Between the Moon - Ep 27: Role of Gestation in Creative Cycles

Episode Date: March 1, 2025

Today’s podcast is a solo episode about the role of gestation in creative cycles while exploring the nature of simultaneous and sequential cycles and how lunar tracking and plants help us deepen our trust when faced with the unknown.Listen and explore:* the role of gestation in creative cycles* how cycle can be both simultaneous and sequential* the differences between trust and faith* themes of the pisces new moon* accessing imagination and fertile visions* pacing with plants to connect creativity with seasonality* a personal story connected with the lunar gestational cycleLearn how lunar tracking and plant kin help us deepen our trust while experiencing the gestational phase. I hope this episode helps you become inspired and feel more connected with your unique creative cycles, especially if you are feeling stuck.creative cyclesCycles are waves when you unfold them, and part of lunar tracking is to learn to ride your our energetic waves. This isn’t about getting it perfect or hacking your life to always be productive, rather to be in-season with yourself and the world around and within you.gestation: development over a period of timeMost everything has a gestational period, which is like the hang time between something ending and beginning. It’s a phase. And it’s energetically connected with the sign of Pisces and the activities of the 12th house.“The twelfth house is about getting ready. You do this by letting your dream vision permeate every cell in your body the work of germination is to really let that vision soak into all the different areas of your life, especially your internal life, and darkness and quiet.”simultaneous cyclesThe experience of simultaneous cycles is found in the overlap and coexistence of past, present, and future. Simultaneous cycles expand our awareness into pattern recognition which exists outside of linear time. A simple way to experience the fractal nature of time is singing happy birthday!! This is a ritual that is a part of simultaneous cycles that include:- the solar cycle and the return of the personal new year - the life cycle connecting back to childhood and the repetition of cyclesIn astrology/astronomy, “returns” are when a planet comes back around to the same position where it was during a given moment. A lot comes up during returns like solar returns (aka birthdays) because it is a touchstone and offers a chance to be in the space of overlapping cycles.If you follow astrology then you can probably name several significant collective returns happening right now (Venus Rose Cycle Return and the US Pluto Return to name a few). The trick is to notice what is surfacing from the past in the present moment, to make a choice about the future — not just re-live the cycle like a broken record. This is why lunar tracking is so vital and can help illuminate our experience of overlapping cycles!!sequential cyclesIn sequential cycles, everything has a beginning, middle, and end. This is a more linear way of experiencing a cycle. For example, the lunar cycle starts with the new moon, waxes to fullness, and then wanes to new again. In that sequential order. Sequential cycles are expressed through the signs of the tropical zodiac and the three modalities:Cardinal signs = BeginningsFixed signs = Middles Mutable signs = Ends (moving between different states to change out of the old and into something new: here, the end becomes the beginning)Mutable signs are the death and rebirth doulas of the zodiac.They are the most liminal and able to be in a place of not here nor there. A third space born out of a relationship between two things.Pisces is a mutable water sign. It expresses the dreams of the artist and the prayers of the spirit worker. Pisces is the point where the mouth and tail meet. It’s the invisible bridge between waking and sleep.lunar gestational cycleIn many ways the lunar gestational cycle is a hybrid cycle: both simultaneous and sequential. It echos backwards and forwards in a simultaneous call and response to the moon in the same sign yet different phase. It is also sequential in that moving forward at 9 month intervals.I share a personal story about the upcoming Full Moon in Virgo and working with this particular gestational cycle.New Moon: Sept 14/15th 2023First Quarter: June 13/14th 2024Full Moon: March 13/14 2025 ← upcoming eclipseLast Quarter: Dec 11th 2025)) If you love this episode, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify - thanks so much for listening! ((Thank you for being here, your presence is a gift!!AprilSHOWNOTES / LINKS* Join the New Moon Workshop in Pisces: GESTATE March 1, 2025 10-11am Pacifichttps://themoonismycalendar.thrivecart.com/new-moon-workshop-in-pisces/* Subscribe on Substack: https://substack.com/@betweenthemoon * The New Moon Calendar Journal is available in the shop! This simple and beautiful circular calendar and journal establishes the new moon as the starting point for each monthly cycle. It provides a structure for connecting to your inner wisdom and natural rhythms. Order your copy with code MANYMOONS for $5 off while supplies last!https://themoonismycalendar.com/new-products 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. Welcome to today's episode. I'm April, and there are a whole lot of new subscribers here on Substack, where this podcast between the moon is published. You can listen to Between the Moon on any podcast platform, but if you want all of the images and notes and everything that go along with it, then head on over to The Moon is My Calendar, substack, or at Between the Moon.

