I love the Moon. I love how she never shows us everything, endlessly mysterious, pulling at our depths without asking anything in return. The tides of our inner worlds wax & wane with her, though I wondered if somehow she was tying to tell me something this whole time, that perhaps the magic of her cycles spoke in tongues tied up in the endless striving of capitalism, which has led to more suffering than any one of us needed to endure.
Much more suffering, under the thumb of patriarchy, of fascism, than any one person should bear.
For the past year, I have been working with the Moon intentionally, utilizing this magic of cyclical presence to check in with all the areas of my life, to see how they actually make me feel. Often, we are far too focused on linear growth, climbing ladders, exceeding expectations, all while moving too quickly to discern whether or not we’re growing in a direction that feels good to us, or if we should even be on this ladder at all. This is where the familiar life wheel, where we rate our level of satisfaction in our work, friendships, hobbies, etc. (quite common in therapy practices) will come into play. Each area of life can be represented by an astrological sign that corresponds to an area in your natal chart. And (unless you’re an Aries rising) the different expression the sign ruling that house brings to that area.
Long time readers know of my disdain for pop astrology; from the thing that makes some people roll their eyes upon hearing that I am an astrologer, to the generic slop passing for horoscope sections in certain magazines, & the reason so many people claim to hate Geminis & Scorpios.
Pop astrology can choke, but I digress.
The fact is, astrology is an ancient tool for understanding the passage of time, as well as our own personal energy, & how that energy plays with the energy of people close to us, whether we believe it or not. It’s how teachers & nurses understand just how weird people get during Full Moons, how I somehow managed to date 7 different people who had birthdays within a week of each other (cuz I refused to learn my lesson), & how even the most basic bitches can clock a Mercury retrograde, even if they’re unaware of exactly what it means.
We all contain multitudes, which is why I love to create natal charts for my favorite series characters, as a way to show how many different energies we carry. Prince Zuko isn’t just a Scorpio, Eleanor Shellstrop isn’t just a Libra, & Anne Shirley-Cuthbert isn’t just a Pisces. There are layers to this. I’ve been studying astrology deeply for many years, & it’s one of those things that seems to get more complicated the more you learn about it.
For the record, the complexity only deepens the allure; the more I learn, the more I realize there is much more to uncover, to discern, & to enjoy.
The Beginning
I started my journey as a guide about three years ago, trying to figure out the simplest way to allow astrology to become the practical tool I knew it could be. So, instead of trying to make everything make sense at once, I started to hone in on the Moon. I did a focus group last summer with a handful of friends & colleagues to see how this could possibly become a thing, leading me to write my first book, Moon Magic 101 (which is currently in its final round of edits before I release it to the public). I learned that, in my pursuit of clarity, I had the tendency to overwhelm people with information about their birth charts in such a way that wasn’t actually helpful. Chiron in the 3rd house can do that, as it is the wound of being misunderstood. In an attempt to over-deliver, to prove that I do, in fact, know my shit, I actually didn’t help anyone as much as I intended.
So, I wintered, begrudgingly. I allowed things to simmer, to rest in fertile soil, so that come springtime, new buds could flourish. I started the beta cohort of my Moon Magic Journey on the New Moon in Taurus a few months back. Feeling very nervous, as it wasn’t a completely tangible thing, I started imperfectly (which is, like, the hardest thing for a Virgo to do) because I knew that the parts I needed to learn & create couldn’t be done on my own anymore.
I needed to try things, with real humans, & birth charts other than my own.
The Reason
There’s something about time that has been difficult to wrap my head around, which is a common challenge for neurodivergent folx such as myself. I’m often obnoxiously punctual, as I hate being late, & can never fully gage how long a task will take. And, as a Virgo with a Leo stellium (5 placements ruled by my Sun in Virgo) perfectionism runs as deep as my to-do list is long.
Since following the wheel of the year, 8 sabbats that correspond to seasonal markers & astrological archetypes (with 4 transitional seasons), I’ve allowed myself to slow down & be with the season that I am in. For many years, I felt like I had to do everything at once, never able to slow down to even think about what it is I’d rather be doing, as I—like many before me—had been told that the way I felt didn’t matter at all, that I needed to suck it up & do whatever I had to do in order to fit into the system that was never made with me in mind.
