Ebb and flow
with nature’s heavenly celestial calendar.
The magnificent pendants
that hang from the skies above.
Within the cosmic embrace of our Solar System, where our Sun and Moon perform their ancient dance, there lies a rhythm—deep and profound. This sacred rhythm, guided by the subtle pull of light and dark, orchestrates a celestial ballet, connecting heavenly bodies and earthly life in a timeless symphony.
Each sunrise and sunset, a kaleidoscope of colours, serves as a sacred reminder of the delicate balance on earth. Mother Nature breathes through her forests, flows through her oceans, and thrives through her creatures, harmonising with the cycles of light and dark. She maintains life through the changing seasons with a grace that predates our ability to understand it by billions of years.
Through the journey of the seasons, nature illustrates its ease with change. Each season imparts its own lessons in resilience and renewal. When we tune into these natural rhythms and observe the natural world, we start to change too, moving from ordinary thinking to magical thinking, where even every day moments feel like clues to a bigger mystery. Allowing nature to lead, we learn to release our anxiety and embrace uncertainty.
This connection cultivates a sacred awareness—a sense of the sacred. Recognising ourselves as part of a grander organism, the distinction between the divine and earthly blurs. Every creature, every season, becomes a chapter in a larger narrative of growth and rebirth.
We are all a part of this miraculous weave, from galaxies far beyond our reach to cellular whispers in our bodies, everything is connected, bound in the fabric of existence, each component conspiring to sustain the whole.
So, as the earth spins its graceful dance with the sun, we are invited to take part in this rhythm. To find solace and inspiration, and to bravely shift our perspectives. To discover and put in place catalytic mechanisms woven into everyday practices that allow you to live in flow with your sacred rhythm. This will elevate how you operate by paying attention to the profound influence of solar, lunar, and stellar cycles on all things that have life.
Illuminate your sacred calendar of ceremonies, rituals and special events, regular recurring occasions, daily, seasonal (solstice and equinox) and annual practices and arrange your live in connection with the cycles and optimal times.
Our ancestors lived in flow with the sacred rhythms
Since ancient times our ancestors have observed celestial influence on the earth spirit and looked to the magical calendar in the sky to predict and plan for these influences. They noticed a relationship between the positions of different celestial objects and their bodies and the world around them. They found power places across our planet that resonated and amplified the incoming celestial forces. We know these today as sacred sites, spiritual temples, pilgrimages, and ceremony sites.
Interestingly, there are simple but accurate astronomical observation devices found at many of these sites and many of the structures have been built in direct mathematical alignment with the movement of the sun, moon, planets and stars. There are more than a thousand stone rings in the British Isles that are both astrological devices and ceremony centres.
The early star gazers wanted to know in advance when these occasions of charge and potency were coming, and they began to look to the night skies with great attention. They gave meaning to these cycles of heaven by harmonising their life rituals with the movement of the heavens. Their sophistication in observing the heavenly pendants and their consciousness of the influence endures through the myths, stories and zodiac astrology that remains, and it is found in the understory of todays religions.
The celestials became divine beings, gods and goddesses that had power over earthly life. The sun was worshipped as a deity. There are carvings of sun and moon observations dating back to 28,000 BCE (this is not a new concept!) and stone arrangements for record keeping all over the planet. Many of the early observations were used for the calculation of auspicious solar days, like solstice and equinox, which were significant ceremonial celebrations.
The earth is immersed in a constantly changing flow of magnetic, electric and gravitational fields from the celestial bodies and these fields have powerful effects on every living thing. In cycles, our Moon circles the Earth, our Earth orbits the Sun while it spins on it’s axis. A tiny set of cycles set within the greater cosmic movement of all the other heavenly bodies. The latest researchers are saying there is nothing living that is not influenced by celestial cycles, the science just can’t quite be explained yet.
Our nervous system is profoundly responsive to changes in the cosmic environment. “Thousands of interrelated rhythms in body chemistry are cyclically orchestrated with geophysical and celestial periodicities – such as the blood and the urine, the levels of sugar, iron, calcium, sodium, potassium, corticosterone and adrenocortical outputs, fibrialytic activity in the plasma, deep body temperature, blood pressure, cellular division, and the hormonal patterns of growth and maturation, as well as many neural patterns. Additionally, transformations in gene structure, oxidation cycles in cellular energy systems, heartbeat and fertility rates are all linked with the cyclic movements of the Earth, the Moon and other celestial objects.” Robert Lawlor, author of Sacred Geometry, comments. Well, that about covers it!