It's both. I don't know how that works, but I actually think that you can get to it both ways. I'll put the links in the show notes. Okay, so today's episode I'm really excited to share with you. This is a solo episode with me, myself, and I. For those of you who don't know me already, I am the founder of The Moon is My Calendar.

I've been publishing the circular New Moon Calendar and journals for the last 11 years. And I'm an artist and a mother, and I have more creative projects and ideas that I have time in the day for. I also work in the garden, and nature has always been my teacher. That is true with flowers.

That is true with the moon. And this episode, we're going to bring those two together, the lunar cycle, harvest cycle, and look at the difference between what I'm calling simultaneous cycles and returns, and then sequential cycles. So hopefully this episode will give you a lot of food for thought. A lot of the ways that I teach is to share seeds of ideas that then you can take and bring into your life and have them grow and bloom, whichever ones really take root.

It's not a pun. It's a way of relating to the world and life through the lens of the sense of the development of the life cycle of plants and of projects and creative cycles. Okay. So to begin with, what is gestation and what is the role of gestation in creative cycles? So gestation simply means the development over a period of time. Often it's referred to specifically like the gestation of, like in mammals how long it takes for a baby child of that mammal to be born on average.

But in general, gestation is just the development over some period of time. Gestation then, as it relates to creative cycles, is the place where the most trust is required. because often things are not visible or on the surface or in the mode of creating. It is the role of sometimes it's rest, but sometimes it's just under the surface, the things in our subconscious, the things that we're bringing in that will later form into something more cohesive. and the reason why this takes the most trust. And in a moment, I'll talk about the difference between trust and faith,

is simply because we don't know yet, we haven't yet experienced what the thing is going to be. And for those of you who have been pregnant before, I have two children, and being, it was like the initial, into the unknown and trusting the process was life-changing. I mean, it's life-altering. So the things that are out of our control, and in the gestation of the development and the time that something takes, we as humans often don't control that timeline as much as we set

deadlines for things. projects and ideas and almost everything that that we bring into the world also has its own sense of when it's ready. And so rushing something or forcing something doesn't necessarily help it be ready any sooner. So trust and faith. This came up in one of my yoga teachers last week was talking about the difference between trust and faith. And trust, this was helpful. So just see if this resonates with you. You don't have to take it as the truth. You don't have to take anything I say as the truth. Please filter it through your own senses and sensibility and all of that. So trust is like,

seeing is believing. So I can trust something because I've seen it before or I've done it before. And so like I can trust that I'll be able to get on a bike and ride the bike because it's something that I know how to do. I can trust that like over the last 11 years, every fall when it's time to turn in the files, so much about trusting the process comes up, even though I've seen it through year after year, it tests my ability to trust it and to remember and lean into that knowing of even though I'm not sure that it's going to turn out or it feels like maybe possibly this time something will go wrong. To trust then is to rely on some past experience of something coming to be when it has gone from no form to a form.

Faith then is not having any evidence. And so maybe the gestational period of the creative process actually requires more faith. Because unless it's something that you've done over and over, and I would say for myself with the moon calendars, it's different every single year and the artwork is different and so it does feel like an active of there's both the faith and the trust are at play so something that can there's two things that really not even two there are so many i'm going to name two one is our breath that trusting and the faith

that when we exhale the next inhale will come. And this is why meditation practices can be so powerful in connecting with times of uncertainty with the unknown and being present with each breath, really as its own miracle in itself. Something else that helps with trust and faith and the gestational period of all creative cycles is really being present and aware at the beginnings of the shift in seasons. And so here in the Northern Hemisphere, the early signs of spring have already begun. And this is a part of how lunar tracking and connecting with the seasons can help us to really be in present moment awareness, both of our life as it's unfolding and also of all the other processes

of development and life cycles of the plants. And I was just messaging somebody today who shared a story about just the seasonal transitions and the difficulties around winter and really so much is dormant and appears to be dead. A lot of it is just like waiting underground for the right conditions to emerge. And so that is exactly the gestational,

