THE GODDESS AND MAGICK

THE TWELVE GREAT PATHS OF THE MOON

A long time ago, when Father Sky took Mother Earth in his arms and mated with her, the Moon was born. As it grew bigger and bigger out there among the basket of stars, the Sun Dogs took turns biting it. Snap, snap, they went, until the moon was crescent shaped.
The ragged little Moon continued to shine brightly in the sky. Spirit Walker, who guided all the Two-Legged and Four-Legged Creatures at this time, worried about the Moon. She told all the creatures to dance around the plaza, men with Deer, women with Corn, children with Turtles. On the Night When Red Leaves Fell, the creatures looked up. The Moon was growing bigger! It grew and grew until it had a full, happy face. But then the Sun Dogs chewed on it again and whittle it down until it was crescent shaped again.
From then on, the Two-Legged Creatures and the Four-Legged Creatures got used to the growing and the dying of the Moon. They got used to the Sun Dogs chewing on it and Father Sun casting a black shadow on it's round face every once in a while. All the creatures got together and decided to give each of these moons a name, which are today, as they were then:

January, Man Moon: Soenpana
Meditation:
January's great path of the moon is solitude.
Each day is part of an infinite puzzle, interlocked with all the preceding days and the ones that follow. You will never solve the infinite puzzle until you learn to let go of fear. In letting go of fear, the puzzle fits together; a million separate pieces, yet finally only one--the journey of experience. Alone.
Look for patterns. Why do you take the same road to work every day? Is there another way to get where you are going? Do you have to go at all? Is a day of rest more important than doing what's expected of you? Do you care what others think?
When days are short, memory is long. Remember how rain on pavement smells? Fresh earth, turned over with a shovel? Have you forgotten the slick, peeled look of earthworms? The nakedness of baby birds? Think spring, and you will overcome the dark heart of winter. It's up to you.
Take stock of your life now, while the earth around you sleeps. A new year means a new beginning; a new beginning is an opportunity to bury old mistakes. You can't change a thing through regret, you can only wear yourself out. Within you likes all the courage you need.
Solitude opens all the closed doors, even those nailed shut.

February, Wind Big Moon: Walapana
Meditation:
February's great path of the moon is introspection.
Friends come and go the way lovers often do. Some are only fair blue skies and disappear when the weather changes. A true friend, a true lover, remains even when the sunlight ends. A true friend helps to catch the rain. A false friend says it isn't raining, even when you feel the drops.
How many true friends do you need? One is enough, but four is even better, one for each direction you take:
east: harmony
south: clarity
west: adventure
north: love
Within these four directions are four more, and four more after that. In this way, both knowledge and friends increase at the same time. Indefinitely.
Just because it's winter doesn't mean that you can't grow. Remember how everything waits beneath the surface. Nature knows when her time is coming. So do you. Why resist spring just because snow is falling?
Introspection is the key to understanding the conflict raging within you. Dig out the old fear and throw it away. Fill up your soul with pieces of beauty. Take time to knit them together. They will make a whole.

March, Ash Moon: Naxopana
Meditation:
March's great path of the moon is understanding.
Children and dogs are not meant to do what you want them to do. If you tell them to walk straight, they'll zigzag. If you complain about their friends, they will ignore you. If you want them to stay in, they will want to go out.
So what? What did you do when you were young? Learn to let go of your children at the same time as you plant them in your garden. Give them wings and roots, so they can fly and stay put at the same time. Isn't this what your parents gave you? Did you even know it, then?
You can't change dogs or children. You can only try to understand them. For one hour, put yourself in your child's shoes. See how far you are able to walk before you fall down. As for your dog, try walking on all fours. Try eating without hands. What do you think he's trying to tell you when he barks?
You may have different natures. Light and dark. Kind and mean. Inconsistent and predictable. You'll never be perfect. But you can be better than you are now. For your own sake, try.
Understanding yourself is the first step toward understanding other people. A difficult but necessary step.

April, Planting Moon: Kapana
Meditation:
April's great path of the moon is regeneration.
When you thought that spring forgot to come, a meadowlark sang in a tree. A flower popped out of the ground. You felt like dancing. Like singing to the clouds. Now is the time to learn how to breathe all over again. Pretend you are a newborn baby. Get the staleness of winter out of your heart and mind and body. It's time to be reborn as a pocket gopher.
Passing through a time of solitude and introspection makes your realize how precious simple things are. Look around. If the sky seems too low, push it up. If the earth seems to still, put your face in the mud and sing it a growing song. Put wildflowers in your ears. Howl at the next full moon. Talk to coyotes, to ravens, to the little ant digging itself out of the ground. What's the worst that could happen?
Ask yourself: Is there enough of you to go around? Do people expect too much? Is your work something you want to do? Or have to do? Do yearn for a new place? A new person with whom to share your life?
Regeneration allows you to grow wings. Sprout roots. Two more legs. Or fins. Regeneration means that you can start growing all over again, this time from the inside out. There is time for everything, even that which you thought too late to happen.