In yogic practices, the sky is a calendar and attention is given to deepen the experience within ourselves and to gain awareness of how our bodies respond. Practices and rituals were crafted to make the best use of cosmic cycles, their energy, direction and specific aspects. For example, exposing your spine to three full moons at a particular time, and in a particular way, can completely and wholistically reset your health. Important to consider is that these practices aren’t ‘one set fits all’. Each person engages with the information and the teachers to adapt the practices to their needs, as everyone’s bodies are attuned in different ways according to how you spend your days.
The earliest sailors looked to the sun, moon, planets and constellations to navigate their way when no landmarks were visible. Our farming ancestors observed the skies as their agricultural calendar providing best times to plant and harvest. Farming in tune with the lunar cycle increases the crop yield, this is because moonlight stimulates leaf growth, and the gravitational pull of the moon impacts the moisture in the soil. Fishing by the new moon and the full moon is to make the most of bigger tides, when the fish are more active. These practices are still in use today.
The Sun
At the crown of our celestial chandelier is the sun, the symbol of the day, sunrise to sunset and an icon for our daily practice. Our devotion to our daily practice fans the flames of our intention. This sacred opportunity each brand new day is our opportunity to practice living our best life – to play and pray every day, our own way.
Sunlight is the source of so much life on our planet. It keeps our planet, and us, warm. We are solar-powered beings, and the same as plants, we require sunlight to function and thrive. Sunlight is how we maintain our optimum level of the essential nutrient Vitamin D, maintaining blood pressure, improving immunity, and healing wounds. It provides our sense of well-being, it makes us feel good. Believe it or not, it even reduces our risk of cancer! Our sleep is improved as it regulates our levels of serotonin and melatonin resetting our circadian rhythm. UV rays cause our skin to produce hormones that reduce pain. We can find a healthy balance spending time in the sun while being cautious not to overexpose ourselves.
We see the sun rise and set at different positions along the horizon throughout the year. The endless passage of north, then south, then north again. The most north and south positions are the solstices, which is Latin for “sun stands still”, and for the early observers, this is what happened. In the ancient world, many mythologies speak of the energies being more present during these phases of the shortest day and the longest day of the year.
Midway between the two solstices, are the equinoxes which is Latin for “equal night”. It is the time occurring twice each year when the day and night are of equal duration. A great time of reflection and asking where we can be more in balance.
So, the solar cycle divides into four almost equal periods – the seasons. From these were born the myriad seasonal festivals, celebrations, and ceremonies. Each based on the effects of each season’s fluctuating energies. These seasonal celebrations are symbolic occasions for renewal and regeneration, and although our modern-urban based life may have disconnected us from the subtle realm where these energies are felt; we can engage with the celebrations in our own way and establish our own connection to these forces.
Autumn Equinox invites us into a sacred space of reflection, a time to honour the harvest and celebrate the blessings of life. It is a season for gathering with family, making strong the bonds of home, and feasting in gratitude for earth’s generous gifts — a thanksgiving.
Spring Equinox is a period of awakening and rebirth, as we emerge from the cocoon of winter. It the time to plant seeds both literal and metaphorical, setting intentions for growth and renewal. Time for fertility, joy, celebration and flowers.
Solstices are profound moments to pause and honour the elements and express deep reverence for Mother Earth.
Winter Solstice, with its long night and shortest day, calls us to reflect and retreat, to honour Grandmother Moon. It is a time for nurturing yourself, and preparing our spirits for the rebirth to come.
Summer Solstice celebrates the zenith of light, honouring the Sun in all its glory. This time of longest day and shortest night is a festival of light, love, and gratitude for the abundant blessings as the year matures. It prompts us to reflect on our own abundance.
Each of these sacred junctures in the wheel of the year commands a unique energy, inviting us to set intentions, nurture connections, and delve deeply into the spiritual potential they embody.
The Moon
The moon is lit by the rays of the sun.
