Greetings, dear Readers. Before beginning this month’s Moonletter I wanted to share that I’m part of an upcoming summit called “The Healing Power of Plants”. There are many lovely herbalists and plant people who are being interviewed for this free series, and you’ll be able to listen to their inspiring conversations starting April 15th. I’ll be talking about simple rituals to tap into intuition, plus my writing practice — which is the basis of these Moonletters. You can learn more and sign up here if you’re interested.
Part I: Introduction
The deep sense of self knows who we are at our core and how we are aimed in life. This animating inner self makes each of us unique and essentially valuable, and it tries to awaken and become more conscious to us precisely when everything else seems to fall apart.
~ Michael Meade
Full Moon Tea for April 12th:
Parsley (Petroselinum crispum)
Birch (Betula spp.)
Violet (Viola sororia)
One evening many years ago — a dark blue, summer evening, humid and warm — I was driving home after teaching an herbal class. It was late and the Moon was full, sailing in a long arc across the sky. As I made my way along the highway I glanced up at the beaming luminosity, and suddenly, silently I heard a message. A voiceless voice invited me to follow an unusual idea.
When I look back upon it, I see that all the pivotal times of my life — the big decisions and changes in direction, the small adjustments to daily living, the new creative projects — were all guided by that voiceless voice of intuition.
Intuitive knowing is an astonishing gift — like a gem pushed up through the dark earth, sparkling and startling. There is nothing to do to receive it but to be open. It arrives in its own timing. Our work, then, is to allow these intuitive whispers to take us where they want to go. And they always want to take us into the unknown.
Willingly following a path into uncertainty can be extremely uncomfortable and terrifying. Trusting the subterranean voice of intuition requires us to have a certain kind of faith because as we go deeper into the realm of intuitive knowing we must trust that it is not leading us astray. Instead, we will eventually find that it is leading us to a well — a well of the deepest, most quenching water from an unending source.
In these days of blaring voices — voices that often demand that we conform — one of the most subversive things we can do is to turn our attention to the wordless voice that resides within our own being, no matter how buried or ignored it has been. To prioritize its quiet messages is to loosen ourselves from the dictates of society, little by little — a society that would have us live our lives in a predictable and complacent way. But this is not the guidance that intuition gives to us — instead, it comes to wake us out of complacency.
Heeding intuition’s nudges may cause anxiety and terror; to follow its messages requires a courageous trust. Its presence may ask us to ignore many loud voices, and to stand alone at times. Living intuitively can make us seem strange to others — we deviate from the norm when we’re guided by our inner voice.
All those years ago, the intuitive message that I heard by moonlight led me towards something I could not have expected. It led to a mysterious monthly writing process and eventually, it led to the sharing of these Moonletters. The invitation that arose that evening from some unknown part of myself unfolded into a practice that I treasure and trust.
May we all continue to listen for inner messages as they emerge, knowing that they will lead us towards a richer, more creative, multi-faceted life.
Part II: Contemplation