time of creative cycles as well. And that role is in the waiting for the conditions. Sometimes it might feel like the conditions are never going to come. And so in our lives, how do we set things up so that the conditions are more possible? For example, with the creative process, writing every day, showing up, creating something every day, or just even if it's not producing. I don't necessarily work that way where I'm like drawing every single day. Sometimes the work is in the dream time and the dream space and the, the noticing what's happening around me and taking that in as food and fuel and being in a more receptive state. We don't have to always be in productive state. But the likelihood

to create conditions for writing a book or for creating a series of artwork are to show up and do that thing more regularly. So in the natural world, and as I said, I just message somebody about how flowers are such faithful friends, the flowers and the early blooms that come in spring that come as a reminder that after death comes life, that rebirth is possible, and that at least for now, seasonally, there are certain plants that are timekeepers in the way that they reliably will show a shift in seasons and a shift in temperature because they're waiting for a particular condition. Now, a botanist or biologist would be able to go.

into way more specifics. And I love the way that in the book Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmer, she does talk about certain plants as timekeepers because of that fact of their arrival marks a particular shift in the season. What I wanted to share about that was how perhaps you already have this. But if not, I wanted to share this seed or this idea. of having like a pacing partner. If those words make sense to you, I'm going to think of another way to describe it if they don't. Pacing, like on the racetrack, right,

where there's like the pace car, where like you keep pace with it. So a pacing partner, just like keeping pace, I'm not a runner, but I suppose that translates there as well. But working with a plant as a pacing partner, seasonally. And I have several of these in my life, actually probably a lot, many of them, at different times that spark different senses of the timing of things and pacing with them, then it can mean different things. So for me, there's a particular, the California Buckeye tree

is a tree that I pace with all year round that I'm checking in with about where I'm at with certain projects and where the tree that like has a reliable and very distinct, um, distinct phases of development that mark the season as it's unfolding and to pace with the Buckeye then is like, okay, I'm seeing the leaves are all coming out and that means a particular thing to me personally. So I'm just sharing that as a way to bring in that support from the plant kingdom to work alongside with on creative projects. And I, you know, as these things that I'm sharing, there's been a lot that's in a gestational period for me in terms of wanting to hold more

open up to sharing space to share more of these themes in community. And it's not quite there yet. And I know I could try to force it, but I know in the past that when I've pushed something along when the opening wasn't quite there yet, it just led to me getting sick and burning out. And so noticing energetic cycles, then that part of that awareness is what lunar tracking can help us to be in season with ourselves and know when it is actually time to push forward. And that is when the gestation moves into the next phase of development. It's when the coating on the seed, like the conditions of moisture and warmth are there to open up,

to then send the root down and begin the unfolding. And that feels like it's there. I was describing to another a muse, muse sister about this feeling of like inside of popcorn kernels right before they all get to that point of like bursting. And that's a little what it feels like inside for me. And it feels that way often upon the arrival of spring. Okay. So hopefully that gives you some food for thought.

I also wanted to just share a couple of things. I'm recording this around the Pisces New Moon and the season of Pisces. And so I wanted to share some themes from that, how that connects with gestation, and then talk a little bit about cycles that are simultaneous and some that are sequential and how you could bring this into your practice of lunar tracking. And I'm imagining most of you listening already have a new moon calendar and journal to practice lunar tracking in. If you don't, there are still some available in the shop. So I will put the link to that in the show notes as well. And there's tutorials on the website. Okay.

So Pisces season is in the harvest cycle. So there's a book that I talk about a lot, a little obsessed with, that I am working on. not rewriting, but like updating and creating a version based on work that I've shared in the past and we'll share in the future. The book is called The Book of Houses, the Astrological Guide to the Harvest Cycle in Human Life. And it was written by two astrologers who are no longer on this planet. But it's a very sweet little guide in that connection between astrology and natural cycles and the timing. And so this looks at the timing of when the sun transits or passes through each of the houses in our own chart. But basically the way that it's set up is to see the spring equinox as that time of the return of the sun, the return of light,

and connecting with the first house or the ascendant. And then backing up from there, the 12th house is the season before. So spring equinox sets the zero degrees aries in the tropical zodiac. And then sequentially before that is Pisces. And connecting with the 12th house. And that is the phase or the time of germination and gestation. Backing up from there to the 11th house where the harvest cycle, it's hard to say where any cycle really begins because of the continuity.

