Friday, May 19th
New Moon
in Taurus 28°25'
8:53 am PT

A Ritual Guide to Own Your Worth
by Sarah Faith Gottesdiener

Welcome to our only Taurus lunation in quite some time that is not an Eclipse! This is our first lunar cycle after a season of shadows and shake-ups: a golden opportunity to put those cosmic lessons and illuminations into practice. A New Moon is a moment to pause and reflect on our current season of life. Wherever one is, whatever one is ready for or facing, a foundation of inherent worthiness is needed.

If our self-worth is only reliant on the external, it will ebb and flow.

If we overly attach our worth to feeling good, having all the answers, or knowing what to do next, it will crumble. 

It’s a paradox, but security with selves is often found in surrender.

Secure attachment to ourselves inevitably includes Source, those knowns and unknowns, the planet, outside forces, chance, mystery, and so on. We’re never fully independent, even if we feel like the loneliest wizard in all the shire. Even one meal exists in connection to others, in collaboration with the miracle that is the dirt, all those who tend the earth, as well as the ancestors who brought technologies and techniques to life.  The invisible labor connected to your food truck lunch might be late-night pep talks by girlfriends, laundry folded by mothers, the generosity shown by a crowdfund set up to get a new business off the ground.

Security could mean the ability to trust the Self, and all included extensions, to be able to remain resilient and embodied no matter what.

I write this on a New Moon in Taurus, when I have decided to heal some scarcity wounds by gifting myself something I had always wanted: a long-held fantasy come to life. All kinds of nervous system turbulence and wounds came up when I first thought about doing this. Once I said yes, other layers popped up. I had given myself a luxurious gift, and here I was, still rejecting parts of it by trying to control it through caveats. Once I softened into grateful reception and enjoyment, there was yet another layer of resistance. I closed my eyes and whispered, you’re safe. It’s ok to enjoy this. It’s ok to relax and release.

Sometimes, a lot can come up when we decide to expand our self-esteem or capacity for more unconditional love, acknowledgment, influence, or abundance. It’s simply our mind, feeding us distractions. It’s our nervous system, wanting to play out the patterns it’s memorized for years. It’s our inner child, terrified of being left alone to fend for themselves again, throughout all this change. It’s our internalization of white supremacist workaholic grind carceral culture, grasping for more of our attention, more of our fear. Whatever uncomfortable feelings or sensations come up, know it is normal to feel grief, be conflicted, or experience a trauma response. Stay with yourself through this practice of recovery.

I used an example from my life that included the material, but understanding your inherent worth costs nothing but your intention and awareness.

You don’t have to be your “best self” to be inherently precious and worthy.

You don’t have to have performed well or crossed off a huge external goal to be worthy.

Let go of the myths of deservedness or having to prove or work for your worth.

You can do nothing, rest, and still be worthy of compassion and consideration.

Exactly as you are, in whatever state you find yourself in, you can acknowledge how precious and unique you are, woven into the fabric of the Universe like a terrestrial star. 

— Excerpt from the 2023 Many Moons Lunar Planner. To read Sarah's exclusive, Own Your Worth Ritual for this Taurus New Moon, get your copy of Many Moons 2023. The benefit edition is here. The digital edition is here.