The First Quarter moon is a crisis. Splitting the moon neatly in half like a line drawn in the sand, it requires a choice to be made. This is not a moon of ambivalence or compliance. This is a moon of courage and truth. This moon begs the question:
What do you stand for?
The First Quarter moon is a call to action. Home of activists, rebels, revolutionaries, and those who dare. Yes, this is a daring moon. It takes risks. Those born under this moon are born with will power, hunger, and voice. There is an impulse to stretch up and out and explore new horizons. Quarter moon people are leaders not because they want to be, but because they don’t know any other way to move through the world.
This moon is the tension of a tightly pulled, quivering bow and the relentless focus of the archer who holds it.
What is it like to be a seed in the soil? To feel the earth warm around you and know, yes, this moment is right, this moment is ripe, to emerge? The First Quarter moon is the thrust of energy propelling us out of the earth and into the rays of the sun. It is the mother bird who whooses us from the nest, simply because it is time. It is the genetic memory of the citrine monarch butterfly that calls them towards the migratory journey of their mothers mothers. We can not stay nestled in the world of dreams forever. We must take the chance. We must risk new shapes.
Thus, the question of self emerges with this moon. Who am I? this moon begins to ask, propelling us to seek definition and individuation.
The moon asks,
What is your song?
This moon is a Song Moon. It is a chorus, loud and proud. With the power of the voice we declare ourselves to the world. There is both vulnerability and bravery in letting your voice be heard, anticipation and release.
The Song Moon is an estuary where near a flow of swiftly moving water, the verdant leaves of Calamus grow in stiff, erect towers. Yellow spadix emerging from brackish water, Calamus sings of vibrancy. The rhizomes of Calamus are said to resemble the throat, and we find by chewing the aromatic and pungent roots that our mouth softens, our throat opens, and our mind begins to expand and creep outward.
Calamus gives us the gift of clear perception when we are clouded. They connect us to our animal bodies when we begin to bleed into dissociation. They are a teacher of radical presence and unashamed expression.
Calamus smells like courage. Courage to speak honestly and with integrity. Courage to quiet the mind when it whispers doubt and discontentment and find a center of truth within ourselves.
We all have a voice, Calamus says.
How will you use yours?
As the moon grows, a story is told. Where we enter this story shapes our lives and creates the lens from which we come to know the world. Over the next few weeks, I will be sharing on the archetype of each of the eight phases and the medicine that they offer.
Song Moon
Unfurling Moon
Visionary Moon
Storytelling Moon
Weaving Moon
Bone Moon