Between the Moon - 10. Decoding the Lunar and Harvest Cycles with host April McMurtry

Episode Date: February 12, 2023

In today's episode we explore parallels between the lunar cycle and the harvest cycle. Let's feel into how the phases of the moon inform and map onto the twelve houses of the natal chart. I give a taste of each of the houses and how they may connect with the phases- this is all just the tip of the iceberg! Working with the moon is working with our inner landscape. Working with the Harvest Cycle is working with the movement of the sun through our birth chart throughout the solar year. The lunar cycle is like a mini-year. Both wax and wane, grow and release light and life.Listen and learn about what is possible when we weave these two cycles together. May this episode bring you into closer relationship with being in season with yourself. If you love these theme you are invited to join me for the Harvest Cycle Incubator: https://themoonismycalendar.com/harvest-cycle-incubatorMentions:Book of Houses by Robert Cole and Paul WilliamsThe Moon is my Calendar 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, we explore the lunar cycle and the harvest cycle. Some of the differences between the two and how one informs the other. and I hope that it brings a deeper connection with your relationship, both to cycles and being in season with yourself. Thank you for being here. Let's begin with the lunar cycle. This is the most intimate of all the planetary cycles.

It's the closest body and revolves around orbiting around the Earth. The length of time is more on a human scale, 29 and a half. half days. So the lunar cycle can almost be like training wheels for understanding some of the longer cycles. The harvest cycle connects us with the sun and the solar year. The lunar cycle is like a mini year. It's like a mini harvest cycle. It gives us a taste of and a sort of a smaller version of the longer unfolding. Working with the moon is working with our interior dimensions, our inner landscape, the inner growth, that which then finds its expression in the world through the harvest cycle.

When we can embody and understand energetically that we are just moving through a waxing and a waning, a growing and a releasing, then along the way we can notice more of those stages. How did we get from one place to the next, from the seed to the fruit? And that's what more of the harvest cycle is about. So one thing that I am curious about is how the eight phases map on to the 12 houses or stages. And so when we connect with and practice self-study in relationship with cycles, the moon can be a wonderful starting place. It can help us with just the repetition of what does it feel like to wax and wane over and over, to go from emptiness to fullness. How does it feel to be present with each phase?

And that's for a shorter amount of time so that it's almost like building that cyclical muscle to extend that out over a year or even some of the larger, longer cycles of our life. So the lunar cycle is within itself, there's a wholeness, all the phases together. And then as humans like to do, breaking it down into parts, it can be seen as having two halves, the waxing half and the waning half. And again, this parallels the solar year. the waxing half from the winter solstice growing in light the days getting longer in the year and the moon getting bigger and brighter more light reflected until reaching that fullness the next solstice in the summer just like the full moon that full expression in the longest days that is the

waxing half and then the waning half it begins gradually almost imperceptibly, both in the lunar cycle, but definitely in the solar year. It seems like summer is going to go on forever until all of a sudden. If you aren't paying attention and tracking with or moving with or seeing really how those shifts and changes are gradual, but they're moving in that waning direction of shorter days and in the lunar cycle less and less light. So two halves. And then from there, the lunar cycle can break down into four phases, just like the four seasons. In the year, there's the solstices and the equinoxes, and in the lunar cycle, the new and full, and then the quarter moons. So those parallel energies, again, of building up, finding expression,

and then releasing and letting go and waning. So what I'm curious about, how the expression of the harvest cycle is possibly an extension of the lunar cycle and how they might not map onto each other sort of one to one. So you'll hear me kind of play with some of those possibilities because I do want to leave room for you coming to your own conclusions, being in relationship and then really feeling in to see what is true. This is not a recipe or a formula that you just follow and get certain results. It's a dance and a relationship and a developing of your awareness, your receptivity, the ability to really notice subtle shifts, to see the signs and connections and make meaning for yourself. So I hope this episode is fruitful for you

in your exploration of both the lunar cycle and the harvest cycle. And when I say harvest cycle, I'm referring to the work of Robert Cole and Paul Williams in the book of Houses, an astrological guide to the harvest cycle in human life. This was the first book I saw written that made a bridge between the harvest cycle of growth and development of plants and the seeds of our own intentions and projects and creative work. of creating our life over the course of a year. And so this parallel or this bridge then doesn't involve too much astrological language. It's something if you are attuned with the seasonal cycle may feel natural and familiar. The harvest cycle then gives language to the timing of the sun. This is a year-long process. It tells us when the sun is entering each of the houses of our birth chart.