I was an over-achiever, so proud of my productivity & ability to handle anything without help. Until I couldn’t. Until I cracked.
Once I had my rude awakening (that turned into a spiritual awakening which you can read more about here), I realized I had to slow down, to put my health first, or my goals & dreams wouldn’t even matter, because I physically couldn’t do anything about them. So, begrudgingly still, I decided to figure out how to work with the cycles of energy outside of myself to help me. I didn’t have to worry about my career & relationships & money & transformation & philosophy & friendships all at the same time, half-assing each of them & burning all the candles at both ends. I couldn’t even conceptualize all of them at the same time anymore.
An overwhelming dread would consume me, a thick melancholy at the notion I wasn’t doing enough. Not productive enough. Not worthy enough.
Since Mars was in Cancer at the time of this inescapable melancholy, I thought, “what if I track the Moon through my chart to see how it makes me feel?”, since Cancer is ruled by the Moon, & our drive (Mars) was therefore being governed by the waxing & waning lunar cycles. And because, for my ever-active mind, doing something is better than doing nothing
(& for the record, resting is not nothing, so jot that down).
So I did guided existential kink meditations (based on Dr. Carolyn Elliot’s work), every single day no matter what (I hear you, AuDHD folx, yes every single day) for the duration of Mars in Cancer, in order to sit with the melancholy instead of pretending it wasn’t there.
Yes, it was hard. Really hard.
Yes, my mind was all over the place most of the time, at least at first (which is why I highly recommend guided meditation for AuDHD folx, cuz they will prompt you back to the task at hand instead of fighting to sit still in silence). But because I took the time to sit with the existential dread, because I sat with the pain, every day, I learned what it had to teach me.
I heard what it had to say. I listened.
Now, because of the daily routine of it all, I’ve come to understand that my ability to focus on the meditation, to really be in my body, will change depending on where the Moon & Mercury are in my chart. I’m not “messing up” because I can’t get the thoughts to stop, the Moon is just in an air sign today. The practice is coming back to the present moment, over & over again, so you know what it feels like.
Slowing down is quite a challenge, especially for a racing mind, but it is also healing.
This led to my current mediation practice that I still do every day. I look forward to it, actually, because I made it pleasurable for myself. It entails sitting in front of my altar, burning an offering of incense as I speak aloud to the spirits, & then some yoga nidra, with lots of pillows & soft blankets.
The Madness
One of the biggest things about understanding how to work with my own flavor of autism is navigating my PDA (persistent drive for autonomy) through cultivating pleasure instead of endlessly trying to force myself to do things I “should” do, but fuckin’ hate doing. I don’t sit in meditation. I lie down. I make my body as comfortable as possible, because it limits the distractions that come with having a body, which tend to pop up when trying to force yourself to stay in an uncomfortable position for a long time, especially in the name of “enlightenment”. Doing that makes it way harder for me to pay attention, to slow down, & I certainly didn’t need to make meditation any harder than already it is for extremely active minds like mine.
It’s by tracking where the Moon is in my chart that I am able to notice when I need to verbally process a lot more, or when I am more sensitive, because of the house it’s transiting. For example, when it’s in Cancer I have my lunar return, so I watch my comfort shows & bake magical cookies, which I look forward to every time the Moon comes back to me.
It wasn’t until recently that I even understood the gift of my Cancer Moon conjunct my Chiron & Part of Fortune. I felt as if it were a cruel joke, like, what do you mean my deep wound of being misunderstood is tied up with my emotional expression, & the combination of these things will lead to my being in the right places at the right times? How dare you!
But now I see that my ability to feel deeply—especially in the now times, where our humanity is being optimized & erased from creativity & connection—really is a gift. My emotions tell me when a boundary has been crossed, when I am deeply moved by something, or simply my own ability to tap into the transits that are happening & have nothing to do with my personal feelings at all.
None of which I would know had I not slowed down to know what my Self feels like in my body, apart from anyone else’s energy, apart from the cosmic transits, apart from my own anxieties & insecurities, may have to say.
Do you know what your Self feels like, without fear or dread? Without erotic arousal or giddy joy? The through line of your story is your Self, & society loves to tell you who you need to be to drown that out. Once you know who you are & what you’re about, especially if you’re a PDA profile like myself, it is damn near impossible to get you to do something you don’t want to do, which is why they try so hard to keep us divided & distracted from our true nature.