We have known for thousands of years that our behaviour is influenced by the cycle of the moon and these ancient theories are being validated. Lunacy is Latin for “moonstruck”, and some of the findings are that it effects our sleep, our mood, and our mental health. Most clearly in the case of people with bipolar, with some evidence revealing they may be more susceptible to lunar tides with a direct impact on their switch from a low to high state.
One theory is that humans may have sensitivity to the fluctuations in the magnetic field of the earth, which is influenced by the lunar cycles. There is evidence showing the out of a group studied across the moon phases, most would sleep later and less in the time leading up to Full and New moons. With the moon out earlier in the evening sky, extending the day, it can be concluded we have inherited some ancestral sense to make the most of the extra light. Humans have used artificial light to enable activity at any time for a long time, though in the modern age we can live 24hours with the lights on, and this could explain why we don’t, or can’t, tune into this sensing of the moon phases as much.
The Moon holds the Earth in its trajectory of revolution around the Sun. It peaks in ‘full’ moonlight every 29.5 days, and becomes a ‘new’ moon every 14.8 days after that. The moon’s gravitational pull creates tides that rise and fall every 12.4 hours, the height of which follows two-week cycles driven by the pull of the Moon and Sun. The oceans of salt water are effectively big electrical conductors and as they move around there is a magnetic field associated.
How stimulated, active, and balanced our neurological system is, is directly related to the phases of the Moon. Humans are now considered to possess a magnetic sense, showing that when we are exposed to magnetic field changes (found in our local environment) our alpha brain wave (awake but not doing anything specific) activity strongly decreases. Is this evolution or environmental?
We have in our body, Cryptochromes, which are being studied in an attempt to understand their role as a magnetic sensor. At the very least to prove we have an innate, biological connection to the electromagnetic forces in our environment, and at its most exciting, it could demonstrate a way our brains ‘have’ and could again, engage in direct brain-to-brain communication. Cryptochromes are a key component in our molecular clocks that drive our 24-hour “circadian” rhythms in our body and brain. When solar flares or coronal mass ejections hit the Earth’s magnetic field, this induces invisible electric currents strong enough to knock out power grids, and which some say affect electrically sensitive cells in the heart and brain.
Humans bodies are roughly 55% water. The population of females and the menstrual cycle has forever been synchronised with the cycles of the Moon. Are we responding to the moon’s gravitational pull in the same way the oceans do: through tidal forces? Water molecules respond to gravitational change from the moon and will move in and out of cells effecting the whole organism. Some land organisms may still have the machinery to predict the tides, even if it’s no longer in use.
Brand New Moon: Lunar gravity is increased which enables germination. New Moon is the time of creation. We ask for her blessing as we plant seeds, vision quest, set intentions, and cleanse and elevate our being. The time of beginning again, gathering our thoughts, resetting goals, making fertile plans, and broadcasting our desires to the world. The SUPER new moons are extra potent when setting intentions.
Be very clear with your words and actions, using laser sharp vision.
Waxing Moon | First Quarter: The increasing moonlight promotes leaf growth. This is the time to use your organisation, determination and strength to push forward and take the action necessary to tend to your goals. Don’t hesitate or falter. As momentum builds and is sustained by your actions, your energy will be regenerated and renewed. As the full moon approaches, finely tune your desires to align with your source.
Full on Moon: Lunar gravity and the moonlight increases and intensifies until it peaks in a glorious display across the night sky. This is the time of illumination. Time to charge up! The healing light shines on what is hidden, on what needs to be accepted and released.
The time for divinity. The time for ceremony. The time for celebrating what your heart desires. Take care and be grateful. Rejuvenate while you rejoice, take time to consider your goals and the next steps in manifesting them. The full moon pushes our energy in a certain way. Whatever we are being at this time is enhanced. If we are being loving, then there will be more love. If you are imbalanced, then there will be even greater imbalance.
Waning Moon | Last Quarter: Both moonlight and lunar gravity decrease. This is the time to harvest, and to clear and release energy, to make way for a new planting. A quiet and calm time of transition to balance and contemplating what is next. Surrender and rest.
Eclipses
Our ancestors mapped the precession of the equinoxes and various cycles of the moon, which allowed them to predict eclipses accurately.