And these houses stand for different stages or phases in development. For example, beginning with the House of Choosing Seeds. So before anything comes up, emerges, bursts through the surface, there's a time of choosing seeds. And you may already feel into the parallels here of the lunar cycle and a time of setting intentions and setting our course before the cycle begins. Why is it that I'm doing this? What does this seed mean for me to choose where I want to put my energy and effort and attention?

So the house of choosing seeds when the sun is lighting up this particular area of our chart, which corresponds to the same dates each year, and is different and unique for each of us. So knowing our harvest cycle, yes, it's based on our birth chart and timing. It's also the relationship we have with certain times of year, where we may feel more of that visionary, energy of seeing and almost receiving the assignments for the year to come or for the many years to come. This would be the time of choosing seeds. Now in the beginning and before I worked with this framework, often I would receive those whispers and think that I needed to act on them immediately and see results right away.

Instead, what I've learned through the practice of self-study in relationship with cycles is that these are the messages and the seeds that want to be developed over time and unfold in their own timing. The next house then is the house of germination. And I would say the parallel between the harvest cycle and the house of germination. which is the 12th house, could be that time when the moon is no longer visible, the day before, the day during, and the day after the new moon, when the moon seems to disappear from the sky. The time of germination can be a time where there may be doubts and worries, that those seeds

that were chosen, there's nothing to show for them. there's nothing seemingly happening yet they're underground doing their own thing out of sight and so this is a time of trust both of these cycles the harvest cycle the lunar cycle are invitations into trusting the process trusting the unfolding whether that's with the harvest cycle over the whole year with the timing of the sun or with the lunar cycle and the opening up of the phases of the moon when it's waxing and the releasing of the phases and the light and the waning. After germination then is the house of seeing the sun, and this is the time often where there is a new fresh burst of energy.

This is like the revival. This is like the rebirth. this is sort of parallel to the spring equinox and this is actually your personal spring equinox whatever your your first house which marks the ascendant in the birth chart imagine that being like your personal spring equinox where things start to feel possible there's things that are perhaps showing themselves, having sort of visual proof of the seeds. Some of these stages of the harvest cycle, there's more active, if we consider ourselves the gardener of our life, taking a more active role. And other times it alternates between

activity and receptivity. So it's this pulsing of energy. And in that way, I would say the harvest cycle is similar to the lunar cycle, in that the lunar cycle gives us the pulse of energy of the waxing, the expanding, the growing, the reaching out. And then the more inward energy of the waning, of the emptying out. So each has its own energetic template. The lunar cycle unfolds over 29 and a half days,

phase by phase, gradually over time. Because the harvest cycle is a whole year and works again with the timing of the sun entering each house of your birth chart at certain times of year. it can be a little easier to lose track of what stage am I in, what phase is this? So after the house of seeing the sun is the house of putting down roots. And this may be that time of year when it's really important to look at what are the resources needed to support this vision, this dream, this seed, this project, this relationship, whatever it may be that you're really, focusing your energy and attention on what is the nourishment that's that's needed perhaps it's getting finances in order perhaps it's certain skills or tools but this is a time with

putting down roots of making sure that there's support there that there's ground to grow from in some ways it's almost like stabilizing to let the seeds be if there are resources that are needed that you don't have immediate access to what might be the conversations that need to happen to bring in nourishment for the roots. After that comes the house of exploratory growth. So this can be a time when then more conversations might be happening, perhaps doing some research, almost being a student of those seeds, starting to kind of test the waters and see where does this fit into my world? Who else is a part of this? because there's a lot of exploration that may happen in the in this is the third house when the sun is there next moving into the house of pruning and weeding

and in the book of houses this is called heritage day um this is at the bottom of the chart and this is parallel to almost the the your own personal summer solstice um and in that way with the lunar cycle. It's really interesting as I feel into all of it where the parallels are because it would seem like it would be the full moon. And yet the harvest, the actual house of harvest is at the top of the chart in the 10th house,

