The New Moon in Leo ♌︎ arrives on August 1st at 03:12 UTC, which for me here in Vancouver Canada is July 31st at 8:12 PM. For those of us in North America (and elsewhere), this is a Black Moon, i.e. the second New Moon in a single calendar month (i.e. July). For the rest of the world, the Black Moon month is in August (1st & 30th).
August 1st is also the traditional date for Lughnasadh in the Northern Hemisphere, and Imbolc in the Southern Hemisphere. A special day indeed! I tend to think of this as the start of Lughnasadh/Imbolc season, as I also celebrate on the “true” cross-quarter date (i.e. the exact midpoint between the June Solstice and the September Equinox), which this year falls on August 7th at 11:52 UTC.
This month’s lunar theme was inspired by wisdom and energies of The Priestess archetype — as described by Elizabeth Davis and Carol Leonard in their classic book The Women’s Wheel of Life — and goddesses: she guides us in ritual and ceremony and recognizes the Divine and Sacred in all around her.
And that ability is within us all . . .
this month, raise your awareness to the Everyday Sacred around you.
Historian / Philosophe Mircea Eliade described this ability — seeing the sacred as it reveals itself to us — as “hierophany” and acknowledged that those manifestations of the sacred could be in an ordinary object, such as a stone or a tree, or in a “supreme” way (recognizing, for instance, God in Christ and/or other religious figures).
Some think of The Priestess as a hierophant and those familiar with Tarot know her from their Tarot decks, where you will find both The Priestess (Card # 2 in the Major Arcana, aka The High Priestess aka The Papess) and The Hierophant (Card # 5 in the Major Arcana, aka The High Priest or The Pope) cards, representing the Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine manifestations of that role of spiritual celebrant.
When I think of The Priestess archetype, I look for inspiration to goddesses such as Diana (who we celebrate at the August Full Moon with ritual inspired by the Nemoralia, aka the Festival of Torches), Inanna, Vesta, Isis, Mary Magdalene and Arianrhod.
Who are the goddesses who inspire you?
In your Soul Work this month, perhaps contemplate on these questions, noting your insights into your journal or Book of Shadows :
What do you see as Sacred around you?
How do you raise your awareness to the Everday Sacred?
New Moon Blessings!
Image source in above lunar theme graphic: averie woodard on Unsplash
Trackbacks/Pingbacks