Between the Moon - 1. Why the Moon? intro episode with April

Episode Date: April 15, 2022

The origin of the name Between the Moon comes from the latin word Interlunium inter- meaning ("between”, “among") + lūna ("the Moon"); a period of darkness during the time of the new moon. This relates to the pause between the old and new when the moon is invisible - hidden in plain sight.Between the Moon opens the space for what is no longer and what is not yet. This liminal space of in-between and how we navigate the unknown through self-study in relationship with cycles. The moon is an amazing guide for how to value rest as integral to life. The moon is not always full and visible, but practices regular retreat. For me this became the lesson of: You don't have to wait to get sick to slow down.This podcast is my effort to create a container for the unfolding of a renewed relationship with our cyclical nature as beings on this beautiful life-sustaining planet, and to repair this relationship within ourselves.To learn more visit https://themoonismycalendar.com/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit themoonismycalendar.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome, dear listener, to Between the Moon, a podcast about self-study in relationship with cycles. I'm your host, April McMurtry, founder of the Moon is my calendar. In this episode, I'll share an introduction and some background for this work and answer the question, why the moon? The origin of the name, between the moon, comes from the Latin word interlunium, inter, meaning between or among, and Luna, the moon. From this we get interlunation, the interluner period, interlunio in Espagnon, a period of darkness during the time of the new moon. This relates to the pause between the old,

and the new when the moon is invisible, hidden in plain sight. On this podcast, we will explore the numerous and numinous cycles that help guide a meaningful life that is deeply connected to the natural world. I personally love sharing the intuitive language of the phases of the moon and the symbolic archetypal language of astrology. Between the moon opens the space for what is no longer, and what is not yet, this liminal space of in-between and how we navigate the unknown through self-study in relationship with cycles. Self-study is an ancient and contemporary practice that is

foundational to living intentionally and bringing us closer to uniting with our true self. This union or yoga is what the new moon represents in the cyclical merging with the sun, returning to source and separating again and again. Studying ourselves day by day, phase by phase, we can become more aware of the things we do or think that cause harm or disconnection, and also what serves well-being, radiance, and connection in our lives. By cultivating practices that reveal our projections, trace our reactions back to a belief, and look at life more clearly, we can begin to study thyself, discover the divine,

or what I like to say, follow the moon and find yourself. I came to connect with the moon through burnout and feeling like I had to prove myself through productivity, which was affecting my health and my relationships. Most mornings I was unable to get out of bed and suffered from the effects of adrenaline, fatigue and severe anemia. My children were never on time to school, and I always felt behind. I needed another model than what I had learned growing up, pushing myself and overriding the need for rest. This is a very common experience for most people I've talked to, and this is what the current extractive economic system relies on, the idea that rest has no value.

I didn't have the language at the time, but I've come to understand how this mode of go, go, go, can also be understood as an imbalance of the solar, young, active energy that needs the lunar qualities of receptivity and especially the wisdom of the dark phase of the new moon to regenerate. In the words of Demetra George, in her classic, dated yet still full of Gem's book, Mysteries of the Dark Moon, she writes. The purpose of the dark phase of any cycle is that of transition between the death of the old and the birth of the new. The dark time is a time of retreat, of healing, and of dreaming the future. The dark prefaces the light in the same way that gestation precedes birth, and sleep allows for rejuvenation.

In the human psyche, we experience dark periods when we feel turned inward and nothing seems to be happening. However, in retrospect, we often realize that these fallow times were germinal periods preceding outbursts of creativity and growth. The moon is an amazing guide for how to value rest as integral to life. The moon is not always full and visible, but practices regular retreat. For me, this became the lesson of, you don't have to wait to get sick in order to slow down. Aligning with lunar time involves unraveling from the linear boxes of exponential growth. It is connecting the beginnings to the endings and seeing all cycles as continuous, expanding and contracting like the breath. It's a way to acknowledge that

Nature offers us a loving timekeeper outside of economic systems and colonial constructs of productivity and scarcity. For me, this unraveling began in the living room of a dear friend and colleague, Sita Davis. During early motherhood, we began meeting on the new moon every month to connect and share our intentions and what we were composting from the previous cycle. We respected the moon on the moon's terms, rather than what was convenient for our schedules. After many cycles, the need for a container to track and record our intentions and experiences with the moon became evident. In the fall of 2014, I asked my husband, Jake, to help me translate a watercolor illustration I had made into a clear and precise,

circular calendar. And that's when the New Moon Calendar Journal began its first iteration. It soon became clear that the benefits of this tool, along with the practice of self-study in relationship with cycles, was meant to reach far beyond our living rooms. And so the moon is my calendar was born. At that time, I was just beginning to sense the depth of historical and cultural connections that all ancestors have had, and some continue to still have with our luminary lunar companion. But for many of us, like me, this connection had been ruptured and needed repair. This podcast is my effort to create a container for the unfolding of a renewed relationship with our cyclical nature as beings on this beautiful life-sacel.

sustaining planet, and to repair this relationship within ourselves. Why the moon? The moon is a mirror that helps us witness ourselves more clearly in relationship with change over time. Aligning with lunar time expands beyond the linear point A to point B and into the spiral nature of life. The moon reminds us that wholeness contains both brightness and shadows, absence and presence, waxing and waning, all of the apparent dualities and polarities that are actually continuous and interconnected and found within the many parallel cycles, including the breath cycle, the seasonal cycle, energy cycles, the menstrual cycle, life cycle, plant cycle, circadian rhythms of the day and night cycle, dream cycles, the water cycle, creative cycles,

the lunar cycle, and other planetary cycles, such as the Venus cycle, and more. This podcast itself began as a seed in winter about five years ago and has already been through one iteration. A question for me about starting projects like this is asking you. myself, is this a seed that I need to act on immediately? Or is this a glimpse of a future something that wants to unfold and develop and mature and ripen with time? I'm allowing this podcast about lunar wisdom, cycles of creativity, and living in alignment to be shared with you in a way that doesn't quite need to know what the final form is going to become. To not have to be to be seamless or figured out ahead of time, but to be changed by the process, acknowledging

that everything goes underground, then resurfaces, changed over and over. May these musings and conversations be of service to this vision of shifting the tides to embrace the ebb and the flow, the active and the receptive, the creative productivity, and the time of rest. to be more in season with ourselves and the ecologies where we exist so we can all thrive. Between the Moon is about learning to listen deeply and be guided by the wisdom and nature so that we can take better care of ourselves and each other and the Earth. Thank you for joining me on this journey and the practice of self-study, a practice of observing patterns and connections,

and knowing ourselves as a part of the whole. Thank you for being here. Your presence is a gift. If you like this podcast, please subscribe, leave a review, share it with a friend, all the things to help it reach more people who will benefit in some meaningful way. I'm April, and I'll be with you next time on Between the Moon.