the peak before then beginning again with choosing seeds. So what is the day? difference between the lunar cycle and the harvest cycle, I would say there's parallel energy, there's a similar template of creation of something coming into form, just as the moon appears to come into form and grow day by day and phase by phase. And a plant or a fruit tree that takes its course over the year to grow new leaves, to grow buds, to put out flowers and attract pollinators that then pollinate and the flower becomes the fruit and develops its own seeds

inside. Although there are these parallels, the one-to-one correlation is something I'm playing with. And so even as I'm speaking out loud, usually the sun is the sun. The full moon, right, is more like the sun. The full moon is the fullest. It's the brightest. It casts shadows. It lights up the night. It makes the dark visible, meaning able to see in the dark.

So even though that parallel is there, it's not quite one to one. So if you've been playing with these two cycles in particular, it's definitely something to be curious about and notice. So up to the house of pruning and weeding, again, just like your personal summer solstice, this is a time to see where there may be too many seeds growing, too many ideas, too much going on. It's a time to pare down. It's a time to get back to the essence, perhaps even focus more on the home and family, chosen family, biological family, stabilizing home base, and also seeing where there may be branches or things that are branching off that can be pruned back that help to consolidate energy and also to almost shape the direction

that things are going to go in. And so this also can be a time for doing deeper ancestral work, healing lineage, the things on the family tree that may be weighing things down. So this can be also in a fruit tree with too many branches and too many, like too much to bear the fruits, then the branches will end up breaking. So strengthening your structures, which can start with a home base to be able to hold the harvest. From there, moving into the house of creative growth. And as I said before, there's time to be more active. Pruning and weeding is a very active activity. It takes discernment and it takes commitment to what is going to be weeded and pulled out and what is going to be pruned. The next house then

is a time to actually enjoy and play and let the growing happen. So whatever the seeds have, the tending to the seeds, to make sure that there's a healthy start, that there's the best conditions possible. And none of this is perfect. And planting and working with the soil and the seasons, there's, yes, there's an energetic template, but it has so many variables.

in terms of rain and warmth and temperature and sunlight, all of these things that are variables in the environment. And so with the harvest cycle in our own personal life, working with this as a guide and as a framework, not a guaranteed recipe, but something that can be helpful in seeing where to focus our energy. So the creative growth time then is allowing for the seeds to grow and perhaps stepping back and giving breathing room and giving yourself

a break to just have more more time to do the things that you enjoy that may be setting the work down for a moment stepping away and it's almost like feeding yourself and nourishing yourself through creativity that doesn't have to have an end result of some harvest, but doing it for the sake, like art for the sake of art or play for the sake of play, this is also called the house of the child, inner child, and the things that just really delight you and getting reconnected with that. So from here, moving into the house of budding and flowering. And so the creative growth time is in preparation for a more active time. This I would call the house, house of health. Here in the book of houses, it's called the healer. Each house can call up different

lessons. And when I first started working with the book of houses, this is the house that I got really sick in. And almost the whole year I was rebuilding my health. And so that's when I started to really start paying attention. The outcome of that was then finding a practitioner to work with on a regular basis so that my health was supported throughout the year rather than just in crisis. This was really, really important turning point. This is the house of budding and flowering, meaning it's the time that's asking us to put our life force into something that will become the harvest. So when, for example, the pomegranate tree that I planted with my neighbor about three three years ago. And it takes a lot of effort and energy for the tree to put out flowers. And this is

still a small tree. And so the buds are there and they open and then soon after they fall off with no fruit. Part of this is because the tree doesn't have isn't big enough to support the harvest. But this may be something that happens too. So much effort is put into the budding and flowering. And this was true in my case of just overextending myself beyond my own reserves, that that's when I got sick. So this is just a reminder to during this time sort of review your own daily habits, you know, where your energy is going into and are you able to replenish that and really even seeing like what does what replenishes you? Is it more rest or is it more, you know, dancing or things of movement?

this time that then is another way really of creating that foundation so that when the harvest comes that there is a rhythm to life that supports health as much as possible. And again, this is learning. So there may be some years of going through the harvest cycle of making adjustments. And some of that is done in hindsight. So the next house is the house of pollination and the sharing day. And this would be almost like your personal fall equinox time, the seventh house of the companion. And so this is then who is coming into be a part of whatever this project is or this seed.