But we could say that the harvest cycle begins there, the 11th house, with choosing seeds. And so that is often a season where a lot of seed catalogs go out in Aquarius season. So January, February, choosing the seeds. And then once the seeds are in the ground is when that trust and faith begins of, are there the right conditions? Are the seeds going to be inspired to grow? And so in the gestational phase, there's kind of this waiting. And that can be experienced like a hang time of not free falling necessarily,

but being in that hang time between something being planted and then the thing actually growing, that there's a process that's happening. And that happens in our creative life as well. And if you feel inspired and want to share a comment about how you've experienced that, I love to hear how other people experience their creative cycles because there is such a mystery around them that I, in my work, I want to give more language and, um, and tools to navigate because it's really so often being confronted with the unknown, especially when you're working in what feels like sometimes creating something out of nothing. Like as in not AI, just putting in a prompt, but actually drawing from your own like belly and caldron and heart and everything

and bringing something out that hasn't been created before. So in the 12th house then, which connects with the themes of Pisces, I'm going to just read a little bit from this book, the Book of Houses. When the seed perceives itself to be in hospitable surroundings, the right temperature, moisture, soil conditions, it lets down its guard, and the magic of germination can take place. Okay, and it goes on. The 12th house is a time of getting ready.

You do this by letting your dream vision permeate every cell in your body. Let it go all through you and become part, not just of your mind or whatever you wish with, but of your whole being so that it is reflected automatically in your every thoughts and action. The work of germination is to really let that vision soak into all the different areas of life, especially your internal life in darkness and in quiet. This is not an easy process. Would you agree? I would agree.

This is where the doubts and the fears can come up, and that's why I brought in that conversation about trust and faith, that distinguishing, and really both of those are at play when doubts and fears arise and what is it to have it's almost like those seeds are something that each of us are longing for that we perhaps don't see in this world and to allow them, I love that language, to soak in to every cell of the body, to really permeate so that our being, that we are like vibrating with that potential and with the conditions and showing up and being present and noticing where the openings are, that is a part of the tending to our own life as a garden and these seeds that arrive sort of, you know, can arrive the pre-germination, right, that the seeds are already present.

There's a song from my childhood that goes, the seed is the flower's intuition. So how is it that being with the germination and the gestation part of the creative cycle connects us deeper into our intuition and into the listening and the trusting and the having ways to handle or deal with the doubts, which are, I think, just inevitable. I don't know. Maybe some people are doubt-free, but I think the doubts are there to help point out what it is that we can address to create the best conditions for that thriving and flourishing. So one other thing I wanted to say about Pisces is that the symbol itself is like this bridge. There's this bridge and that bridge is often invisible.

There's a, I don't know if you've seen the, I think it's a Pixar movie Onward that came out in 2020. I watched it with my kids and there's a scene in there that's like this invisible bridge scene where there's two brothers and one has this magic spell and then is able to walk across this chasm on thin air through this spell. And initially the older brother has this rope, you know, that's our safety net, right? Like, okay, I will go out on a limb if I have this safety net or this rope to catch me. Okay, that's pretty smart. And that's like our egos protecting our ourselves, like wanting to stay safe. And then the rope runs out and the younger brother thankfully doesn't turn around to see that because like the message, I mean, yeah, the message of like really believing in ourselves and our abilities and the magic and when we're like stepping forward into the unknown to trust each step of the way.

It's a bit extreme to like imagine doing that over a deep canyon. But that's the invisible bridge. That is the space of Pisces to go from and move in between realms where there's a dream or a vision or a sense or something that the intuition has shared. that then to cross this invisible bridge to bring it into reality. And so this can be a practice in our own personal lives and our creative, whatever it is that we're creating, where we're taking things, even like ingredients in the kitchen,

and putting them together in some way to create something that didn't exist before in a very daily way. And then looking more collectively envisioning like what is not yet seen. Like what's on that next horizon that has this invisible bridge to get to and what is what is there? And that's the kind of dreaming space of Pisces. So I'll be sharing more. in I have a new moon workshop. It's coming up tomorrow. So if you're listening to this when it's released, then you're welcome to register and sign up and join us.