A solar eclipse always falls on a new moon.
Lunar eclipse always falls on a full moon.
The energies of the moons are amplified during the eclipse season, becoming even more potent. In the span between a solar and lunar eclipse, known as an “eclipse sandwich”, life can experience sudden upheavals, profound shifts, and transformative changes. This period calls for heightened mindfulness in all our actions—though every day merits awareness, these times are particularly powerful.
Eclipses are cosmic catalysts meant to shake us from complacency, calling us to evolve, ascend to higher states of being, and transition into new phases of our lives. They provide opportunities to propel forward. Setting a strong intention during the new moon solar eclipse, and releasing anything that does not serve your highest good during the full moon lunar eclipse, can harness this transformative energy. The events surrounding eclipses are often monumental, laden with significant coincidences and fateful encounters that can direct the course of your destiny, bringing profound insight, revealing truths, and initiating new beginnings.
During lunar eclipses, be particularly mindful as they tend to stir deep emotions, magnifying the inner work and spiritual insights they bring.
Days of the week and ruling planets
The concept of days being ruled by specific celestial bodies stems from ancient astrological traditions that associate each day of the week with a particular planet, each influencing our activities and emotions in distinct ways:
Monday, ruled by the Moon:
Astrologically, the Moon governs emotions and intuition, making Mondays a day that can be naturally inclined towards heightened sensitivity. This day is ideal for introspection and nurturing activities that can soothe the emotional ups and downs.
Tuesday, ruled by Mars:
Mars is known for its fiery energy, often associated with assertiveness and decisiveness. This influence can make Tuesdays an excellent day for tackling challenging tasks. However, the aggressive aspect of Mars could make negotiations and calm discussions more challenging.
Wednesday, ruled by Mercury:
Mercury governs communication, thinking, and information exchange. Therefore, Wednesdays are well-suited for discussions, learning new things, and handling correspondence. It’s an optimal day for any tasks that require clear communication.
Thursday, ruled by Jupiter:
Jupiter is associated with expansion, luck, and growth, making Thursdays an auspicious day for beginning new ventures, making important decisions, and seeking out new opportunities.
Friday, ruled by Venus:
Venus influences harmony, beauty, and relationships. Fridays are thus conducive to activities that focus on personal relationships, artistic pursuits, and creating a balanced environment.
Saturday, ruled by Saturn:
Saturn is linked to discipline, responsibilities, and long-term planning. Saturdays are effective for focusing on work that requires meticulous attention to detail and setting the groundwork for future projects.
Sunday, ruled by the Sun:
The sun is associated with vitality, self-expression, and vitality. Sundays are great for recharging, engaging in recreational activities, and celebrating life’s joys in the light of the sun.
These astrological associations offer a framework for planning your week, aligning daily tasks with the planetary energies believed to be most active each day.
Other influences to consider
Moon’s Influence: The position and proximity of the moon can greatly influence its effects on Earth. Events such as super moons or black moons—when the moon is especially close or far from Earth—can amplify these effects.
Constellations and mythology: Historically, certain stars have been linked with specific deities. Is it possible that celestial bodies, through their unique movements and cycles, exert subtle influences on human behaviour and evolution?
Astrology: Astrology is based on the belief that the alignment of stars and planets influences an individual’s mood, personality, and environment, shaped by the specifics of their birth date and time.
Chinese Astrology: Chinese astrology offers a unique way to engage with the year’s energies, interpreted through the characteristics of different zodiac animals, providing insights into personal tendencies and cosmic influences.
Retrogrades: During retrograde periods, it’s a time for reflection— to review, reword, rework, and reassess our current situations. These phases are conducive to clarity and letting go of what no longer serves us. However, they can also bring about technical glitches, and issues with communication and travel. It’s advisable to double-check all actions and, if possible, to take a pause and embrace stillness during these times.
Written in the stars
What we experience is directly created from what we believe to be true. How much influence the celestial beings have upon your body, mind, and spirit is ultimately up to you?
We, personally, have had numerous deeply profound experiences that have shaped our beliefs to say yes, we believe in the sacred rhythm of the cosmos and we actively look for ways to express our gratitude and celebrate these rhythms in our daily practices.
Look to the skies….
In loving service 