What are the agreements with that person? What are maybe the contracts? And how is it that they're involved? And what is your relationship? How is it that you can surrender into support? So this time then in thinking of what's the difference between the lunar cycle and the harvest cycle, at this point, you know, in the lunar cycle, there's a kind of a sharing of the light, almost like a beam or a lighthouse or a beacon of, hey, I've done all this like groundwork. So now who wants to come see and be a part of. of it. It's almost like coming up from the horizon. You know, I would say it's the last quarter

phase of the moon in some ways because that parallels the season and the time of the year of the fall equinox. But again, it's not quite a one-to-one because this is still in the building time of the harvest cycle. And the last quarter moon is more in that release time. So in some ways it could be the release of all right i've got this idea this project going on and letting people know about it so from there moving into the house of reproductive growth so this is the actual then the fertilization um when two become three um when two parts of the plant then the pollination happening that then creates the fertilization for the fruit to form. And this is called the House of the Lover in the book, page 89.

It says, ultimately, we work on our dreams for the same reasons we make love, to satisfy an immediate, not quite explainable desire, and to take a chance at creating something that will survive us, that will transcend our mortal limitations. So this dream seed or these dream plants of acting out a ritual of death and rebirth at the same time. So that fertilization and the flower part is dying, the petals are falling, that part that seems like the culmination of the flower, was just setting the stage for that great mystery of fertilization to begin, for the fruit to begin to form. and that's that rebirth into this form of the fruit.

So the time of the harvest then where there's, it's almost like that mystery, the unknown that the alchemy that happens, especially when we're in co-creation, where we're not trying to control the outcome of how the seeds, how the dreams, how the project, the relationship, whatever it might be, how that's going to come into form,

guiding it and being with the mystery of the unfolding. The lunar cycle is such a great teacher as it gives us this little mini version of the harvest cycle. So each lunar cycle then, we get to play with the themes within the lunar cycle of death and rebirth, of reaching out and going inward. And then with the sun and the harvest cycle, extending that out over. a whole year. This beautiful time. So the eighth house, this union of coming together, I underlined a lot in this chapter. Something beautiful is created every time you share a moment of true intimacy with another being. When you let yourself, when there's a kind of emerging that happens. So this is the eighth house, the house of reproductive growth. So from here moving into the house of fruition. So after that merging,

then, the fruit begins to be visible. And this is also a house of patience because it's not yet. It's like picking a fruit too soon of, oh my gosh, I'm seeing the results. And yet there's a sweetness that is developed through the maturing and the ripening process. And so again, in this pulse, this is that time of allowing, of kind of stepping back, of being able to almost set the stage, for what comes next that's more active, where the harvesting begins. So it may be, you know, again, this time of trusting that the growth is happening, that whatever has gone into this seed over the harvest cycle, that it will come into some form. What's really beautiful about working with cycles is that there is an opportunity to almost look at the results as part of a process

that informs the next cycle. So it isn't about getting it right and getting it perfect and then just repeating that. It's about how can I continue to refine? How can I see the results of a particular harvest and make adjustments? And so there is patience that's involved and along with the trust, but also the discernment to see how is it? that I'm applying myself and my own energy into this. And am I, you know, benefiting and reaping the results or the rewards in a way that feels

meaningful? Am I creating something that I can share with others? You know, when you think about what it is that you want to harvest, that may be the harvesting of community. So if there's a tangible thing that's, I want to start a podcast or I want to write a book or whatever that more tangible manifestation is, what is it that you want to be harvesting from that? You know, there's steps along the way to writing a book

and steps along the way to a podcast and not necessarily one recipe that's right for everybody. But when we're connecting in with what are the results that I hope to have, how will I know that it's coming into form, and how can I be okay with it having, for example, with a podcast, having a certain amount of listeners, is that what lets you know that it's the harvest has been fruitful? Or is it that one person wrote to you and said, thank you so much for that conversation. It was really meaningful.