May, Corn Planting Moon: Iakapana
Meditation:
May's great path of the moon is acceptance.
You don't have forever, so why worry about things you cannot change? What bothers you today will not bother you a year from now. You'll wonder what made you so angry. So sad. Perhaps you have to trip over a few more rocks in order to find your direction. Accept it, lying face down on the earth, until it answers your prayer for meaning.
If those who stand in your way cast a shadow on your life, remember you can always step aside. It's probably sunnier on the other side of the path anyway. And fewer stones, besides.
Life demands so much. Often so little seems to return, no matter how hard you try. What matters is that you have hope and strength to perseverance. Did you think you would ever be thanked?
What do you do when people hurt you? If you love them, practice kindness. If you don't love them, practice detachment.
Acceptance means you've grown up enough to handle the situation.

June, Corn Tassel Coming Out Moon: Kapnakoyapana
Meditation:
Junes's great path of the moon is listening.
There is a story inside everything: wind, rain, fire. Even in the sound corn makes when it is trying to grown in the field. Rivers have great stories, so do leaves rustling on trees. Listen to old stones for information about survival. Put a pebble to your ear and listen to the tale it has to tell. What a seashell has to say will surprise you. So, too, will words written on the wind.
Listening to silence is hardest of all. You want to fill it up with conversation. With noise. With distraction. Resist the impulse. In silence you can listen to your own heartbeat; you can take the pulse of continuity. In silence, you can dream great dreams. You can discover your own music.
Why is it harder to let go than it is to hang on? Even when a thing seems finished, a shadow remains. you ask: Did I do right? Was there a way to bury our differences? By saying nothing, did you say all?
It takes effort to make something of your life when other people are making do with less. Have courage to make a change. Indecision prevents action. Memory clouds reason. Fear paralyzes. Routine decays.
Listening means hearing the voice within you. It never fails to tell you the truth, even if you don't want to hear it.

July, Sun House Moon: Tultopana
Meditation:
July's great path of the moon is passion.
How do you know if the one you love is true? Because he says so? Because he showers you with gifts? Takes you dancing? Makes promises sound like plans? Perhaps he is just as afraid as you.
Your love is true if he listens to your heartbeat. If he stops and picks a wildflower and sees your eyes in every petal. That is passion.
your love is true if he says your name like poetry, like wind, like fire. Like the last breath of summer, yielding to the fall. That is passion.
Passion is also dedication to something you believe in, whether it be a kind of learning, work that matters to you, or simply life itself.
In the autumn of my life, I fell in love for the first time, though I had been fooled many times before. he was the sun and moon and stars to me, the voice of the rock, reaffirming the old songs I used to sing alone. We danced together in moonlight, climbed the highest mountains, walked through the rain, saw beauty everywhere. He made me larger than I am; I made him see a clearer path. We became like two trees growing from one common root; we made each other possible.
Passion is what you give to what matters most to you.

August, Lake Moon: Paw'epana
Meditation:
August's great path of the moon is change.
Fate and opportunity often look alike. So do generosity and guilt. The place where these four friends meet is called life. You must make the most of your life. To do less is to fail yourself. No one else is to blame for your indecision or mistakes. Everything comes from the courage of experience.
You can't catch sunlight by staying indoors. you can't recognize quality if you settle for imitation. If you are not in the right place, leave. If you are not doing work that matters, quit. If life is not what you want it to be, change. If you are surrounded by false friends, trade them for new ones,the quiet, steady kind. If something nags at your heart, open it up and have a look. What you find there may surprise you.
How do you become strong?
Throw your importance away. Make friends with trees. Sing a song with a mourning dove. Crawl along the ground with a snake. Do push-ups with a lizard. Learn the language of squirrels. Decipher the meaning of old stones. Find wisdom in a baby's eyes. Look at an old man as if he were new.
Change means growth. Growth is necessary for trees and other living things. Without growth, nothing would be harvested,except doubt.

