Many cultures have used the Lunar cycle to organize time and enhance productivity. Farmers, priests, artists, politicians, and mystics over the centuries have organized their undertakings around the Moon, and even to this day military generals and police take note of the phase of the moon because they are fully aware of the role that it plays in the goings-on of planet earth!
The Lunar cycle unfolds over the course of one month (Moon-th). Within this holistic cycle, there is a time allotted for absolutely every activity that you wish to incorporate in your life. When we live the lunar cycle, everything we care about is given its proper attention in its proper time.
Light and Shadow: The Duality of the Moon
One of the main assets of the lunar cycle is that it incorporates an awareness of polarity, an essential feature of three-dimensional existence.
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Most of us suffer at the hands of polarity. On the one hand, we want to be physically fit, and on the other hand, we want to eat chocolate cake! On the one hand, we want to achieve great accomplishments in our careers that require intense focus and hard work, and on the other hand, we want to spend leisure time with our friends and family.
Most people go through life constantly trying to “serve two masters”. Usually, this means scrambling or taking two steps forward and two steps back. We half-accomplish our goals at work and are partially present with our loved ones. We fall short of realizing our creative potential and also fail to fully enjoy our leisure time.
The Lunar Cycle is divided into four Seasons. Each Season contains two Lunar phases of approximately 3.5 days each. The first phase of the season is the ACTIVE phase, and the second phase of the season is the PASSIVE phase.
The ACTIVE phases are dedicated to intense focus upon your main project or enterprise. The PASSIVE phases are days where you can completely step away from this central task, and take care of the other aspects of your life, including errands, appointments, socializing, hobbies, etc.
In this way the Lunar Cycle accommodates the dualistic nature of reality, allotting time to work and time to play, time to be strict, and time to relax. This boundary greatly enhances productivity, focus, self-discipline, and efficiency. Your projects gain immensely both from the level of focus that you bring when working and from the receptive or passive periods where you rest and recuperate. Your relationships are healthier because your loved ones know that when you are working, you are working, and when you are present with them, you are fully present with them.
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The lunar cycle provides an excellent blueprint for structuring a physical fitness routine that incorporates cardio, intensive training, stretching, meditation, fasting, rest, and even indulgent feasting days. You can adapt this blueprint to almost any enterprise, as affirming the polarities of work/rest, day/night, inhale/exhale, masculine/feminine obtain throughout all creation.
Aligning with the Lunar Power
The Lunar Cycle is a highly efficient tool for scheduling, even if you were to divorce it completely from the spiritual or energetic aspect of the Lunar energy. Yet there is further benefit from synchronizing your activity to the energy of the moon because your project will be in alignment with the inherent energy of the moment.
Once you start paying attention to the Moon, you will start to “feel” the difference in the climate of your environment from phase to phase. The New Moon has a silent, contracted quality. The Full Moon has an ecstatic, even hysterical quality. Each phase has its own mood, and each phase inherently rewards (and punishes) certain behaviors.
When you are doing the *right* activity at the *right* moment, your actions gain tenfold in their efficacy and power, because you are always moving with the flow of energy instead of against it.
The 28-day Lunar Cycle
Pick one or two goals that you think you can reasonably finish within one month, or categories of your life, like “MY BODY” or “MY WORK” and plot a schedule for each category. Use this guide to grow your projects to completion by way of lunar energy!
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Winter
Active: New Moon
The New Moon is a highly strict, inward time that is meant for planning, organizing, and setting intentions. It is good to spend some time in deep meditation on your goal for this cycle. Any activities that promote focus, clarity, self-discipline, and purity are rewarded now. This is an excellent time for purifying the body and mind.
Energetically, this is the most fertile phase of the lunar cycle. Any influence that you introduce during this time will grow over the entire course of the next three weeks. Therefore, try to be the IDEAL version of yourself for these 3.5 days. If you plant the seed, the moon will help grow it all month long. It is good to fast, meditate, do yoga and abstain from intoxicants (including intoxicating media like social media, TV, and other anodynes). Keep away from any influence (including people!) that you do not wish to spend your entire moon dealing with!