I started to see the method in my madness, making sense of the seemingly chaotic world of energies around me. As the planets cycle through the zodiacal wheel, they offer us their energy, & their wisdom, as long as we are able to tap into it when it’s there. This is especially helpful for our empty houses, as our natal placements lend their energy to the houses they occupy, meaning the houses where we have no planets are more difficult for us to access & therefore more difficult to understand.
The Method
The Moon Magic Journey is a 4 month long guided path to attune your consciousness to the energies of the lunar cycle as she traverses each house of your natal chart. For a few days each month, you will notice how that area of your chart—that area of your life—actually makes you feel. Emotions tell us more than we’ve given them credit for, & you deserve to feel more satisfaction, more success, & more fulfillment, in every area of your life.
As the journey unfolds, you will get an overview & journal prompts for the month ahead, but not everything at once. This is slow work, intentional work, & it is much more difficult to slow down than you may realize, even if you deeply crave a slow & intentional life.
Month 1 is just noticing, starting to see how the four main Moon phases affect you. Each month has an overview of the axes you are meant to balance & the themes that may come up in your life. Following this overview are journal prompts based on the sign & house the Moon will be transiting in your chart (& noting when your other placements would be in the same house as the transiting Moon) that we would then discuss during our weekly sessions.
In these sessions, I hold space for the emotions & insights that may come up, guiding you to breathe with anything painful & learn how to tell which emotions ring true in your body. We focus on intention setting for the New Moon, taking action on the First Quarter Moon, celebrating during the Full Moon, & letting what no longer serves in the Last Quarter Moon be alchemized into energy we can use in our next cycle.
Month 2 adds in elements, seeing how the month feels being ruled by a fire sign instead of a water sign, for example. While still focused on the four main phases, now we take note of the differing elements during each lunation. Is it easier for you to be in your body with an earth Moon? Do water Moons make you feel more sensitive? Does a First Quarter Moon in an air sign make it easier to take action on the intentions set? It all depends on the cues that come from within yourself, slowing down to allow all of you to be present & have a voice.
Month 3 adds modality into the mix, as this is the halfway point of our journey together. Lunar astrology isn’t just elements & phases, the type of energy that each sign embodies matters just as much. Now that we’ve noted the different emotions within us, & elements around us, let’s see if we can notice how differently the energy of a Mutable season feels to a Cardinal or Fixed one, for example. With this in mind, how do the elements show up differently when we add this layer of energy? Cardinal seasons are great times to start things, Fixed seasons are great for when you need more endurance, while Mutable seasons are great for transitional times. This month also contains the last four sectors of your chart that haven’t been touched by the main lunar phases yet. After this point, the wheel begins again, revisiting the same axes from the start.
Month 4 puts it all together, as we are now back in the same four houses as the beginning of this journey. Each lunar cycle dances through the houses of the same modality, like balancing two opposing sectors of life, instead of a group of unassociated parts. Now that we have gone through a major lunar phase in each house, it will become much more obvious how they work together & how it all makes you feel.
We have learned more about the elements, the astrological signs, & the kinds of energies they embody. So, now that we are revisiting the same areas of the chart as we started, how do they feel different? Can you tell the difference between a New Moon in Libra & a New Moon in Capricorn? What makes it different?
Your emotions will tell you. Your body will tell you.
Then, once we are finished, I’ve got workbooks & other lovely things to continue the magic, as I’m sure you (like my current clients) will probably not want it to end. I’m gonna hold your hand & take a breath with you when I say this: I don’t want you to be my client forever. I want to equip you with the tools to understand yourself & your role in the cosmos better, so that you can ultimately make a little more sense of the Saturnian burden we call “time”, using the planetary energies to help you become your favorite version of yourself, on your own.
We’re not here to optimize or streamline.
We’re here to know what feels good, find the patience to cultivate more pleasure, & the strength to allow ourselves to receive it.
My Testimony
My own Moon Magic started with the New Moon in my 12th house, the house of the hidden things beyond the veil (where I have no placements), & ending with a New Moon in my 3rd house of communication (with my Leo stellium). It began with so much more knowledge about how my ancestral trauma was hiding the ancestral wisdom, wanting to take action & talk about these things with the First Quarter Moon in Leo, but still couldn’t understand it just yet. I had a feeling that, according to my own research, Leo season would shine some light on this very thing, & here I am, sharing this with you on the First Quarter Moon in Scorpio.
