The Dark Moon

In my Facebook group, The Holistic Branch Cauldron, & on my Instagram, I’ve been posting info-dumps on the different phases of the moon.

This latest moon phase share, was too long to fit all into an Instagram post, so I’ve decided to share it here!

Please feel free to come over to my Facebook group or my Instagram account if you’d like to check out the other posts so far, & interact with the comments / conversation there 😉

ETA: I’ve recently created a Patreon account! If you feel called, please join me & the community there at this link 🥰

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🌚🌚🌚 DARK MOON IN LEO & VIRGO 🌚🌚🌚

The dark moon travels through Leo from now, to be in Virgo from Sunday, until the new moon in Libra, Wednesday evening aest.

I classify the dark moon from when there is no longer a moon to see in the night sky, not just a day or two before the new moon.
This may seem a little preemptive, but it makes sense to me, especially as I definitely feel the cloak of the dark moon energy rest itself over my being from now.

The dark moon has been almost completely exorcised from conversation when it comes to moon magic, ritual, non traditional witchcraft & other pagan or spiritual circles, for quite some time; a few thousand years in fact.
And yes, we can put it down to monotheistic patriarchy & their fear of ‘feminine mysteries’ .. see also, witchcraft, women, femme presenting people, divination, childbirth, menstruation, heck, fear of anything that gave ‘the feminine’ it’s power, authority, autonomy, etc in community.

Anything ‘dark’ became synonymous with ‘evil’, ( & yes, this does include the conversation of skin tones, and why black cats are also targeted by violence), and these superstitions are still with us.
The ‘dark’ became about Lilith, Eve & the serpent/apple, the occult, the path to Satan, & also anything that the church desired to be shroud in fear & misinformation; ignorance = compliance.
Another reason why the ‘dark ages’ heralded a reductive phase in medicine, human rights, science, philosophy, & well, rational thought of any kind, as the grip of the church tightened its absolute authority through ignorance beget by violence.

The menstrual cycle became controlled by law makers, with cyclic beings left in ignorance & fear at the function of their own bodies.

This may seem like a heavy intro to our post today, but as we are reclaiming old practices & applying our present day (hopefully) higher understanding, I feel it’s important to observe the history that eradicated them in the first place.
I was recently recommended to read the book ‘Mysteries of the Dark Moon’ by Demetra George, as this book apparently dives into this subject more. I’ve not read it yet, but it’s ready to go in my kindle app 😉

I invite you to feel the sensations in your body as you read what I explained above…
Do you feel anger bubble up within you?
Do you feel injustice?
Do you feel fear at acknowledging this part of our past & how it still plays out in our present?
Where do you feel these sensations in your body? … throat, stomach, heart, eyes, hands..?

This ancestral wounding that comes forth (I acknowledge it as a part of the Witch Wound, which I will talk about in future), is felt by many of us, no matter if we have a womb, menstruate, or are ‘feminine’.
It is a generational memory that anyone who pokes their head above the ‘norm’ set by the church, the oligarchs etc, will be targeted, devalued & therefore susceptible to shame & violence.

How many of us here have felt fear to talk about our spirituality, or tarot & astrology, or the psychic dreams / nudges we have, have felt it taboo to talk about our period, sexuality, or sex itself?
The list goes on…

This dark moon, I invite you to sit with & potentially start to release the aspects of generational, ancestral, societal oppression that you have felt stifled by.

The dark moon is a space of feeling, the realm of the subconscious, dreams & desires coming to the surface in gnostic language. The light of the sun (consciousness) is not being reflected on the moon (subconscious) surface; here the subconscious can draw you into its stillness, its quiet, it’s darkness.. to tap into the complexities of what is hidden.. anger, volatility, passions, grief, yearning, can all be within the subconscious minefield of repressed emotions.

The dark, the subconscious, the ‘feminine’ can also be labeled as ‘yin’ energy, or ‘chaos’. The creative, hungry, desiring, fertile, expansive, ever present hollow burn inside us that keeps our life experience exciting & ever evolving.

Thoughtful communication may not work so well for us at this moon phase, but our body knows how to process our nervous systems plea to vent.
Use the dark moon to be present with your innermost heart, soul, & subconscious messages.

My favourite way to do that is with embodiment practices. Ways in which you can move or express through your body, the energy & emotion that longs to be released inside. Set a timer for 20mins and try any of the following:

🔥 Dancing- choose tunes that align with your emotional weather- dance the fk out to them! Move your body in ways that FEEL good, don’t think about how you look.
🔥 Vocalise your feelings- a great way to reset the poly-vagal system & move energy / emotions is by making sounds through your throat with your breath. Incorporate this into your dancing if you wish. Hum, groan, scream, hiss, howl, growl.. stretch your jaw and your mouth..

🔥 Journaling- get into an automated writing state. Drink some mugwort tea or a cup of raw ceremonial cacao to open the heart & engage the subconscious more.
Open your journal and put pen to paper.. don’t think about what you want to write.. just allow the flow.
If you need a starting point, try ‘right now I feel..’ ‘I wish people knew that …’ and see where you go from there.

🔥 Breathwork- google this! I promise a daily breathwork practice will change your life 😉 from kundalini to Wim Hoff to Alexandra Roxo, there’s a breathwork practice that you will love & become addicted to. The lightness, release, oxygenated high it gives you is amazing! Not to mention how many healing benefits it has.. reducing inflammation, releasing trauma, working the poly vagal system / vagus nerve..

🔥 Yoga, Tai Chi, Qigong etc.. all these flowing body movements cultivate restorative rest, healing, strength & release of emotional / energetic blockages. Search YouTube for ‘The Steve Washington Experience’, for soothing qigong videos.. & ‘Yoga With Adriene’, for targeted yoga videos on just about anything!

🔥 Tapping, also known as ETF (emotional freedom technique)- clears old beliefs, habits, emotional pain, trauma, shame etc, & can reprogram you with more desired, functional & creative experience. Look up Gala Darling, & Tap With Brad (Brad Yeats) both on YouTube.

Use the dark moon as a time to find more space for doing as little as possible.
It’s a time for more simplicity, less thinking, more feeling.
If you’re exhausted & moody, turn to the embodiment practices.
Otherwise:

🌚 get super hydrated
🌚exfoliate your skin
🌚take a ritual salt bath
🌚 cleanse your home & aura with smoke, essential oil diffusers, salt water sprinkled in the corners of the rooms.
🌚write down & burn the things you’re releasing, in your Cauldron or heatproof container.
🌚Netflix & chill (that can also mean have lots of orgasms if you like 🤷🏻‍♀️)
🌚write in your journal
🌚create some art that feels cathartic
🌚lay in nature with a book or let your mind just wander
🌚 take note of your dreams, ponder the symbols, observe how your dream narrative may change throughout the month.

Gosh, this was a long one!

Cauldron Fam, I’d love to know what came up for you when reading this post?
And please feel free to share anything that you’d like witnessed with this dark moon.. no advice given.. just a safe space to share.. in the comments below.

Im sending much love as we all traverse & reclaim the wild freedom of the Dark Moon!

Sami Lou ❤️🌊❤️✨