August’s full moon is on August 26 and if you didn’t know already, in Pisces. Meaning this month’s full moon is ruled by the planet Neptune, associated with our dreams, imagination, and emotional sensitivity, says Jennifer Lucero-Earle, ArcanaDance™ creator & movement facilitator with 30+ years experience with tarot.
“There are a number of tarot scholars that associate Pisces with the Moon card in the tarot,” adds Lucero-Earle.
Knowing this, she plans to use this full moon to take stock of where she is with her creative dreams. If you’re feeling this vibe as well, Lucero-Earle suggests asking yourself the following questions:
Am I allowing my imagination to soar to its highest high?
Am I taking time to daydream?
Am I paying attention to messages that may be coming through my dreams?
Am I in touch with my emotional cues?
If you’re lucky enough to live by the ocean, go to the beach on the full moon, stresses Lucero-Earle.
“I bring with me a list of the things that represent where I am full (complete and satiated), I say a prayer of gratitude and then release the paper into the water and then I thank Yemaya for carrying my gratitude to my ancestors,” she says.
She grew up hearing the names of the Orishas and watching my Puerto Rican mother practice sacred rituals to honor them. But it was when she was just 13-years old when she learned about the moon cycles. She was gifted a round Moon Tarot deck with a tons of moon symbolism depicting fierce and powerful women of color from around the world. The Moon card in the deck shows a woman about to dive into the ocean. At the top of the card it says “Yemaya.”
“Yemaya was, to us, another version of Mother Mary but she also ruled over the ocean so she could be cleansing, powerful, turbulent, or peaceful. I assumed that the moon cycles could also give us the opportunity to cleanse, claim our power, cause turbulence and bring us peace.”
But if she’s traveling and can’t make it to the ocean, she still writes her list but instead imagines herself at the ocean and places the paper in a bowl of water and then flushes it down the toilet. Now how should you feel after doing all this? Lucero-Earle says that can vary.
“That depends on how aware people are of their feelings and body sensations. You may notice that you are more emotionally sensitive, perhaps you’re more easily moved to tears (inviting release and flow), or you feel anxious (something wants to be released) or you feel the need to rest (because your work is done and it’s time to enjoy the accomplishment),” she adds.
If you have bottled up emotions in the days or weeks prior to the full moon, you might notice that they rise to the surface and feel almost explosive, everything in you might want resolution or catharsis. Lucero-Earl says you have to honor the release that needs to happen, as she’s seen over the year, she usually feels a more peaceful exhaustion after the full moon.
Lucero-Earle’s abuela came from a farming family in Puerto Rico. She liked to imagine that she was connecting to her farming ancestors by using the Old Farmer’s Almanac to look at the moon phases. Since she was teen into her early 20’s, she would set her intentions on the new moon and would write down where she felt a sense of completion on the full moon.
Don’t forget to embrace your own full moon rituals as you see fit.
Lucero-Earle says she appreciates the books about moon phases and ritual but the vast majority are eurocentric. As the daughter of two parents who came from colonized lands, the ways our ancestors worked with the moon and practiced ritual have been lost or colonized.
“I know they are not my lineage or heritage, they are not in mi sangre. I would rather trust my own intuition to help me weave together practices, knowing that they are influenced by books from other cultures and from the wonderful teachers I’ve met and worked with over the past three decades,” she adds.
But in 1998, she did find a book that spoke to her spirit titled “Opening to Spirit” by Caroline Shola Arwea. The book was ritual, chakras and African spirituality. It was the first “esoteric” book she read written by a woman of color and has recommended it to all of her friends. The one passage changed how she worked with the moon and reminds her that her menstrual cycle was deeply connected with the moon and was the portal to connect with her ancestors.
“The moon herself is the soul of humanity; she holds within her secrets the collective unconscious and the entire ancestral records. The sacral chakra houses the soul and resonates with the moon’s forces. The sacral centre, therefore, also provides access to the collective unconscious and the ancestral records.” – Caroline Shola Arwea, Opening to Spirit
Lucero-Earle’s story and that book are a reminder to all Latinx identifying women that using archetypes and movement to access your inner knowing, will reveal beautiful sacred secrets planted in your bodies from our ancestors.
“The moon phases just add a potent time when the veils are thinner between this earthly world and the spirit world,” she adds, “where we can most easily feel the presence of our ancestors and access those memories.”