While the moon is invisible in the sky, it is best not to take any serious action or make big moves. This is not the time to start laying the bricks— instead, put care and attention into perfecting the blueprint. Now is a time of internal creation. Read, write, study, and plan.
Passive: Waxing Crescent Moon
The Waxing Crescent brings the first visible sighting of the Moon, and once she appears in the sky it is good to start taking the first concrete, physical steps toward the accomplishment of your goal. It is still a delicate and introverted time, but it now would be an acceptable time to make some calls, start to stir up some activity. Do not over-exert yourself just yet. Think of this phase as taking a few warm-up laps around the track in preparation to sprint.
This is also a great time to catch up on the errands or social obligations that you put off during the New Moon period. If you have lived a rigorous New Moon, it will feel great at this time to get out and about and take care of some of the menial tasks or social commitments that you abstained from during the New Moon!
Spring
Active: Waxing Half Moon
This phase is known as the “crisis-of-action” phase— meaning that is devoted to good old-fashioned hard work and elbow grease!
For these 3.5 days, work as hard as you possibly can on your project. Try to set up your schedule so that you can put 100% of your effort into your work. This is the most labor-intensive phase of the whole moon, and it may be the phase during which you encounter the greatest obstacles or hardship. Confront them head-on, and keep on working.
The keyword for this phase is effort. Do not worry if, at the end of the day, you seem to have more problems than you started out with. Keep throwing solutions at the wall and see what sticks. Give it everything you’ve got!
Passive: Gibbous Moon
You should be quite fatigued after the Half Moon. Now, as the Moon approaches the peak of the cycle, the lunar energy starts to feel larger, as though there is momentum carrying you along. As the Moon grows in size the energy on earth becomes more extraverted and open.
The Gibbous is a phase for relaxation. This is a wonderful time for parties, social events, and spending time with your loved ones. Spend time in nature and with loved ones, finding refreshment and recuperation.
Take your mind off of your work for these few days. It can be tempting to keep on wrestling with unsolved problems, but you actually do yourself a disservice if you do not take a break. Let go of the work— in so doing, you will make space for inspiration to come in.
Summer
Active: Full Moon
The Full Moon is renowned as a magical, otherworldly time for good reason! The full force of the lunar energy is let in and with it comes illuminations, epiphanies, and elegant solutions to complex problems. The energy during this phase can actually be overwhelming, as it is a FULL BLAST of psychic force.
This is another phase dedicated to hard work on your project. However, you will find that during the Full Moon phase the labor is a LOT more enjoyable and free-flowing! Where you felt “stuck” in the Half Moon, you may find that you now feel inspiration and flow.
The keyword for this phase is “coherency’. You may completely finish your project at the Full Moon, but more often you simply receive the illumination that resolves everything, which still has to be implemented in the practical details. There will be an energy of culmination, climax, and resolution during this time.
Passive: Disseminating Moon
The Disseminating is oftentimes a continuation of the work of the Full Moon, although the somewhat ecstatic energy calms down by this phase.
Use this time to polish, refine, and work out the kinks in your project. Apply the illuminations from the Full Moon fully in all the minute details. By the end of this phase, your project should be almost or entirely complete.
Fall
Active: Waning Half Moon
This time corresponds to the festivals of Harvest in the fourth quarter of the year. This is a time for enjoying the fruits of your labors. As the moon shrinks back down, the time for working draws to a close. The Waning Half Moon is a great time for receiving feedback or input on your work, or simply for setting it aside.
Take some time to truly enjoy yourself! Break your rules, eat dessert, stay out late, and mix up your routine. Now is the time that you get to self-indulge. Soon the New Moon approaches once again, and during that time you will want to be greatly disciplined and concentrated. So, give yourself this time to “get your ya-ya’s out”, whatever that means for you!
Passive: Waning Crescent Moon
During this final phase of the lunar cycle, the energy of the moon gets very quiet and small, as it is about to disappear again. This is a good time for gathering your thoughts and reflecting upon the past cycle and planning your next one. Take this time to clean up, take stock, and reorient. The cycle is about to begin again!
