Waning Crescent Moon

The waning crescent moon is a sliver, getting smaller as we speak. She can be seen to rise just a few hours before sunrise if you catch her. Once the sun comes up, it is just about impossible to see such a faint thing as the waning crescent moon in a daylit sky. None of us can see the moon in this phase and in this part of the world before midnight. This moon is for night owls and early risers.

According to folk and many wisdom traditions, this is a time to clear away clutter, break bad habits, release negativity, end bad relationships. Time to plough the soil for the winter crops, build houses, build fireplaces (discourage vermin from entering!) - air the wardrobe (repels moths)- and to take a bath. The last Friday of the period, something I found in a Lithuanian Folklore piece, is considered the best time for cleaning a place of parasites.

I wonder if the people at Oprah Magazine are up on moon cycles? If you read the latest edition, you'll get all kinds of modern day tips to address all of the above.

Ok. So I'm on it. The warming weather was my signal and I can say with some pride that my pantry and bathroom closet are cleared of all excess clutter and evidence of vermin. This done BEFORE I read the latest Oprah Magazine, or looked up moon cycles.

Oprah and Wikipedia simply affirm for me the collective consciousness about cycles and right times for doing certain things. I see affirmations everywhere to tend to what drags me down. Clean up. Clear out. Free up my energies to do the things I want to do and love. I feel the energy of renewal in the letting go of what does not serve me anymore. This season, it's empty cereal boxes, layers of dust, and a facial scrub I've had laying around for 10 years in my medicine cabinet. For you it might be relationships, jobs, roles you no longer care to continue in. If you're feeling it's time for a big change, chances are, it is! The lessons I've learned from the German Haus Frau I have decended from is that it is difficult to start anything new and fresh from underneath a pile of rubbish of your own making.

I want to work with the moon some more. Right now, a miniature version, sharp, crescent-silver, could make a great implement for cleaning dirt from under my fingernails. But seriously, I want to intuit and then respond to what her cycles invite me to pay attention to. Just thought I'd say it out loud. Stating the intention generally makes something real for me.

I found the poem below --written by a 14th century Kashmiri Mystic. It evokes a more romantic and ...well...mystic connection. In her current phase, the moon in the window will be elusive for most of us. But perhaps if we un-encumber ouselves as Waning Crescent is inviting us to do, it'll be possible to feel her kiss and her spirit upon us in all they ways she moves in us throughout the seasons.


Some Kiss We Want

There is some kiss we want with our whole lives—

the touch of spirit on the body.

Seawater begs the pearl to break its shell—

the touch of spirit on the body.

And the lily, how passionately it needs some wild dawn—

the touch of spirit on the body

At night, I open the window and ask the moon to come—

come press your face against mine.

Breathe into me. Breathe into me—

the touch of spirit on the body

Close the language-door and open the love window.

Close the language door and open the love window.

The moon will not use the door, only the window.

The moon will not use the door, only the window.



--Lalla Yogeshwari
14th century Kashmiri mystic poet and saint


BLR for the Poplar Grove Muse