Strawberry Moon

I was born in June. Apparently, the Native Americans gave my moon a name and called her Strawberry Moon.

I was born in the night. My mother says after hours of painful labor I entered this world while my Strawberry Moon was in her First Quarter.

My herbalist tells me this time of the lunar phase is known as the ‘Crisis of Action;’ that those born at the First Quarter need to resolve the inner conflict between their solar and lunar energies by taking decisive action in the outer world.

No wonder I always feel the way I do. On the verge of some major life altering decision.

My spiritual life is marked by what I call a recurring crisis of belief. This crisis typically arises around the 14th day of my menstrual cycle and lasts through the first day of menstruation at which point the fog that has settled around my brain lifts and clears as the blood begins to flow.

I was beginning to accept this was just my pattern, that I was as my mother recently told me, just cyclical in nature. Until I met David, my herbalist, who tells me he specializes in women’s hormonal cycles. Known also as a medical astrologist, David tells me the same day we meet that women’s menstrual cycles tend to follow a lunar pattern, both cycles repeating monthly, every 29 or 30 days.

Clearly I found this intriguing...

This recent encounter and persistent thoughts I’ve had of late regarding the emotional roller coaster being a women can be led to these posts. For years now I’ve pondered this notion of how the woman’s hormonal cycle affects the spiritual life. I guess that’s why I now find myself here in this place.

As usual, when I ask God a question, instead of receiving a direct answer I find I am led on a journey to discover its meaning.

The Beginning

I began to watch the moon, notice her cycle, and my own in relation. I thought, why count only the days when night’s time passes equally?

In my understanding of the universe the story says in the beginning God created night and day. Story says, what first existed was darkness and out of it God created light.

I wonder if the first light was the moon, the sun being the more radiant light only after she had proven her design? Truly she is a light in darkness. Without her night would be a thick, rich void.

But this is just the beginning. I do not really know yet what is the meaning of the moon.

I call these Mystic Tales because my understanding of a mystic is one who knows always the strength of the moon, knows always what it is to have light in the darkness. Mystics know they must be present in darkness. Not to fear. Because God is there too. Because there is always a Light in us.