The last thing that I wanted to share is about the sequential and simultaneous cycles. So I was thinking about this in the way that some experience of cycles can feel simultaneous. And by that, I mean coming back around and experiencing the past, present, and possibly future all simultaneously. So I give an example of like singing happy birthday, that that's this ritual that's simultaneous in nature because it's marking the solar return of our personal new year or our birthday. At the same time, it's connecting back to every other time we've sung. happy birthday

and throughout childhood. So there's a repetition of cycles. And so those are the returns. So it's where astronomy and astrology kind of like meet up of this precise place of where the sun was or where we were in relationship with the sun at your birth. And that marks this birthday.

So it gives a touch point or a milestone, right? to see the overlapping cycles and kind of take stock of like that moment and dropping into this fractal nature of time of past, present, and future. And so right now there's many, there's always returns that are happening, like collective returns and the birthday is this personal return. There's a solar return, a lunar return, every planet that returns, right? Saturn return. And right now, collectively, we're about to experience the Venus rose cycle return.

So this is an eight-year cycle that Venus comes back around to almost the precise exact place, just two degrees off, where it was eight years ago in 2017. So it gives this chance to reflect back these different timelines and to see what were the themes then and how have they developed, like gone through their own gestational process, over those eight years. So there's many returns that are happening. So seeing what's resurfacing from the past, like in the present moment, and then being able to make decisions or choices or course correcting for the future with

that information. And that's why lunar tracking can be so powerful. It really does lay a groundwork for understanding other overlapping cycles. It is like these training. reigning wheels that can help us to strengthen that muscle and that understanding of how things come back around and in relationship, especially to our own personal life and energetic cycles, and just coming back around now to this Pisces time of year. To see possibly like what are the activities, what are the things that you feel most called to

engage in in this time of year and in this season and trusting your own knowing to, even if that's not what everybody else is doing, to really, to be true to yourself. And I feel like the harvest cycle is one of those tools that helps us to know how to do that. So there's the collective seasonal harvest cycle where the season of Pisces corresponds with the time of gestation or germination that leads to the Ares, and this is where the sequential cycles come in, right, where there's Pisces, then leads to Ares. The Cardinal Spring and the fire sign, that is like the rebirth of energy and of the life cycle and all of that where things are more above ground and happening and it's visible, whereas all the trusting that came before through the gestation. leads to Ares that then leads to Taurus. And so the seasons go through these sequential beginnings and middles and ends. Pisces is, those are the cardinal signs that begin the season,

the fixed signs that are the middles and hold them in place, and then the mutable signs that shift them from one season to the next. And so Pisces is that mutable water sign. It's water without any container, it's eternal. It's the depths of the ocean and the relationship with the unknown. It moves us in and out and back and forth between winter and spring, like temperature-wise and light and just feeling that in between, often very liminal space. It's a lot like the balsamic moon, the time before. the end of the cycle. And that's also how lunar tracking and working with the moon and lunar time

helps us strengthen that, fortify our faith and our trust in endings and beginnings, because often the ending comes first, almost always, the ending comes first, before that invisible bridge that's made by walking, taking those steps through the unknown to, get to then the other side of beginning. And in the lunar cycle, that's three days. That's the day before the new moon, the day of the new moon, and the day after, where the moon is not visible and gone from sight. And really, in that germination, gestation, under, I mean, the moon isn't underground,

but if the moon were a seed, it would be underground before then resurfacing. With the sequential cycles, then we have the order of the signs of the zodiac that help to mark progressive unfolding. We have the phases of the moon that are sequential. It's not necessarily that they are linear, but they go in a particular order. And then we have the lunar gestational cycle, which is something if you've been in my orbit for a while, then you've heard me share about this, and it might be something you've brought into your own practice. This was written about first by, not first,

but the first I came about it was from an astrologer named Dietrich Pesson. And she outlined these families of moons that develop over nine-month periods of time, all in the same sign from New Moon. And in the notes for this podcast, I have the example coming up for this full moon that's coming up, the full moon in Virgo, tropical Virgo is a lunar eclipse, that the new moon for that, that lunar gestational cycle started September 14th or 15th, depending on your time zone, back in 2023. So if you look back to that date and I will share, because I got a question actually,

the last time I shared about the lunar gestational cycle, about actually let me read done to done the question was how do you tap into the growth potential of the lunar gestational cycle as opposed to a monthly lunar cycle curious curious to hear if you have any personal stories on layering these okay I love this question um I got it well it's almost been a month that I've been sitting with it because I it really got to the heart of something and And that is what is at the heart of all cycles. Whether we're talking about a monthly lunar cycle, which is a shorter period of time,

or the lunar gestational cycle, which unfolds nine months out of time, that's sequential, and yet it returns back to the same sign. So we have, we're revisiting that same place in our chart. we're revisiting like any of the configurations of where the moon is. There's a return. So it's also this simultaneous and fractal nature.

