Rest for the Revolution: July Full Moon Lunar Eclipse
by Layla Saad

Welcome to this Full Moon Lunar Eclipse. The Moon is in full bloom. But Mother Moon's light is absent from our view in the night sky, because our planet Earth has moved directly between the Sun and the Moon. We know she is there, carrying her messages of abundance, personal power, and healing, but we cannot directly access her blessings because we—planet Earth and all of its inhabitants—are blocking them from view. We have plunged ourselves into darkness, and we are frantically groping around, trying to find our way back to the light.

That is how it feels for many of us right now—in our personal lives and our communities.

We are square in eclipse season. In two weeks’ time, there will be a partial solar eclipse with the New Moon, and two weeks ago we experienced our first eclipse of this season. This is a time that can feel both dramatic and chaotic. It is a time where layers are being pulled back, truths are being revealed, shadows are being exposed, and uncomfortable paradigms are being brought to the surface to be examined and processed. It is therefore also a time where we may be feeling very vulnerable, raw, drained (physically, mentally, and spiritually), battle-weary, lost, confused, and defeated. We desperately desire to make our way back to the light—individually and collectively—but with energies eclipsed, we may be finding it a challenge to access that energy within us.

If you are feeling like the victim rather than the victor of your life right now, know that this is okay. If you feel in despair about the state of the world, yet you find you have run out of energy to keep fighting for justice, know that you are not alone. If you find yourself questioning anything and everything (your work, your creativity, your relationships, your beliefs, your activism), know that you are not losing yourself. If anything, you are trying to find yourself. To find your wholeness. And to find wholeness for a world that is so very broken.

This Full Moon Lunar Eclipse (and in fact this entire eclipse corridor) offers us an opportunity to step away from the light, and allow ourselves to find rest and nourishment in the darkness. This time invites us to lay down our mental and emotional weapons. To take a break from the chaos. To press pause. To soften and release. To remember that we do not have to figure it all out right now. To remember that we are always, always, already whole, perfect, and free—but we have to allow ourselves to feel it.

Mother Moon speaks to us now:

"Dear Beloved,

Though you may not see me fully right now in your night sky, I am still here, in full bloom. In fact, I am always in full bloom. I am always big, round, whole, and complete. 360 degrees of lunar magic—24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. But from your view on planet Earth, I appear to cycle through different stages. To you, sometimes I am completely absent, other times I am a crescent, other times a semi-circle, and other times still, a glowing orb. But my truth is that I am always whole—whether or not the Sun's light is fully shining on me.

This is what I want you to remember, as you sit in the darkness (literally and figuratively).In the same way that I am already whole, whether or not the Sun's light is reflecting off of me, you too are already whole. Your wholeness does not come from being seen and honored by others. It comes from seeing and honoring yourself.

In what ways are you not seeing and honoring the wholeness that is you? The beauty that is you? The miracle that is you? In what ways are you negating and shaming yourself because you are in a period of darkness? In what ways are you denying yourself rest and replenishment because you believe you have to work hard to deserve it? In what ways are you participating in your own victimization, by placing yourself in situations and relationships that are oppressive to your humanity? In what ways are you holding healing and replenishment at arm's distance because you believe you need to be performing all the time?

Can you imagine, Beloved, how it would be if the Sun's light shone fully on me every single day? Can you imagine how exhausting that would be? To never have times of slowness, quietness, and darkness? To always be shining, always be accomplishing, always be giving myself to everyone else, while asking nothing in return? Yes, you can imagine—because you do that to yourself, too.

There is great wisdom in the dark, Beloved. In the mystery. In the outwardly inactive. Allow yourself to rest now. Give yourself permission to Be. To just Be. For yourself, and for the collective. For as long as you need. The work will still be there when you are ready to return. And you will be better resourced to do it—with newfound energy, compassion, creativity, humor, generosity, power, empathy, patience, pleasure, awe, and innovation.

Take as little or as long as you need. But not a moment sooner. Remember, whether or not the world can see the fruits of your labor, you are always whole. You do not have to prove it with your Doing. It is already true with your Being. If every person on your planet understood and practiced the depth of this truth, a collective healing would sweep the Earth.

Maybe it starts with just one person. Maybe it starts with you.”

Suggested Affirmation:
“I now give myself the gift of rest.
My rest is radical.
My rest is resistance.
My rest is revolutionary.”

— Excerpt is from Many Moons 2018 vol 2.

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