In southern Baja, where I live much of the time, the moon is a tangible presence. La luna llena shines with a force of personality that is somehow more immediate than at higher latitudes.
When full, she lifts herself serenely out of the Sea of Cortez at the very moment sunlight remembers it used to be darkness -- to correct the record, to chide the flat line of the horizon into knowing it is really a circle, to remind us that everything is some sort of circle if you simply zoom out far enough.
Here I am again as promised, she says. Come back to you as promised, just as you must always, only and ever, come back to yourself.
I photographed that full moon so many times ... her spectrum of color; the way she sometimes drapes herself in clouds; her slow seasonal tango from south to north and back again; the shimmer of her skirt each time she separates herself from the sea ... so many times, I finally got tired of the landscapes and zoomed in on her wise, ancient face. It, too, was a giddy mess of circles, and lines that don't know they are circles.
When new, though, she hides in plain sight, rising at dawn and setting at dusk, letting daylight wash out and erase her as she regroups. Like a seed she is dormant, hoarding her potential until the flowering season returns, and we find that within her potential, we may also germinate our own.
You can use today's new moon to set a new thoughtform in motion, to create its energetic outline and start it humming on the Vibrational Web as a blueprint of sorts -- a hologram of your intention that you know will soon find itself replaced with the real thing. New moon ceremonies are powerfully transformative in that we can recommit to the present moment and let go of the past. We have come full circle and it's time to start over again.
Manifestation practice: Sit quietly with your intention, and visualize it as fully as you're able (it doesn't matter exactly when you do this -- the new moon will be somewhere overhead all day). If your thoughtform has a texture, feel it. If it has an emotional quality, embody it. If it will have a visual form, draw it or shape it out of clay and place it on your altar, if you have one. Whatever that thoughtform is, imagine you can harness it to today's new moon and let her journey toward fullness pull it along with her like a chariot.
Then, between today's new moon and the next full moonrise, take at least one step in the direction of your thoughtform. Make a phone call, take a class, practice your particular art, meditate on your intention, put yourself in situations where you might make new connections.
Finally, stay attuned to your experience and notice whatever arises during this next lunar cycle. When something new brings your thoughtform closer to fruition, take notice and offer profound gratitude. Say to the moon, "I see you, I honor you, and I thank you." And the next time she arises in full, tell her, "Ah, there you are again. I always knew you would come back." ~Rishika