Okay, so what is at the heart of all cycles? And that, to me, what came through is it's our relationship with change. It's our relationship of patterns that repeat and the shifts that have. happen through how it is we bring our awareness to not just repeat the same thing over and over and over. Like that would be a cycle that just is a broken record. And so that the heart of all of these is our relationship with change. And a cycle is also a wave. If you take a circle and you unfold that circle, it becomes the sine wave. So it becomes this pattern of a wave. So the question, about how do you tap into the growth potential?

Some of that is knowing and feeling into where is the wave, the energetic wave or the creative wave, and how are you riding that wave each cycle? Because if you're paddling against the current the whole time or fighting against yourself or overriding your own energetic cycle, that will lead to exhaustion and there's no way to tap in to the growth potential. Like, that's a seed that does not have the conditions to thrive in. And so we'll probably just lay dormant and not actually gestate and then send down the roots and shoots.

So there's that wave and a lunar cycle, you know, you may have an energetic wave each day that you feel like here's the rising of the energy and here's the falling of the energy. over each week perhaps and then over a lunar cycle and then seasonal cycles. So part of the lunar tracking then, like a purpose of it could be to really become more attuned to that energetic wave. And this may be overlaid if you menstruate, overlaid with the menstrual cycle of the energetic cycles, which has a very strong pull, if not stronger. There's, you know, the question of which is stronger,

the menstrual cycle or the lunar cycle, they overlap. And so sometimes they're more harmonious and the wave is like flowing together, rising and falling. And then other times there's a cross current. And they're going in and out both at the same time and it can just be, you know, finding the skills of navigating and knowing when to pause and when to then move forward,

when to paddle out, when to duck under the waves when they come crashing in. This is personal to each of us. So I said I was going to share the personal cycle, and I will do that as we wrap up and close. The lunar gestational cycle then, like we can be a. intentional about all of these of what the intentions that we set. When you think of the lunar gestational cycle, it starts on a new moon and then nine months later is the first quarter moon is in that same sign so it comes back around to a return. So looking at what's unfolding there, it's not necessarily that there's a tapping into something other than tapping into our own heart,

our own listening to intuition, our own like being receptive and open, and putting ourselves in the best conditions for what it is that we're working towards and for around people that are supportive of that. And with the lunar gestational cycle, there's a way then to see a thread that maybe we wouldn't have otherwise seen as connected. And so it can help us to tell our own story back to ourselves about what is unfolding in our life that may seem insignificant or may seem like really, wow, I forgot that this happened and now it's connected to this. So if I look back, and I will say that some of the lunar gestational cycles may be more significant to you because of placements in your chart. My natal moon is in Virgo, and so this lunar gestational cycle is perhaps more significant because it connects with my own natal moon.

Okay, I have multiple calendars out. So this is the 2020. So looking at that new moon in September, September 14th in Pacific time. Oh, yeah. So I had the notes that I took for myself in the New Moon Calendar Journal. I had worked on the cover file with my dear moon sister, Divya, and she was helping me with the coloring, the file in Photoshop. So we're working until midnight on the cover,

like the night before the new moon. And then the next day, I had dropped off artwork to be photographed for the moon calendar. And so on the new moon, I was picking up that artwork. And, yeah, lots of other stuff going on. But the thread that I was seeing was that, okay, the story that I can tell myself or begin to unthinked. understand and draw some of these like little breadcrumbs, I would say the lunar gestational cycle helps us to connect the dots and see what might be imperceptible change. I mean, that's

where the noticing, with the unfolding of the lunar cycle, the hearing the whispers and the small things that would otherwise be imperceptible, the early springtime is like that, where they're just the beginnings of little shoots. And sometimes it's kind of too cold to go out and even witness them, but it's so worth it because by the time it's warm enough, everything's just like full blown, full bloom. And I love that early stage before the thing is fully formed. So anyway, this is just a skill in a way to apply that to our own lives. So I saw that and then looked ahead nine months.

