commonly known increase in emotion-driven activity during a Full Moon. 

We can learn to harness the power of the Full Moon and use this phase to honor the depths of our own cycles of emotion and energy.

Let’s explore!

Drunk on the Moon -Tom Waits

The Moon affects our subtle energy bodies; especially our emotions. Scientifically, the Moon has the power to push and pull the tides of the ocean. And so it is, too, with the fluid motion of our emotional bodies.

Mysterious Moon is the embodiment of femininity, in the Maiden, Mother, and Crone rotational phases. During a Full Moon, the Mother energy steps forward.

The Mother energy is pregnant with the summer of life, she encapsulates abundance, a ripening life force.

At the Full Moon, natural mothering energies of nurturing and devotion to beauty and harmony surface. It is a moment to speak from our loving hearts, rather than from our troubled minds.

Throughout story-telling habits over various cultures and centuries, we find the female in Mother Archetype roles such as Isis, Selene, and Diana; to name just a few.

As such, it makes sense that the Moon is potently connected to the tissues of women, and specifically their natural phases of birth, life, death, and rebirth; a cycle their wombs complete every 28-days, more or less, like the phases of the Moon.

A Bad Moon Rising -Creedence Clearwater Revival

Our connection to the phases of the Moon asks us to surrender to the push and pull of our emotional bodies as it ebbs and flows like the tides of the sea. These vibrational forces at a Full Moon invite fertility and abundance.

Not only biologically but also creatively, we can give birth and rise to ideas, to our passions, and to our service into our communities.

When the Moon is full, her wisdom and experience illuminates where our awareness and self-direction come into balance with our own love and nurturing.

It is here we discover the inner depths of our authenticity, through patience and Divine connection to the cycles of nature and of the Moon, seeking abundance in growth and evolution, through release.

Harvest Moon -Neil Young

Native Tribes of the Americas in the Northern Hemisphere named the Full Moons based on their agricultural and hunting needs.

Before the Gregorian calendar became widely used, months were determined by the thirteen moon cycles. Each moon cycle begins at the New Moon (Maiden), waxes to the Full Moon (Mother), and wanes back into the dark stage, or the Crone.

As we engage in nature during April, we see the beauty of pink blooms touched by nature’s brushstroke. April’s Moon is known as the Pink Moon because pink moss is in bloom and found during hunting and foraging. Conversely, in February, the Moon takes on the moniker Snow Moon because snowfall is heaviest during this point of winter, making it challenging to scavenge for food and warmth.

To strengthen our bond to Nature the Moon is used as a tool for gardening; watching the cycles of the Moon. Like many ancient civilizations and sky watchers have done in the past, we use the Moon and nature’s cycles for sowing seeds or setting intentions. The time is ripe during a Full Moon to plant water-based, watery plants, like cucumbers. In the dryer seasons, harvesting herbs for drying is best during a Full Moon.As Nature and the phases of the Moon orbit around us, we connect to the need to prune and harvest energies, plants, and life styles in an attempt to release that which no longer serves us.

Talking to the Moon -Bruno Mars

Every month the Moon begins at the dark phase and grows in illumination to a Full Moon; and at Her fullest, the Moon becomes a beacon of energy and spirituality.

Intentions are set when the New Moon and sun join earlier in the month, and as the Moon wanes to Full we begin to dust off layers of being that no longer serve our highest truth.

Each month the Moon is full in a different Zodiac sign; in the sign where the Moon was New only six months before. We use the energetic qualities of each sign of the Zodiac to release the vibrational and emotional pull of the sea and sky.

Aries is the first sign of the Zodiac, and in April the New Moon rises in Aries. The New Moon in Aries asks us to set intentions that reflect the energies aligned with the qualities of Aries, think of a fiery passion to begin anew, as Aries begins the zodiac cycle.

Six months later, in September, the Full Moon will arrive in Aries, marking the time to release what no longer serves our truth in those areas of our lives that represent and match the qualities of Aries.

Through the period of dusting off, we look to the cosmos and the zodiac as an energetic guide of release.

Killing Moon -Echo & The Bunnymen

The brightness of the Full Moon illuminates where we are holding onto what no longer serves our path, and where space is needed to release.

Just as in Nature, we prune back branches in order to promote growth and open space to flourish in graceful expansion.

Choosing to honor ourselves at the Full Moon offers us a revolution of the spirit; a cleansing return more fully to ourselves.

There are many practices that can connect the feminine vibrations of a moment both individually and collectively. Within many of these practices we find harmony in the space between the visible and the invisible.

This illumination guides us to unravel ourselves and find clarity in our depths. And as we release, we are ready to set intentions for the next cycle.

The vibrational pull of nature’s path connects us back to our authentic selves.

Releasing stuck energy is a necessary step in the evolution of the divine connection to self and nature. Like the cyclical nature of the Moon’s orbit around Earth; Moon circles and ritual practices are repeated each lunar month.

Moondance -Van Morrison

As there are many different cultures and languages on this planet, so too are there a variety of practices to harness the energies surrounding peak Full Moon — ways to engage both individually and collectively.

Individual practices can shift to match the personality of the practitioner. Full Moon energy blends the watery, emotional elements of nature. Bathing at peak illumination is a recommended practice during this Moon phase.

Additionally, practitioners are invited to make their own moon water. There are many recipes available to try, and can be as simple as plucking a few petals from a nearby flower or plant, and adding it to a sealed container of water. This water is charged overnight under the light of the Full Moon. Afterward, it can be drunk, used to anoint parts of the body, added to a bath, placed on an altar, and used during meditation. Uses are limitless, and the use of water in ceremonials practices adds healing power and washes away stagnant, stuck energy.

Communal practices may include many of the same play with water, with the aspect of communing with nature among fellow man and woman. Many such communal practices include drums, chants, dancing, and a fire.

These communal rituals, or Moon Circles, typically are led by one guide who acts as a conduit for the energy of the Full Moon. The guide becomes the embodiment of the Moon to receive and offer blessings on the journey through the power of the Full Moon.

As the Moon orbits the sky, pushing and pulling the tides of the seas, and our emotional bodies. This is your invitation to move fluidly with her, and in that alignment you discover a deeper understanding of your inner emotional body.