September, Corn Ripe Moon, Iakowapana
Meditation:
Septembers's great path of the moon is awareness.
Lie down in a secret place with your head pointed toward the east and stay there until you learn something. Then move slowly to the south, face down. Notice what is in font of your nose: leaves, pine needles, dirt, insects, pebbles. When you turn to the west, dig into the earth with your fingers. Smell the richness of history. Imagine what this spot was like ten thousand years ago. Who came this way before you? Do they speak to you? Watch the way shadows move. It's history stirring.
Now turn to the north and stay there until you an imagine every drop of rain, every flake of snow that has fallen there. Imagine the animals that have walked by; the snakes and insects and rodents who live nearby; the plants and trees that grow; the earthquakes and the floods, the blizzards and the heat. Imagine fire and drought. Think of how the earth endures.

Complete the circle with your body. Turn to the east and listen for the Voice That Awakens the Land. When you hear it and know what it means, turn over and look at the sky. Think of everything that has happened there. The birth and death of stars. The rising and setting of moon and sun. The birds that have flown by, the clouds that have formed in various shapes and sizes and colors. Consider the darkeness beyond.

All time, all place is present in these two circles, expanding from your body in both directions, above and below. These two circles finally join together in the sky. It's called the seam of life.

Just think: In these circles, you have created your own universe. That's what awareness is all about.

October, Leaves Falling Moon: Olulpana
Meditation:
October's great path of the moon is respect.
For us, the new year begins now and not in January. This is a time of sleeping seeds and birds flying south for the winter. Leaves begin to fall; the sun turns pale in the sky. It is the Moon of Putting Away and the Moon of Remembering Old Names. Preparation begins for the coming winter. We look for signs of whether it will be a hard winter: Do the clouds have long tails? Does the chipmunk work harder, storing food for winter? Does ice have an early voice? What does the raven say? Does the coyote change his song? Do our hearts stir with warning.
Now is the time to learn respect for all living things--even for those who are not your friends. Is there a voice from your past that you didn't pay attention to? Take time to mend broken connections. Find out why someone does not like you; respect that person even so.

Rspect starts on the simplest level. Walk to the mountains where the first snow has already fallen. Notice that the stream has a collar of ice along the edges. Dry leaves move on the wind, sighing. Inside you, something calms down. Turn your face to the sun: For everything in the past, thank you. To the future, yes.

Respect is a matter of equality, even in the worst of times.

November, Corn Depositing Moon: Iatayaepana
Meditation:
The sun falls lower in the sky each day. The earth has turned the color of buckskin and one to sleep. I have been to the cemetery to talk to my ancestors. I left them food to eat, and water to drink, thoughts to comfort them. When my time comes, will I be ready? What if I don't want to die?
I built a house once. Its walls were strong and thick; there were windows on all sides that let in sunlight. The roof stood up under heavy snow and rain. I lived in this house a long time, then I moved away. I had children once. They were good children, though it seemed they would never grown up. Now they are gone. Their toys are put away. Their rooms have been swept clean. I see their faces in my dreams. That time is past; it is another time now. Soon my children will be as old as I am now.

I am alone, yet not alone. If God exists, it is a spirit that runs through me every moment, filling me with awe and caution, appreciation and the gift of creativity. I must be thankful for what is and stop thinkng about what is not.

If you had the opportunity, what in your life would you do differently? How would you choose your mate? Your lover? Your friends? Would you build a good house if you knew you had to leave it?

Mortality is the recognition of each day's purpose.

December, Night Fire Moon: Nuupapana
Meditation:
December's great path of the moon is suffering.
Out of suffering comes compassion for people we never noticed before, the ones in a crowd whose eyes we cannot meet. Out of suffering comes appreciation of what ws overlooked before: a sunset, a dawn, a butterfly, the delicate movement of light on a wall. How long does anything last?
What is the nature of your suffering? Illness or accident? Something you did not do right? It is too late for regret. If the stones of suffering are too heavy, drop them. If pain is unbearable, imagine another world of white light. Pink blossoms. A gently flowing stream. Music. The laughter of children. Make yourself live in this imaginary place until the pain moves on.

There is a reason for your suffering. Pain is part of the lesson. Tell it to scour your heart. Pain is a way to acquire new eyes and ears. To be quiet when you have always spoken. To take a journey when you'd rather stay at home. To do with your hands one thing that you are really proud ofl. Pain will make it beautiful. Pain makes reality possible.

This day is a gift. Do not waste a single moment. Hold snow in your hand until it melts. Notice the color of the sky. Listen to the wind. Watch a bird flying south. Smell winter on the wind. Suffering is the transformation of the self into a sharper, clearer world. There, loving kindness begins.

Taken from "Dancing Moons" by Nancy Wood