Okay. I think I'm turned the page in the cycle. Let me make sure I have the right date. Um, bum, bum, bum. Okay. So, 2024 then, the first quarter moon was in Virgo, June 13th. June 13th. Hold on up.

Okay. So June. Okay, that's May. Here we go. Sorry about that. Okay. Then, um, That's when I was painting the cover for the next calendar.

So the first moon in the lunar gestational cycle, I was working on the cover for the 2024 calendar. And then the first quarter, nine months later, is when I was in active birthing mode, like completely consumed by painting the cover with the roses that are on the 2025 calendar. And so here's this lunar gestational cycle. I didn't plan that out. I wasn't necessarily tapping into the potential of it other than attempting my best effort to

follow the creative impulse of the timing of the wave. The wave, and in this case, it's a big part of my life work is to produce this calendar and all the little pieces that go into it. So it's very curious that the theme for both of those moons had to do with creating the cover of the calendar. So, as of recording this, we haven't yet arrived to the next phase in this lunar gestational cycle, which is the full moon March 13th, or 14th, depending on your time zone in Virgo. And it's an eclipse, and I just got the, received the deadline for when the cover of the wall calendar needs to be submitted in order to put the calendar in a, like a, what's it called, a catalog for

independent bookstores and health food stores and all that. So the cover is going to be due. Do I have the cover? No. Is it ready? No. I'm looking then to this full moon because I've seen how the unfolding is to see I'm going to work with this wave of the moon and just have that trust in faith and show up. It's not like it happens on its own, but have that be my focus and have that be where the energy is flowing because it could go in 20 different directions. But now because I've brought my awareness to this particular unfolding of this particular set of moons within this family of the seed development, that's what I'm looking at this full moon coming up to be significant for me. in my personal life. So hopefully that's helpful for just that having an example.

I, what would I say? I would recommend just having it in your awareness and checking in because it can help to guide where to put your energy and attention, especially as it comes up. So realizing that every single full moon is a part of one of these lunar gestational cycles that started at a new moon 18 months earlier. So I have the dates in the post for this episode, and there'll be more that I'm sharing. And I think, you know, many of you have expressed interest in the lunar gestational cycle. I think it's really helpful to be in community and sharing this.

like having common language and vocabulary around the layering of cycles, especially for those of you who've had, you know, a number of years of lunar tracking, or even if you're just started or kind of picking up on it to see what's possible with the layering and how to bring that into our creative practice in whatever form that takes, if that's through our work or through are tending to family or working with the earth and with plants and animals in relationship, in activism work, in birthing a beautiful and just world and crossing over this invisible bridge of the times that we are in currently. All of this working with cycles, hopefully that you can hear and see through your own experience, but also here in this episode.

and what I've shared, that it is such an amazing support and creates a container, really, the moon, the lunar cycle is this container to be held in time, to be inside of it, to be a part of it, rather than outside of time, feeling like always behind or somehow not belonging or not a part of it, but to feel that inside and that, the sweetness of the relationship that can come through self-study and working with the moon. Thank you so much for being here. I will put the link if you want to join, if you're listening to this before March 1st,

if you want to join the New Moon Workshop with Pisces. We'll be working with the New Moon Calendar and Journal and creating mandala's reflecting and releasing from the previous cycle, just having that ritual around the lunar tracking and all of the creative themes that come up. that I'll be sharing. Okay, thank you so, so much for being here. If you love this episode, please consider leaving a review or subscribing to the substack. And to be a monthly subscriber, it's $8 a month. And I record a weekly private podcast that I send to all the paid

subscribers. And there's other articles that are over there. All right, thank you so much. Many blessings. Thanks again for listening to today's episode. Between the Moon is a listener-supported podcast. If you haven't already, please consider subscribing or writing a review. These are ways that help this work reach more people. And if you'd like to access all the episodes as well as bonus articles, head on over to substack. That is substack.com backslash at Between the Moon to

to see ways that you can support this work. This is April, and I'll be with you next time on Between the Moon.