So when we have a sense of what we're basing the success of our harvest on, it can help us along the way through all of the stages. And so when we're sort of arriving at this ninth house, the, called the time of the believer, the setting the stage for, and being in that place of waiting of not yet for the harvest to come. Okay. So this then brings us to the 10th house, the top of the chart, the mid-heaven, the house of harvest, and the provider. So this in many ways is like the energy of the energy of the,

the full moon. However, it is your own personal winter solstice. And if you think of in the year and the seasons, winter solstice is often a time of gift giving, of gratitude, of appreciation and reflection on the year and looking back over what came into form. Because the harvest cycle is based on our own birth chart, when the sun is trawomenes. traveling through or transiting each of those houses, that date will be different for each of us depending on our own unique chart. So my personal winter solstice is closer to the springtime. So I make, I just take note of that and I make adjustments and play with it and curiosity, almost if you were given a recipe and you want to make your own modifications or try things out in your own way.

that's how I that's how both I've worked with the harvest cycle and I support other people in in playing with that for themselves as well. So harvest day, harvest time. Once you have this date for your chart, it's interesting to look back to the previous years. If you've practiced self-study in relationship with cycles in the New Moon Calendar and Journal, looking back to those specific dates and just seeing if there's any kind of something that stands out around that time, a couple days before, a couple days after, that's kind of an indicator of the direction that your harvest wants to go. What I mean by that, for example, in my experience last year, I was asked to give a presentation, and it just happened to be on my harvest cycle day, the beginning of the 10th house. and what that indicated to me is that that was a presentation that was almost a culmination of years of work,

but that it was also the direction to keep moving in. So the little almost like the little winks from the universe or the little the signs or serendipities, once we have these dates and work with the themes of the houses, we can begin to, by listening and by both listening, and observing, start to align ourselves more and more. And I always take it with a grain of salt, and yet I always see these alignments and people who've shared what's come up in their harvest cycle, in their life.

It's pretty astounding. It's pretty magical. So that's why I love to share about it. And in making this episode, hopefully you can see how the parallel energy of the lunar cycle has a similar progression. and so after the culmination of the harvest, the seeds, it's almost like it's moving into what can be shared, whatever the bounty that has been created through your life, your work,

you're unfolding, how that gets shared with others, and how within that there are seeds for the next cycle. there isn't a cycle or a stage sort of named the time of the composting, right? Within the lunar cycle, the second half or the waning is more of the time of digesting and possibly breaking down or composting and releasing. So within the harvest cycle, again, there is the lunar cycle. So working with both simultaneously. And again, this is something that's developed over time.

in relationship and how to simultaneously have that awareness of the lunar cycle of the waxing and the waning, the fullness and the emptiness, along with the longer cycle, the year-long cycle of the harvest cycle. Where do those overlap? How to sometimes navigate the energy of the cross-currents or push and pull. All of this work, whichever cycles you may be working with, can help support us in transitioning with more ease and not resisting change, resisting the different phases or stages of growth and of release and surrender to create something and have something to offer, to share, to give back. And so the beauty of weaving these two cycles together, then it can give us language

to talk about our experience and locate ourselves of where we find ourselves either in a seed stage or a growing or blooming stage or in more of the fruition or in that stage of sharing, of releasing, of composting, to be able to identify that and see that we're all at different stages and phases, which often can help to gain an appreciation and not compare ourselves to others knowing that we each have our time. And there may be more of the clearing of the path and the lessons that need to be learned from the different houses to really have the conditions for a fruitful harvest. If you love the themes from this episode as much as I do,

I invite you to join me in the 10-week course of the Harvest Cycle Incubator to tend to your own harvest cycle and community. so you can create space for coherence, creativity, and connection within this organic framework. Visit the moon is my calendar.com to learn more. And if you haven't already ordered your copy of the 2023 New Moon Calendar and Journal, those are still available in the shop while supplies last. I hope you've enjoyed this episode of Between the Moon.

Thank you for listening. and thank you for all the ways you support the work of The Moon is My Calendar. It is a pleasure to share. 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.