Between my two fixed houses (Taurus & Leo), I also had a New Moon in my Mutable 1st house (Gemini) & my Cardinal 2nd house (Cancer).
After becoming aware of things that were hidden in my 12th house, I had quite an emotional new start during Gemini season, as I realized how much I had been stifling my self expression, forcing myself to be one thing, when I contain multitudes. Mutable houses give my chart structure, so the natural realm of Cardinal signs is ruled by the ever-changing Mutable signs. Learning how that made me feel, what I actually desired, & who I wanted to be, led to quite an interesting (& frankly tear-filled) Cancer season.
That New Moon in my 2nd house, the house of values & worth, showed me where I had been discounting my gifts, or straight up ignoring the things that I truly value & want for myself. Cancer season as a whole was filled with many tear-soaked days, but underneath all that water, in the depths of my emotions, was so much wisdom. And now, at the end of the first leg of the journey, I am excited to share it with you.
Personally, I am very much looking forward to continuing to work with the Moon til Taurus season comes around again next year. Then, I will have had all the major lunar phases in each of my houses.
Something really cool I’ve learned about the Moon is, when you look at how the phases move through each sign it goes: New Moon, Last Quarter, Full Moon, First Quarter. Definitely not so linear, right? I love this tho, because we start off with intentions, alchemize outdated emotions into new energy, celebrate how far we’ve come, & take action to start again.
Starting & ending in the same house, from New Moon to Last Quarter Moon, with so much growth along the way.
As Lemony Snicket once said, “If we wait until we are ready, we’ll be waiting for the rest of our lives.”
The Takeaway
The goal of the Moon Magic Journey isn’t for me to be the one with all the answers to save you from yourself. Far from it. I am the guide to show you how to slow down enough to listen to the answers within yourself. What we do every single day is how we get what we want in life, how we get where we desire to go, & that’s why I think that the powers that be want us to be so scattered & exhausted. They want us to believe that our day to day lives are unimportant, that we must always strive for this “tomorrow” where it will magically become better, elsewhere & else-when. However, the way things become magically better isn’t through wishing & praying alone. It is through the medicine of the present moment.
You’re never gonna write a book if you only dream of writing a book & never write a word of it.
A grand romantic gesture, or one deeply heartfelt apology, won’t make up for neglecting your relationships day in & day out.
You have to show up, imperfectly, every day, in the tiniest ways, because you never know when the next baby step will be a breakthrough.
I believe that utilizing the Moon is the quickest & most accessible way to understand your natal chart, as it transits through all the signs each month. Each house, an area of your life you may have neglected, or overindulged in, to the detriment of your fullest expression.
By the light of the Moon, with subtle intention, these things will bubble up into your consciousness.
But it takes time to notice, & it will feel arduously slow at first, as we are so used to optimizing our human experience that we’ve taken the being & human out of it.
Our emotions are signals, our bodies are guides, & neglecting them both means we don’t get to experience their magic. Our daily actions are what sets up the magic for tomorrow, which is always a dream away.
So how do you get the Moon to love you back? Slow down long enough to be with her. Let each phase pull at the tides of your inner ocean. Let the archetypes work to uncover your inner story. Breathe with the discomfort of the now so that you can make more room for pleasure & joy, every single day.
If my words resonated with you, if this stirred something within your heart space, let me write a story about you. Allow me to weave the magic of my presence with your natal chart, to tell the tale of your soul, & add music to your personal cosmic dance. My Moon Magic Journey will only be available to clients who have sat with me, who have already exchanged energy with me, & who are ready to imbue every day with the magic of being fully alive.
In such interesting times, it is now imperative that we support each other, especially the marginalized, silenced, & disabled. If my words awakened something within you, consider supporting me on Ko-fi 🙂
If you are curious about the Moon, but aren’t quite ready to have a personal guide, consider supporting me on patreon, where I post a monthly overview of each season’s archetype, the placements of that archetype, & the placements that correspond to the ruler of that archetype.
Also, for certain tiers, there are Moon Magic Journal prompts that correspond to the four main lunar phases.
A Storyteller's Den 
Leave a comment